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Can't pick your favourite design? Overcome by the sudden urge to pop the question? Our sample loan service has got you covered!
Whether you're measuring your own ring size or trying to suss out your partner's, ring sizing is a nuanced art that can be tricky to get right. Luckily, we're here to make your mission as easy as possible. Learn more.
Ring sizer loan
Not being able to visit us in person doesn't mean you're denied access to the best customer service we can offer. For a refundable deposit of £15 we'll lend you one of two types of ring sizing tool, along with some handy tips for measuring yourself up from home. Order your ring sizer loan.
Alternatively, you could also try using our printable ring sizer. Use this with a ring that either you or the person you're purchasing for currently wears. It's best to choose a ring that's similar in style to the one you want to buy, too. Then, follow these instructions:
1. Print this page at 100% size.
2. When setting your print options you must ensure the options to fit or shrink to page ARE NOT selected.
3. Print the document, then with a ruler or tape, measure the outer box to ensure it matches the dimensions marked.
4. Hold your selected ring against the circles on the chart.
5. Choose the letter that best matches the internal diameter of the ring.
6. This is the ring size you should order.
You can also download a PDF version of the ring sizer.
If you can't find your size in the drop-down menu, just send us an email with your requested size and we'll send you a quote. If it is just one or two sizes smaller or bigger than the last size available on the website, the price will remain the same.
Our ready-to-wear engagement rings are raring to go and boast a delivery time of just three working days. Custom-made bridal jewels take approximately eight weeks from the order date to be created. Should we foresee any hold-ups with the manufacture of your jewel, we'll let you know as soon as possible. Please contact us to learn more about estimated delivery times.
Jewellery from our silver collections are processed and delivered within three to four working days.
Where? |
How much do we charge? |
Service Provided |
Expected Delivery time |
UK Insured Delivery |
£7.95 / FREE with purchase over £300 |
Royal Mail Special DeliveryTM |
1- 4 Working Days |
EU Standard Delivery |
£15 |
Royal Mail International Tracked & Signed |
3-5 Working Days |
EU Priority Insured Delivery (for orders over £800) |
£70 |
FedEx® |
1-2 Working Days |
International Standard Delivery** |
£25 |
Royal Mail International Tracked & Signed |
Approx 4-7 Working Days |
International Priority Insured Delivery (for orders over £800) |
£80 |
FedEx® |
Approx 2-3 Working Days |
* Zones that are not covered by Royal Mail Airsure® will be sent via Royal Mail International Signed ForTM
For further information click here
If you have any further questions, please feel free to get in touch.
All ready to wear engagement rings may be returned for a full refund, provided they are returned in their original condition and packaging within 30 days of the original purchase. Likewise for any silver jewellery from our collections. Please see below for return instructions.
There are NO REFUNDS or exchanges for bespoke commissioned jewels, collection wedding bands or collection engagement rings, as these items are made to order and specially manufactured to your requested specifications. However, if the item is found to be faulty, Lebrusan Studio reserves the right to repair the item first or re-make the item for you.
For further information please click here.
Full priced items eligible for returns must be returned within 30 days of the original purchase. Discounted items must be returned within 14 days of the original purchase.
Before returning your item, please call us or send an email to obtain your unique RAN number. This will enable us to identify your return and ensure the quickest possible refund.
* Refunds from within the UK are free of charge. Once you've posted your package please email us with proof of postage cost (e.g. an image of your Post Office receipt) and we'll ensure that you're refunded the full value of postage.
** Postage for EU and international returns and exchanges must be covered by the customer and is non-refundable.
Purchases must be returned exactly as they arrived. Please ensure that items are returned in their original condition and original packaging, with proof of purchase and a clearly written RAN number inside the parcel.
If you'd like to see our jewellery's extraordinary craftsmanship in person or try some rings on for size, come and visit us at our London or Brighton showrooms.
At Lebrusan Studio we only use recycled, Fairtrade and Fairmined metals and variety of ethically sourced diamonds and gem.stones. You'll find detailed descriptions of the manufacturing processes and materials used on the listing page of each collection item. Your Lebrusan Studio jewel will also come accompanied with a unique certificate of provenance, detailing its journey into fruition and verifying exactly what it's been crafted from.
Yes - just drop us an email for a quote and advice on how to go about ordering. Requests for smaller sized rings will be quoted at the same price as the smallest ring size available on the website. Larger sizes tend to be a little more expensive.
Yes, they are. Simply select the 'polish' option and drop us an email with your order number, specifying whether you'd like your ring with a matte or hammered finish.
No. No matter the provenance of the gold you choose, its colour - whether yellow or white - will be reliable. There are some differences between 9ct and 18ct gold, though - see the next point.
Yes. The difference is metal hardness; 9ct is softer and thus slightly less durable than 18ct. There's also a difference in colour when it comes to yellow gold; 9ct yellow is always slightly whiter in hue than 18ct. We always recommend 18ct gold for wedding and engagement rings, as these are everyday pieces that must be able to withstand wear and tear.
Yes, we can. Palladium is a white metal similar in appearance to 18ct white gold and it's becoming increasingly popular for men's rings, despite its current high price. It's lighter than white gold and it's perfect for 4mm, 5mm or wider bands due to its hardness. Just drop us an email stating the design you'd like along with your ring size, and we'll send you a quote. The current price for palladium bands is approximately 50% higher than 18ct gold.
Allergies to gold or platinum are rare, with silver actually the most common metal allergy - but that doesn't mean to say it's not a possibility. To try and avoid allergic reactions, our white gold bands are made using an alloy of palladium, a very pure metal which very rarely causes allergies.
We're proud to say that 100% of our jewellery is Created in the UK. Whilst the majority of our metal casting takes place in Melton Mowbray, all finishing processes - that's polishing, hand-engraving, stone-setting and hallmarking - takes place in specialist workshops in Hatton Garden, London's famed jewellery quarter.
Aside from our sustainably harvested Tahitian pearls, our jewellery contains absolutely no direct animal products. That said, we cannot guarantee that the equipment or products employed throughout the manufacturing process are 100% vegan. For example, beeswax is sometimes uses to lubricate drills and saw blades, whilst leather is often present at jewellers' benches to catch small pieces of metal. Such are common practises for many jewellery manufacturers. On rare occasions, we may also transport particularly delicate pieces of jewellery inside small leather pouches. If you are vegan and wish to discuss this matter in more depth with us, please don't hesitate to reach out.
It's very simple. Start by taking a moment to visit our bespoke engagement ring, bespoke wedding band and bespoke jewel galleries. If you're inspired by what you see, drop us an email outlining what it is you're after, along with an indication of your budget and ideal time frame. To move forwards, a bespoke consultation tends to be the most productive step. Once we've finalised your design and received your initial deposit, the production process should take 8-12 weeks. You can view a more detailed explanation of the bespoke service here.
It all depends on the design and materials used, but generally speaking, our bespoke engagement rings start at £2,500,our bespoke wedding bands at £1,500and our bespoke heirloom jewels at £3,000. We only create bespoke items in platinum or 18ct gold.
Just drop us an email (firstname.lastname@example.com) or send us a text (+447946942350). We will endeavour to answer you as soon as possible - most enquiries are usually responded to within a day.
Our sample engagement and wedding rings are convincing mock-ups of The Real Thing. These replicas are just silver (some plated in yellow gold), with Cubic Zirconia stones, but they offer a valuable impression of shape, size, craftsmanship and how each ring sits on the finger. You might even decide to use a sample engagement ring to propose with!
The cost to borrow is £50 per sample ring. (One order = one ring). In just 2-3 working days, the goods will land on your doormat! All we ask if that you return the pieces to us, in their original condition, via a tracked and insured delivery service, within the week. When you're ready to place your order, we'll knock the loan fee you've already paid off the final price.
If you decide not to proceed with an order after all, that's not a problem. We'll refund you 50% of the loan fee and hang onto the remaining 50% to cover admin and cleaning costs.
On ordering your sample loan, please leave us a note at the checkout identifying which sample ring(s) you'd like to see. If you'd like to collect your sample loan in person from the London Diamond Bourse, please contact us so we can waive delivery fees.
Make this jewel your own.
We can personalise most of our collection rings with different coloured gemstones or hand-engraved messages, patterns and dates of your choice.
Your rings are important symbols of your happiness, love and life-long commitment to one another - you must feel proud to wear them.
Jewels that mark important milestones should be just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside.


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Lawmakers in Cyprus approved a controversial $13 billion bailout from international lenders that's aimed at keeping the country from a messy default and withdrawal from the eurozone.
The agreement, which totals $30 billion when Cyprus' own contributions are included, passed 29-27 in the 56-seat Parliament.
The ruling center-right Democratic Rally party and its ally, the Democratic party, voted for the measure.
"If there was another realistic alternative, our decision would surely be different. Unfortunately, we have no other choice," Democratic party leader Marios Garoyian was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
"The bailout comes at a steep cost: The government must implement punishing austerity measures, shut down the country's second-largest bank and impose losses of up to 60 percent on deposits over $130,000 held at the island's biggest financial institution, Bank of Cyprus.
" 'A yes from Cyprus' Parliament is by far the biggest defeat in our 8,000-year history,' independent lawmaker George Perdikis said ahead of the vote. 'Its democratically elected representatives have a gun to their head to agree to a deal of enslavement.'
"About 300 angry demonstrators gathered outside the Parliament as he spoke, calling politicians 'thieves.'
"Ahead of the vote, the communist AKEL party, which held the presidency until early this year, said Cyprus should start looking beyond Europe for financial support.
" 'Cyprus' only option is a solution outside the loan agreement,' the party said in a statement ahead of Tuesday's debate. 'Seeking such a solution is possibly tantamount to a decision to exit the euro.' "
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

subset: commoncrawl


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Find the best Medical Marijuana Doctor in Cranbury, New Jersey
Our focus is to help Cranbury residents find the best medical marijuana doctors. Our Qualified Cranbury, New Jersey Cannabis Pain Specialists and Providers are focused on providing the best possible treatment plans available.
Marijuana for medical use can be taken in several forms such as smoking, vaporizing and ingestion. There are 60 active ingredients called cannabinoids found in marijuana that are associated to its medicinal capabilities. Our body naturally produces cannabinoids that are responsible for modulating the amount of pain that our body is feeling.
The main cannabinoid found in marijuana is the THC which is short for tetrahydrocannabinol. This THC triggers the CB1 receptors found in the brain, the nervous system, and other primary organs of our body. When the CB1 receptors are activated, they release hormones that will quell stress and pain caused by damaged tissues or nerve cells. Studies have also revealed that medical marijuana reduces muscle spasms and other symptoms related to muscles becoming stiff.
Another medicinal use of marijuana is for stimulating the appetites of patients that suffer from suppressed appetites because of their medical conditions or treatment. Medical marijuana is prescribed to patients that are undergoing chemotherapy since this treatment will most often reduce a patient's appetite.
A lot of people have a problem finding a qualified and compassionate marijuana doctor. Nowadays, because of the increasing success of medical marijuana within the USA, a lot of marijuana card registration services have been opened. They claim to have all the licenses, which make their card valid in any medical marijuana dispensary of a specific state. But how do you find the right card registration service?
The simplest and fastest way is to ask neighbors, colleagues, relatives, and friends about marijuana card services
The primary thing you should do is to contact the chosen service. Perhaps, the very first thing people are interested in is if the service supplies marijuana card over the phone. If they tell you "Yes", just cross it out of your list, because licensed marijuana card services would never offer it over-the-phone. If you hear "no" on the other end, your keep doing your research.
The second item you should inquire is the company's license number. If it's "no," move on. However, if you get the number, don't forget to check it with the state registry. Now, speaking of the doctors working for a marijuana dispensary, company, etc. – their names and degrees would be perfect, because this data is enough to check that they are those, who they say they are.
Unfortunately, New Jersey laws are frequently changing. There are a variety of websites that will keep you informed of your states regulations.
My favorites are:
Some states are in the favor of marijuana's legalization while some others have different opinion about it. However, this debate comes to an end when the professionals from medical research and scientists have confirmed that it is one of a most suitable ways of treating patient who are suffering HIV/AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer's & Parkinson's and many more disease. There are set policies that must be followed in order to use the beneficial properties of marijuana. A patient must go through legal processes, one involving medical marijuana doctors, licenses, cards, and clinics. These specialized doctors have the important task of examining patients, deciding if they need this kind of medication, and then giving the necessary recommendations for its use. Under the law, these doctors cannot dispense the drug themselves.
There are Cranbury medical marijuana clinics that are set up for this purpose.
- Get a diagnosis from your own doctor regarding your illness / pain. Doctors allow the use of this alternative drug in debilitating diseases such as lung cancer, breast cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's, neurological disorders, and other pain causing illnesses.
- The doctor may then recommend an appointment with a medical marijuana doctor.
- The patient must submit the necessary documents such as their physician's recommendation, medical records, other records on diagnosis and treatment.
- The patient might go through another series of tests with the new doctor. This would be part of the consultation process.
- If it is found out that the patient does indeed need cannabis for medical purposes to treat the illness or ease the chronic pain, they would information on dosage, most effective ways of taking the medicine, and which clinic to go to.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to be nor should it be construed to be any sort of medical advice. For medical advice the reader should consult with his or her physician.


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"Hi there! I'm the face of your future nightmares!"
"See you real soon! Heehee!!"
Thank goodness for that plastic plaque; at least something here is edible.
So, what do you get for a #1 Dad?
I'll give you two guesses.
Here's a hint:
When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong.
That "Happy Father's Day" flotsam looks like the lid of a metal gift tin. Even less appetizing than plastic!
Wow. A bevy of wreckiness there.
Ewwwww attack of the poo! And the poo fish is even multi-colored!
At least with the picks we don't have to worry about people misusing "your" on the cakes.
What IS that second one. I stared, and stared and stared. I just doing get it. I thought the next one was a soccer ball until you zoomed in on it. Hm. I still think it is.
And look, I think this is the first time I've ever seen "Poo Vader!" Poo Vader... FTL!
CW #1 - Are those eyes made of prunes?!?!?!
CW #3 - Left over World Cup soccer cake converted into a face?
The rest? Excuse me, I have to hurl.
wv: multerol
The stuff they add to icing to make it so shiny.
Is that last one a fossil skeleton of an animal preserved in tar?
#1: eww. it's smiling. and has prunes for eyes. Is this some attempt at a paternity test? what's with the random blue cupcake on the side?
#2: what the hell is that icing streaked thing? a fish? with a beak on backwards (or really big lips?) without fins it looks like something hatching out of an egg. or a plant.
#3: a soccer ball with a face? I'd be scared too. thanks for sharing. I think. (they forgot to cross the t. maybe it's a secret message... or a threat) Fal her....hm...
#4: is that cracked lime Jell-o?
#5: why would they make a tie out of poo? I'm suggesting #1 is sarcastic. But they just couldn't find #2 Dad flotsam. Dad, you're a ****!
What a fabulous book signing party last night in Tempe! It was great to see th 39 cupcake entries, and I was amazed that there were two from yesterday's Father's Day post. Wreck on everybody!
What are those first few cakes even supposed to be?
Eew - that 3rd one looks like the creepy masked magician that gives away all the magic secrets! *shudder*
Shouldn't the little sign on the tie cake (second from bottom) read "#2 Dad"? Sure looks like #2 to me. Just sayin'...
WV: soleliso (noun) An italian opera number celebrating excellence in shoe leather.
2nd to last one - it's the monolith of poo! Awesome.
yuck. There are times where you don't have to cover things in jello. Well...wrestling comes, oh never mind.
Dear God I may never sleep again. Thanks a bunch.
Oh,dear. The last cake with the poo football is dreadful. And does the second cake say "Happy Folher's Day"?
uh.. that was supposed to be a tie? Thank you, unknown anonymous for defining #5. I just had no clue.
Now as to the 'poo ball' -- amybe someone asked for a foot ball and couldn't speak well over the phone? We know how cell phone usage can 'break up'.
*Sigh*... nightmares personified in that -- that -- uh, "fish"???
This will be interesting as my visual verification is a little red x in a box in the top left corner.....
OK, everything else aside... what's with that one blue cupcake in the first one?
All I can say, what were they!
Certainly not edible! Eeeeeeeewwwwwwww!!!!!!!!
I thought the "tie" was a sporan - you know, one of those purse/pouch things that Scotsmen wear to keep their kilts in place over their privates. The whole bunch makes me shudder. Norine
What is that random blue-iced cupcake in the first pic supposed to be? A superball? A mutated smurf? The nose in the picture is the scariest thing by far, but I just don't get that blue thing at all.
I pointed at the last couple and asked my 21 month old what they were. She loudly proclaimed, "poopy!" So there's the expert opinion.
Oh good god, what is wrong with people?
I love these.
My sister bought our dad a CCC for Father's Day. It was supposed to be shaped like a watermelon. As soon as I saw it, I thought of this blog. I joked to my sister that I was going to take a pic of it and send it in to Cake Wrecks, and she got mad. LOL
What the heck is #2???!!! Seriously, I can't figure it out and I can't even connect to anything related to Father'd Day! LOL
check out my blog: nikkiscakery.blogspot.com
I love how the reflections in the plastic lid on the last cake look rather like odiferous fumes...
(Also, when I first saw the pick on the "fish" cake, I thought it said "Hi Dad!" which would have been amusing for a mass-produced pick. Of course I was wrong. Sigh.)
I think these are the most puzzling wrecks I've seen in a very long time. I furrowed my brows at each photo. What is that blue dot in the first one? What is that green jelly in the other one? I don't get it. Do people actually step up to the counter at the bakery, ask for the poo cake, happily place it in their shopping cart feeling like they just got a super deal and then skip away?
The second one looks like a very anaemic Sideshow Bob, after he had one of his eyes explode.
I thought the last one, the pile o' poo with the picket fence on top, was very...um....
Never mind.
Not getting "tie" at all out of that one. Of course it has to be a tie because I don't know of any Father's Day poo volcanoes in the natural world. Though apparently pig-tailed raisin-eyed children exist in wreckerator world.
The random blue thing in the first wreck is the infamous Twelfth Cupcake. The one that is advertised but not usually needed to complete the "design", so it's just randomly placed as a "decorative accent". I amuse myself by looking for this Rudolph of the CCC world, ignored by its overly-frosted reindeer brethren, waiting for the day it screams "I can't take it anymore!!" and inserts itself into the middle of the "design", demanding acceptance as an equal participant in the CCC wreckage.
Or something like that.
disclaimer: This is what meeting Jen and John does to you. =D
Had a great time last night at the signing, thanks for bravely coming to AZ in June! Carrie, Chris, and Nikolai
worst cakes ever.
Please tell me no one tried to eat those. Those are Fear Factor quality.
The only thing to be done with them is load them in a catapult and launched at an unsuspecting enemy. Your dad would agree.
The first cake looks like a deranged Goldilocks!
The reflections in the plastic on the last one give the illusion that the poo-ball is steaming.
Or maybe it really is steaming.
Either way, ew.
I'm pretty sure that second one is supposed to be a fish. You know, because all fathers like to fish. Right?
That first one... nothing says "Happy Father's Day" like having a blonde pig on your cake! Egad!
I agree with dawn that the flotsam is a gift-card tin. Which means either someone is really cheap and just stuck the lid in the cake, or someone has to purposfully put their fingers close to that "frosting" and risk losing their fingers to the chemicals therein.
#1 has totally mystified me with the addition of the blue cupcake. Before that, it was just the ugly face of a mutant...something.
#2 appears to be a goat? Is there some tradition of wishing your father a goat? Comparing him to a goat? ("Thank you...is this because I head-butted you last week? Jeez, just because a guy eats a few tin cans...")
ewwwww... on the football poo cake, there appears to be brown run-off and smearing... takes me a place I don't want to go, we'll call it "hershey-squirts"-ville.
just when I think it's safe to go to the bakery again...
It's SOCCER HITLER!!!! Note that it doesn't say "Father"; they actually misspelled "Fuhrer"!
People actually eat this stuff? Hectic.
I *think* the second one is what happens when you try to mix SpongeBob SquarePants' DNA with Squidwards and then smash the offending creature with a nice flat rock. I'm not sure though...
The second one reminds me (somewhat vaguely) of the Borg Queen. The pale skin, the elongated head, the random blueish tentacles/machine components to replace her hair...
Wow. I mean, EEW! Who would ever buy these? I find it amusing though, that that #1 Dad pick is on the second cake and the second to last cake (i also first thought it said "hi dad").
What is the second cake? I can sort of figure out the others, but that one has me baffled.
Leftwinglock - your comment was so hilarious! I'm going to start searching for the rudolph of CCC's as well! lol!
wow. thanks for pointing out the steamy reflection on the pooball. ew.
and I think you're all correct about the gift card tin lid. WTF!! Look how it even smooshed the Jell-O where they placed it. (How did they get the Jell-O to crack?)
another note about the poo-tie (that first Anon was me, Anon/Di). The way they made the design "concentrically" struck me funny the second time I looked at it. It's as if the flotsam in the middle made ripply waves in the pooblob. It's like poo in motion!
I think the second one is an opossum. I don't know why the second one would be an opossum, but that's what it looks like to me. Maybe because it's Dad's job to deal with roadkill?
(I remember once as a kid demanding that my dad pick up and help us properly inter a rabbit that had been run over on our block. My poor Dad; he put up with a lot!)
This is a truly disgusting collection of Wrecks. I'm not sure I could bring myself to eat any of them.
Everyone needs a poo tie!
In defense of #6, I think it's supposed to be an ugly brown tie - and I think they executed the ugly part very well.
The radioactive green one looks suspiciously like the background of the Incredible Hulk "Echo Stomp" cake design... yer supposed to scratch "cracks" into the pristine cake surface and spray it neon green (and in this case, slather it with piping gel, *urk*!) and then prop the Hulk figurine on it so he looks like he's "smashing" the cake.
Apparently, they discovered they were out of the Hulk figurines AFTER they decorated the cake top.
On to plan B, which is always "Throw a plastic topper on there and be done with it!"
Is it wrong that I think the neon green jello cake would be cool if it had a slimy alien popping out of it? It is? Okay then.
It's not that mysterious to me what that blue cuppie is there for.
See, the darn DEAL was--as the sticker says-- "12 CT" cupcake cake. And the "design" was comprised of only 11 cupcakes. Whoever was buying it counted, became irate, and demanded their money's worth ("Dammit! I want my money's worth! You trot another cupcake out here right NOW, or you're only getting $11!! What? No, I DON'T care what flikking COLOR it is! Just BRING it!")
Oh no, HEB, how could you!? Why? WHY!? I totally agree with Brandon on the Borg Queen.
What is with this "poo" theme running through so many of these CWs? I will not be sleeping well tonight.
Leave it to me, but I feel sad about the second...uh... creation. Whateverthehellitis, it looks scared! Worse than that, it almost looks traumatized. Shellshocked even. Like a helpless animal in the mouth of a big predator.
I couldn't eat that!!!
I'd be trying to RESCUE it
(or at least put it out of its misery).
I don't know where you are all getting "fish" from. I totally thought it was wolf. You know, Dad, the lone wolf, guarding his pack. The obviously serious imagery of this cake, and the social mores it brings to light are somehow lessened by the "hi dad" pick off to one side.
As soon as I saw the green cake I thought to myself..."Hulk smash" That plastic plaque must weight a ton.
The first one doesn't even say "Happy Father's Day" it just says "Happy Father Day" The prune eyes also look like giant water bugs. ewwww.
Gross- cakes to make dad barf!
Is that green slime actually radioactive waste?
Isabella has a splendid imagination! She says:
" I *think* the second one is what happens when you try to mix SpongeBob SquarePants' DNA with Squidwards and then smash the offending creature with a nice flat rock. I'm not sure though..."
well said!
I thought that maybe the 2nd cake was SUPPOSED to be an eagle. Hmmm, just a thought.
Oh, keep sharing the Fathers Day wrecks! Sunday Sweets are lovely, but I ♥ holiday wrecks :)
Yesterdays were funny, today's actually depressing. I'm not sure what's worse-- that someone put these up for sale, or that someone may have bought them. (I hope their father was truly so horrible a parent as to deserve that. In which case, why even buy them a cake this bad??)
The first one: at least it's a cupcake mosaic not a CCC. But my first, much snarkier, thought was that it's more suitable for celebrating The Pill's 50th anniversary!
Is the second one a fish??? If so, it pairs "well" with yesterday's "fish hook"
No clue what that face is in #3, let alone why.
#4: is that left over from St Patrick's day?!?!
#5: My first thought was some weird ancient pyramid attempt (e.g. Inca/Egypt/Cambodian) given how stepped it was, but then I concluded that it was probably an attempt at a tie
#6: a well played ball that it's so steamy???
@Albatross: I agree with you that the bad watermelon CCC for fathers day deserves to be submitted here!
@ leftwinglock: love that description of the rudolph cupcake!
Pile of poo= "Thank you for changing my dirty diapers, Dad!"
Nothing says "I love you, Dad" like a poo cake!
WV: silingo -- silly+lingo, typically used on cakes by professional wreckerators; i.e. "Happy falker satherhood"
There seems to be an unearthly glow coming from the green slime cake. I keep imagining that the white thing left of center is a beam of light glowing through the slime. Is it possible there is a radioactive glow under all that toxic ooze? It's as if someone decided that a father's day cake should look like a science project gone wrong.
Are those supposed to be scary cupcake pigtails? Eep. A face only a father could love.
Yuk yuk.
#2 = dead fish with way too much gangrene and gray poo. Maybe a little less would be pretty....GAG.
The fifth one looked like a cake full of icy stagnant water and the second and last ones looked like something that would swim in it.
I'm not sure how the pooball was supposed to be a hint for the previous wreck, other than it looks like poo, but what I saw with cake number 5 was a cloak. An evil poo cloak. Maybe something Magneto would wear if his power was attracting poo rather than metal. Or as Trevor says, perhaps it belongs to Poo Vader.
@ Albatross: It's a pity your sister couldn't see the funny side of her watermelon ccc (patooey!), we would have loved to see piccies of it.
What is #2 (no pun intended) supposed to be???
Do they only trust bakers with large bore piping tips nowadays?? *flail*
what's that second one? a fish?
WV: beditypo
the scientific name of that fish apparently.
((SIGH))....the minute I read the title of this post, I *flashed* on this blast-from-the-past little number:
I had to hear it again or I would've had it in my head ALL DAY.
Wish I could be in SLC tomorrow, but alas alack, I have to work until 7. Tragedy! Enjoy my temporary state.
~Ish (from Boston, but posting from Provo)
I think I just threw up a little...is that last one actually steaming?? *shivers*
Those are disgusting.
Ohmigawd, that made my sides hurt.
Heavens to mergatroid.
I think I am going to go hide under my bed and hope those cakes can't find me.. scary things lol. At least they didn't put giant ants on them.. unless they are hiding in all of that disgusting looking frosting.. scary.
A football? I thought it was a coffin. Way to tell your Dad you love him!
#1 Hold me... while I hurl...
#2 Some more. If someone figures out what it is supposed to be, do they get a free electroshock session to erase the memory of having seen it? (He asked, therefore trying desperately to figure out what it is supposed to be.)
#3 & 3a I guess the wreckerator was working so hard on the neo-Mondrian Hitler that they forgot to cross the 't' and put the primary colors in the portrait. Happy Falher's Day!
#4 Oy. Are those *bubbles* around the plaque? Do I want to know how frosting gets that green? This redefines the concept of 'diet aid'.
#5 Dad is probably tired of receiving a tie for the last 500 Father's Days, so what shall we do this year? I know -- a poo tie! I'm sure he was kidding about that whole 'disowned' thing.
#6 If he just can't swallow another tie, how about -- a decomposing football! High five! Keep the change! (I want to believe that cake wasn't left over from last season, even though it looks like it was.)
I'm sure Dad got all choked up over the seconds of thought and effort that must have gone into these wreck-creations. Although people usually don't turn green when they're holding back emotions...
That face is a soccer ball wreck as well as a face wreck.
Oh, no.
Such M.C. Escheresque conundrums hurt m y b r a i n.
After seeing that first cake... is anyone else picturing their Dad dressed up like Sailor Moon?
How about now? >:P
The second one is a hedgehog!! I think....
I know what the second cake is! It's a scary looking hedgehog! I think it is at least...
Hmmm... The thing dads want? The last cake totally gave it away, isn't it a poo pile that has stitches?
I know what that first blue cake is! It is a Y chromosome cake!!
What's with the "#1 Dad" cupcake in the top left corner of the second one? And what the heck is that thing anyway?
Ewww! Recycled cake! That green one is totally a Hulk "Echo Stomp" cake. They must have had an abandoned cake and just slapped a Father's Day plaque on it.
And as for that HEB pooball cake, I really think that came from down the street from me! (and that's why they don't get repeat customers and we do ;) )
*fingers crossed my cakes never end up here*
The "poo" football caked looked more as if the wreckerator put a melted, burnt ball on the cake. Did they bake the cake WITH a large plastic decoration on it?
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A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.
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text: The Golden Tarot is a modern celebration of late medieval artwork. This deck is the choice of scholars, for it evokes images of elegance amid barbarism, and the light of virtue in dark times. If you would like your own copy of the Golden Tarot, you can buy it now!


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text:
At first I was thinking to title this report, "Report: KDE at Comdex". You're thinking, well, that's what you did. Big deal. However, I then changed my mind and started to write a report entitled "Microsoft is Afraid". I think this is the most appropriate title. Then I realized that no-one would know what the real topic is, so I changed it back.
As many of you know, KDE was one of the winners in the O'Reilly contest to send six open source projects to Comdex. I went to Las Vegas to represent KDE, and brought my brother Matthew to help with the hordes of interested people.
The Comdex floor show opened on Monday, November 17. However, Bill Gates had his keynote speech on Sunday evening. We were able to attend in person, and it was an enlightening experience. Others have pointed out the behavior of Microsoft, and how they appear to follow the words of Gandhi: "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Well Microsoft did follow just this pattern. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer made a rather sad looking video of them taking on the roles of Morpheus and Neo in "The Matrix". The agents were Linux users, and their "kernel crashed" prompting them to "rewrite all of their drivers". Neo then had to make the choice of the little red Microsoft pill, or the "big blue, hard to swallow, IBM/Linux" pill. Ridiculing Linux may seem like a decent approach to them, but I think it shows how afraid they really are. They are preparing for a big fight (more to come on this). That being said, I think Bill Gates could use some public speaking lessons. He's not very charismatic. Perhaps I just expected too much from a billionaire philanthropist.
The KDE presence consisted of a small podium in the "Open Source Innovation Center", and was of course funded by O'Reilly. We had two laptops, a Dell Inspiron and an Apple Powerbook, both running random snapshots of KDE from CVS-HEAD. It was daring, but I don't recall encountering any problems in the course of demos. We occupied the podium for half of each day we were there, sharing it with other projects for the rest of the day.
Our demos mainly consisted of overviews of KDE, showing Konqueror, Kontact, KDevelop, Kopete, and other applications. We also had Kolab setup, but I don't recall anyone interested in seeing it in action. They were just interested that we even had such a thing, and then wanted to see the client. Despite all of this, the most popular features by far were Kiosk mode - for administrators/IT people - and Qt Designer - for developers. People were completely amazed with the power of Qt and Designer. It seems that many don't realize how powerful it can be. As for Kiosk mode, it is truly a "killer feature" for KDE. However, we need a GUI for this badly. We also need better, more centralized documentation.
It seems as though there is a list of important features that people need for accepting KDE (or even just Linux) on the desktop:
- Office Suite - OpenOffice is the only choice presently
- Groupware Client - Kontact looks promising, perhaps better than Evolution
- Browser - Mozilla is there, but I don't see anyone having problems using Konqueror instead
- Easy Updates - Right now we leave this up to the distro. Perhaps a bad idea, perhaps not
- Remote Administration - We're getting there
- Kiosk Operation - Here, KDE is king in infrastructure. We just need a UI
- Basic Accessibility, Usability - We're as usable as other desktops, but we need better accessibility
Among the visitors to the KDE booth were CIOs, CEOs, VPs and Presidents of
major companies and smaller businesses, students, hobbyists, journalists, and
professionals. I was stunned to see executives from Fortune 500 companies
coming by for a demo of KDE, saying that it was their favorite desktop and that they hope that we continue to do such a good job so they can adopt KDE for desktop deployments in the future. I was most, and least, surprised by one class of visitor though. We had regular visits from Microsoft
employees! They wanted demos of KDE, to see how it works and what we have.
What an interesting situation. I soon discovered that this was not the only
place that Microsoft people were doing investigations.
On Tuesday there was a Linux Desktop conference in the afternoon. I decided it would be worthwhile to go to that, and while I was stuck at the booth for quite a while and ended up being 15 minutes late, I still managed to catch a significant portion of it. KDE (on SUSE) was used as the demonstration desktop on the screen, and the panel was quite supportive of KDE. I think this is partially because of Xandros and Lindows using KDE as well. I did not see any trace of Lindows people around, although my understanding is that they should have been there.
While the talk was going on, I heard some furious typing behind my back. I
turned around and could see someone two rows back writing on one of those
tablet PCs that nobody buys. I turned around further and there was someone
beside him typing on a laptop - whew, I wasn't insane! I wondered who was so
interested in this conference, and I tried to see their badges. They were
hidden, but as the talk ended I waited around until they got up. Microsoft.
I am not sure if I got their names right but according to LinuxWorld they were General Manager of Microsoft TV Marketing, Alan Yates, and Pascal Stoltz, director of Microsoft's Information Worker Group - the group producing Office, Visio, FrontPage, etc. Seems like someone is really interested in Linux on the desktop!
Overall the experience was great for KDE. I think our presence alone was
enough to help introduce KDE to a crowd that really wasn't too familiar with
Linux at all, let alone a Linux based desktop. I would like to thank O'Reilly
for their help and for giving us this wonderful opportunity. I would also
like to thank John Taber and the Las Vegas LUG for their help at the booth.
tuxreports.com made an interview with George at COMDEX: http://tuxreports.com/article2513.html
Yeah, I've been thinking that we'd need that for a while. Suprisingly so few people know about it.
I second that, third it even! I am deploying LTSP boxes in our school district and am constantly struggling with sometimes contradictory and often incomplete documentation on configuring kiosk mode. Once I finally got it, it's not too bad, but let's just say the process is not Pointy-Haired-Boss-Friendly. When it comes time to demo the process (which is coming up pretty soon - several other districts nearby have expressed interest in our LTSP project), the kiosk configuration is going to be the hardest part to deal with. Bosses >like< the GUI. Heck, so do I sometimes - it sure beats parsing some of the longer menu files.
Maybe after I get these things deployed, I will have some time to learn QT Designer and just write the rotten thing myself. If someone is already started on this, let me know.
Yeah, a common complaint. I believe Waldo is working on it. Stay tuned!
Nice work, George! Thanks for your work in promoting KDE.
Find anything interesting from the other Open Source projects that were present?
Now I know what Plone is. :-)
Actually OOo had quite a big crowd there. It's a very popular project. I also got to see a preview of the new Gimp. I still don't think I have the artistic skill to use it, but it looks nice. :)
Well done :) I'm glad North America has someone like you to represent it.
It's very interesting how many execs still go to Comdex. But it's great that some, at least, are running KDE now and thinking about it in the future. I honestly would have never guessed.
But what doesn't surprise me is the lack of knowledge of QT Designer. Litterally noone knows how polished, professional, functional, supported, and actively maintained QT Designer really is :) -- some don't even know that it exists -- they immediately think 'less capable than what VS.Net can do with WinForms'. I firmly correct them of course by throwing together a quick little dialog with some controlls. The miriad of properties one can edit per control is awe inspiring to them :) ... then I remind them again that it will run on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
There's been some talk the past day or so on the mailing list for HOWTO's ... Since I'm not too confident in myself writing one up (and no time since it's my last semester in school) ... I'd definatly like to see some QT Designer tutorials and how to use KDE components within Designer as well. That would probably gain a bunch of attention.
Have a look here:
This is a tutorial for beginners.
Great writeup, George! I admit I've never tried kiosk mode (maybe this will prompt me to give it a shot) -- it's basically a restricted desktop, right? What sort of GUI do you envision it requiring?
As far as competition from Microsoft goes, except for the handful of people paid to work on KDE, who cares? If they see an opportunity to make Windows better, that's great. It's not like a little more or less competition for Linux makes my life any different.
What did the Microsoft people you talked to have to say? I'm curious what strengths and weaknesses they perceived.
It's always fun to meet some great programmers (George and Matt) and the chance to see KDE 3.2 running - Can't wait to use Kontact in my company. And KDevelop looked so impressive, I'm installing the CVS version on several computers to use asap. Keep up the great work, Team KDE. It was really great of Tim O'Reilly and company to sponsor the open source area - it was one of the busiest booth areas at the show. And at the small stage area, it was amazing to see people grabbing seats 30-60 minutes early to see the open source presentations with lots of people standing to watch.
It's ALL GREAT !!!
wow ! Happy Am I.
just to add my two cents, about "Easy Updates"...
I really think is good we let distribution take care of most of the work.
but KDE should have a package center able to play with KDE package and their require dependencies. So that we can't update and uninstall SINGLE app, not only entire package.
and we should not only count on the rpm/deb database, but also create our own database, so that every installed files are linked to app/package, and the we can know if we have useless .so file for example. or *ui.rc
It depends on the distribution if you can install single apps or not. At least you can do this in Debian.
I am definitely pleased with the direction KDE is going and that quality is the number one focus?
About the Kiosk mode however, isn't the Kiosk mode supposed to have a GUI in KDE 3.2?
Well I don't use the big-monster Mozilla, nut I do use Firebird on both Linux and Windows. I have to say that I can not use Konqueror on a few sites that I visit, because of some very incorrect rendering (grey boxes filling up most of the page yet the links are still clickable). However, Firebird works very well with the same sites. I would gladly report these sites and what the problems are, but (at least in the past) the bug-reporting guidelines stated the developers do not want a URL for a webpage that is not rendering correctly but want the specific HTML-code that is causing the problem. Well I simply do not have the time to narrow that down myself, nor do I have the time to debug khtml myself. If these policies have changed, I will gladly send in URL or a copy of the page that is causing the problems.
At this time, the sites that Konqueror can not render are ones I visit more than once a day. So I basically stopped using Konqueror. I am using the Konqueror from CVS-HEAD (cvs-head binaries for debian sid from opendoorsoftware.org)
The policy hasn't changed, and isn't going to change. It is a good policy. It is much better for the users of KDE betas to manage the bug reports and present them in a nice way to the developers, than to have the bugs.kde.org become simply a log of random user complaints and let the developers sort them out. Developers want to develop, not wrangle bugs on Bugzilla all day. Since there are many more KHTML users than developers, it works out very well: the developers can focus on what they're good at, and the much larger number of beta users can be the testers and bug-finders. If you don't have time to produce nice bug reports, that's perfectly understandable, but cluttering up Bugzilla with bad bug reports that you didn't spend any time on won't help.
Ok well I dont know if you mean it or not, but you kind of come across sounding like a jerk -- sorry but thats how you come across. I just got done saying how I'm fully aware of what the policy was/is and that I didn't submit the URL because of that. I understand that they might not want to track down the bug only from a URL or even from the HTML for the whole page, but again this will just be a hinderance. Perhaps as one other person suggested, the kde developers could put together a special section for KHTML problems where you can submit a URL and maybe it will ask for a (screen|window)shot a description and then it can download the page. That shouldn't be too hard to add, though I dont know the internals of bugzilla. Then later maybe some grateful souls could filter through these and try to narrow down the code to submit to the khtml developers. It maybe some work, but it can only help KDE in the end.
The sites that have the problems that I visit, are high-traffic sites and are used more by "regular" people than probably by the people that visit here and /.
The sites maybe even doing something that violates an html-spec, but since they render correctly in IE and firebird, it should be able to render correctly with khtml.
I wonder, is there anywhere where one can submit such sites so that others can check them? I'd be willing to look at a URL or two if there were such a place, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
One could start a separate Wiki page at http://kde.ground.cz/ for that purpose. For others to be able to pick up an URL and making a testcase out of it additional information like used KDE version and a comparisation of expected and actual result need to be given as well though.
The problem is that there are way too few __khtml__ developers to be able to write testcases for every site that gets reported.
You can submit sites without testcases, any many people do that, but the outcome might be that it stays in UNCONFIRMED state for a year =).. I've been trying to write testcases for bugs w/o testcases, and there are other various people who do the same, but there are still probably more than 500 khtml bugs without testcases.
Hell, even Apple, who has a team of full time employees working on Safari is bogged down with bugs atm (see Hyatt's recent posts about this at http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/hyatt/ )
How about the solution Apple uses?
IIRC, the have a button on safari that allows the user
to submit a bug report for a page not rendered properly,
ALONG with the actual page (or url).
So, it's an instant testcase, isn't it?
You want to look up the meaning of "testcase".
After all everyone in the world I know installs it on OS/X NT XP Win98 and every other OS I know of ... because on those OSes it beats the crap out of the "native" browser.
"I was stunned to see executives from Fortune 500 companies coming by for a demo of KDE, saying that it was their favorite desktop and that they hope that we continue to do such a good job so they can adopt KDE for desktop deployments in the future."
Well, I suppose that's good news. Maybe sooner or later they'll even consider helping actively (e.g. by paying a couple of developers to improve weaker areas and deploy it within their company) :-)
Right now, I'm a bit disappointed to see that apart from very few "small" companies (Linux distros like Mandrake and Suse, Eric Laffoon, Trolltech and maybe TheKompany), there is not so much financial support going to KDE... while in the meantime Gnome gets much more. Support is not in proportion to popularity, which is normally not the way things work in the OpenSource world.
The problem with that is that China for instance will get Gnome-based desktops from Sun (see http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/18/0219249&mode=thread&tid=102&...) when they could (should) have had KDE.
What happens next with the thousands of Chinese programmers that will use this ? They will develop Gnome apps, not KDE :-(
Too bad !
what about the indian people ? the are now in the computer age , and half many people as in china , so what are they developing for ? linux/kde/gnome ?
please name me an indian opensource software project.
Oops that a Gnome project ;)
But it not as good as Kdevelop
GNOME is already pretty dominant in India atm. Mostly lacking to no Indic language support in Qt until 3.2, and thus the fact that there aren't any translations of KDE apps in the various Indian languages. GNOME otoh, has pretty good translations in at least Hindi, and at least partially in Bengali.
Some of us are working on filling in gaps in this area. Infrastructure first, translations next.
> Right now, I'm a bit disappointed to see that apart from very few "small" companies (Linux distros like Mandrake and Suse, Eric Laffoon, Trolltech and maybe TheKompany), there is not so much financial support going to KDE...
Heh heh... It's still so weird to be reading and have my name pop up. It's like seeing a black helicopter outside my window. ;-)
Seriously, I would bet there are a lot of users that made more than I did in my little start up company these last few years. I think 2004 will finally be different. As an individual you direct your resources toward your passion and I'm a very passionate person when I have a cause. Recently I've seen FOSS in the perspective of a power struggle between naked greed for wealth and power for the sake of wealth and power and the promotion of freedom and opportunity. Today it is not of much consequence, but projected out 50 years it is choosing between the best and worst that can happen to civilization. I've never had an alternative to supporting open source that I could live with.
From the corporate standpoint I think it's different. It's all about keeping the stockholders happy and not being the first lemming over the cliff... it's okay to run with the rest of them. Fortune 500 companies need to be shown a successful chain from start to finish, supplemental questions and concerns need to be answered and then someone who speaks their language needs to have a bulletproof presentation and beat them over the head with it repeatedly until it sinks in that it is completely within their financial interests to sponsor FOSS and that successful mechanisms and organizations exist to demonstrate the benefit... in fact that's part of the whole thing.
For large companies it's the coming paradigm shift that is hugely different in how they view things... or it is missed for something that looks more familiar but has similar failings. The reality is that while it is simple in concept it is not so simple in practice and, like the ultimate desktop or the next killer app, it will require some patience to develop. What should be kept in mind is that errors in judgement here can end up being costly to the community. For this reason I don't see any reason to lament as to who is ahead of who here. An infusion of finance in FOSS can destroy as well as create if it's not done right. ;-)
SUN is boasting!
In fact, the chinse company which is cooperating with SUN is very weak in Linux, especially in desktop market. RedFlag, which is the largest chinese linux company, use only KDE as its desktop environment. According to IDC report of 2002, RedFlag shipped more than 1 million copy of its desktop version and occupy 30% of the world linux desktop market, and the growth rate is 270%! This shipment number makes RedFlag become the 1th linux desktop vendor in the world. In china linux desktop market, RedFlag occupies about 70% share. The company cooperating with SUN has only 3%.
So don't worry about that.
Come on... Don't you think you're being a tad bit self-indulgent here ? That they consider Linux to be competition hardly means they are "afraid", or even mildly worried. About the server market, may be, but on the desktop they are pretty safe.
They're worried about the future, not the present. They see what happened on the server, and what is possible on the desktop if we work hard enough. Come on, think about how rediculous it is to have wealthy, high power software industry leaders sitting in a room taking notes while hobbyists talk about the free software they're writing to replace the industry-provided solution. I also clearly remember the infamous letter by Bill. Imagine this, the hobbyists are now actually a real threat to him!
(yes Linux is not just for hobbyists anymore, but come on, a huge chunk of it is still developed by them)
MS is always worried about the future, that's how they got where they are :-).
They also know that writing for the desktop requires much more ressources than for the server. Let's be realistic, it's been 7 years since KDE was started and we barely have the feature level of a standard Win95 install (with Outlook and Office), let alone a comparable range of end-user applications. Yes, we're more stable, but experience shows that this comes way after features for end users on the importance scale.
To be a real threat, it would take IBM hiring the top 50 KDE contributors, then a couple hundred more coders, managers, doc writers, translators, UI experts, graphic designers etc..., relocate them all in the same building and wait a couple of years.
"we barely have the feature level of a standard Win95 install"
Troll? After using all three systems (Win95, KDE, WinXP) considerably, I would feel inclined to say that the last post could only be a troll (I guess I'm feeding it).
KDE has as many features over Win95 as XP does. Some of those features are in opposite directions, but there are as many. The only thing I've found XP good for over Win95 is better networking (out of the box with KDE), nice device integration (pretty good with kio_slave and linux distribution improvements - not as good as XP - but still not bad), and fancy, glitzy menu options for doing things like slideshows (which are actually buggy and are "magic" in that there is no way to control when they turn on or off and most likely violate all sorts of anti-trust settlements for incorporating too much into the monopoly OS). Oh - and XP crashes less than 95 - but I can still crash it.
I don't use Outlook (OK I do at work when I forget my Linux Laptop with Kmail and IMAP support). I don't use the "new" offices (except for a few tweaks there is nothing improved over the 6 year old Office 97).
Taking all of that into account and adding in the freedom and openness that I get in using KDE, there really isn't any competition in my mind.
The only reason I still dual boot is because of external applications that run only on WinXP (that is where the only innovation in the windows world has really come from).
As a final blow - my 4 year old son prefers booting into Linux and the game selection he has there, even though we have a dozen proprietary kids games under windows.
> Troll?
Search my name through Google. You really think I'm a troll ?
As for the rest of your comment, well, it's the standard "why I think Linux is better" stance. Basically we take our own case and postulate that everyone would think the same if they "knew what we knew", or "used what we use". The reality is that we use Linux because we *like it*, and we avoid Windows because we *don't like it*. There is very little rational thinking in this decision.
As you say there is no competition in *your* mind. Try that on someone to whom a computer is just a tool to get the job done and not a hobby.
As for the rest of your comment, well, it's the standard "why I think Linux is better"
Isn't that the way it should be - with some evidence? Your statement that Win95 is more featureful than KDE is complete assumption. You seem to be simply making a blanket statement of Win95 being better than KDE or anything else. It is simply "why I think Windows is better."
"Try that on someone to whom a computer is just a tool to get the job done and not a hobby."
I already have. A KDE based, open source desktop wins hands down because people can see what they actually need. I've seen people use Windows and apart from latching onto a few applications they use or have heard about they haven't got a clue how to use it. Having been in business and supporting people, I have seen first-hand how little of Windows people actually use and how confusing it is for them. I thought because everyone knew Windows, computer use for most people wasn't so bad. I never realised how bad it was before - I do now.
> Your statement that Win95 is more featureful than KDE is complete assumption.
I meant "typical Win95 install", i.e. with Office and Outlook. Office 95 can be used in a workplace, KOffice unfortunately can't. Outlook's level of integration was what we're trying now to get with Kontact or Kolab.
> I already have.
Have you made, say, a small business move from Windows to KDE ? Without using Open Office ? Many people here would be very glad to hear about your experience, myself included.
I've also been on the support side and witnessed how little people actually
make of their Windows computers. In fact, one lady (wealthy retired executive) actually told me that she'd pay more for a small, instant-on, energy efficient computer that'll give her the ability to simply access e-mail and write a few letters here and there. The computer she had at the time was a custom-built Pentium 4 machine with 3 fans, 1 7200 rpm hard disk and a CD burner. I shudder to think that she actually turned that thing on just to check e-mail. People don't really like having to use a horrible Windows machine at work and then go home to do the same thing. That'd be like driving a tractor trailer at work and using the same thing to go pick up groceries. I know it's a stretch but it gets the point across. The nice thing about cars is that they most of them have 4 driving wheels, a body and a steering wheel, but manufacturers are allowed to build a seemingly infinite variety of machines based on that, all instantly recognizable by the general public. The software world needs such basic standards so that people can use they like while still being able to get something accomplished.
> Let's be realistic, it's been 7 years since KDE was started and we barely have the feature level of a standard Win95 install (with Outlook and Office), let alone a comparable range of end-user applications.
Nice troll. If I spend an hour installing windows, at the end I just have windows. If I spend and hour installing SuSE Linux, at the end I have hundreds of applications (including two office suites), plus my choice several email clients all of which are superior to Outlook in mail handling and security. Anything of the MS world that I might need already has a superior Open-Source alternative, and everything else runs fine under CrossOver Office (including my favorite Windows application devel environment: Progress Software Corp's fantasticly wonderful Provision). ;-)
> Nice troll.
FYI Guillaume Laurent is one of the most knowledgeable developers on KDE. Even more interesting he came by way of developing on Gnome's C++ bindings and is one of the strongest advocates and apologists for C++ as opposed to C in Linux application programming. He's also one of the core developers of Rosegarden, a program to complete with professional level music sequencers.
Just because his assesment of KDE's competative posture to Windows is somewhat critical is no reason to call him a troll. From what George said about fortune 500 execs watching development and a current review of desktop penetration KDE has not broke into a clear lead in features. Given how much less time KDE has had it would be astonishing if it was that far in front. He also said that most users don't prioritize stability like we do. I am inclined to think his estimate for what it would take to get ahead is exaggerated, but I'm not inclined to argue with him because I hate losing arguments. ;-)
hrrmmm, um ok, so maybe no troll. Still I think Mr. Laurent should be more encouraged by the state of KDE. And I think he would lose the argument about Win95 feature set vs. Linux/KDE. FWIW, a non-geek windows-usin' friend of mine switched to SuSE 8.2 On her heavily used home PC. Result: She loves KDE! She would use it at work if NASA would allow it. (Ironic that). The success of non-geeks using linux/kde is how we should measure the success of KDE. From this little corner of the front, it appears that well-groomed linux distros ARE ready for the desktop. Rosegarden looks fantastic.
> I think Mr. Laurent should be more encouraged by the state of KDE
But I am. That I don't think MS is worried doesn't mean I don't like KDE. I think OSS is a vital ressource to humanity, there has to be a counter-power to MS. But the old "we got MS on the run" tune is still complacency and self-delusion IMHO.
For the record: I'm not defending calling him a troll.
He is, however, grossly inaccurate in his assessment of KDE. Certainly, the core technology of KDE is way ahead of Win 95, and in the important places, comparable to Windows XP.
- Win95 had nothing comparable to DCOP.
- OLE/COM in Win95 wasn't used as prevasively as KParts is in KDE.
- Win95 had nothing comparable to Konqueror.
- Win95 had nothing like the KDE multimedia framework.
- Windows didn't have a (standard) clean OO API until .NET came out.
- Windows still doesn't have anything comparable to KIO.
- Windows still doesn't have unified toolbar/menu customization.
- Win32 still lacks layout management.
And much much more!
Maybe in terms of UI polish, we're back near Win95, but its certainly an exaggeration to say that KDE as a whole is comparable to Win95.
You're talking about developper features (except for Konq). I'm talking about end-user features. That KDE is a better development platform than Win95 is a given, no argument on that.
"I'm talking about end-user features."
And exactly this area is very blurry and subjective at best.
Your comparison was ill concieved. The user-visible differences between Win ME and Win 2k were not great, but the difference in underlying technology was huge. That core technology takes a long time to build, and good technology is ultimately expressed in the resulting applications. Even today, you can see it in the tight integration of KDE apps (via DCOP), the excellent component-architecture of KOffice (via KParts), and the location transparency of all KDE apps (via KIO).
To say that KDE is at the level of Win 95 implies that KDE is 8 years away from catching up to Windows XP. Because the underlying technology is present, however, that's a very misleading impression.
> To say that KDE is at the level of Win 95 implies that KDE is 8 years away from catching up to Windows XP. Because the underlying technology is present, however, that's a very misleading impression.
I disagree. I think KOffice is clearly years away from Office XP, simply because so few people are actually working on it. We always think that since the underlying tech is here, we're 80% done, because that the hardest part. In fact it's just the opposite. The underlying tech is not the hard part, is the "sexy" part we all like to work on. The apps are the real hard part.
Then finally stop writing about KDE and MS Windows when you actually mean KOffice and MS Office, simple as that.
As for apps being the hard part and the underlying backend being the easy part I consider you either being nut, kidding or simply unaware of the situation of many products and projects where they cared a s**t about the underlying backend in the past and are now forced to "unify" their single apps across several apps by dublicating every single UI feature and behavior. You tell them please they shouldn't care, the underlying backend is easy to do after all.
> As for apps being the hard part and the underlying backend being the easy part I consider you either being nut, kidding or simply unaware
Do you have direct exprience of what you're talking about, or are you just referring to hearsay and mailing-list browsing ? Please explain me further how writing code for the end-user is easier than writing code for programmers. My company is moving from writing libraries to full-fledged end-user applications. We would love to hear how "easy" it is, because at the moment I assure you it's not, and quite frankly nobody is the least bit surprised by that.
Ask around, what do KDE core devels think was the harder to do : DCOP and KXMLGUI, or Konqueror and KWord ?
BTW yes, retrofitting a new infrastructure into an existing GUI is hard, of course. That's not what I'm talking about.
I used to think that Windows 98 had a lot of stuff. After going back to W98Land for a visit, it looks very barren....
Only used WinXP for a little and saw little to urge me to go back.
KDE is the best!
> Guillaume Laurent is one of the most knowledgeable developers on KDE.
Thanks, though I think you're giving me way too much credit here :-).
> Rosegarden, a program to complete with professional level music sequencers.
Let's say we try to offer a cheaper alternative for hobbyists. We can't realistically be pitched against Cubase and the likes. The embryonnic state of the Linux audio framework doesn't help either. Once everybody runs 2.6 things should get quite better though.
> I am inclined to think his estimate for what it would take to get ahead is exaggerated
3.5 years of Rosegarden development and my professional exprience have taught me one thing : the Devil is in the details. That's where you spend 80% of dev time. Usually we stop at the 20% because, as geeks, we're happy with even alpha versions as long as they're stable enough. :-)


text:
GBH Openvault
Crescent City Sounds; Christmas
Master X-mas
License Clip
This program cannot be made available on Open Vault.
More material may be available from this program at the GBH Archives. If you would like research access to the collection at GBH, please email email@example.com.
- Series
- Crescent City Sounds
- Program
- Christmas
- Program Number
- Series Description
Radio Broadcast locally starting in January 1994, national feed began in June 1994. Two seasons of 26 programs each.
Weekly radio series featuring authentic Jazz and Blues music from New Orleans. Host Charmaine Neville, a native New Orleanian and jazz singer, provides a mixture of classic tracks and brand new recordings, along with her own commentary about the different artists and styles of music. Produced at WRBH on Magazine Street in New Orleans, and aired from Jan 7, 1994 to Sept 1, 1995. Recordings also include two 2-hour episodes covering segments of the 1994 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Charmaine Neville along with a production team that includes producer and script writer Kalamu ya Salaam, technical director Tim Green, executive producer Robert Lyons, and WGBH Radio Boston.
WGBH and in association with WRBH New Orleans and Bamboula inc, new orleans
See January 1994 Member Magazine for cover story.
Series release date: 1994
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- Chicago: "Crescent City Sounds; Christmas," GBH Archives, accessed June 25, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_6F47EC17AE5D4AD18D713A7E4EC138D4.
- MLA: "Crescent City Sounds; Christmas." GBH Archives. Web. June 25, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_6F47EC17AE5D4AD18D713A7E4EC138D4>.
- APA: Crescent City Sounds; Christmas. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_6F47EC17AE5D4AD18D713A7E4EC138D4


text:
06 March 2009
Apricot "Sunny-Side Up" Pastries
So I'm not good at this. I'm trying but I'll be the first to admit I haven't quite found a balance that's working. And in the meantime, the little things I am good at - my job (hopefully), feeding people, knowing about obscure spices, those little things help remind me that I'm competent at something.
I made this recipe for my office the other day, after a rare weekend when I had time to bake. They're very simple little pastries with apricots placed over puff pastry so that they end up looking like sunny-side eggs. They're very easy and I think quite cute. When so many things in your life are disappointing, there is something so satisfying about watching people enjoy something you made, and even ask you for the recipe. So here you go:
Apricot "Sunny-Side Up" Pastries
Extrapolated from something I saw Julia Childs make once.
1 box puff pastry, thawed
1 recipe vanilla pastry cream, recipe follows, (or substitute prepared/purchased vanilla pudding)
2 cans apricot halves or 16 poached halved fresh apricots
1/4 cup apricot jelly
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Use an overturned glass or circle cutter to cut the pastry into rounds. Use a rolling pin press down on the center of each circle so that it is more of an oval shape (the edges will be thicker than the center of the pastry, this will enable the pastry to puff up around the apricots.
2. Place rounds on a greased or lined baking sheet and top with a dollop of pastry cream/pudding, spreading the cream slightly into a circle. Top each round with one apricot, cut side down, or two apricots for bigger "double-yolk" pastries. (at this point assembled pastries can be refrigerated, covered, overnight). Bake 25-35 minutes, or until puffed and golden and brown on the bottom.
3. Warm the apricot jelly in the microwave/small saucepan until warm and liquid. Use a pastry brush to brush the top of the apricots with jelly so that they remain moist and shiny. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Pastry Cream:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pinch salt
1/2 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten to combine
1. Bring the milk, 1/4 cup of the sugar, butter, salt and vanilla bean to a gentle boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat.
2. Whisk together the cornstarch and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Add the eggs to the cornstarch and mix into a smooth paste.
3. Slowly, and in small amounts, whisk a little of the hot milk into a the egg mixture. (this is called tempering the eggs, which you need to do to get them to the same temperature of the hot milk in the pan, so they won't curdle.) Once the egg mixture is warm to the touch, pour it back into the milk in the pan.
4. Return the custard to the stove and bring to a boil, whisking continuously for 2 to 3 minutes, so that the custard is thick and does not taste grainy. Optional: press pastry cream through a sieve for ultimate smoothness.
5. Refrigerate with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface until ready to use.
30 comments:
- Anonymous said...
You are in a crisis and it's okay to not be good at it. I'm sending you and your mom good and hopeful thoughts.
- March 7, 2009 at 1:49 AM
- Y said...
What lovely, whimsical pastries.
I guess it's never easy, and I guess we all just have to cope the best we can. Wishing your mom all the best... - March 7, 2009 at 2:28 AM
- Anonymous said...
I really hope and pray that everything works out for your mother. I can only imagine the fear and worry that the both of you must be going through, and how difficult it must be to keep trying to maintain a "normal" life. Thank you for continuing to post your recipes though - right now I can only gaze hungrily at the pictures, but I do intend on trying out your recipes as soon as I can. Gambatte ne (Catch-all equivalent of "good luck/take care" in Japanese) -Jeff
- March 7, 2009 at 3:28 AM
- Shirley Sunman said...
I love your blog, you are a voice of pain, reason and normalcy in my world.
From a one dimensional, completely selfish perspective reading your pain somehow puts my daily boring grind into perspective.
You are a fabulous writer with a great gift. Long may you continue to cook and to write.
And long may you continue to care for your mother. She will know, come what may, that you care. - March 7, 2009 at 4:31 AM
- Ev said...
I've not commented on your blog before today, but have been reading for a while now.
You're a very strong woman, my dear, and, as difficult as it is, you will get through this. It isn't easy. Be kind to yourself; do what YOU need to do to survive this. Your friends, if they are true friends, will be there for you when you need them. You can't be strong all the time so don't be afraid to lean on them from time to time. That's what friends are for.
In the meantime, know that there are people in your blogosphere who are thinking about you, praying for you and your mother, sending good thoughts and virtual hugs your way. - March 7, 2009 at 10:15 AM
- Dori said...
How adorable, they look like eggs!
- March 7, 2009 at 10:26 AM
- aufeinwort said...
dear mercedes,
i read your post and just wanted to tell you that although we do not know each other at all, i am thinking of you,sending you strenghth and courage and all that you need from a faraway country and from someone who knows how rough life can be.thinking of the sunny side up is good and you need just that.all the best,anja - March 7, 2009 at 1:34 PM
- Quinne said...
Hi Mercedes :) Thanks for the update - you are on my mind and in my prayers so often.
This is a very sweet recipe - I think my littles will love it! Love, Q - March 7, 2009 at 1:46 PM
- Anonymous said...
Hi Mercedes,
I tend to use your blog as a cookbook/inspiration point. I don't read any food blogs regularly, but yours is once that I know exactly where it's bookmarked.
I was referencing your hummus dilettante post this morning and decided to browse your more recent posts. I'm so sorry to hear what you and your mother are going through with her cancer.
I hope you are able to find a balance without feeling like you are abandoning anything.
Thank you for sharing your recipes and your life. Your generosity astounds me. - March 8, 2009 at 11:54 AM
- Anonymous said...
Do not worry, Have faith!
Our prayers are with you.
Those look awesome, nice idea :-) - March 8, 2009 at 7:17 PM
- Anonymous said...
So glad that you posted! I've been reading your blog for about a year now. Since you posted about your mom, you've been on my mind a lot, and I was wondering how things are going. I am so sorry for all that you are going through!
I love your recipes and insight. And, I wanted to let you know that I'm going to make that coconut cake from an earlier post- in honor or your mom and mine! My mom loves coconut cake too!
We're thinking of you out here and sending healing thoughts and strength your way! - March 8, 2009 at 9:25 PM
- Anonymous said...
*hugs* You really are wonderful and I hope all your baking brings you the warmth that I know you are bringing everyone else in your life. Jesus loves you! =)
xoxo, J - March 9, 2009 at 11:08 AM
- Unknown said...
Hi Mercedes,
Found your blog recently and love it! My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. I, too, took care of my mother while juggling full time college, and a part time catering job. I quit college and my business to move in with mom during hospice. Afterwards I finished college, but my business was gone, and some friends gone, too, but the true ones remained. I started the business back up after taking time off. It feels like you're out of control, but we cannot control everything. Take time for yourself, be still, know you are a loving daughter, valuable employee, incredibly talented food writer & chef, and loyal friend. Let others care for you , too. - March 9, 2009 at 1:59 PM
- Dad said...
"...... and exha-a-ale!!"
Phew, I have to admit to wincing every time I logged on to see you weren't "around" for another day Mercedes. One a day, that's just over 30 winces in all!!
I can tell from what you wrote that the smile has slipped from your face but that's ok.
There will be good as well as not so good days/weeks ahead & although we are not there to help you nurse your Mom, hopefully it will help your missing smile to know that everyone that reads your pages think of you and your situation at least once, each and every day.
That's a LOT of positive vibes!
(no relation)
ps - I took two of Marya's date tarts into work with me yesterday and they were both gone within 40 minutes.
God bless Marya! - March 10, 2009 at 5:04 PM
- a reference said...
this looks like the best breakfast ever! i'm so sorry about your mom. you two will be in my thoughts and prayers. i've dedicated my latest posting to you, because you have added such joy in my life.
blessings.... - March 10, 2009 at 7:03 PM
- Susan said...
Take one day at a time, your true friends will always be there.
The pastries are adorable. - March 11, 2009 at 6:18 AM
- Anonymous said...
Hi Mercedes,
No one is good at dealing with a sick family member. You are being present in your mother's life, and that is the best you can be. You have all of our care and support. If you ever need anything, please don't hesitant to ask. - March 11, 2009 at 6:08 PM
- Anonymous said...
you're doing all that you can in the best way you know how and i, for one, think that that is more than enough...
as always, you and your mom are in my thoughts and prayers.
thank you for the sunny little recipe.
with love,
tania - March 11, 2009 at 6:26 PM
- Mark Scarbrough said...
So I just got Martha Holmberg's book on puff pastry--PUFF--and think I'm going to make these with her homemade puff pastry dough. I have never tried to make puff pastry, but I'm sort of gunning to try--the whole laminating the dough thing, etc. And once I've got the darn stuff, I think these cookies look like the perfect things to make from it.
What a treat! And again, my best thoughts your way as you work through the problems. You're a very talented foodie--and we'll all be waiting for you when you come back full-blower. - March 11, 2009 at 7:04 PM
- Cornelius said...
Desert Candy lives on! Hoorah!
- March 11, 2009 at 11:39 PM
- Anonymous said...
It is evident from your posts that you are born to excell,just dont forget that you are human and as such you must allow the 'valleys' of life in which we recieve the possibility to search 'underneath',only to come up and out with greater pearls of strength and wisdom.
Kahlil Gibran in "The Prophet" says:"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.Even as the stone of the fruit must break,that it`s heart may stand in the sun,so must you know pain.And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life,your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy."
His words have been a great inspiration for me in moments of tremendous pain,and I just wanted to share them with you hoping it might bring even the smallest bit of sense in what may probably seem to be a chaotic reality.
As I feel for you and wish you no pain,I also know that it is part of our life.You seem to be very strong and able to undergo this difficult moment especially if you accept it.I believe your real friends are also there to accept you in whatever you choose to do.
God Bless you and your mom,I wish her a quick and easy recovery.Mia - March 15, 2009 at 10:32 AM
- Nino's Mum said...
:) may there be lots of sunny-side-ups in your life too.
- March 16, 2009 at 5:26 AM
- Anonymous said...
This is one of the best blogs that I am following. You words speak right to my heart and your recipes right to my stomach. And I love the Middle Eastern connection- since I am from that part of the world as well. Keep up the good work and wishing all the best for your beloved mother.
Yasemin - March 16, 2009 at 1:32 PM
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- Anonymous said...
I have not commented on your blog before, but rest assured I have been reading it for quite a while. I don't know how I stumbled upon it, but being Armenian with roots in Iran and Greece, you cannot imagine the sheer joy I felt that your blog was centered around Middle Eastern food. I anticipate your entries and secretly smile inside when I know exactly what ingredients, traditions and delicacies you are talking about.
Anyway, I can't begin to understand what a difficult time you are going through, so all I want to say is that I am keeping you and your family in my thoughts.<3 - March 19, 2009 at 1:36 AM
- Allie said...
Over time, you'll find a balance. It's never easy, though - just focus on the things most important, and let the others slide a bit. Friends and such will be there when you need them if they're real friends - and right now, what you need from them is probably to let you take care of your mom guilt free. If I knew you in real life, I'd likely be confused about the two cities thing; instead I'd expect you to go be with your family. If you can afford to take time off work, do so. I expect your job will be understanding and I'm sure there's some sort of leave that you can reasonably take (even if it's vacation time, etc), please do so.
Best wishes to you, your mom and your family. You're in my prayers. - March 19, 2009 at 6:03 PM
- Anonymous said...
These look wonderful. I've been searching for a recipe like this one. Thanks!
- March 20, 2009 at 10:24 PM
- Anonymous said...
ok, im in love with the name and the dish ! ;P
- March 24, 2009 at 6:48 AM
- Anonymous said...
Best wishes to you and your mom.
These look delicious and cute! - March 26, 2009 at 4:42 PM
- Swati said...
When I read about your mom's cancer, my heart went out to you, but I didn't know then - who does - that I would be in the same boat today. Its my dad, and although he has been operated, and I have family around me, it is still the same starkness of pain. He is scheduled to start radiotherapy/chemotherapy later this month, but - oh dear god, life is so horrible even now. He doesn't believe that it is cancer, doesn't want to believe perhaps, or maybe the cancer itself has lead to these judgmental and emotional changes. How do we get him to accept that? Even the word cancer has him broken, how to make him see more? I dare not. Yet, this lack of honesty, this dilly dallying around the truth, tiptoeing around painful reality is killing. I can't help feeling he deserves better, that he can stand it, that he can deal with it. Mom says, no. What do I do? And the little things of daily life, the room to ourselves, the time for my child, the time on internet - the lack of these little things hurts too. Sounds heartless, doesn't it? Maybe it is the other big pain disguised, maybe it is just because these were part of the gossamer net of support around me, and in one fell swoop I am deprived of everything... I am ranting and raving, and I shouldn't. I had really started to comment to tell you how good a job you are doing, that I know how much you have to handle, now. It is like you said in your first post when you talked of your uncle's partner.
- May 4, 2009 at 11:32 PM


text:
With the main course of my Valentines meal decided it was time to move on to dessert and I could not help but think of chocolate. There are a lot of amazing chocolate desserts to choose from but I had one in mind already. Not too long ago I had the pleasure of attending a Bloggers Round Table put on by the Dairy Farmers of Canada where they treated us to, among other things, a chocolate mousse. This mousse was of course made with dairy products in the form of cream cheese and whipping cream. I had always been a bit leery about making mousse because most recipes call for raw eggs but this sounded like a perfect alternative.
With grocery stores having been flooded with oranges of all types these last few weeks I have been thinking about ways to use them and since oranges and chocolate are such great friends, it seemed only natural to make an orange chocolate mousse. I added the orange flavour through the use of some orange zest and a splash of orange liqueur. I finished off the orange trinity with a topping of candied orange peels.
If you are a fan of velvety smooth, creamy and decadent chocolate mousse but you are not too thrilled with working with raw eggs then this is the recipe for you! This mousse achieves that texture by combining cream cheese for creaminess with whipped cream for that light and fluffy airiness. Not only is this mousse addictively good but it is also really easy to make, though you do need some chilling time so keep that in mind. If you are planning a big Valentines day meal then this dessert is also good because you can make it the day before and lighten the load on the big day. Now please excuse me while I get back to my chocolate mousse.
Orange Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse
- 8 ounces dark chocolate (cut into small pieces)
- 8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange liqueur
- 1 orange (zest)
- 1 cup whipping cream
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and set aside.
- Beat the cream cheese, chocolate, sugar, orange liqueur and orange zest until light and fluffy.
- Beat the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese in two batches.
- Pour the mixture into the containers that you will server it in and chill in the fridge for at least two hours.
Chocolate Pots de Creme
Molten Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Cheesecake
Yogurt Panna Cotta
No Bake Cheesecake
Orange Cookies Dipped in Chocolate
Mayan Orange Brownies
Dark Chocolate Souffle Cheesecake
Raspberry White Chocolate Lava Cakes
Dark Chocolate Lava Cakes
Chocolate Avocado Pudding


text:
The man likely to be China's next leader has vanished, at least from the public eye. He hasn't made an appearance for 10 days and his conspicuous absence has unleashed a wave of rumor and speculation.
Our Beijing correspondent, Louisa Lim, reports on the mysterious case of the missing politician.
LOUISA LIM, BYLINE: It all started with Hillary Clinton. Last Wednesday, she was supposed to meet Vice Premier Xi Jinping but that was canceled. He then missed an important military meeting; then his photo call with the Danish prime minister was called off. On China's excitable Internet, the rumors are flying, from backache caused by football to a mild heart attack, all the way to assassination attempts.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei was today asked if Xi was still alive.
HONG LEI: (Foreign language spoken)
LIM: I hope you can ask more serious questions, was his terse response.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken)
LIM: China's state-run media issued reports about Xi's visit to the party school. But it turns out that happened early last week. Steve Tsang, from the University of Nottingham, says it's possible Xi hasn't appeared because he's not in a fit state to do so.
STEVE TSANG: The most likely scenario would be that Xi Jinping is suffering from a medical condition which make it impossible for the Communist Party to parade him on television. But because the party does not enjoy very strong credibility in terms of telling the truth, anything short of seeing him on television is not likely to be convincing enough.
LIM: The party's credibility has been dented by scandals, including the sensational murder trial of the wife of Bo Xilai, an ambitious politician. She was found guilty of murdering a British citizen. But her husband's fate is still in limbo. Andrew J. Nathan, from Columbia University, conjectures that may be keeping Xi Jinping busy.
ANDREW NATHAN: A theory I have is that Xi Jinping is busy working out, figuring out, negotiating a solution to the Bo Xilai case.
LIM: One senior politician was on show today, China's premier at the World Economic Forum's annual Meeting of the New Champions in the city of Tianjin. In his speech, Wen Jiabao mentioned he was about to leave government after 45 years of service. He didn't mention his successors. He focused on the future of the economy.
WEN JIABO: (Through translator) The giant ship of the Chinese economy will sail ahead fast and reach the shore of a brighter future.
LIM: But the economy is starting to feel the impact of the political tensions. According to a new survey by the ManpowerGroup, the forecast for employment growth in China is slowing faster than anywhere else in Asia. David Arkless from Manpower says uncertainty surrounding the power transition can't be discounted.
DAVID ARKLESS: Political changes of that size and import really reflect on business sentiment. So I think Chinese companies and foreign companies here are adopting, in the third and fourth quarter, somewhat more of a cautious approach.
LIM: And so, the whole country is poised in wait-and-see mode. Whether Xi is sidelined by a power struggle, an illness or other reasons, the continuing lack of information is proving damaging in itself.
Louisa Lim NPR News, Tianjin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


text:
So without further ado, here is a glimpse of what I have worked up in my mind. Please disregard my lack of skills in displaying perspective properly but I think you get the idea.
To refresh your memory, the room looks like this now:
The color scheme is a toss up between navy + coral or navy+ pink. I really love coral and navy but I know its harder to find just the right shade so I might go with a pink instead. The loose theme (have i mentioned how much I hate the word theme?) is the tiniest bookshop. The space is really small but I still have lots of projects in here including:
1. building display bookshelves (anyone know how I attach shelves securely on a plaster wall???) 2. add picture rail and panel moldings
3. find a vintage dresser that fits the space and repaint it
4. repaint the walls
5. sew or buy new curtains/roman shade and lumbar pillow
6. paint 'bookshelves' on the panels
7. buy crib, chair, rug and changing thingy for the top of the dresser
8. make art, hang over the dresser
9. make bookish mobile
10. find matching bedding
11. stock the room with baby essentials
I'm hyperventilating making this list. If you've been following Brooklyn Limestone for long you know I tend to build rooms slowly - sometimes over years. Mr. Limestone is going to do a lot of the heavy lifting but his time is very limited too. And I know for sure I won't want a half finished nursery once I'm on full baby duty so time is of the essence.
So let's hear it. What do you think? Suggestions for improvement are welcome. I haven't bought or ordered a thing yet so speak now or forever hold your peace.
And what about feasibility? Can I reasonably get this done during my third trimester while still living a normal life?


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Celtics sign Carlos Arroyo as point guard insurance
The Celtics, in their search for a backup point guard while Delonte West recovers from a sprained ankle, have come to terms with Carlos Arroyo on a pro-rated veteran's minimum contract for the rest of the season, according to a league source.This move makes a lot of sense. Arroyo isn't that great, but I don't think you can go into the playoffs with only oft-injured Delonte West and rookie Avery Bradley as the only backups at the point. What happens if Rondo has to miss a game? You need some insurance.
Arroyo, pending a physical, may join the team tomorrow in Milwaukee.
Arroyo had been waived by Miami earlier this week to make way for the team's signing of Mike Bibby, and was one of two veteran playmakers the Celtics were looking at. The other was thought to be Antonio Daniels, the long-time veteran who is attempting a comeback with the Texas Legends of the NBDL.
The make room for Arroyo, the Celtics informed backup center Chris Johnson following today's practice that his contract was not being renewed.
On a side note, the Celtics have definitely become more International in the past ten days, which is kind of cool considering the huge amount of international readers Celtics Life has.