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This is an article from the Buddhist Door website :"Peparing for Rebellion":
Any thoughts about it ?
This is an article from the Buddhist Door website :"Peparing for Rebellion":
Any thoughts about it ?
There are often contradictory elements to the Buddhist path, which is not surprising as we are human beings struggling to make sense of a world seemingly reluctant to be made sense of. On one hand we look for equanimity as a measure of success but on the other hand we look for mindfulness arising too. Compassion is another biggie on our checklist, so what are we to do when when we become mindful of our planet being destroyed, where millions of living things are being thoughtlessly and wantonly poisoned or burned or starved to death? What does our compassion bring to the situation? Can we sit in equanimity and watch it happen? I have nothing but admiration for engaged Buddhism when related to such things.
It certainly is a difficult choice to make. To what extent is it right to stand up and oppose the continuing pollution of this planet? To what extent do we believe that right speech and right action involve opposing the law? Will it make any difference in the long term?
No-one has a universal answer to offer. We have to do whatever seems right, based on our own convictions. We shouldn't be influenced by the voices of protesters, nor by the voices of those who oppose protest. In the end, it's a personal decision.
The structure of capitalism does not allow protest, and I believe stops any meaningful effort in its track. When I turn on the Propaganda machine and we must remember that is what TV is, I see people protesting on what looks the wrong issues in the wrong period of time for it, and it becomes obvious that the capitalists have their own hooligans on the streets causing violence and creating a negative image of those who protest about Greed.
Just my opinion, you will sleep better knowing that.
Last edited by Thinker; 26 Aug 20 at 10:49.
This is the most important information I have read and yet millions have ignored its significance - https://tinyurl.com/yywza5th
As for life after death, Hawking said he believes the brain is like a computer that will simply shut off.
"There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he told the Guardian.
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Superstorm Sandy's human toll mounts; at least 56 killed in US
(CNN) -- A father and son drowned in the basement of their home. A young girl was killed when the storm surge swallowed her house. A woman was electrocuted when she stepped on a downed electrical line.
Still others were missing: Two boys ripped from their mother's arms by fierce waves, and a man believed to have been carried away by floodwaters.
As authorities in nine states tallied the devastation brought by Superstorm Sandy and struggled to restore basic services early Thursday, the human toll mounted.
At least 56 people in the United States and one in Canada died during the storm, raising Sandy's overall death toll to 124 after earlier claiming 67 lives in the Caribbean.
It is unknown exactly how many are unaccounted for in the aftermath of the storm. There are numerous reports in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere of ongoing search efforts for people reportedly swept away or missing.
Among those killed by Sandy were 28 in New York. "Tragically, we expect that number to go up," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters Wednesday.
The body of 13-year-old Andrea Dresch was pulled from the debris of a house in New York's Staten Island that was swallowed by a tidal surge when Sandy swept ashore, authorities told CNN affiliate WCBS on Wednesday. Her father was among those reported missing, SILive.com reported.
Sandy came ashore late Monday in southern New Jersey, wiping out houses, pushing sand four blocks inland in places and leaving thousands stranded.
Search and rescue crews were going door-to-door in some neighborhoods looking for people, particularly the elderly, stranded by the power outages, the debris and remaining floodwaters.
Sandy killed at least six people in New Jersey, said Gov. Chris Christie, who had warned people in low-lying areas to evacuate. "We're lucky that more people didn't die as a result of folks ignoring those warnings," he told reporters.
A number of deaths were caused by the storm surge, downed electrical lines and cold weather.
Lauren Abraham, 23, was killed Monday outside her Jamaica, Queens, home in New York when she stepped on a downed electrical line in a puddle, police said.
The Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, coroner attributed the death of 86-year-old Theresa Schlitzer to hypothermia after she was found unconscious in her yard, CNN affiliate WHTM in Harrisburg reported.
Schlitzer died Tuesday after spending nearly 12 hours outside in the storm, the coroner told WHTM. Details about why Schlitzer was outside and how she became incapacitated were not immediately available.
Boats were washed onto front yards in the Staten Island neighborhood of Great Kills. Borough President James Molinaro said the waters have mostly receded, but the damage is severe. Several people, including two young boys, are missing.
Among those also reported missing were two boys, ages 2 and 4, who were separated from their mother when the SUV they were riding in was overwhelmed by the storm surge that struck New York's Staten Island, authorities told CNN affiliate NY1.
The mother and two boys escaped the SUV that was quickly filling with water only to be overtaken by the storm surge.
"She had them in her arms, and a wave came and swept them out of her arms," a family member told the New York Daily News.
In the same New York City borough, John Filipowicz, 51, and his 20-year-old son John were found dead after being buried under debris in the basement of their State Island home after it was swamped by the storm surge, authorities said, police told WCBS.
Commuters, homeowners and businesses, meanwhile, struggled with the loss of power and waterlogged or burned homes.
Many are still in need of basic supplies. President Barack Obama visited a shelter Wednesday in Brigantine, New Jersey, where he said he met a woman with an 8-month-old who has run out of diapers and formula.
"Those are the kinds of basic supplies and help that we can provide," he said.
Obama promised the federal government "will not quit" until communities are cleaned up.
"We are not going to tolerate red tape, we are not going to tolerate bureaucracy," Obama said. "And I've instituted a 15-minute rule, essentially, on my team. You return everybody's phone calls in 15 minutes, whether it's the mayor's, the governor's, county officials.
"If they need something, we figure out a way to say yes."
Christie asked for patience as crews worked to turn the power back on for more than 2 million people still in the dark. He toured the hard-hit town of Brigantine on Wednesday with Obama, who said utilities from across the country have pledged to send crews to New Jersey as soon as possible.
By early Thursday, the remnants of Superstorm Sandy headed north through Canada, with the last of its effects beginning to wind down along the Appalachian Mountains, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm brought 2 to 3 feet of snow to some areas in West Virginia and Maryland, leaving thousands without power. Several more inches of snow are possible in some areas before the storm ends later this week, the weather service said.
A little less than 4.9 million customers across the eastern United States were still in the dark early Thursday, down from the nearly 8 million who lost power shortly after the storm hit.
CNN's Joe Sterling and Melissa Grey contributed to this report.

subset: commoncrawl


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Saturday, February 12, 2011
Smacksy Saturday Photo: With His Own Money
Labels: saturday photo
10 comments:
Awesome, Bob! Happy shopping, buddy!ReplyDelete
Good job, Bob (and mom)!ReplyDelete
HE. IS. ADORABLE.ReplyDelete
I like how he is gazing at all before him...with his hands to his mouth.ReplyDelete
Bob likes Star Wars?
OMG. I think Bob is the cutest person in the world. I want to hug him. mollyReplyDelete
Oy, the money I have handed over for those bits of plastic.ReplyDelete
What is it about that picture that makes tears spring to my eyes? Is it all the possibility that he sees???ReplyDelete
OMG Totally been there. Totally done that. Perfect pic!ReplyDelete
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If you stop to think about it, the relational database (RDBMS) is a pretty remarkable piece of technology. Can you name another product category that has remained essentially unchanged since it was first introduced roughly 40 years ago?
However, in 2014 the RDBMS is no longer the "be all and end all" of database technology. An RDBMS can't meet the demands placed on it by big data and cloud computing. Data entry has changed dramatically also. Instead of a requirement to scale with the number of data processing employees, there is now a requirement to scale with the number of customers, or to give a more dramatic example, to scale with the number of devices or sensors in a machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) scenario. Many enterprises have outgrown their RDBMS, as have most telecommunications providers.
All up and down the application stack we can see the ability to scale out and in quite easily. By definition, big data requires an elastic database that can scale across multiple storage and compute nodes. Other technology that was created to be elastic, such as NoSQL and NewSQL, are more appropriate for big data environments.
How to Know if You Need Elasticity
Not every project requires an elastic database. When one does, things go much more smoothly if you can figure that out in advance and plan accordingly. It's much easier if you make the effort to plan for an elastic architecture from the beginning. Look at your planned load and your projected growth and ask yourself whether it will exceed the capacity of your current hardware/software architecture. Will your database requirements fluctuate in demand? Will there be daily, weekly, monthly, and/or seasonal changes in the number of servers required? For example, if you have an analytics application that requires eight database nodes 24×7, yet peaks at 14 nodes for four hours every night, then elasticity is important.
NoSQL, NewSQL, and Elasticity
When NoSQL systems were initially being designed, emphasis was placed on scalability. In many cases, this meant eliminating many of the features that had been added to RDBMSs over time: powerful query languages, database consistency guarantees, durability, atomic operations – and just about everything else. At this point we had lots of elastically scalable databases that offered little else, whereby making them unusable except for very specific use cases.
NewSQL goes beyond NoSQL and stipulates that elasticity isn't the only thing that matters and is instead a baseline requirement. Many of the things that we gave up (such as SQL) in our quest for elasticity are important. NoSQL required many of these things to be built into applications (increasing complexity and cost) and now we want them back in the database layer where they belong.
IERS is Built for Elasticity
In addition to having elasticity in its name, NEC's InfoFrame Elastic Relational Store (IERS) was designed from the very beginning to provide a high-performance elastically scalable database with full ACID capabilities. IERS' scale-out architecture expands your system without downtime as demand and data volume increases. This allows you to start small, save on unnecessary resource investments and then scale out easily based on demand. Minimal to no application modification is required to scale out or in.
IERS can scale out easily and quickly. System resource can be added while the system is live and in production, enabling the system to be reconfigured on-the-fly without downtime. Also, as the system scales out, automatic rebalancing of the data takes place. This process does not impact user operations. IERS sports an easy to use web based GUI that allows administrators to scale-in/scale-out with a few clicks from anywhere in the globe. Process once initiated requires no further human intervention.
To learn more about NEC's IERS solution visit: http://goo.gl/TnFkbR
*Matt Sarrel is a leading tech analyst and writer providing guest content for NEC.


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Walking in the shadow of a dream, as it were, and perhaps actually under the influence of a species of somnambulism, Mr. Dimmesdale reached the spot where, now so long since, Hester Prynne had lived through her first hours of public ignominy. The same platform or scaffold, black and weather-stained with the storm or sunshine of seven long years, and foot-worn, too, with the tread of many culprits who had since ascended it, remained standing beneath the balcony of the meeting-house. The minister went up the steps.
It was an obscure night in early May. An unwearied pall of cloud muffled the whole expanse of sky from zenith to horizon. If the same multitude which had stood as eye-witnesses while Hester Prynne sustained her punishment could now have been summoned forth, they would have discerned no face above the platform nor hardly the outline of a human shape, in the dark grey of the midnight. But the town was all asleep. There was no peril of discovery. The minister might stand there, if it so pleased him, until morning should redden in the east, without other risk than that the dank and chill night air would creep into his frame, and stiffen his joints with rheumatism, and clog his throat with catarrh and cough; thereby defrauding the expectant audience of to-morrow's prayer and sermon. No eye could see him, save that ever-wakeful one which had seen him in his closet, wielding the bloody scourge. Why, then, had he come hither? Was it but the mockery of penitence? A mockery, indeed, but in which his soul trifled with itself! A mockery at which angels blushed and wept, while fiends rejoiced with jeering laughter! He had been driven hither by the impulse of that Remorse which dogged him everywhere, and whose own sister and closely linked companion was that Cowardice which invariably drew him back, with her tremulous gripe, just when the other impulse had hurried him to the verge of a disclosure. Poor, miserable man! what right had infirmity like his to burden itself with crime? Crime is for the iron-nerved, who have their choice either to endure it, or, if it press too hard, to exert their fierce and savage strength for a good purpose, and fling it off at once! This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither, yet continually did one thing or another, which intertwined, in the same inextricable knot, the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance.
And thus, while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain. Without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud: an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to another, and reverberated from the hills in the background; as if a company of devils, detecting so much misery and terror in it, had made a plaything of the sound, and were bandying it to and fro.
"It is done!" muttered the minister, covering his face with his hands. "The whole town will awake and hurry forth, and find me here!"
But it was not so. The shriek had perhaps sounded with a far greater power, to his own startled ears, than it actually possessed. The town did not awake; or, if it did, the drowsy slumberers mistook the cry either for something frightful in a dream, or for the noise of witches, whose voices, at that period, were often heard to pass over the settlements or lonely cottages, as they rode with Satan through the air. The clergyman, therefore, hearing no symptoms of disturbance, uncovered his eyes and looked about him. At one of the chamber-windows of Governor Bellingham's mansion, which stood at some distance, on the line of another street, he beheld the appearance of the old magistrate himself with a lamp in his hand a white night-cap on his head, and a long white gown enveloping his figure. He looked like a ghost evoked unseasonably from the grave. The cry had evidently startled him. At another window of the same house, moreover appeared old Mistress Hibbins, the Governor's sister, also with a lamp, which even thus far off revealed the expression of her sour and discontented face. She thrust forth her head from the lattice, and looked anxiously upward Beyond the shadow of a doubt, this venerable witch-lady had heard Mr. Dimmesdale's outcry, and interpreted it, with its multitudinous echoes and reverberations, as the clamour of the fiends and night-hags, with whom she was well known to make excursions in the forest.
Detecting the gleam of Governor Bellingham's lamp, the old lady quickly extinguished her own, and vanished. Possibly, she went up among the clouds. The minister saw nothing further of her motions. The magistrate, after a wary observation of the darkness--into which, nevertheless, he could see but little further than he might into a mill-stone--retired from the window.
The minister grew comparatively calm. His eyes, however, were soon greeted by a little glimmering light, which, at first a long way off was approaching up the street. It threw a gleam of recognition, on here a post, and there a garden fence, and here a latticed window-pane, and there a pump, with its full trough of water, and here again an arched door of oak, with an iron knocker, and a rough log for the door-step. The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale noted all these minute particulars, even while firmly convinced that the doom of his existence was stealing onward, in the footsteps which he now heard; and that the gleam of the lantern would fall upon him in a few moments more, and reveal his long-hidden secret. As the light drew nearer, be beheld, within its illuminated circle, his brother clergyman--or, to speak more accurately, his professional father, as well as highly valued friend--the Reverend Mr. Wilson, who, as Mr. Dimmesdale now conjectured, had been praying at the bedside of some dying man. And so he had. The good old minister came freshly from the death-chamber of Governor Winthrop, who had passed from earth to heaven within that very hour. And now surrounded, like the saint-like personage of olden times, with a radiant halo, that glorified him amid this gloomy night of sin--as if the departed Governor had left him an inheritance of his glory, or as if he had caught upon himself the distant shine of the celestial city, while looking thitherward to see the triumphant pilgrim pass within its gates--now, in short, good Father Wilson was moving homeward, aiding his footsteps with a lighted lantern! The glimmer of this luminary suggested the above conceits to Mr. Dimmesdale, who smiled--nay, almost laughed at them--and then wondered if he was going mad.
As the Reverend Mr. Wilson passed beside the scaffold, closely muffling his Geneva cloak about him with one arm, and holding the lantern before his breast with the other, the minister could hardly restrain himself from speaking--
"A good evening to you, venerable Father Wilson. Come up hither, I pray you, and pass a pleasant hour with me!"
Good Heavens! Had Mr. Dimmesdale actually spoken? For one instant he believed that these words had passed his lips. But they were uttered only within his imagination. The venerable Father Wilson continued to step slowly onward, looking carefully at the muddy pathway before his feet, and never once turning his head towards the guilty platform. When the light of the glimmering lantern had faded quite away, the minister discovered, by the faintness which came over him, that the last few moments had been a crisis of terrible anxiety, although his mind had made an involuntary effort to relieve itself by a kind of lurid playfulness.
Shortly afterwards, the like grisly sense of the humorous again stole in among the solemn phantoms of his thought. He felt his limbs growing stiff with the unaccustomed chilliness of the night, and doubted whether he should be able to descend the steps of the scaffold. Morning would break and find him there The neighbourhood would begin to rouse itself. The earliest riser, coming forth in the dim twilight, would perceive a vaguely-defined figure aloft on the place of shame; and half-crazed betwixt alarm and curiosity, would go knocking from door to door, summoning all the people to behold the ghost--as he needs must think it--of some defunct transgressor. A dusky tumult would flap its wings from one house to another. Then--the morning light still waxing stronger--old patriarchs would rise up in great haste, each in his flannel gown, and matronly dames, without pausing to put off their night-gear. The whole tribe of decorous personages, who had never heretofore been seen with a single hair of their heads awry, would start into public view with the disorder of a nightmare in their aspects. Old Governor Bellingham would come grimly forth, with his King James' ruff fastened askew, and Mistress Hibbins, with some twigs of the forest clinging to her skirts, and looking sourer than ever, as having hardly got a wink of sleep after her night ride; and good Father Wilson too, after spending half the night at a death-bed, and liking ill to be disturbed, thus early, out of his dreams about the glorified saints. Hither, likewise, would come the elders and deacons of Mr. Dimmesdale's church, and the young virgins who so idolized their minister, and had made a shrine for him in their white bosoms, which now, by-the-bye, in their hurry and confusion, they would scantly have given themselves time to cover with their kerchiefs. All people, in a word, would come stumbling over their thresholds, and turning up their amazed and horror-stricken visages around the scaffold. Whom would they discern there, with the red eastern light upon his brow? Whom, but the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, half-frozen to death, overwhelmed with shame, and standing where Hester Prynne had stood!
Carried away by the grotesque horror of this picture, the minister, unawares, and to his own infinite alarm, burst into a great peal of laughter. It was immediately responded to by a light, airy, childish laugh, in which, with a thrill of the heart--but he knew not whether of exquisite pain, or pleasure as acute--he recognised the tones of little Pearl.
"Pearl! Little Pearl!" cried he, after a moment's pause; then, suppressing his voice--"Hester! Hester Prynne! Are you there?"
"Yes; it is Hester Prynne!" she replied, in a tone of surprise; and the minister heard her footsteps approaching from the side-walk, along which she had been passing. "It is I, and my little Pearl."
"Whence come you, Hester?" asked the minister. "What sent you hither?"
"I have been watching at a death-bed," answered Hester Prynne "at Governor Winthrop's death-bed, and have taken his measure for a robe, and am now going homeward to my dwelling."
"Come up hither, Hester, thou and Little Pearl," said the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. "Ye have both been here before, but I was not with you. Come up hither once again, and we will stand all three together."
She silently ascended the steps, and stood on the platform, holding little Pearl by the hand. The minister felt for the child's other hand, and took it. The moment that he did so, there came what seemed a tumultuous rush of new life, other life than his own pouring like a torrent into his heart, and hurrying through all his veins, as if the mother and the child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system. The three formed an electric chain.
"Minister!" whispered little Pearl.
"What wouldst thou say, child?" asked Mr. Dimmesdale.
"`Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?" inquired Pearl.
"Nay; not so, my little Pearl," answered the minister; for, with the new energy of the moment, all the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him; and he was already trembling at the conjunction in which--with a strange joy, nevertheless--he now found himself--"not so, my child. I shall, indeed, stand with thy mother and thee one other day, but not to-morrow."
Pearl laughed, and attempted to pull away her hand. But the minister held it fast.
"A moment longer, my child!" said he.
"But wilt thou promise," asked Pearl, "to take my hand, and mother's hand, to-morrow noontide?"
"Not then, Pearl," said the minister; "but another time."
"And what other time?" persisted the child.
"At the great judgment day," whispered the minister; and, strangely enough, the sense that he was a professional teacher of the truth impelled him to answer the child so. "Then, and there, before the judgment-seat, thy mother, and thou, and I must stand together. But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting!''
Pearl laughed again.
But before Mr. Dimmesdale had done speaking, a light gleamed far and wide over all the muffled sky. It was doubtless caused by one of those meteors, which the night-watcher may so often observe burning out to waste, in the vacant regions of the atmosphere. So powerful was its radiance, that it thoroughly illuminated the dense medium of cloud betwixt the sky and earth. The great vault brightened, like the dome of an immense lamp. It showed the familiar scene of the street with the distinctness of mid-day, but also with the awfulness that is always imparted to familiar objects by an unaccustomed light The wooden houses, with their jutting storeys and quaint gable-peaks; the doorsteps and thresholds with the early grass springing up about them; the garden-plots, black with freshly-turned earth; the wheel-track, little worn, and even in the market-place margined with green on either side--all were visible, but with a singularity of aspect that seemed to give another moral interpretation to the things of this world than they had ever borne before. And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two. They stood in the noon of that strange and solemn splendour, as if it were the light that is to reveal all secrets, and the daybreak that shall unite all who belong to one another.
There was witchcraft in little Pearl's eyes; and her face, as she glanced upward at the minister, wore that naughty smile which made its expression frequently so elvish. She withdrew her hand from Mr. Dimmesdale's, and pointed across the street. But he clasped both his hands over his breast, and cast his eyes towards the zenith.
Nothing was more common, in those days, than to interpret all meteoric appearances, and other natural phenomena that occured with less regularity than the rise and set of sun and moon, as so many revelations from a supernatural source. Thus, a blazing spear, a sword of flame, a bow, or a sheaf of arrows seen in the midnight sky, prefigured Indian warfare. Pestilence was known to have been foreboded by a shower of crimson light. We doubt whether any marked event, for good or evil, ever befell New England, from its settlement down to revolutionary times, of which the inhabitants had not been previously warned by some spectacle of its nature. Not seldom, it had been seen by multitudes. Oftener, however, its credibility rested on the faith of some lonely eye-witness, who beheld the wonder through the coloured, magnifying, and distorted medium of his imagination, and shaped it more distinctly in his after-thought. It was, indeed, a majestic idea that the destiny of nations should be revealed, in these awful hieroglyphics, on the cope of heaven. A scroll so wide might not be deemed too expensive for Providence to write a people's doom upon. The belief was a favourite one with our forefathers, as betokening that their infant commonwealth was under a celestial guardianship of peculiar intimacy and strictness. But what shall we say, when an individual discovers a revelation addressed to himself alone, on the same vast sheet of record. In such a case, it could only be the symptom of a highly disordered mental state, when a man, rendered morbidly self-contemplative by long, intense, and secret pain, had extended his egotism over the whole expanse of nature, until the firmament itself should appear no more than a fitting page for his soul's history and fate.
We impute it, therefore, solely to the disease in his own eye and heart that the minister, looking upward to the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter--the letter A--marked out in lines of dull red light. Not but the meteor may have shown itself at that point, burning duskily through a veil of cloud, but with no such shape as his guilty imagination gave it, or, at least, with so little definiteness, that another's guilt might have seen another symbol in it.
There was a singular circumstance that characterised Mr. Dimmesdale's psychological state at this moment. All the time that he gazed upward to the zenith, he was, nevertheless, perfectly aware that little Pearl was hinting her finger towards old Roger Chillingworth, who stood at no great distance from the scaffold. The minister appeared to see him, with the same glance that discerned the miraculous letter. To his feature as to all other objects, the meteoric light imparted a new expression; or it might well be that the physician was not careful then, as at all other times, to hide the malevolence with which he looked upon his victim. Certainly, if the meteor kindled up the sky, and disclosed the earth, with an awfulness that admonished Hester Prynne and the clergyman of the day of judgment, then might Roger Chillingworth have passed with them for the arch-fiend, standing there with a smile and scowl, to claim his own. So vivid was the expression, or so intense the minister's perception of it, that it seemed still to remain painted on the darkness after the meteor had vanished, with an effect as if the street and all things else were at once annihilated.
"Who is that man, Hester?" gasped Mr. Dimmesdale, overcome with terror. "I shiver at him! Dost thou know the man? I hate him, Hester!"
She remembered her oath, and was silent.
"I tell thee, my soul shivers at him!" muttered the minister again. "Who is he? Who is he? Canst thou do nothing for me? I have a nameless horror of the man!"
"Minister," said little Pearl, "I can tell thee who he is!"
"Quickly, then, child!" said the minister, bending his ear close to her lips. "Quickly, and as low as thou canst whisper."
Pearl mumbled something into his ear that sounded, indeed, like human language, but was only such gibberish as children may be heard amusing themselves with by the hour together. At all events, if it involved any secret information in regard to old Roger Chillingworth, it was in a tongue unknown to the erudite clergyman, and did but increase the bewilderment of his mind. The elvish child then laughed aloud.
"Dost thou mock me now?" said the minister.
"Thou wast not bold!--thou wast not true!" answered the child. "Thou wouldst not promise to take my hand, and mother's hand, to-morrow noon-tide!"
"Worthy sir," answered the physician, who had now advanced to the foot of the platform--"pious Master Dimmesdale! can this be you? Well, well, indeed! We men of study, whose heads are in our books, have need to be straitly looked after! We dream in our waking moments, and walk in our sleep. Come, good sir, and my dear friend, I pray you let me lead you home!"
"How knewest thou that I was here?" asked the minister, fearfully.
"Verily, and in good faith," answered Roger Chillingworth, "I knew nothing of the matter. I had spent the better part of the night at the bedside of the worshipful Governor Winthrop, doing what my poor skill might to give him ease. He, going home to a better world, I, likewise, was on my way homeward, when this light shone out. Come with me, I beseech you, Reverend sir, else you will be poorly able to do Sabbath duty to-morrow. Aha! see now how they trouble the brain--these books!--these books! You should study less, good sir, and take a little pastime, or these night whimsies will grow upon you."
"I will go home with you," said Mr. Dimmesdale.
With a chill despondency, like one awakening, all nerveless, from an ugly dream, he yielded himself to the physician, and was led away.
The next day, however, being the Sabbath, he preached a discourse which was held to be the richest and most powerful, and the most replete with heavenly influences, that had ever proceeded from his lips. Souls, it is said, more souls than one, were brought to the truth by the efficacy of that sermon, and vowed within themselves to cherish a holy gratitude towards Mr. Dimmesdale throughout the long hereafter. But as he came down the pulpit steps, the grey-bearded sexton met him, holding up a black glove, which the minister recognised as his own.
"It was found," said the Sexton, "this morning on the scaffold where evil-doers are set up to public shame. Satan dropped it there, I take it, intending a scurrilous jest against your reverence. But, indeed, he was blind and foolish, as he ever and always is. A pure hand needs no glove to cover it!"
"Thank you, my good friend," said the minister, gravely, but startled at heart; for so confused was his remembrance, that he had almost brought himself to look at the events of the past night as visionary.
"Yes, it seems to be my glove, indeed!"
"And, since Satan saw fit to steal it, your reverence must needs handle him without gloves henceforward," remarked the old sexton, grimly smiling. "But did your reverence hear of the portent that was seen last night? a great red letter in the sky--the letter A, which we interpret to stand for Angel. For, as our good Governor Winthrop was made an angel this past night, it was doubtless held fit that there should be some notice thereof!"
"No," answered the minister; "I had not heard of it."
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Back when the PC was king, a number of software programs were available that would let you analyze your hard drive utilization, allowing you to delete and relocate files in order to free up more storage space. But now that we've moved to using cloud services, where overuse isn't just an annoyance, but incurs additional monthly charges, gaining that same sort of visibility is more important than ever.
A new application called Unclouded, launching today, helpfully analyzes, explores and assists you with cleaning up your cloud storage in an easy-to-use app offering a level of insight into your online storage usage that you may have not had before.
After all, it's not in tech companies' best interest to help you clean out and save space on their cloud platforms, when that storage is a revenue-generating business.
Though the cost of keeping files in the cloud seems to be coming down all the time, the jump from one tier to another, and the use of multiple paid storage sites can add up. And this is especially true if you use the cloud to store larger files, like audio collections or videos, or are backing up entire photo libraries, for example.
With Unclouded, you can not only how much storage you've used on a cloud drive – the tech companies themselves will tell you that – you're also able to drill down and see the largest files and folders, group them by category and time, locate duplicates, and more. The app will also work offline.
Unclouded's creator is Lisbon-based Christian Göllner, a computer science engineer, Android developer, and longtime Dropbox user, whose account had grown to host an unorganized mess of around 170,000 files.
"I needed software to tell me which files and folders are using my space, what type of files – photos, music, etc. – [they were], when they were created or modified, and I also needed to clean my duplicates," he explains. "Nothing like this was out there, so I decided to create it," he adds.
The application at launch currently supports Google Drive and Dropbox because they provide the necessary API to make Unclouded possible.
The app is being offered as a free download on Google Play, however it will only function in read-only mode unless you upgrade to a premium tier.
Göllner says the idea is to present the information about files for free to users, and when they realize they then want to take an action – like removing duplicates – they'll be encouraged to pay to upgrade in order to delete the files from within Unclouded. (Of course, you could simply go back to the cloud storage service itself, armed with the information provided by Unclouded and take the necessary actions, but it's more convenient to do so within the app.)
Premium users will also be able to upload files, share files or links with others, rename and move files, and create folders. The cost to do so is $1.99, available via an in-app purchase.
Overall, the app itself is simple to navigate and use, with thoughtful design touches like being able to toggle between grid and list layouts, or using gestures – like being able to press and hold to select items for deletion or relocation.
Unfortunately for iOS users, you'll just have to be jealous of an app (for a change!): Göllner says he only knows Android development for now.


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Dustin Diaz
It would be neat for non-css browsers to have an indicator of the current page…
I figured since we have the
span tags for all of them, it would be cool instead to place a
strong element to indicate the current page.
...Anyway, for what it's worth. It's at least another viable solution.


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Reporting from Bagan, Myanmar — — As I sat on a high ledge of the 734-year-old Mingalarzedi Temple, looking out over the hundreds of ancient temples around Bagan, I wondered how long it would take a visitor to see them all. Archaeologists say there once were about 5,000 temples, but earthquakes, decay and long-ago looters have destroyed more than half of them. Still, that's a lot of temples to explore in this 16-square-mile archaeological treasure trove.
We visited Myanmar in February 2010 and, yes, I did feel a twinge of guilt when booking the trip. The country, formerly called Burma, has been at the top of the boycott list since pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on travelers to avoid visiting her country, explaining that tourism helped support the military dictatorship and not the people. Recently, she has softened her stance, seeing that the 15-year-old boycott may have dissuaded visitors and accomplished little to democratize her country.
Myanmar was close to my home (until recently when we moved back to the States) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the sale airfare I found online was so cheap I couldn't help myself. Photographs of amazing temples, beautiful landscapes and people in colorful costumes got the better of my political conscience.
The fly time to the capital city of Yangon was only about three hours from Ho Chi Minh City, not including a stopover in Bangkok. My husband, Robin, son Kai and I landed about noon and checked into the Central Hotel, one of Yangon's least expensive tourist hotels at $35 a night, including breakfast. The one-hour flight to Bagan was scheduled for the next day. After a short rest, we met a guide in the lobby who took us on a half-day tour of Yangon and several of its impressive sites.
The Shwedagon Pagoda, a 2,500-year-old Buddhist temple, was built to enshrine relics, including, some say, eight hairs from Buddha's head. Over the centuries, monarchs built the central stupa, a tall bell-shaped dome (tourists cannot enter it), up to its present height of 320 feet and adorned it with 8,600 bricks covered with gold plates and nearly 80,000 diamonds and other precious stones. It's simply dazzling. At night, the golden stupa is lighted, giving the otherwise colorless city a beautiful focal point.
The second important historic site is the Sule Pagoda, which is more than 2,000 years old and half the size of Shwedagon. It too has plenty of gold and glitter to ooh and aah at. The third worthwhile stop is the Chaukhtatgyi Pagoda, which houses a 230-foot-long reclining Buddha, built in 1966. Buddha's feet are covered with artful mosaic tiles that represent 108 (a sacred number in Buddhism) characteristics of the holy master.
Knowing that Bagan and its 2,000-plus temples were to be the highlight of our five-day trip, it was hard to wait until the next morning to board the flight to this west-central Myanmar town. Bagan was founded in AD 108, but only began to flourish during the time of King Anawrahta, who reigned from 1044-1077. It was the capital of Myanmar until 1287, when Kublai Khan and his cronies ran amok and sent the first empire fleeing, never to return.
It was hard to get an accurate answer about how many temples and stupas were built. From various sources, we heard anywhere from 2,000 to 1 million. The likeliest number, in a UNESCO report in 1993, is that there once were about 5,000, but due to ruin or destruction, 2,230 remain standing in Bagan. An earthquake in 1975 destroyed many of those, including the most ancient, the Bupaya Pagoda from the third century, which was rebuilt on the same spot. Bagan's temples and the tourist revenue they generate are the lifeblood of this town, so workers, many of them recruited from the military, quickly rebuilt or repaired much of the damage from that 6.5 quake.
"Look, so many pagodas in Bagan," said our driver, Tun. "If you built a pagoda, your sins would be forgiven. The bigger the sin, the bigger the pagoda," he explained on our way to our first temple after picking us up at the tiny Bagan airport. The structures range in size from 3 feet high to the tallest, the 17-story Thatbyinnyu, to the largest, the Dhammayangyi Temple, which was built in the 12th century by a ruler with a guilty conscience: He smothered his ailing father, who was the king, and then killed his older brother so he could be the ruler.
Our first stop, at the Mingalarzedi Temple, offered the best preview of what makes Bagan so special. Several hundred steep steps up, visitors can walk around its highest terrace for a 360-degree view of temples and stupas as far as the eye can see. Some are made of interlocking, mortarless red bricks, like the one we were standing on. Others are made of sandstone with their tops painted gold or silver. Architectural styles are reminiscent of India's with intricate carvings, while others follow a Mon kingdom (pre-Burmese people) design — square with four entrances and an interior of dark, windowless corridors. A seated Buddha statue is usually placed at each entrance in the temple.
We got back into the car and headed for the Gubyaukgyi Temple, dating from 1113, where colorful frescoes were painted to help teach people about Buddha's life. Some have been restored to their original vibrant colors by UNESCO.
Our next stop was the gorgeous and gilded Shwezigon, a smaller version of Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda, with a central stupa and numerous surrounding shrines. King Anawrahta started it, but it was completed by King Kyanzittha about 1090 and is popular for pilgrimages.
After several more temple visits and a stop at a lacquerware store — a well-honed craft in Myanmar — we settled into a simple 10-room hotel where we were the only guests. Before turning in, we looked up at the moonless night sky, which was sparkling with zillions of stars. There were no city lights to mar the view.
The next two days were filled with 20 more temple visits. It sounds like a lot, but we met a German tourist who had been in Bagan for a month and was on his 500th temple. We drove to the Mahabodhi Temple, which is my favorite because of the hundreds of tiny niches carved into the spires, each containing a different Buddha figure.
As a treat for Kai, 9, we had Tun drive on without us to the next temple while we hired a horse and cart and rode to the monstrous Dhammayangyi Temple, where the king who built it was also assassinated. Then, after seeing the late 12th century Gawdawpalin Temple, we stopped at the all-white Leimyethna, a one-story temple with faded murals dating from 1223. There were no guards, no souvenir vendors, no other tourists. Robin and Kai walked through it quickly and headed back to the car, while I lingered, wanting to experience alone the nearly 800-year-old temple. I sat cross-legged in front of a giant Buddha image, closed my eyes and just listened to the silence, broken only by the buzz of a passing bee. My 10 minutes alone in the temple was a rare, heavenly experience.
We visited 25 temples in three days. Our eyes began to glaze over and the soles of our feet were rubbed raw by the temples' rough surfaces. Shoes aren't allowed in any temple; I wished we had brought socks. It was time to return to Yangon for one more overnight. We packed up and got to the airport early, but the best and cheapest souvenirs we'd seen in the country were in the airport lounge, so we had fun shopping for gifts.
We boarded the little 40-seat Air Bagan propeller plane. While passengers were still standing to put away their hand luggage, the plane started down the runway. People grabbed onto the seatbacks to steady themselves and quickly plopped into their seats. Then, just before takeoff, we all watched a local man take a stroll on the runway. A policeman ran after him and escorted him away. Finally off the ground safely, I looked out the window at the thousands of temples we hadn't explored. For another visit, I thought. And next time, I'll bring socks.
Reporting from Bagan, Myanmar — — As I sat on a high ledge of the 734-year-old Mingalarzedi Temple, looking out over the hundreds of ancient temples around Bagan, I wondered how long it would take a visitor to see them all. Archaeologists say there once were about 5,000 temples, but earthquakes, decay and long-ago looters have destroyed more than half of them. Still, that's a lot of temples to explore in this 16-square-mile archaeological treasure trove.


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Today begins the third part of the Trouble with White Women series here at the RR blog.
To briefly review where we've been, we started with Part I. White Women in the Early U.S., where we explored white women's role in slavery, lynching, and the racial origins of early feminism. Then, we turned to Part II. The Professionalization of White Women, in which we explored some of the process of learning to be a white woman, the second wave of feminism, affirmative action, and just last week, the trouble with "leaning in" to corporate feminism. Part III takes up the issue of white women in American pop culture.
White women dominate popular culture and the collective imagination about crime in ways that undermine our ability to grasp the reality of race and racism. There are so many examples of the representation of white women in popular culture, it's difficult to narrow the discussion to just a few. Even though white women are seemingly everywhere in popular culture, their race, their whiteness, is rarely remarked upon.
Contemporary Hollywood Movies
While there's some discussion of the lack of leading roles for women in Hollywood movies, there's relatively little attention paid to the fact that the preponderance of the women's roles go to white women. And, it's not simply a question of casting, it's also a matter of what kinds of stories get told. In the scripts, as well as in the casting, white women are often at the center of movies in particularly racialized ways. Here are just a few examples:
In Eat, Pray, Love a recent film based on the best-selling memoir by the same name, and starring Julia Roberts, an upper middle-class white woman leaves her husband, and sets out to travel the world in a journey of self-discovery.
Sandip Roy points out the many similarities between the lead characters' quest and that of colonizers, where:
"They wanted the gold, the cotton, and laborers for their sugar plantations. And they wanted to bring Western civilization, afternoon tea and anti-sodomy laws to godforsaken places riddled with malaria and Beriberi. The new breed is more sensitive, less overt. They want to spend a year in a faraway place on a "journey." But the journey is all about what they can get. Not gold, cotton or spices anymore. They want to eat, shoot films (or write books), emote and leave. They want the food, the spirituality, the romance. … She tries not to be the foreign tourist but she does spend an awful lot of time with the expats whether it's the Swede in Italy, the Texan in India or the Brazilian in Bali. The natives mostly have clearly assigned roles. Language teacher. Hangover healer. Dispenser of fortune-cookie-style wisdom. Knowledge, it seems, is never so meaningful as when it comes in broken English, served up with puckish grins, and an idyllic backdrop. The expats have messy histories, but the natives' lives, other than that teenaged arranged marriage in India, are not very complicated. They are there as the means to her self discovery. After that is done, it's time to book the next flight."
Although Roy names quite clearly the first-world privilege of this movie character, I would extend that analysis to include her race and her gender. While it's possible to imagine a woman of color in the leading role, or even a (white) man in the leading role, it's unlikely that such a film would have been produced had the lead been say, Tyson Beckford (lovely as he is). More to the point, if we're engaged by this story of a white woman who struggles because she has "no passion, no spark, no faith" and needs to go away for one year, this raises the question (as Roy does) about where do people in Indonesia and India go away to when they lose their passion, spark and faith? It's precisely because this is a white woman that producers believe that we as an audience will be interested in this story.
The Sandra Bullock vehicle Blind Side is another example of the white woman as a central, racialized figure in a movie. As you may recall, the movie is based on the true story of a white woman who adopts an African American boy who comes from a poor family. I wrote about this moviewhen it came out last year and noted that it's a version of the "white savior film" that many sociologists have studied. The film was a huge hit at the box office (grossing approximately$255 million dollars) and earned Sandra Bullock an Academy Award for Best Actress. It also seems to have prompted something of a life-imitating-art moment for Bullock who, shortly after the film – and her marriage – ended, adopted an African American child.
The entire premise of the film Blind Side rests on the race and gender of the lead character; there's no story here without the central fact that this is a white woman adopting a black child. Imagine a Tyler Perry production where Janet Jackson is the playing the lead and she takes in a poor, African American child. It might get produced (by Perry and maybe Oprah) but it's not going to do $255 million at the box office and Ms. Jackson (lovely as she is) is not getting an Oscar nod. The whiteness of the lead female character is the sine qua non of theBlind Side.
The appeal of white women as lead characters holds true in films produced outside Hollywood as well. The wildly popular Milliennium trilogy of books by the late Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson has been made into a series of films. In the first of these, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, down-on-his-luck journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) joins forces with bisexual-computer-hacker-in-a-black-leather-jacket Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to fight a ring of serial killer neo-Nazis (no seriously).
The Lisbeth Salander character – both in print and on film – is being widely heralded as afeminist icon for the current era (although there's some debate about whether the feminism in Larsson's trilogy is weighed down by the heavy dose of sexual violence). The Salander character's Otherness is marked through her bi-sexuality, yet she remains a "white savior." As sociologist Matthew Hughey has noted about the classic white savior from a film of another era, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, Lisbeth Salander embodies a new white savior with a punk, quasi-feminist flair.
Missing White Woman Syndrome
One of the most telling, and damaging, ways that white women's central place in the collective imagination shapes how we think about race and racism has to do with crime. The overwhelmingly majority of crime in the U.S. is intra-racial crime, that is crime committed against people by members of their own race. And, sadly, a disproportionate amount of crime that occurs is black-on-black crime. Our jails and prisons house some 2 million incarcerated people, the vast majority of those black and brown people. Yet, what consistently captures the collective imagination (and the news cycle) are white women who've gone missing.
The undeniably tragic case of Natalee Holloway, who went missing while on vacation in Aruba, is just the most recent in a long line of missing white women who have captured the public's attention, including: Polly Klaas, Chandra Levy, Elizabeth Smart, Laci Peterson, and Brianna Denison. This phenomenon is becoming so widely recognized that the Missing White Woman Syndrome now has its own wikipedia entry. As communications scholar Carol Liebler points out in a forthcoming article in Communication, Culture & Critique, the Missing White Woman Syndrome is also about middle-class status and perceived attractiveness. Conversely, when black women are victims of crime, the convergence of gender, race, and class oppressions in the news coverage tends to minimize the seriousness of the violence, portrays most African American women as stereotypic Jezebels whose lewd behavior provoked assault, and absolves the perpetrators of responsibility. (For more on this, see Meyers, "African American Women and Violence: Gender, Race, and Class in the News," Critical Studies in Media Communication, Vol. 21, No. 2, June 2004, pp. 95–118).
This fetishizing of white womanhood has expanded to childhood. There is perhaps no more telling example of our culture's obsession with white femininity than the swirl of media attention around the death of JonBenét Ramsey.
When 6 year old JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her parents' home in Boulder, Colorado in 1996, there was extensive media coverage of the investigation. All of the networks covered the murder both on their evening newscasts, and other shows such as ""Larry King Live," ""Dateline" and ""Hard Copy," all did dozens, if not hundreds, of shows around the case. Just the year before, in 1995, 763 children under age 9 were murdered in the U.S., according to the most recent FBI statistics available. This means that, on average, two children in this age bracket are murdered every day. Yet little, if anything, is known about these children or the circumstances of their deaths because these stories are rarely are these stories picked up by national media. Scholar Carol Leiber, noted at the time,
Her death should not be more newsworthy than that of another child because she was a white little girl with well-to-do parents. But it has been.
As with the adult version of the Missing White Woman Syndrome, the Ramsey case brought together elements of race, gender and class. And, because the child had been involved in pageants, the case stirred up a lot of debate about the appropriateness of pageants for young girls and, among some feminists, concern about the sexualization of young girls. The sexualization of Ramsey was also racialized. Her success in beauty pageants was premised on her whiteness, as well as her overt sexualization.
Why Does it Matter that White Women are Central to Popular Culture?
So, what difference does it make that white women are placed at the center in pop culture and our collective imagination about crime? In my view, this matters for several reasons, including:
- The relentless focus on white women is a key part of the white racial frame. This frame undermines our ability to grasp the reality of race and racism.
- The Missing White Woman is a distraction. When our collective attention around crime is on the latest Missing White Woman, as tragic is that is for the individual family of that woman, what we're not talking about is the mass incarceration and the establishment of a New Jim Crow that disproportionately affects black and brown people.
- White feminism, without attention to racial justice, makes an easy partnership with white supremacy. As I noted previously, white feminism – if it's only focused on a kind of crude parity with (white) men – is not incompatible racism. In fact, many of the avowed white supremacist women I studied in Cyber Racism view themselves as feminists. And, there's nothing inconsistent between white supremacy and white feminism. That's why it's so important for a critically engaged feminism include a committment to racial justice.
White women hold a central place in the western, cultural imagination (for more on this point, see Vron Ware's classic book, Beyond the Pale: White Women, Racism, and History, Verso Press, 1992). Yet, their whiteness often goes unremarked upon (for more on this point, see Ruth Frankenberg's excellent book, from which this series of posts is borrowing a title,White Women, Race Matters, University of Minnesota Press, 1993).


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Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Tribal Pattern Stencil: a tutorial
41 comments
- Crafty Texan said...
Such a rockin' shirt! See tribal all over Hawaii, so I'm gonna make one of these soon. Thanks for the tutorial!
- March 21, 2012 at 10:42 PM
- Girl With A Pearl Earring said...
I love anything tribal so I'll definitely be making this soon! Thanks for the great tutorial! :D
- March 21, 2012 at 11:20 PM
- Happy in red said...
Thanx for sharing! Great to hear that you're not dropping out anytime soon. I can tell you from experience: it's hard to make a living from a creative profession. I still am not able to quit my day job just yet. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't follow your dream, you definately have a talent. But being able to pay your rent and your groceries... well, it counts for something, right? ;-) Summer holidays really ask for exploring, so good luck with that!!
- March 22, 2012 at 12:52 AM
- Adele said...
So glad that you feel supported by the blogging world after your last post. Thanks for your lovely e-mail!
In other news, I LOVE THIS SHIRT. I may have to try this out when assessments are out of the way. I also really love your sandals, can I ask where you got them? So cute!
- March 22, 2012 at 1:36 AM
- Belinda | Myurbey said...
brilliant !!!!! i love the tote bag :)
i will try this at home
- March 22, 2012 at 3:42 AM
- Rebecca @ My Girlish Whims said...
So fun! Always love all your ideas :)
- March 22, 2012 at 6:51 AM
- chels said...
This is totally awesome! I've heard about freezer paper many times and it's nice to see how easy it is to use. I think I will have to try this one out! Thanks!
- March 22, 2012 at 7:22 AM
- Hannah from FlyChicks said...
super cute, katy! love it on the canvas bag!
- March 22, 2012 at 8:27 AM
- Unknown said...
Love, love, love this! Thank you so much for sharing! I am for sure going to try this out!!
- March 22, 2012 at 8:52 AM
- Taylor said...
Turned out great! I've been wanting to make a skirt with a tribal pattern. I ususally work with fabric paint- never the textile medium. Does it water down the paint? I noticed your colors weren't as strong on the tee, but I'm assuming its more from the base color being darker than the paint thinning out. I love the color scheme you picked for the tee, but I like how the colors are so much brighter on the tote. Do you think using actual fabric paint instead of acrylic/medium could solve that? Or maybe just a coat of white before either method?
Thanks for the great tips!! :)
- March 22, 2012 at 10:29 AM
What a great tutorial! Love the design and can't wait to try it for myself (in fact I just pinned it so I won't forget).
Thanks so much for sharing!
- March 22, 2012 at 11:29 AM
- Katie said...
Lovely lovely! And thanks for making such a straight-forward tutorial!
- March 22, 2012 at 11:43 AM
- Unknown said...
Love it!
- March 22, 2012 at 5:04 PM
- Ashley said...
Super awesome!! I am definitely going to have to try this!
- March 22, 2012 at 5:37 PM
- Marite said...
Amazing- this shirt is so gorgeous :)
and thank you so much for such a great tutorial :) ^^
- March 23, 2012 at 8:04 AM
- 5Lips said...
My daughter and I love reading your blog. You have such a talent. I'm so glad you have felt supported and encouraged by your readers. I'm happy to see that you plan to finish your degree first then see what happens. I'm definitely proud of my A&M degree! :) Best of luck to you and keep posting!
- March 23, 2012 at 3:38 PM
- Stephanie said...
This is so cute!!! You might want to add a disclaimer to make sure to use only an inkjet printer. When I was growing up, I used my dad's expensive laser printer (it runs with heat and toner) for something like this, the paper melted inside and destroyed the printer. I learned a valuable lesson. I have been enjoying your blog!
- March 23, 2012 at 4:06 PM
- SV said...
So great to hear you're finishing up your degree AND you're still going to pursue your creative side. You can make it work!!!!
Great tutorial to boot :-)
- March 23, 2012 at 5:27 PM
- SV said...
So great to hear you're finishing up your degree AND you're still going to pursue your creative side. You can make it work!!!!
Great tutorial to boot :-)
- March 23, 2012 at 5:27 PM
- ChicPoint said...
it looks amazing! I'll try it, for sure!! :D xoxo
- March 24, 2012 at 11:16 AM
I'm so happy I found this blog. I think you are really talented and I would never imagine making my own designs on shirts :) I'll definitely try this with my friends in the summer :) Thanks for stealing 5 minutes from my life, it was worth it :)
- March 25, 2012 at 6:40 AM
- Mary said...
Awesome blog. Greetings from Germany :)
- March 25, 2012 at 11:47 AM
- Chantelle said...
So, I LOVE this shirt design, but I also love the t-shirt!! Where did you get it/ what brand is it?
Also, I discovered your blog through pinterest... and I'm hooked. I love your tutorials! I'm gonna try and convince my mom and sister to join me in starting a tri-authored craft blog... we'll see how that works out. :) Thanks again for sharing your creativity!
- March 25, 2012 at 3:37 PM
- Laure Coulombel said...
I love that!! I m going to make that for sure!!!
- March 26, 2012 at 5:57 AM
- j.thrift said...
You're clearly very creative and talented, but I have to let you know that this is culturally appropriative to Native people, and I find it to be offensive and in poor taste. Trendy "tribal" is, at best, woefully ignorant. I hope you can reconsider your desire to appropriate real people's cultures and histories, especially considering how shitty white people have treated them over the last 600 years.
- March 27, 2012 at 3:53 PM
- TechNubie said...
Thank you j.thrift for saying that! I was rolling my eyes at this post. You said it more succinctly than I could have at this moment.
- March 29, 2012 at 11:01 AM
- Katy said...
I apologize for any offense that you or anyone else may have taken from this post. I certainly never intended for, or even imagined such a reaction. I'm actually part Native American myself, which is where I get my naturally dark skin and dark, thick eyebrows. I would never mean to disrespect their culture or any other.
It's simply a little craft project that I thought people would enjoy. Yes, inspiration has been drawn from a tribal culture but I don't believe that I've misrepresented anyone's culture or history. Again, sorry for any misunderstanding.
Note* This post has not been edited since original publishing.
- March 29, 2012 at 3:47 PM
- Rachel {polkadots and puppies} said...
Aww, I want one! I love this tee. And could you BE any cuter, Katy? I think not. ;)
-Love and sparkles
- March 29, 2012 at 3:48 PM
- Unknown said...
Yes, thank you j.thrift and TechNubie for your over-zealous concern for a culture you know nothing about. Just a heads up though, next time think before you voice your white naivete. Because you look more ignorant than the girl who comes up with a simple shirt design and refers to it as "tribal." So why don't you stop "enlightening" people, get off your pedestal and join the rest of the world who doesn't see race like you.
- March 29, 2012 at 5:01 PM
- Wei-Yann said...
i love this, and of course it looks great on you! thanks so much for sharing this with us :) gah you are so cute!! keep on keeping on with school and your creative pursuits katy :)
- March 29, 2012 at 5:14 PM
- Michelle said...
So cute! Just made one. I think I slopped on my paint, so it bled through! Disclaimer: Put some newspaper or something inside the shirt! I noticed it before the paint dried and got most of it out with a sponge and water.
- March 29, 2012 at 5:43 PM
- The Guy its Hard to Stay Mad At said...
I'm afraid your post is as "woefully ignorant" as you claim this design to be. Cultural appropriation is merely the adaption of one culture by another. While it can be, in some instances, negative in satire, this isn't a case of cultural appropriation. This is an original pattern by the creator under the influence of Southwestern design. Not once in her post does she describe it to be Native American, Indian, red skin, or brave. To take something as minute as this symbol and lump it into such vast and diverse cultures is, as you say, "woefully ignorant." If I applied the same overly sensitive politically correct logic you hold so dear to say, a shirt with horizontal stripes, we could all get offended at how it mocks the overpopulation of prisons in America. Your sensitivty seems to be directed at the word "tribal." The term itself simply means to to be similar to being of a tribe. While "tribe" has been used to describe Native American groups, it is not exclusive. It can be applied to any community i.e. a high fashion community. i.e. a community of people speaking out of turn for something they know nothing about, etc. If you maintain such a hyper-sensitized view towards every single thing, you will only become a bitter person. Think before you hop on your computer and type a short ill conceived diatribe. I imagine this post will offend you and you will do some research, find an anecdote, and form what you think is a well written rebuttal. That's fine. Do what you need to do.
- March 29, 2012 at 6:03 PM
- Jessi at Nine to Phive said...
This pattern is too perfect. It puts all of the tribal print tees from Anthropologie, TopShop, and Forever 21 to shame--and it's free!
- April 4, 2012 at 1:45 AM
- Kelli said...
Ah, Katy. Who knew you'd start such a discussion in your comments with a simple t-shirt, huh? I love it and think you are so cute. Keep doing what you're doing, girl and keep inspiring us to create. There will always be haters, but hopefully, the world will always have more of us who work to encourage and support each other instead. :)
- April 10, 2012 at 7:02 AM
- Taylor said...
Hey girl- finally got around to trying it out!! (not xactly the tribal, but the method) I'm going to a show to see SBTRKT (check him out- great music :)) and decided to make a shirt with one of his masks he wears- its kind of an African tribal- and I looove how it turned out!
take a look :) http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10100314319074097&set=a.765780138547.2349649.24614202&type=1&theater
- April 13, 2012 at 1:00 PM
- Konstanz Silverbow said...
I love this! And I want to say THANK YOU! I found your blog while trying to figure out how to Batik shirts and a flag for Girls camp! Your posts have been so helpful and taken away a lot of my stress now that I have wonderful tutorials and I have no need to worry about doing these projects! I hope you have a wonderful week!
Konstanz Silverbow
- April 16, 2012 at 10:01 AM
- Beth said...
Great design! I've been doing some fabric painting recently too. It's so much fun!
- April 28, 2012 at 12:10 PM
- Unknown said...
Thanks for posting this. I regularly follow your blog and find it inspiring, so I'm passing along the Sunshine Award to you today for all of your creativity and inspiration! Come on over to LeslieMarquezDesigns.blogspot.com to check it all out~
- June 19, 2012 at 9:56 AM
- Casey Somerville said...
Such a great tutorial! I love the idea of having something no one else does, and that you can customize. Thanks for giving us all a template!
a collaged life: thetwentyninth.blogspot.com
- August 3, 2012 at 5:12 PM
- Unknown said...
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that a Spanish speaking (I think she lives in Mexico) Youtuber is stealing off your design/idea, and used it as her own. I felt angry that she gave no credit, so just letting you know. Check out minute 6:42. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3fU3cRI1Lo
- May 23, 2013 at 10:24 AM
- Unknown said...
I love all your tutorials... Such sad, that I cannot buy a freezer paper (in Slovakia they don´t know such a thing. :( )
- July 15, 2014 at 8:38 AM


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Major victory – and pay raises – for U.S. judges
on Oct 7, 2012 at 12:48 pm
After battling for years to get a pay raise that they say Congress had once promised them, six federal judges finally won in a specialized federal court on Friday. If the ruling withstands a likely trip to the Supreme Court, those judges – and presumably others – will get annual cost-of-living increases that have been specifically vetoed by Congress. The ten-to-two decision by the Federal Circuit is here.
The Court ruled that, in a 1989 law upon which the judges have been relying, Congress triggered the judges' right under the Constitution not to have their pay level diminished. The Compensation Clause itself, the decision said, creates "basic expectations and protections" on judges' pay.
Thus, it concluded, "in the unique context of the 1989 act, the Constitution prevents Congress from abrogating that statute's precise and definite commitment to automatic yearly cost of living adjustments for sitting members of the judiciary."
In reaching its decision, the Federal Circuit overruled a decision it had reached in 2001 – one that the Supreme Court had refused to disturb in 2002– and it found that it was not bound by a 1980 decision of the Supreme Court. Both of those rulings had gone against judges claiming that they were unconstitutionally denied pay raises.
The Supreme Court has played a continuing role in this prolonged constitutional fight, and in June of last year told the Fedeeral Circuit to decide whether the six judges' case (the latest of several such cases) should be dismissed on the theory that it was barred by the Federal Circuit's 2001 precedent.
The Justices issued that order rather than review a then-pending appeal by those judges, taking the advice of the Justice Department. Justice Antonin Scalia dissented, and Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the Court should have heard the judges' appeal. (The Court's June 28 order last year is here.) In February, the Federal Circuit had ruled that the judges' claim was not barred by its decision in Williams v. United States – a case in which they had a legal interest. The February decision can be read here. In that same decision, however, the Federal Circuit concluded that it was still bound by that prior precedent, and again rejected the judges' claim. After that, the Federal Circuit granted en banc review, before a twelve-judge court, resulting in Friday's decision.
The key to the decision – aside from the constitutional protection for judges' pay – was the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, which overhauled pay and ethics rules for all three branches of the federal government. For judges, the Act limited the outside income they could earn and limited the honoraria they could accept.
At the same time, the Act provided for automatic cost-of-living adjustments (technically labeled "COLAs") to assure that judges' existing salaries not be eroded by a failure to keep up with inflation. Whenever other federal employees get a COLA, the law specified, judges would, too.
Such pay raises could only be blocked if the President declared a national emergency or serious economic conditions.
Despite the promise, Congress in several later years refused to allow the judges' pay to rise, even though other federal employees received COLAs. That led to a court fight by federal judges, which they lost in the Williams decision. The Circuit Court said it had to rule that way because of the Supreme Court's 1980 decision in United States v. Will.
The Will decision declared that Congress had the authority to take away promised pay raises from judges, if those had not yet taken formal effect. The Constitution, according to that ruling, only protects judges' pay that has been "due and payable." The Supreme Court, over three Justices' dissent, denied review of Williams in 2002.
In the meantime, in 2001, Congress passed a new law to nail down the rule that judges could get a cost-of-living pay raise only if Congress explicitly approved. Congress did vote to allow judges their higher pay in several years after that, but not in 2007 and 2010.
The six present and former federal judges still involved began their lawsuit in January 2009. They asked for back pay and for added amounts that they argued they were entitled to have for some of the earlier years.
That is the case that last week was back before the Federal Circuit, sitting en banc, ending the judges' frustration with a historic victory that probably sets the stage for review by the Supreme Court. The Justice Department has been firmly opposed to the judges' claim, and thus is almost certain to seek review by the Justices. The Supreme Court, though, has the option of simply denying review, but that seems unlikely.
In dealing with the Supreme Court's Will decision in 1980, the Circuit Court said that case involved a different federal law on judges' pay (passed in 1975) that did not create expectations on the judges' part, and it thus was different from the 1989 law that did create such expectations. The 1989 law involved "a mechanical, automatic process" that judges would have seen as protecting their rights under the Compensation Clause, the opinion said.
The court commented: "A prospective judicial nominee in 1989 might well have decided to forego a lucrative legal career, based, in part, on the promise that the new adjustment scheme would preserve the real value of judicial compensation."
The promise of a COLA increase, the opinion added, gained more significance because of the provisions of the 1989 law that banned judges from earning outside income and honoraria, on which many judges had been relying to offset their failure to get routine pay raises.
The fact that the Will precedent did not control the interpretation of the 1989 law in a way that resolved this case, the Circuit Court said, meant that it had to go on and decide if the post-1989 denials of COLAs for judges violated the Constitution. The court found that it did.
The constitutional clause, the court stressed, does not guarantee federal judges a specific salary, and does not guarantee them periodic increases in their salaries. But, when Congress promises protection against having judges' real pay decline, and does so in a definite way, it is unconstitutional for the lawmakers to frustrate judges' expectations that the promise will be kept, the opinion said. Their expectancy, it added, was about something that would happen in the future.
If Congress wants to amend the 1989 law, the opinion said, it can do so, but it would be constitutionally entitled to do so only as to the future. "Any restructuring of compensation maintenance promises cannot affect currently-sitting Article III judges," the court concluded.
The Circuit Court, in the final legal point of the opinion, said that the 2001 law requiring specific congressional approval for any COLA for judges would be satisfied by its actual terms, as applied to the 1989 law. In fact, it found, the 1989 COLAs satisfy the requirements of the underlying law that Congress had amended in 2001.
The Circuit Court ordered the case back to the Court of Federal Claims to calculate what money damages are to be awarded to the six judges in the case. Although it said nothing about other federal judges, it did rule that several of the specific denials of COLAs were unconstitutional, leaving the impression that some other judges serving then might also have claims. Because of statute of limitations considerations, the decision said, the six judges' damages award must be backdated only to January 13, 2003.
The opinion was written by Chief Judge Randall R. Rader, and joined by nine other judges. Four of those judges also wrote or joined separate concurring opinions.
Circuit Judge Timothy B. Dyk, joined by Circuit Judge William C. Bryson, dissented.


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Keyhack 1 add cash, 2 add gems.
Yep, this Cat Clicker MLG is a clear case of cuteness overload! Start tapping onto the little meow and get ready for an amazing idle experience of MLG-awesomeness. This idle clicker game is another remake of the popular Cookie Clicker but only in MLG Cat-theme. Much fun!


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There is no doubt that the corset graduation dresses styles are still fashionable. They appeared long time ago and these were like a sexy weapon to attract lovers, too. Determined to end this state of affairs, some women, daring and progressive, began teaching the ankles, slowly, intermittently, and even boots with buttons covered with knee socks and thick, so that the men were accustomed and not fall victim dead in the streets of collapse caps. And here is an example of the influence of female costume in the economy, industry and urban development.
In teaching the ankle had to wear ladies shoes and socks that were displayable and not before all was well. So they invented a stylish boots and a horizontal striped stockings beautiful bright colors, giving rise to flourishing industries which increased the country's economy. A feature of the twentieth century is specialization, which could not fail to influence women's fashion.
For cycling, even when it was called velocipede, women were a special team: the suit was not very attractive, but as the velocipede, was even uglier, it was not bad at all. More serious was the elegant riding costume, also in line with the elegance of the animal mounted.
Did you know?
To travel by car also used a special dress, emphasizing mainly the mosquito net that put the ladies around the head and the length and severity of gray dust or so with dark buttons in a row that went from neck to the bottom of the dress! The ladies were so great! It is a matter of thinking outside the box; this should be considered when seeking graduation dresses.
During the prewar years of the first fashion evolved considerably. Teaching from the ankle to bottom drawer was already narrowing of the skirts which reflected a more tightly below the knee, generally, were his characteristics. The fat ladies wore beautiful hats filled with flowers, leaves and insects. In addition:
-During the first war was imposed to cut his hair, shortened their skirts and pulled far corset. The necessities of life demanded it, they said.
-When women spent the war had been completely transformed.
-Today, graduation dresses still have feathers, lace and ties leaving women greater ease of movement.
-The costumes become simple straight cuts, loose sleeve type.
And all because the times demanded a life more in tune with nature, must be guided by the most rigid scientific rules of hygiene. Another fact of importance in the history of dress of the twenties is the incorporation of women into the sport. Since 1930, the Cantabria regional dress typified enough: white canvas shoes taped, jacket, scarf or blouse and black skirt red or another color, short to the knee, with large black velvet ribbon that can be seen also seen in modern graduation dresses.


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Mandatory visors to be discussed at NHL competition committee meeting
Hybrid icing, goaltending equipment also on agenda
Almost three months after New York Rangers defenceman Marc Staal suffered a career-threatening eye injury, mandatory visor use will take centre stage at Tuesday's NHL competition committee meeting.
Hybrid icing and goaltending equipment are also on the agenda while fighting is not expected to be discussed.
A hot topic well before Staal took a puck in the eye, mandating all NHL players to wear visors is something the league office has supported for years. The NHL Players' Association educates its members on visors but has considered it a matter of individual choice.
That could change based on an internal NHLPA survey taken late this season. The union asked its members to weigh in on making visors mandatory for all players — those entering the league and grandfathering in current ones — or keeping it a choice for everyone. According to the NHLPA, approximately 73 per cent of players wore visors during the 2013 season, up from a Hockey News estimate of 28 per cent in 2001-02.
"My feeling is that I'd like to see them be grandfathered in," said Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, who will be one of the NHL's team officials in the meeting. "The players basically wear visors almost at every league other than the NHL. I certainly understand players that have been playing without them and it's their way to make a living. In the middle and later in their careers they don't want to change, but if you grandfather them in, you could slowly through time have all our players wearing visors."
General managers voted in March to approve the implementation of hybrid icing, which was used experimentally in the American Hockey League during the NHL lockout. Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Joni Pitkanen suffered a broken heel bone on an icing touch-up in April, prompting more discussion about changing the long-standing rule.
"To me safety's No. 1," said Holland, a proponent of hybrid icing. "Every so often we have an injury that's strictly related to racing for an icing call that a player has either a career-ending injury or a season-ending injury. Why do we want to have somebody get hurt on a race for an icing?"
Under the hybrid icing rule, players race to an imaginary line across the faceoff dots instead of the goal-line.
Players have expressed mixed sentiments about hybrid icing, given that it is designed to prevent serious injuries but also involves making it a judgment call for linesmen.
GMs also recommended shrinking goaltending equipment, specifically leg and knee padding. Holland said the key is making sure "the goalies can do their job and the shooters can do their job" without sacrificing safety.
A two-thirds vote of the competition committee is needed to pass any changes on to the NHL's board of governors and NHLPA's executive committee.
Ron Hainsey of the Winnipeg Jets, Cory Schneider of the Vancouver Canucks, Michael Cammalleri of the Calgary Flames and David Backes and Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues will represent the NHLPA. Mathieu Schneider, a former NHL defenceman and special assistant to NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, will chair the meeting as a non-voting member.
General managers Steve Yzerman of the Tampa Bay Lightning and David Poile of the Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle and Philadelphia Flyers chairman Ed Snider will represent the NHL with Holland. Referee Don van Massenhoven will act as an observer.


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Material: cotton blend
Flower dragon laser printed round t-shirts
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Teddybear Cholla
From personal experience, the teddybear cholla (named for the thick, bristling spines that almost look like soft fur) are a real eye-opener when one first makes physical contact with this native of the American Southwest. Casual passing contact will not only cause immense sharp pain, but the piece of the cactus touched will detach from the main part of the plant and tag along for the ride. This evolutionary and reproductive tactic is why this cholla is often called the "jumping cholla" - it will hop a ride with anything that touches it, eventually fall to the ground and once it roots, grow a whole new cactus. This one was found growing (without touching) along the side of a dried-out arroyo in a nameless canyon in Southern California's Anza-Borrego Desert in San Diego County.
- Copyright
- ©2015
- Image Size
- 4000x6000 / 21.1MB
- Keywords
America, American Southwest, Angiosperms, C. bigelovii, Cactaceae, California, Caryophyllales, Cholla Guera, Choya Güera, Core eudicots, Cylindropuntia, Cylindropuntia bigelovii, Cylindropuntieae, Eudicots, Imperial County, Opuntia, Opuntia bigelovii, Opuntia bigelovii var. ciribe, Opuntia ciribe, Picacho, Picacho Peak, Picacho Peak Wilderness Area, Plantae, Silver Cholla, SoCal, Sonoran Desert, Teddybear Cholla, USA, United States, arid, botany, cacti, cholla, choya, desert, dicot, flora, green, heat, hurt, jumping cholla, nature, pain, painful, perennial, plant, poke, prickle, prickly, sharp, shrub, southwest, spike, spiky, spring, subshrub, succulent, teddy-bear cholla, teddybear, thorn, thorny, west, western, wild
- Contained in galleries
- Cylindropuntieae


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In the city of Waterdeep, Shieldmeet also serves another important purpose. On this auspicious day every four years, the lords of Waterdeep meet with the Open Lord to reaffirm their rule.
As the Champions arrive in the City of Splendor on Midsummer, the day before Shieldmeet, they are summoned by The Blackstaff, Vajra Safahr. It seems that Open Lord Laeral Silverhand has gone missing...
Midsummer 2 introduces Shandie Freefoot, the Halfling Rogue and member of the Heroes of Baldur's Gate. Players will have until Monday, August 5th, 2019 at 12:00pm PDT, to unlock her!
New Champion: Shandie Freefoot
- Shandie grew up on the rough streets of the Lower City of Baldur's Gate. She quickly learned that if she wanted to survive, she needed to be fast on her feet and even faster with her wit and weaponry. The first time Shandie saw a bowmaster gracefully launch an arrow into a bull's-eye, she knew she had to master archery. With years of practice under her belt, any opponents underestimating this stealthy halfling will soon realize how dangerous she is as a volley of arrows bear down on them unexpectedly from shadowy corners.
For more information about our latest Champion, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Shandie Freefoot dev blog!
Year One Champion: Xander Cesso
- Fascinated by magic at a young age when he lived in an orphanage, but lacking any ability or proficiency, Xander is not terribly good at much of anything, though something about his adorable clumsiness and childlike wonder anytime magic is being used nearby has been known to inspire those around him. Until recently, he was living on the streets of Waterdeep, scraping together just enough to survive. Now, he is a faithful member of your party, always ready to leap into the fray, even if he doesn't really seem to be able to hit much of anything.
Year Two Variants
- Dreams of Grandeur — Jenks really wants to meet Vajra Blackstaff. From Area 12 onward, Jenks takes up a slot in your formation.
- Stay Back — Only Champions that attack with ranged or magic-based attacks can be used.
- Haunted Past — Only Neutral, Evil, or Champions with a Dexterity (DEX) score of 15 or higher can be used. Shandie beings the adventure in your formation and cannot be swapped out, moved, or removed. Strahd Vampires that can only be damaged by Shandie randomly spawn in non-boss Areas. Luckily, Shandie will prioritize Strahd Vampires over all others and attack twice as frequently when they are present.
Year One Variants
- Waterdeep Escort — The Waterdeep City Watch Officer insists that he accompany you on your adventure. He fills one slot in the formation, and if he is killed, your DPS goes down by 33% every 10 seconds.
- Drow Deception — The Drow said they were looking for a wizard, but the Champions seem like a more interesting quarry to chase! A Stealthy Drow Pickpocket appears on every level, and if they reach the formation, you fail the area and have to head back to the previous level.
- Commander Xander — Xander takes the lead as his childhood wishes of becoming a Hero have come true! Champions not adjacent to Xander have a 50% chance to miss whenever they attack (Xander isn't great at command). Those that are adjacent to Xander attack normally. He does enough missing for everyone.
See the in-game FAQ for more information!


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Today Apple announced a move that, on first blush, seems to push the Mac, its seminal and defining product, into the iWorld. You know, the world of Apple-controlled, closed, manicured gardens a la iPhone, iPod, iPad, and iTunes.
There's going to be an "app store" for Macs, and the iPad OS is going to be integrated in the next release of the Mac.
If anything, ever, will make me leave Mac for good (and the companies I've started have purchased literally thousands of them), it will be the integration of the Mac OS into Steve Jobs' vision of where mobile is going.
I'll have a lot more to say about this once I'm well and truly smart on the announcements. But given the trajectory of Apple, which is now driven far more by iWorld than by Mac, I'm not holding out much hope for the Mac continuing to be a computer in any real sense of the word. You know, where a computer means you have choices as to what apps you run on it, what apps get developed for it, and how you express yourself using it.


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Airbus Books Almost US$70 Billion At Paris Air Show 2013
– 466 Airbus aircraft orders & commitments across all product families
– A320neo Family retains 60 percent market share
– A350 XWB, A330 and A380 all continue to outsell the competition
Paris Air Show, France | June 20, 2013– At the 2013 Paris Air Show, Airbus won US$68.7 billion worth of business for a total of 466 aircraft, which shows the resilience of the commercial aviation industry. The deals comprise Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) for 225 aircraft worth US$29.4 billion and firm purchase orders for 241 aircraft worth US$39.3 billion.
The A320 Family, spearheaded by the A320neo, continues its trailblazing success in the single-aisle market with 371 orders and commitments from six customers announced at the show, worth approximately $37.8 billion. Of these, 88 were for the A320ceo – showing that today's in-production aircraft is still the most sought-after industry workhorse. A stand-out commitment during the show for the A320 Family was the announcement from easyJet for 100 A320neos plus 35 A320ceos – the winning result of a very intense competition. Another major endorsement for the A320 Family came from Lufthansa with the firming-up of 100 more aircraft. Additional A320 Family orders and commitments came from: Hong Kong Aviation Capital for 60; ILFC for 50; Spirit for 20; and Tunisia's Syphax Airlines for three – significantly the first A320neo commitment from Africa.
Another star at Paris was the A350 XWB which flew for the first time on Friday 14th June 2013 and successfully completed its second flight on Wednesday 19th June. At the show this aircraft gained 69 more orders & commitments worth $21.4 billion from four customers on different continents. Air France-KLM placed a firm order for 25 A350-900s. Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines, already a large customer for the type, returned to order 30 more A350-900s; United Airlines also placed an additional A350 order for 10 A350-1000s — not only bringing its total A350 orders to 35, but also upgrading its previous order for 25 A350-900s to the larger A350-1000 model to replace its Boeing 777s. In addition, Sri Lankan signed a commitment for four A350-900s to complement an order for six A330-300s at the show.
At the top end of the product range, the flagship A380 received a commitment for 20 aircraft from the world's third largest wide-body lessor, Doric Lease Corp, in a deal worth more than $8 billion. The contract with Doric is significant as it opens up a new, additional route to market for the A380, which is now available to airlines who wish to acquire the aircraft under the flexibility of an operating lease agreement.
John Leahy, Airbus's Chief Operating Officer, Customers said: "The dramatic rainfall and thunder storms at Le Bourget this year didn't dampen our order intake." He added: "Our A350 XWB has been out-selling the 787 by better than 2- to-1 over the last five years. In addition our A320neo Family retains a 60 percent market share lead. That's a 'corner' I want to stay boxed into."