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Kyriba Closes 2012 with 36 Percent Revenue Jump and Outlines 2013 Growth Strategy
SaaS treasury software leader ends record-breaking year with high profile corporate, client and technology milestones
SAN DIEGO, February 4, 2013 – Kyriba, the leader in cloud-based treasury management solutions, today announced the closing of a standout year in 2012, with record-breaking revenues, major milestones in corporate and product development, and the signing of a broad range of high-profile clients and technology partners.
Kyriba's 36 percent growth in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) in 2012 was boosted by the addition of many high-profile clients worldwide, including brands such as AOL, Time Warner Cable, TRW Automotive, United Heritage Insurance and Vale. In addition, overall bookings in the second half of 2012 increased by 50 percent over the same period in 2011.
"As a major insurance provider, United Heritage needs to work with a treasury partner that provides a robust, scalable cash management solution," said Dean Sandros, director of investment accounting and assistant portfolio manager at United Heritage Insurance, which recently signed as a client. "In Kyriba, we have found a company that provides a straightforward solution to a complex task, allowing treasury to fulfill its role as a strategic element of the company."
The company launched Kyriba Cloud Treasury SuiteApp, bringing new treasury functionality for users of the NetSuite SaaS-based ERP platform. It also introduced Kyriba Mobile, the industry's first native iOS application, providing treasurers with new freedom to perform key tasks while away from the office. Key alliances were formed with a number of high-profile technology innovators, including WNS, Pollenware, and 360T. These alliances have brought wide-ranging functionality enhancements to Kyriba's 700 global clients, as well as establishing co-marketing and distribution relationships for the company.
Kyriba bolstered its global presence with the addition of new offices in London and Tokyo. Kyriba Japan was established as a joint venture between Kyriba, as the majority shareholder, SunBridge Corporation, the firm responsible for the salesforce.com Japan and Concur Japan joint ventures, and Marc Benioff and Steve Singh, acting as minority direct investors. The company also strengthened its management team with the addition of executives across a number of disciplines.
"The past twelve months have been excellent for Kyriba, not only from a growth perspective, but also as a milestone in the overall development of the company," said Jean-Luc Robert, chairman and CEO of Kyriba. "As 2013 starts, we see several new growth opportunities for Kyriba. We are expanding out of our core market, both up into larger organizations, as well as down into the mid-market. We see that these areas both present major growth opportunities for us. We are also investing heavily in fields such as risk management and supply chain finance, which will greatly enhance our capabilities in these areas. Last, we are expanding our reseller channel. We will increase our geographical footprint with new distribution partners, as well as establish new channels and partnerships, such as retail banks."


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Important Non-Meat Sources Of Protein For Vegetarians
Although most vegetarians consume a considerable amount of protein, they often do not absorb as much as they would on a nonvegetarian diet. This is because plant proteins are considerably less digestible than animal proteins, which contain amino acid chains that are closer or identical to human amino acid chains.
Consuming animal proteins might yield close to a 1:1 absorption ratio, while consuming plant proteins, such as wheat, might only yield 50% of the amino acids needed to build a "complete protein" or a protein that can readily be assimilated into the human body.
In order for vegetarians to absorb a healthy amount of protein, they must consume a variety of plant proteins to form complete amino chains. By eating vegetables, legumes, seeds, nuts, fruits, and whole grains, vegetarians can increase the amount of complete proteins they create by combining a number of varieties of amino acid chains.
Vegetarians must also consume more foods that contain proteins because plant proteins are generally harder to digest. While a nutritional label may suggest that pasta has 5 grams of protein per serving; you may only be able to digest 2-3 grams of that protein, which means you must complement the pasta with other sources of protein.
In addition to natural sources of protein, vegetarians should also seek foods that are "protein-fortified"-- or artificially-infused with protein.
For example, many supermarkets offer a variety "protein-fortified" pasta and bread. I have seen pasta that contains as much as 12 grams of protein per serving.
Soy milk is also a good source of protein for vegetarians. Studies on isolated soy protein show that it can be absorbed nearly as well as animal proteins, yielding close
to a 1:1 protein absorption ratio.
For non-vegan vegetarians, yogurt, milk, and eggs (which contain complete proteins) are all excellent sources of protein.
As a vegetarian you have a number of options to boost your protein intake - and you should consider taking advantage of all of them. You should diversify your food selections, drink more soy products, and eat "protein-fortified" breads and pasta.

subset: commoncrawl


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Patrick Stewart will be returning as Professor X! Fantastic, but what of James McAvoy? Last we heard Matthew Vaughn would be filming a sequel to X-Men First Class that would be titled X-Men: Days of Future Past — but we had no idea it could include the faces of mutants past (or rather future, if you think about it chronologically). But Newsarama is reporting that Stewart spilled the beans at the Montreal Comic Convention when asked by a fan if he would be reprising his role he responded with this:
"I think there is every possibility. Halle Berry! Famke Janssen! Rebecca Stamos! Anna Paquin! Yes, I'll be reprising..."
However he was mum on the details as to where and when. We could easily imagine a scene in Days of Future Past, where we glimpse into a Sentinel-filled future that includes the cast of the original X-Men trilogy. That would be fantastic. However we're not ready to give up our precious time with Michael Fassbender as Magneto just yet.


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Vaccine researchers have developed a strategy aimed at generating broadly cross-reactive antibodies against the influenza virus: embrace the unfamiliar.
In recent years, researchers interested in a "universal flu vaccine" identified a region of the viral hemagglutinin protein called the stem or stalk, which doesn't mutate and change as much as other regions and could be the basis for a vaccine that is protective against a variety of flu strains.
In an Emory Vaccine Center study, human volunteers immunized against the avian flu virus H5N1 readily developed antibodies against the stem region of the viral hemagglutinin protein. In contrast, those immunized with standard seasonal trivalent vaccines did not, instead developing most of their antibodies against the more variable head region.
H5N1, regarded as a potential pandemic strain, is not currently circulating in the United States and the volunteers had not been exposed to it before.
The results are scheduled for publication in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The key to having volunteers' bodies produce antibodies against the stem region seemed to be their immune systems' unfamiliarity with the H5N1 type of virus, says lead author Ali Ellebedy, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Rafi Ahmed, PhD, director of Emory Vaccine Center.
Collaborators at University of Chicago and Mount Sinai School of Medicine contributed to the study.
"Our previous research led us to hypothesize that immune responses to the stem region are likely to be stronger after exposure to hemagglutinin molecules derived from flu viruses which the human population has been minimally exposed to," Ellebedy says.
Emory Vaccine Center researchers had found that several patients infected with the 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu strain developed broadly cross-reactive antiviral antibodies. In 2009, most younger adults had never been exposed to the H1N1 pandemic strain and thus had no immune cells producing antibodies against it.
But later, after that H1N1 strain started circulating widely in the population, it became part of the standard seasonal trivalent vaccine. When volunteers' immune responses to the seasonal vaccine were analyzed, most of the antibodies they generated reacted to the head region of hemagglutinin.
Immune cells that produce antibodies against the stem region are widely prevalent in humans, but at low levels, the team found. But the standard trivalent seasonal vaccine tends not to amplify them. This led the team to ask whether vaccination with something different enough, such as H5N1, would stimulate production of "anti-stem" antibodies.
"We had already performed a big H5N1 study back in 2008, so we went back and tested our hypothesis with some novel reagents that allowed us to dissect responses that are directed to the head vs. the stem regions," Ellebedy says.
The team analyzed levels of antibody directed against different parts of the hemagglutinin protein in 17 volunteers, before and after H5N1 vaccination. Anti-stem antibody levels rose an average of four-fold after the first H5N1 vaccination. After a booster shot, however, anti-head responses dominated while anti-stem responses were feeble.
"Our data indicate that most humans are capable of establishing a humoral immune memory that is specific to the conserved HA stem region…Overall, our data raise the important question of what would be the minimal 'concentration' of antistem antibodies required to provide in vivo protection. Therefore, it will be important in future studies to determine the quantity of HA stem-specific antibodies or memory B cells that would positively correlate with better clinical outcomes against influenza infections."
"Our findings delineate a potential vaccination strategy where H5N1 or H7N9 immunization could be used not only for immunologically priming the population to quickly respond to serious pandemic influenza threats, but also for generating broadly neutralizing antibodies against influenza in humans."
Source: Emory Health Sciences


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Purdue Innovation Kills Waterborne Microorganisms, Produces Safer Drinking Water
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Whether turning on a tap to fill a container or drinking from a fountain, people in developed countries normally have readily available and inexpensive access to a clean, safe water supply.
That is not the case for more than 800 million people in developing countries, according to Ernest "Chip" R. Blatchley III, professor of civil engineering and environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University. Blatchley and other researchers are working to provide safe water supplies for these people by using ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun to purify water.
"Millions of people in developing countries do not have readily available water, or they become sick because of the water they drink," he said. "People in these countries may not have the infrastructure or financial resources to clean the water, deliver it and keep it clean until it's used. Common problems include microbial pathogens, which are largely associated with human and animal waste."
Blatchley and Bruce Applegate, associate professor of food science and biological sciences at Purdue University, have developed prototypes of a water disinfection system to take advantage of UV radiation from the sun, which is plentiful in many areas where clean water is lacking.
"If you take a global view of people who have little or no access to safe water, you'll see that most live close to the equator," Blatchley said. "Bruce, student researchers and I have created prototypes that disinfect water by amplifying and concentrating solar UV radiation, which is abundant in equatorial and near-equatorial nations."
Applegate said the Purdue water disinfection system pumps water through a UV-transparent pipe placed on a parabolic reflector.
"The shape of the reflective mirror concentrates the sun's UV rays so the radiation inside the pipe is more intense than outside," he said. "The radiation damages the DNA in microorganisms. When this is done, the microbes can no longer grow and the water is safe."
Solar UV systems have been developed by other groups. The Purdue system, however, uses different materials than others.
"We are using the range of solar UV wavelengths that are most effective for damaging microorganisms' DNA. Using material that is transparent to these wavelengths of radiation allows us to disinfect water a lot faster," Blatchley said. "We can pump water continuously through the system and produce water in a larger quantity."
Blatchley and Applegate have conducted experiments in West Lafayette using non-pathogenic bacteria that are very closely related to those that cause cholera and typhoid. Blatchley said the results from the experiments could translate to the field where disease-causing microorganisms and higher levels of UV radiation exist.
"We have information about how UV irradiance in West Lafayette compares to cities around the world including Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the Kenyan cities of Eldoret and Mombasa," he said. "The maximum solar irradiance that occurs in West Lafayette is similar to the minimum values observed in these near-equatorial cities. The experiments we conduct here, where we have had success, should be at least as successful if they were conducted in Port-au-Prince, Eldoret and Mombasa, and probably quite a bit more."
Having proven the concept of concentrating UV rays to disinfect water, the researchers now are determining how to scale up production in the system. The prototypes currently produce water at a rate of about 10-20 milliliters per minute.
"The original prototypes were intentionally built on a small scale so we could conduct experiments using a relatively modest amount of time and resources," Blatchley said. "We have ideas on how we expect it to scale up, and we plan to demonstrate those."
The Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization has filed an international application for patent of the innovation.
A video about the UV water disinfection system is available at http://youtu.be/mldIzgpRvdo
Purdue University's other patented technologies include new cancer treatments, alternative fuels, biomedical devices, agriculture innovations and others that are available for licensing through the Office of Technology Commercialization. For more information, call 765-588-3475, email email@example.com or visit otc-prf.org/otc.
About Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization
The Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology-transfer programs among leading research universities in the United States. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities.
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Cookbook:Baba Ganoush
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|Baba Ganoush
|Appetizer recipes
|15 minutes
Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes | Middle Eastern Cuisine | Mediterranean Cuisine | Vegan Cuisine
Baba ganoush is a common Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dip with a creamy, somewhat smoky flavor. It is usually eaten with pita bread although naan or a crispy flatbread also work well.
Ingredients[edit | edit source]
- 1 ea. (1 to 1½ pounds) medium-large eggplant, any variety
- 2 tablespoons raw tahini
- Juice of 1 lime or lemon
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- Paprika or cayenne pepper, as a garnish
Procedure[edit | edit source]
- Roast the eggplant. This can be done in a variety of ways, but the flesh should be fully cooked and the skin should be burned and falling off easily. An effective method is to prick the eggplant and place it a few inches under a broiler, turning it as the exposed skin blackens, about every 3-4 minutes. Place a pan underneath to catch the juices, and discard them.
- Scrape off the eggplant skin. It's alright if you miss a few burned bits.
- Finely chop or blend the eggplant flesh with the rest of the ingredients. The consistency should be smooth. Reserve a bit of the olive oil, and drizzle that over the top. Sprinkle with some paprika or cayenne.


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By Steve Newton
When you interview rockers on the road you always try to find out where they're located, so you can write "When so-and-so calls from wherever" and establish a setting for the conversation. But when I contact blues-rocker George Thorogood–who plays the Hard Rock Casino Vancouver this Friday and Saturday (May 2 and 3)–he's not ready to cough up the info.
"We swore under oath with the government not to reveal the whereabouts of our location," jokes the 64-year-old boogieman, so we'll never know whether he was in Tallahassee or Kalamazoo.
And when I casually ask how he's doing, Thorogood evades that query as well, instead replying with the title of his best-known song: "Bad to the Bone".
Considering Thorogood's name is synonymous with "Bad to the Bone", it comes as quite a surprise that—at first, anyway—he didn't even want that song for himself.
"I thought it would be a great song for Muddy Waters," he explains. "I tried to hustle that tune to Muddy Waters's camp, with absolutely no success, and actually his people were very offended with me for bringing the song to him. They were like, 'A white guy bringin' a blues song? Hell no, that's not gonna work.' I thought, 'That's bullshit! If Eric Clapton or Keith Richards did that they'd do it in a minute.'
"And then I went to Bo Diddley with it and he loved it! He wanted to play it, but he didn't have a record deal at the time. So I said, 'Well, okay, we'll do it.' "
Released in 1982 as the title track of Thorogood's fifth album, "Bad to the Bone" has proven quite the windfall for its creator, having appeared in numerous films, TV shows, and commercials. You may recall it from the opening scene of the '83 horror flick Christine, where its don't-mess-with-me vibe was used to drive home the inherent evil of Stephen King's titular 1957 Plymouth Fury.
Five years before he hit it big with "Bad", though, Thorogood established another signature song with the cover on his self-titled debut album of John Lee Hooker's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer". Both tunes appear on his latest releases, the greatest-hits CD Icon and the concert video Live at Montreux 2013.
"I had an album by John Lee Hooker called Live at the Café au Go-Go," recalls Thorogood, "and then I went to see him at the Café au Go-Go. He did 'One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer' in both sets, and I noticed that people were dancing—and the people that were dancing were all women! So I said, 'Wow, this has got a hook!'
"I kinda kept that song at the back of my mind, and then about three years later when I opened for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Brownie McGhee did it, and he did a brilliant version of it. He was playing it on acoustic guitar, with just a harmonica player, and everybody was on the dance floor.
The song was so strong I started playing it immediately. I knew if anything was gonna break, that's the tune."


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A new development team is proposing to restart the long-delayed transformation of Boston's Lovejoy Wharf into a mixed-use complex of residences, offices, stores and a waterfront public park.
The Beal and Related Cos. are planning to build 100 residences at 131 Beverly St. and offices at 160 North Washington St., according to a filing released Friday by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Both buildings will have restaurants or retail stores at street level.
Converse Inc., of North Andover, is in discussions to move its corporate offices to the property, which is located in the West End between the TD Garden and the bridge to Charlestown. The building at 160 North Washington St. is designed to be occupied by a single tenant with up to 450 workers, according to the city filing.
If approved by the BRA, construction is expected to begin by next summer.
A prior developer, Ajax Partners, had planned to build more than 200 residences on the site, but the $200 million project stalled after neighbors brought suit in 2007. Beal/Related have a deal to buy the property and are seeking to change some of the residences to offices.
The redevelopment, designed by The Architectural Team Inc. of Chelsea, promises to enliven the wharf and create new connections with surrounding open spaces.
Lovejoy's waterfront park will link with Paul Revere Park to the north and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway to the south, completing a string of open spaces stretching from Charlestown to Chinatown.
"This is going to revive the waterfront at its critical connection between the Charles River and Boston Harbor," said Robert O'Brien, executive director of the Downtown North Association. "It will bring a pair of old buildings back to use and enhance the connection between the Greenway and the waterfront."
In a letter to the BRA, the developers pledged to fill the three-quarter-acre park with new amenities, including seasonal markets, retail vendors, seating, dining, performance space, temporary recreational boat docks, and public water transportation facilities.
Constructed in 1909, the now dilapidated wharf has never been open for public use and is now used for surface parking for events at the TD Garden.
The project will extend the city's harborwalk at the edge of the property and result in construction of a two-level pavilion building connecting the wharf to North Washington Street. That building will have a public terrace overlooking the waterfront and the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge.
The 131 Beverly St. building will be demolished to make way for a 14-story glass residential building with about 100 units.
The 160 North Washington St. structure, known as the Hoffman Building, will be rehabilitated into an office complex with retail shops on the ground floor. The property will also get a 250-foot floating dock.
Casey Ross can be reached at email@example.com.


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One of the most disappointing features of the NZX is the lack of attention given to small companies.
Their annual meetings used to attract the media, stockbrokers, investment analysts and sharemarket traders and investors. Today, these meetings are sparsely attended with no sign of the media, stockbrokers and only the occasional portfolio manager or analyst.
The computer screen and stock exchange releases have replaced face to face contact as the main sources of investment information.
This is unfortunate because there have been several interesting small company meetings over the past 10 days.
Smartpay, formerly known as Damba Holdings and then Cube Capital, held its annual meeting on September 20 at The Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna. About 30 shareholders turned up to hear newly appointed chairman Ivan Hammerschlag and chief executive Bradley Gerdis outline their plans for the company.
In 2006, Cube Capital acquired Smartpay – a distributor of prepaid electronic vouchers and card products – and changed its name.
In 2009 it bought the payment division of the former NZX listed ProvencoCadmus from receivers.
The acquisition was a failure, mainly because of the high funding cost of its eftpos terminals.
Bradley Gerdis is a young South African-born Australian who arrived on the scene this year. He has managed to raise $20 million of new debt on much more favourable terms than previous borrowings, and $13 million of new equity.
Gerdis and Hammerschlag are no-nonsense individuals who believe the eftpos terminal provider has good prospects in Australia. Hammerschlag wouldn't engage with shareholders who complained about the company's past performance, and he cut off fellow director John Nimmo when he tried to talk about past mistakes.
Smartpay is now firmly under the control of the two Australians and they want it to list on the ASX before Christmas.
The company will probably move from New Zealand if Gerdis can take advantage of the opportunities he sees across the Tasman.
However, technology in the payments sector is changing rapidly – including the ability to make payments directly from mobile phones – and this is a challenge to Smartpay's traditional eftpos operations.
The following afternoon Sealegs, formerly known as Iddison Group Vietnam and IT Capital, was scheduled to hold its annual meeting at the company's factory in Albany.
Something was clearly wrong when we arrived, because a stern looking Computershare employee was refusing entry to anyone who wasn't a shareholder.
The meeting started late and chairman Eric Series quickly explained that it would be postponed because of a legal challenge from an anonymous shareholder.
Under Listing Rule 3.3.5, all NZX companies must give 10 business days' notice of the closing date for director nominations.
Sealegs lodged this notice with the NZX on September 3 with a September 6 closing date. This was clearly in breach of the 10-day requirement.
The shareholder did not lodge the complaint until the morning of the meeting, indicating substantial discontent within the company particularly as there is a strong possibility that the legal challenge was initiated by an insider.
Sealegs' directors and executives looked on glumly as Series gave an informal address to the small number of shareholders present.
It was patently clear that the board had an acrimonious meeting earlier that day as the chairman made several references to a difference of opinion between him and some of the company's executives.
Series, an urbane Frenchman from Neuilly, southwest of Paris, is passionate about rugby. That is one of the main reasons he invested in New Zealand, and why the All Blacks endorse Sealegs' products.
He owns 49.5 million shares, or 39.9 per cent of the boat builder, most of them bought at 20c.
Series' disjointed address showed clearly that he has realised it is extremely difficult to run a successful manufacturing operation from New Zealand.
He said the company would now focus on the commercial, rather than the leisure, market and it would appoint other companies to manufacture its boats under licence.
The meeting was a shambles as many shareholders found it difficult to hear Series because there were no microphones. Shareholders should turn up for the reconstituted annual meeting later this year, particularly as the results for the six months to September should be available then.
The Ecoya meeting this week was a complete contrast to Sealegs. The conservative Northern Club was positively hip as the scent of candles floated through the air, young girls helped shareholders to their elegant linen-covered tables and directors Rob Fyfe and Grant Baker wore smart suits and ties.
Director Rich Frank had just flown in from his home in Beverly Hills and commented that he had to miss the Emmy Awards to attend the Ecoya meeting.
Chairman Geoff Ross gave his usual polished performance. He said the company had excellent prospects and the Trilogy skin care products now generated more sales than the traditional Ecoya candles.
He told shareholders that revenue for the six months to September was expected to be up 16 per cent from the same period in the previous year.
Full year sales were expected to be $26.6 million, an increase of 18 per cent over the previous year, and operating earnings would be above breakeven for the full year.
Ross also said the company would be looking to acquire an additional business in the next 12 months and this would be partly funded by raising new equity.
The following day, Jasons Travel Media held its annual meeting at the company's modest head office in Newmarket.
Jasons is an honest and hard-working company with an extremely low sharemarket value. It has dropped off the radar since Steven Joyce departed.
Joyce, now a National Government Cabinet minister, played a major role at the company between 2005 and 2009.
Jasons' problem is the two words in its name – travel and media. Both industries are depressed and extremely competitive and Jasons' earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) have fallen for four consecutive years with directors forecasting a further decline in the year to next March.
But John Sandford, who is the company's largest shareholder, has just been appointed chairman, and CEO Kevin Francis has completed only one year in that position.
Sandford, Francis, new director Jamie Hall and two senior executives spent a great deal of time explaining the strategies the company had adopted to cope with the depressed environment, and all expressed confidence in the company's future.
The unfortunate feature of the Jasons' meeting – and those of most small listed companies – is that so few shareholders bother to attend. There were no more than 10 or 12 non-staff shareholders at Jasons' meeting, and no media, brokers or broker analysts in attendance.
These small companies often turn out to be the NZX's best achievers.
But listed companies also have a responsibility to promote themselves to the investing public.
The Sealegs debacle demonstrates that the company does not understand the NZX rules and wanted to exclude some non-shareholding analysts from its meeting.
Jasons Travel Media didn't lodge its notice of meeting with the NZX, nor did it post the meeting notice on its website.
Ecoya is the only one of the four companies to actively promote itself to the investment public and, as a result, it had several media and investment people at Tuesday's meeting.
The simple lesson from this story is that it will be difficult to convince investors that your company is first class in promoting itself to customers if your communications with shareholders and potential investors is deficient.
Small companies – Mostly flying below the radar
Jasons Travel Media
Share price
Market value
Revenue ($000)
Net profit ($000)
Geoff Ross
John Sandford
Eric Series
Ivan Hammerschlag
Stephen Sinclair
Kevin Francis
David Glen
Bradley Gerdis
Disclosure of interest: Brian Gaynor is an executive director of Milford Asset Management, which holds Ecoya and Sealegs shares on behalf of clients.


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Patients with diabetes face daily challenges in managing their blood glucose levels, and it has been postulated that patients could benefit from a system providing continuous real-time glucose readings. The Endocrine Society has recently released a clinical practice guideline (CPG) providing recommendations on settings where patients are most likely to benefit from continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).
The most common way to self-check blood glucose levels is to prick the skin to get a drop of blood, put the blood on a test strip, and insert it in a glucose meter. CGM, though, measures glucose in the interstitial fluid -- the fluid between body cells just under the skin. People with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes use the results of blood glucose tests to make decisions about food, medicines and exercise.
"There are some caveats to consider before accepting continuous monitoring of glucose as a routine measure to improve glycemic control in diabetes," said David Klonoff, MD, of Mills-Peninsula Health Services in San Mateo, California and chair of the task force that authored the CPG. "There are still concerns about the high costs of CGM and the accuracy of the various systems available. However, the new CPG shows that CGM can be a beneficial tool to help maintain target levels of glycemia and limit the risk of hypoglycemia."
Recommendations from The Endocrine Society's CPG include:
Story Source:
Materials provided by The Endocrine Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:


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A small charity-run medical center in this northern Lebanese city is quietly providing healthcare to a rising number of Syrians, civilians and combatants alike, who have been wounded in the nine-month confrontation against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Many of those recovering in here are from Qusayr, a town of some 44,000 residents lying five miles north of Lebanon and close to the flashpoint city of Homs. Their accounts paint a grim portrait of a town under siege by Syrian security forces with no electricity, no telephone communications, and dwindling food supplies — illustrating the perils that many Syrians face as the Assad regime cracks down on an increasingly violent uprising.
Abu Ahmad, an engineer's assistant, was hit in both legs by machine gun bullets when leaving a mosque after prayers to join in a demonstration.
"They shot at us as we coming out of the mosque. I was hit by three bullets in the legs," the thickly bearded man says, lying in his hospital bed. "We were only asking for our freedom, but they consider us terrorists."
Bystanders attempted to give him medical assistance but he had to wait for four hours until it grew dark before he could risk the journey to the Lebanese border. The bullets had shattered a knee cap and a bone.
"They gave me painkillers and wrapped me in a blanket and placed me the back of a truck. We moved from village to village in the darkness and then crossed the border where the Red Cross was waiting for me," he says.
Safety concerns even in Lebanon
A floor of the Tripoli hospital has been turned over to Syrian casualties who are forced to undertake the hazardous journey across the border with Lebanon that is patrolled by army troops and laced with land mines.
"We are receiving a lot of people. The rate of casualties is increasing," says Abu Bashir, a volunteer who helps coordinate the treatment of casualties and, like others interviewed for this article, used a pseudonym due to the sensitive nature of the center's work.
Indeed, the refugees are not guaranteed safety even once they cross the border.
Syria exerts a pervasive influence in Lebanon through a network of Damascus-backed allies and a sympathetic government in Beirut. Several Syrians have been abducted in Lebanon since the uprising began in mid-March, and anti-Assad regime activists are forced to live in hiding, moving from one safe house to another.
Some 5,000 Syrian refugees are scattered across northern Lebanon, many forced to rent accommodation or stay with friends and relatives given the lack of assistance from the Lebanese state. Turkey, in contrast, has established a number of camps along its southern border with Syria — where as many as 12,000 Syrian refugees have crossed — and is catering to the needs of those remaining in the country.
Escaping Syrian soldiers
Most of the casualties being treated at the medical center are from Syrian towns and villages which, like Qusayr, lie close to the Lebanon-Syria border.
Fawzi, a young ironsmith from Tel Kalakh, two miles north of Lebanon, was shot in both arms two months ago by Syrian security forces who burst into his home after he had returned from an anti-regime protest.
"They pushed their way in past my mother, told me to raise my arms in the air and one of them fired four bullets from his rifle into my arms. After I fell to the ground, they stomped me with their boots," he says.
Faisal, a thin wide-eyed 24-year-old from Qusayr, recalls an incident in November when he and several of his friends were trying to escape Syrian soldiers who were conducting house-to-house searches.
"We ran away from the houses and hid in some trees," he says. "I fell asleep after a while but when I woke up I saw soldiers very close to me," he says. "They shot at us and a tank fired a shell at us. Four of my friends were killed in the explosion and I survived only because I was crawling on the ground."
One of his friends attempted to hide again from the soldiers but his location was betrayed by the ringing of the friend's cell phone.
"The soldiers found him and shot him dead," Faisal says.
Although Faisal escaped unharmed, he was shot in the arm days later when taking part in a protest.
Army defectors also take refuge
But it's not just protesters who fill the Tripoli hospital floor.
Among the refugees sitting around a small smoke-filled room crammed with bunk beds are Syrian Army defectors who joined the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA). One defector serving with the Free Syrian Army in Qusayr was shot 14 times in the chest and stomach by regular soldiers.
"I made a mistake of having my rifle slung over my shoulder so I could not shoot quickly enough," he says, displaying some of the pockmarked wounds across his chest and stomach. "But my friend shot and killed all three of them," he says.
Hassan, originally from Homs, says he served in one of the Syrian army's elite commando units before defecting with another soldier five months ago. He made his way to Qusayr where he joined up with a FSA unit and engaged in clashes with security forces. One afternoon in mid November, Syrian troops opened fire against demonstrators in Qusayr.
"When I heard the people yelling 'God is Greater,' I forgot all my training. Instinct kicked in and I was filled with rage and a desire to fight and protect them," he says.
Hassan and his comrades flanked the soldiers and took cover behind a barricade of sand some 400 yards away.
"We cannot get too close because they have tanks and anti-aircraft guns which they use against us. When we open fire, we move to another spot quickly before they can shoot back," says Hassan, who has grown a thick beard and wears a bandana around his head with the Arabic inscription, "There is no God but God and Mohammed is his Prophet."
After the initial clash, Hassan says he was running to a new position when he was hit in the legs by a burst of machine gun fire.
"I fell to the ground and a friend tried to pull me up but he was shot in the arm," he says.
Wounded Syrians 'treated as terrorists' inside the country
Hassan and the other wounded refugees in the Tripoli medical center are the fortunate ones who were able to escape to Lebanon. Most injured Syrians have no choice but to stay in Syria and run the risk of arrest or worse if they admit themselves to hospitals or try to recuperate at home.
"We ask the international community to help protect the hospitals in the Homs area because they have been turned into military compounds," says Abu Ahmad. "If a wounded man comes to hospital, they kill him at the front door. Even people who go for normal treatment are treated as terrorists."
Even in Lebanon, the main government-run hospital in Tripoli only accepts critical cases from Syria and only if they are delivered by a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance, according to doctors at the medical center.
"They operate on them and then they are sent to us for recuperation," says the chief doctor at the center.
Political pressure on hospital
The authorities at the medical center say they expect to receive many more casualties from Syria in the coming days and weeks and have drawn up plans to construct temporary extra accommodation on the roof of the building to house them.
But they worry that the Lebanese authorities could place pressure on the hospital management to stop receiving Syrian casualties. The chief doctor said that Lebanese military intelligence had wanted to establish an office in the center to take the name of all those Syrians admitted for treatment.
"The owner refused and told them that this was a humanitarian institution," the doctor says. But he is pessimistic about how much longer the center can hold out.
"Lebanon is not a safe place, and we have no political cover," he says.


text: Upon the official release of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities Revision 4 (ISIC Rev. 4) by the United Nations Statistics Division in August 2008, the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 2.0 (HSIC V2.0), which adopts the basic framework and principles of the ISIC Rev. 4 and reflects the structural shift in the economy of Hong Kong and emerging local economic activities, was released on 31.10.2008. The feature article describes the development and implementation of Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 2.0 (HSIC V2.0), with particular highlights on the changes from the HSIC V1.1 to HSIC V2.0, namely, changes in structure of classification scheme, changes for enhancing international comparability, and changes initiated by Hong Kong to better meet the requirements of local users.


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Volunteer opportunities in National Capital Region, Ontario, Canada
Join the Citizens' Climate Lobby National Capital Region Chapter
Citizens' Climate Lobby Canada is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization empowering people to experience breakthroughs exercising their personal and political power. Our chapter is just one of dozens of chapters in Canada working to create the political will for a livable world.
Using a proven methodology and broadly supported evidence, we are laser-focused on protecting and improving Canada's national backstop policy: the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.
This policy will drastically reduce emissions, create jobs, and support small businesses and families — all without growing government.
We've seen firsthand how passionate citizens who are well-trained, organized by ridings, and with a good system of support can more than influence the political process.
Please explore the Canadian CCL website to find out more about us and the incredible work the Canadian division of CCL has been doing since September 2010.
Join the National Capital Region chapter


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Energy-Sucking Ariel Way Grow House Typical Of New Trend – July 25, 2012
Kevin L. Hoover
Eye Editor
WINDSONG – Even as Arcata moves to put a measure that would tax electricity-guzzling grow houses on the ballot, Arcata police continue to unplug them from the groaning grid.
APD officers served a search warrant at 2268 Ariel Way in the Windsong subdivision Wednesday morning, July 25. There, police say, officers located an indoor marijuana growing operation. The grow consisted of nearly 800 growing marijuana plants utilizing 10 1,000 watt grow lights.
APD said the home was consuming nearly 5,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month – nearly 1,000 percent above the 500 kilowatt hours used by an average California home.
About 10 pounds of processed marijuana and one pound of concentrated cannabis were also found in the home.
Kathleen Marie Richardson, 32, of Arcata, was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Jail on the following charges:
• 11358 Health & Safety (H&S) – Cultivation of Marijuana
• 11359 H&S – Possession of Marijuana for Sale
• 11366.5 H&S – Maintaining a Residence for Manufacture
• 11357(a) H&S- Possession of Concentrated Cannabis
As is usually the case after discovery of a residential house transformed into a commercial cannabis-growing and manufacturing operation, City of Arcata building inspectors found numerous building code violations which necessitated immediate disconnection of electrical service. Arcata Fire Protection District Investigators also responded to the scene to assess potential fire hazards.
2268 Ariel Way is owned by Ronald and Diana Erickson of San Francisco.
Det. Sgt. Todd Dokkweiler said that the bust is typical of an emerging trend, in which cannabis arrests in the midwest yield information leading back to local cannabis operations.
The information that led to last week's arrest was developed from a cannabis-transportation arrest in Nebraska several months ago, Dokkweiler said. Other recent Arcata-area arrests trace back to drug interdiction in Utah and Nevada.
The dynamics of the cannabis market are driving the trend, Dokkweiler said. With the local market glutted and prices dropping, more growers are compelled to move their goods out of state.
Law enforcement officials along central transportation corridors are well aware of the drug traffic. Special police entities, such as Illinois' State's Attorney's Felony Enforcement unit – known as "SAFE" – have been set up to target transporters.
Any investigative leads that result from the interdiction arrests are pipelined back to local agencies for further development. In this case, Dokkweiler said. it was months "by the time we got to that house on the list."
APD's lengthy list of possible grow houses continues to be compiled from multiple sources, Dokkweiler said, including the usual dog walkers and neighbors.
If you suspect illegal drug activity in your neighborhood, please contact the Arcata Police Department at (707) 822-2428 or leave a tip on the Arcata Police Department's Crime Tip Line at (707) 825-2587.
Juice-use tax
On July, 11, the City Council voted to adopt Resolution 112-52, placing the Excessive Residential Electricity Use Tax Measure on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The measure would place a 45 percent tax on residences that use three times as much electricity as average households.
According to a City staff report, Arcata has 9,500 residential electricity customers, and 633 households exceed 600 percent of baseline use.
This use – believed attributable to illegal residential cannabis cultivation – consumed a whopping 6.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity. between 2000 and 2006, Arcata's electricity use increased 24 percent while statewide, consumption remained more or less constant.
The City's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan is striving to reduce to 20 percent of year 2000-level emissions by the year 2020.
Should it pass, the tax could net more than $1 million per year in tax revenue, though that figure is expected to decline because of the tax disincentive for excessive electricity use.
That disincentive, plus helping to achieve the greenhouse gas goals and helping "align the City of Arcata with emerging California energy policy," are the stated goals of the tax.
PG&E estimates that it would cost $650,000 to implement the tax.
City of Arcata
Officers from the Arcata Police Department served a search warrant at a residence in the 2200 block of Ariel Way on Wednesday morning.
The home was consuming nearly 5,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, which is nearly 1,000 percent above the 500 kilowatt hours used by an average California home.
11358 Health & Safety (H&S)- Cultivation of Marijuana
11359 H&S- Possession of Marijuana for Sale
11357(a) H&S- Possession of Concentrated Cannabis
If you suspect illegal drug activity in your neighborhood, please contact the Arcata Police Department at (707) 822-2428 or leave a tip on the Arcata Police Department's Crime Tip Line at (707)825-2587.


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Beef and Irish Stout Stew
Beef and Irish Stout Stew
- 2 pounds lean beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 3 tablespoons LUV Flavors Black Pepper Infused Olive Oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cups Irish stout beer (such as Guinness®)
- 2 cups chopped carrot
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Step 1:
Toss the beef cubes with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Dredge the beef in this to coat.
Step 2:
Heat the remaining olive oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium- high heat. Add the beef, and brown on all sides. Add the onions, and garlic. Stir the tomato paste into a small amount of water to dilute; pour into the pan and stir to blend. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
Step 3:
Pour 1/2 cup of the beer into the pan, and as it begins to boil, scrape any bits of food from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. This adds a lot of flavor to the broth. Pour in the rest of the beer, and add the carrots and thyme. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.


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Conectează-te ca să te putem notifica când primești un răspuns
The TomTom GO LIVE Top Gear edition satnav! Featuring the voice of Jeremy Clarkson, plus a heap of Top Gear bonus goodies, this special edition satnav is the ultimate traffic- vanquishing weapon for the discerning driverist. With speed camera warnings, information via Local Search with Google™, weather reports and more, it'll spirit you onto gloriously empty roads when all about you are stuck in jams. With the calming presence of Jeremy Clarkson himself by your side, what could possibly go wrong?
Nu au fost găsite recenzii


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A Skilled Dentist Who Offers Compassionate Care
Welcome to Lake View Dental Associates, the practice of dentist Scott Emalfarb. Our Chicago practice offers a complete range of cosmetic, general, and restorative dentistry services. Some services that we offer are dental implants, orthodontics (Invisalign and braces), veneers, and more! At the heart of our philosophy is a total commitment to quality care and patient satisfaction. We are passionate about finding and using the best technology in every area of our practice, from fillings to teeth whitening to X-rays. We take great satisfaction in helping you maintain optimal oral health, and we always stand behind our work. Contact us to schedule an appointment with Dr. Emalfarb.
A History of Excellence
Our dental practice has been serving local residents for more than 20 years. Dr. Emalfarb is a lifelong Chicagoan who enjoys helping patients achieve and maintain a healthy mouth and beautiful smile. His experience in comprehensive and preventative care is coupled with skillful aesthetic work and a genuine concern for patients. Our entire team of talented dental professionals is trained and certified to provide outstanding care to every one of our unique patients.
Comfort and Convenience
Our staff is professional, yet we treat patients as an extension of our own families. We strive to make every one of your visits as easy and as comfortable as possible. For this reason, we offer patient amenities, such as:
- Complimentary Wi-Fi in the waiting room
- Complimentary nitrous oxide sedation
- TV in every treatment room
- Choice of music type
- Digital X-Rays
- Neck pillows and shaded glasses
We even offer early-bird hours beginning at 7:15 AM, so you can be out the door by 8:00 AM and get to work on time. Our Lake View location is within walking distance of Wrigley field and easily accessible to all patients via CTA. We are right off the Belmont L stop, and there is also ample street parking.
Contact Lake View Dental Today
If you are looking for exceptional dental care from a friendly staff in an office that is warm, welcoming, and employs the latest practices and technology, please contact us to schedule an appointment. We offer CareCredit℠ a convenient financing option that helps place the care you need within your budget. Our goal is to give you a positive dental experience along with superb results that will make you want to smile!


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"well i for one hate our new robot overlor... he's right behind me isnt he."Saintsman
Disney Finally feels the effects of the bad economySairin
Incredibly enough, the biggest embarrassment here is the douchebag wearing loafers with shorts.Plan B
And yet, it's not the weirdest wedding I ever attended. . .queenarcoleptia
Ralph Nader supporters were sadly disappointed yesterday...levortical
Leaked!!!: First Pictures from the Set of Transformer's 2Riggz309
"Hi, we'd like to tell you about Scientology"CaptainCarl
Obama supporters eagerly await his victory speechrasputin
I present to you Hope and Change!AwakeAllTheTime
Voting machines in Florida were extra intimidating this year.getittwistd
The first Terminator traveled to the past looking for Sarah PALIN, and was surprised at how many people in San Francisco wanted to help it.CavalierX
I, for one, welcome our new tin-foil overlords.CavalierX
I would not eat them with a fox. I would not eat them in a box. I would not eat them here nor there. I would not eat them anywhere.MindPez
Robobama is not amused.TheyCallMeTim
It was only the day after the election, Obama and Biden revealed their true forms.TTizzle


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Juan Uribe pulled on his shirt, broke into a grin and said, "Hallelujah!"
Uribe snapped out of a long slump with a homer and four RBIs, Chris Capuano pitched seven solid innings against his former team and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the staggering New York Mets 8-5 on Saturday.
"It was really great to see him get a couple of big hits tonight, especially that big one in the ninth," Capuano said.
Uribe hit an early two-run double to end a 1-for-38 slide. He added a two-run homer in the ninth inning off 13-game winner R.A. Dickey, making his first relief appearance since April 2011 to help an overtaxed Mets bullpen.
Matt Treanor also stopped a slump with a run-scoring hit and the Dodgers won their third straight following a 1-7 skid. Matt Kemp had an RBI triple and Capuano (10-5) struck out nine for his first victory in seven career starts against the Mets.
"Pretty much the same Cap. He just kind of keeps going," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "That's pretty much what we've been getting every time out."
Los Angeles chased 41-year-old spot starter Miguel Batista (1-3) after three innings, getting into baseball's worst bullpen early for the second consecutive game. Both times, the Dodgers built a comfortable cushion and held on at the end.
Ronny Cedeno homered for the Mets (47-47), who have lost eight of nine to fall back to .500 for the first time since they were 13-13 after play on May 4. Before the game, they put struggling ace Johan Santana on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right ankle, a move also meant to recharge his surgically repaired left shoulder.
"My shoulder is fine. I don't have any problems with it," Santana said. "I feel fine. It's just that you've got to (have) time to recover."
Capuano went 11-12 with a 4.55 ERA for New York last season, proving he was healthy enough to warrant a $10 million, two-year contract from the Dodgers. He came in 0-5 with a 5.86 ERA against the Mets, but held them to three runs on eight hits and a walk.
"I just had a great experience here last year, and I love the ballpark," Capuano said. "I've really enjoyed coming back."
Pinch-hitter Daniel Murphy delivered an RBI triple in the eighth off Ronald Belisario and scored on a groundout by pinch-hitter Kirk Nieuwenhuis to cut New York's deficit to 6-5.
James Loney singled with two outs in the ninth off Dickey, and Uribe drove a knuckleball to left for his second home run this season. He came off the disabled list June 11 after missing 28 games with a strained left wrist.
"Lucky today," Uribe said about his home run. "I feel good when I help my team win the game."
Dickey threw 111 pitches over 7 1-3 innings Thursday in Washington to improve to 13-1. Mets manager Terry Collins said Friday night he might use Dickey in relief late Saturday, his regular throw day between starts.
"I salute him for going in there. It's certainly something he's not used to doing, but that's the kind of guy he is — if you need me, I'll be there for you," Collins said.
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen walked two in the ninth before striking out Scott Hairston for his 18th save.
Batista, who pitched in relief Wednesday, took Dillon Gee's turn and made his fifth start of the season. Gee had surgery last week to patch an artery in his pitching shoulder after a blood clot had formed there.
Working from the stretch even with the bases empty, Batista walked three batters in the first inning and gave up an RBI single to Loney. cm-bd
Uribe, who began the day batting .186, hit a two-run double to right on a 1-2 pitch with two outs in the third. He also walked twice, and scored three runs for the first time since May 29, 2010.
"It was a big day for him and for us, obviously," Mattingly said. "It's just nice for him to feel like he's a part of it."
Luis Cruz added a run-scoring single to make it 4-0.
Batista was pulled for a pinch-hitter after throwing 81 pitches through three innings.
"It's hard when you haven't started a game in 61 days," he said.
It marked the second consecutive game in which the Mets' starter never even came to bat. Santana was yanked after three innings and 72 pitches Friday night. He allowed six runs and seven hits in a 7-6 loss, dropping to 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA in his past three outings — the worst stretch of his career.
"We've got to start getting some length out of our starters," Collins said.
Treanor snapped an 0-for-23 drought with a two-out RBI double in the fifth off Jeremy Hefner that extended the lead to 6-2.
NOTES: Treanor started behind the plate for the second consecutive game. Dodgers C A.J. Ellis had an MRI that revealed only inflammation in his left knee. Mattingly said Ellis will play Sunday in the series finale if he's cleared by the doctor. … RHP Chad Billingsley (elbow) felt fine after Friday's bullpen session and is on track to start Monday night in St. Louis. … Los Angeles welcomed 96-year-old Mike Sandlock to the game. The oldest living Dodger (as well as Brave, Pirate and Phillie), Sandlock was a catcher for Brooklyn in 1945 and '46. He was given a Brooklyn Dodgers cap by Mattingly. … The Mets are 4-11 in July. … Hefner was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo before the game. … New York will recall RHP Elvin Ramirez from Buffalo on Sunday.


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Cost of living in Krakow, Poland
Costs of living in Kraków are in the least expensive 20 percent of all 248 Teleport cities. Moving to Kraków will very likely decrease your daily costs of living. Sign up for free to get access to our cost of living index and use our international cost of living calculator to do cost comparison by city.


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Ancora Foundation Graduate Fellowship at Stanford Graduate School of Business
One scholarship is offered each year for enrollment in the Stanford Sloan Master's Program, a 10 ½ month, full-time program leading to the degree of Master of Science in Management.
One of three degree programs at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Stanford Sloan Program provides an ideal learning environment for successful mid-career executives who are preparing for greater levels of leadership and responsibility within their organizations, or who may be choosing a new career path. Stanford Sloan Fellows come from over 20 different countries, sharing personal and professional insights based on their years of significant work experience (minimum of 8). The small class size coupled with the collaborative nature of the Program creates a wonderful dynamic of shared learning. Furthermore, the Business School takes advantage of interdisciplinary collaboration among Stanford's seven schools to fuel discussion of innovative solutions to pressing business and global issues.
Selection Criteria
Applicants should have (a) a confirmed acceptance at the Stanford Sloan Master's Program; (b) an excellent academic record with a first degree equivalent to a good Second Class (Upper) Honors or higher or a GPA of at least 3.5; (c) a very good command of the English Language including a TOEFL (100 minimum on iBT); (d) GMAT score (no minimum score required, but careful preparation is highly recommended); (e) at least eight years of full-time work experience, including five years as a manager; and (e) assessed to have outstanding potential for leadership in government, business, or civil society after graduation.
Applications will be reviewed beginning mid-January, and decisions will be mailed within four weeks of receipt of your application. For the 2012 intake, the application deadline is December 15, 2011. More information about the Stanford Sloan Program and the application process can be found in the following website: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/sloan/ and http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/sloan/apply/
Terms and Conditions
Each fellowship is tenable for 10 ½ month only for full-time students on the Master of Science in Management program. The successful candidate is expected to complete his/her studies within the tenable period.
Each scholarship will cover the following:
- Tuition and other compulsory fees (as specified by Stanford Graduate School of Business);
- Monthly stipend; and
- Return air-ticket (economy class)
For more information, please visit official website: ancorafoundation.com.
- Ancora Foundation Graduate Fellowship, University of Cambridge, UK
- Postdoctoral Fellowship in Asia Health Policy, Stanford University, USA
- Ancora Foundation Graduate Fellowship, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Stanford Constitutional Law Center's Academic Fellowship, Stanford University, USA
- Ancora Foundation Graduate Fellowship, University of Oxford, UK
- Shorenstein Fellowships in Contemporary Asia, Stanford University, USA
- Ancora Foundation Graduate Fellowship, Harvard University, USA
- Undergraduate Scholarships for Indonesian Students at Malaysian Universities
- Beasiswa Jawa Barat dari Ancora Foundation - Institut Pertanian Bogor
- SU2P Entrepreneurial Fellowships in Photonics, Stanford University, USA


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Mozilla Plans To Ship Firefox 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 & 7.0 By End Of 2011!
Well the breaking news for the day continues! Few of the breaking news have woken up people from their deep-sleep around the world and it is continuing!
Earlier in the day, we got a big shocker from AOL. AOL has acquired Huffington Post and continued to expand. And then sources said, TechCrunch will be renamed to HuffingtonCrunch. What is happening?
And here we get yet another shocker for you guys. Well this time it is from Mozilla.
There were days where browser developers used to take years to develop and release new version. All this got changed when Google said "Use a brand new Chrome for every 6 weeks from now!"
Google has kept its promise and releasing new version of Chrome browser once in every 6 weeks. Recently Google released Chrome 9 with some great features.
Firefox 4, 5, 6 & 7 by end of 2011!
Lets get back to actual post. Mozilla has now joined Google and planning to release Firefox 4, 5, 6 and 7 by the end of 2011. As far as compared to Firefox 4 development, Mozilla is planning to boost up their development cycle and going to accelerate from now.
Recent discussion about Mozilla's plan for 2011 noted following point,
- Ship Firefox 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the 2011 calendar year
- Always respond to a user action within 50 ms
- Never lose user data or state
- Build Web Apps, Identity and Social into the Open Web Platform
- Support new operating systems and hardware
- Polish the user experience for common interaction tasks
- Plan and architect for a future of a common platform on which the desktop and mobile products will be built and run Web Apps
Tech Link: read more.
Product Priorities for 2011
Mozilla has not only set priorities for Firefox browser but also has plans for something more. Mozilla wants to have a web platform with Identity, Social and Apps!
Well the product priorities for 2011 goes like this,
- Ship our new technology to users in smaller bundles, more frequently
- Four technology shipment vehicles in 2011, including Firefox 4
- Achieve a regular cadence for shipping
- Develop a product that is responsive from "click to render"
- No more than 50ms delay between user action and application reaction
- Provide optimizations to hide network latency
- Obtain metrics from users in addition to our test infrastructure
- Expand the Open Web Platform to include Apps, Social and Identity
- Design and implement open systems for Identity and social interactions
- Design and implement Web Application Framework
- Implement missing pieces of CSS/HTML required for compelling Web Applications
- Never lose the user's data or state
- Continue to improve stability
- Mitigate the cost of application failure
- Interact with cloud-based storage to allow users to "take it with them"
- Shine the primary UI until it gleams
- Determine and optimize top 5-10 user interaction flows (ie: search for restaurant)
- Improve tools for customization/restoration of old functionality so we can remove it from primary UI
- Improve user interface polish so that Firefox feels modern, graceful and elegant
- Support modern operating systems and platforms
- Windows 64-bit
- Android 3.0
- ARM CPUs
- Plan for a future where Desktop, Mobile and Web Apps run on a common platform
- Need to design and architect towards this eventual outcome
- Implementation of this is not a priority
Huh! Mozilla has gone a great makeover to come up with this new plans.
Firefox 5 to get Account Manager, Simple Sharing UI, UI Animation, support to 64Bit Windows. Firefox 6.0 will deliver JavaScript optimizations, Web Applications and FasterCache. And Firefox 7.0 is yet to take form, but undoubtedly the project is still contouring.
Well Mozilla is going to push hard towards its plans. If it going to working like Firefox development in 2010, Mozilla will surely hit again and will loose more users to its competitors Chrome, IE and Opera!
Do you think Mozilla will work as planned here? Will they comeback to Browsers war again? Share your thoughts with us 😉


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Ayhan Goek, managing director of Nordex in Turkey, says he expects an additional 800MW to 1GW in wind capacity to be installed in the country this year. This will all come from roughly 9GW in production licenses that is for wind farms already issued by the regulator.
However, without higher incentive prices Goek believes any Turkish wind boom could quickly die out. The country's ambitious 2023 target of 20GW in installed wind capacity would become increasingly difficult to achieve.
Many investors with production licences still need to obtain other permits, stresses Kor Ozay, assistant general manager at Turkish developer Agaoglu Energy Group. "I don't think 2012 will be a great year in terms of new plants going into operation but there will be lots development activity," says Ozay. He expects this activity could push Turkey to around 2.5GW installed capacity, but only in 2013.
A thorny issue for many investors is Turkey's incentive scheme, which comprises a feed-in tariff of US$0.073/kWh for ten years. Given the low incentive price, investors have tended to forego the FIT and sell electricity directly on the market but this is clearly a riskier strategy.
While a higher FIT of up to $0.11/kWh is theoretically available for turbines with local manufacturing content, the local-content law approved in 2010 is seen as excessively rigid. No one has yet managed to be able to receive even the minimum bonus payment.
Flexible legislation
"The wind industry is working to get a more flexible law that would allow companies to import components from other European countries and assemble them here," says Goek, who is also a member of the board of the Turkish wind energy association. A more flexible approach could also make good economic sense for the government. "Turkey will be a big market in the future and there would also be the possibility of exporting to countries in the east," notes Goek.
Complicating matters is the fact that some investors have been paying excessively high production licensing fees for planned wind farms. "Market players want a higher FIT," says Ugur Isik of Res-Anatolia, "but the government says, 'If the FIT is not high enough why are you paying so much for licences?'." Project sponsors believe the government will be forced to adjust the tariff upwards once it becomes clear that numerous licensed projects will never be built because they are economically unfeasible.
Ozay says one important source of activity should be extensions to existing plants, following the publication of a new law facilitating them in early 2011. "The law says you can add as many turbines as you like to existing capacity but that you simply cannot exceed the production output indicated on your license," explains Ozay. "Expanding your capacity by as much as 10-15% is possible and makes sense if there is a site with a lot of space and very good wind potential."
Continuing to play a crucial role in Turkey's development are multilateral finance institutions and export credit agencies (ECAs), which are routinely involved in the country's wind project-financing deals and are particularly critical as the financing environment has worsened. "Local banks have much higher rates and almost no project is financed for more than ten years," says Ozay. "ECAs and multilaterals offer the best financing terms and can finance for up to 15 or even 18 years. They are critical."


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Madison, Illinois…….Bobby Santos from Franklin, Massachusetts took part in an unbelievable race-long battle with Bobby East before becoming a beneficiary of East's problems late in the race, and held on in a final two-lap dash to win Saturday's "Gateway 100" Traxxas Silver Crown race in the series' return to Gateway Motorsports Park.
Santos led three times for twenty laps, but held on over Kody Swanson by just a .040-second margin at the end of the 80 laps around the 1.25-mile oval to capture his first win of the season aboard the Rotondo Weirich – Curb Records #17 Beast/Wallace Toyota.
"I knew I had a good car, but the motor was laying down the second half of the race, and we definitely almost gave it away at the end with it going away. I didn't see (Kody) coming at the end, but I just felt that somebody was gonna be coming and make it close. That was a great race with Bobby (East) up at the front, too. We raced each other really hard and clean. I have a lot of respect for him and his family, and it's nice to race that hard for the lead like that. It means a lot to win here and even get to race here. Places like this are right up my alley," Santos said.
Santos' teammate, Chris Windom, led the field to the green after posting a sizzling lap of 31.082 seconds to set a new Track Record of 144.779 miles per hour. Windom held on to lead the opening lap, but East quickly dove under him into turn-one for the lead. That set off a race full of lead changes and back-and-forth battling at the front of the field.
Brian Tyler moved to the lead on lap ten over East as Windom hung with the lead pack, while Santos hung back in fourth. Tyler led the biggest single chunk of the race, even as East repeatedly looked low on him down the front-stretch. Finally, East cleared him on lap 29 getting into turn-one to take his second turn at the front.
Tyler did not take long to go back to the lead, as he brought Windom into the fray on lap 32. The three raced for the top spot while Santos reeled them back in from nearly a straightaway back. Just after Santos got by Windom for third, East snuck under Tyler coming to complete lap 38.
Just past halfway, Santos disposed of Tyler and set his sights on the lead. Windom came with him, and the duo closed on East as the race neared the 50-lap mark. On lap 51, Santos made his first bid for the lead successful, but East was up for the challenge. Four lead changes between the two ended when East took the lead on lap 68 with a big run into turn-one and pulled away from the field.
Just as Swanson took third from Windom, East started to slow. He came to a stop to bring out the only caution of the race on lap 76. East came to the pits and added fuel, and the race was set up for a green-white-checkered finish. Santos stumbled a bit coming to the green, but Swanson lost a lot of ground down the front-stretch, with Windom moving to second. As the leaders came under the white-flag, Windom and Swanson were hooked up and had a full head of steam reeling in the leaders.
Swanson jumped to the outside of Windom as they rolled into turn-three, looking low off turn-four as the three passed under the checkers all within .177-seconds of each other. For Swanson, it was his first race aboard the DePalma Motorsports-owned Radio Hospital – Hampshire Engines #63 Beast/Hampshire.
"A month ago, this car was in storage, so to come that close…we got beat so bad on the original start and then again at the restart at the end. I know he was having his problems with running out of fuel or the engine going away, and we had our problems too, but I just really wanted that one bad. I was third down the back-stretch and I just wasn't gonna lift to go to the bottom. We had a run on Santos coming off four, and I knew I couldn't go around the outside, and he had just enough to hold us off. We just came up a little short," Swanson said.
Windom's first race aboard a pavement Silver Crown car ended with a podium after setting a blistering track record and racing amongst the top-four the entire race in the Rotondo Weirich – Curb Records #7 Beast/Wallace Toyota.
"That was my first pavement Silver Crown race ever, so it's pretty cool to get that record and run so well. I think I wore my tire out a little too much early, and then I couldn't keep up there at the end. I definitely thought we had a shot at the win after we got such a good restart, but we were just too free. With the problems Bobby (Santos) was having, it definitely was getting interested at the end, especially after we caught the draft on Santos, but we were good and I'm happy for our team to run first and third," Windom said.
Early leader Tyler held on for fourth in the Team 6-R – Jet Star #21 Beast/Claxton Toyota, while Jacob Wilson rounded out the top-five in the Wilson Brothers Racing – Jet Star #07 Beast/Toyota.
TRAXXAS USAC SILVER CROWN RACE RESULTS: June 1, 2013 – Madison, Illinois – Gateway Motorsports Park – "Gateway 100"
QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 7, RW/Curb-Agajanian-31.082 (New Track Record); 2. Bobby East, 22, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-31.220; 3. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-31.309; 4. A.J. Fike, 3, RFMS-31.334; 5. Bobby Santos, 17, RW/Curb-Agajanian-31.423; 6. Levi Jones, 10, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-31.512; 7. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-31.638; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 27, RW/Curb-Agajanian-31.797; 9. Jarett Andretti, 4, Andretti-31.846; 10. Brian Tyler, 21, Team 6-R-31.869; 11. Shane Hollingsworth, 20, Nolen-32.018; 12. Zach Daum, 5, Daum-32.302; 13. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-32.481; 14. Tracy Hines, 16, Lightfoot-NT; 15. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-NT; 16. Randy Bateman, 55, Bateman-NT.
FEATURE: (80 laps) 1. Bobby Santos, 2. Kody Swanson, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Brian Tyler, 5. Jacob Wilson, 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 7. Levi Jones, 8. Bobby East, 9. Shane Hollingsworth, 10. A.J. Fike, 11. David Byrne, 12. Zach Daum, 13. Jarett Andretti, 14. Tracy Hines, 15. Aaron Pierce, 16. Randy Bateman. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Windom, Laps 2-9 East, Laps 10-28 Tyler, Laps 29-31 East, Laps 32-37 Tyler, Laps 38-50 East, Laps 51-54 Santos, Laps 55-57 East, Laps 58-67 Santos, Laps 68-74 East, Laps 75-80 Santos.
NEW TRAXXAS SILVER CROWN POINTS: 1-Jones/Coons-102; 3-Hollingsworth-87; 4-Swanson-86; 5-Fike/East-81; 7-Hines-79; 8-Windom/Tyler-78; 10-Pierce-65.
NEXT TRAXXAS SILVER CROWN RACE: June 29 – Fountain, Colorado – Pikes Peak International Raceway


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BYU's Jimmer Fredette hung 47 on Utah last night, three of which came on the shot you see here. If you didn't love watching him already, now you will.
Fredette has become what Stephen Curry was a few years back, what Chris Jackson was a few more years back, what Pete Maravich and Rick Mount were many years back: a basketball folk hero. I'm plagiarizing myself here, but whenever a phenomenon like this arrives on the scene it's more than worth repeating. There are guys like LeBron and Jordan and Wilt who blow the game wide open. And there are guys like Fredette and Curry and Jackson who solve the game as it is, who don't invent new angles so much as master the ones already there, and with a touch of that old carnival-midway spirit. You worship the former. You fall in love with the latter.
Look at what Fredette did last night: 47 points on just 28 shots (6-for-9 from three and 9-for-9 from the line). He scored with that shrug of a jumper of his — he pulls the shot from his ear, like a coin trick — and he scored with those clever little flips around the basket. Maybe he's not yet NBA material, but anyone who calls him unathletic has an impossibly pinched definition of the word. He knows how to create space for himself, and he finishes at the rim extraordinarily well for a guard. If that isn't "athleticism," then I'm Billy Paultz.
I've always been a sucker for players like Fredette, guys who are doing massé and jumps and draw shots while everyone else is shooting straight pool. Cults rise up around them. People get weird. They come by the thousands to see Rick Mount play a high school game in 1965. They run away from home to visit Chris Jackson at LSU. "He makes me so happy," explained the 8-year-old girl. They draw cartoons about Jimmer Fredette. They make movies and write songs, and sometimes — like T.J. Fredette, Jimmer's brother — they do both at once. You've probably seen this. It's terrible. I've watched the the damn thing three times today.
Next year, in all likelihood, Jimmer will be just another player on someone's bench, a guy with a great coin trick and no chance to perform it. Enjoy him now. He'll make you happy.


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=='''Dimension '''==
The Kasei as you know it. Home to all of your friends, family, Pokemon, and most importantly, you!
The Kasei as you know it. Home to all of your friends, family, Pokemon, and most importantly, you!
Revision as of 08:20, 11 May 2018
How Did We Get Here?
How the Prime Palkia designed our dimension may never be truly understood. But thanks to the efforts of Team Lunar , we've slowly pulled been able to pull back the curtain a bit and learn a little about the inner workings of our own dimension, the natures other realities, and the relationship they all share.
Our little tale starts on a not-so-happy note, with the outright discovery that alternate dimensions exist with the arrival of a group whose name would ring in infamy. Some time ago, mysterious portals opened up all over Kasei, and Pokemon, all from some alternate version of the Unova region, began pouring into the region. While very few could tell what or who was causing these vortexes at the time, it would soon come to light in an ominous message from the extra-dimensional group known as Team Glacier , and their enigmatic Field commander, a Kyurem-fusion who called herself Lady Kyra. She came to deliver a stern threat: Team Glacier had become the dominant force in their own reality, and it was their destiny to conquer ours and any others. They then went quiet...
In response to this potential threat, the League went about creating the 4 Teams of Kasei to address Glacier's threat and any other substantial danger to the region, uniting under the banner of Team Pulsar when the Kasei needed it most. To that end, Team Lunar was commissioned to reverse-engineer Glacier's tech in order to develop an early warning system when and if Glacier should return.
This venture brings us to where we find ourselves. In recent months, Team Lunar stumbled across the existence of a new dimension that exists just outside of our spacial divide. It was coined the "Crossroads" because it was believed to serve as a barrier dimension between our reality and Distortion World. After this discovery, the organization began using this secondary dimension for more 'risky' experiments such as the purification of Shadow Pokemon from Team Umbra and studying the affects of extra-dimensional agriculture. We later learned that we had just barely scratched the tip of the iceberg.
During Lunar's test to use the Crossroads dimension as a "slipshot" to launch a craft into low-orbit, the organization's Director accidentally opened a secondary vortex into a completely new dimension, and a mysterious traveler passed through. While the details on this traveler were murky to most, one thing could be certain; he was a scientist who was working on dimensional travel from his own side. It was then that an idea was born...
The traveler, a man by the name of Silva, hailed from a dimension very similar to our own as an envoy from a group called Team Altrios, the very parallel to our Team Lunar. They offered to partner with Team Lunar and share their knowledge with each other. Together, the groups came to learn that both dimensions are just 2 our of the 15 realities accessible within the Cluster, and the Crossroads isn't just a single barrier space, but the 'ocean' in which all 15 'islands' exist. Team Lunar also learned that each of these dimensions is similarly-progressive, meaning that they are nearly identical, save for some major change in history where things diverged. In other words, there is a very good chance that a version of you exists in each of these dimensions. However, mild to major changes are to be expected.
The two groups then decided that they should focus their efforts on mapping the Crossroads as well as exploring these other dimensions. The joint venture would see the construction of Waypoint Zero, a base station and staging area inside the Crossroads itself, where explorers from both our dimension and Altrios' can venture forth into the unknown dimensions in the hope of making new friends and partnerships....
Where will you find yourself? Below is a brief overview of what we know of the Dimensional Cluster. Expect this area to fill with more information as more dimensions are explored and mapped.
Waypoint Zero
A Lunar-Altrios base that is stationed in the Crossroads that serves a staging area and central hub from which explorers can venture to other dimensions.
Dimension 5
The Kasei as you know it. Home to all of your friends, family, Pokemon, and most importantly, you!
Dimension 4
The home of Team Altrios, and our first peaceful extra-dimensional contact. This dimension appears to be nearly identical to our own, containing the same kind people and pokemon. Apparently, they, too, fought off an invasion from Team Glacier. Unlike our 4 teams, only 2 exist in this dimension: Team Altrios, a scientifically-progressive research group that resides in a city in the clouds known as Caelum Doctrina, and Team Gaia, the down-to-earth defense force that works together with Team Altrios to ensure the safety of this world. In this reality, an organization known as Team Lumos attempted to stamp out sadness, anger, and negativity by force. The group's leader, Claris, was ultimately defeated and trapped in stasis some time before Team Altrios discovered dimensional travel.
Dimension 9
In this reality, Teams Aqua and Magma waged lengthy battle for supremacy in the Hoenn region, which resulted in victory for Team Aqua. The group went on to awaken Kyogre using the Blue Orb, and begun increasing the world's oceans. A lone trainer, a champ-in-the-making, attempted to thwart Aqua but was soundly defeated under the open waters south of Mossdeep City. With Kyogre rampaging unchecked and Team Aqua running roughshod across Hoenn, it fell to the heroes of Kasei to save the region and quell the rampaging leviathan.
Dimension 13
The Glacier dimension - Conquered by Team Glacier, a harsh, hostile reality that exists in permanent winter. Presently inaccessible from Waypoint Zero.


text: There are many advantages to shopping at Bonnell Ford, from our friendly, personalized customer service to our state-of-the-art showroom. But the most important thing you'll find at our Ford dealership near Woburn, MA, is, of course, a great selection of new Ford vehicles. We have something to suit each of our customers' lifestyles, from the family that lives in Bedford to the commuter who travels to Medford every day. If you need an SUV with plenty of space for a crowd, the new Ford Explorer and Escape offer plenty of trims to choose from. Those who need an eco-friendly model for long drives through Massachusetts will love the efficient Ford Fusion and Focus cars. And if you need a truck that works just as hard as you do, the new Ford F-150 can't be beat. Stop by today to see our expansive inventory of new Ford models!


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LONDON (AFP) - A former star of the British soap EastEnders was beaten to death and dismembered by her brother after they argued over an overflowing sink, a court heard on Monday as the murder trial opened.
Tony McCluskie, 35, denies murder but has admitted the manslaughter of his sister Gemma, whose headless and limbless torso was found in a London canal last March.
Tony McCluskie had left the bathroom taps on at the east London flat they shared and his 29-year-old sister had driven home to tell him this was the "last straw" and he had to move out, London's Old Bailey court heard.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett said McCluskie had killed his sister after the argument on March 1, cut up her body and dumped it in the Regent's Canal in east London.
The severed head of the actress, who played Kerry Skinner in the BBC soap in 2001, was not discovered until September.
McCluskie claims he "blanked out" after arguing with his sister and has no recollection of killing her, the jury heard.
"He does not remember killing her, nor can he recall cutting her up, nor does he remember dumping her body in the canal," Mr Aylett told the court.
A pathologist found bruises on the actress's severed arms and legs as well as cuts indicating that she had been struck on the head at least twice with a blunt instrument.
"For some time, there had been tension between Miss McCluskie and her brother," Mr Aylett said.
"This was largely as a result of the defendant's habitual use of cannabis."
McCluskie had led the police on a "wild goose chase" after killing his sister, reporting her missing and telling detectives she had been seen several times since her disappearance, the court heard.
"He did everything he could to put himself beyond suspicion," Mr Aylett said.
But investigators found blood in his bathroom and car boot and a blood-stained knife in the kitchen.
"No doubt he did it in the heat of the moment, no doubt he soon came to regret what he had done," Mr Aylett said.
The trial continues.


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SendGrid and Twilio Team Up to Provide Enterprise Messaging PlatformSendGrid Team
We are excited to announce that we have teamed with Twilio, the leader in cloud telecommunication tools, to provide our enterprise customers with a complete messaging platform. Now our enterprise customers will be able to send SMS, voicemails, and push notifications as well as transactional and marketing emails.
This is certainly not the first time we have worked closely with Twilio. Together we have sponsored countless hackdays and organized over a dozen API HackDays along with Mashery and Spotify over the past two years. Recently, we teamed with them to sponsor the "Doer Express" to help developers in the New York City area travel to Montreal's Startup Festival.
We are confident that Twilio shares our dedication to make the lives of developers easier. Our goal in working together is to give developers highly customizable and robust APIs for all of the essential cloud messaging services that their company demands. The new messaging platform is a big step forward in SendGrid and Twilio's quest to help developers save time through easy integration and reduce costs so they can turn their focus back to building great companies and applications.


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Posted at 06:18 PM in family & friends, projects, this day | Permalink | Comments (0)
Spring comes more slowly, more subtly to the High Desert. It's here, but you must know its signs to recognize its arrival. While the valley is awash in bulbs and leaves and wet, here there are tight buds of leaves, tender shoots of perennials, green blades of grass.
Inside the house, however, Spring arrives with energy and heralds the return of warmer weather and long, lazy days. Daffodils - 30 stems for less than $4! - grace my table. It's far too early to plant outside - we anticipate frost for a few more months - but a few transplants and seedlings, gently cared for under a grow light, promise more dirty hands in the months to come.
All winter I've been saving my fiber trimmings: tiny bits of thread, colorful scraps from the boys' art projects, the delicate ends from my crochet. I found the idea somewhere on Pinterest (of course!) and had to try. After the Vernal Equinox, I filled an empty suet container with the vibrant bits, hoping that the local birds would use them to build cozy, colorful nests. E saw a length of yarn was hanging out of our bird house for a few days. Too bad: I missed it; though the knowledge filled me with a small sense of triumph. However, I did see a small songbird stealing fluffy chicken feathers shed by our flock from the the coop - a cozy bit of down for her nest, and a highlight in my day.
And: the egg. (Though these white ones for Easter - organic, to be sure! - came from the store.) With longer, warmer days, we have been grateful for an abundance of eggs. A symbol of renewal, rebirth, and beginnings.
Slowly, we awake from our winter slumber. The old growth from last year is cleared away to provide sunlight for the new life pushing up, with determination and hope, towards the sunshine.
Posted at 12:11 PM in family & friends, home | Permalink | Comments (2)
Our kitchen is tiny. Barely any counter space, and little room to move around. Loading the dishwasher and getting ice for coctails are unfortunately mutually exclusive activities. It's what my Auntie Colleen would call at "two bun" kitchen.
Even so, both my boys love to help me make dinner in the kitchen. My first grader has enough experience to chop vegetables with a paring knife and fry his own egg for breakfast. My preschooler spins the salad, peels the garlic, grinds the spices, and recently made the coconut brown rice (almost) all by himself.
I'm sure there are many articles out there about the benefits kids get from helping in the kitchen. The boosts to self-esteem, the improved eating habits, the attachment to family. The fact that one day they may cook dinner for me. Whatever. What I really love is witnessing the discovery. Exploring the best way to juice a lime, tasting the coconut milk, sniffing the curry powder, wondering if an extra pinch of salt would help. Then, there's the satisfaction and pride when they sit down to eat. They love to be recognized and praised for their contribution to our evening meal and accept each compliment with a smile.
The togetherness is worth every sticky spot on the floor and extra step or stumble around a chair pushed against the counters. There's a lot of kisses and I love you's in the kitchen just before dinner. So, yes, you can help me make dinner. Anytime, sweetheart.
Posted at 11:23 AM in kitchen | Permalink | Comments (1)
I created, organized, and decorated my studio with the intention of fashioning a creative haven for myself. A place of creativity, inspiration, and prolific making. At the time, I envisioned a place for me to be solitary in my creativity, though I did add a chair and a small desk for visitors. Truth be told, I spend more time in this space with company than I do alone.
On my favorite chilly winter days, the boys and I find ourselves secluded there together. Mama, can we make something in your studio? We sort through pipe cleaners and a stack of gold paper I've had for 20 years, play with copious amounts of tape and glue, string beads, twist small bits of wire, experiment with adding salt and sugar to wet watercolors, share a pot of tea. I keep scissors for small hands and a scrap basket full of fabric they can use without ever having to ask. In this space, they have created suits of armor, numerous paper cranes, blankets for baby dolls, glow in the dark bracelets for stuffed tigers, gifts for loved ones, and various medieval weaponry.
There is a sense of calm and companionship that infuses these peaceful hours. After a rough-and-tumble morning, this unscheduled creative time is restorative and so refreshing. I love to share this space I love with my loved ones. I love to witness the creative process of their young, open minds. It only takes a bit of tape or a length of yarn to get started. Often, my personal creativity can seem elusive or - even worse - forced. But my boys approach time in the studio with the same loaded for bear attitude they bring to everything else in life. Let's get started and see what happens.
Eventually, E will wander upstairs to see what we're up to. He sits down, asks the boys what they're making, joins us. He frequently compliments the relaxed and peaceful atmosphere I've cultivated. All those boys, crowded into my little pink room, making things together. It's heartwarming and inspiring, even if it only lasts an hour.
Then there are the evenings, after the boys are in bed and the house is quiet, that we are both in the studio. Sharing a glass of wine, listening to soothing music, each with our own project. I love those times, too.
Posted at 02:37 PM in family & friends, home, projects | Permalink | Comments (2)
I wrote a long post about this cardigan and then discovered a week later that it never published and that all my edits were lost. Reflecting back, it's likely this loss is a good thing; perhaps my musings veered from rambling, to rushed, to dull.
And this cardigan (or what my seven-year-old refers to as "the sweater you've been making since I was three") is far from dull. After abandoning a forsaken project, finding the best hood pattern, and adapting a pattern for wristwarmers, I created this cozy jacket. It only took me about nine months. The yarn is a sumptuous combination of silk and alpaca. I held two strands together to create the hood, giving the finished piece a pleasing loft and warmth about my shoulders.
This sort of thrift store/crochet mash-up is right up my alley. Searching for just the right jacket, researching patterns, adapting ideas to fit my vision. Walking the very fine line of how much is too much and how much is just right?
It's the perfect layering piece for tranisitional seasons. I finished it at the end Autumn, just as I was pulling out my down jacket and matching up my gloves. It's been waiting through the dark days of winter, hanging patiently in my closet. Now the days are longer and a little warmer. With a lightweight scarf, my favorite green cardigan will once again see the light of day.
Posted at 02:26 PM in crochet | Permalink | Comments (1)
Ahhh. I love yarn shopping. My local yarn store (LYS) is a haven of creativity and community. The owner greets me by name, inquires how my last project turned out, and offers inspiration as she winds my skeins into the soft balls you see here.
The frothy vanilla yarn is a blend of wool and alpaca - barely processed and undyed - that will be a new, huge, blanket-like shawl for me. But first, my man requested a new hat as his old one shrank in the wash. He's patiently waited while I've prioritized other projects. Four years later, I'd say he deserves a new hat - hopefully before Winter's end. It's a superwash wool in "Shire" green. (I can never resist a Tolkein reference!) I deemed the superwash a good investment for my modern man who does his own laundry.
With all this Cascade yarn I've been using for projects past, present, and future, I wonder if I should buy stock. Or at least stock up....
Posted at 12:29 PM in crochet | Permalink | Comments (0)
I carried this blanket with me to every swim lesson, karate class and book club through November and the first part of December. It grew quickly as my crochet hook flew over each stitch. Working on a deadline, with a huge ball of sumputous, bulky yarn makes for a relatively quick and satisfying project. This was a gift for my mom at Christmastime. Something warm, handmade, in a neutral shade so it doesn't dominate any particular room. She wrote to me that she enjoys her morning coffee under it every day and I couldn't be more pleased.
The pattern is Anya by GoodKnits. These inspired patterns take dainty doilies, worked in the round, and enlarge them with big yarn into blankets and throws. I'll be back for more...I think every room in the house could use a cozy, lacy throw in a neutral shade.
Posted at 01:02 PM in crochet | Permalink | Comments (1)
This is the pink sunset and full moon rise I found upon returning home after spending Chritmas at my parent's. It felt very calm and quiet. Then life became rather hectic and now I'm searching for the calm and quiet again. To that end, I'm beginning a lazy day in the craft room with my two boys - all of us still in pajamas. The floor is strewn with bits and pieces of cloth from the scrap basket. As soon as the laptop is closed, the sewing machine will come out in an attempt to turn these random odds and ends into a blanket or two.
I had quite a bit of creative mojo during autumn and the holiday season. If you'll forgive me a bit of anachronism, I'll be sharing my finished objects with you over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, I'll be searching for more pink sunsets.
Posted at 09:29 AM in home | Permalink | Comments (1)
Posted at 01:00 PM in holiday, special occasions | Permalink | Comments (0)
Mary and Maude at Crater Lake, 1944
The Story Behind Merry & Mod
Merry & Mod is named in honor of my grandmothers, Mary Knutson and Maude Craven. Mary and Maude met in Grants Pass, Oregon in the early 1940s. They were quick to laugh and effortlessly graceful. Mary's husband Cliff was the manager of Montgomery Ward and Maude's husband Lev was the manager of JC Penney. Mary had three daughters; Maude had three sons, then many years later a little girl, Mary Kay. My parents met as babies and shared a desk briefly during third grade.
For me, my grandmothers' memories evoke the personification of a family's love and support, good taste, and class. Merry & Mod defines a festive spirit and a modern, yet timeless sensibility to personal style.
About Me
I design and create limited-edition jewelry in my home studio in Central Oregon. Pieces are comfortable to wear, playfully feminine, and surprisingly colorful. The jewelry moves with you, adding kinetic grace to its visual appeal. I fashion my work with semi-precious gemstones, handmade Venetian glass beads, fine gold fill or sterling silver chain and wire, and other objects discovered in the world. Merry & Mod jewelry fuses passion and style into refined, contemporary pieces.
Posted at 10:02 AM in jewelry | Permalink | Comments (0)