text:
Click for Book Signings and Photos
New in 2013
On September 28, 2013 W. Granville was a guest speaker on the
The Darlene Hunter Show. Skip to minute 5:18 for the interview (the intro is very long)
(be aware the sound is turned up all the way by default on their player)
On November 17, 2012 W. Granville was interviewed on the Amerika Now Radio Show with Barb Adams. Listen to the full interview below:
On August 1, 2012 W. Granville was interviewed on the Busted Halo show with Father Dave Dwyer for the 30 Day Challenge. Listen to the full interview below:
In June 2012 W. Granville started writing articles for the Examiner.com.
Subscribe to the articles to stay current with his writings.
The following is a sample of one of his articles...
With a collective "Amen" how many of us made a resolution at the beginning of the year that we have yet to accomplish? Well don't get discouraged; ever since the Gregorian calendar http://www.whoinventedit.net/who-invented-the-calendar-we-have-today.html was created folks get so excited about the possibilities associated with a fresh start. Then something happens. Life tends to get in the way of living. All of a sudden those resolutions don't seem as important and the possibilities have morphed into improbabilities.
Now another year fast approaches as the new one has become old. Still waters may run deep but uncertainty merely floats on the surface. Days continue to shoot by as if shot from a cannon and all in all they blend together and share one commonality - they all end in 'y'. This raises a question some may have, "Why am I in the same place, doing the same thing and wishing for change and it all stays the same?"
Full article can be viewed here.
Saturday, August 27, 2011 from 4:00PM
Join us August 27th (4PM) at Infusion Coffe and Tea, 7133 Germantown Ave, Mt. Airy PA 19119 as
W. Granville and other featured authors from Wrags Ink embark on the first leg of the East Coast Cafe Tour!
Meet new authors and read some great books!
Saturday, September 24, 2011 from 3:00PM - 5:30PM
Join W. Granville Brown at the Big Blue Marble's cafe - Local Author Day!
Enjoy an afternoon of wonderful local authors! With light refreshments.
Book Review: 5 Simple Steps To Choosing Your Path by W. Granville Brown
Posted on June 20th, 2011
by Simon Barrett in Book Reviews, Interview, Reviews
I first encountered Granville back in 2009 when he released his very thought provoking novel Choices. It was a unique piece of writing and very thought provoking. While a work of fiction it very much was also reflective of the authors chosen profession, that of Life Coach.
A couple of weeks ago he contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reading his new book 5 Steps To Choosing Your Path. A couple of days after the book arrived he called me to make sure that I had received it safe and sound. I don't usually make a practice of writing a book review and including the back story of the mechanics of the book reviewing business, but this is a situation where it does have a very direct bearing.
I have a very unscientific theory, if you were to create a pile of all of the self help books in existence the pile would reach the Moon! My other gripe about the vast majority of them is the incredible sameness, it is almost as if 'there is an app for that'. Plug in some cutesy acronyms, and voila, out comes 400 pages of book! Yes I am a cynic!
This telephone conversation was not recorded, but as best as I can recall, Granville made the following comment:
You are right, authors rehash the same old stuff, the first chapter or so is new and fresh, then it is back to business as usual.
Read the full book review here.
Simon Barrett
Making Wiser Choices
By: W. Granville Brown, CPC - January 2011
No matter how much you succeed in life or who you are, you can still fall prey to temptation, lust, and greed, and have your faith and beliefs shaken — if not completely stirred. But before the final chapter is written, keep in mind that you possess free will and make your own choices. In facing the reflected truth as you gaze in the mirror of self-revelation, you must admit that no one can make you do anything you don't really wish to do, especially if you have the faith in yourself to persevere, in even the most arduous endeavors you face.
In today's society, just about anyone can become famous or infamous within the flash of a camera. Then quickly they become our idols and celebrities that embody the perfect lives that you and I can only dream about. Strangely, when one of the elite makes a mistake, a sadistic glee rears up once the disappointment of feeling betrayed passes. Often we suppose that somehow the fall of the mighty in some way lifts us up. Truth be told, it absolutely doesn't. It simply illustrates that the elevation of our souls is within each of us, and it begins with our decision-making process.
Your choices are inextricably packaged with your beliefs, paradigms, behaviors, and the ability to deal with the consequences of your actions. You have the innate ability to make your own decisions. But with choice, there is a measure of both accountability and responsibility. Too often when we receive an unfavorable result (failure), we tend to mask the result in excuses, rationalizations, or explanations to cast them as the reason for the result. In some cases, such as those reported far too often, a sense of entitlement comes into play. Some people — rightly or wrongly — may feel that, based on their accomplishments, they are entitled to make unwise choices. Ironically, the mediums that elevate performers to celebrity status normally depict a storyline where adversity reveals the building of character. In actuality, adversity doesn't build character — it reveals it. Life truly imitates art in that respect. Your character isn't determined by how you conduct yourself when the choices are easy and comfortable, but rather by how you conduct yourself when your life is tough.
While the media may showcase the flawed choices of Tiger Woods and others, instead of passing judgment and ganging up on those that fall due to unwise choices, learn a lesson and apply it to your life. In making those applications, ask yourself, "How do I make choices in my life?"
Five simple steps may assist you in making wiser choices:
1 . Think it out. Ask the right questions. Is this the right thing to do? How will this affect me and/or my family? Why am I doing this?
2 . Deal with the consequences; take ownership.
3 . Accept responsibility for your actions.
4 . Be accountable for your actions.
5 . Be honest with yourself. The more you practice these five steps, the better you become in making rational, intelligent choices that lead you forward — not standing in place, going backwards, or living a life full of regret.
Full article can be viewed here.
An Interview With Author W. Granville Brown About Choices Posted on July 10th, 2010
by Simon Barrett in Book Reviews, Interview, Reviews
I recently had the opportunity to read Granville Brown's debut novel Choices. I was impressed with Choices on a number of levels. Don't get me wrong, when it comes to reviewing books I am no curmudgeon looking for every flaw, but I likely do look at aspects that the average reader might not. In some ways a book reviewer worth his or her salt is a literary CSI. I wonder when I'll get the TV contract for that show?
I had the opportunity to sit down with Granville Brown yesterday and talk not only about Choices, but a whole range of subjects.
My wife knows me oh so well, my normal length of a radio interview is 30 minutes and by some force that I have yet to understand always seems to be the perfect fit for the questions I have. Yesterdays interview went almost 50 minutes. Jan walked in just as I was signing off the air. Her only comment was "You obviously liked that book". She is a perceptive lady!
Granville Brown is an engaging and interesting man to talk with. He has had a varied career, and that is probably one of the reasons. Having been through the Insurance industry, and Sales and Marketing, he now focuses on being a Life Coach.
You can find out more about Granville Brown from his web site and you can catch the entire audio interview here. Read the full book review here.
Simon Barrett
How to Cope With the Media's Parade of Dysfunctional People
Fri May 28, 2010 3:14pm EDT
MISSISSAUGA, ON, May 28 (MARKET WIRE) --
Reading the newspapers today is like watching an endless parade of bad choices.
Pro athletes taking steroids, Wall Street executives lying to investors, drivers insisting on driving drunk, celebrities visiting rehab like it has a revolving door -- and life coach W. Granville Brown wants people to try to learn from it as best they can.
"There was never a doubt that we live in a media-driven culture," said Brown, a certified life coach and author of Choices, (www.wgranvillebrown.com). "But what we see in the media plays out as if it's an endorsement of the behavior. It seems that we're more interested in the people who screw up their lives than we are with people who are happy and successful. It's as if making good choices is less interesting, and so we wind up with a steady barrage of dysfunctional people. It can create a skewed sense of reality for people, and I think if we are going to continue to maintain a prurient interest in these stories, we should try to do so as people who want to use them as lessons on what happens when we make poor choices."
Brown believes that hidden in those stories are nuggets of personal truth awaiting us all. Temptation -- a big factor in what we see in the media today -- can be valuable because of the potential lessons in how to avoid it.
"All of us, no matter how much we succeed in life or who we are, can still fall prey to temptation, lust, greed and having our faith and beliefs shaken -- if not tumbled," he said. "But in the end, we are people of free will, not puppets, and no one can make us do anything we don't wish to do, as long as we have the faith in ourselves to persevere. The only thing that can elevate our souls is within each of us, and it begins with our choices."
About W. Granville Brown
W. Granville Brown graduated from Hamilton University with a degree in Business Administration. Brown believes a writer's words are his or her voice. He also mentors youth, teaching them that writing is a more powerful outlet for their emotions than other destructive means of expressing themselves.
Rachel Friedman
Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.
TORONTO, ONTARIO March 30, 2010 12:01am
The well publicized woes of Tiger Woods can be lessons for business leaders, says Granville Brown, a long-time life coach and author of the new book, Choices.
"We build people up so much that when they take a fall, it's almost like we take a sadistic glee in their fall," says Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown believes that hidden in the forest of tabloid interest in Mr. Woods' issues is a nugget of personal truth awaiting us all. Temptation -- a big factor in the golfer's string of personal choices -- can be valuable, according to Mr. Brown, because of the potential lessons in how to avoid it.
(Granville Brown talks about the lessons to be found in Mr. Woods' troubles and his book in today's CVBT Audio Interview. Please left-click on the link below to listen now or right-click to download the MP3 audio file for later listening.)
"When we're dealing with choices, we really have to be on point to take ownership for the choices that we make, understanding that with choice there is accountability and responsibility," Mr. Brown says.
"We have to face the truth that we all live imperfect lives, and that our celebrity-driven culture has the notion that our idols, our celebrities, are supposed to embody the perfect lives we cannot ourselves achieve. This is why we are disappointed so often," he says. "The only thing that can elevate our souls is within each of us, and it begins with our choices.
Click here to listen or download (W.Granville Brown.mp3, 15.63 MB)
Full article can be viewed here
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Give Tiger a Break
The public needs to step back, and give Tiger Woods a chance to heal his family life, so says W Granville Brown, Certified Life Coach and author of the book "Choices."
Brown told KLKS News, he was surprised about Woods fall from grace, because of the wholesome image he has enjoyed, even when living the single life. Brown says we ought not be so quick to judge. Few have been in the position of rejecting the temptations of super models.
Brown says the mark of an individual's character is not determined when things are easy, but rather when things get difficult.
posted by KLKS News
Interview with W.Granville Brown
PageOnelit.com: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life?
Who were your earliest influences and why?
W. Granville Brown: I've been on my own since the age of sixteen. I would have to say I grew up in the Army and living in Europe and other multiple cities. I actually started reading in the second grade and the first book I read was "The Catcher in the Rye." It freaked my teacher out big-time. I thought it was a baseball book. For as long as I can remember I've written my thoughts down on everything from a scrap of paper to anything handy. Reading and writing was and is my greatest exit. As far as earliest influences I must say it was probably John Steinbeck and one of the greatest novels ever written, "Of Mice and Men." That book blew me away when I read it. When I read I like to play a movie in my mind. And Jackie Collins, I love her writing style. It's so simple, direct, and to the point. Although her books follow similar themes they are always entertaining. Out of all writers, I would say that's how I write. I keep it simple.
PageOnelit.com: Briefly tell us a little about your book, Choices. Who are Trey and Andrea Edwards? Are these characters based on anyone real? Based on any actual events?
W. Granville Brown: Choices is an age-old story of love, lust and infidelity. It's also a play on the Book of Job in the Bible where God allowed Satan to impose himself into a believers life to test his faith. In the book characters deal with their own human weaknesses and against the stronger forces that tempt them. In one word I would describe the book as temptation. The characters of Trey and Andrea Edwards were merely people in my imagination. I get this question a lot. They are not real nor are the events as it was written, however a writer must or should write about what he or she knows. So I wrote about what I know and have either seen or experienced in my own life.
PageOnelit.com: Why did you write Choices? What message do you want readers to take from your book?
W. Granville Brown: Wow, believe it or not that first one is difficult to answer. My primary motivation for writing a book period was to fulfill a life-long dream of becoming an author. Not to mention overcoming fear. This is the one thing that I've wanted, no longed to do since I could remember. I've been blessed in my life to have accomplished many goals that I've set for myself and the one that had eluded me for years was writing and publishing a book. Fear of rejection, not being good enough, and not being taken seriously held me back. Then an event happened in my life that removed that fear and I realized (although I always knew it) that there truly is nothing to fear but fear itself. So I sat down, finished a manuscript and here we are. I guess the message contained in the book is a simple no one man or woman is above temptation and that at any time there can come a moment in one's life where their faith, trust and belief can be put to the test.
Read the rest of the interview over at PageOneLit.com
Big Blue Marble Cafe - Local Authors Day
24 September 2011
Book signing Philadelphia, USA
20 May 2011
(click to see more)
Book signing Philadelphia, USA
30 December 2009
(click to see more)
Book signing at Coles Bookstore, Mississauga, Ontario.
12 September 2009
(click to see more)


text:
Attorney General Kane participates in arrest of 'traveling' child predator
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane yesterday joined agents from the Office of Attorney General's Child Predator Section and other law enforcement officials to arrest one of two men who traveled to predetermined locations to meet what they believed were children for sex.
Posted by Attorney General's Office on Apr 27 2014. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
IRA Rollover Information
The IRA Rollover was first enacted in 2006 as part of the Pension Protection Act. The provision expired and was reinstated multiple times, most recently as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2013 through December 31, 2013. The provision allows individuals aged 70½ and older to donate up to $100,000 from their IRAs to public charities without having to count the distributions as taxable income.
Individuals may begin taking distributions from their IRAs as early as age 59½, but are required to begin taking them at age 70½. Normally, these distributions are subject to income taxes.
Since the provision was first enacted, Americans have made millions of dollars of new contributions to nonprofits -- including social service programs, religious organizations, arts and cultural institutions, schools, and health care providers -- that benefit people every day.
- Eligibility Age. Taxpayers age 70½ and older are required to make annual distributions from their IRAs which are then included in the taxpayers' adjusted gross income (AGI) and subject to taxes.The IRA Charitable Rollover permits those taxpayers to make donations directly to charitable organizations from their IRAs without counting them as part of their AGI and, consequently, without paying taxes on them.
- Annual Cap. A donor's total combined charitable IRA rollover contributions cannot exceed $100,000 in any one year.
- Eligible Charities. Charitable contributions from an IRA must go directly to a public charity that is not a supporting organization. Contributions to donor-advised funds and private foundations, except in narrow circumstances, do not qualify for tax-free IRA rollover contributions.
- Eligible Retirement Accounts. Distributions can only be made from traditional Individual Retirement Accounts or Roth IRAs. Charitable donations from 403(b) plans, 401(k) plans, pension plans, and other retirement plans are ineligible for the tax-free treatment.
- Directly to the Charity. Distributions must be made directly from the IRA trustee payable to the public charity.
- No Gifts in Return. Donors cannot receive any goods or services in return for charitable IRA rollover contributions in order to qualify for tax-free treatment.
- Written Receipt. In order to benefit from the tax-free treatment, donors must obtain written substantiation of each IRA rollover contribution from each recipient charity.


text:
Big Butterfly Count
At some point over the coming week (24th July – 1st August) please consider taking part in our BIG BUTTERFLY COUNT, a nationwide survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment. It's really simple and I'm certain you'll find it enjoyable and rewarding. www.bigbutterflycount.org


text:
First Time User? Sign Up Now
First Time User? Enroll now.
Home > Careers
We offer our team members a compelling and promising career and an unmatched quality of life. From clinical to clerical, if you are looking for an environment where you can build a stimulating career, work with dedicated people, touch the community and enjoy a full life beyond the hospital, aim for a career at Pardee Hospital. Learn more about Physician and Advanced Practice opportunities.
At Pardee Hospital, we believe in a culture of service excellence where patients and visitors use words like "trust" and "caring" when describing our organization. Our performance standards help team members understand how his or her individual behavior has an impact on patient, team member and physician satisfaction.
Pardee Hospital is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and makes all employment decisions without regard to disability, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, military status or age.
Learn more by contacting Human Resources at (828) 696-4209 or use our online search engine to find a job or apply online.
Search Jobs
Pardee Hospital
800 North Justice Street
Hendersonville, NC 28791
Phone (828) 696-1000
Pardee Hospital Citrix Login
UNC Health Care Citrix Login
Health Library
Copyright 2019 UNC Health Care. All rights reserved.


text:
Time is running out for Rhine in this conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Chemical Garden Trilogy.
With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn's worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine's memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine's side, even if Linden's feelings are still caught between them.
Meanwhile, Rowan's growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.
In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.
(Summary from GoodReads)
After finishing Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden trilogy, I am very hesitant to read anything else she writes. Wither started this series off with a bang, Sever was okay, and Fever was entirely subpar. Fever doesn't do enough in terms of plot, characters, or world-building, and is a disappointing conclusion to its trilogy.
There is hardly any action in this book, which makes it unlike a lot of dystopians. There are some authors who can pull off writing a book that doesn't have a lot of action, and DeStefano is not one of them. Early on in this series, it was made clear that there is a lot of mystery surrounding this world, and that our main character doesn't know very much. DeStefano keeps things a little too mysterious, which gets old after reading two books full of mystery, and just results in a plot that is too slow.
The world building and character development in this novel are fragmented. I wanted to learn a lot about the world, and I feel like I only got a little piece. I wanted a lot more about Gabriel, and I feel like I only got a little piece. I also didn't care for the fact that we saw so much of Rhine's relationship with Vaughn. It kind of felt like as readers, we had already been there and done that.
When the ending to this story does finally come, it's rushed and incomplete. It didn't feel genuine, or like the right fit for this series. DeStefano shows a lot of promise with her prose, but doesn't follow through on development, and I mean that in a lot of ways. I'll probably try her newest book because I've heard it's much better, but I'd see a lot more potential in it if it was a standalone.
Disclosure: I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library.


text:
While many people choose one color for their entire home, some are more adventurous and want to include different colors. When choosing paint colors, you should be aware of the following in order to avoid mistakes:
• Size of the room
• Type of paint – flat, semi-gloss, latex
• Amount of sunlight that enters each room
• Who will be using the room
These factors play an important role in choosing paint colors that will enhance the look of your home and create a warm atmosphere.
Painting Small Rooms and Large Rooms
The size of the rooms in your home is important when choosing paint colors because you don't want to make a small room seem even smaller. Darker colors have a tendency to do this, so choose lighter colors when painting a smaller room.
You have a few more options when painting larger rooms. You can use a darker color, create an accent wall by painting one wall of the room a different color from the rest, you can create textured patterns, or you can add chair rails and paint the walls two different colors.
Choosing the Right Paint Type
The right paint type matters when cleaning, waterproofing a room, and when trying to create the illusion of more space. Flat paint is often used in garages, closets, and other rooms that are not used as often. This is because it is difficult to clean and leaves a room feeling incomplete. Flat paint is the least expensive paint, so if you have to use it, find lighter colors and add a few extra coats to create more depth in the room.
Semi-gloss paint is typically used in bathrooms, kitchens, and other rooms in the home because is it very easy to clean and has a shine to it. This paint is perfect for smaller rooms because it allows light to bounce off the walls creating a larger room.
Latex paint is used mainly for outdoor patios, porch railings, and shutters. It is able to resist water and can be cleaned easily. This type of paint does peel over time and it not recommended for indoor use.
Let the Sunshine in
If you have a room that does not receive a lot of sunlight because of a tree or roof overhang, painting the room a dark color will only make it seem darker inside. Paint the room a light color and the room will seem brighter.
Kids, Guests, and Others
Who will be using the rooms is an important question to ask before you begin painting. Kid's rooms should reflect their personality, while guest rooms should be cozy and simple. When deciding how to use the rooms in your home, buy the right paint and accessories so those who will be using the room will feel comfortable at all times.


text:
6. Hot Dogs (Fester's Quest)
There were some pretty half-assed power ups in the NES Fester's Quest. The power up for your gun was a block of text that said "GUN." The power up for your whip was a block of text that said "WHIP." I'm guessing the designers were too preoccupied gambling on how many boomerangs they could plug into the ever-multiplying slime creatures before they finally died. Answer: Way too many.
I digress.
However lame the weapon power ups were, even more bizarre was Fester's insatiable appetite for hot dogs. This is the only option in the game to replenish your health. Why hot dogs? I'd bet my right hand (sorry Thing) that this was never a characteristic of his in any of the Addams Family iterations. Who am I to judge? If processed meats help you defend our home planet from hostile aliens then go nuts, my bald friend.
5. Soft Serve Ice Cream (Duck Tales)
I can appreciate that after a long day of pogo sticking the sh*t out of baddies, you want to sit back, kick off your spats and enjoy a delicious cold treat. So why shouldn't creamed ice give Scrooge McDuck that extra boost he needs to hit boulders with a golf swing?
While there's a certain suspension of disbelief you have to give to video games, I always found it hard to believe that Mrs. Beakley was able to store perfectly formed, un-melted, soft serve cones deep in a humid African mine. Unless she's hiding a mini freezer in her giant bosom. And everyone knows that the only one in Duckburg with the capabilities of carrying around that much advanced technology is Gizmo.
Sorry Mrs. Beakley, I'm not buying it. To the absurdity of that power up I say, "blathering blatherskite!"


text:
Construction Company Euro-Asfalt has completed the asphalt surfacing of the first section of the A Transversal, the road which will connect Sarajevo International Airport with Sarajevo City center, confirmed the Director of Euro-Asfalt Enver Ajanović.
"We have completed asphalting of the first section of the road with four lanes (two lanes in each direction), in the length of over 650 meters. Horizontal signalization is done, and the work is currently being done on pedestrian and cycling tracks. New road starts on the 12th Transversal and it goes to the bridge on the Dobrinja River. In the coming period works will be conducted on the section in the length of 500 meters, including the roundabout which is to be constructed onMojmilo next to the Children's Village.Preparations for the construction of that part of the road are currently in progress. If everything goes as planed, complete road should be finished by June" Ajanović stated. Newly constructed road will provide Sarajevo Airport with additional connection to the city center avoiding busy interchange on Stup.
First stage of works costed around two million Bosnian Marks (BAM). Funds in the amount of about 3.8 million Bosnian Marks (BAM) have been provided for the second stage as well. These funds will be sufficient for the completion of one of the most significant infrastructural projects in the field of traffic that is being implemented at the territory of the Novi Grad Sarajevo Municipality. The project is jointly financed by the Ministry of Transportation of the Sarajevo County and the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo.
Source: Klix.ba/Photo by Novi Grad Sarajevo


text:
We are now taking resumes for the upcoming season!
Pools are now closed for the season and will re-open June 15, 2019
Highwood Outdoor Pool Update
Highwood Pool is getting a new basin!!!! We are sorry but it will not open for the 2018 season.
Forest Lawn Outdoor Wading Pool Update
We regret to announce that the Forest Lawn Wading Pool will be closed for the balance of the season due to mechanical issues.
We will close at 6:00pm on Wednesday, August 23rd for staff training.
The Calgary Swims for Lunch (CSFL) program is back this year!
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12-12:45pm. For participants aged 5-17 years. Check the CSFL website for more information: www.calgaryswimsforlunch.com
Watch for announcements on upcoming special events.
Forest Lawn Outdoor Swimming Pool has 2 pools. All pools are heated, filtered and sanitized 24 hours per day:
Main Pool
Wading Pool and Spray Park
Change Rooms for Women and Men
Lifeguard Supervision
Forest Lawn Outdoor Swimming Pool does not offer swimming lessons.
Please email the pool manager for more information on pool rentals; dates, times and costs.
Contact details are listed above.


text:
Donna Jack
November 24, 2017
The First Thanksgiving —
Pilgrims, Puritans
and the Founding of America
Recording by Michael Medved
The picture above is from this site.
by Michael Medved
Donna Jack
November 24, 2017
Recording by Michael Medved
The picture above is from this site.
Donna Jack
November 24, 2017
Yesterday, while celebrating Thanksgiving with one of our sons and his family — and after visiting on the phone with our son who was in Japan yesterday — our local daughter-in-law showed us a YouTube. At my request, she emailed me the link last night. You can watch it below:
The 9-minute YouTube is "The Lost Secrets of Thanksgiving."
The above video is about the people we call the Pilgrims, and the Separatists that accompanied them when they set sail for Virginia from Holland, aboard the Mayflower. The Mayflower ended up much farther north than had been planned — just off Cape Cod. Even though they had gone so far off course, they believed that God had taken them there. They named the area Plimoth (Plymouth).
Below is a summary of "The Lost Secrets of Thanksgiving." Continue reading
Donna Jack
Thanksgiving Day
November 23, 2017
One sentence from Bradford's account of their first Thanksgiving –
after fasting and praying all day for rain – and then receiving rain after drought!
"And he [God] was pleased to give them a gracious and speedy answer,
both to their own, and the Indian's admiration, that lived amongst them."
In the excerpts that you will find later in this blog piece, you can read William Bradford's account about what led up to their first thanksgiving celebration. Bradford was governor of Plymouth Plantation for 37 years, up until his death.
[A note: The group that left Holland were not leaving because of persecution there, but rather because of their well-founded fear that in Holland, their children would be indoctrinated away from their Christian faith. The reason that urged them to leave all they had, and make such a dangerous journey across the ocean to a new land — was their strong desire to protect the souls of their children.
Watch this short 6-minute YouTube produced by Prager University, about the First Thanksgiving.]
The excerpts later in this blog post, are from a book called: The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America — published by Verna M. Hall: Foundation for American Christian Education (FACE). The YouTube below gives information about FACE, and it is also found on their website).
FACE – the publishers of
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America
Many years ago, when I was home-schooling my children, someone gave me a copy of The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America.
For over 25 years I regularly gave programs in Colorado. Every Thanksgiving season, I shared William Bradford's account printed in this book, and below.
At the end of this blog (after William Bradford's account) you can find out more about the book, about the publishers, how to purchase it, and how to purchase other books they publish.
What is unique about this book? How is it superior to
most of the material taught in our public schools?
Not only does this book extensively cover the Christian history of our Constitution, but it has the text of original source documents. That is far superior to what is done in almost all of our public schools (and even most private schools). In most schools (pre-school through 12th, and colleges and universities) students only read or are told "reports" and "interpretations" of history — and sadly, the history is usually given from the viewpoint of people who hate our country and its Christian foundations. Continue reading
Donna Jack
November 22, 2017
Should Americans celebrate Thanksgiving as a day of gratitude? Or should they mourn it as a day of guilt? Michael Medved, author of The American Miracle, shares the fascinating story of the first Thanksgiving.
Food, football, and…oppression. That's what Thanksgiving has come to mean to many Americans.
Back in 2007, Seattle public school officials made national news by describing the holiday as a "time of mourning" and a "bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal."
This new narrative describes the Pilgrims as arrogant oppressors who fled persecution only to become persecutors themselves, depriving Native Americans of their land and their lives.
But this is wrong on every count.
First of all, the Pilgrims didn't cross the ocean to flee persecution—or even England. They'd been living for over a decade in Holland, Europe's most tolerant nation, and a haven for religious dissenters. Free from interference by the Church of England, they feared seduction—not persecution, worrying that their children would be corrupted by the materialistic Dutch culture.
Donna Jack
Nov. 22, 2017
Abstract of the First Thanksgiving 1789_Thanksgiving Proclamation by Pres. George Washington
We have much to thank God for.
Below you can read an abbreviated version of an abstract concerning the observance of Thanksgiving. [Source for most of the version is: https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/firsts/first-thanksgiving-observance ]
The observance of Thanksgiving in America, began with the colonists of Plymouth Plantation in the fall of 1621. In 1671 there was a proclamation in Massachusetts to observe Thanksgiving. The observance of a day of Thanksgiving spread through the colonies, and during the 1700's, Thanksgiving Day was observed as a day of fasting and praying.
In 1789 President George Washington made the first national proclamation setting aside one specific day in 1789 (Thursday, November 16) as "A Day of Publick Thanksgiving Prayer."
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation, making the fourth Tuesday of November a national holiday. It was the first time Thanksgiving became an annual national holiday.
Then in 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to move Thanksgiving a week earlier to benefit businesses, but was pressured into keeping it in the fourth week of November — so it was moved in 1941 to the fourth Thursday each November, as it is today.
Attached you will find an Abstract of the above history. Attached and below you can read the actual Thanksgiving Proclamation by Pres. George Washington Oct 14, 1789.
Source for picture above and proclamation below: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789
_______________________________________ Continue reading
Donna Jack
November 21, 2017 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Other blogs with information by and about Phyllis Schlafly: 0133 and 0227
Words from Jordan Henry's introduction to Phyllis Schlafly's 2002 article:
" As Phyllis Schlafly put it, 'George Washington was history's indispensable man. It's no exaggeration to say that, without his leadership, we would not have a United States of America.' He even gave us the gift of a Thanksgiving holiday by issuing a proclamation in 1789 making the last Thursday in November 'a day of public thanksgiving and prayer' on which Americans should thank Almighty God for granting 'an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.'"
[Note: "Abraham Lincoln . . . supported legislation making it a national holiday in 1863. America was in the middle of its bloody Civil War at the time and Lincoln hoped the new holiday would unify the bitterly divided country. The holiday was finally a success and Thanksgiving has continued ever since." from: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-first-thanksgiving/ ]
Cheap AP college credit — but at what price? — ignorance of
America's marvelous heritage.
In our public schools (K-12) and universities, students are taught that the only important thing to know about George Washington is that "he owned slaves." They don't learn ANYTHING about him, his exceptional leadership before and during the Revolutionary War, his strong Christian faith, his time as first President of the United States, the love and admiration that he earned, or the great example he was throughout his life.
AP US History adds to this ignorance of American History
To learn about AP (Advanced Placement) U.S. History in public schools, see Blogs 0013, 0015, 0061, 0069, 0235 . Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History is an anti-American curriculum. AP is highly rated in public school circles, and coveted by parents, who get cheap college credit for their children who pass AP courses. Through AP US History, students are dishonestly taught to hate America.
Phyllis' report:
"The Premier American Hero — George Washington."
Below is a 2002 report from Phyllis Schlafly, preceded by a 2017 introduction by Jordan Henry, director of research for Phyllis Schlafly Eagles.
Here link directly to email with her 2002 article, and introduction by Jordan Henry.
Or link only to her 2002 article here.
Ed Martin, President | Helen Marie Taylor, Chairman | John Schlafly, Treasurer
May 2002:
By Jordan T. Henry, Director of Research
It goes without saying that we Americans have a lot to be thankful for. For starters, we live in the greatest nation on the planet. Let's also not forget that we enjoy the freedom and liberty secured in our unprecedented United States Constitution. In a few short days, we can also be thankful for a time to spend with family and loved ones reflecting on God's bounty in our lives. Each of these blessings should remind us of one man to whom every American owes a debt of gratitude. That man, who is being systematically removed from the public sphere, was passionately defended in the May 2002 Phyllis Schlafly Report. His name is George Washington. Continue reading


text:
Common Queries and Questions
Bare Greens grows using organic practices in an aquaponic system, utilizing Bright Agrotech's ZipGrow Vertical Growing Technology. This technology enables Bare Greens to provide our customers with Fresh Right Now produce, as the towers are modular, enabling us to easily transport our produce to market, to homes, or to restaurants. Always fresh, low wastage, harvest as you require.
- Re-discover freshness.
- Very low wastage.
- Low consumption of resources.
- Natural aquaponic process.
- Locally produced.
- Always Fresh!.


text:
Sign in
Forgot your password?
Home » BPO & Outsourcing
Jeddahsoft delivers business value by "extending your enterprise." Our business process outsourcing services combine deep industry knowledge, operational excellence, a partnership approach to client engagement and comprehensive service offerings.
In every enterprise, business processes are interconnected. Only when you link shared back office and industry specific processes to decision support does business thrive. The value of business process outsourcing is realized by optimizing and linking disparate processes seamlessly.
Jeddahsoft changes the game for its clients by delivering the entire spectrum of business process outsourcing services. Jeddahsoft delivers shared back office processes such as finance and accounting, customer care, legal, technology solutions and procurement to industry specific back office and front office processes. We also support decision making by delivering complex research and analytics services.
We help our clients leverage outsourcing services to improve their business performance so that they can compete more effectively in the marketplace.


text:
"No more hurting people" – Martin Richard, 8, killed in Boston Marathon attack.
Violence: "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation."
The World Health Organization's World Report on Violence and Health states that violence is "among the leading causes of death among people aged 15-44 years worldwide, accounting for 14% of deaths among males and 7% of deaths among females."
Millions of people lose their lives to violence and millions more are injured and maimed every year. What is infinitely disturbing is the myriad forms this violence takes and how pervasive and borderless it is. Across the globe and across the centuries, humans have committed the most barbaric acts, limited only by their imaginations, and the march of civilization has done little to change the grim reality that on any given day, in every corner of our planet, gruesome and ungodly things are done to women, children and men.
Growing up in Beirut during the 70s and early 80s, I witnessed terrible acts of violence, car bombs at markets and artillery strikes on residential neighborhoods, bloody bodies and corpses in the street, the carnage of urban warfare. I saw the darker aspects of human nature, the willingness of people to brutalize one another. After four decades on this planet, I still cannot fathom how a man can rape a baby, how people can gas, hack, strangle, shoot, bomb, smother, burn, and torture their fellow humans. Rather than become dulled and inured, I am ever more appalled and horrified by violence.
Preventing violence should be our highest priority. Tragically and deplorably, it is not. For every paroxysm of grief and shock over a mass killing, there is apathy in the face of events like this:
Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore. Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair. "We don't know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear," said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo's rape epidemic. "They are done to destroy women."
Something like this should stop the world in its tracks, but it doesn't:
Jessica Marie Lunsford was a nine-year-old girl who was abducted from her home in Homosassa, Florida in the early morning of February 24, 2005. … Couey entered Lunsford's house through an unlocked door at about three o'clock in the morning, awakened Lunsford, told her "Don't yell or nothing," and told her to follow him out of the house. He admitted in a videotaped and recorded deposition to raping Lunsford in his bedroom. Lunsford was kept in Couey's bed that evening, where he raped her again in the morning. Couey put her in his closet and ordered her to remain there, which she did as he reported for work at "Billy's Truck Lot". Three days after he abducted her, Couey tricked Jessica into getting into two garbage bags by saying he was going to 'take her home'. He instead buried her alive as he decided he could do nothing else with the girl. According to the publicly released autopsy reports Lunsford had poked two fingers through the bags before suffocating to death.
Or this:
Turkish police have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl they say was buried alive by relatives in an "honor" killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys. The girl, who has been identified only by the initials MM, was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-meter hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman. … Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter – one of nine children – had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex. A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried.
No fate seems more ghastly or any act more abhorrent than the kind of evil deeds described above. That these things occur every day, every hour, across the planet is horrific beyond words. That the world is largely apathetic about it is loathsome.
There is something qualitatively different, something worse about violence than other existential threats. It may be impossible to distinguish between the mortal terror of being trapped under a building in an earthquake and being trapped under a building after a car bomb, between the agony of death from cancer and being beaten to death. But there is a difference. We all die in some manner or another, but an act of human will, of intentionality, a choice by one person to harm another, is not the same as an act or accident of nature or a cruel vagary of fate. The immediacy, intentionality, and physicality of a violent act sets it apart, precisely because free will is involved, because it is a choice in the moment, because it is avoidable by virtue of being the will of a person.
Although the relative scale is disproportionate (vastly more people are at risk from hunger and disease) violence touches virtually everyone, directly or indirectly. Is there a single person reading this who hasn't been affected by it in some way or who isn't concerned about being harmed or having their loved ones harmed? In many ways, violence – the fear of it, the reality of it, its history, and its many representations/permutations in art, film, music, media and modern culture – defines our modern life.
I believe that the decision by an individual or group of individuals to destroy or inflict damage on others, to rob them of their freedom, to strip them of their dignity, to dehumanize them, is fundamentally worse than any other mortal threat we face. Violence is an affront to our souls, a stain on our humanity.
Should it be our top order of business to eradicate violence? Yes. Is it possible to do so? The report I referenced at the top of this piece is a good place to start.


text:
About HootSuites's Internships
HootSuite Media Inc.operates a social media management system and is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They offer a number of internships on their website, including "Strategic Accounts Analyst – Intern," "Affiliate Marketing Intern," "Community Ambassador, Europe – Intern," "Community Ambassador Intern," "HootSuite University Intern," "Social Media Coach Intern," "HootSuite University Multimedia Intern," and "Revenue Operations – Intern." These positions are available to university graduates willing to work full time for several months and, until recently, these positions were listed as "unpaid."
Complaints on Reddit
Yesterday a Reddit user started a thread called "Hootsuite is hiring unpaid Interns, this is illegal in BC" and so far it has 391 comments. HootSuite responded by removing the following line from each internship advertisement: "Note this position is a 3 month internship at present with a commitment of Monday to Friday with core hours of 9am-5pm and that the role is unpaid." HootSuite also made the following comment on facebook:
It is fantastic to see this issue gain so much interest and I really appreciate the contributions from the Reddit community. One user saved the internship advertisements before they were changed and another found the following quotation from an interview with David Oslen (HootSuite's Community Marketing Director) from 2011: "My internships are (almost) always non-paid. Opinions throughout the industry differ on this point, but it's your choice to make." Someone even posted HootSuite's Internship Contract and a link to details about HootSuite's fancy new office space (presumably to make the point that the company is clearly capable of paying its interns).
BC Laws on Internships
BC's Employment Standards Act states all employees must be paid at least the BC minimum wage ($10.25 per hour for most employees). An "employee" is a person receiving or entitled to wages for work performed for another, who was hired and receives training from an employer. "Work" is defined as labour or services an employee performs for an employer whether in the employee's residence or elsewhere.
According to the Interpretation Guidelines Manual, an "internship" may be considered "work" and therefore is subject to the minimum wage. An internship is defined as follows:
"An "internship" is on-the-job training offered by an employer to provide a person with practical experience. Often internships are offered to persons who have completed a diploma or degree program and are seeking employment. Completing an internship does not itself result in an academic certificate or diploma. If the duties performed by interns fall within the definition of "work" contained in the Act, the intern falls within the definition of "employee", and the agency using the services of an intern falls within the definition of "employer", internships will be considered "work" for the purposes of the Act."
BC has distinguished an "internship" from a "practicum." A practicum is "hands-on" training that is part of a formal education process and done for school credit. A practicum is not considered "work" and therefore not subject to the minimum wage.
For a more detailed explanation of the law, tips for interns in BC, and organizations to contact check out this article from www.youthandwork.com that was also featured in the Ubyssey.
Are HootSuite's Internships Illegal?
HootSuite's unpaid internships are almost certainly illegal in British Columbia. They do not appear to be part of a formal course of study leading to a certificate, diploma or degree and according to the original advertisement the intern is expected to work 40 hours per week. It looks like HootSuite's unpaid interns would be able to file a complaint under the BC Employment Standards Act and seek the minimum wage they are entitled to for their work.
I would like to discourage HootSuite from simply informing candidates that contact them that these positions are unpaid (since it is no longer in the advertisement) and encourage them instead to offer jobs to university graduates that at least provide minimum wage compensation.
The Canadian Intern Association has just received an email from HootSuite's Communications Manager in Vancouver with the following statement from HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes:
"At HootSuite, we pride ourselves on being an employer of choice in both Vancouver, and around the world. Recently, I learned about some concerns that a few of our internship job postings may not be in compliance with the local laws. I appreciate those who have taken the time to bring this to our attention and we will immediately review this internally. When we created the internship program, I believed we were doing the right thing by offering the opportunity for young people to add experience to their resume and join a Vancouver success story. If we learn these internships are not compliant, we will fix it.
HootSuite's internship program was designed to help invest in and develop our local residents. Nearly everyone who has participated in the internship program has found it beneficial. For example, in the last year over 50 percent of the interns have received full-time employee positions at HootSuite. Many others have successfully moved on to strong careers at other BC companies, taking with them skills from their internship experience at HootSuite. The overwhelming majority of HootSuite's interns and employees enjoy their jobs at HootSuite and the company was recently selected to win 1st place as "2012 Best Companies: More Than 100 Employees", by BC Business.
To provide more detail on the HootSuite internship program, our legal review indicates that no more than 15 HootSuite's interns in the past twelve months may be affected by the unpaid internship guidelines and will be reviewed by our team.
At HootSuite, we truly believe our internships provide positive opportunities and rewards to our employees. We are committed to review the program internally and follow the legislative guidelines. I have always been a strong proponent of the local technology industry and am committed to finding a solution that is fair for everyone involved.
Thank you
Ryan Holmes
CEO, HootSuite"
I would like to commend HootSuite for responding to this issue so promptly and making a concerted effort to rectify the problem. I have responded to the email thanking them the statement and also suggesting that they pay past and present unpaid interns at least minimum wage retroactively for the hours they have worked. If HootSuite's internships are modified to comply with existing employment laws in British Columbia we will be happy to give them a Canadian Intern Association stamp of approval!
I will also point out that the Reddit thread now has over 500 comments and this story has gotten a ton of press:
- Global News – "HootSuite hammered online for unpaid internships"
- Vancouver Sun – "HootSuite faces online backlash over unpaid internships."
- 24 Hours Vancouver – "HootSuite accused of offering illegal internships"
- Globe & Mail – "HootSuite to review unpaid intern policy after barge of criticism"
- Yahoo! News Canada – "HootSuite under fire for using unpaid interns after barrage of online criticism"
- The Huffington Post – "HootSuite's Unpaid Interns prompt viral outrage"
- British Columbia Institute of Technology Radio Station – Claire Seaborn speaks on Evolution 107.9
Great work everyone!
-Claire Seaborn
Please email us with more unpaid internship advertisements to add to our "Name & Shame" wall.


text: The boys are being sent off to war, but not before one last hot and sexy romp! Slender Zach Country, beefy Damien Stone, chiseled Vadim Black, fit Brandon Evans and muscular Blaze Austin partake in some deep dick sucking before designating who's bottom will get dominated. These hard-bodied men know just how to please each other, and can't wait to let off a satisfying creamy load.


text:
And the number two way a Canadian loses a tooth, again according directly to the Tooth Fairy, is a direct hit to the face with a snowball. Hunter got to experience this Canadian rite of passage just this afternoon.
|Snowball fight! Dads versus the kids. Hunter experience a direct hit seconds after this was taken.
|A little blood, a wee tear, and a missing tooth!
|He spit blood into the snow and then noticed the tooth was missing! But this super mama was able find it in the bloody snow after a little bit of digging and snow melting in my hands.


text:
Bobbi Kristina Brown was flown to Chicago to be seen by yet another specialist in a last-ditch effort before she was moved to hospice care last week — but who exactly ordered the medevac is up for debate.
The family is annoyed by supposed rumors that make it sound as if the family was relying on the celebrities to get the best care, TMZ was told. Family friend Perry was, however, photographed Sunday visiting the hospice facility where Bobbi Kristina has been since Wednesday.
During the visit to Chicago, a brain specialist told the family there was "no hope" that Krissi would come out of the coma, TMZ reported last week. That news apparently prompted the decision to take the 22-year-old off medications and move her to hospice for a natural death.
The only daughter of the late Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown was found unresponsive and face down Jan. 31 in a bathtub in the Atlanta-area home she shared with surrogate "brother"-turned-boyfriend Nick Gordon. She's been in a coma since then, moving from a hospital ICU to a rehab facility and now to hospice. Details leading up to the 911 call that day have not been released.
Meanwhile, Gordon has reportedly just assembled a tabloid-worthy legal team.
In addition to Joe Habachy and Randy Kessler, who've been representing Gordon so far, Casey Anthony lawyer Jose Baez and Natalee Holloway investigator TJ Ward have been brought on board, according to People.
On Thursday, police turned over the results of their months-long investigation into the events of Jan. 31 to prosecutors, who will decide whether to bring charges in the case — presumably against Gordon.
"In view of the new circumstances regarding the health status of Bobbi Kristina Brown, we will be reviewing the case with greater interest," Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said in a statement to the Associated Press.
A day previous, on the day Bobbi Kristina Brown was moved to hospice care, her conservator filed a civil suit against Gordon, alleging he'd abused Krissi, taken her money — including $11,000 after she was hospitalized — and maneuvered himself into a position to control her and her substantial wealth.
That suit, which alleges a loud argument took place Jan. 31 before Bobbi Kristina was able to meet with someone for advice about Gordon, is seeking $10 million in damages.
Follow Christie D'Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.


text:
Looks like Nelinda doesn't have a portfolio yetExplore our community
Freelance designer and online branding consultant from Boston. I had work and working as a consultant for Microsoft, KPMG, Princeton Review, Banks and a lot of small businesses. I am looking for new projects and long term customers. My slogan : "NEVER, NEVER sell your design"
In the first stages of your design process you should listen to your client, you should have crystal clear what he desires. If you listened them, and you stayed true to their communication desires:
Member since: August 24, 2009


text:
Tegan JamesRequest Her Follow
Model Information
If you like your MILFs blonde, confident, and stacked with 34DDD's, Tegan James is going to take your breath away. The Californian beauty grew up in a very Catholic household and attended an all girls private school, which ultimately made her shelf away any inkling of sexuality. But when she finally lost her virginity at 22, Tegan opened pandora's box, trying every sexual act under the California sun! A year later she got her first set of big fake tits and began camming online, an outlet for her newfound sexual identity. For a few years she floated from job to job, never getting the same rush as when flaunting her huge boobs on camera. As she matured, close friends in the adult industry began noticing that Tegan was blossoming into a smoking hot MILF and nudged her towards starring in one of their productions. The leap to porn was freeing, says the blonde babe, who claims she gets wet at the idea of horny people around the world watching her fuck! This hot MILF isn't shy to admit that she dominates her men, taking great pleasure in hearing them beg to cum; a cock-hardening sexual confidence that makes Tegan James one busty babe to watch!
Subscribe to this page Like
749 Likes, 20 Dislikes
98,705 Views


text:
Laurie Anderson to speak at EMPAC as part of her three-year residency
Anderson's unique approach to music comes to RPI stage
Laurie Anderson challenges the status quo.
For 40 years, that's been her business — as a storyteller, composer, violinist, filmmaker, multimedia performance artist and pioneer in electronic and experimental music-making.
Among her early innovations was a "tape-bow violin" that substituted magnetic tape for horsehair.
In the 1980s, with her spiky hair, airy voice and global consciousness, she came to embody a type of art that mashed video with music and the spoken with the sung. No sound is to eerie for her, no lyric too pointed or strange. She doesn't shy from much, in any discipline.
"Fearless" is a word fairly applied to Anderson, scheduled to speak Thursday evening at RPI's EMPAC, her first public appearance there since beginning her three-year artist's residency. But a few things have tossed her off balance over the years. One of them is improvisation. Another is the Theremin. A third involves Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The second fear first. At EMPAC, Anderson will discuss her creation and development of instruments and will show off her new, custom-designed rig that allows her to travel more easily with her eccentric and ever-changing brood of musical gizmos. But she won't be demonstrating all of them, especially the older ones. They're just too crotchety. And they're hard to plug in.
"You know, a lot of them are instruments in which the systems that made them work no longer exist," said Anderson, on the phone from her office in New York City. "That's one of the things about technology: It becomes obsolete so fast that some of the instruments are no longer even playable. Or they're playable, but you'd have to reinvent the playback system."
So no tape-bow violin on Thursday. And no Optigan, a vintage "optical organ" that uses celluloid discs to approximate sounds. "It's a very rickety instrument," Anderson said. "I wouldn't even move it from one part of my studio to the other. It's kind of like the Theremin."
The Theremin, invented in the 1920s, emitted its spacey whine on many a classic sci-fi score. Anderson baby-sat an antique model once, "and it was kind of terrifying because it had a very frayed old cord power cable and it was barely working. It was really, really fragile and sat in the corner. It was like your 90-year-old grandma saying" — here she ratcheted up her voice in volume and screechiness — "'DON'T MIND ME, I DON'T WANNA BE IN THE WAY!' I was terrified I was gonna trip over it!"
Her fear of improvisation stems from her appearance in a 1970s jazz festival in Berlin. In the midst of performing an electronic work, "I heard a voice. There was this little pause. Someone in the back of the place said, 'PLAAAYY JAZZ.' I thought, 'He's got a point, this is a jazz festival.' And my second thought was, 'I don't know jazz!' And I had no idea what it was about, really. And the fact that I should be playing it was just ridiculous. So I stayed away from it."
So she was scared off of jazz — and improvisation in general — by a heckler in Berlin? "That sums it up."
No longer. Thanks to her work with avant-garde saxophonist John Zorn, Anderson has long since overcome her fear of playing by ear. "I realized it was really possible to do that, and be musical, and have a great time, and make something that was a real piece of music — not just something that you didn't bother rehearsing," she said.
On May 2, she'll make something "real" in an improvised performance with the acclaimed accordionist/composer/experimental music pioneer Pauline Oliveros. The first of the evening's back-to-back events will showcase Anderson's films. At the second, Oliveros and Anderson will cook up some music to accompany silent film footage. Don't ask which footage: "They might be instructional films from the Soviet era. Who knows what we'll wind up choosing?"
And don't ask which music, either. "It won't be premeditated," confirmed Oliveros from her home in Kingston.
"Laurie is a fantastic storyteller, and you know she's an artist and a musician, so she has all of that going," Oliveros said. "She's a polymath, in a way — a polymath artist — but she has this terrific ability to tell a story and to tell it charismatically, so that you're very drawn to it. And it's magnetic."
Anderson has been plying that magnetism since the 1970s, when she played violin on the streets of Genoa in skates embedded in hunks of ice. In 1981 she hit No. 2 on the UK charts with the pulsing, minimalist "O Superman," a breathy shot of anti-militaristic poetry funneled through a vocoder. In 2010 she released her latest album, "Homeland," which, like so much of her work, asks and unsettles as it awes. "What are days for?" she mulls in an electronically altered baritone — a masculine alter-ego that her husband, Lou Reed, dubbed "Fenway Bergamot."
Johannes Goebbel, EMPAC's director, first met Anderson in Germany in the 1990s. Last year she was tapped as its inaugural distinguished artist-in-residence, an appointment that benefits both artist and EMPAC, he said. With all of its artist residencies, RPI gets exposure to "the full range" of practitioners in various fields, "from new and budding and unknown artists and researchers to the famous," while the artists get access to the venue's commodious spaces and large staff.
Anderson will appear on Thursday with her hardware and software collaborators Shane Koss, Liubo Borissov and (via Skype) Konrad Kaczmarek. No more tickets are available for the theater, but due to demand, EMPAC will be live streaming Anderson's talk into its larger concert hall. After the event in the theater, Anderson will pop into the concert hall for a quick greeting.
And take note, lovers and dreamers: Thursday is Valentine's Day. "It's absolutely a hot date night — plenty of love songs," Anderson said, tongue presumably in cheek. But will her husband be there? "I'm not sure he's gonna be able to show up. ... I'm gonna try to twist his arm."
More Information
At a glance
What: Talk, "Designing + Customizing Instruments for Performance and Recording"
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: EMPAC, 110 8th St., Troy
Info: The theater is full, but extra seating is unreserved and free for live streaming in the concert hall. Those with theater reservations may pick up tickets starting at 5 p.m. They must be claimed by 6:45. For more information, visit http://empac.rpi.edu/events/2013/spring/anderson-talk or call 276-3921
Looking forward, Anderson said, she may try to assemble some of her many stories into book form. Stirred by the events in Newtown, she also hopes to update her "United States" performance piece from the 1980s.
Otherwise, she's still learning. "Oh, yeah," she said. "I'm still as stupid as I always was."
She cited a recent piece she wrote for a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet. "When I started writing this quartet, I thought, 'I have NO IDEA how to write a string quartet,'" she said. "And of course, that was part of the appeal for me, that I had no idea how to do it. For them it was an adventure, too." Less than a week before the performance, "They asked me, 'Is there a score?' 'No, there's no score.' 'We're playing this four days from now.' 'Don't worry, don't worry about it.' "We were winging it at this point. And it really turned out to be so beautiful."
Is there any instrument, art form or musical genre she won't touch?
"I like all music. Except Broadway musicals," she clarified. "I really can't bear it. I can't bear them. No, I went to one once. And it was one of the worst experiences of my life!"
Ah, here it is. That third fear — the Broadway show that scared her off musicals forever.
So, which one was it?
email@example.com • 518-454-5439 • @AmyBiancolli


text:
Interview with members of the new yeshiva hip-hop group Shtar. Hear how one of their members gave up a record contract in London to move to Israel and another member stuck to rapping because his rabbi told him to.
For full text interview with video and photos click here: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/138270
Plus, Rabbi Eli Goldsmith "the midnight rabbi " talks about the upcoming Complete Unity Concert on May 8th featuring Shtar, Aharit Hayamim Hai, Sam Fisher & Psychologix, Mendy Portnoy, Danny Raphael, JudaBlue and more young, up-and-coming bands.
Discuss this topic in the new Forums Section.


text:
Rock Climbing at El Potrero Chico
You are tired of the cold Canadian winters and you want to escape to the South? Why not do a combination and climb long rock routes, while taking advantage of the Mexican warmth with us! Our destination is the Mecca in winter for the majority of the climbers: El Potrero Chico. Our goal is to make you live a wonderful experience doing multi-pitch climbing in a superb environment. On this trip with us, you can get your sun and climb all at once!
An intermediate level of climbing experience is required in order to have a good experience and not a misadventure. On the routes, we will cross old climbing equipment, cactus, loose rocks which make this a fabulous experience.
- Day 1 : Vol Montréal/Monterrey
- Day 2 : Climbing single-pitch routes for familiarization
- Day 3 and 4 : Climbing routes of 3 to 7 pitches in length
- Day 5: Resting day at the pool with a nice cerveza fria
- Day 6 and 7: 2 days of climbing on routes of 10 length and more
- Day 8: Return to Montréal
Location : El Potrero Chico, Mexique
Duration : 8 Days
Cost: 2495 $
Climber/guide ratio: 2 clients / 1 guide
Accomodation :
- 7 nights in a house
- Transportation
- Accommodation
- Breakfast
- Group equipment
- Québec certified guide
- Personal expenses
- Meals and lunch
- Travel insurance
- Tip for the guide
- Personal equipment
- extra
To receive the PDF description by e-mail, write to:


text:
I just picked up a great deal. I could sell it right now and make about $22,000 but I'm not going to do it.
I'm very tempted though. Obviously, $22,000 is a lot of money. So why am I not selling this property and taking the money and running?
Because it's a perfect buy and hold property.
It's a single family house, on a cul-de-sac and it's in a place where there is a ton of military (my favorite type of tenants).
If I sold this property now I'd be a fool because when I own it free and clear in a few years it will give me around $2,000 a month in income for life.
You see, one of the reasons I'm writing about this today is because I just had a conversation with an investor in Florida who I haven't talked to in awhile. When the market was hot this investor and his partner where flipping properties like crazy and making a ton of money.
But guess what? They didn't keep a single property.
When I was on the phone with the investor he told me, "I always told my partner we should keep some of the properties, but he always talked me into selling so we could get $30,000 immediately and be able to buy a new car if we wanted to."
Not surprisingly, that investor and his partner spent all of the money and have nothing to show for all of the deals they've done. They're back at square one.
Listen. I know it's not easy. If you're struggling for money now you might have to flip a house to pay the bills. But I do mean struggling. Most people can afford to put a roof over their heads, clothes over their back and food on the table… but they think they're struggling if they can't get 4 cups of Starbucks coffee every day and a new car every year.
So if you're truly not struggling I suggest you delay instant gratification.
From day one in this business I've been keeping a certain number of properties in my buy and hold portfolio and I'm very thankful I did, because I currently have several thousand dollars coming in every month in passive income.
And even though $22,000 would pay for one heck of a vacation today, I'd rather have the $2,000 in passive income coming in a few years from now. That last thing I want to do is have to work full time when I'm 60 or 70 years old flipping properties. And if you take my advice you won't have to work either.


text:
Subscribe To Why The PTC Is All Worried About Saturday Night Live Now Updates
Parents, do you know what your children are watching? Don't worry if you don't, that's why organizations like the Parents Television Council exist. The PTC has long acted in the interest of parents who don't want their kids to see something too crazy on television, and now the organization has taken aim at Saturday Night Live. While the parties don't clash too frequently, the PTC is worried about recent changes in the show's programming that could affect children.
We reported last week that Saturday Night Live would be airing live all around the nation in its final four episodes of Season 42. While that sounds like amazing news for the West Coasters who have been forced to watch a tape delay all seasons prior, it gives organizations like the PTC cause to worry. Check out what they had to say (via The Wrap):
While not too many households usually have their children awake at 11:30 pm ET on the East Coast, many parents on the West Coast might. Those living on the West Coast will be seeing the show air around 8:30 pm Pacific Time and 9:30 pm Mountain Time. As we're sure NBC is already aware, those times hit well before the safe harbor period for television as dictated by the FCC, which means the network could face some penalties should a particularly bad swear word come out live.
Those moments are rare on Saturday Night Live, but they do happen. Past host Dave Chappelle clearly thought he crossed a line when he used an unsavory word during his monologue a couple months back, and there were whispers Jenny Slate was dropped from the cast after one season when she used the word live. As a young teen, I distinctly remember watching System Of A Down drop an F-Bomb while performing "B.Y.O.B." Maybe the PTC is onto something with the show's impact on children. The PTC continued their advice to SNL:
So will NBC take heed of the Parents Television Council's request? The TV-MA rating seems a bit excessive, but you don't want to risk butting heads with the FCC. To its credit, Saturday Night Live is leading off the live stint with perhaps the most family friendly veteran guest you could have: Jimmy Fallon. The list continues with some other (hopefully) family friendly hosts like Dwayne Johnson, Melissa McCarthy, and Chris Pine, who is the only first-time host on the list. Something tells me all the hosts will be on their best behavior, and let's hope everyone else on the Saturday Night Live staff is as well. If not, rest assured the PTC and the FCC will come knocking.
Saturday Night Live goes live in all regions April 15th beginning at 11:30 pm ET. Set your DVR to see if any controversy happens, and while you're at it, take a look at our midseason premiere guide and our summer TV premiere schedule to see if there's anything else you want to record coming up.


text:
Brain Tissue Swelling and Seizure Activity in Inactive Cysticercosis
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00001912
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : November 4, 1999
Last Update Posted : July 2, 2017
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
This study will examine what causes seizures in patients with cysticercosis (pork tapeworm infection). A better understanding of this could lead to improved methods of controlling or preventing seizures.
In humans, the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium) lives in the small intestine. The parasite's microscopic eggs travel around the body-including to the brain-where they develop into cysts. Usually, the cysts don't cause symptoms until they die. Then, they provoke an inflammatory reaction that irritates the brain, causing seizures and other symptoms. The inflammation eventually goes away, but the dead cysts remain. Calcium deposits often form where the cysts are. Some of the calcified cysts develop swelling around them that seem to be associated with the development of seizures.
This study will explore how and why these dead, calcified cysts continue to cause seizures. In so doing, it will try to determine: 1) the best diagnostic imaging method for detecting swelling around the cysts; 2) how often swelling occurs; and 3) what makes some cysts prone to swelling and related seizure activity, while others are not.
Patients with cysticercosis who have had seizures or who have known or possible swelling around calcified cysts will be studied with various tests, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scans, electroencephalography (EEG), blood tests, and possibly lumbar puncture. Patients will be studied for two cycles of seizures (during active and quiet periods) or a maximum 4 years.
|Condition or disease
|Cysticercosis Cysts Seizures
|Study Type :
|Actual Enrollment :
|6 participants
|Official Title:
|Analysis of the Occurrence of Perilesional Edema and Seizures in Patients With Inactive Cysticercosis
|Study Start Date :
|August 10, 1999
|Study Completion Date :
|April 4, 2012
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
18 years of age or older. If children are evaluated they can be seen under the general protocol and they may be entered into the present protocol under an exception.
Likely diagnosis of inactive cysticercosis and present or past seizure activity. Requires "a" and "b" plus any one of the remaining criteria:
- History of seizures or present seizure activity;
- Previously treated or has inactive disease and declines treatment;
- Single calcified lesions and positive serology;
- Multiple calcified lesions;
- Multiple small enhancing nodular lesions;
- History of cystic lesions responding to specific chemotherapy.
If female, not pregnant and using effective birth control methods.
Less than 18 years of age.
Pregnant or unwilling to use effective birth control measures.
Refuse blood tests.
Unwilling or unable to undergo testing according to the schedule.
Unable to undergo MRI or CT examinations.
Patients who require anesthesia to undergo imaging studies.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00001912
|United States, Maryland
|National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike
|Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
|Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
|Lima, Peru
|Principal Investigator:
|Henry Masur, M.D.
|National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00001912 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|November 4, 1999 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|July 2, 2017
|Last Verified:
|April 4, 2012
Keywords provided by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC):
T. Solium
Calcified Cysts
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Neurologic Manifestations
Nervous System Diseases
Signs and Symptoms
Cestode Infections
Parasitic Diseases
Central Nervous System Helminthiasis
Central Nervous System Parasitic Infections
Central Nervous System Infections
Central Nervous System Diseases


text:
Ann Starrs is FCI's president and co-founder.
During the third week of May, I was in Geneva — together with an impressive collection of global health leaders from governments, UN agencies, and civil society — for the 66th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA). I am in Geneva fairly often, for meetings with WHO, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and other partners, but the annual World Health Assembly meeting is unique. The WHA is the governing body of the World Health Organization, and so it is attended by high-level delegations – usually led by the Minister of Health – from WHO's member states. That makes WHA a great opportunity for networking and strategizing: finding an available seat, much less a table, in the famous (but oddly named) Serpent Bar at the Palais de Nations is always a challenge, as many conference participants spend virtually all of their time huddled there in intense discussion.
Issues around reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health featured strongly in this year's agenda, which is why I was there. The MDGs, and development goals beyond 2015; universal health coverage; life-saving commodities; and frameworks for holding countries and donors accountable for fulfilling their health commitments were all on the agenda, for formal discussion, side events, and hours of conversation at the Serpent Bar.
Perhaps most importantly, this year's WHA considered, and ultimately passed, a resolution to implement the recommendations of the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children. The resolution commits countries to improving the quality, supply, and delivery of underutilized and essential commodities for RMNCH, and tasks WHO with reporting back to WHA each year through 2015 on progress in implementing the Commodity Commission recommendations as well as those of Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health. The WHA resolution is a clear, global endorsement of the Commodity Commission recommendations, and represents a commitment by the world's nations to ensure that life-saving medicines and technologies get to the women and children who need them. It is a significant achievement for our community, and it provides an important mechanism for ongoing advocacy, and for holding governments and development partners accountable for keeping their promises.
Notably, the Commodity Commission's list of 13 priority commodities includes two that are advocacy priorities for FCI: misoprostol, a drug that is highly effective for preventing and treating postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), the leading cause of maternal death; and emergency contraceptives, which help women prevent unintended pregnancy after unprotected sex. (FCI is host organization for the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception—ICEC.) At a very well-attended side event during the WHA, hosted by the delegations from Nigeria, Norway, and the U.S., along with World Vision International and PATH, speakers focused on the importance of innovation in overcoming barriers to access to essential health commodities. Presentations highlighted the substantial achievements that have already been made, and the important step forward represented by the Commodity Commission's recommendations. Representatives from various countries also noted the significant challenges that remain, including those related to health commodity distribution systems, manufacturing, and supply. Several countries expressed a preference for purchasing and distributing locally-manufactured commodities, although this approach can sometimes raise concerns about quality assurance; further study, and advocacy, will be needed to address this challenge.
Only a few days later, and half a world away, I was one of a dozen FCI staff members who attended Women Deliver 2013, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This week was even busier – in fact, much crazier – than the previous week in Geneva; there were meetings and events starting at 7 in the morning, and organized social events went until 8 or 9 pm every night. The conference was amazing, bringing together 4,500 leaders, clinicians, program managers, and advocates representing over 2,200 organizations and 149 countries. I could not take full advantage (or anywhere near it) of everything the conference had to offer; there was an endless variety of stimulating plenary and concurrent sessions (including six sessions presenting the latest findings from Countdown to 2015, in which FCI is a leading advocacy partner), as well as Speaker's Corner (where FCI and WHO presented new tools for strengthening countries' policies on adolescent sexual and reproductive health). There was a youth corner and a cinema corner, a busy and bustling exhibition hall, and many, many other activities going on at all times. The cumulative value of all the connections made, facts and ideas conveyed, materials disseminated, and plans and strategies developed was immeasurable but immense.
Here, too, essential health commodities were on the agenda. On the Monday morning just before the conference officially started, FCI co-sponsored a side event called "In Our Hands: Successful Strategies to Prioritize Essential Maternal Health Supplies," at which the Maternal Health Supplies Working Group and the Maternal Health Supplies Caucus of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition brought together global and national advocates and program implementers in an interactive forum – including advocacy case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America – to network, strategize, and exchange ideas for elevating maternal health supplies onto global and national health agendas. At the same time, ICEC co-sponsored a session on "Emergency Contraception: New Research Findings, Programmatic Updates, and Advocacy Strategies," at which advocates, researchers, pharmaceutical representatives, and other leaders in the field discussed efforts to ensure access to EC globally, with a focus on developing countries.
That afternoon, FIGO and Gynuity Health Projects (our partners in misoprostol advocacy) co-hosted a discussion of misoprostol for PPH: "New Evidence and the Way Forward." Presenters offered the latest information on ways that the current evidence can help inform and develop effective policies and service delivery programs across varying levels of the health system, and on lessons learned from innovative programs in Afghanistan and Nepal. I concluded the session with a presentation on advocacy opportunities and challenges for "Making Misoprostol an Operational Reality."
At these and related sessions the level of discussion, the enthusiastic participation by advocates and health workers, and the clear attention that these issues are getting from policy makers, made for an inspiring and energizing two weeks. "Making sure that women and children have the medicines and other supplies they need is critical for our push to achieve the MDGs," said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he launched the Commodities Commission 15 months ago. Progress is being made, and we, together with our advocacy partners, are working hard to make sure that essential commodities are available to all who need them.


text:
Archive for the 'Zune' Category
Seeing the Zune close up
Friday, October 6th, 2006
So today I got to try out the Zune first hand. Grand Valley alum Eric Maino stopped by campus today to give a recruiting talk and brought along two Zunes for people to check out. Honestly, I'm impressed.
Now my initial reaction to the news of the Zune was one of disinterest. Yes, I've got an iPod, and yes, I've ordered a R2H UMPC. So to me the Zune is just another entertainment device.
Actually getting the device in my hands I was impressed. The device weighs about the same as an iPod however the body of the Zune has a slightly rubberized feel to it. My first impressions were that yes, it does slightly resemble an iPod in that is has the circular buttons for manipulating their menuing system. Other than that, I think I'll say it stands on it's own. It has a fantastically crisp and clear screen. The pictures do not do this screen justice. I will say that I cannot critique the sound quality as I'll leave that to the listener. I had my PC speakers hooked up to the device, and later my iPod headphones. I'd say the quality is on par with the iPod, however once again that could matter on the media, bit rate, file size, etc.
The navigation is a bit tricky. Well maybe not but I'm used to the "spinning" of the iPod, the Zune uses directional clicking to navigate the menu options. This took a bit getting used to, however I do like the fact that the "back" button, as well as "play/pause" is separate from the directional buttons.
The user interface is clear and easy to see. There is also a vibrant background image, however the image doesn't hinder the menu's contrast at all. Video playback on the device seemed rather clean, without any noticable skipping or frame rate problems. I'm also going to assume that this may vary depending upon file size, bit rate, etc.
I will say the Zune beats the pants off of the iPod in one feature, the radio. The Zune offers a radio function which allows a user to scroll across the radio frequencies. When the user is dialed into a strong radio signal the screen shows the call numbers of the station and also the type of music the station plays. This was amazing!
Now my roommate Brad over at BigRed'sPlace will also be blogging about his thoughts on the Zune, but overall I will say that because I've ordered a UMPC and I've got an iPod I don't think the Zune is for me. However if you are looking into purchasing a portable entertainment device, I'd say this is worth looking into.
Note: I've got a few more pictures of the device at my flickr account. Also the device has wireless, however I didn't get a chance to try that out, so I can't comment on it.
Posted in Zune | Comments Off on Seeing the Zune close up
Zune will cost $249
Friday, September 29th, 2006
Zune pricing is now out. $249 to match the cost of the 30gb iPod. I guess this is a good competitive move for Microsoft, but as for the rest of us who already have iPods, this is just another MP3 player on the market, WhooHoo! (sarcasm).
News from Redmond here.
Posted in Zune | Comments Off on Zune will cost $249
Coming Zune!
Thursday, September 14th, 2006
So Microsoft unveiled it's iPod competitor today. Per usual with a new Microsoft product, Sci-Fi Tech reports "there's no precise launch date or price yet, although Microsoft does day(sic) it'll be available 'this holiday season.'"
According to Bloomberg, "The player offers a 30-gigabyte hard drive, comes in black, white and brown and allows users to wirelessly share music with nearby devices, the Redmond, Washington-based company said today in a statement."
Sci-Fi Tech also reports "the Zune will feature built-in Wi-Fi, allowing users to wirelessly share songs and videos… theoretically. The press release says you'll be able to share full-length "sample tracks" of "select" songs as well as homemade recordings and pictures. Sounds like there'll be some pretty serious copy protection."
Honestly I've got my iPod, i'm going to be purchasing a UMPC as soon as ASUS does a US launch. I don't see this being a device for me… But it sure seems cool as hell!
Posted in Zune | Comments Off on Coming Zune!


text:
An Exuberant Couple's "Decor Hunter" Home in Puerto Rico
Name: Sandra Lobos, Juan Carlos Ferrer, and their cat Mimí
Location: Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico
Size: 1,600 square feet
Years lived in: Renting 4 months
It's a surprise that Sandra and Juan Carlos' apartment in Puerto Rico is so minimal, considering the two have such playful, exuberant personalities. But Sandra explains that at the end of the day, what they really want is a space where they can unwind and have little distractions — a decluttered zen with a mesmerizing view of the Trujillo Alto mountains and tropical foliage of Puerto Rico.
Sandra and Juan Carlos have only called Trujillo Alto home for less than half a year, after they left their busier and noisier neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital. But the couple doesn't regret the switch. Sandra now has a bright and airy space where she can update the Decor Hunter blog she runs, and Juan Carlos can work on his music in the spare bedroom, where his equipment is set up.
"We chose this place because we wanted an apartment with more privacy," Sandra says. Their previous apartment in San Juan was smaller, and the couple had to deal with traffic jams almost every day during their daily commutes. Their new place also comes with a spectacular view of the Trujillo Alto mountains. "The mountains you see from the balcony are like out of a movie scene, especially on foggy days." Considering the two are very visual people, that sealed the deal.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our Style: It has evolved with time, but leans towards a modern Scandinavian-inspired look with minimal vibes.
Inspiration: Design books, art, Instagram, and our constant effort for a more decluttered zen space.
Favorite Element: The natural light. We really love plants, candles and crystals. They add life and set the right vibe in each room.
Biggest Challenge: Stop buying stuff and stop making holes in the walls.
What Friends Say: We've heard a lot of "light", "airy" and "fresh"— just what we were trying to achieve while taking advantage of the tropical and energizing mountain views around the apartment.
Biggest Embarrassment: Don't look in the closets.
Proudest DIY: One of the first DIYs Sandra made for @Decor_Hunter, the carrara marble coffee table. Everything was on a budget, and also designed and planned on a napkin like every big idea.
Biggest Indulgence: Bedding sheets and the Gray Malin piece Llamas with Balloons
Best Advice: Your taste and decor trends are constantly changing, so don't be harsh on yourself if by the time you finish arranging an area, you already want to re-do it all over again. It happens all the time (#normal).
Dream Sources: Muuto
Explore this style:
More resources:
Bear Marquee - Ultra Pure White
Book shelf - IKEA
Raging elephant piece - DIY by Elizabeth Ortiz (aka Sandra's mom)
Grey sofa — Koper
Rose velvet pillows – west elm
Mustard throw blanket – west elm
Marble coffee table – DIY by Sandra
Mirrored star – west elm
Tin candle – Voluspa
Gold candle holders – west elm
Rug – Marshalls
Oil painting - DIY by Sandra
Llamas Black & White Balloons painting - Gray Malin
Dining table - Thrift store
Chairs - eBay
Silver pendant light - Casa Febus
Marble trays - CB2
Mason jars - Marshalls
Bird salt and pepper shakers - west elm
Dream catcher - Tropical Depression
Knot pillow - DNA Home Accents
Duvet cover - Ralph Lauren
Euro Shams - west elm
Lamps - Kmart
Night Tables - DIY
Mirror - IKEA
Ottoman - Home Goods
Marble table lamp - Home Goods
Rug - Urban Outfitters
Shower curtain - Urban Outfitters
Tulum photo - Max Wanger
Thanks, Sandra & Juan Carlos!
Share Your Style:
⇒ House Tour & House Call Submission Form
See More:
⇒ Recent House Tours
⇒ House Tours on Pinterest


text:
Red Tails
Red Tails is a movie about the African-American fighter pilots in World War II, which is sort of a not very well known story, although many of us have know about the Tuskegee Group that were the all-black unit, the story of the pilots is less well known. The two best known people in this one are Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrence Howard, but this is kind of silly. And Gerald McRaney stars as Colonel Bullard who sends them into war. I just thought the dialogue was so silly, it was literally laughable. At one point, somebody pulls out a black Jesus, and the audience that I saw it with started giggling. The aerial action shots are George Lucas; not George Lucas style, but they're George Lucas because he actually did the flying sequences. What can I tell you? I'd give it maybe one star for having its heart in the right place, but somebody should have done a little better job on the writing and the acting and anything else. I mean, it's just as one of the people sitting next to me, who happens to be African-American, said: this is a cartoon. It is. Probably should've been done in animation. The story deserves better. One star.


text:
June Miller
One of the most talked about artists in recent time, June Miller are an excellent addition to an already mouth-watering line up. Touring relentlessly has seen the duo build up a hefty fan base and they will be landing into Brixton Academy with a lot of heat behind this! A very exclusive back to back will see the duo blow the roof off!