text:
As early voting breaks records across the U.S., political analysts and campaigns are reviewing reams of data on the voters, looking for clues to key questions: Who is voting? And who is winning?
On one level, the answers can be simple. Registered Democrats are outpacing registered Republicans significantly — by 14 percentage points — in states that are reporting voters' party affiliation, according to an Associated Press analysis of the early vote.
But that doesn't tell the whole story. Many Americans' choices don't align with their party registration. Meanwhile, polls show Republicans have heeded President Donald Trump's baseless warnings about mail voting, and large numbers intend to vote on Election Day. That means the early Democratic surge could give way to a Republican surge on Tuesday.
The picture is further clouded by the unprecedented nature of how Americans are voting. While Democrats are hungry for signs that key parts of their coalition — young voters, Black voters, new voters — are engaged, comparisons to 2016 are difficult.
Here's a closer look at what we know — and don't know — about early voters:
As of Friday afternoon, 86.8 million people had voted in the presidential election. That's 63% of the total who cast ballots in the 2016 race. Most election experts think the United States will see 150 million to 160 million ballots cast in 2020, which would mean that we are likely more than halfway through voting. In one state, Texas, more votes have already been cast than in all of 2016.
Democrats have a big lead in the early vote over the GOP — 47% to 33% — according to the AP analysis of data from the political data firm L2.
That doesn't mean Democrats are going to win. But it does increase the pressure on Republicans to have a similar advantage — or higher — on Election Day.
The big turnout question in all elections is: Which side is bringing in new voters? The data shows Democrats are accomplishing that — but not necessarily as dramatically as some of the big overall numbers might suggest.
More than 1 out of 4 of all ballots — 27% — were cast either by new or infrequent voters, according to AP's analysis. Those are voters who have never voted before or voted in fewer than half of the elections in which they were eligible. It sounds like a big number, but it's not too much greater than past years. The Democratic data firm Catalist found that, in 2016, roughly one quarter of the electorate didn't vote in the previous presidential election.
Still, the number may well grow, as new and infrequent voters tend to vote close to, or on, Election Day. And even small increases in the tight battlegrounds can make a difference.
A rise in that number appears to be good news for Democrats. Forty-three percent of the infrequent and new voters are registered Democrats, compared to a quarter who are Republicans. The remaining third are registered as independents or with a minor party — a group that tends to favor Democratic candidates.
The voters are clustered in the Sunbelt, particularly in states such as Florida, North Carolina and especially Texas that Democrats hope to win by mobilizing large chunks of the electorate that sit out most contests.
"Democrats are already expanding their electorate," said Tom Bonier of the Democratic data firm TargetSmart. "That would certainly appear to be favorable for Biden — to be taken with the caveat we've heard a million times before, that we don't know how many other voters will come out on Election Day."
Biden's fate may be tied to strong turnout among Black voters in the battleground states. So far, about 9% of the early vote has been cast by African-Americans, about on par with the 10% of the electorate Black voters made up in 2016, according to a Pew Research estimate of voters in that election.
Black voters are tracking closely with their share of the electorate in several battlegrounds. In North Carolina, they are 21% of both all early voters and all registered voters. In Georgia, they make up 30% of the early vote and 32% of registered voters.
A slight drop in Black voter turnout from the elevated numbers of 2008 and 2012 played a role in Democrats' 2016 loss, and the party and its supporters are watching carefully to see what happens this time.
The data so far is ambiguous. There's been a surge in the older African-American vote. Black voters 65 and older are already one of the most reliable voting demographics, but according to TargetSmart data they have already surpassed their numbers in six key battlegrounds — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Texas.
At the same time, according to data from the Service Employees International Union, younger, less reliable Black voters comprise a larger share of the Black vote right now than in 2016. That's a sign of greater engagement in the segment of the electorate that dropped off in 2016.
Organizers say Black voters are reeling from the pandemic and economic collapse, which have hit African-Americans hardest, and the country's racial reckoning. That's motivating them to overcome persistent obstacles to voting, said Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union.
"Black and brown communities have faced these multiple crises," Henry said. That's stiffened their resolve to vote, she added.
The SEIU union says 3 out of every 4 black voters have not voted yet in Pennsylvania. The union is shifting resources to its Pennsylvania turnout operations because it is concerned Black voters have been slower to return mail ballots.
As of Friday, AP's analysis showed 11.3% of early votes have been cast by voters between the ages of 18 and 29. That's up slightly from this point in 2016, when 9.6% of the early vote was cast by people under age 30, according to TargetSmart.
And in the Sunbelt battlegrounds of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, young voters are turning out at a hefty rate of 30% or above, according to AP data.
That's again a good sign for Democrats, but a very preliminary one. Young voters lean Democratic, and when Democrats rush to the polls, it's not unexpected that their numbers would be higher.
Young voters showed up in never-before-seen levels in 2018, with 36% of those who were eligible participating, according to the U.S. Census. That helped Democrats win control of the House of Representatives.
Young voter advocates were concerned about the pandemic causing a sharp drop in voter registrations among 18- and 19-year-olds who just became eligible to vote.
However, young voters are still a larger share of the registered voter population in almost all states than they were in 2016, according to the Center for Information Research and Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. That's a reflection of both population growth and the increased registration that led to 2018.
Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor who runs the site ElectProject.org and carefully tracks the early vote, cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from changes in the youth vote from 2016. "Youth turnout is up," he said. "Everything's up. That's what happens when you have a high turnout election."
Republicans argue that predicted record turnout won't matter much in battleground states.
When all the votes are counted, the Trump campaign predicts that the turnout rate in battleground states in 2020 will be similar to in 2016.
"It is pretty predictable what they've brought into the electorate," Nick Trainer, the Trump campaign's director of battleground strategy said of Democrats. "We will bring our own new voters into the electorate ourselves, and it will all come out in the washing machine."
That's a sharp break from several election experts, who see signs in both the early vote numbers and polls of voter enthusiasm in battlegrounds.
John Couvillon, a Republican pollster who tracks the early vote, said the Trump campaign is being too dismissive. "I heard the same kind of attitude in 2008, when Republicans were in denial about the impressive early vote turnout Obama was generating," Couvillon said.
McDonald notes there's no way to know until Election Day.
However, he noted that, if turnout is low, that's not necessarily good news for Trump given the big early vote lead that Democrats have banked. It would mean the president's campaign would need to win Election Day by an even larger margin.
"They better hope they're wrong," McDonald said.


text:
One story about Nick Foles' preparation habits
There will be a lot of discussion this week about Nick Foles. His teammates have raved about him since training camp. Here's an anecdote that tight end Clay Harbor shared that sheds light on Foles' preparation:
The Eagles can download game preparation material onto their iPads. Brent Celek had a couple of players over for dinner last Thursday, and Harbor was one of them. Harbor doesn't have wifi at his home, so he downloads all the material onto his iPad at the NovaCare Complex. The process takes a few hours, so Harbor downloaded the gametape before dinner and planned on returning after dinner to pick up the iPad.
Harbor was at Celek's home for about two hours. He returned to the facility around 7:30 p.m.. He walked into the tight end's meeting room, and Nick Foles and Trent Edwards were watching film, studying the opposing defense and drawing plays. The work day had been over for a few hours, and neither quarterback was expected to even play the game.
"That just tells you something about Nick," Harbor said. "That's a game he didn't know he was going to play. No idea he'd be in. Just great preparation. And that's the kind of player he is."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Dwight Howard, Stan Van Gundy to talk fouls again
Dwight Howard lost his head in the Charlotte series.
Sure, there were some borderline calls that went against him, but he didn't deal with it well. He kept picking up silly fouls, not just accepting some of the banging but retaliating. Then he sat. Then his teammates nicknamed him Foul on You. Watch the video and see for yourself.
Didn't impact the Magic against the Bobcats -- they still swept the series -- but bigger tests await. Stand Van Gundy gets it and told the Orlando Sentinel it was time for another talk.
Superman needs to sit down with the other Superman and talk about this -- Shaquille O'Neal has been there. It takes some maturity as a strong, physical player to accept the cheap shots and not retaliate, to see calls that would be made on others ignored on you because your strong enough to power through them, to have other people flop and get calls. But Howard let it get into his head.
Next round -- likely against the Bucks but even against the Hawks -- Howard will be in the same boat. He will be the biggest, strongest guy out there. He has to be the mentally biggest, strongest as well for the Magic to get back to the Finals.


text:
This hand sewn Muslim Doll has a lovely golden brown
hijab and a hijab pin with flowers to make it beautiful.
Her modest dress has brightly colored blue, red, green, and ivory colors.
This large Islamic doll is wearing white socks and adorable brown shoes.
Made with 100% cotton fabric and stuffed with fire retardant polyester filling.
Length 39cm approx. which is 15.5 inches approx. a good size Handcrafted Muslim Barbie doll!
And being a handmade Hijarbie doll she is one of a kind even I though I have only two each one is different because it is handmade.
When this style is gone (2) there is no more because we add new patterns.
Order now to guarantee availability.
One Customer Said>>>>>>, "Our eldest daughter chose this doll and upon arriving in the post.
It was love at first sight!
These dolls are so well made, They really are fantastic. And a lovely generous size.
What totally convinces me of the quality of the sewing is the fact that neither of the doll's hijab's have budged...
Even in the midst of rather rugged play at the hands of two wild farm girls and their equally feral brother!
That says it all! :-) Ever so cute, So sweet, A real blessing to find such lovely hijabi dolls.
And the dolls are a good size, They are just big enough to be easily cuddled by a wee one up to a older of the younger sister's up to eleven or even twelve year old Muslim young lady's.
And believe it or not some of us mother's and even a grandmother like me like to have a few to cuddle and collect.
Everything about these dolls are well made, and the hijab's are sewn at the key points and they stay in place.
One Customer
Said>>>>>>, "Our eldest daughter chose this doll and upon
arriving in the post.


text:
Corruption Olympic Games
03 December 2019 11:52
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games came to a close with a spectacular ceremony last weekend, and the Paralympics will begin next month. The historic achievements of Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have grabbed most of the headlines over the last month. But alongside the sport, the Games will be remembered for numerous allegations of bribery and corruption.
Events in Rio have led to further scrutiny over the role of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Swiss-based organisation that organises the competition. Pat Hickey, a senior member of the IOC, was arrested in Brazil over allegations of illegal ticket sales. He is accused by the Brazilian authorities of being involved in a scheme to resell Olympic tickets at an inflated price.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would co-operate with any police investigation and stressed that Mr Hickey should be presumed innocent until proved otherwise.
But his arrest could add to the calls for changes in the way the Olympics are organised. The IOC handles vast sums of money from broadcasting rights to the Games, sponsorships, licensing, and ticket sales. It is now facing accusations in the media of a lack of transparency and accountability.
In a blog post following Mr Hickey's arrest, Rio Olympics Neighbourhood Watch, a project run by a non-governmental organisation in Rio, asked: "How much is known about the inner workings of the IOC and its finances? Who is this elite clique of decision makers who each receive US$900 per diem spending allowances during the Games and whose choices permanently affect urban fabrics around the world?"
FIFA, the governing body for world football, has faced similar criticisms in recent years, culminating in the arrest of fourteen officials in May 2015. Mr Hickey's arrest will add further pressure on these organisations to reform. Companies that choose to associate with the Olympics or the World Cup, either by sponsorship or bidding for contracts, should monitor the media coverage of the IOC and FIFA. They might also consider using their influence to lobby these organisations to reform their governance structures.
Doping and bribery accusations
The Rio Olympics have also been marred by allegations of doping and bribery. Before the Games even began, 118 Russian athletes were banned from competing after allegations of a state-sponsored doping regime. A weightlifter from Kyrgyzstan was stripped of a bronze medal and a number of other athletes were sent home because of doping allegations. There were many cases of athletes accusing fellow competitors of doping – one swimmer said that a rival "pisses purple".
Previous Olympic Games have seen accusations of bribery in the awarding of tenders to build Olympic stadia and infrastructure; in deciding which country should host the Olympics; and in using access to events to bribe prospective clients or politically-exposed persons. But in Rio, boxers from Ireland and the USA have even accused the judges of taking bribes to influence their decisions, leading to some of the judges being sent home from the Games.
Rather than seeing these cases as damaging to the Olympic brand, it could be argued the decision to send home judges and athletes shows that anti-corruption measures in sport are working. Andy Spalding, Associate Professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, wrote in a post for the FCPA blog: 'The Rio 2016 Summer Games may go down in history - nay, should go down in history - as the anti-corruption games. We may never have talked so much about cheating, or punishing cheating, or how to design an effective anti-cheating regime, as we are now.'
Spotlight on corruption in Brazil
Before the Olympics began, corruption was already a major talking point in Brazil. President Dilma Rousseff has been suspended from office over allegations she manipulated government accounts, which she denies. This week she faces a vote which could result in her impeachment. There are also allegations that oil firm Petrobras colluded with government officials to pay them for their help in securing building contracts.
With the Olympics bringing the world's attention to these cases in Brazil, some observers might have gained the impression the country has a poor record on corruption. But a report by the University of Richmond Law School Anti-Corruption team said "these scandals are actually evidence of newly enacted corruption laws taking effect". A new law, the Clean Company Act of 2014, aims to crack down on bribery in the awarding of contracts. Bid rigging and fraud are now prohibited in public procurement, as well as bribery of Brazilian public officials.
Professor Spalding said these high-profile cases of corruption at the top levels of business and government in Brazil show that the country has now set up effective tools to fight bribery and corruption. Breaches of corruption laws can be evidence that these laws are working and create confidence in a country's commitment to taking enforcement action against bribery and corruption. So although Rio 2016 will be known for the sporting heroics of Bolt and Phelps in years to come, perhaps it should also be remembered as the "anti-corruption games".
- You can't find an answer to your problem on this website
- You would like to request training
- You would like a product demonstration
- You are having trouble logging in or have a technical problem


text:
The image at right is Army Staff Sargeant Robert Bales, who is alleged to have massacred 16 civilians in Afghanistan.
It struck me that he looks exactly like the soldier I drew in my cartoon about winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan in light of the killings (below), before Bales' identity was released.
Psychic caricature. Creepy.


text:
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A Royal's Tablescape - Something to Nosh on the Day After The WeddingJacqueline April 27, 2011
Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.
you may also like
53 comments:
I'm afraid my mouth would get me thrown out of the royal family. I'm a tad outspoken...lol....I bet if the couple saw your post they would fly you to London to serve them breakfast. Lovely.ReplyDelete
Jacqueline, this is definitely the royal treatment. Who wouldn't want to wake to such splendor and dine at this table. The details are exquisite, but the food ~ oh, my. I think I want to fly right out. I promise I'd just hang back in the kitchen with the cook and just have a tasting. Well, I'd also want to sneak a peek of the royal couple too.ReplyDelete
No, I'd not care to live in a fish bowl. My life is just perfect as is! ;-)
Beautifully done as with all that you do, Jacqueline. ~ Sarah
Jacqueline, your taste is exquisite in everything you post. I visit a LOT of blogs, and I have to say that as much as I enjoy the others, your blog is my very favorite. William and Kate would love this tablescape, and they WOULD feel like royalty!ReplyDelete
Pure perfection! I think "Willy" and Katie would fly to your home to have this breakfast! As far as becoming a "royal", I can be a bit of a spitfire at times so I would be banished to the tower more often than not! I prefer a simpler life, love my privacy. I wouldn't want to read about all my daily doings in the "post" or see them on the "telly"! xo,ReplyDelete
Love the table! I think the goblets are my favorite. They are just gorgeous! I would think they would love to dine at this table.ReplyDelete
I am too much a potty mouth and slob to be a royal. I do remember when Diana was married. It's sad that as much as she devoted her life to her boys, that she couldn't be there on William's special day. I could just imagine that she would have looked as lovely and stylish as always.
That is really beautiful...love the dishes..and everything! ;DReplyDelete
I love your scalloped plates. Your table is fit for a queen.ReplyDelete
Everything looks fantastic! If I had the chance I would not want to be a Royal. I love my freedom!!!! JanetReplyDelete
What a beautiful, fun table Jacqueline! I'd like one (or three) of those little angel food cakes, they look great!ReplyDelete
To answer the question: Nope, I like things just as they are-nice and simple. That's why I'm Happier Than A Pig In Mud:@)
You have done a fabulous job with setting this royal table. I am so impressed with all your details to make it so real! :) I LOVE the silverware and that sweet little rose spoon!! Those dishes are out of this world darling. Where are they from? No, I would not want the crazy life they live. Just plain ole me is fine. :) Lovely post.ReplyDelete
That is stunning! Truly fit for royalty! I just love the table runner with the pearl detail and the delicious looking food. Love everything you do!ReplyDelete
That tables is absolutely perfect for a wedding, love it all, specially the napkins and pearl placemats.ReplyDelete
Love the post. Great question. I recently experienced one week in Paradise and acclimated to the ROYAL treatment quickly. Given a choice I think I would choose to be A ROYAL - including house-help. I read that William and Kate are planning to do WITHOUT house-help. I think part of the fun of being Royal would be having a FABULOUS Cook and Trainer. I can dream!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 27, 2011 at 12:02 PM
a table fit for a king, 'er a prince in this case! I can't wait for the wedding, I'm trying to catch up on my sleep this week so I can stay awake, no tivo for me I have to see it LIVE!! anneReplyDelete
Love love love your table. The pop of color in the napkin is all that is needed to make it perfect. Your new silver is gorgeous and so fitting for the royal couple. The nosegay and touches of lace are perfect. Once they taste the food, they will never return to dreary ol' England and will live to enchant us all their lives.ReplyDelete
No, I'd rather not be Kate.. I like my quiet life without the press, without the decorum. Free to do as I please. --but would gladly take a few pounds out of the treasury!
Great question! If I were Kate's age, YES, I would choose to be a royal. You only live once!!ReplyDelete
This ia great tablescape for the royal event. We are getting up at 4a.m. to watch the big event before we head to work. No big deal since we get up 5 a.m. anyways!
Great table, very royal indeed. I'll be watching. Diana married the same year we did. Always thougth one of my girls might marry William.ReplyDelete
Jacqueline, when can I come? wow!! You did a fantastic job, I especially love how you put everything together. Looks like a shot for a magazine :)ReplyDelete
By the way, love those plates!
What a clever idea-- I bet they would feel right at home at your table. Love the white china. I love square plates and unusal edging.ReplyDelete
Oh I meant to tell you I have copied some of your recipes. Thanks
Happy Spring
Can you save any of this until I get there? :-) All of it is just stunning, however, the plates are soooo gorgeous! You have created a true royal table ~ReplyDelete
I would not care to be a part of the Royal family. I like my privacy and could not keep my mouth shut. :-)
You set a beautiful table, Jacqueline! I have to tell you that I love, love those dishes! Not only the raised detailing but the shape. They looks almost like a flower with layers of petals.ReplyDelete
BEAUTIFUL! The food looks incredible!ReplyDelete
You are just too much!!! I love the concept!!! I wish you had more of those dishes, too! I wish I had those dishes period!!! They are fabulous!!!!!!!! And where on earth did you get that incredible flatware with the little crowns on the end? Magnificent! And, girl....that runner with all those pearls. Aaaarrrrggghh!!! I can't stand it! TOO pretty!!!!!!!!!!! I suggest you promptly board a plane with all of this in tow, fly straight on out to merry old England, march right up to the palace and demand to be heard/seen! Thanks for stopping by my place this evening! Report back from London, won't you? Jolly good!ReplyDelete
Lovely, lovely table! Any Prince and Princess would be lucky to dine at this table.ReplyDelete
I don't think the Royal Family would fit with me. I tend to voice my opinion often, and get cranky when I am tired. lol
What a lovely concept breakfast! The little pearls on the tablecloth is breathtaking and the white dishes are so interesting...it is very romantic!ReplyDelete
Oh Jacqueline, the royal couple should hire you to make their breakfast! This is beautiful. I love that china~so elegant. the entire table is so elegant. And the food looks fabulous. If I had the chance to become the bride of a Prince, I'm sure I would jump on it (or him), BUT, I'm afraid it would be a terrible mistake, because I DO NOT like to conform or follow the rules. Beautiful post. laurieReplyDelete
- Talley,your nieceApril 27, 2011 at 7:56 PM
Jacqueline,I love this post! like usual I am amazed by your post.I've seen quite a few and the fairy tea party is probably my favorite. Your tablescape is very fancy and elegant. You are just as good as my mom.ReplyDelete
Your niece,
Hi Jacqueline,ReplyDelete
thanks so much for coming by and for your sweet comments, they were appreciated!
Love your royal wedding table, it is so beautiful. Love those square dishes, they are gorgeous and very elegant. I have a plate with a crown on it, and we use it as a special dessert plate for whoever we are celebrating. We call it the queen or king for a day plate.
Your table is truly lovely, really liked the pearl beaded runner, and all the wonderful sconces and cream. You should leave it set for the royal wedding on Friday morning, I think it is, and celebrate as you watch.
I was watching the nate burkus show today and the whole show was about having a "watch the royal wedding party". I wish I had thought of that sooner, that would be a fun thing to do.
Enjoyed my visit very much,
Blessings, Nellie
Cute post, Jacqueline...your beautiful table is fit for royalty!ReplyDelete
Very very lovely. Oh, and I love the plates. . Everything about the table setting is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing. KarieReplyDelete
Wow! I fel lie royalty just looking at the beautiful dishes! Where did you find them! Greatjob and thanks for feeding my spirit!ReplyDelete
The plates were from Home Goods / TJMaxx and I need more! If anyone has some they would like to sell, let me know!ReplyDelete
A regal tablescape to commemorate a royal event. The plates are magnificent. Thank you for sharing your gorgeous design. Cherry KayReplyDelete
What a lovely table -- fit for royalty! I love those beautiful dishes. Enjoy the wedding.ReplyDelete
Dear Beautiful Jacqueline,ReplyDelete
I love, love, LOVE you and this ROYAL tablescape!!!!! The fantasy (mine!) of it all is divine! Every single facet of the crown motif displayed is perfect...and those scalloped DISHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And then the scones!!!! I think the royal couple would be SO BLESSED to sit at this regal table!!!!
A late happy Easter to you!!!
Lana In Italy
This is just an exquisite table...I'll bet they would love to wake up to this after their busy wedding day!!!!ReplyDelete
Jacqueline -- this is such a royal table. White and silver are so dreamy. Maybe you can set a post-wedding table for them. Those plates are amazing. If I see some, I will get them. The food looks so exquisite too. JoniReplyDelete
Funny thing, I'd look at each photo, and think, "Oh, this one is my favorite." Then, I'd move on down to the next, and claim it as my favorite.ReplyDelete
Finally, I became overwhelmed with your beautiful (and regal) offering, which would make queen Elizabeth very proud.
In regards to your question, I'm too laid-back and paradoxical in my ways, to ever fit in, as royalty.
Although, in the past, I've been called a 'royal pain'...so maybe there's hope for me yet.
Bonjour JacquelineReplyDelete
Your table is so chic!
Just married, and the other days also
if I was a princess.
I dream...
If I have an opportunity??? Yes!!!
The time to enjoy this sublime and raffinée royal table...
And after, I became me again...
Have a nice day
I 'm back to "profiter" of one sconesReplyDelete
HI JACQUELINE~YOUR ROYAL TABLE SCAPE IS JUST GORGEOUS :)ReplyDelete
This is just a yummy beautiful table! Exquisite in every detail! Enjoy the celebration!ReplyDelete
Hey there, Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment on the tea cup and saucer and on the pioneer table setting. I so appreciate it. And I am happy to meet another fellow Utah blogger. I will be sure to become one of your followers. Hope you will do the same for me. Keep in touch ok? Hope you have a wonderful day. I am really looking forward to getting up early to watch the royal wedding! Hugs, KarieReplyDelete
Beautiful, calm and elegant breakfast for two. That dessert tray is to die for. I'm looking forward to trying you clotted cream recipe. I order my Lemon Curd from Fortnam and Mason and this will be a special treat to have them together.ReplyDelete
Oh....everything is so beautiful! I love the plates,runner and all the crowns! Just perfect...the food looks delicious too! WOW! That's all I can say...WOW!ReplyDelete
Blessings My Friend,
What a beutiful china,lovely. All on the table are exquisite. Your blog is amazing , I´m glad to find itReplyDelete
What a fabulous table! I've admired those dishes & your napkin fold & runner is devine! You should post this on Mikasa's FB wall sharing tablescapes fit for royalty~ReplyDelete
Those plates are just stunning! What a lovely table.ReplyDelete
No way would I want to become a royal. I far prefer keeping a low profile and being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it without anyone being the wiser.
Love lives in the details. Your tablescape is fit for a queen!ReplyDelete
Thank you so much for linking up.
Thank you for this! Loved featuring you today!ReplyDelete
What a stunning tablescape for the couple! Beautiful!!ReplyDelete
Big TX Hugs,
Angelic Accents
AMAZING!! As always!!!ReplyDelete
Fit for a queen, Jacqueline! I would not want to be Royal because you live in a fishbowl, and your life is hardly your own!?!ReplyDelete
Your comments are the highlight of my day! Leave a comment and then I can come and visit your blog. Have a wonderful day! Unfortunately I have had to block anonymous comments, hope you understand.
Follow me on Instagram
Join My Adventures
Search This Blog
Tales of the Traveling Tote
Thanks for visiting ! Jacqueline
My Treasures
Love My Followers!
Popular Posts
This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.
Beaulah and I thought we should make a cake to celebrate the lucky winner of the Williams Sonoma Copper Soup Station. We fe...
Have you noticed that some restaurants become famous for the breads they serve and the bread is why you want to go there again and ...
Beaulah loves the color green. She feels like it compliments her skin tones. I would agree, they are both green! (I b...
Walk past Hagrid's hut and join me in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Where you can buy Rosmerta's famous ...


text:
2016 Toyota Sienna Vs 2016 Kia Sedona in Lakeland FL
Serving Winter Haven, Plant City, Brandon
If your family is growing or you are just ready for an upgrade to a more spacious, convenient, and technology-packed family vehicle, Toyota has the minivan for you. The 2016 Toyota Sienna has seating for up to eight passengers, along with innovative standard safety features that any parent will appreciate. Lakeland Toyota, serving Winter Haven, Plant City, and Brandon, has a wide selection of Sienna minivans in stock for you to explore. Bring the entire family down for a test drive of Toyota's spacious and versatile new minivan.
How does the 2016 Toyota Sienna compare to the Kia Sedona? Let's find out!
Cargo Capacity
Whether for a weekend trip or a cross-country road trip over spring or summer break, minivans are the perfect vehicles for family adventures. For these adventures, you will want a minivan that offers maximum cargo-hauling abilities. With a whopping 39.1 cubic feet of cargo volume behind the third row of seats, the 2016 Toyota Sienna provides over five cubic feet of extra space compared to the Kia Sedona. Of course, for those times when you are not carrying seven passengers in your Sienna, the third row can be folded down for even more cargo space.
Safety Features
Toyota cares about the safety of your precious cargo, that is why every 2016 Toyota Sienna minivan comes standard with active head restraints and front knee airbags. The innovative active head restraints on the Sienna automatically move up and forward in the event of a rear collision, thereby reducing the chance of whiplash injuries. Knee injuries among front passengers are quite common during front collisions, so the Sienna's standard front knee airbags are a welcome safety addition. Neither of these innovative safety features can be found as standard equipment on Kia's Sedona.
Highway Fuel Economy
If you are shopping for a minivan, it is likely that you will be putting quite a bit of miles on your family hauler. From out-of-town sporting events, to weekend road trips, the 2016 Toyota Sienna minivan can handle it all. With an EPA-estimated 25 mpg on the highway, the Sienna tops the Kia Sedona for highway cruising fuel efficiency.
When you are ready for a new minivan that provides a winning combination of safety features, cargo capacity, and fuel efficiency, test drive the 2016 Toyota Sienna, at Lakeland Toyota. Our showroom is located near Winter Haven, Plant City, and Brandon, at 2925 Mall Hill Dr., in Lakeland, FL.View Inventory


text:
Hey there! My name is Lyndsey Kuster, and I am an experienced first grade teacher residing in the beautiful mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. I love sharing teacher-tested, kid-approved tips, strategies, resources with teachers from all over the world. My goal is to help recharge and reignite your passion for teaching.
Yet to be added
Professional Development Presenter
Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education, Towson University
Yet to be added
PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, Homeschool
English Language Arts, Balanced Literacy, Creative Writing, Writing-Expository, Reading, Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, Specialty, Math, Basic Operations, Fractions, Geometry, Graphing, Measurement, Numbers, Other (Math), Science, Environment, Social Studies - History, Arts & Music, Special Education, EFL - ESL - ELD, Other (ELA), Literature, Classroom Management, School Counseling, Character Education, Word Problems, Short Stories, Writing, Oral Communication, Reading Strategies, Writing-Essays, Holidays/Seasonal, Back to School, Thanksgiving, Christmas/ Chanukah/ Kwanzaa, Poetry, Autumn, Halloween, Speech Therapy, Winter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Spring, Place Value, Tools for Common Core, Earth Day, For All Subjects, Summer, Informational Text, Handwriting, Early Intervention, End of Year, Engineering, Phonics, Close Reading


text:
Story highlights
Iraqi Finance Minister Rafaie al-Esawi announces his resignation
He says the government has not met the demands of protestors
The protests began after his bodyguards were arrested on government orders
Iraqi Finance Minister Rafaie al-Esawi announced his resignation Friday, a move triggered by daily demonstrations by Sunnis over grievances they have against the Shiite-dominated government, his spokesman said.
Sunni demonstrators in provinces such as Anbar and Mosul have called for an end to what they consider second-class treatment.
The finance minister resigned because the government has not met the demands of the demonstrators to end the marginalization, spokesman Aysar Ali told CNN.
READ: Bombs target Shiite neighborhoods, claim 21lives in Iraq
The protests began in late December when Sunni demonstrators took to the streets in Anbar province to protest an order to arrest the bodyguards of al-Esawi, a Sunni.
The arrest of al-Esawi's bodyguards came just hours after President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who was widely viewed as a stabilizing political force in Iraq, left the country about two weeks after suffering a stroke.
The protesters also are demanding the release of detainees they say are being held without charges, calling the government corrupt and accusing it of unfairly targeting Iraq's Sunni people.
The protests grew in January, when at least seven people were killed in shootings during a protest by Sunnis in Falluja.
The Sunni protests have been countered by mostly Shiite, pro-government demonstrations, raising fears that the sectarian division could bring violence in the streets.
Sunnis make up about 20% of Iraq's estimated population of more than 27 million, whereas about 60% to 65% are Shiite.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime in 2003, Sunnis in Iraq have been largely disaffected. The gulf was widened in 2005 when Sunnis boycotted the country's election, opening the way to a heavily dominated Shiite government.
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.


text:
Nov 15, 2017
Largest diamond ever auctioned sold for record $34 mn in Geneva
Nov 15, 2017
The largest diamond ever offered at auction went under the hammer in Geneva Tuesday evening for nearly $34 million, a world record for a gem of its kind, the Christie's auction house said.
The 163.41-carat flawless D colour diamond, suspended from an emerald and diamond necklace called The Art of Grisogono, sold for 33.5 million Swiss francs ($33.8 million, 28.7 million euros), after taxes and commissions, at the Christie's autumn jewel auction.
This marks "a new world-record price for a D colour diamond at auction," Rahul Kadakia, auctioneer and head of Christie's international jewels division, told AFP.
D is the highest colour grade attributed to a diamond, indicating that the stone is completely colourless, and thus extremely rare.
With a drawn-out round of rapid-fire bidding starting at 20 million francs, the necklace was finally sold to a telephone bidder, who wished to remain anonymous, for well above the asking price of 25 million.
- 'Masterpiece' -
But some had expected The Art of Grisogono, which Christie's described as a "masterpiece of unparalleled beauty and exquisite workmanship", to fetch even more.
"I am disappointed that the Art of de Grisogono didn't sell for a more dazzling price," said Tobias Kormind, head of 77 Diamonds, a large European online diamond jeweller, who had said before the sale he thought the price might top $50 million.
The flawless, D colour 11A type diamond was cut from a 404 carat rough rock which was discovered in February 2016 in the Lulo mine in Angola -- the 27th biggest rough white diamond ever discovered.
The rough was analysed in Antwerp and cut in New York, where a team of 10 diamond-cutting specialists were involved in mapping, plotting, cleaving, laser-cutting and polishing the giant rough rock into a polished, flawless diamond.
A team from Swiss luxury jeweller de Grisogono then created 50 different designs around the 163.41-carat diamond, before opting for an asymmetric necklace with the stone as its centrepiece.
The left side of the necklace is made up of 18 emerald-cut diamonds and the right side composed of two rows of pear-shaped emeralds.
- French royal diamond -
Another highlight of Tuesday's auction, a large pink diamond once set in the crowns of numerous French kings and emperors, including Napoleon, meanwhile sold for far more than the $6-9 million estimate.
It went under the hammer, again to an unidentified telephone bidder, for 12.5 million francs, with the final price tag after taxes and commissions ticking in at 14.4 million francs ($14.5 million, 12.3 million euros).
The gem was named after Cardinal Mazarin, an Italian cardinal and diplomat, as well as a great art collector, who served as chief minister under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, and who bequeathed it and other diamonds to the Sun King in his will.
The pink stone, originally dug out of the ancient mines of Golconda in south-central India, sparkled on the crowns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, who was guillotined during the French Revolution.
And it graced the crown of Napoleon I, Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie, among others.
It has since passed through the hands of famous French jeweller Frederic Boucheron and later the Baron von Derwies.
Christie's said the seller was a private collector, but did not reveal their identity.
Tuesday's sale marked the first time the diamond appeared at auction in 130 years.
It has been auctioned off once before: It was among the French Crown Jewels sold off in 1887 -- 17 years after France's Second Empire collapsed and Napoleon III and his wife Emperess Eugenie sought exile in England, leaving their jewels behind.
Christie's jewel auction, which raked in sales totalling 105.4 million Swiss francs, will be followed Wednesday by a similar auction at Sotheby's.
The highlight of that show, also in Geneva, will be The Raj Pink, the world's largest known fancy intense pink diamond, which Sotheby's is aiming to sell for $20-30 million.
Copyright © 2023 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.


text:
This green has some blue in it, making it complex and unique. I wanted to show it to you applied heavily and moderately because it's actually many different shadows, depending on how you use it. Applied heavily, it offers high-wattage color. Applied lightly, it's another color altogether.
You can purchase Claudio Riaz Eye Shade #15 at Barneys New York or at the Claudio Riaz Web site.
Photo at top courtesy of Claidio Riaz, middle courtesy of allposters.com, and the rest by Best Things in Beauty


text:
Written and Directed by: Buddy Cooper
Starring: Matt Mitler, Ruth Martinez and Bill Hitchcock
Reviewed by: Brett Gallman
That's strange. My dad's battleaxe is missing."
In a genre full of homespun movies, Buddy Coopers The Mutilator is among the most homespun of slasher flicks. While it doesnt have the camcorder charm of its shot-on-video brethren, its about a half-step removed from that scene, particularly in spirit. Doused in regional dressing, it certainly has that backyard quality, as if Cooper gathered up a bunch of his buddies to make a slasher flick during a weekend beach retreat. Very little of its cast ever went on to do anything of note, and Ben Moores four screen credits (most of which came in Herschell Gordon Lewis joints two decades earlier) are enough to garner him a special appearance status here. Amateurism pervades The Mutilator, and, as it so often is for these types of films, its both a blessing and a curse all at once since the film undoubtedly wouldnt be the same without it.
Like many slashers, The Mutilator begins with a fever-dreamy prologue that finds an idyllic family scene: little Ed Jr. has just polished off his fathers gun collection while his mother prepares a cake for the patriarchs birthday. When Junior gets a curious with one of the shotguns, he ends up accidentally blowing his mom away, much to his fathers dismay. A cut to the present day reveals that Ed (Matt Mitler) is now a well-adjusted, beer-nursing college student with nothing to do on Fall Break. Luckily, his estranged old man calls him up and insists that he needs to come out to the family condo and close it up for the winter, so Eds buddies decide to take an impromptu beach trip to help him out with the chore. Upon arrival, its pretty clear they should have stayed home since this Fall Break will be their last if the homicidal maniac prowling the grounds has his way.
The Mutilator is one of those slashers that works despite itself. Dealing with this genre is often a crapshoot, and I tend to like those slashers that are a little wry and campy, but, every now and then, one of these amateurish cornballs slips past the goalie. Its easy to mistake large stretches of The Mutilator for a beer commercial, particularly the early bar scene where the kids loll about making bad jokes. Then it careens into an opening credits montage scored by the films theme song, Fall Break, a finger-snapping, toe-tapper of a tune that encapsulates the utter cheesiness of The Mutilator, not to mention its tone deafness. After all, only a few minutes earlier, youve just witnessed a little boy blowing a hole through his mom. Silliness continues to abound through the montage as the kids visit a podunk gas station and battle car trouble (foreshadowing!), and the whole thing feels more apt for a sitcom rather than a slasher.
Things dont get a whole lot better (or maybe they do, depending on your persuasion) once the kids arrive at the condo, where they do a bunch of poking around the house. And for a guy who has nightmarish visions involving his dad abusing him, Ed sure has a lot of reverence for the old man, as he proudly shows off all the hunting trophies he accumulated over the years. The guy even once framed a section of the wall where he and his buddies chucked junk into it, thus assuring us that he had more than a few screws loose and totally seems like the type of guy who would try to kill his son and his friends. All of this is done in an almost improvised manner, but theres something wholly authentic about it all, from the slack-jawed, southern accents to the incredible earnestness of the cast, who just seem pretty happy to be there making a movie. As such, the film is watchable even when it shouldnt be--the first kill (opening scene excluded) comes a staggering 35 minutes into the movie, and theres not a remarkably high body count anyway.
Typically, thats a death knell for a slasher movie, particularly one that has almost no suspense like The Mutilator since theres never any sense of mystery about the killers identity or motives (surprise--its the estranged, raging alcoholic dad). The characters are routinely dumb and say dumb things as they fill out the expected stereotypes: theres the chaste, virginal girl who stymies Eds attempts at sex, while the more amorous couple look for any opportunity to bang, whether its in a garage or an absurdly large pool. A red-headed goofball also accompanies the group, and he fails to really distinguish himself from most of his peers since hes also a sex-crazed beer-swiller. Even when the slashing starts, these guys are still just prowling around the house, unwittingly isolating themselves for the killer, who spends the movie lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce. While its pretty repetitive, Cooper strikes gold in the setting, a moody, desolate beach whose autumnal isolation is an ideal slasher locale and tone-setter. Most of the movie is draped in deep blue moonlight and shadows, and the moodiness compensates for the various other shortcomings.
Cooper also gets the most important slasher element right in the form of the rad gore effects. The Mutilator is a rather savage entry in the 80s slasher canon, as it lives up to its name by showcasing some tremendously realistic and grisly gore effects. One of them is a bit undercut by the silly reaction of one of the victims, but, otherwise, The Mutilator is the real deal for gorehounds. While Cooper doesnt prove himself to be the most gifted of storytellers, he understands Chekovs gun pretty well, so when you see a giant fishing hook early in the film, you can rest assured it eventually serves as one of the films signature moments. In fact, the movie is ultimately so unflinchingly violent that the silly, light-hearted tone really betrays its eventual ruthlessness. When the theme song is reprised during the closing credits, the gonna have a good time refrain almost feels ironic since it's been washed away in bloodshed, decapitations, and bisections.
The Mutilator falls right in line with other slashers who unwittingly mix inanity and violence in a manner that impossibly works. Its truly a spiritual successor to both The Prowler and Madman, a couple of other moody, moonlight-tinted slashers, only its even more crude than those two. Despite its seemingly decent standing with slasher fans, The Mutilator remains without a DVD release*. Code Red has had it on its hit list for several years but has yet to deliver it. Given the companys recent troubles, its hard to say if theyll ever get around to it (I believe the companys president has cited a lack of usable 35mm elements as a hindrance). Failing this, theres always the VHS release, but fans need to keep a sharp eye here since a cut version of the film was released on that format. A PAL DVD also surfaced a few years ago, but its now so out of print that it commands almost as much as the VHS tapes. As much as I enjoy The Mutilator, its a tough one to recommend at such prices; however, should it ever make its way to DVD, itll make a fine addition to the shelves of splatter enthusiasts. Buy it!
*Good news--just moments before I posted this review, an outfit called Titan Video announced that it's set to bring The Mutilator to DVD and Blu-ray in the future. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates.
comments powered by Disqus Ratings:


text:
Google recently announced at its cloud conference in Tokyo that it will begin offering "high-risk" G Suite accounts a version of its own, enhanced in-house security.
Called the Advanced Protection Program, the set of security protocols is currently rolling out to G Suite users in a beta program.
The program requires the use of physical security keys to access accounts, in addition to a password, and it blocks any third-party apps that haven't been whitelisted by G Suite administrators.
It also includes a more advanced email scanning method for virus threats and prohibits certain file types from being able to be downloaded.
"As a trade-off for this tightened security, the functionality of some of your apps may be affected," Google warns. "Most third-party apps that require access to your Gmail or Drive data, such as travel tracking apps, will no longer have permission. And you will only be able to use Chrome and Firefox to access your signed-in Google services like Gmail or Photos. Apple's Mail, Calendar, and Contacts apps and Mozilla's Thunderbird will continue to be able to access your Google data as normal."
According to the company, security keys help protect unsuspecting users from phishing attacks that seek account login information. "Even if you do fall for a phishing attack that discloses your username and password," the company says, "an unauthorized user won't be able to access your account without one of your physical security keys."
Google recommends the program for IT administrators, executives, reporters, activists, political campaign teams and "employees in regulated or high-risk verticals such as finance or government." That said, anyone who uses a security key can sign up for the beta program.
The new program essentially makes the tools easier for admins to roll out, by bundling the associated security services, which were already separately available, into one setting.
The enhanced security also makes it harder for a user to recover an account on a new device. Users who lose both their security keys will need the help of an admin to recover the account, in an aim to thwart hackers from using automated recovery tools to access a G Suite account.
Using the service means each account will need two keys, with a button that must be pressed to unlock the account. One key is used to log in and the other is a backup in case the first key is lost. There's no cost associated with the program except for the keys, which run about $50.
The keys use the FIDO U2 (Universal Second Factor) standard. According to the FIDO Alliance, the industry association behind the standard, "FIDO standardizes the authentication protocol used between the client and the online service. The protocol is based on standard public key cryptography – the client registers a public key with the online service at initial setup. Later, when authenticating, the service verifies that the client owns the private key by asking it to sign a challenge. The protocol is designed to ensure user privacy and security in the current day state of the internet."


text:
Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
TOKYO — With the Tokyo Olympics postponed until 2021, now comes the multi-billion-dollar question: Who pays the bills for the delay, and how large will they be?
The most likely answer is — primarily Japanese taxpayers.
"Of course there will be costs," organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said when the postponement was announced. "As for how much, we have no figures with us right now. As for who will shoulder these costs? Needless to say, they are not going to be easy discussions, so we are not sure how long they will take."
The Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei put the added cost at $2.7 billion, citing an estimate from local organizers.
Two women take a selfie with a Tokyo 2020 countdown clock displaying the current date and time outside Tokyo Station, Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Tokyo organizers will have to renegotiate new leases on venues, pay for maintenance at arenas, and maybe find different fields of play. They will also have to deal with real estate developers who are already selling off thousands of apartments at what will be the Athletes Village. The organizing committee also employs 3,500 staff members, and some may lose their jobs to cost-cutting.
Tokyo, driven by advertising giant Dentsu Inc., has sold $3.3 billion in local sponsorships, more than twice any previous Olympics. Those brands will be clamoring to know what they get for their money. Refunds? Make-good deals? New contracts?
And nothing much can be done until new dates are set to replace what was to be this year's Olympics: July 24 through Aug. 9, 2020.
"The general target is summer of next year," said Yoshiro Mori, president of the organizing committee and a former Japanese Prime Minister. "We have to go through scheduling, international events. Many things will have to be adjusted before we come up with a certain time frame."
Of course, all of the rescheduling problems are compounded by the uncertain spread of the virus and the recent downturn in the economy.
Muto acknowledged tough talks are ahead with the International Olympic Committee, which controls the games but leaves the host country to pick up most of the costs.
First, some Tokyo Olympic financing basics.
Visitors pose with a national flag with characters reading "Supporting the world" near the Olympic Flame in northern Japan, on March 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Local organizers and Japanese government bodies say they are spending $12.6 billion to put on the Olympics. However, a national government audit report in December put costs at $28 billion. There is always debate about what are — and are not — Olympic costs, and creative accounting is not unknown.
When Tokyo won the Olympic bid in 2013, it said the total cost would be $7.3 billion.
Private-sector money makes up $5.6 billion of today's total budget. The rest — whatever the grand total — is public money.
Tokyo has spent almost $7 billion on temporary and permanent venues — about 85% from public funds. The most expensive venue is the new national stadium, a national government project billed at $1.43 billion.
Officials light a lantern from the Olympic Flame at the end of a flame display ceremony in Iwaki, northern Japan, on March 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
For its part, the Switzerland-based IOC has contributed $1.3 billion to finance the Tokyo Olympics, a small fraction of the total cost. The IOC had income of $5.7 billion for the last four-year Olympic cycle (2013-2016). Almost three-quarters of the income is from selling broadcasting rights, with another 18% from sponsors.
The IOC also has a reserve fund of about $2 billion, and insurance to cover losses.
Bent Flyvbjerg, an author of "The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games," in an email to the Associated Press, said the IOC should share more of the costs and termed it a "monopoly." The study found the Olympics have the "highest average cost overrun of any type of mega-project."
Flyvbjerg said the IOC should "pick up a larger part of the bill for the games, which the IOC profits from. Tokyo and Japan will pick up the added cost, unless the IOC makes an exception and expands the reserve fund, which is what the IOC should do from an ethics point of view."
Visitors queue to see the Olympic Flame during a flame display ceremony in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan, on March 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Tokyo was planning to use 42 venues for 33 sports. One extra venue was planned for the Paralympics. Muto said it was not clear how many venues would be available a year from now.
"Some venues we might have to keep renting until next year," he said. "Because at some venues it takes about a year to get them ready. We can't take them down and then set them up again for the Olympics. That also means added costs."
The biggest headache could be the Athletes Village, which is to house 11,000 Olympians and staff, and 4,400 Paralympians and staff. The sprawling site on Tokyo Bay — 5,632 apartments — is to be sold off after the Olympics and reports say one-quarter have already been sold. Some cost more than $1 million.
One of the developers, Mitsui Fudosan Co., said it has suspended sales at the complex, which will include 23 buildings.
Even lining up 80,000 unpaid volunteers again could be expensive and create more work. The city of Tokyo was also planning to use 30,000 added volunteers to help fans find train lines, street addresses, and dish out general help for non-Japanese speakers.
Ticket demand has also been unprecedented with 7.8 million available, and demand exceeding supply by 10 times. Ticket sales are expected to raise about $1 billion for local organizers.
All tickets have a force majeure clause, which might get organizers off the hook of paying refunds if the coronavirus is deemed to be "beyond Tokyo 2020's reasonable control."
"We don't have a final conclusion about what our policy will be," Muto said. "As much as possible, we want to make sure that people who have already bought tickets will get special consideration."


text:
Farming's Toxic Legacy
Banned ag chemicals linger in neighborhoods that swallowed up former farms and orchards
This story is accompanied by two sidebars: Backyard poisons and How to play safely in the soil.
Nothing about the quiet summer morning suggests a reason to worry. Two-year-old Kian plays happily in the dirt of the empty lot where his family's new house will eventually stand. Nearby, his mother, Tara Compton, points out interesting "buggies," and when he toddles down the steep hillside, she holds his hand. Dust rises from the soil as though from a phantom stampede, and dirt covers the little boy's hands and face.
"This is where I plan to grow our garden," says Compton, pointing to a wide plot of earth near a peach tree that yields delicious fruit. She's pregnant, but with her tall, strong build, it hardly shows. "It's important to me to grow a lot of our own vegetables because it's so hard to know what's in the food you buy at the store."
Compton, a 38-year-old intensive care nurse, is a conscientious mother. She buys organic produce, filters her water, and uses lotions and sunscreens that are paraben-free. Compton and her husband, Ron, who's studying to become a teacher, chose Yakima out of a host of Western cities largely because of the nearby hiking and camping opportunities. Yet despite the natural beauty and the good, clean living, their new home hides a potential threat to her children -- one that Compton is hard-pressed to control.
Some 30 years ago, this upper-middle-class neighborhood, with its two-story brick houses and generous views of Mount Adams, was all orchards and farmland. In this way, Yakima resembles many communities. Over the past 28 years, more than 5.5 million acres of former farmland in the West have been plowed under and transformed into subdivisions, schools and parks. But even though the apple trees and cotton fields are long gone, they can leave a hidden toxic legacy.
Throughout much of the 20th century, farmers in Yakima and across the country blanketed crops with now-banned pesticides, including lead arsenate and a suite of long-lasting, synthetic organic compounds laced with chlorine, such as DDT, dieldrin, toxaphene and chlordane. Today, decades after they were sprayed, these compounds and their breakdown products often persist in the soil.
That doesn't necessarily mean they're harming people; in many places, the levels are likely negligible. There are no immediate health effects associated with exposure to these chemicals in the soil. And existing research indicates that the known health risks of living on former agricultural lands are relatively low -- especially where the soil has been capped with a grassy lawn. Still, children who are exposed regularly over a long time period to contaminated dirt through direct contact -- perhaps by playing in it or gardening or eating vegetables grown in it -- may develop cancer or other health problems decades later, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Washington state has decided that low risk is not the same as no risk. Since 2006, it has spent close to $7 million removing soil from 20 elementary schoolyards in the central part of the state, wherever lead and arsenic, the primary components of lead arsenate, exceeded levels set by the state to protect human health. The project -- which includes some Yakima schools -- is unique in the West.
View full map
Washington state's Department of Ecology is cleaning up schoolyards in the central part of the state where it found unsafe levels of lead and arsenic. These hazardous elements are likely remnants from pesticides sprayed when the area was farmland. This map shows schools that have had their contaminated soil removed and replaced (green markers), and those that have not yet been cleaned up (brown markers.) Zoom out to see data for Wenatchee and other areas of Central Washington.
Because the dangers posed by legacy pesticides are insidious and poorly understood, agencies and advocacy groups have focused on more obvious threats. Neither the federal government nor any Western state requires testing the soil prior to development of privately owned farmland, leaving the burden on landowners like the Comptons. Meanwhile, real estate agents say it's the buyers' responsibility, not theirs, to find out about possible pesticide contamination. A survey of over 20 national environmental groups, including ones that focus on pesticides, reveals that none are working to change this dynamic.
"As a nation, we're flying blind on this issue," says John Wargo, Yale University professor of environmental risk analysis and policy. "The Environmental Protection Agency is so overwhelmed by new chemicals and managing the changing science on existing chemicals that are licensed that they're interpreting the ban (on legacy pesticides) as having solved the problem. That's shortsighted. We're not even asking questions, we're not doing the testing, and the result is people are being exposed without their knowledge and certainly without their consent."
A hundred years ago, land speculators lured people to plant orchards in the Yakima area with promises that "here fortunes grow on trees." Hand-colored postcards from that era depict row after row of verdant orchards, neat fields and two-story white-painted homes. Ads in East Coast newspapers touted Yakima as the "orchard city," where "ten acres in fruit makes a man independent for life."
But that abundance did not come naturally. It relied on pesticides like lead arsenate, which helped control insects like the codling moth, an apple-loving scourge that thrives in the West's arid climate. "Without lead arsenate, there would be no industry," says Frank Peryea, professor emeritus of soil science at Washington State University and one of the nation's foremost experts on arsenical pesticides. At the university's tree fruit research center in Wenatchee, a few hours north of Yakima, Peryea snaps a small unripe apple from a tree and slices it open with a pocketknife. These trees have not been treated with modern pesticides or pheromones, which disrupt the moths' mating cycle. Where the white flesh of the apple should be is a crater filled with the moth larvae's black excrement. "You want to eat that?" Peryea asks dryly.
Nope. Neither did consumers in the early 1900s. When researchers first introduced lead arsenate, farmers quickly became hooked on it, using handgun sprayers to coat apples, potatoes, cotton, cherries and other crops. Not only did the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommend spraying crops, but if growers didn't do so, state pest control boards in Oregon, Washington and California would spray for them -- and charge the farmers for the effort, put a lien against their land, or even remove their trees. As early as 1915, the bugs had developed some resistance; farmers responded by spraying more. In 1941, U.S. farmers sprayed more than 60 million pounds of lead arsenate.
Then, in the late 1940s, American farmers abandoned their old standby in favor of DDT, then hailed as the savior of mankind. By the early '70s, an estimated 1.35 billion pounds of DDT had been sprayed in the U.S. -- enough to fill more than 238 Olympic-size swimming pools. But public outcry against the pesticide began building after the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which reported that DDT accumulates in living tissue in greater and greater concentrations as it moves up the food chain. Soon, other scientists linked the chemical with the near extinction of many birds. Several notable studies, presented to the nascent EPA, showed that DDT could cause cancer in humans. The EPA banned the chemical in the U.S. in 1972, and by 1990 had followed suit with lead arsenate and most other organochlorine pesticides.
Unfortunately, the very thing that made organochlorine pesticides like DDT effective for a long period of time also makes them hard to get rid of. Because chlorine binds strongly to other elements, the compounds are stable and do not break down easily. Organochlorines also bind to organic matter in soil, and to the fat cells of the organisms that consume it. When they eventually do degrade, they can break down into other toxic compounds. Lead arsenate, meanwhile, is composed of lead and arsenic, the party lingerers of the elements. Neither breaks down over time. They also bind to organic matter in the soil and don't dissolve readily in water, so rain can't easily wash them away. All of these chemicals can remain in the top 12 to 18 inches of the ground for decades -- perhaps even hundreds of years.


text:
DENVER -- In the playoffs, the result always trumps process.
So as the Broncos' once-sturdy lead wavered in the building chill of Sports Authority Field at Mile High late Sunday afternoon, there was no thought of how losing 10 points of a 17-point advantage would lead to the usual questions and examinations in the film room, nor even of how the experience might help the Broncos get better.
The only motivation was survival. No one particularly cared how it happened -- whether it took the offense converting third-and-longs, or the defense successfully gambling on blitzes, or a takeaway.
Survive and advance. It was a phrase coined by the late college basketball coach Jim Valvano in the 1983 NCAA Tournament, but it applies to the NFL just the same, given the one-and-done nature of both postseasons. One bad day, and your season ends, something the Broncos knew and heeded from their experience last year.
It didn't matter how it happened, or who delivered it. What the Broncos needed was a big play.
In the end, the gateway to the 24-17 win over the Chargers was the third-down offense, which struggled in their Week 15 loss without Wes Welker but was devastatingly efficient Sunday, moving the chains nine times in 13 attempts. Most were from third-and-moderate-yardage, but the key play of the final series appeared to be anything but: a third-and-17 from the Denver 20-yard-line with 3:06 remaining.
San Diego still had two timeouts, so a Broncos run would have meant they would be down to one stoppage. But with so much time on the clock, the Chargers could have had the football at their own 1-yard-line after a punt and been able to have their full playbook at their disposal. It was not a time to be timid, especially when the chances of reaching the Denver 37 with a clock-chewing run seemed remote, at best.
"Certainly it was a no-brainer there, what you had to do," said quarterback Peyton Manning.
It was a pass to tight end Julius Thomas, whose day had been marred by a fumble, a drop and a false start. It was not an individual performance to savor, although it was another valuable educational experience for him.
But when Manning's pass sailed toward Thomas, who was near the west sideline, all the frustration of the fourth quarter didn't matter. Nor did the eventual application of the lessons to come, part of the process of becoming an elite tight end.
Ten months of work rested on the throw, the catch, and Thomas' ability to get both feet in-bounds. Check, check and check. Another catch by Thomas on the following third down virtually sealed the game.
"(It was a) great play call by [Offensive Coordinator] Adam [Gase]," said Manning. "It really was a big-time play call. Got them in the right look and a good catch by Julius."
But once the result was achieved, it was back to the process. They got the win to preserve their season for at least one more week, and a few issues to fix that will prevent even the faintest of complacency from setting in.
The offense will focus on the two giveaways in San Diego territory that prevented the Broncos from putting the game out of reach by halftime. The defense will examine a fourth quarter in which the Chargers got away from their game plan -- but scored 17 points, averaged 10.0 yards per play and came within the two Thomas catches of having the chance to drive for the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in NFL postseason history.
"We're going to look at the fourth quarter. We've got to play 60 minutes," said defensive lineman Malik Jackson. "You can't expect to win a game closing out that kind of fashion, especially when a team might be hanging in there with us."
"We made some mental errors," added cornerback Quentin Jammer.
Jammer, the 12-year veteran, felt the worst about the fourth-quarter decline. After taking over for Chris Harris Jr. following the third-year cornerback's ankle and knee injury, Jammer found himself beaten for a 16-yard touchdown and the Chargers' two longest plays of the game.
"Myself, I made mental errors that led to three big plays," Jammer said.
The one that bothered him most was the 49-yard Philip Rivers-to-Keenan Allen connection on fourth-and-3 with 7:38 left. At that moment, the Broncos led by 17, the crowd was roaring, sensing a chance for the final knockdown blow, and the Chargers had put their fading hopes on one play.
As a seasoned veteran and nine-season teammate of Rivers, Jammer thought he knew what the quarterback would do -- especially given the windy conditions, with breezes gusting over 30 miles per hour at times.
"I over-thought everything," said Jammer, who added that he "sat" on Allen's route. "And me being a veteran player, it's fourth-and-3, going against the wind, I'm thinking, 'a curl (route),' just something to get the first down and keep the chains moving, and I let the guy run right by me."
If Harris' injury is minor, Jammer will be one of the players called on for more extensive duty. His task would then be to ensure a quarter like the fourth does not happen again.
"There's a lot that we can clean up, and there's a lot that I need to clean up," he said.
But thanks to his teammates, he has that chance. To survive and advance does not simply mean that you move one step closer to the primary goal. It means you have one more chance to get it right.
And that's why when the Broncos racked up a final hat trick of third-down conversions, Jammer greeted the win with a low-key reaction.
"Relief," Jammer said, with a smile. "When you give up a couple of big plays in a game, you're just hoping that you get another shot to go out and prove that you belong. That's my mindset."
It was a sentiment shared in the locker room after the Broncos earned what they wanted: one more chance to get it right. One more win to get to the Super Bowl.
Twenty-eight teams pine for what the Broncos now possess: another opportunity to refine their process to achieve the result of their dreams.
They survived and advanced. But getting the result they want next week may depend on the process, and how they apply Sunday's lessons toward a showdown with the Patriots.


text:
The following is a "digest" version of the 2011 Moderator Election Town Hall Chat. The format, as described on Meta Stack Overflow, is one answer to this question for every question asked in the Town Hall, containing all the candidate's answers to that question. This digest will contain the questions and answers from both the first and second town halls.
To view the digest chronologically, please sort the answers by "oldest".
If you have questions or comments about this, please do not answer this question as the answers are designed to be used for the questions from the Town hall itself. Instead, please ask on the parent question or in the Town Hall Discussion Room.
(I would like to say THANK YOU REBECCA CHERNOFF for organizing these town halls!)
This digest is still a work in progress. The Gaming town hall was very busy and somewhat hard to parse. I am still working on compiling everything; check the message at the top of this answer for the current status. If you see any corrections which need to be made to this digest, or if you were a candidate who was unable to attend the town hall and would like your answers included, please @Josh me and let me know! I will make corrections ASAP.
If you were a candidate who was unable to attend one of the two town halls and would like to answer questions from the town hall you were unable to attend please join The Town Hall Chat Room and post your answers there. Then @Josh me and I will include them here.


text:
|Who would you put on your writing dream team?
It's that fictional weekly poker game that got me thinking. I couldn't resist, I began to compile my own list of famous writers. These are the secret crushes I've harbored for years—those I'd love to hang out with on a regular basis. In my mind, every time I write a story I secretly wonder how it would stand up during a discussion with my dream team.
Have I piqued your curiosity? No worries, I'll share all.


text:
Fury Warrior Guide for WotLK
WotLK Phase 2Ulduar
Updated on October 1, 2023
Everything you need to improve your DPS performance in Raids.
Check this spec in rankings
Top Choice
This guide covers all the essential parts of character optimization needed to maximize your DPS in Raids as Fury Warrior.
To navigate between guide sections use the top dropdown or buttons in the bottom.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does the data come from?
Our guides are based on statistics. We use algorithms to process thousands of Raid Logs (from Warcraft Logs) every day. By analyzing this Big Data from top parses we are able to precisely calculate what are World's Best Players using now.
How to use this guide?
We evaluate each item by their current Popularity among World First Guilds and Top Parsing Players since it's the safest way to tell the Meta. Also, be sure to use our boss filter when optimizing for different Raid Bosses.


text:
By Agence France-Presse
World heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua has placed himself in self-isolation following a meeting with coronavirus (COVID-19) victim Prince Charles.
Anthony Joshua (Tolga AKMEN / AFP)
Charles, the eldest son and heir to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, is showing mild symptoms of coronavirus and is self-isolating in Scotland, officials said on Wednesday.
It remains unclear when Charles caught the illness but on March 9, he spent the day with the Queen, prime minister Boris Johnson and stars of sport and entertainment -- including Joshua -- at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.
A spokesman for Joshua told the Daily Mail: "AJ is at home following government guidelines, he is fit and well. He wishes everyone affected a speedy recovery and a huge thank you to all the front line key workers."
Joshua is due to defend his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles against mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20.
But the coronavirus could delay that bout and push back a hugely anticipated all-British fight with WBC champion Tyson Fury until next year at the earliest.
In a series of Twitter posts on Tuesday, Joshua thanked all those involved in trying to combat the coronavirus by saying: "It's humbling to see people giving their everything right now to keep us safe. Shout to everyone on the front-line.
"We see you, we appreciate you, we thank you and we're in awe of you!"


text:
The Entertainment Group (The EG) is the most incredible weekend gathering you've never heard of.
I had no idea what it was 12 months ago, but two unrelated friends — also first-time attendees — raved to me about it in the same week. Once I did the digging, it quickly became the event I most wanted to be part of.
Where else can you sit next to Yo-Yo Ma, Jeff Bezos, and the guys from MythBusters with the breathing room lost at the mega-conferences? Share drinks with the winners of Nobels, MacArthurs, Oscars, and Tonys without the pretension of a white-tie ball? Hang with Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs while listening to the world's top dueling pianists?
Now I'm in the mix: I'm speaking on December 12th, most likely on accelerated learning and the quest for elegant skill acquisition.
Founded by Richard Saul Wurman, the mastermind behind TED, to recreate the dream conference, it hosts the most unusual and creative cross-section of inventors, entertainers, artists, scientists, rising stars and living national treasures you could ever imagine… Mike Hawley (MIT Media Lab professor, digital media pioneer, veteran of Lucasfilm, computer inventor with Steve Jobs at NeXT) directs it. And unlike TED, you can actually still get in without filling out an application and soliciting letters of reference.
Just a swipe of your all-powerful credit card while a few spots still remain. It ain't cheap, but this is one of the few cases where I think it's worth it. I was planning on attending whether I spoke or not, and I've never paid for the other usual suspects in the high-end conference world.
Here are a few of my favorite past EG presentations, from "talks" on the TED website:
Jonathan Harris: New storytelling tools
Mark Bittman: What's wrong with what we eat
Kevin Kelly: The next 5,000 days
The EG is where Negroponte launched the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) laptop, Brian Greene gave a crash course in quantum theory, Caleb Chung gave away Pleos. Paul Horowitz told us how he's actually hunting for little green men. John Underkoffler (the real genius behind the "Minority Report" interface) showed his inventions, Jonathan Harris presented his dazzling web artistry, Pablos Holman showed his terrifying hackery, and Will Wright unveiled SPORE for the very first time.
I've been told they're giving away Chumbys as door prizes this year… but it's more than just hackers and gadgets.
It is Yo-Yo Ma playing the 'cello, and Leon Fleisher at the piano, and Jonathan Winters reminiscing about his life. It is Queen Elizabeth's Royal Calligrapher, Donald Jackson. It's Minsky, and Mossberg, and Markoff and Myrhvold. It's also guys like Peter Gelb, who runs the MET Opera in NY showing how they're now HD-casting La Boheme across the country, which they pretty much have to do seeing as how MacArthur-winning architect Liz Diller has been tearing up Lincoln Center and redesigning it. If you want to jam with Todd Rundgren or Laurie Anderson, wangle a bit part in David Pogue's next sophomoric tech video, explore King Tut's Tomb with Zahi Hawass, join the Ringling Brothers Circus with star clown Bello Nock, or have your snapshot taken with Bran Ferren's 10 *gigapixel* camera, you might want to come to Monterey December 11-13th.
11-13 December
Monterey, California
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.


text:
I love my husband, I really do.
After nearly four years of marriage I've come to accept his quirky habits like removing his socks in the middle of the night and shoving them deep into the recesses of our bed sheets. Likewise, he's come to endure my tendency to hang my workout clothes on doorknobs to "dry" after coming home from the gym.
Quite the pair, no? ;)
Anyway, there's just one thing I can't get past – the way he eats kiwi.
Instead of cutting the ends off the kiwifruit, removing the peel and neatly slicing or chopping the flesh before consuming, he eats the kiwi like an apple, skin and all. To me, the thought of eating or even licking kiwifruit skin is the visual equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. I can't even!
It's easier this way! he claims. Plus, fiber!
To each his own, I suppose, but I am definitely peeling the fruit for Kiwi Mango Quinoa Salad!
Tart, fuzz-free kiwi, sweet mango, crisp tomatoes, spicy red onion and bright cilantro are mixed with protein-packed quinoa and dressed with a tongue-tingling Lime & Ginger Vinaigrette. Fresh and crisp, this salad is perfect for a light lunch or supper!
First things first, I've been posting a few more quinoa recipes than normal, so I thought I'd take a second to give you a refresher course on this awesome super food.
Pronounced "keen-wa" quinoa is actually a seed from South America which has been eaten for thousands of years. Quinoa is gluten free, and high in protein, calcium, iron, and fiber. It's great for people looking for a high-protein meat alternative, and I personally feel better about eating it in place of white rice, for instance, which can't hold a nutritional candle to quinoa.
Quinoa cooks the same as rice – boil 2 parts water –> add 1 part quinoa –> cook until tender – and can be enjoyed in many ways like in casseroles, as a side dish, and in salads. It's got a mild flavor all its own, which I can best describe as nutty, and has a fun, poppy texture. The quinoa seeds also look like little springs when they're cooked, which is absolutely precious.
Quinoa does have a bitter coating on the outside, so make sure you rinse it well in a mesh colander before cooking. Other than that, its quickly become one of my very favorite foods. Especially when it helps pump up my sweet and fruity Kiwi Mango Quinoa Salad.
This salad comes together super quick after putting in a few minutes of face time with the cutting board. Simply combine cooked and cooled quinoa with chopped red onion, cilantro, kiwi, mango and grape tomatoes.
PS I HAVE to show you my favorite method for quickly and easily peeling kiwifruit. First, cut the top and bottom off the fruit.
Next, slide a spoon in between the peel and flesh.
Finally, spin the spoon around the perimeter, and the flesh will pop right out. It seriously takes less than 30 seconds. I keep telling him! ;)
At any rate, after chopping all the salad ingredients, mix up a refreshing Lime & Ginger Vinaigrette to drizzle on top. Combine extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil and rice vinegar in a bowl or jar.
Add lime zest, lime juice, microplaned or finely minced ginger, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
Shake it all up, drizzle over the salad, and serve!
I topped my portion of Kiwi Mango Quinoa Salad with a little bit of crumbled goat cheese because I bought nearly 4lbs of it (not really, but close) in a moment of weakness at Costco this weekend and am pretty much putting it in everything to use it up, but I think the salad would be just as good without it!
free email bonus
Dinner Made EASY
5 days of simple yet flavorful recipes that take the stress out of dinnertime!
Kiwi Mango Quinoa Salad
Kiwi Mango Quinoa Salad is full of healthy fruits and veggies, making it perfect for a light lunch or dinner!
- 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed & drained
- 2 cups water
- 2 kiwi, chopped
- 1 mango, chopped
- 1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1/4 cup red onion, minced
- 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
- For the Lime Ginger Vinaigrette:
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon lime zest
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, microplaned or finely minced
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- salt & pepper
- Bring water to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add quinoa, place a lid on top and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. Pour into a large bowl and allow to cool. Once cool, add in kiwi, mango, tomatoes, red onion and cilantro.
- Combine all ingredients for the vinaigrette together and pour over the quinoa, fruits and vegetables. Mix to combine. Season with more salt & pepper to taste.
Slightly adapted from Inspired Edibles
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
The textures and flavors in this salad are out of this world – crunchy, creamy, sweet, and above all – FRESH!
Filling yet light at the same time, I can see myself making big batches of this all summer, for easy lunches on the go all week long.
Does your roommate or spouse have any "fun" quirky habits you didn't know about until you moved in together?


text:
WASHINGTON – Efforts to fashion a temporary spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month ran aground Friday amid a fight over farm bailout funding that's a key priority of President Donald Trump and Capitol Hill Republicans.
A House Appropriations Committee spokesman said the measure, which aides had predicted would be released Friday evening, won't be unveiled until next week. The measure needs to be passed by the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 to prevent a shutdown of nonessential government functions.
A tentative proposal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to permit Trump to keep awarding agricultural funds this campaign season in exchange for food aid for the poor ran into severe turbulence with both House and Senate Democrats.
The evolving measure is a lowest-common-denominator, bare-minimum bill that befits a deeply polarized Congress. Even so, it took intense efforts at the highest levels of Washington to get the measure this far, but a negotiating flurry Friday fell apart. Neither side wants a partial government shutdown.
Aides following the talks closely said Pelosi initially denied an administration request to add routine flexibility to rules governing Trump's farm bailout efforts, which would freeze his ability to dole out subsidy payments until after the election. Trump is using the funding, over which he has much control, to try to shore up his support in farm country, which has been hit hard by low commodity prices and higher tariffs he himself imposed.
The battle prompted Trump on Friday to blast his nemesis on Twitter: "Pelosi wants to take 30 Billion Dollars away from our great Farmers. Can't let that happen!"
Pelosi then reversed course Friday afternoon to briefly approve the Trump-sought change — only to again change her mind, Democratic and GOP aides said, speaking on condition of anonymity to publicly characterize behind-the-scenes dealings. Pelosi was also seeking a higher food benefit for families whose children are unable to receive free or reduced lunches because schools are closed over the coronavirus.
It's unclear what happens next, but Pelosi retains the option to try to jam the measure through without the farm provision and try to cast blame on Republicans or Trump if it runs aground in the Senate.
Earlier, Republicans denied Democratic requests involving the census and election administration grants. What remains is not controversial and includes provisions that would extend federal highway and flood insurance programs, along with a variety of other low-profile items.
As previously announced, the bill does not contain COVID-19 relief, leaving that issue in all likelihood for a post-election lame duck session — or for the next administration.
The temporary funding measure comes as some Democrats are increasingly upset that an impasse over coronavirus relief is reflecting poorly on the party and as Trump agitates for a deal that's more generous than other Republicans would like.
But with COVID-19 rescue negotiations dead in the water, the stopgap spending bill is likely to be the only measure of note that passes before the election. Not long ago, such measures barely attracted notice, but there have been a handful of government shutdowns over the past few years. Congress has become so dysfunctional that crafting stopgap measures now requires more attention from top leaders.
Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin negotiated the measure, which would keep the government open through Dec. 11. Democrats had proposed next February, apparently to avert any need to reconvene Congress after the election to deal with Trump, who they predict will lose his bid for a second term in November.
In conversations Friday, Pelosi and Mnuchin abandoned efforts to iron out wrinkles involving the census and election administration grants to states, though a heavily lobbied package to extend a number of health programs was likely to be included.
Democrats, meanwhile, were denied $400 million in grants to states to help them carry out elections this fall. Republicans also rejected a push by Pelosi to delay the once-a-decade apportionment of House seats after the census until the next administration.
The House is slated to pass the stopgap funding bill — called a continuing resolution, or CR in Washington-speak — next week. They are likely to then recess for the campaign.
Earlier this week, Pelosi said the House would stay in session until a COVID-19 deal was reached. Instead, lawmakers appear likely to leave Washington next week and be on 24 hours' notice to return if there is a coronavirus relief deal to vote on.
Such a situation would surely create angst among Democrats who are increasingly vocal that Pelosi should do more to ease a weekslong standoff in bipartisan COVID-19 relief talks. Pelosi has staked out a hard line for a COVID-19 package of at least $2.2 trillion, while Republicans controlling the Senate aren't willing to come close to that.
The resulting chasm would only be bridgeable if both sides were to make embarrassing retreats from their stubbornly held positions — something neither side has been willing to do. Instead, they have been devoting their energies to posturing and finger-pointing, much to the dismay of lawmakers who believe a flawed deal is better than none at all.
"We can argue about what the specifics of a plan should look like. But the important thing is that we get back to the negotiating table and hammer out a deal that can be passed into law," said Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla. "Identify the things that you agree on and build from there to get recovery resources to the American people as soon as possible."
Trump said this week that he wants his GOP allies to go for "higher numbers" that would permit another round of $1,200 direct stimulus payments that would be sent out under his name. Senate Republicans for the most part dismissed the idea.
While Trump is seen as pushing for a deal — any deal — his top negotiators on COVID-19 relief, Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have been taking a hard line with Pelosi.


text:
Horatio Hale
Our editors will review what you've submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
- Born:
- May 3, 1817 New Hampshire
- Died:
- December 28, 1896 (aged 79) Canada
- Subjects Of Study:
- literature Algonquian languages Iroquois Northwest Coast Indian language
Horatio Hale, in full Horatio Emmons Hale, (born May 3, 1817, Newport, N.H., U.S.—died Dec. 28, 1896, Clinton, Ont., Can.), American anthropologist, who made valuable linguistic and ethnographic studies of North American Indians. His major contribution is the influence he exerted on the development of Franz Boas, whose ideas came to dominate U.S. anthropology for about 50 years.
While a student at Harvard University (1833–37), Hale studied the language of some Algonquian-speaking Indians who camped on college land. His published results placed his linguistic research in an ethnological setting, thus establishing the pattern of his later work. Following graduation he joined Charles Wilkes's surveying and charting expedition that went around the world (1838–42). Reaching Oregon Territory near the end of the voyage, he studied the languages of Indians of the Northwest. He also gathered a substantial amount of linguistic data in Polynesia, which appears in his Ethnology and Philology: United States Exploring Expeditions (1846).
In 1856 Hale entered legal practice at Clinton, Ont., and for the next 20 years was engaged primarily with his practice. In the late 1860s, however, he began collecting traditional Iroquois literature from the Six Nations Reserve, Brantford, Ont. Those collections are the basis of his major contribution to the literature of anthropology. Hale considered linguistic evidence to be superior to racial data for establishing ethnological relations among existing groups. Among his linguistic achievements was a demonstration that the Wyandot Huron language is the oldest form of Iroquoian. His most important work, The Iroquois Book of Rites (1883), summarizes much of his research and reconstructs the later prehistory of the tribes of the Six Nations.
In the early 1890s Hale chose Franz Boas to conduct fieldwork among the Northwest Coast Indians for the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He not only provided Boas with material support but also corresponded with him regularly, offering guidelines and advice that Boas incorporated into his field approach to general anthropology.


text:
Saturday, June 25
Daily Farm Photo: 6/25/05
7 comments:
Oh, what a cutie! :)ReplyDelete
He looks like he's not thrilled about having his picture taken.ReplyDelete
Breakfast was very late! He is hanging out the "window" of the ancient, slowly-sinking-into-the-ground log cabin he shares with New Cat, wondering why on earth I am holding a camera instead of his morning cup of kitty kibbles. He's really very sweet. . .ReplyDelete
he is sooo cute!ReplyDelete
haha, i recognize that mood :)ReplyDelete
that is the belated permalink to kiri :)
- Anonymous6/27/2005 6:23 AM
Farmgirl, I followed Clare eats link to take a look at J2.ReplyDelete
His expression is priceless. How adorable!
December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.
Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!
Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.
I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.
I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!