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|ognizant Communication Corporation
Formerly The International Journal of Hospitality Information Technology
Volume 4, Numbers 2/3
Information Technology in Hospitality, Vol. 4, pp. 49-61
1545-9535/05 $60.00 + .00
Copyright © 2006 Cognizant Comm. Corp.
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
Centralized Information Systems in the Lodging Industry: Implications for Knowledge Management
Srikanth Beldona,1 Pearl Brewer,2 and Sheryl F. Kline3
1Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management,
University of Delaware, USA
2Department of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
3Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, USA
The open standards of the Internet have brought about a centralized shift in the way franchisors interact with franchisees. Using centralized systems such as those enabled by Application Service Providers, lodging franchisors can greatly leverage the benefits of centralization that goes beyond the domains of rich transactional processing. The purpose of this study was to examine the forces that will shape the development of centralized information architectures, while simultaneously shedding light on the new knowledge that lodging franchisors can harness and diffuse across the network. The study develops a lodging-based organizational creation framework. Implications for IT managers are discussed.
Key words: Centralized information systems; Application service provisioning; Knowledge management; Organizational learning; Lodging
Address correspondence to Srikanth Beldona, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Hospitality E-Commerce and Marketing, Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, University of Delaware, 202 Raub Hall, 14 West Main Street, Newark, DE 19716, USA. Tel: 1-302-831-6192; Fax: 1-302-831-6395; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Who's Watching You? Data Collection by Hotel Chain Websites
Peter O'connor
Institute de Management Hotelier International, ESSEC Business School, France
The Web provides unprecedented opportunities for website operators to implicitly and explicitly gather highly detailed personal data about site visitors. This study explores the collection of data by the websites of the top 100 hotel brands. Over three quarters explicitly collect personal identifying data by encouraging visitors to register or join loyalty programs. Nearly two thirds also collect data implicitly through the use of cookie technology. Larger, US-based companies serving the upper end of the market are the most likely to collect data about visitors to their website, irrespective of whether this collection is explicit or implicit. Hotel websites showed an awareness of the importance of privacy concerns to consumers, with the majority of those who collected data in some way prominently displaying a privacy statement of some kind on their website.
Key words: Privacy; Hotel industry; Cookies; e-Commerce
Address correspondence to Peter O'Connor. Ph.D., Professor of Information Systems, Institute de Management Hotelier International, ESSEC Business School, Avenue Bernard Hirsch BP105, 95021 Cergy Pontoise, Cedex, France. Tel: 0033134433177; E-mail: email@example.com
Business Models for Travel Emediaries: Examining and Applying Theoretical Frameworks
Roberto Daniele and Andrew J. Frew
SITI Research Centre, School of Business and Enterprise, Queen Margaret University College, UK
This article describes a study that has explored the body of literature on eBusiness models and placed this in the context of the development of travel eMediaries (online intermediaries). The work provides an addition to knowledge in the area and lays part of the foundation for in-depth study of business models and business performance in online intermediation in this sector. The article identifies the most significant definitions and categories of eBusiness models and considers their application through selected eMediaries in the American, European, and Asia Pacific markets. Key areas for further research are suggested, including proposed work from the authors on analysis of determinants of competitive advantage for eMediaries and their networks.
Key words: Business model travel agent; Online intermediary; Tourism; Growth strategies; Business models; eMediary; Electronic distribution
Address correspondence to Roberto Daniele, Lecturer, School of Business and Enterprise, Queen Margaret University College, 33 Clerwood Terrace, Corstorphine Campus, Edinburgh EH12 8TS. Tel: +44 131 317 3585; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Productivity Perception in the Swiss Hospitality Industry: Preliminary Findings
Ray F. Iunius, Stefan Fraenkel, and Julien Lacour-Gayet
Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Institute of Technology and Enterprise (EHLITE)
This article presents first results of a study exploring the issues related to the perception of labor productivity in deluxe hotels in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Although the central idea of the study is labor productivity, other related themes will also be addressed, including quality, training, and information technology. The study highlights the fact that the concept of labor productivity is still very vague; the most interesting finding being that, apparently, the more effort put into the understanding of productivity, the more nebulous the concept becomes. As the perceptions are misplaced, action plans may not be effective, and ultimately people begin to lose interest in the enhancement of labor productivity.
Key words: Productivity; Perception; Inputs; Process; Labor; Concepts; Definitions; Methodology; Quality; Training; Profitability; Information technology
Address correspondence to Ray Iunius, Director EHLITE, Le Chalet-a-Gobet, CH-1000 Lausanne 25, Switzerland. Tel: +41 41217851507; E-mail: email@example.com
Ontology-Based Website Generation and Utilization for Tourism Services
G. Michael Mcgrath and Brooke Abrahams
Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research, Victoria University, Australia
It seems unlikely that any single one of the many competing tourism data standards will dominate in the near future. Thus, to facilitate tourism data integration, an approach based on mappings to and from a common, abstracted reference model would seem to be required. We report on an accommodation services website generation package called "AcOntoWeb." AcOntoWeb is based on the same technologies that are the foundation of Harmonise but is extended in the sense that the central ontology itself is abstracted. This leads to benefits in the form of reduced development and maintenance costs, less-complex mapping schemes, and the ability to cope more effectively with business environment volatility. AcOntoWeb is currently being evaluated as part of a wider research project, a major focus of which is ICT diffusion among Australian SMTEs. Some important recent research into technology diffusion and change management issues among SMTEs within the Australasian region is summarized.
Key words: SMTEs; Semantic Web; Ontologies; Knowledge representation; Abstraction; Information integration; Technology diffusion
Address correspondence to Professor Michael McGrath, Professor of Information Systems, Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research, Footscray Park Campus, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne City MC 8001, Australia. Tel +61 3 9688 4627; E-mail: email@example.com
Using Best Practices and the Digital Environment to Teach "Computer Applications For Hospitality"
Jim Buergermeister,1 Edward Harris,2 and Charlene Schmidt3
1Department of Hospitality & Tourism, University of Wisconsin-Stout,
2Program Director Service Management, University of Wisconsin-Stout, USA
3Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Wisconsin-Stout, USA
This article will introduce the reader to e-learning and how it relates to the Seven Principles of Effective Teaching. A special class project, featuring point-of-sale technology, is used to show how "best teaching practices" improve learning for students in the course "Computer Applications for Hospitality." Students explore the impact of computers and communications on the hospitality industry, describe basic functions found in property and restaurant management systems, and devote a significant amount of time to learning industry-specific applications. In the digital learning environment students have access to Blackboard, a course management tool. Blackboard provides students with a discussion board for asynchronous communication, access to course information, special software, and a variety of Internet resources.
Key words: Course room management systems; Digital environment; Best practices; POS menu design project; Teaching and learning
Address correspondence to Jim Buergermeister, Department of Hospitality
& Tourism, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI, USA. E-mail:


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In Bivrost Studios we developed complete set of tools enabling the production and experience of the stereoscopic video in 360° format.
Want to rock the 360 degrees video industry? Have access to our tools, camera rigs, rendering engines and other stuff?
Well, you can!
Bivrost in Nordic mythology is a mystic land bridge connecting a simple world of humans with an unreachable magical world of Gods.
We are convinced that the cinematic VR starts a revolution in the very experience of the reality. And that Bivrost becomes the part of this profound change. Feel free to contact and let's make this change together.

subset: commoncrawl


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Your Perfect Vacation Awaits! Call us at 800.968.5817
Mountain Joy Cottage #6, Bait and Tackle, is named and adorned for the fisherman at heart. Our trout coffee table was the motivation behind this delightfully alluring cottage. Dark green walls and amusing enhancements make you feel as though you are in the woods near your favorite stream or pond.
Originally the homestead of Maggie Setzer, for whom Maggie Valley was named, the land that Mountain Joy sits is a special place. You will become enchanted with it's mountain charm, family atmosphere and character. We offer all the modern conveniences you would expect with the year-round access and seclusion that very few can offer.
Enjoy the peaceful country setting of our cottages. We have one, two and four bedroom cottages all equipped with wood burning fireplaces, cable TV, internet and kitchens ready to cook a home made meal. Outside the porches have rocking chairs so you can enjoy your morning coffee or enjoy the sunset on the mountains in the evening. Our glass enclosed outdoor pool (seasonal) offers a delightful place to relax.
Mountain Joy Cottages are centrally located in the heart of Maggie Valley just one block up Setzer Cove Road with easy access to all of the area attractions. We are just minutes off of the Scenic Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The area is loaded with craft, antique and gift shops. The great outdoors offers horseback riding, golf on area mountain courses, trout fishing in streams, white water rafting and scenic drives. Snow skiing and tubing is available for the entire family at Cataloochee Ski Area. Nightlife includes everything from Jazz to Bluegrass, clogging or dinner entertainment. Our cottages are just a short drive to the Great Smoky Mountain Railway, Ashville and The Biltmore Estate, Cherokee and the Indian Reservation and Harrah's Casino and historic downtown Waynesville.
Whatever the season, Mountain Joy Cottages and the Great Smokies have something very special to offer. From the wildflowers of spring, to the blaze of colors in the fall or the serenity of winter, come visit and make lasting memories at Mountain Joy Cottages.
$55 Reservation Fee
$10 Trash Fee
$100 Refundable Security Deposit
January-April $130 per night $750 per night
May- December $145 per night $800 per night


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The Tea Gallery
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Shan Lin Xi Sampler
Alternative Views:
In Nantou County, Taiwan we were so happy to find the highly prized Shan Lin Xi in two different roasting styles. The tightly coiled leaves of both teas don't differ much in appearance but the contrast in taste was illuminating.
The aroma of the lightly roasted Shan Lin Xi possessed soft and sweet orchid notes. The infusions were light and refreshing. The body of the tea was slender and ephemeral, releasing a floral sweetness around the tongue as it traveled down the throat. We loved the tropical notes of young coconut and mango. The aftertaste of sugarcane continued to build and last throughout the luxuriant finish. A lingering honey note beckoned from the bottom of the cup.
Shan Lin Xi - Medium Roast shares many of the sweet and floral characteristics of it's lighter sibling but the longer roasting time gives this tea some extra dimensions. The aroma of the heated leaves had a denser, malted sweetness that made mouths water. The first few sips gave us a fuller body with juicy peach notes and a little bitter almond. We were treated to a smooth and silky texture that transformed into a dry finish perfumed with lilies.
Both teas come from the same garden so this is great way to comparison taste and know what a difference a little roasting makes.
Our sampler includes:
Shan Lin Xi - Light Roast:
Shan Lin Xi - Medium Roast:
Our Price:
Amount per Package:
50 grams
Quantity in Stock:
(Out of Stock)
Product Code:
Winter Harvest 2009 Shan Lin Xi
Shan Lin Xi comes from Central Taiwan in Nantou County. It is considered a high mountain oolong because the trees are planted above 1700 meters sea level.
While Shan Lin Xi is considered a "modern" oolong since it's development started in the 1970's, it's rich and complex flavor profile and small production earned it a quick and lasting popularity. Today, premium quality Shan Lin Xi is a highly coveted oolong among Taiwanese tea connoisseurs
Unlike many lightly roasted Taiwanese oolongs which cool the body, we found both Shan Lin Xi's had a warming chaqi. Winnie and Dae both felt an unusual amount heat and dampness in their hands and necks.
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Five months pregnant with her sixth child, Charity was terrified to tell her parents. She and her husband Patrick were tens of thousands of dollars in debt and relying on her parents financially, so she was worried they would be upset about them bringing another child into their situation. So, as per the title of the show, she was "Secretly Pregnant."
She even wore special undergarments to try and hide her expanding stomach, which were becoming painful. Finally, though, there was just no more hiding it and they had to face the music and come clean. But what they were expecting in response was far from what they got.
"God has his reasons," Charity's mother said. "You're both fantastic parents."
"You have a baby comin', I need a hug," her father added. "Love you, baby."
When it came time to have the baby, Charity added a baby boy to the five sons she and Patrick already had.
"Secretly Pregnant" explores why women keep such a big secret every Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery Fit & Health.
TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.


text: I know X has had some rough patches last year, but the guy came through for everyone, and I never had any issue during that time period, so I trust the guy and will keep going back until he gives me a reason not to. Commo and transit time take a little while, but guess what folks, buying steroids online isnt fucking amazon dot com. You arent gunna get your shit in 3 days. Be patient. It will come. Almost all of my packs from X have come in the 6-10 business day window. Plan accordingly. I am ordering some more of this amazing Zyklon tren from him next week.


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Popularization of the Earth Sciences and sharing the results of geological research with the public is one of the priorities of the Czech Geological Survey. Throughout the existence of the CGS, its staff have endeavoured to improve our understanding of geological evolution and the Earth's resources by geological mapping and research. More recently, with the advent of our information-based society and innovations in publication, it has been possible to communicate knowledge in understandable and eye-catching formats to everyone with an interest in the natural processes that affect us. Public outreach by the CGS embraces the professional community and the public alike, ranging from school children, students and parents to tourists and pensioners.
On this page you will find the answers to many questions, including the possibility to contact a specialist in geology, hydrogeology or economic geology directly (Czech only).
The Czech Republic has a rich tradition in the extraction and processing of natural stone. The increasing demand for good-quality material that is suitable for decorative purposes makes a considerable contribution to the development of stone-working branches in industry.
The database contains records of the locations in the Czech Republic, which documented numerous examples of highly diverse geological phenomena, significant occurrences of rocks, minerals and fossils.
A virtual museum of the CGS offers a rich photographic doccumentation to the collections stored in the Czech Geological Survey.
Czech/English and English/Czech geological dictionary
April 10, 2018
March 24, 2017
January 15, 2017
September 5, 2016
October 23, 2015
More events
Foreign language publications
The web pages for children (Czech only)


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Config for httpS://mail.yourdomain.net using Apache 2.* with Fedora Core 3 and SquirrelMail 1.4.4 or SquirrelMail 1.5.*
(I couldn't properly add code here in the wiki)
Below added by Mike
If you don't care that that every web page on your server is forced to https, you can
copy and paste the following into your httpd.conf file (works on Apache 2.* with FC4):
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443$
RewriteRule ^/(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [L,R]
Remove the question mark that shows up in this display. Everything else is fine.
This is really helpful for those sites that plan to only have SquirrelMail running
on that server.
Hope this helps, -Mike
In case you have multiple vhosts on your system and want to use it in your vhost config (assuming you have both port 80 and 443 defined), simply put this in the VirtualHost? for port 80:
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^/(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [L,R]
This way, it will also only activate the rewrite if ssl is loaded ;)
This is Fedora Core 4 specific, but here's what I did.
Good luck.
/ gregweb(aht)hawley(doht)homeip(doht)net
For IIS if you have SSL set up and your certificate installed you can force SquirrelMail to use SSL by:
1. In IIS Manager select the SquirrelMail directory and edit it's properties.
2. On the Directory Security Tab click the Secure communications Edit button.
3. Check the "Require Secure Communications" box.


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Bravo Melts is searching for the perfect graphic designer with the perfect logo, and the reward goes entirely to the winner.
Nashville, TN (PRWEB) July 08, 2014
Bravo Melts, a newly established brand and one of a kind , destination restaurant in Nashville, TN is on the hunt for the "perfect logo."
Nearly any business owner would feel the same, but Bravo Melts is taking it to a new level with a paid competition to see who can tackle the task that no one has been able to quite nail down. "Cheerful but not childish, make my mouth water and make me think of everything that is loved when it comes to hot melted grilled cheese," these are requests from the Bravo Melts owner and mastermind of the full project. "No one has really hit the nail on the head, Bravo Melts is not set on any one look or design, however, I'm sure that I'll know when it's right," says owner Christie Hauck.
Mr. Hauck also mentions they've gotten several unique great logos already, but still none have struck a cord of that "sureness" he know's he'll eventually feel. This is a great opportunity for all types of graphics designers, budding and experienced alike, to really showcase their own creativity. Incentive for the hard working winner is a money prize, as well as a hefty planned advertising budget. This meaning the artist's work will be showcased heavily- billboards, website ads, social media campaigns, just to name a few. Any qualified graphic artists interested in pursuing the opportunity or to learn more, click here.


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Item Description
5 Pcs~18.5" Black Separating Nylon Jacket Zippers With Gold Metal Pull
Size; #5
Pease check our store for other color, and other size.
we also off wholesale price. Please contact us.
We have combined shipping discount for multiple items. We will refund your combine shipping discount after you paid it.
We will ship the item by US first class or priority mail for international shipping.
No return, or refund for international buyer


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Our Office
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Homeowners Due Refunds For Mortgage Insurance Overcharges
Attorney General Spitzer announced today that he has obtained a settlement that will result in consumers across the state receiving $4 million in refunds for mortgage insurance overcharges.
It's estimated that 10,000 New Yorkers will be eligible for the refund, with the average homeowner receiving $400. In addition, those eligible for the refunds will no longer have to pay mortgage insurance, thereby reducing their monthly payments.
State law prohibits insurance companies from charging consumers mortgage insurance once they have 25 percent equity in their homes. A year long investigation by Spitzer's office found that all six of the nation's mortgage insurance companies were continuing to collect the insurance premiums even after consumers had reached the 25 percent threshold.
"We want to make the dream of home ownership as available and affordable to as many New Yorkers as possible and this settlement helps achieve that goal," said Spitzer. "The settlement is important because we are obtaining refunds for those who have been overcharged, and we are bringing about needed reforms that will protect all other homeowners in New York in the future."
Typically, banks require homeowners to obtain private mortgage insurance if they are putting down less than 20 percent of a home's value at the time of purchase. On a $100,000 mortgage, the monthly costs for PMI would range from $30-$75 depending on the size of the down payment.
Consumers who were overcharged between November 1, 1997 and November 1, 2000 are eligible for the refunds. Over the next few months, the mortgage insurance companies and the banks holding loans will go through their records to determine which homeowners have been overcharged. Consumers should receive their refund checks by next July.
The six companies are: Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) of Milwaukee; PMI Mortgage Insurance (PMI) of San Francisco; General Electric Mortgage Insurance Company (GEMICO) of Raleigh; Republic Mortgage Insurance Company (RMIC) of Winston-Salem; United Guaranty Residential Insurance of Greensboro; and Radian Guaranty, Inc. of Philadelphia.
Spitzer commended the companies for working with his office on the settlement, and for agreeing to implement policies to ensure that the overcharges no longer occur.
In entering into the agreement, the six companies deny any violation of law and have paid a combined sum of $125,000 to the Attorney General's Office to cover the costs of the investigation.
Also taking part in the news conference was Alexander Roberts, the Executive Director of Community Housing Innovations, Inc.
The case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Oliver A. Rosengart, and Bureau Chief Geneith Turnbull, of the Real Estate Financing Bureau, and by Assistant Attorney General Melvin Goldberg, Deputy Bureau Chief Dianne Dixon, and Bureau Chief Thomas Conway of the Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau.


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SIL International Media Release
Research registers more languages
(December 2008) As knowledge of the world's languages increases, so does the number of registered languages. According to research reported to and collected by SIL during the past four years, 80 languages have been distinguished from others previously listed by the ISO 639-3 standard. An additional 83 languages have been newly recognized that were not previously associated with any other language.
Databases maintained by SIL are used to produce the Ethnologue: Languages of the World, and conform to the ISO 639-3 standard, which provides unique three-letter codes for identifying nearly 7,500 languages. SIL International serves as the Registration Authority for the ISO 639-3 inventory of language identifiers and administers the annual cycle for changes and updates. The total number of living languages in the world cannot be known precisely because languages are dynamic and variable.
Speech variation: language and dialect
Not all scholars share the same set of criteria for distinguishing a language from a dialect. Every language is characterized by variation within the speech community that uses it. Those varieties, in turn, are more or less divergent from one another. These divergent varieties are often referred to as dialects. They may be distinct enough to be considered separate languages or sufficiently similar to be considered merely characteristic of a particular geographic region or social grouping within the speech community. Often speakers may be very aware of dialect variation and be able to label a particular dialect with a name. In other cases, the variation may be largely unnoticed or overlooked.
The ISO 639-3 inventory of languages applies the following basic criteria for defining a language in relation to varieties which may be considered dialects:
- Two related varieties are normally considered dialects if speakers of each variety understand the other at a functional level (that is, they can understand based on knowledge of their own variety, without needing to learn the other one).
- Where spoken intelligibility between varieties is marginal, the existence of a common literature, or of a common ethnolinguistic identity with a central dialect that both understand, indicates that they should be considered dialects of the same language.
- Where there is enough intelligibility between varieties to enable communication, the existence of well-established ethnolinguistic identities indicates that they should be considered different languages.
Since its beginning in 1934, SIL has published more than 29,743 works about its research in more than 2,394 languages spoken in more than 70 countries. SIL promotes sustainable language development through research, translation, training and materials development for ethnolinguistic minority communities.
Related links of interest
- Ethnologue: Languages of the World
- ISO 639-3 home page
- SIL designated as ISO 639-3 Registration Authority (February 2007 media release)
- SIL and the International Year of Languages (February 2008 media release)
- SIL presents papers at dialectology conference (August 2008 media release)
- SIL cartographer at UNESCO language mapping meeting (November 2007 media release)
- SIL Electronic Language Survey Reports
- Language assessment
- Language variation and survey techniques
- SIL training in language survey
- Sociolinguistics in SIL
- Academic training in SIL


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Computer and Internet Use Policy for Community Users
The purpose of this policy is to insure the legal, moral, and ethical use of computer and internet resources in the UFV Library.
Computer usage at the UFV library must comply with UFV Policy 14, Appropriate Use of Computing and Network Resources.
Conditions of Use
Library Rights
Consequences of Violation of Policies
March 21, 2007 pw


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|image credit
Happy Monday, everyone!
We've been gearing up for Valentine's Day here at Defrump Me! Each week over the past month one of us has introduced a challenge--something small to focus on that can produce BIG results. Here's what we've been working on so far:
Week 1: Amber's Challenge {Drink Your Water}
Week 2: Lauren's Challenge {Words of Love}
Week 3: Susan's Challenge {Connect with Your Kids}
Week 4: Audrey's Challenge {Make a Plan}
What are we working on this week? Defrumping ourselves! Isn't it so easy to get caught up in the daily to-do's and never make time for our own health, relaxation, and beauty? But these things are important too! And what better time to MAKE time than today?
So, here's what we'll do: each day one of us will give a mini challenge or tip of something we can all do to defrump ourselves in preparation for Valentine's Day. Even if you don't have a special date night planned, this challenge will still be relevant and lots of fun!
Today's mini defrumping session is to go buy some new lip gloss or lipstick! I love going to Walgreens for makeup like lipstick, blush, and eye shadow. They always have something on sale, and it's easy to get in and out of the store pretty quickly. :-) But wherever you go, just spend an extra 10 minutes and go! It'll be fun, and you'll have a new look for Valentine's Day.
"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."
― Louisa May Alcott


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U.S. Bancorp (USB) has promoted longtime executive Elliot Jaffee to head its commercial banking division.
The $354 billion-asset company said Tuesday that Jaffee will oversee roughly 550 people in offices in 25 states.
He succeeds Kenneth Ladd, who retired at the end of last year after 30 years with the company.
Jaffee, who has served as president of the Minneapolis -St. Paul market since 2006, became a regional manager four years ago and currently oversees commercial bankers in the Twin Cities, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. He joined the company in 1995.
"Elliot is a dynamic leader and a great banker, who our middle market business clients trust and respect," Dick Payne, U.S. Bancorp's vice chairman and head of wholesale banking, said in a press release. "As head of commercial banking, Elliot will play an important role in helping us build on our momentum in the $10 million to $500 million client segment."


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After a couple of months of explosive new gTLD growth, July saw one of the slowest months of registrations in the past year, with only 248,000 domain names added to the total – less than 10% of the total registered in the previous month. With few price promotions, only a small number of new gTLDs launched, and the holiday season starting in earnest across the Northern Hemisphere, it seemed that those of us still working in the domain name world were few and far between.
The growth of the program is still being fueled by domain speculation and investment out of China, where just over 46% of all registrants live, whilst over 18% of all registrations sit behind a privacy/proxy shield.
The top ten most registered gTLDs is still headed by dotXYZ (almost static at 6.44m registrations by end of July), whilst dotTop saw the biggest growth in the month, adding around 300,000 new registrations to consolidate its position as the second most registered new gTLD. The rest of the top five (dotTop, dotWang, dotWin and dotClub) hasn't changed for another month. As of the end of July, the fastest-growing gTLDs on a week-by-week basis* are:
1st – Top – 12,404 domain name registrations
2nd – Win – 1,841
3rd – Racing – 1,640
4th – Online – 1,050
5th – Tech - 979
ICANN signed three registry agreements in July – dotEco, dotRadio and the Google-owned dotPHD. In terms of delegated strings, over 50 dotBrands were added to the root zone, comprising a veritable who's who of global brands – Calvin Klein, CitiGroup, Fiat, Hyatt, Chrysler and Booking.com can all now move ahead with launch plans for their dotBrands. The only generic string delegated was Donuts' dotDoctor.
The biggest news in the month was undoubtedly the ICANN auction that determined the fate of the dotWeb string. It was won by Nu Dot Co (which was backed by Verisign) for a staggering $135m – over three times as much as the previous most-expensive gTLD, dotShop. We will all wait with interest to see how it will launch this gTLD in the coming months.
There are now over 1,140 new gTLDs that are classed as operational, with 82 still to sign their registry agreement with ICANN. Less than half of the gTLDs have now passed through to Sunrise, which is a cause for concern for ICANN, which is keen on ensuring that the program is "complete" before any second round can start.
Three new gTLDs opened for Sunrise registrations in July – dotStorage (first come, first served), dotGames and dotShopping; whilst dotAutos and dotTube passed into General Availability. August will see the Sunrise period open for dotBlog and dotDoctor, whilst Amazon's debut TLD, dotMoi, enters the Landrush phase. The only scheduled gTLDs moving into General Availability are Verisign's local-language dotCom IDNs in Korean.
In terms of the most popular gTLDs, www.namu.wiki still tops the list, according to Alexa Rankings, whilst there have been a few new entrants into the top 10, including www.kinogo.club (Russian torrent website), www.ouo.press (URL shortener) and www.iha-a.link (unknown). Within the Alexa Top 100,000 websites, there are 935 sites that use a new gTLD, with dotXYZ (139 sites), dotClub (84) and dotOnline (64) being the most used. Disappointingly, the GeoTLDs do not fare very well in the list, with only one website for each of dotLondon, dotNYC and dotParis appearing in the rankings.
The online banking portal for BNP Paribas (www.mabanque.bnpparibas) is still the highest-ranked dotBrand, at number 14 on the list. Other dotBrands launching their new digital assets have been scarce this month.


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As the title says, A First Course in Artificial Intelligence is aptly suited for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses involving Artificial Intelligence. The book explores from scratch the algorithms and representations needed for building intelligent systems. The textbook follows a bottom-up approach exploring the basic strategies - starting with search based methods a then moving on to knowledge based methods - needed for problem solving and focuses primarily on the intelligence part. The only background required to comprehend the book is familiarity with programming. Easy explanations for the concepts bolstered with illuminative illustrations make the book an essential reading for the budding artificial intelligence students, seasoned practitioners and researchers; all alike.transfer their knowledge to systems in the form of rules, and a general purpose inference engine would string together rule firings to some problems usingthis knowledge. It led to the development of programming languages like OPS5 ( seealsoanbsp;...
|A First Course in Artificial Intelligence, 1e
|Deepak Khemani
|McGraw-Hill Education - 2014-09-18
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|Message view
|« Date » · « Thread »
|« Date » · « Thread »
|Noah Slater <nsla...@apache.org>
|Re: [REVIEW] Docs update
|Mon, 05 Aug 2013 18:01:26 GMT
Alexander, This is freakin fantastic! Thank you so much! Some comments: Filippo has a point. Let's have a dead simple section that covers how to install CouchDB in binary form. For OS X, we should recommend the official binary download. And for a more advanced setup, we should recommend Homebrew. For Linux, let's list a few common options. Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat, and so on. For Windows, we can point to the official binary downloads. Then, we can keep the existing content as a "how to install from source" info. That info is still very valuable, and should not be removed. But most users are going to want a "how to install in 30 seconds" guide. And for that reason, the binary install methods take precedence. MacPorts is a POS. We should completely avoid mentioning it. (Both in the binary install section, and in the source install section.) The CouchDB documentation should be removed from the wiki when we have added it to the docs. We can put in redirects, or just replace the content with a hyperlink that takes you to the correct part of the most recent hosted documentation. However: please remember that the wiki is not going anywhere. There is still a whole bunch of content that is suitable for the wiki and not suitable for the docs. Things to do with community management, release management, marketing, and so on. Alexander: again, this is looking so great! Thank you for driving this! On 25 July 2013 02:28, Filippo Fadda <email@example.com>wrote: > > On Jul 25, 2013, at 2:38 AM, Alexander Shorin wrote: > > To keep there - you mean wiki? At this you're also right: once docs be > > merged with master, wiki content have to redirect to docs for some > > time before fade away. > > Good to know. :-) > > > P.S. I also will be glad if you take a look on query server protocol > > and say what you think about: > > http://kxepal.iriscouch.com/docs/1.3/query-server/protocol.html > > As the developer of php query server I believe you have your own view > about (; > > I still have to implement the parts related to ddoc, show, list, and > filter on both query server and client. So I'm glad to have a start point > for them. I will read the doc and I will give you a feedback in the next > days. And by the way you're all doing a great job with CouchDB. :-) > > Thanks > > -Filippo -- Noah Slater https://twitter.com/nslater
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OFPE's Community Engagement Division is proud to introduce a new Community Action Team (CAT). The team is comprised of four (4) individuals who represent two (2) wards each.
Each CAT coordinator is responsible for building and sustaining strategic relationships with key community stakeholders, specifically those who have been historically underrepresented in our decision-making process.
The CAT is also responsible for assisting DCPS stakeholders in support of their access to information and resources offered by DCPS and communicating emerging needs and trends back to DCPS.
Tweet us @DCPS_Community
Call (202) 719-6613 or email [email protected]
Raquel is a native Washingtonian and DCPS alum. A proud Latina from an immigrant family. As an educator, community development worker, and parent she has experience working with diverse youth and families in the area. Raquel believes education is a catalyst for social change, and that all children and youth deserve access to high quality education that prepares them to be successful members of our global society. In this role, she looks forward to helping families and school communities improve, create, and sustain learning communities that support children's academic and social emotional needs. She holds a master's degree in Sustainable Development and Program Management. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, painting, and enjoys tackling DIY projects. Visit the Facebook page.
Eli is a native Washingtonian who grew up in Wards 1 and 3. He attended Oyster Elementary School, Deal Middle School and Wilson High School. He has worked with DCPS for the past 10 years, first with early childhood families as a Community and Parent Outreach Coordinator and then on the Child Find team at Early Stages, where he helped identify young children in the District who may be in need of special education or related services. Eli values engagement with Ward 2 and 3 communities around important DCPS issues. He currently lives in NW Washington with his wife Amanda and son Ethan, who attends Bancroft Elementary School. Visit the Facebook page.
Nicole "Nikki" grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has been a teacher in DC since 2008, teaching English Language Arts to students ranging from Early Childhood to 7th grade. Her passion for working with communities grew from classroom conversations about social justice with her middle school students. This passion was further fueled when she studied Community Organizing in graduate school. While obtaining her Master's in Social Work in Community Organizing, she worked in Detroit with parents and community stakeholders to engage them around school-related matters and build parent leadership. Nikki is excited about involving Ward 5 and 6 parents and community members in the decision-making process about the direction of their children's education. Nikki is an avid college football and basketball fan and lives in Ward 5 with her 2-year-old son Mochara. Visit the Facebook page.
Sharona is a native Washingtonian who grew up in Wards 7 and 8. She attended Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Jefferson Junior High School, and Ballou High School. She is a Ward 7 resident and mother of a 2015 Ballou graduate and three DCPS students who attend school in Wards 6 and 8. Sharona currently serves as the PTSA President at Ballou High School and has served on a variety of education committees including the Chancellor's Parent Cabinet and the DC Advisory Committee on Student Assignment. She believes that all children deserve a quality education, no matter where they live. Sharona's goal is to engage more families and community stakeholders East of the River. Visit the Facebook page.


text:
August 29, 2014 15:27 ET
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Aug. 29, 2014) - Marksmen Energy Inc. ("Marksmen") (TSX VENTURE:MAH) and its wholly owned subsidiary Marksmen Energy USA, Inc. reports its consolidated financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014. The interim financial statements and Management's Discussion & Analysis were filed August 29, 2014 on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Marksmen Energy Inc.Archie NesbittCEO and President(403) email@example.com
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Legend has it that the animals were chosen by the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven, who according to Taoist mythology invited all creatures to join him for a New Year's Day celebration.
Only 12 showed up, and the years were named in the order they arrived. The bull would have arrived first, but the rat sat on his back, jumping off just before they arrived. The rabbit came in fourth, hopping on stones to cross a fast-flowing river.
The coming year is likely to be "quiet, positive and inspiring", according to Chinese astrologers, after a turbulent Year of the Tiger.
Typically, Rabbit years are good for the Arts and culture, and apparently also for world diplomacy.
In 1999, the last Year of the Rabbit, 'Shakespeare in Love' won best film at the Oscars, Thabo Mbeki was elected president of South Africa and Manchester United won the Champions League.
Babies born in the Year of the Rabbit are thought to be articulate, talented and ambitious. They are also thought to be conservative, clever at business and financially lucky.
Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Francis Ford Coppola are Rabbits, as were Orson Welles, Rudolph Nureyev and George Washington.
Meanwhile, shares are likely to cautiously increase in value this year, according to CLSA, the broking firm.
In its annual tongue-in-cheek "Feng Shui" index, CLSA said that the rabbit "is a very cautious animal. Every time it hops a bit, it turns around and checks out the environment – is it safe? – before moving on." Philip Chow, the deviser of the index, said: "The market will go up but every now and then, it will slow down take a breath, take a look at the surroundings, evaluating what is going on and continue to go up. It will be a zigzag market."
Meanwhile, metals and water are the elements associated with the rabbit this year, so industries such as metals, airlines, financial, marine and gaming would have good returns for investors.
However by this measure, sectors related to the earth element, such as construction and property, will not do so well.


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Crazy Chicken Kart 2 v1.0
Crazy Chicken Kart 2 v1.0 | 67.41 MB
VROOOM! Your favorite feathered racer is back, bringing both old and new friends with him. Crazy Chicken Kart 2 introduces all new graphics, new tracks, a new 3D engine and a whole lot more! Race around the tracks with your pals and face all new opponents. Crazy Chicken Kart 2 is a great time for all ages!
Special Features
8 exciting tracks
3 levels of difficulty
4 racing modes
2-player mode
Tons of Weapons
7 different drivers from the Crazy Chicken family to choose from
System Requirements:
* Operating System: Windows 7, Vista, and XP
* Processor: Pentium 3 - 800MHz or better
* Video Card RAM: 32MB
* DirectX Version: 8.1 or above
viernes, 20 de agosto de 2010
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This series features classic Shakespeare retold with graphic color illustrations. Educators using the Dale-Chall vocabulary system adapted each title. Each 64-page, book retains key phrases and quotations from the original play. Research shows that the more students read, the better their vocabulary, their ability to read, and their knowledge of the world. Containing 11 reproducible exercise to maximize vocabulary development and comprehension skills, these guides include pre-and post-reading activities, story synopses, key vocabulary, and answer key. The guides are digital, you simply print the activities you need for each lesson.Students not yet able to work independently can be paired off as reading buddies who consult with and reinforce each other as they answer questions or solve the puzzles. Small groups can also be formed to cooperatively complete theanbsp;...
|Twelfth Night Study Guide
|Saddleback Educational Publishing
|Saddleback Educational Publishing - 2006-09-01
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Title IV
Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program FY10
Marion County Schools
Discovery Health Connections
Discovery Health Connections (all schools) gives educators access to curriculum programs, teachers' guides, worksheets, videos, literacy lessons, and extension exercises dealing with critical health and prevention issues.
Topics included are violence, tobacco, nutrition, alcohol and other drugs, mental health, growth and development, the body, physical activity, and safety. Many sub-topics are included under each topic. The Center for Disease Control determined that the above key areas needed to be covered in a comprehensive health education program.
Hazelden Bullying Prevention
Hazelden "No-Bullying Program" is a comprehensive, grade-specific, K-8 (in Marion County K-6) violence prevention program that involves students, parents, school staff, and community members in reducing bullying behaviors at school. The program provides students with a clear understanding of behavioral expectations and helps school staff learn to respond most effectively when bullying does occur. Melanie Rieser, Blackshere guidance counselor, is a Hazelden No-Bullying Program trainer.
Peer Mediation
Peer Mediation (grades 7-12 all schools) provides a guided process for peaceful conflict resolution. As its name implies, peers of the disputants conduct the mediation. Most often the Peer Mediators work in pairs: two trained student mediators. Referrals can come from school personnel, students, parents, or community members. Referrals and mediations are confidential.
Character Education
Marion County schools follows the Character Education framework that encourages the Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship.
Life Skills (6th, 7th, and 8th grades) is a research-validated substance abuse prevention program proven to reduce the risks of alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse, and violence by targeting the major social and psychological factors that promote the initiation of substance use and other risky behaviors. This comprehensive and exciting program provides adolescents and young teens with the confidence and skills necessary to successfully handle challenging situations. Rather than merely teaching information about the dangers of drug abuse, LifeSkills promotes healthy alternatives to risky behavior through activities.
Tobacco Prevention Programs
RAZE is a youth empowered statewide anti-tobacco movement whose goal is to create a statewide youth anti-tobacco movement that initiates concern and activitism, with peer-to-peer influence ultimately reducing tobacco use among youth.
RAZE's goals are to educate youth about the dangers of tobacco use, decrease tobacco use, encourage activitism, increase community involvement, and be passionate and aggressive in fighting the impact of the tobacco industry. The following are RAZE trained: Cheryl Conaway, NMHS: Stacie Griffith, Mannington; Janis Michael, Manningon; Ryan Stocking, EFHS; Lori Haggerty, Monongah Middle; Bobo Pallotta, East Junior; Rex Rush, FSHS; Judy Betonte, Dunbar; Steve Malnick, Mannington; and Mark Kohan, Barnes Learning Center.
N-O-T is an acronym for Not On Tobacco, a smoking cessation program designed specifically for teens. The program is sponsored by the American Lung Association and administered by trained facilitators in the schools. The program uses the "cold turkey" method for quitting. Participants are provided information about smoking, addiction, the quitting process, and techniques for quitting. Instruction in stress management, decision making/problem solving, and effective communication is provided. Healthy lifestyle guidance is also part of the program. N-O-T is gender specific because males and females use tobacco for different reasons. Marion County was one of the original pilot sites for this program. The following are N-O-T trained: Cheryl Conaway, NMHS; Stacie Griffith, Mannington; Janis Michael, Mannington; Rex Rush, FSHS; Steve Malnick, Mannington; Alan Henderson, NMHS; and Mark Kohan, Barnes Learning Center.
Teens Against Tobacco Use trains youth as tobacco prevention peer facilitators to encourage youth to be tobacco free. Teens develop skills to teach younger children about tobacco use and become advocates for a tobacco-free community. As peer educators, they learn how tobacco advertising and promotions deceive youth. They learn that tobacco dependence will control their lives. The program develops self-confidence and leadership skills. The following are TATU trained: Cheryl Conaway, NMHS; Stacie Griffith, Mannington; Janis Michael, Mannington; Ryan Stocking, EFHS; Lori Haggerty, Monongah Middle; and Judy Betonte, West Fairmont Middle School.
Safe and Drug-Free Schools & Special Education Collaborative Efforts


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Sunday, 16 December 2012
Yay, another crochet project! Today I have been playing around with crocheting five pointed stars and thought I'd share the pattern I've ended up with. These are super quick to make, and perfect for the season. They'd look great as a Christmas ornament hanging on your tree, or as a garland, or as my friend just pointed out on my instagram, as a mobile! Or could you imagine how cute it'd be with a bunch of these all joined up as a giant starry blanket? Clearly, the possibilities are more or less endless. Get crocheting!
Directions: I used a size 3.5 mm needle for this, but I'm sure pretty much any size would work. Start off with six chains to form a foundation ring. On this ring, chain three, and then add fourteen treble crochet stitches to form the inner circle of the star. Then for each of the five star points, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Chain eight stitches, and double crochet a stitch into the sixth stitch from the circle (i.e. two from the hook). Try to make your eight chains a bit loose, so that you wont end up with squinty star points because one side is tighter and shorter than the other. Step 2: Do a half treble crochet stitch into the fifth stitch on the chain from the circle. Step 3: Do two treble crochet stitches in the fourth and third stitch from the circle. Step 4: Do two double treble crochet stitches in the second and first stitches in the chain from the circle.
And that's your star point done! Attach it three stitches from where you started it, and repeat for the remaining four star points. Secure your thread and you're done!
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Saturday, 1 December 2012
It started snowing yesterday! I've been in a super Christmassy mood ever since. Snow makes me so excited. Jumping-in-front-of-the-window and staring-with-my-mouth-open excited! I'm not sure I'll ever grow out of it. And since it's now finally the December, I've been told it is officially socially acceptable to have your Christmas decorations up. This also makes me very excited. I'm not gonna lie though, mine have already been up for a couple of days. I'm pretty sure I try to wait til the 1st of December every year, and I'm pretty sure I fail every year. This year, since I'm at my parents' house, I used the excuse that since it's a lot bigger than what I'm used to I'd probably be better off starting early.
I have also started with the Christmas presents. I'm not as intense as some people who were finished with all their Christmas shopping already halfway through November (seriously Kerry, how organized are you!), but seeing as I'm trying to make as many of my presents as possible this year, I needed a somewhat early start. I've pretty much been getting lost in all the different gift guides out there, like the ones on Everything Etsy, or Meet me at Mike's, or all the ideas floating around Pinterest. I've been knitting up a storm too, after being inspired by ideas from Pickles and the Purl bee, to name a few.
I'm also planning on giving out edible gifts this year though, so thought I'd be an idea to do a round up of those. I'm a fan of giving edible gifts to people who might usually be a bit difficult to get gifts for, and I like recipes for things that keep a while, and can be cut into bite-size pieces and stored in a jar. Fudge, caramels, truffles, even sauces--what's not to love? These are a few I've got bookmarked and plan on testing out:
Soft, chewy caramels from The Kitchn
Sweet and spicy peanut brittle from A Beautiful Mess
Chocolate nutella and sea salt fudge from Tasty Kitchen
Apple cider caramels from Smitten Kitchen
Chocolate mint truffles from BBC Good Food
Dark chocolate Earl Grey fudge sauce from Hummingbird On High
Salted caramel sauce from Brown Eyed Baker
Hokey Pokey (Honeycomb) from Nigella
Hazelnut and dark chocolate meringues from Posted Cake Crumbs
Chocolate hazelnut spread from Bon Appetit
Almond date truffles from Sprouted Kitchen
Peanut butter fudge from Sophie Dalh on BBC Food
...and that's probably a good place to stop before I start drooling everywhere. To the kitchen!
Posted by hilde at 20:11 3 comments:
Friday, 23 November 2012
Instructions for the pattern on the larger jar:
Steps 1: Using a size 5 needle, make a foundation chain of five stitches. Step 2: Work a slip stitch into the first chain to create a loop. Step 3: Work a chain of three stitches to act as your first treble, and then add two more trebles to form a cluster. Step 4: Work a chain of three stitches between each cluster all around your foundation loop. As my jars were quite narrow, I started out with three clusters, but if your jar is of the thicker variety then feel free to add another cluster.
Step 5: Start the next row by making a chain of three stitches to form your first treble. Step 6: Add two more trebles to the cluster, work a chain of three slip stitches, and then another cluster of three trebles. Step 7: Continue around the circle adding two clusters of three trebles into each space, and separating each cluster with three slip stitches. The result should roughly be able to cover the bottom of your jar. Step 8: Crochet the next rounds by adding a cluster of three trebles in each space, and separating with three slip stitches. Repeat this until your cover is long enough to fit your whole jar. My jar was quite tall, and I ended up doing thirteen rows like this. Once you're done, loop off, pull it on the jar and tighten.
Instructions for the pattern on the smaller jar:
Now light some tea lights and pop 'em in!
Posted by hilde at 21:49 No comments:
Labels: crochet, DIY projects, jars
Thursday, 22 November 2012
The past week has been pretty hectic, with my parents visiting from Spain, my masters graduation, and then eventually me moving countries back to my homeland! It's taking me a while to get settled in properly, so in the meantime, please feast your eyes on this rather silly photo of myself and Bo, wearing our matching Marius sweaters my mother kindly knitted for us.
Will get back to normal blogging soon!
Will get back to normal blogging soon!
Sunday, 11 November 2012
After closer inspection, it was clear that the stool was structurally unsound due to a bit of a design flaw, and it made a lot more sense why the thing had only been two pounds. The bars supporting the stool-legs were about a centimetre longer then they should be, meaning the legs had become twisted in an attempt to stay together and the screws had become rusty and crooked. This wasn't going to be as straight forward as I had hoped.
The stool then sat in a corner of our living room for a few weeks with its legs pointing in every direction, while I pondered how to approach the situation. Friends referred to it as "an abstract sculpture" and laughed when I told them I'd paid two whole pounds for a broken stool. Eventually, I decided to take the whole thing apart, rusty crooked screws and all and then attempt to reassemble it. After a bit of fiddling about with wood glue, our trusty drill and two licks of Dulux' Urban Obsession and the stool was reformed back to its former glory. I'm still a bit nervous about actually sitting on it though!
Friday, 9 November 2012
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Last year, Graeme did a project as part of his course that involved drawing on plates. For this project, he used a porcelain marker to draw on glass. I've seen a lot of projects on pinterest where people use sharpie markers to draw on mugs and plates, but a downside of this is that it's not dishwasher safe. I kind of have this policy where I don't really invest in cutlery or crockery that's not dishwasher safe, because I'm not really a fan of doing dishes. I spent a significant sum buying a dishwasher, so I feel standing around doing dishes would be somewhat defying the point of that purchase. This marker however, promised to be dishwasher safe, so I decided to try it out.
Since my plate was from Poundland and the marker was leftover from one of Graeme's projects, this ended up being super cheap. Benefits of living with a graphic design student! I don't know about you, but my head is now buzzing with ideas though, so I'm going to have to go out and buy lots more plates and markers in different colours!
Monday, 5 November 2012
It's been almost a week and a half since our Halloween party when my beloved iPod touch went missing and there is still no sign of it. We've turned the flat upside down trying to find it, but it's no where to be found. It's funny how you can live so long without something, but then once you have it and then lose it it's a whole other story. For the first few days I felt so lost, not being to check my email whenever I wanted or use my apps. All of a sudden I had to turn on my computer if I wanted to google something. How was I supposed to go running without my running app? Or plan for the weekend without my weather app? How on earth did I ever manage to do anything at all before I ever had this gadget?
The app I missed the most though, was of course instagram. I wouldn't say I was ever an instagram addict, but I was still a pretty big fan. What I loved most about instagram is how you ended up taking so many photos you otherwise wouldn't have. Lots of little memories that otherwise would have been forgotten. And since you were taking so many pictures all the time, you ended up improving your photography skills so much. Graeme and I love our photo adventures, but we usually take our analog cameras with us. We have so many, both toy ones like the Lomography Fisheye and Dianas and an octomat, as well as old Olympus SLRs and Graeme's favourite Olympus Trip. But it's so much harder to improve your skills when you have to wait for film to get developed to find out what you're doing right and what you need to work on. We have digital cameras as well of course, but usually didn't think to bring them along. Sad as it sounds, my digital SLR has almost ended up being a camera mainly used for photographing projects, food and holidays. And that's no way to treat a digital SLR camera.
So I guess that's the good thing that has come out of my iPod going missing. Always a silver lining, right? For the past week and a half, I've made much more of an effort to bring my digital SLR with me to capture every day things and to improve my skills, and I definitely plan on keeping it up.
Friday, 2 November 2012
There's something funny about bruschetta. I mean, technically, it's just toast. But then it's so much more than just toast. Bruschetta can be served with so many different toppings, but tomato and basil is of course a classic. Juicy tomatoes and fresh chopped basil makes a ridiculously refreshing combo.
It's also ridiculously simple to make, not to mention quick! In retrospect, I'm not sure why it took me so long to make bruschetta in the first place. Great as an appetizer, but also great as an antipasti. I quite often like to make antipasti dishes for dinner, and I often struggle to come up with vegetarian ones to suit Graeme, so this will definitely be making it onto the menu more often. So easy, so tasty.
Balsamic tomato basil bruschetta recipe (makes 6 slices):
6 thick slices of Ciabatta (or similar)
40 g basil
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
pinch of flaky sea salt
olive oil
Directions: First make the topping. Chop the tomatoes and basil and place in a bowl. Add sea salt, balsamic vinegar and one table spoon of olive oil. Mix it all together. Then, place the ciabatta slices on a baking tray and drizzle both sides with olive oil. Put in the oven for a couple minutes until brown. Take them out, flip them over, and toast the other side too. Once they're done, use a knife to crush the garlic clove, and then rub the garlic into the toast. Top with the tomato and basil mix, and serve! Yummies!
Posted by hilde at 17:01 No comments:
Thursday, 1 November 2012
For the particular design I decided on, I have calculated that I need to make a minimum of 289 hexagons, consisting of 5 yellow, 5 orange, 5 pink, 5 dark pink, 5 blue and 264 white. So far I have made 58 hexagons, so only 231 left! Yay!
Posted by hilde at 10:48 2 comments:
Sunday, 28 October 2012
I was pretty happy with the results and the taste of the cookies exceeded my expectations. I mean, I picked the recipe mainly because the cookies looked cool, but it's always a bit of a downer when the taste doesn't quite hold up and you're left with a visually pleasing but meh-tasting cookie. These went down a treat with the party guests though, and I'll definitely be making these again. I didn't end up changing anything with the recipe, so the recipe below is the same only in metric measurements.
101 cookbooks):
Vanilla dough:
250 g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
115 g butter
200 g sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate dough:
125 g flour
60 g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
115 g butter
90 g brown sugar
100 g sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions: Start with making the vanilla dough. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy in another bowl, and then add the egg and vanilla extract. Once it's all combined, add in the flour. Roll the dough into a sausage, cover in cling film and leave in the fridge. In a new bowl, start the chocolate dough in the same way. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy, and add egg and vanilla. Once that's mixed in, combine the flour mix into the dough. Roll it into a sausage, cover in cling film and put in the fridge. This dough is a million times easier to work with when it's chilled (or even frozen), so leave it in the fridge for about two hours, or even over night if you have time.
The original recipe recommended shaping the dough and poking eye and mouth holes in the dough sausage before cutting, and then slicing using some floss or thread to prevent the cookies from losing their shape. However, I found that no matter how hard I tried, I ended up having to reshape the cookies post cutting, and I'd thus recommend just cutting normal cookie shapes, and then shaping them once assembled. That way you'd also avoid the issue of having a funny shaped vanilla cookie on top of a different funny shaped chocolate cookie. Don't try for perfection though, as the oddly shaped ones often turn out the creepiest! Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 175 degrees Celsius. Makes about 36 cookies.
Posted by hilde at 19:06 No comments:
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
On Tuesdays, if I can, I head over to Say it Ain't Sew at Hillhead Bookclub. It's a wonderful little sewing group lead by the lovely and talented Miss Iona Barker. It's completely free and all materials are provided and if you're nearby and enjoy sewing, I definitely recommend you pop by. Each week we usually have a little project, and last time we made bows. They're easy to do and super cute, so I figured I'd make some more of them.
Step 1: Cut a rectangle from your fabric. Since you're folding the fabric, your bow will roughly end up being half the size of the size of the fabric you cut. I made mine roughly 14.5 cm by 11.5 cm and ended up with a bow that measures roughly 7 cm across. Step 2: Fold the two longer edges in towards the middle. Step 3: Fold the shorter edges in towards the middle. Step 3: Stitch down the centre, connecting your two folds. You could skip this step if you want, but I find it makes the bowl a little more durable, as well as a little easier to handle for the next steps.
Step 5: Pinch together the fabric in the middle. Step 6: Make a couple stitches and wrap the thread around a couple times, and make a few more stitches to secure it. Step 7: Get a separate piece of fabric, and fold to fit. Step 8: Wrap the folded piece of fabric around the centre of the bow, and stitch to secure. Loop off to finish.
Monday, 22 October 2012
These crisps aren't exactly like the ones I had in Dublin, but my batch disappeared just as quickly. These are tossed with olive oil and seasoning and then baked in the oven until crisp. The seasoning is a salt mix I'm also somewhat obsessed with these days. The below measurements will give you far too much for your kale, but don't worry, it pretty much goes on everything. I've been putting it on boiled eggs, baked potatoes, roast vegetables, popcorn--it adds a lovely bit of tang to just about everything.
Chili and lime kale crisps recipe (method adapted from Smitten Kitchen):
200 g kale (I used curly kale, but I'm sure any kale would do)
olive oil
4 tbsp flaky sea salt
zest from 1 lime
1 tsp dried coriander
1 tsp hot chilli powder (more or less, depending on how spicy you like it)
sunflower seeds (optional)
olive oil
4 tbsp flaky sea salt
zest from 1 lime
1 tsp dried coriander
1 tsp hot chilli powder (more or less, depending on how spicy you like it)
sunflower seeds (optional)
Directions: Preheat oven to 150⁰ celcius. Zest your lime into a bowl. Add salt and stir until evenly distributed. Add coriander and chillipowder and mix. Rinse kale and remove the stems. My kale was already chopped but if yours is in larger pieces, you might want to chop or tear these to a more bite friendly size. Put kale in a bowl and toss with a splash of olive oil and the salt mix. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up, and spread out a layer of kale. Leave in the oven for about 20 minutes. Take it out halfway through baking, stir and turn the tray around so the heat gets evenly distributed. Once baked, empty in a bowl and sprinkle on some sunflower seeds for extra crunch.
Posted by hilde at 10:35 3 comments:
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
I ended up changing a couple things in the recipe though. For example, the recipe calls for shortening and corn syrup, two ingredients I'm not a massive fan of cooking with. Not that I even think I can get them here--do they sell this in the UK? I also struggled to find the ingredients needed for the coffee buttercream, and thus abandoned their recipe all together and used my usual and much simpler buttercream recipe. It's also supposed to be a three layer cake using 8 inch cake tins. The recipe tells you to get out your three 8 inch cake tins and bake all the cakes at once. I only have a 9 inch cake tin, and I only have one, so I decided to make it a two layered cake.
So after some present unwrapping, a birthday breakfast trip to Tribeca and a bit of thrift shopping, my cake baking commenced. The process pretty much took me all day and when I was done the sun had set hours ago, hence why the photo of the final product isn't the greatest.
Posted by hilde at 20:44 No comments:
Monday, 15 October 2012
I'm a huge fan of Luke Pearsson's graphic novels. He's done quite a few different ones, but my favorites are the Hilda-series and I have them all, Hildafolk, Hilda and the Midnight Giant and now Hilda and the Bird Parade. I'll admit--when I first bought Hildafolk, I bought it mainly because of the name of the character, and the fact that it was about a girl who ran around in the mountains and drew rocks and hung out with trolls and stuff. I mean, that's basically what I spent my childhood doing in Norway. More or less, anyway. Not to mention how Hilda has a little friend called Twig--it's Bo, hello! But I absolutely love the style of the drawings too. The style and charactures reminds me a lot of Moomin by Tove Jansson, which was a favorite of mine as a child. And I love how Luke Pearson uses colour too, keeping to a palette and using different shades within it.
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
So if you haven't already heard of Movember, you should probably read up on that right now. It's an absolutely brilliant movement where moustaches are grown in order to raise awareness and funds for means health and in particular prostate and testicular cancer. Facial hair and charity, what's not to love?
This year Graeme's been involved and designed the Good Ship Mo, a limited edition t-shirt for Movember. It's printed on organic white cotton, each t-shirt sold raises 5 pounds for the cause. Make sure you get yours in time before they run out!
This year Graeme's been involved and designed the Good Ship Mo, a limited edition t-shirt for Movember. It's printed on organic white cotton, each t-shirt sold raises 5 pounds for the cause. Make sure you get yours in time before they run out!
Posted by hilde at 13:14 No comments:
Monday, 8 October 2012
For the past couple of days, I've had my nose buried in a book. First, I finally finished off Life of Pi. It was one of those books I'd been meaning to read for ages, and I'm so glad I finally did. This sparked an urge to just sit and read for hours and hours, which is exactly what happened when I picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I've been quite into my crime novels recently, after my mom bought me a Jo Nesbø book and I ended up reading a couple of them. She's always eager to remind me of my roots and pretty enthusiastic when it comes to just about anything Norwegian.
But as much as I've been enjoying my reading, a girl's got to eat, and this has been my lunch of choice as of late. Traditionally a breakfast, but tastes just as good any other time of the day! I've seen some pretty different ways of making huevos racheros, and I guess this is how I prefer to make them--folded over so they look a bit like a tex mex version of an omelette. I guess it pretty much is the tex mex version of an omelette. The salsa isn't a hot one, but it certainly is refreshing. Alternatively, if you want some extra heat you could always add a chopped chilli. And why shouldn't you be adding tequila to your lunch menu?
Tequila Salsa recipe:
1 beef tomato
1/2 red onion
40 g coriander
juice of 1 lemon
flaky sea salt
splash of tequila
Directions: Chop up the tomato and the red onion. Chop up the coriander and mix it all in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, season with salt and add a splash of tequila. The idea isn't to overpower the salsa with tequila, just add a bit of extra flavour.
Huevos Rancheros recipe (per person):
1 tortilla
1 egg
some grated cheddar
sweetcorn (optional)
jalapeños (optional)
Directions: In an oiled pan, heat one side of the tortilla. Once it's browned a little, flip the tortilla over. Add the cheese and crack the egg on top. If you want to add any extras, add them before the egg cooks. Since I like to fold my tortillas over like an omelette, I tend to try to keep my egg and filling to one side of the tortilla. Once the egg is near cooked, flip the whole thing over. Don't worry if everything goes all over the place, it's supposed to look messy and you can just scoop in any escaped filling at the end. The folded tortilla will hide all evidence.
Serve with the salsa, and potentially some refried beans, sour cream or guacamole. Sadly I'm allergic to avacados, so no guacamole for me!
Posted by hilde at 17:07 2 comments:
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text:
Templemore Square Works Continue But Traders Not Happy
WORK is continuing on the revamped Town Square in Templemore following a protest last week by residents and traders in the area. Traders and residents Peter O'Connor, John Walsh and Francis Murphy had parked their cars in The Square, preventing contractors from moving on to phase two of the work.
The protest came to an end on Wednesday afternoon following talks between the protesters and Templemore Town Council during which Mr Walsh took ill and was brought to hospital.
At this Monday's Templemore Town Council meeting, Mayor Maura Byrne said she was "delighted to see work on The Square continuing following talks and that the work is going to continue without protest".
However, Mr Murphy told the Tipperary Star this Tuesday that they still had concerns about the work, but felt it was "fruitless" to continue their protest. He thanked everybody who had supported them during the protest.
Mayor Byrne was complimented by Cllr Lily O'Brien for the way she had represented the council and for "keeping a cool head".
Cllr Martin Fogarty praised the "dignity people showed by their silence" during the protest and in the aftermath of the talks.
However he was disappointed that a "county colleague" seemed to go on a solo run over the matter.
Cllr Mick Connell said that the council "was not gloating" when they complimented the management and Cllr Byrne for their part in ending the dispute and he wished Mr Walsh well. He was supported by his fellow councillors in wishing Mr Walsh a speedy recovery.
"It was all done for the betterment of Templemore and I do believe the work will give it some sense of identity," he said.
He agreed with the Mayor that the proposed lighting system around the area would "identify The Square", after Cllr Byrne stated that she would like to see lamps in the area to "give it some prestige".
Cllr Valerie Young had some reservations about the size of the build-outs and the overall finish, following a slight tweaking off the original plan, but town manager Karl Cashen told her that The Square would have "remained a building site for six to eight weeks" otherwise.
He told Cllr Young it was "not possible to contact all nine councillors every time they had to make a change".
However, Cllr Young said she was "ripping last Friday" and thought a different finish would look better than a "slab of concrete".
She was supported by Cllr Joe Bourke and Cllr Michael Ryan, while Cllr Connell said he was disappointed, "but I accept the reason given".
Cllr Ryan asked if the area could now be enhanced through adding some colour to it, to which town clerk Tom McGrath said the clayed area would reduce the effect of the concrete, and that flowers would be planted instead of grass
Cllr Marcus Wilson complimented all those involved in resolving the issue and referring to Mr Walsh said: "Nothing was worth that".
He believed the new Town Square would enhance the town immensely.
The council is to look at planting mature tress to soften the newness of the look of the area.
Meanwhile, Mr Murphy said they were not happy with the work and they were "not giving it our blessing".
He said they had looked for a meeting with the council last week and had gone into the talks hoping for a stay on the work.
"However, the response we got was that the work was not going to stop and that the council would ringfence the entire square to carry it out. It was a veiled threat," he said.
"They bullied their way through and I know they'll say there was consultation, but sometimes it would be easier to get an audience in The Vatican than meet the council," said Mr Murphy. "We just had a bellyful of it and there are still serious concerns about loading and unloading."


text: The Getz, multiple winner of motoring awards around the globe, is proving equally popular in South Africa, and this latest version, equipped with the most powerful diesel engine in its price and size segment, is expected to consolidate its popularity here. The 1.5-litre common rail turbo-charged three-cylinder engine produces 60 kW at 4 000 r/min and 191 Nm of torque at 2 000 r/min. Hyundai claims it consumes a mere 3.5 litres/100 km in the rural cycle and 4.8 litres in the urban cycle to give a combined cycle of city and rural driving of just 4 litres/100 km. The top speed is rated at 165 km/h. On the road this translates to super flexibility, often on a par with the company's 1.6-litre petrol car. Like its main competitor, the Volkswagen Polo 1.4 TDi, it requires a little bit of revs at pullaway to get it going, but once rolling it proves a good puller with great overtaking abilities - provided you remember you're driving a low-revving diesel, not a high revving petrol car, and drive accordingly. Feature list The Getz 1.5 CRDi HS (High Specification), to give it its full name, has the same feature list as the hitherto top Getz, the 1.6 HS, and in fact comes in at the same price, giving potential owners the option of choosing between petrol and diesel versions without having to consider pricing. This means it comes fully equipped, with dual front airbags, a Pioneer radio/front loader CD player, electric windows front and rear, electrically-adjusted mirrors, air conditioning, height-adjustable driver's seat, tilt adjustable steering wheel, central locking and immobiliser with key transponder, a boot spoiler, front fog lights, alloy wheels, as well as side impact protection and pre-tensioners for the safety belts. Instrumentation comprises a big speedo and rev counter with smaller temperature and fuel gauges, and there's a digital clock. Features I especially like are the hook behind the driver's front seat for holding shopping bags (there's a magazine pocket on the other side) and the side pocket on the front passenger seat for maps etc. Very useful in overcrowded towns and cities are the 4 km/h rated bumpers - which means minor parking knocks are absorbed without damage - plus the little touches such as a specs holder, boot light, colour-coded mirrors, good quality cloth interior trim, map light, mud flaps, cup holders, and most of all, comfy seats that fit South African bodies. Fold-down seats As to be expected the Getz has 60/40 split fold-down rear seats, but unlike some of the opposition the Getz seats have a fold AND tumble action that gives a very useful load space of 987 litres with both seats folded. Capacity with both seats up is 315 litres. Fuel capacity is 45 litres. We drove the Getz on a varied route which included two mountain passes as well as a good mixture of rural roads and highways, and I must say I enjoyed the high quality of ride as well as the superb handling. As with most front-drivers (dare I say all?) there's initial understeer when pressing hard, but unlike others on the Getz this is very mild and converts to easy, and again mild, oversteer when you lift off the power to compensate. The power-assisted steering is very light and positive, and the gear change a model of smoothness. As mentioned the engine pulls particularly well in the mid-range, making overtaking safe and positive. Suspension is the same as on other Getz models, with McPherson struts with offset coil springs and an anti roll bar, plus oil-filled shock absorbers at the front, and a coupled torsion beam axle with coil springs and anti-roll bar plus gas-filled shock absorbers at the back. Braking sees ventilated disc brakes at the front and drums at the rear, with ABS and electronic brake force distribution. There's a 3 year/100 000 km warranty, and more importantly for owners, a 2 year/40 000km service plan. Maintenance is limited to routine oil changes every 10 000 km and air filter changes every 60 000 km, with a major service required at 20 000 km intervals. The timing belt needs replacement only at 230 000 km. Price: R129 995. Hyundai SA managing director Alan Ross says the re-establishment of the Hyundai brand in South Africa is well on track following the liquidation of the previous importers some years back and the subsequent take-over of the franchise by Associated Motor Holdings, which is a division of Imperial Holdings. He says sales are now on a par with those of the previous distributor. AMH does not reveal detailed sales figures, but history shows this would equate to around 14 000 vehicles a year. Ross adds that Hyundai SA will continue to extend its model range, with new Bakkie models, a new MPV, the Trijet, a facelifted version of the Elantra sedan, a new Atoz mini car, and a new small 4x4, the Tucson, on the cards for this year. The company now has 42 dealers nation-wide, with this likely to increase to a maximum of 45.


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With cuffed trousers being all the rage right now, just how far should you go? While Vogue Brazil editor Fabrizio Rollo can pull it off well, it's still a risky area. The problem with roll ups is that there's a very fine line between over-rolling and under-rolling your trousers. Over roll them and they might start looking like cargo shorts, Under roll them and they'll just look like those old school turn ups people did to show off their selvedge denim. Vote on what type of roll up looks best after the jump
Burton get a bit cheeky with their Japanese Denim
If you've looked at our Jeans coverage in
the past then you'll know all about raw & selvedge denim. You'll also know
that the best selvedge denim comes from Japan. Not necessarily all denim from
Japan is expertly made on great looms and this is why Burton's attempt
at Japanese denim is a bit cheeky.
Adidas Originals denim by Diesel
The Adidas originals range tends to throw
up interesting collaborations from time to time and this is no different. The originals
denim by Diesel range is an interesting mix – if only for the fact that you
wonder why Diesel agreed to it. It's not bad in any way, it's just that the
pieces are just Diesel jeans with some Adidas branding attached.


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Blacks: Buy A Print Card And Get A Free Samsung Digital Camera
If you always print your digital photos, consider prepaying for a $199, 1000 4 x 6 Print+ Card at Blacks. You'll be rewarded with a free Samsung ES28 digital camera!
The Black's Print+ Card can be used online or in store for 1000 4x6 prints, 830 5x7 prints or 750 6x8 prints. The cost of printing 1000 4x6 prints without the Print+ Card would cost you $290. With this offer you save $90 on your prints and get a free digital camera too!
The Samsung ES28 12 Megapixel digital camera, valued at $99.99, includes a 27 mm wide angle lens, 5x optical zoom and a high-quality MJPEG VGA movie mode.
This offer is available while supplies last!


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Michigan State Advances To Championship Game With Win Over UConn
April 4, 2009
Buy Game Photos! | Interactive Bracket | Michigan State-Connecticut Highlights
DETROIT (AP) -The Michigan State players walked to the edge of the floor and held up their index fingers, basking in the love of an entire state.
Laid low by the economic crisis, Michigan desperately needed something to rally around. The Spartans were more than happy to oblige.
"It means so much, so much. It's been all bad news the last couple of years," said Magic Johnson, who sat just a few rows behind the Michigan State bench. "This was the right time, the right coach, the right team, the right mind-set."
Raymar Morgan broke out of his late-season slump with 18 points, Kalin Lucas added 21 and the smaller Spartans ran roughshod over Hasheem Thabeet and Connecticut in an 82-73 upset in the Final Four on Saturday night.
UConn (31-5) cut an 11-point deficit to 4 in 49 seconds, getting within 3 with a minute to go. But the outcome was never really in doubt. Durrell Summers, a Detroit native who experienced firsthand the hardships his city and state are enduring when both parents were laid off, converted a three-point play to put the game out of reach.
The Spartans (31-6) now will play the winner of Villanova-North Carolina for the NCAA title Monday night, giving the city and state at least two more days to forget all the bad news and revel in their Spartans' success.
It's Michigan State's first appearance in the title game since 2000, when the Spartans won their second title.
How's this for some karma? Johnson, Spartan-in-chief since leading Michigan State to its first title in 1979, will present the game ball before Monday's title game along with Larry Bird.
"Detroit's been unbelievable to us," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "We've had some great games here, and the best is yet to come."
Flashbulbs were popping as the final seconds ticked down. The crowd of 72,456 was the largest-ever for a Final Four, and about two-thirds of it was wearing green.
"It was a memorable game that I won't forget," Izzo said. "Except we've got another one."
The loss is the latest blow for UConn, the best team in the country until Jerome Dyson went down with a knee injury in mid-February. The Huskies have been dealing with distractions since last May, when coach Jim Calhoun was diagnosed with his third bout with cancer, and are now facing questions about alleged recruiting violations.
The loss snapped Calhoun and Connecticut's perfect run in the Final Four. They'd made it twice before - 1999 and 2004 - and went on to win the title each time.
The UConn players walked slowly off the court, looking shell-shocked that their season had ended.
"I've got a lot of kids in there crying right now," Calhoun said. "But they had a great season. It hasn't been that easy to stay focused the past few weeks. But I give (Izzo) a great deal of credit."
This was expected to be a battle of big men. UConn's Thabeet had been a one-man swat team, averaging a double-double and winning defensive player of the year in the burly Big East for a second straight year. Michigan State's Goran Suton led the equally gritty Big Ten in rebounding and had averaged a double-double in the NCAA tournament.
But the matchup never developed, with neither a factor. Izzo had said all week the Spartans planned to make the game a sprint to keep Thabeet out of his comfort zone.
"That's one thing we've been doing since Day 1: We just rebounded and we ran," Lucas said.
And Thabeet couldn't keep up. He led the Huskies with 17 points and six rebounds, but it was the quietest 17 points anyone's ever had. The 7-foot-3 center looked gassed from the opening tipoff, leaning over, tugging on his shorts and gasping for air not even six minutes into the game.
The most aggressive he got was at the end of the first half, getting in Marquise Gray's face after Jeff Adrien and Travis Walton got tangled up under Connecticut's basket. There was some pushing and shoving, prompting Calhoun to come all the way from the other end of the floor to calm his players. But the dust-up fizzled quickly, and no technicals were even called.
Suton, who had the main job of corralling Thabeet, didn't score his first field goal until early in the second half and finished with four points and seven boards.
Stanley Robinson and A.J. Price had 15 each for Connecticut, and Robinson added 13 rebounds.
Morgan was Michigan State's best player early on, but he's struggled to find his groove since missing three games in February with walking pneumonia. He had just seven points in Michigan State's last three games - that's combined - and was 0-for-2 in the big win over Louisville in the Midwest Regional final. Granted, he's playing with a broken nose and a plastic mask, but Izzo has been all over him to be more aggressive.
Apparently, he finally got the message.
"I said Raymar Morgan was a kid that I feared was gonna bust out," Calhoun said. "Unfortunately, I was too much of a prophet."
Morgan scored 11 in the first half, including a couple of big buckets when UConn was threatening to take off. Little Korie Lucious, the back-up point guard who's never met a shot he didn't like, was a key contributor early on, too, scoring nine points in a 1 1/2-minute span at the end of the first half.
And it was Morgan again in the second half, stripping Craig Austrie to start an 8-2 run that caught UConn flat-footed, all but ended the game and threatened to bring down the roof at Ford Field.
Morgan stripped Austrie and dished to Draymond Green, who lumbered down the floor for an easy layup. Austrie missed a shot at the other end. Lucas - generously listed at 6-feet - grabbed the rebound and sprinted upcourt, splitting two Connecticut defenders with a shake-and-shimmy that gave him a wide-open layup. Wide open because those two defenders didn't have any help. Thabeet didn't even bother to run up the court to play defense, gasping for air with his hands on his hips.
After another Huskies miss, Morgan grabbed the rebound and fired it to Allen, who scored on a finger roll to give Michigan State a 53-49 lead.
The ball had barely dropped through the net when Calhoun barked for a timeout, and the Michigan State fans erupted. If Calhoun hoped the break would re-energize his team, he was wrong.
Green made a jumper, Durrell Summers a 3 and Green converted a pair of free throws. After Price missed a jumper, Green made his own from the top of the key to give Michigan State a 72-54 lead with 7:52 to play. He and Lucas slapped hands as the crowd roared.
"We love y'all!" Lucas yelled to the crowd during a postgame interview. "We love Detroit!"