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3 Reasons Why BlogCon is Made of Awesome
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[The above photo is of me and Vodkapundit–aka, Stephen Green.]
This past weekend, FreedomWorks put on a national blogger conference in Washington D.C. called BlogCon, that was open to all bloggers who wanted to attend. Tabitha Hale, the brains behind BlogCon who put the whole thing together, really outdid herself. (All attendees should participate in a quiet "golf clap" for Tabitha.)
Folks, I had a blast this past weekend. Seriously, if any of you ever get the opportunity to attend a national blogging conference like BlogCon, I highly suggest going. In fact, there are three very good reasons to attend BlogCon next year (or any similar national blogging conference in the future). So, without much fanfare and ado, let's get right to it.
1.) BlogCon is a great place to learn how to use the new media in order to more effectively market yourself and your blog/work.
Yes, I realize that this subject matter may be boring to some of you (I've saved the most fun reasons–and some great pics–for last), but trust me, it's important. No matter what your business is (and yes, blogging is a business), it is critical to know how to use the new media in order to better market yourself and your business. And, BlogCon had panel after panel of experts who provided invaluable instructions on how to be effective on camera, pimp your blog/videos and use humor in your blogging so as to immediately grab readers' attention. John Hawkins of Right Wing News has written a concise and excellent summary with regard to how instructive these panels actually were (and he also has some spectacular photos from the event on his Web site):
Now, I've been around a long time, so if I really enjoy a panel and learn a lot, it's a pretty good bet that a lot of other people did, too.
My three faves were,
Vlogging, YouTube, & interviews: How to be effective on camera: Lee Doren , Jason Mattera , & Steven Crowder: The information they gave out, particularly on marketing your videos, was absolutely invaluable. Here's just one hint: the key to taking a video viral is to get heavy views for it in the first 48 hours and then, if it does well enough, it will show at the top of YouTube's promotional pages and it'll really have a chance to take off.
Pimp your blog: Maximizing your WordPress experience: Cord Blomquist. Word Press is what powers Right Wing News and Cord knows it like the back of his hand. His suggests were invaluable and some of the plugins he suggested were EXACTLY what I had been trying to find for months.
Humor in Blogging: Ace of Spades HQ, Caleb Howe, Snark and Boobs, and Iowahawk. It's actually very difficult to be funny while you talk about HOW to be funny, but they managed to pull it off. Ace in particular, was on fire. (PS: I know people would love to see some Ace pictures and I have 'em, but he requested that they be embargoed. Besides, you guys have seen the Ewoks from Star Wars, right? Okay, now imagine a very tall Ewok that drinks a lot and there you have it!)"
Now, on to the second reason why BlogCon is a must for any aspiring blogger.
2.) BlogCon is a great place to meet people and network, network, network.
First of all, I obviously can't stress the whole networking part enough. It is one thing to converse with your fellow bloggers online or via email–it is a whole 'nother ball of wax to meet them face to face. When you meet someone in person, you can get a much better feel for who they really are by their body language or facial expressions–which are things that cannot possibly be conveyed by simply communicating with someone online. Furthermore, if you form a personal bond with someone at a conference like BlogCon–even if you only talk to the person for, say, fifteen minutes–given the choice, they are much more likely to link to, or pimp, your stuff than someone that they think is a total douche (no matter how good of a writer the douche in question might be). (Hey, I don't make the rules–those are just the facts. You have to accept the world how it is, not how you want it to be.)
Moreover, at BlogCon, I had the unique privilege of meeting some of the most iconic bloggers/writers online. It was a phenomenal experience. I mean, it is so totally cool to actually meet people that you've been reading or conversing with for years online (see the photos below that my husband took).
Above are two pictures myself with the the lovely ladies of NewsReal (Lori Ziganto in the turquoise dress, and Jenn Q. Public in the black top)–where I am also a contributor. I obviously had an awesome time hanging out with them. Not to mention, they are both such great writers. (By the way, Lori is also a contributor at Redstate.com, iOwntheworld, Right Wing News and has her own blog called Snark and Boobs–well, she pretty much writes everywhere.)
Above is a photo of the adorable Tabitha Hale who was the brains and the force behind BlogCon (and who is also a contributor to Redstate.com). Again, she deserves a round of applause for her outstanding organizational abilities.
Above is a picture of me and Dave Weigel of Slate, who is also an MSNBC contributor (the photo was taken by John Hawkins of Right Wing News). Now, I realize that there has been some controversy surrounding Weigel in conservative circles. However, I can personally attest to the fact that he is a very nice, totally unpretentious guy in person, and I really enjoyed talking to him. The dude has the 411 on everything, so I highly suggest picking his brain if you ever have the opportunity to talk to him. Anywho, after having the pleasure of chatting with Weigel, I can totally see why Tabitha Hale and Robert Stacy McCain like him so much.
Above is a picture of me and John Hawkins who is the editor of Right Wing News–where I am now going to be a contributor (he has more great pics from BlogCon up on his Web site). Hawkins is a prince of a guy and a lovable teddy bear. He is another person that one should chat up at any conference if given the chance.
Above is a great shot of Haystack–aka Dave Poff. (Stack is a contributor to Redstate.com and Liberty.com, and is also a contributor with me at 73 Wire.) I have known Haystack for a couple of years now, and I can personally attest to the fact that the dude is made of awesome. Seriously, do any of you all know anyone else who can pull off a handlebar mustache with such panache and look cool doing it? Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Above is a picture of Steven Crowder and me. Of all of the people that I met at BlogCon, Crowder surprised me the most. He is so larger than life in his videos for PJTV and on the Fox News show "Red Eye." However, in person, Crowder is such a polite, quiet, reserved gentleman. Not to mention, he's extremely knowledgeable, yet totally unpretentious. Oh, and of course, he's a lot of fun to talk to (definitely pick his brain if given the opportunity).
Above is a photo of me and Nice Deb who owns the blog Nice Deb. My husband and I had lunch with her, and she was very … well, nice. She just exudes this whole Midwestern class/politeness from every pore. Her blog is quite aptly named.
Above is a picture of the lovely Heather Kirkham, who is the Oregon coordinator for Docs 4 Patient Care. Not only is she a beauty, but she's a lot of fun to drink cocktails with.
Above is a picture of my husband and me taken by Robert Stacy McCain. By the way, you can see a bunch more really cool photos from BlogCon on his Web site of some really nice people (like Christopher Renner, Adrienne Royer, Cheryl Prater, Sarah Desprat and Redstate's Erick Erickson).
And finally, here he is ladies and gentlemen. The man, the myth, the legend who made the fedora cool–it's the one and only Robert Stacy McCain (with me) in the above picture. This guy is only the coolest cat in the conservative blogosphere. Getting linked on his blog means that you've finally arrived. Enough said.
Oh, one more thing before we move on to reason number three. One person that I really wish that I had gotten a picture with was Da Tech Guy. He is a kind-hearted person with a tremendous love of life and family–and, he's a great storyteller to boot. Not to mention, he said some really nice things about me and my husband on his blog, so I totally appreciate him.
Now, on to reason number three why BlogCon is the bomb.
3.) You get to party like a rockstar with Vodkapundit, Stephen Kruiser, Caleb Howe and Amy Miller.
Seriously folks, these are some of the most fun people that I've ever hung out with in my life. For starters, Vodkapundit (aka–Stephen Green from PJTV's Trifecta) is a blast to hang out with (see picture of him and me below). They don't call him Vodkapundit for nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying that the guy's a drunk–in fact, far from it. Green can down vodka martini after vodka martini, and yet still manage to be cultured, classy, witty and urbane in almost a retro sort of way. (He kind of reminds me somewhat of Don Draper, but without the womanizing.) I gotta confess that I'm a tad bit jealous of Vodkapundit. I mean, if I downed vodka martinis all day long, I would be anything but cultured, classy, witty and urbane. (I would probably be dancing in a corner somewhere with a lampshade over my head acting the ass–but, I digress.)
And, Stephen Kruiser is just a stitch (as we say down south). He's a stand up comic who works for PJTV and is a frequent guest on Fox's "Red Eye." Kruiser is absolutely hilarious and he doesn't seem to require much sleep. Not to mention, he tells great stories about all of the comedians that he's either worked with or met on the road (like David Spade, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor).
Oh, and Amy Miller is famous for her hilarious snark over at Redstate and The Minority Report (both she and I are contributors over at TMR). However, Amy's brilliant wit/snark also make her a total hoot to hang out with. She's adorable, and she's always the life of the party.
[Below is a photo of me, Amy Miller and Stephen Kruiser.]
And finally, Caleb Howe is a man who needs no introduction. He is the assistant editor for Redstate.com, and he is a legend in the blogging community. The dude is just too cool for color TV, and he makes any party that he attends teh awesome. (See the picture of him and me below.)
So, in conclusion, I think that I've concisely summed up why BlogCon is a must for any and every aspiring blogger–not to mention, why it's truly a "can't miss" event if you want to meet the who's who of the conservative blogging world.
However, I just have one more thing to add. Tabitha Hale told us to feel free to make any suggestions for next year's BlogCon. Well, here's mine. I think that we need a theme song for next year. I've come up with an idea–how about "I Got a Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas. Scott Brown used it as his theme song at the very end of his victory speech, and I thought that it worked just great.
[Warning–the video below for "I Got a Feeling" shows a lot of scantily clad women (like most music videos do), so if you've got kids in the room, then I suggest throwing a towel over the computer screen. However, the song itself is, of course, harmless.]
Furthermore, I think that "Let's Get it Started" by the Black Eyed Peas should be our theme song from here on out until November (don't worry, this video is pretty harmless with the exception of Fergie in a short skirt).
Anywho, I say let the Left have that wussified "Yes We Can!" foolishness–we on the Right will take the cool Black Eyed Peas songs.
And on that note, I say that I truly can't wait to see you all again next year!
PS–Yes, wussified is indeed a word–look it up.
PPS–I see you over there dancing at your computer. 😉
This column is cross-posted from NewsReal, The Minority Report, 73 Wire, and it's also posted at Redstate.com.
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Luigi is a Python (2.7, 3.6, 3.7 tested) package that helps you build complex pipelines of batch jobs. It handles dependency resolution, workflow management, visualization, handling failures, command line integration, and much more.
Getting Started¶
pip install luigi to install the latest stable version from PyPI. Documentation for the latest release is hosted on readthedocs.
pip install luigi[toml] to install Luigi with TOML-based configs support.
For the bleeding edge code,
pip install
git+https://github.com/spotify/luigi.git. Bleeding edge documentation is also available.
The purpose of Luigi is to address all the plumbing typically associated with long-running batch processes. You want to chain many tasks, automate them, and failures will happen. These tasks can be anything, but are typically long running things like Hadoop jobs, dumping data to/from databases, running machine learning algorithms, or anything else.
There are other software packages that focus on lower level aspects of data processing, like Hive, Pig, or Cascading. Luigi is not a framework to replace these. Instead it helps you stitch many tasks together, where each task can be a Hive query, a Hadoop job in Java, a Spark job in Scala or Python, a Python snippet, dumping a table from a database, or anything else. It's easy to build up long-running pipelines that comprise thousands of tasks and take days or weeks to complete. Luigi takes care of a lot of the workflow management so that you can focus on the tasks themselves and their dependencies.
You can build pretty much any task you want, but Luigi also comes with a toolbox of several common task templates that you use. It includes support for running Python mapreduce jobs in Hadoop, as well as Hive, and Pig, jobs. It also comes with file system abstractions for HDFS, and local files that ensures all file system operations are atomic. This is important because it means your data pipeline will not crash in a state containing partial data.
Visualiser page¶
The Luigi server comes with a web interface too, so you can search and filter among all your tasks.
Dependency graph example¶
Just to give you an idea of what Luigi does, this is a screen shot from something we are running in production. Using Luigi's visualiser, we get a nice visual overview of the dependency graph of the workflow. Each node represents a task which has to be run. Green tasks are already completed whereas yellow tasks are yet to be run. Most of these tasks are Hadoop jobs, but there are also some things that run locally and build up data files.
Conceptually, Luigi is similar to GNU Make where you have certain tasks and these tasks in turn may have dependencies on other tasks. There are also some similarities to Oozie and Azkaban. One major difference is that Luigi is not just built specifically for Hadoop, and it's easy to extend it with other kinds of tasks.
Everything in Luigi is in Python. Instead of XML configuration or similar external data files, the dependency graph is specified within Python. This makes it easy to build up complex dependency graphs of tasks, where the dependencies can involve date algebra or recursive references to other versions of the same task. However, the workflow can trigger things not in Python, such as running Pig scripts or scp'ing files.
Who uses Luigi?¶
We use Luigi internally at Spotify to run thousands of tasks every day, organized in complex dependency graphs. Most of these tasks are Hadoop jobs. Luigi provides an infrastructure that powers all kinds of stuff including recommendations, toplists, A/B test analysis, external reports, internal dashboards, etc.
Since Luigi is open source and without any registration walls, the exact number of Luigi users is unknown. But based on the number of unique contributors, we expect hundreds of enterprises to use it. Some users have written blog posts or held presentations about Luigi:
- Spotify (presentation, 2014)
- Foursquare (presentation, 2013)
- Mortar Data (Datadog) (documentation / tutorial)
- Stripe (presentation, 2014)
- Asana (blog, 2014)
- Buffer (blog, 2014)
- SeatGeek (blog, 2015)
- Treasure Data (blog, 2015)
- Growth Intelligence (presentation, 2015)
- AdRoll (blog, 2015)
- 17zuoye (presentation, 2015)
- Custobar (presentation, 2016)
- Blendle (presentation)
- TrustYou (presentation, 2015)
- Groupon / OrderUp (alternative implementation)
- Red Hat - Marketing Operations (blog, 2017)
- GetNinjas (blog, 2017)
- voyages-sncf.com (presentation, 2017)
- Open Targets (blog, 2017)
- Leipzig University Library (presentation, 2016) / (project)
- Synetiq (presentation, 2017)
- Glossier (blog, 2018)
- Data Revenue (blog, 2018)
- Uppsala University (tutorial) / (presentation, 2015) / (slides, 2015) / (poster, 2015) / (paper, 2016) / (project)
- GIPHY (blog, 2019)
- xtream (blog, 2019)
- CIAN (presentation, 2019)
Some more companies are using Luigi but haven't had a chance yet to write about it:
- Schibsted
- enbrite.ly
- Dow Jones / The Wall Street Journal
- Hotels.com
- Newsela
- Squarespace
- Grovo
- Weebly
- Deloitte
- Stacktome
- LINX+Neemu+Chaordic
- Foxberry
- Okko
- ISVWorld
- Big Data
- Movio
- Bonnier News
- Starsky Robotics
- BaseTIS
- Hopper
- VOYAGE GROUP/Zucks
- Textpert
- Whizar
- xtream
- Skyscanner
- Jodel
- Mekar
We're more than happy to have your company added here. Just send a PR on GitHub.
External links¶
- Mailing List for discussions and asking questions. (Google Groups)
- Releases (PyPI)
- Source code (GitHub)
- Hubot Integration plugin for Slack, Hipchat, etc (GitHub)
Table of Contents¶
- Example – Top Artists
- Building workflows
- Tasks
- Parameters
- Running Luigi
- Using the Central Scheduler
- Execution Model
- Luigi Patterns
- Code Reuse
- Triggering Many Tasks
- Triggering recurring tasks
- Efficiently triggering recurring tasks
- Backfilling tasks
- Propagating parameters with Range
- Batching multiple parameter values into a single run
- Tasks that regularly overwrite the same data source
- Avoiding concurrent writes to a single file
- Decreasing resources of running tasks
- Monitoring task pipelines
- Atomic Writes Problem
- Sending messages to tasks
- Configuration
- Parameters from config Ingestion
- Configurable options
- [core]
- [cors]
- [worker]
- [elasticsearch]
- [email]
- [batch_notifier]
- [hadoop]
- [hdfs]
- [hive]
- [kubernetes]
- [mysql]
- [postgres]
- [redshift]
- [resources]
- [retcode]
- [scalding]
- [scheduler]
- [sendgrid]
- [smtp]
- [spark]
- [task_history]
- [execution_summary]
- [webhdfs]
- [datadog]
- Per Task Retry-Policy
- Retry-Policy Fields
- Configure logging
- Design and limitations
API Reference¶
|Package containing core luigi functionality.
|Package containing optional and-on functionality.
|Sort of a standard library for doing stuff with Tasks at a somewhat abstract level.
LocalTarget provides a concrete implementation of a
Target class that uses files on the local file system

subset: commoncrawl


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Crochet Guide
There is something magical when a single strand of yarn and a single hook unite to form a complete piece of fabric. Crocheters really enjoy making that magic happen, as we create everything from dolls to blankets to sweaters and more.
Varying the size of the hook and the thickness of yarn or thread extend the range of what's possible, and when we expand our bag of tricks to include mastery of all the different stitches -- why, there's nothing we can't make happen in crochet.
From granny square afghans to fashion doll ball gowns, crocheters love the naturally tranquil rhythm of stitching as much as we love to show off and give away our finished masterpieces. And, we love to teach our craft.
So, whether you're finally ready to learn the basics or whether you're an accomplished crocheter, pull up a chair, invite a friend, and get ready for some fun on our Crochet pages. We know you'll have a thing or two to teach us before you know it!


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Toshiko Takaezu, Porcelain vessel, ca. 1980s; porcelain
Gift of the artist.
professional experience:
1952–53 Teacher, Flint Institute of Art,
Flint, MI
1954–56 Teacher, Cranbrook Academy
of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
1954–55 Professor, University of
Wisconsin, Madison
1955–64 Head of Ceramic Department,
Cleveland Institute of Art, OH
1958–59 Professor, Honolulu Academy
of Arts, HI
1967–92 Professor, Princeton
University, NJ
Credits: Photo by Dan Kvitka
Rights: All Rights Reserved
© 2023 PNCA, 511 NW Broadway, Portland, OR 97209-3404 • Map • PH: 503.226.4391 • Contact + Hours


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Nursing bras reinvented with bold, beautiful colors and improved features. Spend more time being awesome.
- Nylon/Spandex premium 4-way stretch fabric
- This super stretchy fabric keeps our ever changing mommy bodies supported with comfort
- Shaped cups for healthy milk production
- Wicks away moisture & dries while wearing
- Odor & fade resistant
- Custom colored easy to open one-handed nursing clips
- A soft stay-put bottom elastic that doesn't crease or roll


text: k kintoo 8/11/2013 - 2:40 PM Report Abuse 5 out of 5 33 out of 34 people found the following review helpful Sharp Looks real sharp and classy compared to the plastic grip. I own two sets of wood grips. The other set checkered on the lower half. Change back and forth as the mood strikes. Both wood grips make the gun look special and custom built. Comment | Was this review helpful? Yes | No Name Leave a Comment Submit Comment


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Verdict In Katrina Shooting Buoys Police Reform
On Aug. 5, a federal jury handed down one of the most sweeping verdicts in the modern history of American police brutality cases. Five New Orleans police officers were convicted of various roles in gunning down civilians in the days after Hurricane Katrina, and then covering it up. Five other officers pleaded guilty.
The Danziger Bridge case, as it's called, adds momentum to a reform effort already under way. The Department of Justice says it's committed to cleaning up the New Orleans Police Department, once and for all.
'This Will Not Stand'
After the grueling seven-week trial, Barbara "Bobbi" Bernstein, the lead prosecutor who came down from the Justice Department in Washington to try the case, decided to get out and enjoy New Orleans. And a remarkable thing happened. Everywhere she went — on the sidewalks, in her hotel, in a Catholic church — people came up to hug her and thank her.
Such was the gratitude of the people of New Orleans that someone had fought back against rogue cops, and sent a message to the police department — this will not stand.
Not The First Attempt To Reform Police
The misdeeds of the NOPD are infamous.
"In the '90s, we had officers arrested and prosecuted and [who] went to jail for rapes, for arson, kidnappings, killings, drugs, bank robberies," said Mary Howell, a local attorney who has represented victims of police abuse for more than 30 years.
"We had a police officer who used to do bank robberies on his lunch break. He went to prison. He's out now. So we've been here before."
"Been here before" means attempts to reform the New Orleans police.
After a string of police atrocities in the '90s — which sent two officers to death row for capital murder — the Justice Department came to town to clean up the force. Prosecutors stayed from 1996 to 2004, at which time most people thought the problems had been solved.
Then came Katrina, during which there were many instances of police bravery, but also more misconduct
It became apparent that the eight-year effort overseen by the Justice Department did not hold.
"Sometime between 2005 and 2010 the train came off the tracks and crashed," says current police Superintendent Ronal Serpas. "It's really a frightening case study of how fast it can all come apart."
Detail System An 'Aorta Of Corruption'
Last year, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu invited the Justice Department back to town to help straighten out the police department again. In March, the department's Civil Rights Division released a scathing, 150-page investigation detailing "systemic" problems within the NOPD. Among them: excessive force, illegal stops and searches, uncontrolled attack dogs, sloppy investigations of officer wrongdoing, poor hiring, poor training, poor supervision, and the notorious detail system, whereby officers can earn extra money pulling off-duty security details for things like parades.
"Within the New Orleans Police Department there is a culture, and that culture is very unusual," said Tony Radosti, a 23-year veteran of the force who now works for the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a police watchdog group. Radosti says it was an open practice in the department for officers to use the detail system to enrich themselves and their buddies.
"We've had some issues that police officers during Carnival a few years back were paid $100 an hour, three of 'em, to protect a porno shoot in the French Quarter," Radosti said.
Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights, oversaw the Justice Department's report on the NOPD. "The detail system was certainly an aorta of corruption in the police department," Perez said, in an interview from his Washington office.
The new chief, Serpas, spent 21 years on the force. He left to run other police agencies and returned, he says, anxious to bring about change. Serpas has tightened up the detail system, fired or sidelined bad commanders, and put teeth in internal affairs reviews of officer misconduct.
"If you are untruthful, first time, you're terminated," he said, "We have dismissed more than 35 people in the last 15 months. It's probably up to 37 or 38 now. And we have suspended 200 people."
Will Reform Stick?
But can the department change a culture of cover-up? The Danziger verdict was the third federal trial in the past eight months in which New Orleans police officers were found guilty of killing innocent suspects, then lying about it.
"We've had reform before," said lawyer Howell. "The question is, what's different now? How are we gonna be able to really have reform that will last?"
Washington's answer: This time the Justice Department is negotiating a consent decree with the NOPD, under which a federal judge will ensure that dozens of recommendations are carried out.
"With the benefit of our experience from the late '90s, we learned that we need a consent decree that has court oversight," said Tom Perez, of the Justice Department. We will have a monitor. We will stay in New Orleans as long as is necessary to get the job done and not a day longer."
Community Hopeful For Change
Winning the trust of the community will be a slow process.
The Madison family used to believe in the New Orleans Police Department. The family has relatives and friends known as good officers, though there were always rumors that the NOPD had a dark side. But the Danziger Bridge incident shattered the family's peace of mind.
In the days after the storm flooded the city, Ronald Madison, who was 40 years old and mentally disabled, along with his brother, Lance, were peacefully walking across the bridge when officers — mistaking them for hoodlums — opened fire. One officer fatally shot Ronald in the back, and another policeman stomped him as he lay dying on the pavement. Then the police falsely accused Lance of firing at officers; those charges were later dropped.
"We never thought something like this would happen to us. We're not scoundrels. We're law-abiding," said Dr. Romell Madison, a respected New Orleans dentist and brother of Ronald and Lance.
"They're going to have to look deep within the screening or psychological evaluation of the individuals they do allow to carry a badge and a gun," he continued, sitting in his office located near the base of the bridge where his brother died. "They have to be able to control their use of deadly force, not just let their emotions take over and say, 'OK, I think he has a weapon so I'm going to shoot him.' "
His sister, Jackie Madison Brown, a dialysis nurse, added that officers who do their job shouldn't have to cover up for one another with a "code of silence."
"We are hopeful there will be change," she said, "But we know it won't happen overnight."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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The below essay, "US, SU: Same Scenario?" is the thirteenth essay of Michael O'Meara's book Toward the White Republic, available from Counter-Currents Publishing here.
Book review
of Dmitry Orlov's
Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects (Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2008)
Despairing of my people's passivity, I have often thought the collapse of the United States might be the one thing to turn them against the system that seeks their destruction.
This "catastrophist" perspective is, admittedly, a strategy of desperation. For collapse (what Joseph Tainter calls a "recurrent feature of human societies") may delegitimize the existing system and make whites more receptive to their racial/national interests, but, in a worst case scenario, it could pose problems even more threatening than those of the last 60 years.
The literature of collapse is consequently of the utmost relevance, especially now that the "American Century" seems to be nearing its inglorious end.
Of the numerous works on fallen civilizations, perhaps the most pertinent are, for obvious reasons, those related to the Soviet collapse of 1991. Hence the propitiousness of Orlov's recently published work.
A computer engineer by training, Orlov and his Russian Jewish family emigrated to the US in the 1970s. He has since maintained ties with the land of his birth, having returned during those periods leading up to, traversing, and following the Soviet collapse. Writing from a radical ecological perspective critical of industrial civilization (which he implicitly—Hebraically?—associates with white civilization), Orlov suggests what collapse entailed in the SU and why the US is no less a candidate.
His book, though, is no work of scholarship.
"I am not," he writes, "an expert or a scholar or an activist. I am more of an eyewitness. I watched the Soviet Union collapse and this has given me the necessary insight to describe what the American collapse will look like" (p. vii).
He accordingly spends little time sketching the big picture—the structural forces driving the collapse—and, instead, concentrates on its "micro-scale" processes and experiences. This makes his book a "personal" work, without claim to scientific authority, but nevertheless one that is very readable and informed by the all-important "human" dimension of collapse.
Despite their different methods and styles, Orlov sees the two 20th-century superpowers as "antipodes" of the same techno-economic civilization committed to social management, economic growth, material accumulation, world domination, and the realization of the Enlightenment vision of a totally rationalized world.
As such, Orlov argues that the US and the SU both sought a better life through science, approaching every human problem in terms of a technical fix. They both were militaristic, imperialistic powers who, through direct or proxy wars, made a mess of the international arena and, though Orlov doesn't mention it, introduced reforms in the Third World that has caused it to grow out of control; they both devoted endless fanfare to celebrating their democratic, egalitarian institutions, however fraudulent; both assaulted popular beliefs and values in the name of a higher rationality, discouraged traditional social relationships, created meaningless, uncreative forms of work, exalted materialist values over others, repressed dissent, recruited corrupt, venal elites—and, most seriously, cared little or nothing about the white, or European, race, though Orlov doesn't actually think this. It might be added, and this too isn't in Orlov, that the US and the SU both were social experiments that favored Jews, making them, and their values, dominant.
The list of similarities goes on. But the basic point—that the US and the SU were techno-economic civilizations devoted to roughly analogous worldviews at odds with nature and the nature of ourselves—seems rather indisputable. As such, one civilizational model collapsed, and the other, for roughly similar reasons, now faces the prospect of a similar collapse.
Orlov gives no credence to the Reaganesque bombast that the United States defeated the Soviet Union in the Cold War. He argues that its collapse had little to do with ideology and even less with American influence. Instead, he attributes it to the SU's "chronic underperforming economy, coupled with record levels of military expenditure, trade deficit and foreign debt" (p. 8). These economic problems made it increasingly difficult for "average Russians" to get by.
When Soviet reformers under Mikhail Gorbachev at last attempted to fix the centrally-planned stagnation, they couldn't. This failure, combined with military humiliation in Afghanistan and the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, so discredited the Soviet state that it imploded.
Given that Orlov's book appeared before the US financial meltdown of September 2008, it looks mainly at those structural weaknesses in the US economy that most resemble those of the former SU—rather than at that institutionalized system of fraud responsible for pulling off one of the great historical swindles.
Stressing the inherent flaws in the US economy and noting that it has taken a couple of decades for the US to catch up to the SU, he suggests that the US may soon face a similar fate.
Like many ecologists, he rejects the facile conviction that modern society is exempt from the rise-and-fall cycles characteristic of pre-industrial societies or that present rates of economic and population growth can continue indefinitely.
The United States, he sees, is especially vulnerable to collapse, due to the petroleum basis of its economy. He points out that the US, with its "energy-intensive model of empire," is more dependent on cheap oil than any other industrial economy, that its crude oil production "peaked" in 1970, and that three-quarters of its energy is now imported.
Any rise in oil prices will consequently be paid for in declining economic growth and higher food prices (agriculture being petroleum-intensive). Once the era of cheap energy comes to an end (sometime supposedly past its peak), world economies will be forced to undergo changes as significant as those that accompanied the onset of industrialization. This will lead to further decline and ultimately to collapse—which Orlov, citing the archdruid John Michael Greer, defines as that condition whereby "production fails to meet maintenance requirements for existing capital" (p. 2). That is, when the declining economic system starts "consuming" its infrastructure (cannibalizing itself, in effect) to compensate for declining incomes, it will simply hasten the inevitability of its demise.
But however central, energy is only one of the problems that Orlov, peak-oilist that he is, considers.
Because the US has outsourced most of its manufacture overseas, no longer produces the high technology on which it depends, and relies on imports for most of its basic needs, it has incurred an enormous trade imbalance, sustained by massive borrowing in foreign money markets. (For different reasons the SU acquired massive trade imbalances and debt in the 1980s.)
The problems created by America's increased energy costs and the financialization of its economy have been compounded by a runaway military budget, a debt pyramid that grows at an exponential rate, and the decline of its overseas empire and "tribute economy." Combined with imperial disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan, a growing international reputation for incompetence and corruption, violent changes in weather patterns (which produce killer hurricanes, like Katrina, having a system-disrupting potential), and the impending breakdown of neglected infrastructure (bridges, levees, poisoned water tables, etc.), these factors suggest that the US might eventually follow the SU into the dustbin of history.
The federal government and "the self-enriching political elites" that feed off it have, moreover, a vested interest in "perpetual growth" and imperial overreach, which means they can't be expected to do anything constructive to stave off the impending collapse. As the economy begins to decline, tax revenues too will decline and public debt grow.
The only solution the elites have come up with to address the state's impending fiscal crisis, thus far, is to crank up the printing presses and introduce more worthless paper into the market.
Orlov's explanation of the Soviet failure and his prediction of an impending American collapse, given the impressionistic nature of his work, should, of course, be taken as merely suggestive, though economic contraction, declining energy availability, and increased political turmoil already loom on the horizon.
His work, moreover, is short on the specifics of collapse, he neglects any consideration of collapse as a "political process," and he ignores important questions as to how and in what manner collapse occurred (in the SU) and will occur (in the US). It's also not evident if an American economic collapse will mirror the suddenness of the Soviet collapse (which was historically unprecedented) or if, like more traditional cases, it will be stretched out over decades.
Qualitatively more persuasive, though, is Orlov's claim that the Soviet Union was better situated than the United States to endure and recover from a political-economic breakdown.
In his view, Americans see their "spendthrift debtor nation" as a "land of free ice cream and perpetual sunshine" (p. 16). Never having experienced invasion, world war, famine, or bloody dictatorship, it's hard for them to imagine a future unlike their past. More than Russians, Americans have been severed from their past and redesigned as gratification-oriented consumers whose defining character is materialist rather than ethnic, historical, or cultural. They also lack the psychology of resilience "bred" into the long-suffering Russians. Finally, they are more ideologically deluded by the system's pretenses, just as they are more integrated into its increasingly dysfunctional institutions.
Born of a less happy, but more bona fide nation, Soviet Russians put greater emphasis on individual achievement and recognition than on economic success. Money and materialist designations didn't play quite the same role in their lives as they do in the US, for their primary needs—work, housing, basic services—were essentially provided by their collectivized economy and the lifestyle consumption native to the American economy wasn't an option. When the political system stopped functioning and the formal economy suffered its knockout blow, there simply wasn't the moral and social devastation that is likely to affect Americans.
The SU was also favored in terms of food and shelter. Most Soviet housing was owned by the state. Though "drab and soulless," it was well-built, insulated, and designed to last. Almost all housing was surrounded by public lands on which people kept kitchen gardens. Prior to the collapse, nearly 90 percent of the country's domestic food supply came from these kitchen gardens and other individual plots, for Communism had turned Russian agriculture, once Europe's breadbasket, into a basket case.
The Soviet regime also had a phobia of food riots and virtually every city stored large grain surpluses for emergencies. This made the Soviet-style food system almost immune to breakdown. After the collapse, most people were thus able to keep a roof over their heads and to provide themselves with food. All Soviet utilities, such as heat, running water, electricity, and garbage removal, were also public and could be counted on even after the dissolution of the central state. Above all, Russian housing was overwhelmingly urban, situated near the country's extensive public transportation network, which continued to operate.
This will not be the case in the US, whether it undergoes a sudden Soviet-style collapse or if it should, as is more likely, experience a extended period of decline.
Most Americans, who don't own their homes, will in either case face foreclosure, eviction, and homelessness.
They will also have trouble feeding themselves, once the shelves of their suburban supermarkets, stocked by just-in-time deliveries, are emptied.
Because the entire country is built around the auto—housing, shopping, work are virtually inaccessible without it—when the economy bottoms out and energy costs become prohibitive, this car dependency will prove catastrophic. Even in the oil-rich Soviet Union, there were gasoline shortages and severe rationing.
Without significant domestic supplies of gas and without spare parts for their foreign-built autos, suburban Americans will find themselves stranded.
Orlov suspects there will be a mass exodus from distant suburbs, as people are forced to relocate to centers whose supply and distribution networks remain operative. If this should occur, the world will shrink to areas that can be covered on foot or bike, long distance and global trade will be drastically curtailed, and the key principles of globalization will become totally untenable. More generally, "the world" will become "the local" and self-sufficiency the supreme virtue.
Consumerism will then become a thing of the past. Though the Soviet economy was notorious in its neglect of consumer goods, it nevertheless made things, with some conspicuous exceptions, to last. American goods, by contrast, are produced with artificially short replacement cycles and often in plastic, which means that once the container ships stop arriving at US ports many of the consumer items that have become essential will disappear, not to be replaced.
The greater prosperity and materialism of American life also means that things most of the world considers luxuries—cars, central heating, refrigeration, flush toilets, cell phones, packaged and processed foods, washing machines and kitchen appliances—have become necessities; their disappearance will be felt more intensely than in the Soviet system of socialized poverty.
An American collapse (or decline) is likely, then, to entail shortages of food, fuel, and countless consumer items, combined with outages of electricity, gas, and water; breakdowns in transportation systems and other infrastructure, including public health; widespread shutdowns and mass layoffs; all accompanied by confusion, despair, and perhaps violence.
Society as a whole will then be forced back to a less complex mode of operation; centralized forms of control will wane; things will suddenly become "smaller, simpler, less stratified, and less socially differentiated"; regions and communities will assume a greater centrality of tasks. Whether there will ensue a Hobbesian "war of all against all" is anyone's guess.
As the old economy begins disintegrating, old forms of capital (cash, stocks, bonds) will progressively lose their value. Trucking and airplane fleets deprived of fuel will end up as scrap. Scientific and industrial equipment may be exported as forms of exchange, along with antiques, jewelry, and art objects. Numerous jobs—cable installers, lawyers, sales representatives, plastic surgeons, store clerks, stockbrokers—will become superfluous.
Given both the social and economic dislocation this will set off, law enforcement will probably be overwhelmed, replaced in part by private security and neighborhood defense units. Many laws will be ignored. Established authorities, no longer able to ensure the security of its citizens, will almost certainly cease commanding respect and new power structures may arise. Organized criminals, gangs, former cops, and military contractors will find new employment or self-employment. (This will be a good time to be in a Private Military Company.)
As the established market breaks down, an informal economy will likely replace it—an economy that largely revolves around the liquidation and recycling of the old economy and is based on "direct access to needed resources or the threat of force, rather than on actual ownership or legal authority" (p. 61).
As in Russia, we'll probably see old people in open air flea markets selling off their treasured possessions, middle-class people rummaging through trash, the few remaining stores under heavy security.
All this will happen to a people not only psychologically unprepared for social upheaval, but ill-suited to the harsh realities it'll bring. Americans, in fact, have lived so long with a radical disconnect between their "culturally acceptable beliefs" and their personal experiences that they are already afflicted with various mental diseases, evident in the tens of millions of anti-depressant and mood-altering drugs they daily consume. Collapse will send a great many of them over the edge—into new fantasized stages of denial or, perhaps, into a millennial "end times" revival.
The good news is that whites will also become increasingly unsupportive of a regime that no longer delivers the goods. Indeed, because the legitimacy of America's managerial/ therapeutic regime is so closely linked to economic well-being, the latter's breakdown will likely also either bring down the state or "hollow" it out. But whatever happens, the fall of the American system, based on a highly controlled system of "communications" and programmed consumption (i.e., on packaged goods and packaged lives), is going to lead not to the rapture, but to a very rude awakening.
This is worrisome to the degree that the most vulnerable to collapse, besides the "couch potatoes" spawned by our "prosthetic society," are whites. For they are the most integrated into the existing system, they are the most deluded by the ideology of the American Dream (which holds that if you work hard and play by the rules, you will succeed), they are the most shorn of their former identities, culture, and communities (which assume a primary importance in times of crisis), and they lack any consciousness of being a people, based on a specific stock with a specific culture, and thus lack any consciousness of why they should act cohesively as a people.
However, once whites cease being sheltered in the bubbles of their cars or in their cubicle jobs, they will have no choice but to deal face-to-face with blacks, Mexicans, turbaned Sikhs, and the other exotic fauna that now cover their land. At this point, they may discover that a nation is not a "racial ragbag," but a community based on a "consciousness of kind"—i.e., on a consciousness of being related in blood and spirit, of belonging to a people with a shared ancestry and a common culture.
The ensuing anarchy might similarly provoke conflict along ethnoracial lines, exacerbated by high gun ownership on both sides, that could conceivably lead to violent clashes and perhaps forms of ethnic cleansing.
Such conflict will have a far greater role to play here than it did in ethnically homogenous Russia, where communal relations remained civil, if not amicable (except in respect to Jews and other non-Russian minorities).
If American whites should remain unconscious of who they are as a people, they will almost certainly become victimized by the higher cohesion and consciousness of non-whites, whose ethnic identity, family ties, and cultural motivations are both more primitive and more powerful than theirs. The big question, then, is whether whites will passively succumb to black and brown predators, like sheep before the slaughter, or if, in an awakening, they'll join with other whites to fight back. (I'm betting it won't take long before they realize that it's a matter of "us or them.")
Relatedly, successful, middle-aged white men will be especially prone to nervous breakdown and depression—as the career, savings, and property they spent a lifetime pursuing suddenly go down the drain. Suicide, emotional paralysis, drink, and drugs will strike them at higher rates than other sectors of the population. Their fragility will be further compounded by the fact that their work experiences leave them totally unqualified for employment in a collapsed economy. Concentrated more in business, management, communications, law, sales, and information processing, they will find that non-white immigrants with practical skills as carpenters, mechanics, and general laborers are better situated to take advantage of the remaining job opportunities.
At the same time, as single households and nuclear families prove to be unviable, whites will find that extended families and friends are their most valuable assets.
The Russian family wasn't much healthier than the American family, but economic conditions and housing shortages before the collapse helped keep marriages together, with three generations often sharing the same dwelling. And like most people worldwide, Russians also tended to live in the same locale all their lives. As a result, they had extended family ties and knew the people among whom they lived, both of which enhanced their survivability.
American whites lack these extended networks, and this is going to affect their adaptability in a broken world. To survive, they will have to rediscover the meaning of community and revive those organizations and activities that were once a mainstay of American civil society. In making the transition to a Third World lifestyle, whites then will either have to rediscover their own traditions or else revert to the sort of practices common to non-whites.
It took Russia only a decade to recover from its collapse and regain pre-collapse economic levels. This relatively speedy recovery was due to the individual Russian's ability to adapt to crisis conditions and to the country's vast oil reserves, which enabled their economy to bounce back relatively quickly, once world gas prices revived.
The US is not so well-situated. It will take longer to recover from whatever collapse brings, and it's likely there will be no "recovery" from the decline of its techno-economic civilization (given the inevitable rise of energy costs and the unfeasibility of a globalized economy based on cheap energy). There's also no single figure in the US governing elite capable of emulating the nationalist-minded Vladimir Putin, who prevented the oligarchs from turning post-collapse Russia into a colony of the world's financial system.
But all's not doom and gloom in this scenario. The crash, if and when it comes, will help whites shed their liberal illusions, perhaps lead them to discover what is most important in life, and, in the best of all possible worlds, prompt them to reestablish the racial-nationalist ties that once made them a great, enterprising people.
Of course, it would have been better if they hadn't screwed around for 60 years, leaving it until the very last possible moment to recoup the Aryan qualities that will enable them to overcome the coming dark age, but better at 11:59 p.m. than never at all.
In this pre-collapse interlude, before the fall, nothing can be done to halt the inevitable or mitigate the immitigable. We are facing, in America's world decline, not a solvable problem, but an unavoidable predicament that promises to rip apart the illusions that have animated American life for at least the last two generations—especially the illusion that unlimited growth and limitless consumption are possible in a world of finite resources.
We have, moreover, absolutely no control over what is about to happen: All our efforts would be like "wiggling our toes at a tsunami." The only certainty now is that the process of decline has begun.
Worse, there are no oppositional parties, political formations, or extraparliamentary forces representing white interests to lead them, once the smoke clears. The impending crisis—this make or break time—comes thus at a relatively inopportune moment.
However, as individuals and, more importantly, as European Americans concerned with their people's fate, they still have time—a civilization rarely collapses all at once, as Orlov and survivalists fantasize, but rather gradually, often over the stretch of decades—to turn inward to prepare themselves mentally for the looming economic breakdown and, as they do, to start turning outward to develop those "resilient communities" of friends, family, and fellow tribesmen, who, when the moment strikes, might not only help them survive—but perhaps also prompt them to start thinking about what should succeed the failed United States.


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What You Need to Know Before Getting Your Headshots
Insights into the process of headshots, and ways to prepare.
Here are some examples of my take, answering the following questions:
- What is a headshot (?), i.e., it's the most important calling card you have.
- Do I need hair and makeup (?), i.e., you need to be able to reproduce the looks you chose, no matter how you get there.
- What should I wear (?), i.e., colors that compliment your eyes, skin and hair coloring.
- What do I need to do (?), i.e., Do your homework and speak to your representation. Be clear on what it is they need to market you and the looks you want to achieve.
- What will I need to get started (?), i.e., one to two looks will do if you're new to show business otherwise consult with your agent or manager.
- What is a look (?), i.e., I like to say it's a character change that could be enhanced by a wardrobe, makeup, hair or location change.
- Should I meet with the photographer? That's up to you and the photographer.
- What's the process (?), i.e., prepare, shoot, review, post session online, burn a DVD.


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Homeowners who take pleasure in the added luxurious of running a house swimming share will certainly inform you of the countless hours of satisfaction – and improved home value – that their swimming share has provided them. In reality, more and more people that are embarking upon new house construction are selecting to include the garden swimming share in their original construction plans. But for some homeowners, weather and comfort have persuaded them to opt as an alternative for an indoor swimming share – a location wherever they can take pleasure in the luxuries of the water unobstructed.
The interior swimming share is just what their name implies – a specific swimming share that is in just a making or home. Many public features – such as gyms, country groups, hotels, and colleges – offer an indoor swimming pool. But now, a lot more than actually, there is an increasing development for the personal segment to include an indoor swimming share in their property design. In this instance, the share may be within the confines of the property – or in a attached atrium that is surrounded by glass. Either way, the interior swimming share is protected from the weather – including heat and bugs – and enables consumers to savor the water without having to provide any considered to the time of day – or time of year.
Needless to say, much like any swimming share, continuing maintenance of the interior swimming share is essential to ensuring that the share continues in appropriate working condition. Frequently homeowners will enlist the services of a professional swimming share maintenance business that'll clear, maintain, and fix the swimming share based on the phrases of their contract.
However, you can find certain safety dilemmas that really must be addressed if you decide on to have an interior swimming share – especially when you can find young ones in the home. While an outside share can simply be harmful, you at the least have the opportunity to wall down the share region in order that young ones do not enter without being associated with an adult. When you yourself have a pool as part of your house Outdoor Whirlpool you must take extra precautions to make sure that children are watched at all times and know not to enter the share region without permission. It might be advisable – depending on the ages of the children – to keep the interior swimming share behind closed doors. In addition, all young ones must be taught to swimming, as well as taught detailed share safety.
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Remember that you compensated quite a penny with this and I believe that you will recognize that it was really worth the price. However, it was an expense and it just is sensible to safeguard that expense from damage, this is the reason it's not just essential, it is also just useful to try to share dining table addresses to safeguard your home from any damage that can probably come to it.


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In-Home Massagein Cupertino
It's fitting that in the birthplace of Apple and the iPhone, Zeel now brings Massage On Demand to Cupertino with its innovative massage app. A high quality massage from a top massage therapist in Cupertino, CA is just a couple taps away with Zeel. Book now and relax as soon as an hour from now.
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The Press Loves Zeel!
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As a Washburn student, your classes will be taught in either the College of Arts and Sciences or the Schools of Applied Studies, Business, Law or Nursing.
Since Washburn's earliest days, our primary goal has been to prepare students for the world with a quality education. Whether your major is in the College or one of our four Schools, be assured the faculty members teaching your courses are experienced, current in the field and focused on your success.
All undergraduate students will take courses in several areas. Feel free to explore a variety of academic disciplines when choosing your general education classes. You may discover your passion in an as yet unknown field. (Undergraduate students cannot take courses from the Washburn School of Law.)
In some cases, you will be admitted to an academic program only after meeting specific requirements after your first two years of study. Work with your adviser to ensure you will qualify for admission to your program of choice.
Enjoy your Washburn experience in the College or School that fits you best.


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|Sam Sibert
|Norris McDonald
SLSMC founder and president Sam Sibert notes that, "thousands of miles of pipelines will be developed in the coming decade." AAEA founder and president Norris McDonald says, "these pipelines will be on public and private lands. We are seeking partners who can help facilitate our participation in this exciting new energy developement." Please contact us if you are interested in such a partnership.
The SLSMC, formed in 1993, is a top pipeline construction company in the gas and electric industry. SLSMC is currently a primary contractor for the Texas Utilities and Electric Company (TXU). In 1996 S. L. Sibert became a prime contractor for TXU installing electrical services to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Sibert widen the field in 1999 by including gas services to its rapidly expanding range of capabilities when they signed an Alliance Contract with TXU-Gas. Under the Alliance Contract Sibert installs new gas services in the Western Regions of Dallas and Fort Worth. In 2001 Sibert was able to showcase its advanced techniques in Directional Boring by completing a highly profiled water-line replacement job for Colleyville, Texas using a specific Boring method. The Colleyville water-line replacement was the first job of its kind completed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Sam L. Sibert is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington. Sibert played for Kentucky State University where he helped lead his team to two NAIA national championships. Sibert also played in the National Basketball Association for Kansas City-Omaha King. He is founder and CEO of S.L. Sibert Company and he built one of the largest construction companies in north central Texas with employees operating in several states including Oklahoma.


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I dressed the table in a pretty turquoise tablecloth.
I hot glued some burlap around the bottom of the vases and added a starfish. Inside, there is colored marbles, a tropical scene and shells. My husband added a few drops of blue. I finished them off with white floating candles. They made an awesome display of lighting.
I need to work on my photography skills. My husband says we need to buy another lens....LOL
Happy Monday.
I will share the recipe I made soon. Cajun Seafood Pasta. The dessert was Chocolate Yummy.
You may have noticed I changed my blog theme again. Gotta love Fall!
I may be tweaking things here and there in the next couple of weeks.
I also have a new blog design to show you. Mama Jax's blog, a very talented artist who lives in New Orleans. Ron from Uptown Acorn referred her to me. Thanks so much Ron.
Stay tuned for Mama Jax's blog reveal....
I am joining the following link parties:
Amaze Me Monday @ Dwellings the Heart Of Your Home
Make It Pretty Monday @ The Dedicated House
Table It @ Rustic and Refined
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday @ Kathe With an E
Centerpiece Wednesday @ The Style Sisters
The Scoop @ Confessions Of A Plate Addict
Inspire me Monday @ Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
What's it Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants
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The retina is the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the inner eye. It acts like the film in a camera. Images come through the eye's lens and are focused on the retina. The retina then converts these images to electric signals and sends them via the optic nerve to the brain. The retina is normally red due to its rich blood supply. An ophthalmoscope allows a health care provider to see through your pupil and lens to the retina. If the provider sees any changes in the color or appearance of the retina, it may indicate a disease.
Anyone who experiences changes in sharpness or color perception, flashes of lights, floaters, or distortion in vision should get a retinal examination.


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There's a lot of reminiscing going on at parties all over blogland! Welcome to the 2nd annual DIY Recap at the DIY Show Off! Share your post with your favorite DIY projects this year! It's so easy to look at what's NOT done, so let's celebrate your accomplishments. I bet your surprised at how productive you've been. 🙂
5. Visit the person before you, leave a comment – make a new friend!


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I am very Irish.
I am very not Italian.
This is for those days when you want to make a meal and take a nap.
This is not a legit baked ziti. This is not the kind that I am sure some people have gotten married, not for love, but for the hopes that one day they will be taught how to make it by their husband's grandmother.
But it feeds a hungry crowd and makes them very happy. All the while you are very happy, because instead of slaving over the stove, you snuck in a nap. I won't tell if you don't. Us Irish girls are good at keeping secrets.
if you are Jeannett, don't judge. Just keep freshening your carpets.
double oven situation, I am so very happy that I stayed strong with the desire for a big old stove top. I have yet to use all five simultaneously, but I am waiting for that day. It will be glorious. Now I just need a few more Caribbean Le Creusets to make it a sea of simmering happiness.


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No, really. It looks like that's what at least somebody in the HS press office intends to do. I did a double take when I saw this on their website today, but here's the declaration in plain English, not to mention in plain German, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese.
Recent years have witnessed a great increase of affection and esteem for the person of the Holy Father. There has also been a desire to use the Pope's name in the title of universities, schools or cultural institutions, as well as associations, foundations and other groups.
In light of this fact, the Holy See hereby declares that it alone has the right to ensure the respect due to the Successors of Peter, and, therefore, to protect the figure and personal identity of the Pope from the unauthorized use of his name and/or the papal coat of arms for ends and activities which have little or nothing to do with the Catholic Church. Occasionally, in fact, attempts have been made to attribute credibility and authority to initiatives by using ecclesiastical or papal symbols and logos.
Consequently, the use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff (his name, his picture or his coat of arms), and/or the use of the title "Pontifical", must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See (source).


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Apple infringed a Samsung Electronics patent, the U.S. International Trade Commission said in a final judgment released Tuesday that bans import into the U.S. of certain AT&T iPhone and iPad models.
The patent involves 3G wireless technology used to transmit multiple services simultaneously and is necessary for device interoperability. The ITC found that Samsung did not prove that three other of its patents were violated by Apple.
The full panel of ITC commissioners reviewed a decision by ITC Judge James Gildea, who had found that Apple did not infringe four Samsung patents in a decision released in September. Commissioner Dean Pinkert dissented in the 4-1 ruling that found Apple in violation of one patent in the dispute. The ITC began an investigation on Aug. 1, 2011, after Samsung filed a complaint against Apple in what has been a multiple-pronged legal battle involving courts around the world.
The import ban, or "exclusion order" as it is officially called, affects AT&T models of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G. The ITC also went a step further, issuing a cease-and-desist order so that Apple is forbidden from selling any inventory of those iPhones and iPads that it has already imported into the U.S. after the exclusion order takes effect.
The order now goes to U.S. President Barack Obama for review. That part of the process can go as long as 60 days, and if he does not veto the order it will go into force.
Apple released a statement expressing disappointment in the ruling and saying that it would appeal it. That appeal would be made to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The ruling confirms "Apple's history of free-riding on Samsung's technological innovations," Samsung said in a statement. The company, which is based in South Korea, further pledged to continue its decades of mobile technology research and development, and to offer innovative products in the U.S.
Updated at 5:02 p.m. PT with a comment from Samsung.


text:
Your skill will accomplish
what the force of many cannot
/ignoreby SiteDocClan (Initiate)
|on Mar 10, 2006 at 13:24 UTC ( #535690=sitefaqlet: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
This is the command you use in the Chatterbox to block all messages from another monk. The full form is
/ignore SenderNameYou can enter such a command in any text box where, if you typed any other text, it would go to the public Chatterbox.
Note that unlike /msg, /ignore parses on the first whitespace only, so you never need to put brackets around the monk name (although you may if you prefer). Example:
/ignore Mr. MuskratTo see a list of the users you are currently ignoring, go to Ignored Users.
Undoing the effect of /ignore
The symmetric command to /ignore is /unignore. This removes the named monk from your ignore list.
As a convenient alternative, you can go to Ignored Users; next to each listed name will be a link which, by merely clicking on it, removes that person from your ignore list.
Further info is available in Using the Chatterbox: Private Messaging.
Back to PerlMonks FAQ


text:
I can not believe I only have 12 days until Christmas.
Where did the time go?
Usually by this date, we have the tree not only up, but decorated; I have my Snow Villages on display; the garlands are up; the lights frame our exterior. The only thing done is the outdoors–Dan has been working on it for the past 10 days and it looks fabulous. I'm the one who has slacked off.
We did drive up to beautiful Apple Hill to cut down a tree. It's about a 45 minute drive from our house and a terrific place to take all the kids. My youngest "pointed" like a dog at the tree he wanted.
We also picked up two apple pies, one we've already eaten, and one frozen. For soon. Yum. 🙂
Picking out a tree that the entire family can agree on is never easy, but we found one that most everyone was satisfied with. Right now it's sitting in a bucket of water on our back patio. Here it is before we cut it down:
I'm hoping to have everything up this weekend, but I might have to say no to the Snow Villages. They take a full day to put up and a full day to take down, and I have a mid-January deadline for my first Maxine Revere book. It's been deadlines that have delayed Christmas decorating — as well as sports, the kid's studying, my oldest being away at college (she just came home! Yeah!) I'm blessed that my family is healthy and I am working, so I'm not complaining. But one year, the Snow Villages stayed up until Easter … and I have a feeling if I put them up this year, they'll stay up until Memorial Day …
However, I decided that if I don't put up my 40+ house collection that I'll do one table (I usually have FOUR tables) … I'll pick my favorite 8-10 houses/stores plus accessories and display them in the entry way. Then I won't feel so unspirited. The Snow Villages are such a tradition for me I have to do something, even if I don't go all out.
This past summer, my friend Terri sent me a bunch of pictures of my Snow Villages when she and her family came over for New Years. So I thought I'd share them with you!
Another reason I'm late this year is that the kids don't get out of school until the 21st, making me feel like I have more time than I really do. I usually do a lot of my shopping on-line, but spaced this year and now fear for delivery — and refuse to pay huge shipping charges. I just ordered a bunch of stuff from a few places yesterday, but the rest … yes, I'm going to the mall. Wish me luck :/
We generally have a very traditional Christmas — we go to Christmas Eve mass, finish wrapping presents late into the night while watching a classic movie like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE or, my husband's favorite, A CHRISTMAS STORY, stuffing the stockings with toys so the kids will let us sleep at least until after the sun gets up, opening presents (I get to play Santa, always fun!), drinking first coffee then switching to mimosas, brunch, and just enjoying family. No travel — I've already told my kids that when they get married, they can do whatever they want on the other holidays; Christmas is mine.
When I was growing up, we always went to my Aunt Lois & Uncle Bob's house for Christmas Eve. Aunt Lois was my grandma's sister and they were very close. That house and all the memories will always stick with me as some of my favorite memories. It was also the place we went for Easter Egg hunts and family parties. I hope that someday, my kids will have the same fond memories. What about you? Do you have a favorite Christmas tradition from growing up or one you started with your own family?


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Apache Cocoon 2.2.0 Released
Apache Cocoon 2.2.0 Released The Apache Cocoon Community is proud to announce the release of Cocoon 2.2.0. Apache Cocoon is a Spring-based framework (since version 2.2 of Cocoon) built around the concepts of separation of concerns and component-based development. Cocoon implements these concepts around the notion of component pipelines, each component on the pipeline specializing on a particular operation. Cocoon 2.2 introduces the idea of blocks. A block is the unit of modularization in Cocoon, allowing the framework to be built upon. (in comparison: Eclipse uses the term plugins, OSGi uses bundles). Everything that goes beyond what Cocoon provides in its core modules (Spring integration, sitemap and pipeline implementation) is provided as block (see below). Custom Cocoon applications are also developed as blocks. A block can provide the following additional features: * general servlet services (any servlet can be managed by the Cocoon servlet-service framework), * special services that provide pipelines as services, * component services (Spring beans, Avalon services/components), * a container for classes and resources. A block is packaged as a Java archive (jar) following certain conventions concerning the directory structure. To read more information about the new features within Cocoon 2.2.0 please go to: http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/1420_1_1.html. Alternatively for more information about Apache Cocoon 2.2, please go to, please go to http://cocoon.apache.org or follow our getting started guide at http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/1159_1_1.html. The release artifacts are available from the central Maven repository (http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/) or you can download them from the distribution area (http://cocoon.apache.org/1284_1_1.html). - o - Additionally we are pround to announce some additional releases: SUBPROJECTS ----------- * Cocoon Servlet-Service Framework 1.0.0 The Servlet Service Famework makes it easy to use servlets as components which can communicate with each other. The current implementation is based on Spring 2.5. There are no dependencies on Cocoon core libraries at all. http://cocoon.apache.org/subprojects/servlet-service/servlet-service-impl/ * Cocoon Configuration 1.0.2 The Cocoon Configuration subproject provides basic support for configuring web applications. Its current implementation, the Spring Configurator, is a useful component providing support in common configuration issues when using the Spring framework. There are no dependencies on Cocoon core libraries at all. http://cocoon.apache.org/subprojects/configuration/ Additional Cocoon 2.2.0 BLOCKS ------------------------------ * Cocoon Ajax 1.0.0 Partial page and form reloads http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/ajax/1.0/ * Cocoon Apples 1.0.0 Pure Java implementations of controller logic. * Cocoon Auth 1.0.0 Authentication and authorization of pipelines and control-flow based Cocoon applications. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/auth/1.0/ * Cocoon Batik 1.0.0 Create Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) using Cocoon pipelines. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/batik/1.0/ * Cocoon Captcha 1.0.0 A reader to create CAPTCHAs http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/captcha/1.0/ * Cocoon Database 1.0.0 Direct usage of relational databases with sitemap components. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/databases/1.0/ * Cocoon Database Bridge 1.0.0 Databases bridge allows you to use datasources defined as Spring-beans in Avalon components. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/databases-bridge/1.0/ * Cocoon Flowscript 1.0.0 Flowscript is a continuation-based implementation of Cocoon control flow based on Rhino (Javascript/ECMAScript). http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/flowscript/1.0/ * Cocoon FOP 1.0.0 Use Apache FOP, an XSL-FO driven print formatter to render pages to PDF or Postscript. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/fop/1.0/ * Cocoon Forms 1.1.0 Cocoon has an advanced forms framework. Together with Flow and JXTemplates, Cocoon Forms (or CForms) provides a solid basis for building interactive web applications. Cocoon Forms handles complex use cases while still being simple enough to be used by non-Java-programmers who want to add forms to their site. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/ajax/1.0/ * Cocoon Hsqldb-Client 1.0.0 JDBC access of a Hsql database http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/hsqldb-client/1.0/ * Cocoon Hsqldb-Server 1.0.0 Start a Hsql database server as part of your Cocoon application. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/hsqldb-server/1.0/ * Cocoon HTML 1.0.0 Generators to deal with HTML. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/html/1.0/ * Cocoon Linkrewriter 1.0.0 Transformers to rewrite all elements containing links. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/linkrewriter/1.0/ * Cocoon Mail 1.0.0 Sitemap components to send emails. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/mail/1.0/ * Cocoon Template 1.1.0 XML-based templating http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/blocks/template/1.0/ TOOLS ----- * Cocoon Maven plugin 1.0.0-M2 The Cocoon Maven plugin contains several goals that make the life of software developers easier, e.g. support for running blocks as webapps or support for patching the web.xml at deployment time. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/maven-plugins/maven-plugin/1.0/ * Cocoon Block Archetype 1.0.0 This archetype creates a Cocoon block that comes with some small samples. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/maven-plugins/ * Cocoon Plain-Block Archetype 1.0.0 Use this archetype to create the simplest possible Cocoon block. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/maven-plugins/ * Cocoon Webapp Archetype 1.0.0 Use this archetype to create a web application that is configured to host Cocoon blocks. http://cocoon.apache.org/2.2/maven-plugins/ The Apache Cocoon Project