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Tony Nickalo bumped into his father from time to time.
Once, he saw Clifford Lee Nickalo outside Best Buy in Glen Burnie about a mile away from his house, glassy-eyed and incoherent. Or sometimes he saw Clifford hobbling down Ritchie Highway, a graying figure with a cane.
"There were times when I would just, out of the blue, think, 'I wonder what he's doing, how he's doing,'" Tony said. "Next thing you'd know, I'm on my way to work and, whoop, there he is."
Occasionally, Tony would stop. Other times, it was enough to see his dad was still alive.
Then, one day, that familiar face in his rear-view mirror was gone.
Clifford died in November at age 55, shortly after walking himself to a hospital and slipping into a coma.
Tony and other relatives, many of whom reside near the Anne Arundel County streets Clifford lived on for 15 years, had watched as Clifford's drinking consumed him.
On the surface, circumstances were clear: Clifford was an alcoholic, and he was homeless. His Anne Arundel County arrest record, mostly for minor offenses, was lengthy. He used paramedics and hospital services freely.
His caseworkers found him a pleasant man, prone to small kindnesses. Others found him argumentative. And when he fell through the cracks of a social service system designed to help him, it was often his own doing.
But Clifford's family could only wonder - why did he give up?
Decades earlier and thousands of miles away, something changed in him. And no one who had met him since could do a thing about it.
Why couldn't he be saved?
In an industrial park in Glen Burnie in 2011, Clifford ambled into a small office with "Arundel House of Hope" embossed on the glass door.
When Larry Geidel, a caseworker assigned to Clifford, met him then, he was appalled by what he saw: a disheveled 53-year-old who could have easily passed for 73.
Clifford was slow getting from the door to a chair by the desk. He dragged his feet. He'd speak a few words in a coarse voice, stop, then double over. An untreated hernia had become life-threatening.
Clifford's bristly beard made him look like Santa, but several layers of clothing didn't add much girth to his withering frame.
Clifford's eyes were brown - or were they? They changed, depending on who was filling out his latest housing paperwork, booking him downtown for public intoxication or admitting him at a hospital.
But after two pints of malt liquor, they'd all but disappear in sunken eyelids.
It was hard for people to look into Clifford's eyes. There was too much to see.
"He was proud and extremely guarded. He would answer any question you had, but if you didn't ask it, he wouldn't tell," Geidel said.
But with Clifford, unlike others he had met in his line of work, Geidel felt something different. He wrote a word on the man's file after a two-hour interview.
Clifford was born in Albuquerque, N.M., on June 11, 1958, but grew up in Anne Arundel County from the age of 1. He was the oldest of four children. His father, Robert Lee Nickalo, was in the Air Force, and his mother worked a variety of jobs, including driving school buses.
He had a knack for spades and gin rummy. He loved the feel of a fishing rod in his hand and wind on his face: a suburban kid with the heart of a country boy.
"He was a wonderful guy, a happy guy," said sister Cindy Walter, who lives in Gambrills today. "A typical brother."
Clifford attended Northeast High School and appeared only once in a yearbook. No clubs, academic achievements or sports victories to his name. Just a moment captured on picture day of a lanky boy with a pointed chin, flop of bangs and broad grin.
Clifford dropped out of school in December 1975 in the middle of the 11th grade. His girlfriend got pregnant - the child was Tony - and they married.
"He told us the story," Geidel said. "His father said, 'You don't have a choice. You've got to support the child.'"
Clifford joined the Army in May 1976 in the post-Vietnam era and was classified as a quartermaster and chemical equipment repairer, a soldier who maintains machinery.
Clifford was in Company B of the 501st Support and Transport Battalion serving in Furth, Germany. He was recognized as an M-16 rifle expert.
There he met his second wife, whom he married in October 1977 - before divorcing his first wife. Less than a year later, she gave birth to Clifford's second son.
It is unclear why Clifford's time in the Army ended prematurely. The code JMJ — "motivational problems" — appears in his records, but no specifics are available. He was never in a combat zone, never under fire.
Clifford left after just two years, seven months and one day with an honorable discharge. His final day in the Army was Dec. 4, 1978.
When he returned, he wasn't the same.
The story of what snapped in Clifford long ago is like a line told through a game of telephone. Some people heard he was in a tank that slipped on a brick road and killed someone. Some people thought he was run over by a tank in the service.
Others thought he was run over by a truck, but after he was in the Army.
Patricia Nickalo, Clifford's mother, believes something terrible happened to him in the military, but even she doesn't know. She wonders if Clifford confided in his father, who died in 1981.
"They'd be up all hours of the night talking," she said.
In the cold and dark of an ambulance some nights, he'd talk about an incident. He'd become emotional, paramedics remembered, as he told a story in fragments.
No one has been able to find a record of a crash during Clifford's service.
When a Baltimore Washington Medical Center nurse looked over the scruffy patient, one of the first things she noticed was the bracelet.
It was from the hospital, but from a 2011 admission, and the nurse thought it might be a red flag, affecting his treatment.
"You should take that off," she advised, according to a medical record from Feb. 27, 2012.
He refused.
Hundreds of pages in the House of Hope's files enumerate Clifford's medical problems, many caused by drinking.
Hernia. Limb plastic surgery. Lung disease. Appendectomy. Allergies to penicillin and tomatoes. Foot ulcer. Toe ulcer. Heart attacks. Strokes. Seizures. Chronic pain. Broken arm. Half his stomach removed in surgery. Bowel resection. Right hand carpal tunnel syndrome. Steel rods in his jaw. Neuralgia. Hearing loss in his right ear. Vision loss in his right eye. Circulatory problems.
He couldn't stand for more than 15 minutes without pain. He couldn't sit for more than 15 minutes without pain.
At one point Clifford had so many doctors, Geidel began writing down his appointments on 3-by-5 index cards to help keep each day straight.
But if they gave him instructions for dressing a fractured bone, cleaning a wound or taking medications, he rarely followed through.
Geidel learned Clifford had been to a hospital for other problems while suffering from the hernia. Each time they released Clifford, he'd go without surgery.
Geidel couldn't believe it. He called one of his own doctors to see if he could help. The doctor agreed to operate for free, but it took three months to sort it out.
Clifford's files said he believed he had been struck by cars five times. He could barely walk after a 2005 accident. A hit-and-run driver ran over his legs and shattered the bones. Most speculated he had passed out in the road.
"My legs are just plastic rods now," he said, according to a report.
One report noted he said he drank the equivalent of about 1½ gallons of vodka a week.
Caseworkers in social services and government subsidy programs have a term of art for folks like Clifford: chronically homeless.
There are those who will rebound quickly - find a job, go to rehab, or fill that doctor's scrip for an antipsychotic drug.
And then there are the Cliffords. They're not merely in between jobs. They didn't just fall on hard times. They're stuck in a moment, for whatever reason, unable to move forward.
"This is something that we run into a lot. People will say, 'Oh, Cliff just needs a job. Cliff just needs to pull him up by his bootstraps,'" said Mario Berninzoni, director at the House of Hope. "He can't. He doesn't have the boots to be pulled up."
It isn't always about money. Clifford should have received about $2,100 in pension and disability payments each month, although there were periods when he didn't collect it.
It isn't always about a safety net. Clifford had family in Gambrills, Pasadena and Glen Burnie.
And it isn't always about lack of resources. Caseworkers gave him information on treatment programs.
It could have been something more crippling: lack of will.
"He never complained about being homeless or his situation, like getting housing. We wanted to get him housing," Berninzoni said. "Part of it was he wasn't concerned about himself."
Behind a Glen Burnie shopping center is someone's living room.
Ragged clothes and bits of trash are scattered in the grass. A woman's underwear is looped over a tree branch. Empty cigarette cartons, a threadbare floral comforter and sneakers are strewn about.
A certificate from drug rehabilitation lies on the ground.
But amid the debris, some personal effects are carefully sealed in plastic bags: toothbrushes and toothpaste, a sewing kit, a yellow composition book.
There's a deconstructed tent in one clearing and broken pieces of fiberboard made into a footpath, leading to nowhere. An easy chair sits deep in the thicket, draped with a blanket. A beacon of humanity in the wilderness.
But while this was Clifford's stomping grounds for parts of 2012, he didn't sleep near the others.
About 100 or so paces away, at the front of the Gavigan's furniture store, he and his friend Chris would take shelter for the night in an empty shopping cart corral.
Chris, who asked that his last name not be used, kept a watchful eye on Clifford.
"He would sleep right on the concrete. I used to scrounge him up some cardboard just to get him off the ground," Chris said.
In 1986, Clifford was back in Maryland and attempting marriage for the third time.
On Valentine's Day, he and Joanna Helwig married at the courthouse in Annapolis after five years of working together at Fairlanes Ritchie bowling alley. She wore a calf-length lace dress; he wore a blue suit.
Things were OK in the beginning, she said. He'd cook spaghetti or chili some nights for dinner and helped a little around the house. He was charming and soft-spoken.
But the drinking got out of hand. He'd say he was sad about his father's death, which happened five years earlier.
Helwig would come home and have to clean up vomit in the bathroom. She'd pull out empty bottles of Southern Comfort shoved in the couch cushions. Bar owners would come after her with his unpaid tabs.
He worked at a Mars supermarket for a while, but started having trouble holding down any job. The marriage unraveled when Helwig discovered he had two previous marriages and children. One day a sheriff came to their house because Clifford owed child support.
"It's scary that you could live with a man and trust a person that in reality you know nothing about," Helwig said. "He was a master of illusion."
They divorced in 1993 without children. She learned later he tried to make a second go with his ex-wife in South Carolina.
In South Carolina, Robert Nickalo, Clifford's second child, doesn't have early memories of his dad.
He knows what he has been told: His parents met in the Army while his mother did secretarial work. They took him to his first movie in Germany.
Then they left the Army and moved to Rock Hill, S.C.
But Robert didn't know he had a half-brother in Maryland named Tony. He didn't know that when Clifford married his mother, he was still married to his first wife - or that Clifford divorced the other woman only when they moved back to the states.
And neither Clifford nor his mother ever said why he left the service so soon.
"You get the feeling that something happened," Robert said.
When Robert was 2, his mother filed for divorce. The separation was finalized just three months before his little brother Nathan, Clifford's third and youngest child, was born.
Then one day when Robert was 14 and Nathan was 12, their mother loaded them in a car and said they were going to meet a friend.
"This is your father," she told the boys. Clifford took them fishing that day.
A couple of months later, he moved in with them. He got a job as an industrial painter.
That year Clifford tried to show Robert how to be a man. They'd get in the truck, roll down the windows and listen to Hank Williams. Robert prefers old country still.
"It was one of the best times of my life," Robert said.
He showed Robert how to shave with a razor. Twenty years later, Robert does it the same way. He recently taught his oldest son the same way Clifford showed him.
But there was drinking, Robert remembers. Lots of drinking.
At one point, Clifford was in a crash. People said he fell asleep at the wheel. "He ran his car underneath a big rig," Robert said. "It was a miracle he lived through it."
Clifford would sit on the couch and stare at the TV. He didn't speak, didn't move. There was no violence in their home, Robert reflects, just an empty shell of a father.
Clifford left one weekend after an argument and never came back. Last Robert had heard, his dad was a truck driver.
He never knew Clifford ended up on the streets, until he got a message from a reporter in February.
Tony's first memory of his dad was meeting him at 18 in 1994.
"Put your shoes on," his mother said. "There's someone outside who wants to meet you."
Afterward Clifford flitted in and out of his life for years. He'd show up at the bowling alley where Tony worked and ask for money. Tony had a newborn to support and usually couldn't spare it.
Years later, when Tony saw his dad around the county, Clifford was often too drunk to recognize him.
"It's not like when you're growing up with somebody and they develop Alzheimer's and they stop recognizing everybody," Tony said. "I've never really known him any kind of 'deeply,' except to run into him a few times."
His sister Walter sometimes ran into Clifford, too - the shadow of her former brother. She'd refuse to give him money, fearing he'd spend it on booze. Instead, she'd bring him a chicken dinner. He'd tell her she was dead to him. He didn't have a sister.
Probably the alcohol talking, she'd tell herself.
"I hope that was just his way of protecting us from his demons," Walter said.
In August, a veterans caseworker asked Clifford how much he was drinking.
"As much as I can afford most days," he said, according to notes from that day.
He also showed signs of depression.
How often do you feel down?
"More than half the day."
How often do you feel bad about yourself, that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down?
"Several days."
The caseworker talked to him about treatment, but Clifford declined to be registered.
Veterans Affairs officials said because of medical privacy laws, they couldn't talk about Clifford or whether anything happened to him in the service. But the notes from some meetings open a small window into Clifford's world.
A caseworker once asked Clifford if he had any family close by.
"I don't know if they're in the area, and I don't care," he said.
Felicity Kern, 35, knew Clifford from Greenland Beach in Pasadena, where she lived as a teenager. Years later, she tried to keep an eye on him when she saw he was homeless, sometimes bringing him clean clothes and meals.
She worried about him at night sometimes, knowing he had been roughed up on the streets. In 2009, she invited him to her Thanksgiving dinner in Pasadena.
To thank her for her kindnesses, Clifford would bring her little glass figurines he bought at the dollar store. He listed Kern as his medical emergency contact. And one day he called with an urgent request.
"I gotta see you," he said.
He asked if he could name her as his legal beneficiary.
"OK, Mr. Cliff," Kern smiled, knowing he had no estate to speak of.
Maybe it was the fact she had worked for six years at Sarah's House, a transitional housing charity for homeless families, that gave her compassion for Clifford.
Even after more than 15 years on the streets, Clifford didn't see his situation as permanent. The beard on his face was temporary. The cane that got him around was temporary.
He told his friends who worked at House of Hope, they'd see.
"I'll pull up in a limousine one day, clean as a whistle, maybe wearing a tuxedo," he said.
They might not recognize him without the beard. He'd give them a ride.
For his last two years, when Clifford was sober, he slept at the House of Hope's winter relief shelters - about 100 cots at churches and synagogues dispersed around the county. He had to pass a Breathalyzer test to stay.
Clifford enjoyed helping the staff, emptying garbage cans and doing chores. But often taking out the trash was a chance to sneak a swig of vodka - sometimes disguised in a bottle of lime Gatorade.
And when he wasn't sober, paramedics, who saw him four or five times a week, would take him to Baltimore Washington Medical Center when he called. Clifford could be found resting on a bed in a hospital hall, finally warm.
Clifford was the homeless man who shouldn't have been in poverty. What happened to the monthly stipend - about $2,100 - he should have collected from the Army and a disability payment?
"All the money he had on his card, he'd go down to the bank and make sure it was there, then he would take it out little by little by little until it was all gone," Geidel said.
He'd take other homeless friends to Poseidon, an all-you-can-eat buffet in Glen Burnie that is now closed. He'd pay for motel rooms, so they could get a break from sleeping outdoors.
He'd buy gifts: a $5 Safeway gift card or a keychain that looked like his eagle tattoo for his caseworkers. Valentine's Day candy went to all the ladies at House of Hope.
And drinks — for him and everyone else.
Arlene Scott, another caseworker at House of Hope, had been going house-hunting with Clifford.
She had encouraged him to apply for veterans programs. For the longest time, he resisted, not wanting to admit he was in the Army when representatives stopped at the office. They'd ask for a show of hands, and Clifford wouldn't raise his.
With Scott's help, he was approved for a housing voucher. All he needed was a landlord to give him a chance. He'd been rejected once already during a background check, but hadn't given up.
Clifford wanted an apartment in Brooklyn Park but was also afraid of getting his own place.
"I'll be by myself," he told Geidel.
Before that moment, caseworkers hadn't considered that Clifford was afraid of being alone.
"It's almost like he was at the very crux of everything," Scott said. "If he had taken like one more footstep, everything he was waiting for probably would have come to fruition."
"Mr. Nickalo is known to this officer as one of the homeless people who live in the Glen Burnie area," county police Officer Terry Custer wrote in his report.
It was Oct. 4, 2002. A resident had accused Clifford of trying to open his pickup truck, which was parked at the resident's house. Police took him to the station and charged him with tampering with a vehicle.
"He is always attempting to get money from citizens to support his alcohol habit. Mr. Nickalo does not have a fixed address; he lives in the woods with some of his friends."
Clifford's criminal records are full of public intoxication, open container, loitering and trespassing charges. A handful of times he got in fights and was arrested for assault.
In October 1997, police responded to complaints because Clifford was just standing next to the Pier 1 store in Parole to get out of the rain. In January 2003, he shattered a Taco Bell drive-through window in Glen Burnie by banging his head and shoulder against the glass, police said.
His longest stint in jail was for a second-degree assault conviction.
In September 2008, police arrested Clifford at BWMC. They were called to the emergency room for complaints he was being combative when staff attempted to discharge him, according to the report. Clifford was accused of biting an officer on the right hand and punching a security officer in the face.
On a handful of occasions when he believed police were about to arrest him, he'd clutch his chest, complain of heart pains and ask to be taken to a hospital. Because of protocol, officers were required to take him.
Anne Arundel County police recently searched their database and found 53 incident reports involving Clifford in some way. In his last 14 years, Clifford spent 1,423 days in jail.
To Anne Arundel County paramedics, he was a "frequent flier."
Although Clifford was a sick man, some of his calls were made because he was lonely. Or cold. And almost every other day, it seemed, the Glen Burnie and Brooklyn Park stations would receive a 911 call for a man lying beside the road or man with an unknown problem. That could have become code for "Clifford.''
Keith Whalen, president of the Anne Arundel County Professional Fire Fighters union, remembers when Clifford had a cast that was long overdue to come off.
Clifford asked the medics to sign it every time they took him to the hospital. They'd write a unit number, then a hash mark to keep track of the times they had seen him.
Instead of four to six weeks, he wore it for closer to 12.
"A unit went and found him, picked him up and took him to get the cast off," Whalen said.
But the last time Clifford went to the hospital, he walked there himself, into the emergency room at BWMC. He had a seizure right there and collapsed. For more than a week, he was in a coma.
Doctors called a number they found listed as Clifford's emergency contact with the name "Felicity." She called someone she knew who also knew Clifford's mother, who told Tony and Clifford's sister.
Meanwhile, back at House of Hope, Scott was looking for Clifford. He had missed their appointment to see about another apartment. She called his caseworker at Veterans Affairs but didn't immediately think to check hospitals.
When Clifford's homeless friend Chris walked to the side of his hospital bed, he didn't see the grumbly old man he knew from the streets - the one pushing a rum and bottle of Coke into his hand and pleading "Drink with me."
Clifford was silenced by the intermittent beeps of life-support equipment. A respirator forced and tugged the air through him. His face seemed shrunken without his beard.
He didn't recognize the man in that bed.
"I was a bit ... I was pretty sad, you know?" Chris remembered later, swallowing down words, his eyes darting to the side. "I miss him, the old bastard."
When he died Nov. 15, 2013, it took some time for county paramedics to believe the news. Clifford was something of a legend. Rumors had swept over the agency before that he had died. He'd pop up somewhere in north county a few weeks later.
"He had nine lives like a cat," paramedic Val Haines said.
House of Hope staff estimated Clifford had amassed $230,000 in medical bills while he was homeless. The hospital wrote it off, caseworkers said.
When Clifford's mother heard her son had died, it didn't shock her as it would most parents, who never expect to outlive their children.
"For years I've been waiting for the cops to knock on my door and say they found him dead in a ditch," she said.
Five days after his death, an eclectic group, including two vans of other homeless people, gathered for a memorial service at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery. A pastor read a eulogy. Some who attended said they learned more in 15 minutes about Clifford's life than they had in years.
"We were like, 'He has a sister? That's his brother? That's his niece?' He didn't share any of that with us," Scott said.
His Maryland family mourned their loss decades ago when the drinking took hold, but today they are seeking closure. In the postscript of Clifford's life, Tony has requested his father's military records. Maybe they can chip away at that question: Why?
"He had suffered long enough with whatever it was," Walter said.
Months after Clifford's death, his South Carolina family has just begun to grieve. When the school year ends, Robert might bring his sons to Maryland to pay their respects.
Geidel, one of Clifford's caseworkers, sees Clifford often.
He's buried 15 feet from Geidel's in-laws at the cemetery. It gives him comfort to see the smooth gray stone on the ground with Clifford's name on it. Thatches of straw hold seed to the ground. Maybe the grass will take root this spring.
"You just have to not take it too personally and just have to keep in mind that there are lots of people who need help," Geidel said.


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Music video by A$AP Ferg performing Doe-Active. A$AP Ferg gives his "Doe-Active" track new life with a video featuring footage from the Mob member's wild times over the last year. After wildin' on the West coast, Miami and everywhere in between Fergastein comes on home back to Harlem in an all White Bentley. Yams would be proud. Ferg's "Ferg Forever" project is out now!
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subset: commoncrawl


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Whether you're a first-year JD student or in your final year as a PhD scholar, UAlberta Law is dedicated to supporting your law school experience through student services, extracurricular programs and other forms of support.
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Looking to get involved? UAlberta Law has over 30 student clubs, ranging from sports teams to advocacy groups to professional clubs. Our competitive moot program is also a fantastic way to apply and refine your legal skills and knowledge.
Academic and cultural support, career services and admissions and records are available at the UAlberta Law Student Services Office on the main floor of the Law Building. Important student services information is also posted on our events calendar, our front TV screen and on our Twitter and Facebook accounts.


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A derelict house stood at the side of the road not far from the hostel we stayed at. We stayed there in the quaint and enjoyable Lugnåsberget hostel for two nights to see the cranes dancing at the nearby lake Hornborgarsjön (here is a live camera of the place), but this derelict and dilapidated construction was a captivating attraction in its own right. On the morning we were to leave for home, I made my way over to the abandoned house, in the damp and the rain.
The closer I got, the more I felt the eyes of the well kept houses of the neighborhood were watching me. I was perhaps another stranger trespassing on a story they knew and which I was not allowed to know. The feeling became acute. As I came closer, many questions appeared. Why was there so much trash in the field of this home? It was as if someone had dragged the buzzards entrails into the open to divine the future, and in doing so destroying the record of the past. And why was the door left open? Why was there trash riddling the floor and up to the walls?
I stood at the threshold, and after peering in through the open door, finally broke the seal and stepped inside. I was in the kitchen. The trash covered everything. It was inside everything, falling out of everything. On closer inspection, it wasn't trash at all. There were bills, and letters, histories, memorabilia. In the kitchen there were a number of cages for pets, perhaps hamsters. There were papers and items of all sorts in these as well, as if they too were abandoned houses now serving as a museum.
Further in, the rooms were covered, not just with trash, but mysteriously well folded clothes, in piles, some clothing still hanging on coat hangers. The ceiling had fallen through from the upper floor. Ascending the stairs, I discovered rooms filled with riddles. Here was a bedroom with a child's bed, books and items still on their shelves, letters spilled out across the floor. Children had lived here, and the details of the lives of these people lay strewn across the house. It did not look ransacked, but as if someone, a pack rat, had lost the ability to clean, had abruptly died or moved away, and all was left as is with no one to come collect it.
All of this woke a sense of tragedy in me. Seeing a little lamb on the bed, I thought of my own children, and this derelict house suddenly became a home whose central figures could no longer uphold its order. I was once again trespassing, and the eyes of the neighborhood were again upon me. And so, with few images taken, I left. It was enough. I doubt more images of the place would yield more than the sense of how much stuff lay around, yet without adding any more to the story. That story was hidden in the letters and papers and items I will never read.
Derelict Images
The images in this series are few. They are edited with Snapseed.
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Brouhaha is a French word meaning "commotion" or "hubbub." The French Littré etymological dictionary cites one use of it in the 18th century by Saint-Simon and three by Molière. It was adopted with this meaning into English in the late 19th century.
Ortolang (Outils et Ressources pour un Traitement Optimisé de la Langue) states that the earliest use on record of this combination of syllables occurred in a16th century farce in which a priest disguised as a devil tries to terrify someone by shouting Brou, brou, brou, ha, ha, Brou, ha, ha. So it may have begun as merely a scary noise, similar to "boo!"
But it seems there may be more to the story than this. Some etymologists have suggested a much more interesting derivation. Here's a summary of their view from Merriam-Webster:
There is a bit of a brouhaha over the etymology of brouhaha. Some etymologists think the word is onomatopoeic in origin, but others believe it comes from the Hebrew phrase bārŪkh habbā',meaning "blessed be he who enters" (Psalms 118:26). Although we borrowed our spelling and meaning of brouhaha directly from French in the late 19th century, etymologists have connected the French derivation to that frequently recited Hebrew phrase, distorted to something like brouhaha by worshippers whose knowledge of Hebrew was limited. Thus, once out of the synagogue, the word first meant "a noisy confusion of sound" - a sense that was later extended to refer to any tumultuous and confused situation.But this could be a mere coincidence, right? How many Christians would have understood enough Hebrew or even had the opportunity to hear it spoken in a synagogue to export it into the wider community? Seems a pretty far-fetched derivation to me.
[Side note: my computer's auto-correct feature suggests Merriam-Webster is in error in spelling "worshippers" with two P's. It's got some nerve!]
Of course the priest in the old farce could be supposed to be parodying the Hebrew expression, but the fact that the original citation has each syllable repeated separately makes me wonder whether these were just scary noises that happened to sound like the Hebrew phrase.
Ortolang also cites as an example supporting this theory a passage by François Rabelais in 1552 in the fourth volume of Gargantua et Pantagruel in which the bawdy French priest-satirist seems to be using a variation on the phrase from the old farce by depicting a crowd of clerics striking cymbals together and shouting like devils: Hho, hho, hho, hho, brrrourrrourrrs, rrrourrrs, rrrourrrs. Hou, hou, hou. Hho, hho, hho.
Ortolang notes that the learned Rabelais could have been directly based on Psalm 118 since he exhibits in his writings some awareness of Jewish writings, but it is far from clear that he could actually read Hebrew.
Even the distinguished Larousse Dictionnaire de français has adopted this etymology without comment:
altération onomatopéique de l'hébreu bārākh habbā, paroles d'un psaumeWhatever its origins, the spelling is definitely not "brew ha ha," but there are plenty of examples of this amusing version on the Web. Here are just three, all in the context of current political controversies:
But evidently … there is no such rule. Hence … all the brew ha ha.
The whole thing strikes me as a huge brew-ha-ha that started with Scott Brown and has gained life as a meme that won't die.
A huge brew ha-ha occured and the two candidates that were against the IA were Nolan & Turkel.But an involuntary pun like this is inevitably also made deliberately into the name of some occasion involving beer:
- The Brew Haha Craft Beer Festival in Silverado, California.
- An Oktoberfest celebration to support the Seattle Children's Hospital
- A Halloween-themed adult summer camp party outside Austin, Texas, sponsored by the Karbach Brewing Company and the Alamo Drafthouse.
So your depending on your choice of drink a commotion can be hopped up or merely fizzy.


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Nectar cards opening offer seems to be the best bet at the min for the short term.
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I always used to bash everything on the Tesco Finest card, 1 point per ?2. That's now rubbish so used the MBNA Diamond Club Avios card the last few months but that's now rubbish.
Someone suggested an Amex Platinum one that gives cashback, but most of the time we only put ?500 on it a month so I have doubts we'd do much more than cover the ?25 yearly fee.
The Santander 123 card might be worthwhile but it's marginal when the fee is ?3 a month.
Any ideas? I guess the end has come now for decent rewards unless you are a big spender.
Those who think they know it all are very annoying to those of us who actually do.
Nectar cards opening offer seems to be the best bet at the min for the short term.
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Yes it is by invite Dom.
I have the invite and mulling over whether to go for it - probably will.
I use Santander 123 a lot, as you say fee goes up to ?3 a month, next month. I usually get between ?7 to ?10 cashback a month as i spend a lot on petrol for my work, so on balance, still worth it for me. I used it in Thailand a lot recently as well, as they are not adding fees for foreign currency purchases till end 2016 ( i think thats when it ends )
Away from the numbers
Are you still living in Sh***bury Dom? Local council take PayPal for council tax now, also water can be paid via co op with a card using amex hth
Well no more miles from the BMI Diomond card and to rub salt in the wound my replacement will have no rewards.
Spend a Little ...Holiday alot.
Have applied for Amex Nectar, didnt get instant decision, have to wait few days, probably because i am self employed.
Away from the numbers
What's the offer with NEctar people are talking about? I have one on my apps for Nectar for 5000 points, is that the one or is there something better?
I love PTS but I want my garage back!
Its an invite only deal.
Amex Nectar card - apply by end October.
If accepted you have 3 months to put ?2K of spend on the card, and should then get 40000 nectar points.
Card fee is ?25 per annum, this is waived in first year.
Away from the numbers


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Auxiliary Nurse
Kim Joyce-Auxiliary Nurse
Kim started with Ashleigh in 2008 after completing a degree in Wildlife Conservation Zoo Biology and Behaviour. Prior to this she studied for and gained her Btec National Diploma in Animal Care followed by a Btec National Diploma in Animal Management. Kim spent lots of her time volunteering in various animal related establishments in order to gain a varied experience of animal care prior to embarking on her career.
She particularly enjoys spending time with the cats in our cattery and looks forward to welcoming new boarders, as well as making regular visitors feel like one of her own family of pets. Kim prides herself at knowing each individual's personality and therefore what they do and don't like!! In her spare time Kim likes to spend time with her menagerie of pets and enjoys keeping fit.
Louise Beeley-Auxiliary Nurse
Louise started with Ashleigh Veterinary Centre in 2005. She began her career caring for animals in a local boarding facility. Whilst here she was fortunate enough to also assist in rehabilitating animals in the on site pet gynasium. With 5 years of experience working in Manchester Dog's Home, and a further 2 years with Companion Care Veterinary Practice, Louise has gained much experience in the field of small animal care. She is passionate about animals and has also volunteered in the past to help with the care and rehoming of animals at her local RSPCA rescue centre.
Louise has further extended her skills by studying for and gaining her NVQ level 2 in Animal Care and her Diploma as an Animal Nursing Assistant. In her spare time Louise loves walking her dogs and has a very special talent with icing sugar. Having studied at night school Louise creates beautifully decorated cakes. They taste very nice too!! Louise has had a baby boy and since returned to work part time from Autumn 2016.
Nicola Walker – Auxiliary Nurse
For the past 6 years Nicola has worked at the Manchester Brittania Hotel as a Central Group Administrator. Due to always having a passion to work with animals she completed a BTECH in Level 2 Animal Care from Manchester College in 2014. She joined the practice in May 2015. In her spare time Nicola volunteers at local RSPCA Altrincham events. She has two giant African land snails, Stig and Sebastion, and Jemima the cat.
Paige Warmington- Auxiliary Nurse
As growing up with her family being a foster carer for The German Shepherd Rescue, Paige has always had a passion for working with animals. Paige joined the practice in 2017, after previously working as a veterinary receptionist. She enjoys photography, writing and cooking vegan recipes. As well as rescuing several ex- battery chickens, her pets include rabbits and her best friend Rouge who she adopted after fostering from the German Shepherd Rescue. In her spare time she also volunteers as a pet sitter supporting a local rescue centre.
Julia Cottam – Auxiliary Nurse
For the last 9 years Julia has worked for the NHS in administration before making a career change to join the practice in April 2015. Julia has been horse riding since she was 8 years old and now owns her own horse called Jake. In her spare time she enjoys yoga and spending time with her rescue cat Foley.
Katy Isherwood- Auxiliary Nurse
Before joining the team in November 2017 Katy worked as an auxiliary nurse at a veterinary practice in Stockport. In 2007 she completed a National Diploma in Equine management and has worked on stud stable yards. In her spare time she enjoys travelling and exploring the outdoors with her West Highland White Terriers Daisy-Mae and Coco.
Rosie Davis- Auxiliary Nurse
Rosie has previously worked as an admin assistant before joining our team in November 2017. She has always had a passion to work with animals and volunteers as a cat socialiser for the RSPCA in Stockport. In her spare time she enjoys playing the guitar, reading, listening to podcasts, watching crime documentaries and spending time with her two rescure rabbits (Isambard and Abbott).


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Sophie Kinsella raced to the top of the bestseller lists in 2000 when her novel THE SECRET DREAMWORLD OF A SHOPAHOLIC was published. Since then her 'SHOPHAHOLIC' novels have sold over two million copies to date. She has also written two stand-alone novels, CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET and THE UNDOMESTIC GODESS, both of which were number one bestsellers, and seven novels under her real name, Madeleine Wickham.
What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
(children books (Ages 9-12), children books, sci-fi, fantasy)
"My earliest, most impactful encounter with a book was when I was seven and awoke early on Christmas morning to find Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in my stocking. I had never been so excited by the sight of a book -- and have possibly never been since! I switched on the light and read the whole thing before the rest of my family even woke up. I think that's when my love affair with books began."
What are your ten favorite books, and what makes them special to you?
- Emma By Jane Austen
(health, literature and fiction, classics, girl fiction)
"I love this book so much, I have to stop myself reading it too often. Jane Austen's wit and observation is just unsurpassed; I almost prefer the minor characters to the main ones. Every time I read it I find something new to enjoy. "
- Agatha Christie Novels -- All Of Them!
"I adore all Agatha Christie's books and turn to them whenever I'm ill or need cheering up. It's such a treat to lose yourself in that world of butlers and country houses. I'm also very lucky that I never remember the plots in any detail -- so I'm always surprised by whodunit!"
- The Diary Of A Provincial Lady By E. M. Delafield
(literature and fiction)
"This is a gem of the 1930s, with one of the most endearing, funny characters in British literature. The heroine is a country lady with a wry sense of humor; her witty, self-deprecating commentary on life always makes me smile."
- Dorothy Parker's Short Stories
"Dorothy Parker's stories are simply stunning. I love the precision, the wit and the pathos, and that dark, dark humor."
- Frost In May By Antonia White
(classics, literature and fiction)
"I read this book as a teenager and it had a huge effect on me. It's a meticulously observed account of a girl's life in a convent school dedicated to turning children into pious "Soldiers of Christ." It's based on the author's own experience, and rings with truth. The intense, distilled atmosphere envelops you as you read, and you gradually see the way the nuns are working on the girls' minds. It's quite chilling."
- His Dark Materials By Philip Pullman
(children books, children books series, sci-fi, teens)
"I was absolutely blown away by this trilogy, in particular The Amber Spyglass. The world Philip Pullman evokes is staggering in its imagination and ideas -- plus it's the most fantastic, epic story. I can't remember being so riveted to a book for years, and was in tears at the end."
- The God Of Small Things By Arundhati Roy
(literature and fiction)
"This is a most wonderful, intricate, poignant book. I come back to it over and over because of the stunning language and descriptions; every page is like a painting."
- Through The Looking Glass By Lewis Carroll
(children books (Ages 9-12), children books, literature and fiction)
"I read both Alice books as a child and always preferred the sequel. It is full of the most fabulous mind games and riddles, and I'm particularly fond of the Red Queen and Humpty Dumpty!"
- Small World By David Lodge
(literature and fiction)
"This is an old favorite of mine. It takes what might seem a dull subject -- academia -- and turns it into a riotous comedy full of larger-than-life characters, who spend their lives jetting from conference to conference, pinching each other's ideas, and vying for highly paid professorships. And of course, sleeping with each other while discussing literary criticism. (As you do.) A perfect combination of cleverness and comedy."
- The Garrick Year By Margaret Drabble
(literature and fiction)
"Margaret Drabble is one of my favorite writers -- and this is one of my favorite books by her. It's the story of Emma and her actor husband, whose relationship is like a kind of love-hate battle. It's an incredibly honest, insightful, intelligent, and humorous look at marriage, and although it was written 40 years ago it feels totally fresh today."
If you had a book club, what would it be reading –- and why?
- David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
(literature and fiction, classics)
"David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. For anyone who has read this book, going back to it is a treat; for anyone who hasn't, it is an absolute joy to come. The characters in this book are the most fantastic creations with resonant names to match -- the Murdstones, Peggotty, Uriah Heep. Mr. Micawber alone, with his comical financial troubles, has to be one of the most memorable characters in fiction. The storytelling is consummate, and the book is so rich with themes and ideas and sentiments that you could spend years discussing it, never mind a single meeting! "
What are your favorite kinds of books to give – and get – as gifts?
- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
(girl fiction, literature and fiction, fantasy, sci-fi)
- The Pig Of Happiness By Edward Monkton
(motivational, self-help, health, literature and fiction, religion and spirituality)
Why should you listen to her?
Sophie Kinsella, aka Madeleine Wickham, raced to the top of the bestseller lists in September 2000 when her novel The Secret Dreamworld of A Shopaholic was published by Black Swan. The book's heroine, Becky Bloomwood – a fun and feisty financial journalist who loves shopping but is hopeless with money – captured the hearts of readers worldwide and she has since gone on to further adventures in Shopaholic Abroad, Shopaholic Ties the Knot and Shopaholic and Sister, and has sold over two million copies to date. Sophie's two stand-alone novels, Can You Keep A Secret and The Undomestic Goddess were both number one bestsellers, and have sold in the region of three quarters of a million copies each.
Sophie wrote her first novel under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, at the tender age of 24, whilst she was working as a financial journalist. The Tennis Party was immediately hailed as a success by critics and the public alike, and became a top ten bestseller. She has since published no fewer than six more novels as Madeleine Wickham, A Desirable Residence, Swimming Pool Sunday, The Gatecrasher, The Wedding Girl, Cocktails for Three and Sleeping Arrangements.
She submitted her first "Sophie Kinsella" novel anonymously to Black Swan, who were already her publishers, and it was snapped up without her editors knowing that she was already one of their authors. It was with the appropriately titled Can You Keep A Secret? that Sophie revealed her true identity for the first time.


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Speaker: Rainer Kolisch
Title: Hospital-wide flow management of elective patients
Abstract: We consider the problem of planning the flow of elective patients in a hospital. For each patient the Diagnosis-related group (DRG) and the clinical pathway are given. The DRG and the length of stay determine the revenue the hospital will receive for a patient. The clinical pathway of a patient defines the clinical procedures to be performed and precedence relations between them. Resources such as diagnostic devices, the operating theater, and beds which are required by the procedures within the clinical pathways are limited. This problem is closely related to admission planning but instead of deciding on the number of patients for fixed schedules we decide for a fixed number of patients on the schedule (patient flow) of each patient. To this end we model the problem as a resource-constrained multi-project scheduling problem (RCMPSP) with minimum and maximum time lags. We propose a zero-one programming formulation with the objective to maximize the DRG-based contribution margin taking into account limited resources. In a computational study where we employ data from a midsize hospital we can show that solving the zero-one programming formulation with standard optimization software can be done fast enough for practical applications. Furthermore, we show that the solutions obtained with our approach considerably improve the solutions currently employed in the hospital.


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How many of us realize how our dietary habits have slowly changed over the centuries and the way it has started to drastically affect our human health. Research on the subject, by advocators of the alkaline diet, indicates some startling revelations and many discussions have ensued on the subject. In the early years, all of us ate foods that naturally balanced the alkaline with the acidic. However, as newer innovations in the agricultural field were introduced, we automatically started to consume grains that were ground and processed in special machines and these were more acidic in nature. Salts, sugar and milk have also been discovered, which only adds to the issues that compound disastrous health problems.
Foods that are incorporated in the alkaline diet plan are tubers, citrus fruits, and various types of nuts, fresh vegetables and legumes. The chief element here is about keeping careful tabs on what you eat and not what you omit to eat. You will have to make conscious changes in your diet, if you wish to follow this diet plan by eliminating most of the starches, processed foods, caffeine, alcohol and sugar from your diet.
Improved results will definitely be noticed once you follow this diet for a certain period. Many people who have been on this alkaline diet plan insist they felt more energetic and reported clearer blemish-free skin, weight loss, fewer pains and aches. Our body has a wondrous mechanism in that it can prevent us from being affected by major ailments, such as cancer, if it is nourished with the right types of food.
Some of the symptoms that require immediate change in the diet are ulcers and gastritis. You will be prescribed foods that will reduce the acidic levels in your abdomen to prevent ulcerous holes from forming, or burning of the esophagus, with spill over of acid in the system. It is essential to include vinegar, citrus fruits and various ascorbic vitamins and folic acid that will help balance the acid levels and reduce the acid content in the urine. Calcium pills work effectively to reduce acidity when it initially enters the abdominal tract.
When you eat foods that are acidic, they are digested in the stomach remain acidic. Pancreas is the organ that works to neutralize acidity, by turning foods to alkaline substances, from the nutrients in the abdomen as they travel through the intestines. Urine is the best natural chemical cleanser that takes care of any changes that we make in our diets by flushing out unwanted substances. Our stomach requires a certain amount of alkaline substances to break down and digest foods therefore it is necessary to add non-acidic foods to our diet. When there is more alkaline in the system, the cancer producing white blood cells are discouraged from developing and are only accelerated, when there is excess acidity. This is the theory behind which the alkaline diet plan has evolved.
The alkaline diet plan that is also advertised as the cancer diet plan, works on the basis of handling certain chemical reactions that are introduced in the body, with the foods that we normally eat. The enzymes in the body control the chemical reactions that are brought about by the nutrients that we imbibe. The enzymes in our body also work to maintain our normal pH levels in the body, which in turn, ensures the proper working of the enzymes. This cycle takes care of the chemical reactions that occur with the foods such as fruits and fresh vegetables that we eat. It is possible to change the urine type by changing your dietary supplements and taking the right foods such as vegetables and plenty of fresh fruit as it will reduce the acidic content in the urine. Though doctors may fail to tell you, the excess proteins that you consume by way of meats, go into the bloodstream, causing it to become more acidic and do not get stored in the body. To combat this situation you need to take more calcium, which in turn, increases the risk of osteoporoses. This is because the chemical reactions are affected by the intake of calcium, which is taken from the bones to convert the acid that enters your blood to alkaline content.
The medical fraternity is not enamored with this alkaline diet plan. While they do not dismiss it altogether, they do not stop anyone from following this plan if there are no medical reasons for staying away from this diet. It is easy to follow an alkaline diet plan, as it does not involve purchase or preparation of any complicated foods or trying out any complicated recipe. The foods listed are easy to spot in any grocery store and the only difficult part of this plan is to forego foods that we have been enjoying all along.


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Getting to Know us
We have been growing as a father and son team for over 20 years. For many generations past we have been connected to the land as growers, dairy farmers and lumberman. It is our passion to grow food that nourishes people, and we enjoy teaching the process to those that come to visit. We have an active farm-lab experience partnering with GRPS' North Park Montessori. Although we are not certified organic, we use time-tried sustainable methods. If you have any questions about our applications or pest-management practices, we are happy to provide explanations and examples.
Visiting the Farm
We love having visitors at the farm. We are passionate about passing on our knowledge of the land and produce to anyone who is interested. Please call us ahead of time if you would like a tour, or to talk about the farm. We are frequently out in the fields, and stopping by without a scheduled time, means we might not be there.
Contact us via email or phone to set something up!


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Public Health and Safety
|SvirskiWebs Health Public Health and Safety
|Thursday 23 May 2019
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If you or a loved one have been the victim of what you believe was medical negligence, you should immediately seek expert legal advice about making your medical negligence claims. We are expert medical negligence claims solicitors, who can give you immediate advice and guidance on your potential claim.
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Our store offer a premier branded line of drug testing products, the supreme quality of home drug testing kits & business drug testing kits available on the market. For example: alcohol test kits, cotinine testing kit, meth drug test kits, pcp drug testing kits.
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We are physiatrists, i.e. specialists in physical medicine and rehabilitation. This is relatively new specialty, focused on pain relief and functional restoration.
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|Medical Transport for Ill and Injured Patients
Angel MedFlight provides air ambulance, ground ambulance and commercial medical escorts for critical patients. To give the absolute best service, we also handle insurance authorizations, billing, claims filing and appeals.
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|Drug Program Management
With your membership you receive all the testing materials you require, manuals, handouts, Supervisor and Employee Anti-Drug and Alchohol Abuse Training DVDs, reports, personal assistance and posters. Put 20 plus years of experience in the drug and alcohol testing field to work for your business.
http://www.faadrug.com 0
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MySafetyHub is an online merchant offering all top brand, cleaning and hygiene equipment. Safety products, skin care products, industrial skin care, safety shoes, personal protective equipment, window cleaning, unger, selden, cleaning products.
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|Zicam Class Action Lawsuit
Zicam class action Lawsuit - free case review with Zicam Lawsuit law firm for smell loss and anosmia. Call today.
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|Health and Safety Consultants
Black Rock health and safety consultants specialise in construction safety and CDM Co-ordinators within commercial business.
http://www.blackrocksafety.co.uk 0


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U.N. Condemns Mali Coup
The U.N. Security Council has strongly condemned a military coup that took place in Mali early Thursday morning. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the responsible parties to refrain from violence. Rogue soldiers overtook the government after it was unable to stop a separatist rebellion in the north of the country. Mali is due to hold elections on April 29, and the whereabouts of the current president, as well as other top government officials, remain unknown as the World Bank halted its aid to the nation.


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Aarb!by in CodeSOD on 2017-11-30
C++'s template system is powerful and robust enough that template metaprogramming is Turing complete. Given that kind of power, it's no surprise that pretty much every other object-oriented language eschews templates for code generation.
Java, for example, uses generics- essentially templates without the metaprogramming. What we still keep is compile-time type-safety, and all the benefits of generic programming, but without the complexity of compile-time code generation.


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Why I have acrylic nails that are short..../
Lots of people are surprised when I say I have acrylic nails, considering how short I like to wear them. I imagine that most people with nails this length just get gel, like Shellac, rather than acyrlic tips.
I like having my nails like this because they just survive. They don't chip or break. They just look polished for the two weeks inbetween appointments.
I like how having nice nails makes me feel put together. I used to spend ages on polish, and within 24 hours it would be chipped, no matter how many coats, or top coats I'd use.
I use acrylics to give me neatness, rather than length. I love having them!


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mercoledì 10 febbraio 2010
19 commenti:
All of your photos are great! I just love those little shoes. They just always make a girl want to say Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...they are so cute. Thanks for participating in the White Wednesday. Enjoyed it!!!RispondiElimina
All your white pretties are inspirational...and the little baby shoes are so precious! :-)RispondiElimina
- Anonimo11 febbraio 2010 00:06
Ciao Rita...piaciere di conoscierti....RispondiElimina
nice to meet you too...I have come to thank you for your complimenti....
i'll look around your blog now..
- Anonimo11 febbraio 2010 00:09
i'm your newest follower....un nuovo seguitori....RispondiElimina
ciao bella
So Beautiful! Love your pretties!RispondiElimina
Rita as usual it is always such a treat to come over here and see what you are sharing for WW. Those little shoes and the entire vignette is so lovely. I hope you get to feeling better soon. I'm fighting a cold myself and it is no fun at all.RispondiElimina
Those are the sweetest little shoes. Hope you had nice day.RispondiElimina
Nonostante il raffreddore hai presentato delle "BELLISSIME" foto.RispondiElimina
Hi Rita,RispondiElimina
very nice photos!!! I like especially the little shoes:-) I wish you healthy!
Have a nice day!
Rita la tua alzatina è bellissima ....immaggino la tua casa dagli sprazzi che si vedono dalle foto ...e la immaggino molto English...è cosi?!!!RispondiElimina
Chère amie! I had computer difficulties, but here I am to see your lovely post....Bisous to you and bless you on this weekend! AnitaRispondiElimina
Bonjour Rita,RispondiElimina
Sorry to hear you're not feeling well, hope you back in shape very soon. Love the little baby shoes and the pearls, your photos look great as usual.
I also wanted to say congratulations, you are the winner of my first lovestory giveaway. I have a few things I would like to send over to you, if you wouldn't mind sending me your address. You can send it to my email via my about me profile, and Ill send it out next week.
Merci for sharing and talk to you soon!
RITA! I so enjoyed reading your LOVE STORY....the power of love is bigger than anything and I am so glad to hear that your story ended with a positive note....you deserve only the best Rita....and your picture on Mimi's blog is large enough now for my old eyes that I can see you better; what a beautiful Italian woman you are. Oh Rita, bless you and may you enjoy many, many years of friendship and love with your husband. Bisous ma belle! AnitaRispondiElimina
Beautiful whites Rita. Sorry to hear that you are not feeling well again. Wishing you much health and happiness today and always. Blessings, TammyRispondiElimina
Rita darling, I came over from Bonjour Romance to congratulate you on your win. Your love story is so inspiring, as I always tell my friends, do not give up hope, things happen for a reason, it is the end that is important and your ending was so romantic.RispondiElimina
Love & Hugs
Molto romantico! Che tenere quelle scarpette!RispondiElimina
Buon w.e.
Shabby e dintorni
just droped by your lovely blog; and have just joined,RispondiElimina
happy friday
Rita darling, thanks so much for visiting my cottage and for the lovely words you left behind, much appreciated. I am so glad we've met and I look forward to many visits with you in the future. Wishing you a lovely weekend and a love filled Valentine's Day.RispondiElimina
Love & Hugs
such sweet little white vignettes!RispondiElimina
you are my first italian blog, and i am very
some people collect blogs, but i am collecting
happily, your blog is wonderful, too.


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Welcome to Mouvance.
Mouvance, French for "circle of influence," is a family-owned winery producing limited quantities of Pinot Noir and white wines with fruit from our vineyard and other Oregon sites. Our name pays tribute to the friends, family, and people we work with who have helped and inspired us over the years. This endeavor is a product of incredible support, enjoyment, and "influence" from these people, and the result is an elegant wine that creates a unique experience for each individual. We hope you enjoy our wines, and invite you to join our circle.


text: The Mayor has hosted a reception for members of the Hillside Avenue social club. Her Worship explained: 'I belonged to the club as a youngster as my grandmother lived in Hillside. The club's run and organised by Willie Kneale (pictured back row, extreme left), supported by many of the other residents. Sadly, though, the club is disbanding due to the group's average age. The reception in the parlour was the group's final official outing. It will be sad for the club to come to end: we used to have so many great days out.'


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Sunday, Nov 18, 2018 at 4:00pm
The Polar Express™ Train Ride at the National Railroad Museum features a live rendition of the Hot Chocolate Dance followed by a dramatic reading of the original Polar Express™ book. Patrons then board the train for the ride to the North Pole. Once we reach the top of the world, Santa personally greets each and every child.
Time: 4:00pm, 6:00pm and 8:00pm


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The 34th Annual Balboa Angling Club's Master Angler Billfish Tournament, the most prestigious and oldest marlin tournament on the west coast, was held September 11th and 12th in 100+ degree hot weather!
The Kick-Off Party and Captain's Meeting was standing room only on September 9th at The Tee Room in Newport Beach. Since 129 Marlin were caught and tagged/or released by BAC members or on BAC boats BEFORE the MABT even started, the atmosphere was electric and the anglers were ready to go!
The fishing started on Friday at 6:30 am with the first fish hooking up two minutes later! Sadly, that fish was lost, but by the 11:00 am roll call, 8 marlin had been caught and released! Boats were fishing mainly in the northern section of the area in Grid 10 and 11 near Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands; some boats were even flying Kites like in the old Zane Grey days!
The BAC once again teamed up with the IGFA (International Game Fish Association) and had 9 Great Marlin Race satellite tags purchased and assigned to boats in this year's MABT. Two tags were deployed: one by Black Fin, fishing for the Dana Angling Club, and one by Magellan, fishing for the Tuna Club of Avalon. You can track their paths by visiting the IGFA-IGMR website at https://www.igfa.org/Conserve/Balboa%20USA%202015%20Race.
Overall, it was light line marlin fishing at its finest, a great success for the Balboa Angling Club, and the anglers are ready to come back in 2016!
Here are the results of the 2015 Master Angler Billfish Tournament:
Clubs = 7 Boats = 41 Anglers = 170
82 Hook Ups 54 Releases
Total Fish 1st Day 34 Released
2nd Day 20 Released
High Club
1st Dana Angling – Team 1 1950 pts.
2nd Tuna Club of Avalon – Team 1 1620 pts.
3rd Light Tackle Marlin Club 1140 pts.
High Boat
1st Black Fin 1080 pts.
2nd Kelsey Lee 720 pts.
3rd Good Karma 720 pts.
High Angler
1st Shane Hurt 1080 pts.
2nd David Herrera 660 pts.
3rd Greg Stotesbury 450 pts.
4th Barry Brightenburg 450 pts.
5th Bob Petrina 420 pts.
6th Larry Coots, Jr. 360 pts.
7th Don Butts 360 pts.
8th Erik Landesfeind 360 pts.
9th Don Goodwin 360 pts.
10th Bobby Leinau 360 pts.
Tuna Division
The Tuna won this year.
Bob and Sally Kurz Perpetual Circle Hook Award
Chase Offield, Calen Offield, Sawyer Jones, Hunter Heatly
Kelsey Lee
1st Place Team Andreya
Fishing for Balboa Angling Club
2nd Place Jock Albright
Fishing for Tuna Club of Avalon
3rd Place Team Hooked
Fishing for Dana Angling Club


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Join Desert Foothills Land Trust and F.O.R.C.E.
January 27, 2010
Metate/Petroglyph Easy 9AM 1.7 miles, 2 hours Petroglyphs, bedrock metate
1st Mesa - Short Moderate Short 9 AM 2 miles, 3 hours Large and medium prehistoric pueblos, petroglyphs
1st Mesa Long Moderate Long 9 AM 3.7 miles, 4 hours Same as number 2 with additional petroglyphs, longer
Elephant Mtn Fortress Difficult 8 AM 7 miles, 5 hours Hike to Elephant Butte Fortress
All hikes require closed-toe shoes and water. Dressing in layers, hat and walking stick are suggested. Bring a snack or a lunch and we will picnic in a scenic spot.
All hikes require advance registration and $25 payment (Spur Cross entrance fee included).
Your payment benefits the purchase of 4,000 acres of open space.
To register, download a registration form at www.dflt.org. For more info call the land trust at 480-488-6131 or email email@example.com.


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Monday, December 19, 2011
out & about
Labels: out and about, photos
3 comments:
- Amy said...
I haven't seen a Ben Franklin in AGES!!!
- December 19, 2011 at 9:20 AM
- karen said...
I can see this sign and still smell BF: a mix of the candy counter, popcorn, dusting powder . . .
- December 19, 2011 at 9:44 AM
- Alyssa said...
My best friend in grade school's father actually managed and later owned this Ben Franklin store. I have such great memories of it as a child, it was such a shame when they closed the store. I was too young to actually appreciate the huge craft section in the basement and now it is gone!
I live only a few minutes away from here! I love the Englewood stores, but they all have terrible hours!
I am realy excited for the reopening of the theater because it has been closed for years!
Thanks for the pictures!!
- December 21, 2011 at 6:58 PM
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Create Certificate Valid till 2033 – AIR Android apk upload
When uploading your android .apk file you may be asked for Certificate valid for certain years.
"Market requires that the certificate used to sign the apk be valid until at least October –, 2033/2034. Create a new certificate."
Adobe Air Certificate generator does not Create a time Stamp valid for certain years. Work around for this is use keytool command line key generator.
keytool -genkey -v -storetype pkcs12 -keystore AndroidCertificate.p12 -keyalg RSA -validity 20000
above syntax creates certificate valid for 20000 days.
Hope this is helpful.


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The Sports Utility Vehicle box robot is the new marvelous box robot that we've created. It is designed for teams that would like to learn how to build balanced, stable and working robot chassis following our box principle. It is smaller and easier to build than box robot 1 and it is more simple than box robot 2.
The main advantages of this robot compared to previous box robots are
- motors in the right direction, so when rotating the motor forward, the robot moves forward.
- it is much easier to attach attachments. There are 4 different gears on which you could attach attachments.
- it has a large clearance - which means that it could move over obstacles.
Of course, it has a Gyro and two Color Sensors. Not only that, but we have all the cables shown in the construction.
- [How NOT To] Build An Active Attachment For SUV Box Robot
- Simple Pinless Attachment for the SUV Box Robot
- SUV Front Active Attachment for Box Robot
- Attachments Frame for SUV Box Robot
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Building instructions delivered to your device by 3DAssemblyInstructions.com
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To construct you need
- LEGO Mindstorms EV3 45544 Education Core
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|Stephen Woodhouse
|Stephen heads Pöyry's Market Design group dealing with all aspects of energy market policy regulation and design, for private and public-sector clients. Stephen is an expert in market reform, for high-level policy design to implementation of systems and processes for market participants. He specialises in the economics of transmission and interconnection; market regulatory policy across Europe and the UK and Irish electricity and gas markets.
Stephen leads Pöyry's business development in the inter-related areas of intermittency, smart grids and market design, and continues to contribute to the debate on appropriate models for reward for generation capacity, transmission charging and access.


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Vinnie's Philosophy
J esus is my substitute! Any righteousness I obtain is grasped because of the reach on His cross bridging the radius between Heaven and Earth. In His masterpiece, The Sermon On The Mount, Jesus expressed an impossible standard to live by when he commanded us to "Be ye perfect as our Father is in Heaven!" Talk about your tall orders!
T hat is why my absolute favorite Bible passage reads, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV) Jesus took my place as if He was my sin that I might take His Righteousness as if it was my perfection! The only claim to anything good that I can muster is the best claim, Jesus paid it all, and all to him I owe!" In the classic Christian book on the life of Jesus, Desire of Ages, it is put this way, "Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves." DA 25. I, therefore, believe with all my heart that I am a pastor, teacher, writer, blogger, because God forever needs to keep before my own eyes, for my own good, the only merit of Salvation I have—Jesus! The more I preach, teach, and write of Jesus, the more clear He becomes to me. Won't you join me on my unfolding discovery of "Christ my Righteousness?" .
hese are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were redeemed from the human race as the firstfruits for God and the Lamb.
Revelation 14:4b
o gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard."
—Allen Ginsberg, WD
don't care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book."
—Roald Dahl, WD
f a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood."
—Peter Handke


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From Library of Congress Name Authority File
Cooper, Alice, 1948-
Instance Of
Scheme Membership(s)
Collection Membership(s)
- Furnier, Vincent, 1948-
- Furnier, Vincent Damon, 1948-
Additional Information
Birth Date
- (edtf) 1948-02-04
Birth Place
Associated Locale
Associated Locale
- male
Associated Language
Field of Activity
Use For
Additional Related Forms
Exact Matching Concepts from Other Schemes
Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes
- found: Helander, B. The rock ww, c1982(Alice Cooper; both the name of a 70s rock band and the pseud. of its vocalist-protagonist--Vincent Furnier, b. 2/4/48, Detroit)
- found: Wikipedia, October 2, 2015:(Alice Cooper is an American singer, songwriter, musician and occasional actor; born Vincent Damon Furnier, on February 4, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan; later moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona; founded his first band in Phoenix in 1964; relocated to Los Angeles in 1967, changing their name to Alice Cooper in 1968; in 1975 Alice Cooper became a solo act; to avoid legal complications over ownership of the group name, "Alice Cooper" became the singer's new legal name, although he still pays a yearly royalty to his original bandmates for the right to use the name commercially; is still performing)
- found: Wikipedia via WWW, 16 December 2015:(Hollywood Vampires is an American rock supergroup formed in 2015 by Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry to honor the music of the rock stars who died from excess in the 1970s.)
LC Classification
Change Notes
- 1984-09-21: new
- 2016-03-21: revised
Alternate Formats


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How often should I get a massage?
This depends on what your goals are, what symptoms you suffer from, and how easily your system responds to treatment. Once you are satisfied with your treatment progress, an occasional tune-up is encouraged to maintain optimal health. Massage has its greatest benefits over time – the therapeutic effects of massage are cumulative, so the more often you get a massage, the better you will feel and the quicker your body will respond. From one session to the next, relaxation deepens as the chronic patterns of stress in the body are affected and released. If you're getting massage to address chronic muscular tension or recovery from a soft tissue injury, more than one session is usually needed.
What type of pillow should I use?
The most supportive pillow that molds to the head and neck is a down pillow. For people who need more support, or have an unstable neck, then a TempurPedic pillow may be a better choice.
I love my pillow! It contains feathers from geese "raised on beautiful farms in Hungary, fed an organic diet, and nurtured to live a full healthy life. Clusters of down are hand-gathered with care." Awww.
Why do you ask me to "breathe" into an area?
Breath and release techniques direct your awareness to the present, and intention to release an area. Visualizing breath moving into tissues can greatly help relax the firing of tension receptors in the muscles and tendons. Deepening one's breath provides an easy tool for coming down from a heightened "flight or fight" response.
Will my bad habits pull my body back out of alignment?
The increase in body awareness that comes from massage therapy makes the body more sensitive to the effects of "bad habits" or inefficient movement patterns. The body will naturally want to do what is more balanced and efficient because it will be more comfortable. If you continue to follow this new impulse in your body towards comfort, your body will continue to move towards alignment.
What is Preventative Medicine?
Preventative medicine is aimed at reducing the likelihood of diseases and infections affecting an individual. Conventional medicine as practiced by general practitioners is primarily concerned with treating and curing existing conditions. Preventative medicine as applied to an individual views the body as a whole, and is treated with this concept in mind. Any activity or behavior that is aimed at maintaining a healthy lifestyle and a robust immune system can be beneficial and aid in preventing sickness. This can include regular exercise, good eating habits, and maintaining a healthy body weight ratio. Tight muscles and adhered fascia prevent movement through our normal range of motion and are more prone to injury. Taking epsom salt baths, massage and stretching are preventative measures to avoid imbalance and injury.


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We are a Fort Collins based company deeply committed to creating the best estate sale experience possible. We serve the NoCO area in Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, & Windsor. Please let us know how we can help you.
Estate Sale
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Southwest Flair in Mariana Butte, Loveland - April 15th & 16th
Click on photo above to see the full album
Sale Dates and Times:
April 15, 2016 - 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
April 16, 2016 - 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
(Address will be available Thursday, April 14th through Saturday, April 16th)
Preliminary desrciption:
This sale features a wide variety of items including southwestern art, southwestern rugs, furniture, glassware, home decor and linens. Listed below are a few of the notable items and categories the will be included in the sale. More items and photographs to be added, so check back soon!
King Mattress - Sleep Number m7 Memory Foam Series
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King Bed Frame, Side Dressers, and Dresser with Mirror
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Full Bed with Mattress Set
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Outdoor Patio High Table and 4 Chairs
Oak Trunk
Kenmore Grill
Computer & Printer
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Table Oak Dining Set with Leaf and 6 Dining Chairs
Tiffin-Franciscan Crystal Stemware (Elyse pattern) Water Goblet, Wine Glass, & Champagne/Tall Sherbert
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Toaster Oven
George Foreman Grill (Large - Brand New, Never Used!) Christmas Decor
3 Christmas Trees (Various Sizes)
Christmas Wrapping
Corner Desk with Filing Cabinets
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2 Armoires
Southwest Art & Decor
Costume Jewelry
Cleaning Supplies
Record Cabinet
Comforter Sets
Sheet Sets
3 Office Chairs
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You are hereCrappie Forums / Crappie Fishing Reports / Mississippi / Grenada Lake Crappie Fishing Reports / Grenada lake crappie couple of 3+ today
Grenada lake crappie couple of 3+ today
Another on the water update from Woods guide service. Here is a picture of Burl Carter and Lee Merry showing off a couple of 3+ pound crappiei. Looks like the bite is back on at Grenada.
Thanks for stopping by www.crappie101.com. We are the site dedicated to crappie fishingi. We bring you tips and techniques from crappie country's top pros and the everyday fisherman not to mention the most complete information on crappie lakes from all around the country.


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Spring Into Summer with Us!
Trade in your heavy coat, long sleeves and gloves for shorts and a tank top! Hibernation is over and Spring is about to spring! Focus on the NOW! If Winter is not your season, use Spring to build a solid fitness foundation for your summertime fun! Let this be the year!!


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Concierge Services
Let our team of experts help you make the most of your visit. Our knowledgeable concierge team is pleased to provide a wide range of services. From restaurant reservations to tour itineraries, we look forward to helping you experience all the sights, attractions and natural beauty of the local area.
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WILMINGTON, DE (CBS) – Police responded to a report of shots fired in the 300 block of Townsend Street.
Upon arrival, they found a 24-year-old female victim inside of 340 Townsend Street suffering from a gunshot wound to the thigh. The woman refused treatment at the scene.
Officers determined that several people on the block were fighting. One of the suspects had a gun and began shooting up and down the block striking three homes, two cars, and the victim, who was inside her grandmother's home.
Officers detained two suspects, both males in their late teens, who were walking away from the area. Witnesses identified them as the shooter and co-conspirator.
Anyone with information regarding this crime, is asked to call the detective division at 302-376-3620.
Tips may also be forwarded to law enforcement through tip lines maintained by Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333 or online at www.tipsubmit.com.
Reported By Stasia DeMarco, CBSPhilly.com
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Note: Well, something like that. Yes, why not?...
¿Qué tranza, morros y morras? We are fucking back. In these days, our beloved friend Romain from Terminal Sound Nuisance blog (http://terminalsoundnuisance.blogspot.com) gave us an amazing gift: Napalm Death's Scum and Carcass' Reek Of Putrefaction CDs! It was so fuckin' amazing! Merci bien, mon pote! As you may know, these two albums were influential in the creation of the grindcore subgenre. Obviously, I decided to share it with you because we fuckin' love grindcore. Hell Muthafuckin' Yeah! Sadly, this entry will be short but I hope you enjoy it. Let's begin.
Napalm Death - Scum
This is Napalm Death's first full-length album. I have no words to describe this amazing work. As you may know, this is considered by many as the first true grindcore album (Well, at least in terms of the evolution of the subgenre). It was originally released back in 1987 by Earache Records and it features the original line-up in the first 12 tracks: Bill Steer (guitar), Jim Whiteley (Bass), Lee Dorrian (Vocals) and Mick Harris (Drums). The other 16 tracks were recorded by another line-up: Nik Bullen (Bass/Vocals), Mick Harris (Drums) and Justin Broadrick (Guitar). It's curious the duality of the line-ups featured in the record but I don't find a considerable change between both sides.
Regarding the sound, Napalm Death picked the original old school british grindcore sound mixed with death metal. This jeu de séduction between both subgenres was first introduced by Repulsion, one of the most influential american hardcore punk bands in the grindcore subgenre. This record was pretty influential in the second wave of American grindcore bands like Assück, Brutal Truth and Anal Cunt. Also, the lyrics have anti-consumerism, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialism topics.
Finally, I have to recommend you this amazing work. It features You Suffer (regarded by the Guinness World Record book as the shortest song ever written) and other amazing Napalm Death's anthems like Instinct of Survival, Deceiver and M.A.D. I know most of you think that the death metal influence is more relevant in their excellent record Harmony Corruption (which first introduced Mark "Barney" Greenway as their lead singer), which is true but this was just the beginning of their sonic madness.
This is a must have. Also, this is the 1994 CD version. All artwork (which is not so different of the original artwork featured in the 1987 LP release), inserts and lyrics are included in the file. All-In-One. Enjoy it!
Carcass - Reek Of Putrefaction
Finally, we conclude this entry with Carcass' first full-length album. This record was originally released back in 1988 by Earache Records and featured the infamous and gruesome front cover that is considered as one of the most extreme and bizarre artworks ever in a rock record. I don't know why it's so controversial. For me, it's a fine and amazing piece of surrealist art that incites you to have a BBQ party with your friends. Seriously. Also, this was one of John Peel's favorite records.
Regarding the sound, Carcass also had that experimental approach of mixing grindcore with death metal. In their later works (Swansong and Heartwork) we see more both brutal and melodic death metal influences, so we could say this record is way more close to the original british grindcore sound. The lyrics have a particular obsession with gore, human bodies, dismemberments, infections and other diseases that someone studying at medical school would be proud of. This record is the genesis of the controversial yet fascinating goregrind style.
Finally, you should download this masterpiece. I know you would say that this record isn't as complex as Heartwork, but a true grindcore fan should appreciate this one above all Carcass' works. As well as Napalm Death's Scum, Carcass' Reek Of Putrefaction is one of my favorite grindcore albums of all time. This is the 2003 CD version that features the original artwork inside. All visual material and lyrics are included. I hope you enjoyed this pretty short entry. We'll come back soon. Until the next time. Hugs and kisses!.


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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta offered a blunt assessment of the threats facing the United States on Wednesday, saying the potential for another war breaking out remains high in places like North Korea. "We're within an inch of war almost every day in that part of the world," Panetta said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, in response to a question about the threats in the Korean Peninsula. "And we just have to be very careful about what we say and what we do."
Read the rest here
The Hill
Judy Morris,
Blogger, THL
Articles | Website


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Who are we?
We are Anna & Simone.
We've worked in design, advertising and marketing for the past 20 years. In that time we've created award winning work for dozens of global and local brands and have been lucky enough to work with the best agencies, brains and craftspeople in the world.
We've worked on trains, planes and automobiles; milkshakes for kids and beers for adults. We've encouraged people to recycle, get fit, be kind to each other, save water, make money, read magazines, parachute off buildings, watch TV and go on holiday.


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The "China Doll" Syndrome:
When Excessive Attention Sets Children Apart
by Carrie Howard
When I go out in public with my three-year-old daughter, Tessa, I have to prepare myself to deal with her hordes of admirers. My husband and I jokingly call her our little ambassador of goodwill because of the smiles she elicits, although she does nothing to encourage people and seems oblivious to the attention. I can't get through the supermarket without being stopped by a stranger or two exclaiming over her beauty; little old ladies have practically chased me down the aisle to make sure they had a chance to tell me that my little girl is adorable.
Because we are an interracial family – we adopted Tessa from China – I am relieved when the comments we receive from strangers are friendly instead of rude or confrontational. But sometimes the attention makes me uneasy. I wonder whether Tessa would get as much attention if she were with an Asian family, for example. She is undeniably beautiful but I've been out in public with other attractive young children and never drew as much attention. I am especially bothered when strangers call her "a little China doll," as though she were a fragile piece of chinoiserie. How much are the compliments inspired by her personal qualities, and how much by the obvious contrast between our Caucasian faces and her Asian one?
Most adoptive families are familiar with the difficulties of fielding intrusive comments and questions. But what about positive comments, such as compliments and praise? Many parents, including my husband and I, suspect that these well-intentioned comments may betray subtle prejudices, and hint at the more blatant prejudices our children will confront as they get older.
Children May Be The First To Notice
How could compliments be a problem? For most of us, words of praise for our children, from either friends or strangers, sound very sweet. They echo our own feelings of pride and support our decision to adopt. With all the challenges we face as adoptive parents, and especially as interracial families, why go looking for trouble. This is one instance where our children may recognize the problem before we do.
Susan Avery, whose daughters Emily, 6, and Cara, 4 were adopted from China, because concerned about the attention her children received after she began to notice her older daughter's discomfort. "When I first came home from China with Emily I welcomed the nice comments with open arms," she says. "And I got a lot – mostly about how cute and adorable she was, even though she would hardly look at a stranger, and never smiled in public. Although I was aware that most people wouldn't have said anything if Emily looked like my biological child, I wasn't bothered because I figured little kids benefit from any positive attention regardless of its motivation. "After Cara came home, the comments multiplied – with two kids we stood out even more," says Avery. "At first it was okay. But when Emily turned 5, I started to notice that she didn't appreciate all the 'Aren't they just adorable!' comments we'd get as we walked down the street."
Leceta Chisholm Guibault, whose daughter Kahleah, was adopted from Guatemala, made a similar discovery. "It is true that not everyone we meet is malicious," she says,"but I must be on guard. I used to love when my daughter was a baby and people would stop me and exclaim, 'What beautiful black eyes she has! Look at that straight black hair! And nice brown skin!' Although I thought these were positive comments, by the age of 4 my daughter had had enough. One day, after having numerous people make these same observations over and over again, Kahleah buried her face in my stomach, overwhelmed. She said she was tired of people 'always' pointing out the same things: her hair, eyes, and skin."
Comments Reinforce Differences
Young children may object to attention at first because it's intrusive and embarrassing. later, they begin to realize that it is the differences between them and the rest of their family that attract the attention. When her daughter Emily began to feel uncomfortable about comments from strangers, Avery says, "I started to pay more attention to the arguments that such comments may be seen by the child as signs of differences, and thus have a strong negative connotation, despite their positive words. So not I don't respond as positively as I once did. I try to minimize the interaction and include some comment that all children are cute. My reaction is still to be polite and supportive of the other person."
Guibault also became keenly aware of the way the comments set her daughter apart. "I realized that they were pointing out her racial differences, and her differences from me, her mother. She was reading between the lines on her own. Maybe this was just her perception, but she was feeling it. I ask you, what child deserves to be made to feel different, simply because of race?"
Good Intentions Can Go Awry
Most people who gush over our children believe they are just being nice. They may not recognize their own motivations. That enthusiastic stranger in the checkout line may simply think your child is lovely; or she may recognize that as an interracial family you probably have to deal with some prejudice and criticism, and she wants to express her support; or she may see your child as a curiosity, an exotic objet d'art; in other words, a China doll. Since we can't read minds, it's impossible to know what people are thinking when they compliment our kids. But it is safe to say that what brings our children to most people's attention is the fact that they look different from us, and sensitive children pick up on that distinction.
Seemingly harmless comments can also foreshadow the more overt prejudices our children will face when they get older. Cheri Register, in her excellent book Are Those Kids Yours?: American Families with Children Adopted from Other Countries (1991, Free Press), noted, "My daughters are both very pretty, but when people enthuse over their beauty, it makes them uncomfortable and me wary. The 'exotic flower of the Orient' is another seemingly positive stereotype that can have negative consequences. The image of Latin women as flirtatious and hypersensual "Carmen" types falls into the same category."
It behooves us to be aware of these stereotypes so we can help our children deal with the expectations others may have of them as they get older, and especially as they begin dating.
Gender Plays A Part
All children in interracial families attract a certain amount of attention, but little girls are especially apt to be complimented on their looks. Many parents of children adopted from China, the overwhelming majority of whom are girls, are acutely aware of the praise their daughters get for their beauty. Parents who are hoping to raise children free of stereotypical gender roles find that they have to fight the message that girls are objects of beauty above all else, a message that is reinforced through constant repetition.
Gail Coad, whose daughter, Linnea, was adopted from China, says, "I think that the issue of compliments for our daughters such as 'Isn't she cute,' 'She's so beautiful' is one of raising daughters in general, not an adoption issue." Children will fulfill our conception of what we consider good and wonderful about being a daughter. If we admire their beauty well above their strength or smarts or kindness to others, then they will focus on their beauty. It's an issue of balance and direction and openness to their interest and skills. "So at this point, my reaction to the 'She's so cute' compliment is to say, 'Yes, and she's smart and strong too' or emphasize other personal qualities."
"Positive" Stereotypes Go Beyond Looks
It's not just our children's looks that attract compliments. Strangers knowing assure adoptive parents of Asian children that they'll be good at math, and African-American children may be expected to be outstanding athletes, for example. Cheri Register observed, "Racism can take seemingly benign forms, as well. Those of us who have very bright Asian children are easily seduced by the stereotype of Asians as intellectually superior. It is nice to think of your child as gifted…This stereotype causes extra difficulties, however, for children who were placed for 'special needs' adoption because they have developmental delays or learning disabilities. It is also hard on children of average intelligence whose teachers have inordinately high expectations of them."
Maintaining Balance
What can parents do? Short of taking our kids out in public with paper bags over their head, there's not much we can to do keep them from attracting compliments. Be we can soften the impact. Here are some suggestions for minimizing the effect of excessive attention.
Take your cues from your child. Even if you enjoy the compliments, you child may not. If the attention ever seems to bother him or her, you may need to change your approach.
Keep the interaction brief and polite. When strangers compliment your child, simply smile, say thanks, and move on or redirect the conversation.
Deflect the pointedness of the comments yourself. If one of your children is routinely singled out for attention, to the exclusion of the others, try to share the wealth. When a stranger exclaims over how lovely your daughter is, while ignoring your son, you can respond, "Thank you, I am lucky to have such beautiful children."
Talk with your child about the situation. When you begin to sense some discomfort on your child's part, you can let him or her know that you understand that it must be difficult to be the focus of so much attention. Together, you can discuss ways of dealing with talkative strangers and the feelings they provoke.
Help your child to see himself or herself as a whole person. Be sure to take the opportunity to praise your child for qualities other than physical beauty – strength, intelligence, a pleasant signing voice, or a gentle way with animals, for example.
I can't deny that my daughter is beautiful; part of the joy of raising Tessa is the sheer aesthetic pleasure I get from watching her. But I never forget that she is a three-dimensional person with many other gifts to offer. When strangers gush over her, I just smile and say, "Thank you, we think she's beautiful too," and keep pushing my cart down the aisle. Then when we're out of earshot, I remind her that she is smart and strong too – not a China doll at all.
Reprinted with permission of the author from Adoptive Families magazine, Sept/Oct 1999.