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Attack on the Heart of Biodiversity
29 Nov 2012
Mexico, the homeland of corn and cradle of its genetic diversity, is waiting with baited breath for an important decision that could seriously compromise its agricultural biodiversity.
In June, the authorization granted to Monsanto to sow 250,000 hectares of GM soy made news. At the time, beekeepers' organizations protested because the entire production and export of honey from highly productive regions like Yucatán and Chiapas was threatened. The European Union is one of the leading importers of Mexican honey, but it has banned the sale of honey containing traces of GMOs. The sowing of GM soy risked crippling the whole sector.
Later this year, in September, an uproar was caused by a study conducted by Gilles-Eric Séralini on rats fed with varying percentages of GM feed, opening up disturbing possibilities about the long-term consequences of GMO consumption. (read more here).
While the world resounded with reactions to the studies carried out on the transgenic corn Mon603, the agribusiness giants Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred refused to take a step back, instead soliciting official authorizations for sowing the same GM seeds from the Mexican government, as reported in the newspaper La Jornada.
The ETC Group, an international organization active in the defense of ecological and cultural diversity and human rights, launched the alarm, communicating data also reported recently in a detailed article by the NGO Grain: the applications concern a total area of 2.4 million hectares, a surface area larger than the entire nation of El Salvador. And over half of this land would be sown with the notorious Mon603.
With the end of President Calderón's mandate fast approaching, it is feared that the government will grant these authorizations in the very near future, or at latest within a few months with the new government, as the deputy agriculture secretary Mariano Ruiz told Reuters, opening up the country to an unprecedented invasion of GMOs in both fields and food. Local varieties will be threatened by contamination and the food sovereignty of communities will be seriously jeopardized.
"We are going through a crucial time," commented Alfonso Salvador Rocha Robles, a researcher at the Universidad de las Américas, leader of the Slow Food Puebla Convivium and recently elected to the Slow Food International Council as a representative of Mexico and Central America. "In recent years new environmental, economic and social problems have emerged, mostly connected to a single factor: agroindustry. Now, with the arrival of biotechnologies, with the development and sowing of transgenic corn, we are endangering an agricultural biodiversity that has developed over millennia of history. We must unite the forces of civil society organizations, farmers and researchers, with the support of the academic world, so that together we can change our country's agricultural policies and have a Mexico free from GMOs."
"We must promote sustainability, basing ourselves on independent research," echoed biotechnologist Hilda Irene Cota Guzmán, a university lecturer and president of the Mexican commission for the Ark of Taste, Slow Food's online catalog of local products at risk of extinction. "We need scientific knowledge that is not funded by the same companies that produce and sell GM seeds."
"Corn's genetic heritage is an intangible asset for all of humanity," said Carlo Petrini, Slow Food's president. "We must avoid it being put at risk to further the private interests of certain multinationals. We hope that the Mexican government follows the precautionary principle adopted by Europe and other countries, including recently Kenya."
Since 2009, when Calderón dropped the decade-long moratorium on GMOs, 177 authorizations have already been granted for sowing transgenic corn in Mexico. Now the country is waiting for the outcome of a case whose dimensions and potential impact make it significantly more serious.
Read the call to action launched by UCCS, the Union de Cientificos Comprometidos con la Sociedad.
Read the study by the NGO Grain.
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Today's stop: Blogher.
Blogher's tagline is "The community for women who blog," and odds are you already read a few blogs in their extensive network. At their homepage you will find a plethora (yes, I would say there are a "plethora") of articles on every subject imaginable affecting women.
Things like career:
Current events:
(Lest I give you the wrong idea, I should note that Blogher does not actually illustrate all of their articles with cakes. But they should.)
Julie Godar is a managing editor at Blogher, and she and I talk about this blog, the new Cake Wrecks book, the blogs that make me laugh, and much more in her article here. So go, read, enjoy! (Or enjoy, read, and go - I know how those tetchy bladders can be...)
Rebecca, Michael H., Ainsley R., & Cathy B., way to "go"!
- Related Wreckage: Kids These Days


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The buyer understands and acknowledges that the Condition of the item is NOT PERFECT! The expected grade of the newly printed items that are the Condition of Like New is at least the CGC rating of 9.2 or higher UNLESS OTHERWISE MENTIONED IN THE DESCRIPTION. ***WHICH MEANS*** A very well-preserved collectible with some wear and small manufacturing or handling defects. **** So, again, we will not promise, guarantee, or bribe anyone at CGC to ensure that the item is Mint or Perfect. The buyer (you again) acknowledges that if there are any issues with NEWLY PRINTED items upon receipt that is considered lower then the above CGC Definition of 9.2, the buyer (guess what, yep, you) will contact the Seller (That's US) immediately to help resolve the problem.
Books other than Newly Printed are sold in an AS IS condition. Scans of the actual comic are available by simply clicking chat below.
Above ALL, We are here to help!!
Here at @majorpaynecomics, We pride ourselves on the packaging of our products by taking pictures or videos of the packing process prior to shipping and ensuring that the item has MORE than enough protection for its journey to the buyer's shipping address.
Though we do our best job to secure your purchase prior to its trip through the world of Logistics, we sadly have not gotten to the level of security to ensure your package is not damaged. BECAUSE OF THAT - We Insure ALL shipments for FREE to the amount paid! We are collectors too, so we know how upsetting it is to get a package that looks like it barely made it through an unexpected Nuclear Disaster site. So, if the product arrives outside the condition description...again" WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU!! Reach out to us IMMEDIATELY so we can make it right. Please ensure that thorough pictures of the box/envelope/product are taken if there is an appearance of damage to the item. This will help quickly resolve any issues (insurance stuff) so we can make it right.


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Observing Dark Worlds – Visualizing dark matter's distorting effect on galaxies
Want to share your content on R-bloggers? click here if you have a blog, or here if you don't.
Some people like to do crossword puzzles. I like to do machine learning puzzles.
Lucky for me, a new contest was just posted yesterday on Kaggle. So naturally, my lazy Saturday was spent getting elbow deep into the data.
The training set consists of a series of 'skies', each containing a bunch of galaxies. Normally, these galaxies would exhibit random ellipticity. That is, if it weren't for all that dark matter out there! The dark matter, while itself invisible (it is dark after all), tends to aggregate and do some pretty funky stuff. These aggregations of dark matter produce massive halos which bend the heck out of spacetime itself! The result is that any galaxies behind these halos (from our perspective here on earth) appear contorted around the halo.
The tricky bit is to distinguish between the background noise in the ellipticity of galaxies, and the regular effect of the dark matter halos. How hard could it be?
Step one, as always, is to have a look at what you're working with using some visualization.
If you want to try it yourself, I've posted the code here.
If you don't feel like running it yourself, here are all 300 skies from the training set.
Now for the simple matter of the predictions. Looks like Sunday will be a fun day too! Stay tuned…
R-bloggers.com offers daily e-mail updates about R news and tutorials about learning R and many other topics. Click here if you're looking to post or find an R/data-science job.
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Recently, Cheryl, the Children's Librarian, brought in a basketful of the most adorable citrus fruit from her aunt's backyard! Have you ever met the CALAMANSI? Oh, you should! They are petite, perfectly round and have a sweet and sour personality.
According to Alan Davidson's The Oxford Companion to Food (2nd edition, 2006) (oh yeah, I'm pulling out the reference books now!):
Calamansi (or kalamansi or calamondin/kalamondin) is a hybrid of the mandarin orange and the kumquat. It is a small citrus fruit of the Philippines which plays an important role in Filipino cookery.Aren't these the cutest? They look like those little pumpkin candies – only these are real and have vitamin C!
Fresh from the Oven made cute loaves in November and recently, Butter & Sugar made an Orange Yogurt cake. Both took inspiration from the Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Yogurt Cake.
I made a few changes to her recipe to use the Calamansi and Meyer Lemons. Click here for Ina's recipe!
Dry ingredients, sifted together:
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour, 2 t baking powder, 1/2 t salt
Wet ingredients, whisk together:
1 c low-fat lemon yogurt from Trader Joe's (because I didn't want to leave the house to get the whole-milk plain yogurt, which is actually hard to find - they all seem to be non-fat or low-fat. Next time, I might use Greek yogurt since I always have this around.)
1 c sugar
3 large eggs
2 t grated citrus zest (I used 1 t calamansi and 1 t meyer lemon)
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
After mixing the dry and wet ingredients together, fold in oil:
1/2 c olive oil (Ina uses vegetable oil, but I thought adding some Omega-3s would be a good thing!)
Ina uses a loaf pan and bakes it for 50 minutes (350 degrees), but I used a 9" round and baked it for 40 minutes.
1/3 c freshly squeezed juice (I had 80% calamansi and 20% meyer lemon)
1/3 c sugar
While the cake was baking, make the syrup by dissolving sugar in small pan with lemon juice. After the cake comes out of the oven, let sit for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and poke some holes in the cake with a toothpick. Pour or brush on the syrup.
Ina has a glaze of juice and powdered sugar, but I just dusted it with powdered sugar.
This cake is really delicious. It is light, very moist and wonderful for a breakfast or tea snack. As you can see by the many adaptations, you can make it any way you want. And now that there are lots of citrus around, there is no excuse for not making this!
Thanks Cheryl for introducing me to the wonderful world of calamansi citrus!


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The results of this function seem to be of dubious quality.
1) a Word doc returns:
'application/msword application/msword'
...ok not too bad, but why does it come back twice?
2) a PHP file comes back as:
'text/x-c++; charset=us-ascii'
My test file started with '<?php' so not ambiguous really. And where does it get the charset assumption from?
3) a text doc that starts with the letters 'GIF' comes back as:
(just like in DanielWalker's example for the unix 'file' command)
I had better results using the PEAR 'MIME_Type' package. It gave proper answers for 1 & 3 and identified the PHP file as 'text/plain' which is probably better than a false match for C++
Both finfo_file and MIME_Type correctly identified my other two test files which were a windows exe renamed with .doc extension, and a PDF also renamed with .doc extension.


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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News with Linda Wertheimer. I'm Renee Montagne.
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
Throughout today's program, we're hearing parts of President Obama's State of the Union Address and many reactions to it. This is the part of the program where we take a close read of the speech. We've done this nine years running. In some cases we're checking facts. And in other cases we're asking what some parts of the speech really mean.
NPR correspondents will talk us through several key statements, starting with the president's assertion that he's done a lot to reduce the deficit.
INSKEEP: NPR's economics correspondent John Ydstie was listening to that. And John, is that enough?
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: I think we need to look at the language, Steve. President Obama says $4 trillion in deficit reduction will stabilize the debt. But that suggests he seems to have given up on actually reducing the size of the debt relative to the economy - putting it on a downward trend - much less balancing the federal budget each year.
Now, many economists would agree that stabilizing the debt is the first step and gets us out of the danger zone. But others would argue stabilizing the debt at 75 percent of the size of the economy, where it is right now, is just too high.
And the other issue is that the $4 trillion in deficit reduction doesn't include the savings we'll need to make Medicare and Social Security solvent for the long-term. So there needs to be another bite of the apple.
INSKEEP: Now, at the same time the president talked about new ideas for spending, or as he would put it, investment. Let's listen.
INSKEEP: Trying to drop the dime on spending there. NPR congressional correspondent David Welna was listening. David, did the rest of the speech measure up to that promise?
DAVID WELNA, BYLINE: Well, Steve, I think the president did not make it at all clear how he would not add a dime to the deficit when he went on to propose a series of big federal investments that will indeed all cost a lot of money. For example, he proposed that Congress create 15 more of the manufacturing innovation hubs like the one that was started last year in Youngstown, Ohio. He wants high-quality preschool available to every child in America.
He did propose a partnership to rebuild America that might attract private capital. But he added he wanted to make sure that taxpayers don't shoulder the whole burden. So there seems to be a suggestion there that there will be some burden.
Now, one way you could keep these new initiatives from adding a dime to the deficit would be to cut the same amount of spending elsewhere. But if the president is hoping to do that, he did not say so last night.
INSKEEP: OK, says David Welna.
And let's move on to the healthcare law, Obamacare, as the president himself now calls it. This is what he said about it.
INSKEEP: Helping to slow the growth of costs. NPR's Julie Rovner has been covering this health care law for years. Julie, is the law doing that?
JULIE ROVNER, BYLINE: Well, that's certainly what the administration would like people to believe. There isn't a lot of evidence to back it up. Here's what we do know. The growth in health care spending over the past couple of years has slowed and has slowed a lot, mostly, analysts think because of the recession.
Now, there's also something else going on at the same time, which is that the way health care is delivered has been changing and it's been changing fast. There's more of an emphasis on delivering care more efficiently. Doctors and hospitals are being organized much differently. And the Affordable Care Act is giving those changes a boost. But to say that it's causing the slower growth in health care spending is probably an overreach, at least for now.
INSKEEP: Aren't the main changes in this law still supposed to take effect in the future?
ROVNER: Yes, many of them do. And that's certainly one of the major reasons that it is hard to say that this law has been encouraging costs not to go up.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Julie Rovner.
Now, there's also a difference of the fact that was on display last night when it comes to this country's dramatic increase in oil and gas drilling. A lot of that has taken place on private land. The question here has to do with publicly-owned land. Let's listen to what the president said.
INSKEEP: Now, Republicans have for years said the opposite. They blame the president for blocking exploration on public lands. And in fact, Senator Marco Rubio - in the Republican response last night - suggested he wanted to change that.
INSKEEP: And we've brought in NPR's Elizabeth Shogren, who covers environmental issues. And Elizabeth, who's right here?
ELIZABETH SHOGREN, BYLINE: Well, in fact if you looked at the statistics, drilling was up in the U.S., 2011 to 2012, by 25 percent. So that's a big leap. But if you look at the statistics about drilling on federal land and on federal offshore waters, drilling really wasn't up, and so that shows you that most of the increases are coming on private lands, like the Republicans say. There are, however, lots of possibilities for energy development on federal land in the future and there's also this possibility of developing wind power offshore on federal land.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: So each person had a little bit right.
INSKEEP: Now, if you just joined us, we are doing a close read of President Obama's State of the Union speech last night. It came, of course, at a time when there is much talk of changes to immigration law. A key question is border security and the president made this statement last night.
: And we can build on the progress my administration's already made, putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history, and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years.
INSKEEP: Their lowest levels in 40 years. NPR's Ted Robbins is in Tucson, Arizona. He covers the border. Ted, why have crossings gone to that low level?
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: Most experts, Steve, agree that it's the economy. It's a lack of jobs since the recession to bring people here. A lot of people also think that it's so hard to cross now that many of the 11 million people who are in the country without documents used to come and go. They've stayed. Part of that...
INSKEEP: Hard to cross because security has actually increased.
ROBBINS: Right. And the fact is that we, by one account, are spending $18 billion this year on border security - agents, equipment, infrastructure. The question is, I think, what we really have to look at here is when do we get to the point where the border is declared secure - you know, how do we know? The fact is, no one can define what a secure border looks like.
The government has been unable to do that, both Bush and Obama administrations, and Congress has been unable to do that. So who decides and does this really become a trigger for dealing with the other parts of immigration, legalizing those 11 million people, granting more visas, that sort of thing. That trigger is what's scuttled immigration reform in 2007.
And the Republicans seem to want that again now. That seems to be their precondition.
INSKEEP: And let's look closely at one foreign policy statement that the president made last night. He spoke in one passage about the Arab Spring, the Arab uprisings and their aftermath.
INSKEEP: To which the president added this.
INSKEEP: Okay. Let's bring in NPR diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen, who's been closely following that story. And Michele, what has the president done when it comes to Syria, where there's a civil war that's been going for a couple of years now?
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Well, what administration officials will say is that they helped the Syrian opposition get organized, though that's still very much a work in progress, and the U.S. has given a lot of humanitarian aid, though it hasn't been funneling it through the opposition the way the French have, for instance, to boost the credibility of those people inside Syria.
And the Obama administration decided against, we now hear, the advice of some of his top advisors not to arm the oppositions, mainly, it seems, to make sure weapons don't fuel the conflict or fall into the hands of extremists. So you hear the president taking quite a cautious approach to Syria and across the region. When he talked about those Arab uprisings last night, he said this process is going to be messy and the U.S. can't dictate change.
INSKEEP: Okay. Thanks very much. That's NPR's Michele Kelemen. We also had help on our close read of the president's State of the Union speech from NPR's John Ydstie, David Welna, Ted Robbins, Julie Rovner and Elizabeth Shogren.
MONTAGNE: And that was MORNING EDITION's Steve Inskeep with us this morning from Iowa Public Radio. This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Royals - 000 000 000 - 0 0 1JON LESTER PITCHES A NO-HITTER!!!
Red Sox - 005 002 00x - 7 5 1
9-0-0-2-9, 130 -- and he was hitting his spots all night long!
It's the first no-hitter by a Red Sox left-hander since Mel Parnell did it against the White Sox on July 14, 1956.
Luke Hochevar (3.94, 108 ERA+) / Jon Lester (3.95, 109 ERA+)
Hochevar wasn't at his sharpest last Wednesday night but he still managed to shut out the Tigers for six innings, giving up just four singles. He showed an ability to work out of jams ... This was his fifth start since being called up from Triple-A Omaha on April 20. In all but his first outing, he's pitched six or seven solid innings. With an effective sinker, he's been good at inducing ground balls...Hochevar has never faced any hitter on the Red Sox. ... Seven Royals are a combined 4-for-27 (.148/.273/.148) against Lester.
Tampa visits Oakland at 10 PM. The Yankees have the day off.
UPDATE: Nice short Q&A with hitting coach Dave Magadan about how David Ortiz began hitting off a batting tee for the first time on May 1. Since then, he has hit .354 and has been spraying the ball all over the field.


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A roly-poly toddler strikes many mothers as the picture of health.
But the road to obesity can start early in life, so it's important to know whether the baby fat that lingers on a toddling child is a healthy cushion or a sign of too much food too soon.
How good are mothers at recognizing whether their toddlers are overweight, underweight or just right? Not very.
More than two-thirds of the mothers participating in a recent study were inaccurate in their assessments. And the biggest problem was moms who thought their overweight toddlers were just fine.
Researchers asked 281 mothers recruited from two clinics (one in Baltimore and another in a nearby suburb) that serve mainly low-income mothers to find out. Seventy-one percent of the participants were African-American.
The researchers picked those clinics because children in low-income families are at higher risk of becoming overweight or obese.
The moms were asked to find the best match for their child from silhouettes of toddlers of various weights. They also asked which picture the moms wanted their kid to resemble. Moms and kids got their weights and heights measured.
Mothers with overweight toddlers were generally satisfied with how their kids looked. Those with underweight toddlers were more likely to get the assessment right — and to be dissatisfied with the situation.
Tellingly, 4 percent of the mothers of overweight toddlers and 21 percent of those whose kids were a healthy weight wanted their kids to weigh more.
"The concern is that perceptions are likely to drive behavior," Erin Hager, the lead author of the study. And parents control what their toddler eat, says Hager, an assistant professor in the pediatrics department at the University of Maryland med school in Baltimore.
The results appear in the latest Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Hager tells Shots that the findings suggest doctors should work harder to talk with families about what a healthy weight is for young children, including specifics about their kids. "Seventy-five percent of parents of overweight kids have never been told that by a pediatrician," she says.
An accompanying editorial by pediatrician Eliana Perrin praised the study and pointed out that it's harder for people to recognize weight problems these days because "being overweight has become the norm for too many children and parents."
Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.


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We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war... President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march… Everybody here's got a vote... Let's take these sons of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.Hoffa is a labor leader, pushing the agenda of labor unions. The interests of the actually people who work may converge or diverge with the interests of labor unions. Don't let him conflate the 2 entities. He may say "we," but that doesn't mean he embodies everyone who works (or wants to work) in America.
He can't even get to supersede the individuality of the members of the Teamsters Union (the union he heads). Yes, he's empowered to bargain for them, but that eradicate their individual minds and personal political preferences. Yes, they take the deal he gets for them, but that doesn't mean that they all want what he brings them or that they want only that. Some of them, obviously, support different politicians. Some may hate being in a union. Some may like the union but prefer different policies.
Right now, unions are fighting to preserve unions, and that might be best for workers. But the individuals who work — or want to work — may very well think their interests lie elsewhere. I'd like to think that the vast majority of people who work resist the assertion that there is a "war on workers." It's quite clear that every serious politician in America cares about what happens to individual citizens. They're not aligned in an army against the citizens! They have different ideas about how to improve things. Hoffa announces that there are 2 sides aligned in a fight against each other, and he would like anyone who has or wants a jobs to perceive himself or herself as a "worker" and thus a foot soldier in his army, with no independent mind.
That's quite repulsive.
And by the way, the constant use of this word "workers" reinforces the notion of the collective. You can see that for Hoffa, "workers" mean "soldiers" — and obviously, soldiers take orders. They don't think for themselves.


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I've been parking the bike outside lately, so who knows how long the little fucker was clinging there. In fact, I'd just ridden the bike a half hour before, and I doubt the cicada crawled onto the tire, out of its shell, and then oozed off in that short amount of time. More likely, the crisp, vacated little thing has just been spinning round and round on there for days until I finally happened to notice it.
It's currently Hot As Balls™, and the cacadas are belting out their cacophonous staccato cry from their throbbing abdomens. I've been hearing that sound every year for my entire life, and it means the "dog days" are upon us. It's the sure sign that summer's thrilling promise is essentially over and you're just going to bake listlessly in the heat until school starts again. (The dreadful back to school feeling never leaves you, even when you don't have to go to school anymore.) The cackle of the cicada fills me with a wistful dejection--especially when it mixes with the sound of lawnmowers, as it did where we lived when I was a kid, and as it does where I live now. "Suburban ennui," I suppose you could call it. It especially reminds me of the kid in day camp who would put cicadas in his mouth, let them crawl around on his tongue, and then bike their heads off. He's a veterinarian now, I G--gled him.
He might even be your veterinarian.
Besides boyhood memories, cicadas also evoke the idea of cycles, and cycles can be either inspiring or depressing, depending on your mood when you're thinking about them. For example, the whole chrysalis-to-butterfly thing usually makes people happy. (Unless you're Jame Gumb.) But as I contemplated the familiar cicada larva shell and the hopeless life cycle of this stupid insect, I thought about my own life cycle as a cyclist, from exuberant child to BMX racer to adult Fred to crusty, brittle old crank who rides a Brooks:
As I stood there and stared, I realized I was looking at myself:
Yes, this is me, and it's a more accurate rendering than any smartphone "selfie." Hunched over the bars, hollow inside, resigned eyes looking hopelessly forward in a look of pain that transcends Rapha-esque suffering and attains actual despair... This, I realized, is who I am:
Then I flicked the little fucker into the street and went home.
Hey, you know what else is a hollow shell? The Tour de France:
It was another incredible display of strength by Froome, who one by one dropped all of his rivals until he was alone with teammate Richie Porte and Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff). With 7.5km to go, Froome jumped and Contador could not respond, and the maillot jaune holder set off in pursuit of Quintana, who had attacked on the lower slopes.
I know we're supposed to believe that this dominant Ventoux performance is different from all the ones that came before it, but the wheel of Tour de France history is littered with the crusty shells of past champions, so when you're a crusty shell like I am it's increasingly hard to make the investment. Really, it's just awkward at this point, as Jason Gay's last Wall Street Journal column articulates well:
Bike racing can be riveting, almost gorgeous—those TV helicopter swoops over French châteaus should be bankrolled by the ministry of tourism—but the sport's leadership has been infuriatingly prideful and stubborn, allowing traditions to erode into punch lines, undermining racers and teams actually trying to win the right way. Cycling fans can get righteous about this ridicule (at least bike racing—unlike your flaky sport—is doing something about its doping!) but the core emotion is a kind of scarred sadness that comes with taking a pounding for too long. If you love this beautiful, maddening sport, you just want this beautiful, maddening sport back.
You know your sport's in trouble when the nicest thing people can say about it is that it has pretty scenery. I give it ten years before they dispense with the riders altogether and the Tour de France just becomes this:
In other news, remember Old Man Budnitz and his overpriced line of singlespeed hybrid-style bicycles for douchebags?
You know, the guy who says stupid stuff like this?
On the other side of the equation, a bicycle is crap when it is made without love by crap corporations run by crappy, cynical people. A big bicycle corporation knows with precision that their brand new crap aluminum frame will creak and rattle after just a few weeks.
Okay. Mine creaked immediately. Nicely done.
Well, a reader forwarded me the following story, which offers a window into Old Man Budnitz's "creative process:"
After awhile he approached us with an idea of helping him build a bike company under his own name. He wanted us to make him replicas of the bikes we had already made with the potential to go over seas and have them massed produced. As you can imagine we felt like this wasn't the best idea for our company and went against why we build these bikes with our own hands here in Colorado in the first place. Nothing against bikes made out of country and in Asia as many are high quality and almost all are handmade by skilled workers. It just sounded boring and not our style. So we told him we weren't interested. Mr. B however is a man with money and the means to do as he pleases so he took our bikes had them replicated(kind of) at another American bike company and now has some being produced over seas.
Classy...though Old Man Budnitz has a different explanation:
People have been asking where we found original inspiration for our bicycles.
Above is the 1946 BSA Paratrooper folding bicycle — the twin-cantilever design we use has actually been around for almost 100 years.
Twin top tubes serve an important function, combining vertical flex with horizontal stiffness. Modern frame tubing (and materials such as cro-moly steel and titanium) have allowed us to fine tune the ride of each of our models differently.
Swedish Army versions of this bicycle also served as inspiration for our No.2 Paratrooper Limited Edition, currently for sale on our site now.
Yeah, right. Either way, I sure hope Old Man Budnitz builds plenty of "vertical flex" into his douche chariots, because you're going to need it to dampen the grand mal seizure-like "douche chills" you'll experience while riding it.
Speaking of douchebags, remember the guy in the Daily News who said Citi Bikes are bad because more people get killed on bikes than in mixed martial arts tournaments?
Well, the New York Post has out-stupided their tabloid arch-rival by a factor of ten by skipping the physical trainers and going right for the underwear models:
"I don't like the mix of buses and taxi and bikes altogether. Who's going to get hurt? Me!" Alessandra Ambrosio (center) said Wednesday during a cancer-research fund-raiser at SoulCycle studio in the West Village.
The Brazilian bombshell said she rides her bike in LA but wouldn't dare rent one in the Big Apple.
"I'm just a little concerned with safety, being on a bike with crazy cars in the middle of the street. I like sports away from traffic," she said.
She feels safer riding a bike in LA? Like Los Angeles LA? Wow.
Anyway, I fear the tabloids may have reached the outer limits of both relevance and lack of intellect when it comes to asking people for their opinions on Citi Bike, because if they haven't then this is the next logical step:
Scoff if you want, but that tapir has a Pulitzer and sits on the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal.
Lastly, longtime BSNYC/RTMS/WCRM sponsor Knog is having a contest and they want you to know about it:
"Facebook competition time - Yay!...or more appropriately, Tres bien!
The Tour de France is in its centennial year and as a fitting tribute Knog have put together a one-off Tour de Knog cycling kit for one lucky punter to get their hands on. This kit includes; a set of Blinder Road lights, a Knog cycling Jersey, cycling cap, patch kit, spare patches, 12-tool kit and a Milkman lock.
All you have to do is head over to the Knog Facebook page and click on the competition link to enter.
Bon chance mes amis!"
Now you know, so there's no excuse not to win.
(Unless, like me, you're not on Facebook.)


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Zelophehad's Daughters. 1The daughters of Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, came forward. (Zelophehad belonged to the clans of Manasseh, son of Joseph.) The names of his daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.a 2Standing before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the princes, and the whole community at the entrance of the tent of meeting, they said: 3"Our father died in the wilderness. Although he did not join the faction of those who conspired against the LORD,* Korah's faction, he died for his own sin without leaving any sons. 4But why should our father's name be cut off from his clan merely because he had no son? Give us land among our father's kindred."
Laws Concerning Heiresses.* 5So Moses laid their case before the LORD, 6and the LORD said to him: 7The plea of Zelophehad's daughters is just; you shall give them hereditary land among their father's kindred and transfer their father's heritage to them. 8Tell the Israelites: If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his heritage to his daughter; 9if he has no daughter, you shall give his heritage to his brothers; 10if he has no brothers, you shall give his heritage to his father's brothers; 11if his father had no brothers, you shall give his heritage to his nearest relative in his clan, who shall then take possession of it.
This will be the statutory procedure for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.b
Joshua to Succeed Moses. 12The LORD said to Moses: Go up into this mountain of the Abarim range* and view the land that I have given to the Israelites.c 13When you have viewed it, you will be gathered to your people, as was Aaron your brother.d 14For in the rebellion of the community in the wilderness of Zin you both rebelled against my order to acknowledge my holiness before them by means of the water.e (These were the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)
15Then Moses said to the LORD, 16"May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all humanity,* set over the community someone 17who will be their leader in battle and who will lead them out and bring them in, that the LORD's community may not be like sheep without a shepherd." 18And the LORD replied to Moses: Take Joshua, son of Nun,f a man of spirit,* and lay your hand upon him. 19Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole community, and commission him in their sight. 20Invest him with some of your own power, that the whole Israelite community may obey him. 21He shall present himself to Eleazar the priest, who will seek for him the decision of the Urim* in the LORD's presence; and as it directs, Joshua, all the Israelites with him, and the whole community will go out for battle; and as it directs, they will come in.
22Moses did as the LORD had commanded him. Taking Joshua and having him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole community, 23he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD had directed through Moses.
* [27:3] He did not join…against the LORD: had he done so, he and his heirs could have been deprived of a portion in the promised land.
* [27:5–11] The purpose of this law, as also that of the related laws in 36:2–10 (marriage within the same tribe), Dt 25:5–10 (levirate marriage), and Lv 25:10 (return of property in the jubilee year), was to keep the landed property within the proper domain of each tribe.
* [27:12] The Abarim range: the mountains on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. The peak of this chain is Mount Nebo where Moses views the promised land before he dies (Dt 32:49).
* [27:16] The God of the spirits of all humanity: the sense is that God knows the character and abilities of all people and therefore knows best whom to appoint (cf. Jgs 6:34; 11:29; 1 Sm 16:13); see the same phrase in Nm 16:22, where "spirit" evidently means the life principle.
* [27:18] A man of spirit: lit., "a man in whom there is spirit," that is, probably one who is endowed with a courageous spirit (Jos 2:11); compare Gn 41:38; Dt 34:9.
* [27:21] The Urim: certain sacred objects which Israelite priests employed to discern the divine will, probably by obtaining a positive or negative answer to a given question. The full expression was "the Urim and Thummim"; cf. Ex 28:30; Lv 8:8; Dt 33:8; Ezr 2:63; Neh 7:65. Joshua ordinarily did not receive direct revelations from God as Moses had received them.
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Epiphanius of Cyprus
Our father among the saints Epiphanius of Cyprus, also Epiphanius of Salamis, was Bishop of Salamis on the island of Cyprus and, later, Bishop of Cyprus during the latter part of the fourth century. He was known for his great zeal for the faith, his love and charity toward the poor, and simplicity of character. He is known for composing a large compendium of the heresies in his time. His feast day is May 12.
Epiphanius was born in the village of Besanduk in Palestine probably in 310. Of Jewish descent, he was well educated and became a Christian after seeing how a monk named Lucian gave away his clothing to a poor person. Struck by the monk's compassion, Epiphanius asked him to instruct him in Christianity.
After his baptism, he became a member of a monastery in Egypt under the guidance of the elder St. Hilarion the Great. As he progressed as an ascetic in the monastic life, he occupied himself copying Greek books. In his quest to avoid human glory, Epiphanius set out to the Spanidrion desert where robbers fell upon him and held him for three months. By his talk about repentance, Epiphanius brought one of the gang of robbers to the faith in the True God. When he was set free, the robber joined him. Epiphanius took him to his monastery and baptized him with the name John. From that time John became a faithful disciple of Epiphanius and carefully recorded in writing about the life and miracles of his spiritual guide.
Returning to the wilderness of Palestine about 333, Epiphanius again sought the ascetic life with his disciple John. As the reputation of Epiphanius spread, more disciples came to him leading to his founding a monastery in Ad. There he was ordained a priest and became the superior. He led the monastery for some thirty years during which he further gained in knowledge and faith as well as gaining the ability to speak many languages including Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and Latin.
In 367, Epiphanius was chosen by a council in Salamis[1] on Cyprus as their bishop. In 368, he was elected to the cathedra of Cyprus, a position he held until his repose. During the following year, Bp. Epiphanius traveled throughout the area to participate in events that protected the Orthodox faith. He participated in the synod of 376 in Antioch where questions about the Trinity were debated against the heresy of Apollinarianism. In 382, he was present at a Council of Rome that attempted to reconcile the Meletian schism.
In 402, at the urging of Abp. Theophilus of Alexandria, Epiphanius traveled to Constantinople to support Theophilus in his campaign against Abp. John Chrysostom of Constantinople, and the four "Tall Brothers" monks. When he realized he was being used as a tool by Theophilus against John, who had given refuge to the monks persecuted by Theophilus and had appealed to the emperor, Epiphanius returned to Salamis, only to die on the way home in 403.
The earliest known work of Epiphanius is the Ancoratus (the well anchored man), which includes arguments against Arianism and the teachings of Origen.
His best-known book is the Panarion which means "medicine-chest" (also known as Adversus Haereses, "Against Heresies"). It is presented as a book of antidotes for those bitten by the serpent of heresy. Written between 374 and 377, it forms a handbook for dealing with the arguments of heretics.
It lists 80 heresies, some of which are not described in any other surviving documents from his time. While Epiphanius often let his zeal come before facts - he admits on one occasion that he writes against the Origenists based only on hearsay (Panarion, Epiphanius 71). The Panarion is a valuable source of information on the Christian church of the fourth century. It is also an important source regarding the early Jewish gospels such as the Gospel according to the Hebrews that circulated among the Ebionites, the Nazarenes, as well as the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus.[2]
The Panarion has only been recently translated into English (in 1987 and 1990).
Epiphanius wrote a work of biblical antiquarianism, called, for one of its sections, On Measures and Weights (περί μέτρων καί στάθμων). It was composed in Constantinople for a Persian priest, in 392.[3] The first section discusses the canon of the Old Testament and its versions, the second of measures and weights, and the third, the geography of Palestine. The texts appear not to have been given a polished finish but consist of rough notes and sketches.
The collection of homilies traditionally ascribed to a "Saint Epiphanius, bishop" are dated in the late fifth or sixth century and are not connected by modern scholars with Epiphanius of Salamis.[4]
- The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book I (Sects 1-46) Frank Williams, translator, 1987 (E.J. Brill, Leiden) ISBN 90-04-07926-2
- The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book II and III (Sects 47-80, De Fide) Frank Williams, translator, 1993 (E.J. Brill, Leiden) ISBN 90-04-09898-4
- The Panarion of St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis Philip R. Amidon, translator, 1990 (Oxford University Press, New York) ISBN 0-19-506291-4
- ↑ Salamis was also known as Constantia after emperor Constantine II
- ↑ Panarion, Epiphanius 30 iii 7
- ↑ Allen A. Shaw, "On Measures and Weights by Epiphanius" National Mathematics Magazine 11.1 (October 1936: 3-7).
- ↑ Alvar Erikson, Sancti Epiphani Episcopi Interpretatio Evangelorum (Lund) 1938, following Dom Morin.
Epiphanius of Cyprus | ||
Preceded by: ? |
Bishop of Salamis 367-368 |
Succeeded by: ? |
Preceded by: ? |
Archbishop of Cyprus 368-403 |
Succeeded by: Sabinus |


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Sex/Hookup Ratsegae Dating
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I have been seeing hasselback potatoes around for a while now and I have been wanting to try making them! They are basically a potato that is sliced thinly and baked until the outside edges get nice and crispy, kind of like french fries, and the inside is nice and tender like a baked potato; the best of both worlds! In addition to being pretty amazing just like that, the space in between the slices are perfect for holding things like melted cheese. For my first hasselback potatoes I decided to go with a 'loaded' baked potato theme topping them with plenty melted cheese, bacon, sour cream and sliced green onions. Depending on the size of your potatoes these make for a side with small ones or even a meal with larger ones.
You really cannot go wrong with crispy tender potato, sour cream, melted cheese, bacon, sour cream and green onions!
Ooey gooey melted cheesy goodness in between every slice of crispy tender potato!
Fully Loaded Hasselback Potatoes
Hasselback potatoes, baked until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside and topped with all of the flavours of a fully loaded baked potato including melted cheese, bacon, sour cream and green onions.
- 4 small baking potatoes
- 4 tablespoons butter, sliced thinly
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
- 4 strips bacon
- 1 cup cheddar, shredded
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup green onions, sliced
- Slice the potatoes thinly (~1/8 inch) without cutting all the way through.
- Place the potatoes on a baking sheet, stuff the sliced butter and garlic in between a few of the cuts in the potatoes and season with salt and pepper.
- Roast in a preheated 400F/200C oven until crispy on the top and tender in the middle, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile cook the bacon until crispy and crumble it.
- Sprinkle the potatoes with the cheese and bacon and return to the oven until the cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.
- Serve topped with sour cream, and green onions.
Loaded Baked Potato Dip
Loaded Baked Potato Salad
Potato Skins
Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins
Loaded Smashed Potatoes
Loaded Baked Potato Broccoli Crust Pizza
Cheesy Slow Cooker Bacon Ranch Potatoes
Greek Lemon Foil Roasted Potatoes
Melting Potatoes
Slow Cooker Loaded Baked Potatoes
Parmesan Garlic Miso Butter Smashed Sweet Potatoes


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Johnson First Driver To Sweep Daytona Since 1982
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jimmie Johnson became the first driver in 31 years to sweep Daytona International Speedway, accomplishing the feat with a dominating run Saturday night for his fourth win of the season.
The Daytona 500 winner is the first driver since Bobby Allison in 1982, and the fifth overall, to win both races in a season at Daytona.
"I don't think I made a bad move tonight. I'm pretty proud of that," Johnson said. "To tie anything that Bobby did is really special. I'm very proud of that. I've going to take that home and savor it pretty well."
The five-time NASCAR champion was the leader on the restart for a two-lap sprint to the finish in overtime Saturday night. He held off Kevin Harvick on the restart, and then pulled out front to a sizeable lead. Tony Stewart moved into second and may have been timing his attempt to make a pass for the lead when a caution in the middle of the pack froze the field.
Stewart was second, followed by Kevin Harvick in a Chevrolet sweep.
Clint Bowyer was fourth and team co-owner Michael Waltrip fifth in a pair of Toyotas. Then came Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as Chevrolets took six of the top eight spots and seven of the top 10.
Casey Mears was ninth in a Ford, followed by Ryan Newman.
The race was stopped for almost nine minutes for a six-car accident with 11 laps remaining that included yet another vicious hit for Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin's car inexplicably turned right and spun hard into the frontstretch wall. It then turned back into traffic and Hamlin was tagged hard by AJ Allmendinger in a hit that caused his car to lift off the ground.
Both he and Allmendinger had to collect themselves after climbing from their wrecked cars, but both were evaluated and released from the infield care center. Hamlin missed four races earlier this season with a compression fracture in a vertebra in his lower back, and took a hard hit last Sunday at Kentucky.
He tested Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but had to be evaluated by a doctor on site before he got in the car.
Also involved in the late accident with Hamlin and Allmendinger were Matt Kenseth, Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, and Jeff Gordon.
"I saw the wreck and tried to slow down and miss it, but just not much I could do," Kenseth said.
The race resumed with seven laps remaining and Johnson leading teammate Kasey Kahne. Johnson then made a strange move to the high line to block Marcos Ambrose and it might have cost him the race as it put Kahne out front in the bottom lane of traffic.
But as the two Hendrick drivers drag-raced around Daytona, Ambrose clipped the side of Johnson as he attempted a sudden lane change. He slammed into the side of Kahne, causing Kahne to spin and hit an inside retaining wall for another caution with five laps remaining.
Kahne angrily tossed his head-and-neck restraint into his car after climbing from the wreckage.
The race resumed in overtime with Johnson leading Harvick, Bowyer, Stewart and McMurray. He wasn't challenged as neither Stewart nor Harvick could make a move before the race-ending caution.
"Jimmie just was good," Stewart said. "Jimmie was just really, really good. We were just a little bit off of him."
Added Harvick: "I really thought we were in the right spot. ... Our line just never developed. I'm a little disappointed because I really thought we were in the right spot."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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It was just one of those games in boys high school basketball at Dolores on Tuesday night.
One team couldnt buy a bucket, while the other couldnt miss.
One team was embarrassed and one team was jubilant.
Unfortunately for the Dolores Bears, the shots continuously clanked off the rim in their season home opener.
For the visiting Monticello Buckaroos, they used a big run to end the first half that carried into the second half.
Dolores cut Monticellos lead to 1-point in the second quarter, but it snowballed from there.
This Four Corners match up went to the Utah school, as the Bears were whipped at home, 78-36.
Theres no excuse for what we did today, Dolores coach Larry Schwartz said. Theyre a good team, but we made them look a lot better. They shot the ball lights out in our gym. We shot 20 percent overall. We had a terrible shooting night.
Dolores (1-3) played its fourth game in six days. Monticello opened its season and the 1A school brought its A game.
The kids settled down in the second half, relaxed and started shooting the ball. Fortunately, we started hitting, Buckaroos coach Kraig Black said. We tried to move the ball inside, then kick it outside. Once we started doing that, things started falling into place.
The Buckaroos (1-0) quickly raced to a 9-1 lead before Schwartz called his first timeout. From there, the Bears would chip away behind leaders Tyler Weir and Cody Carroll.
Monticello led 14-9 after one quarter of play. Three free throws by Hayden Plewe brought Dolores within 14-12 to open the second quarter.
Sharpshooting junior guard Austin Maloy hit his first 3-pointer to put the visitors back up five at 17-12.
Three points from Carroll and a Jackson Vermeule foul shot pulled Dolores to within 17-16.
However, the Bears couldnt grab their first lead and the snowball effect of avalanche-like proportion began.
Behind Maloy and sophomore guard Everett Hatch, the Buckaroos ended the half on a 14-4 run to take a 31-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
It only got worse for Dolores.
Monticello went on an 8-1 run to start the third and led 39-21. Plewe put back a Weir miss, but Tanner Eardley answered with a 3 on the other end to balloon the Buckaroos lead at 42-23.
Monticello out-scored Dolores 25-9 in the third quarter to essentially put the game away up 56-29.
Weir netted six of the Bears seven fourth quarter points, as they were out-scored 22-7 in the final frame.
Were disgusted with ourselves, Schwartz said. Were not happy in any shape, way or form. We didnt play good defense. Just not a good night for the Bears. Im embarrassed as a coach and theyre embarrassed as players.
Dolores will have a week and a half off to regroup for San Juan Basin League play against Dove Creek on Dec. 15.
Its time to go back to work, Schwartz said. Well work on all the fundamental stuff that we got to get done. Well be ready.
Monticello will have two home games Friday and Saturday before traveling to Montezuma-Cortez to participate in the Four Corners Classic on Dec. 14-15.
The Bears renew their rivalry with the Bulldogs at home next Saturday at 5 p.m.
[email protected].


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Iron pan, perfect cornbread
Classic things bring me joy. Perhaps it's part of my frugal nature, but give me something that is destined to last for years over something trendy or disposable any day. One of my oldest treasures is my cast iron skillet. It's my favorite tool in the kitchen and if I've cooked a meal, chances are at least one dish was touched by my iron skillet's surface, seasoned by almost a hundred year's worth of food memories. If I think about it enough, it almost gives me chills to think of all that history gracing each meal.
I wish my iron skillet was an old family heirloom because that would make for a better story. As much as I'd like to embellish, however, I have to admit I bought my iron skillet in an antique shop. (Hey, at least it's old!) I found it in Iowa City many years ago, and the shop owner told me it was cast in the early 1900s. There's no date or brand on it, so unless I carbon dated it there's no real way of knowing its true age. It's said, however, that a flat bottom means the cookware is older than one with ridges; mine is flat. It's also blacker than midnight and heavier than a house. (Making it ideal for both toning my arms and shooing away door-to-door salesman.) And working with it is a dream as it heats evenly, is nonstick and transfers brilliantly from the stove top to the oven. It's a true one-pan wonder.
Even though I haven't inherited any of my family's iron cookware, my grandmother, my mother and my uncles all use cast iron that has been passed down through the generations. Yes, they have the pleasure of cooking with iron pots and pans that were also used by my great-grandmothers. There were no blacksmiths in my family, so my great-grandmothers bought their cast iron back in the early 1900s, but that doesn't make them any less amazing; it's thrilling to cook with something that has served people for a hundred years. One skillet my mom has is tiny, probably six inches in diameter. When I was young, I considered it my own personal pan because it was perfect for frying one egg, the first thing I learned to cook. So, I reckon my love for iron cookware was set at a young age.
You can find old iron skillets at garage sales, flea markets or antique stores. If you wish to purchase one new, Lodge out of Tennessee is the only company still manufacturing them in America today (though Wagner, another classic brand, is supposed to resume production this year). Until recently, new iron cookware only came raw and in order to make it usable you had to season it yourself. But apparently some consumers want instant gratification, so Lodge introduced a pre-seasoned line under the Lodge Logic label. I find it sort of illogical, but I guess you have to give the people what they want. (There have been rumors that Lodge is phasing out its unseasoned iron ware, but I haven't seen anything to validate this.) If you buy your cast iron new, I highly recommend getting it unseasoned. Seasoning is not only fun, but it's a way of bonding with your new cast iron friend.
Once you buy your cast iron piece, seasoning it for the first time is an easy process. First rinse with hot water and dry completely. (Do not use soap!) Coat the entire piece of cookware (both inside and out) with either vegetable oil, lard or bacon grease. Cook it in an oven set at 450-500 degrees until it quits smoking (about 15 minutes). Take it out, pour out any oil and put it upside down back in the oven at 250 degrees for two hours (you might want to put some foil under it to catch the excess fat). After you've let it cool, do the touch test. If it's smooth, it's ready to go, but if it's sticky it didn't get hot enough. Scrub off the gummy bits and start over.
After it's seasoned, you don't want to wash it with soap because that will ruin the finish. To clean it, just stick it in water and scrub (if you need more grit than a sponge or steel wool use salt). To dry it, put it on a stove and heat it until all the water is burned off, otherwise the cookware will rust. If, after using it for a while, you start to see rust, rub it with steel wool and re-season the cookware. It may seem like a lot of work, but trust me, if you take care of your cast iron, it should provide you with a long, happy cooking relationship.
I can do a lot with my cast iron skillet: scramble eggs, fry fish, broil beef, bake biscuits, sautee vegetables and roast chiles. I suppose I could use other cookware for these jobs, but I don't like to fuss with lots of pots and pans—using the same skillet works for me. But there's one dish that nothing but a cast iron skillet will do: cornbread. Why? If you bake it in anything else cornbread will not achieve the desired crispy crust.
Now, I don't want to start a debate about cornbread—but it is a fact that there are differences between Northern and Texan cornbread: Northerners like it sweet while Texans like it salty. We are also known to jazz it up with jalapenos, green chiles or cheese. But the one thing a Texan will never, ever put into their cornbread is sugar. That said, my mom—who has a legendary sweet tooth—admits to putting honey in hers (so I have to question her Texan creditentials), but never mind that. Cornbread is for dinner, not dessert.
Here's a classic Texan cornbread recipe, baked in a cast iron skillet, of course. Be sure and get the cast iron good and hot, as that's what sears the batter and makes for a crispy, crunchy crust.
- 1/4 cup bacon drippings or vegetable oil
- 2 cups finely ground cornmeal, yellow or white
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups buttermilk
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Put the drippings or oil in a large (10-inch) cast-iron skillet and place in the oven as it preheats.
- In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together the egg and buttermilk then stir into the dry ingredients until well combined.
- Take the skillet out of oven, pour the hot oil into the batter, then stir until the batter is smooth and well combined. It will be thick.
- Pour the batter into the skillet and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cornbread is lightly brown on top and and an inserted knife comes out clean.


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UPDATE! Congratulations to Tammy Ward who said...
"I love dressing up and taking my grandsons trick or treating."
Tammy, shoot me an email as soon as possible with your mailing address at email@example.com and I'll get this handbook out to you right away. Congratulations!!Wow y'all, can you believe October is winding down already? Course, it takes awhile for those temperatures to start dropping down here in my part of the Deep South, but we're even seeing some chill down here this week finally, and the end of October means Halloween fun!
I always love seeing how excited the kids get about what they're gonna be and all the cute and creepy things that my blogging friends come up with for their parties. All You magazine is one of my top favorite lifestyle women's magazines and I love their speciality magazines on shopping, money saving and, of course, cooking and holidays.
Their first ever, Frightfully Fun Halloween Book is no exception, filled with loads of recipe ideas, crafts and costumes - and it's available at many retailers, bookstores and even online at Amazon, where you can order it right now and have it in 2 days with your prime membership, so there's plenty of time for Halloween party planning inspiration!
Consider it your ultimate guide to to celebrating Halloween affordably. In it, you'll find instructions for everything you need in order to pull off the best Halloween party on your block.
This guide packs in 200 pages of budget-savvy ideas, over 75 ghoulishly good recipes, over 70 creepy crafts and decorations and 30 costumes for adults and kids alike. Written by the editors of All You magazine, every idea includes easy-to-follow instructions, a list of ingredients or supplies needed and includes dozens of templates to help give projects a professional look. There's even craft templates in the back of the book so you can make the perfect haunted house in a snap.
No matter whether you're gathering toddlers, teens or adults for your annual spookfest, the All You Frightfully Fun Halloween Handbook offers low-cost, big-bang ideas to ensure everyone a hauntingly good time. Readers will find everything they need for an outrageously fun Halloween, including soup-to-nuts theme parties for all ages.
More features from the book include:
Transform Pumpkins into Creepy Creatures (p. 4)
Get in the spirit by making pumpkin decorations for the front porch or dining room table from adorable pumpkin families to classic jack-o-lanterns to down-right scary skulls.
Create Spooktacular Outdoor Displays (p. 20)
Send chills up the spine of trick-or-treaters and passerby with spooky decorations for the front door, porch and yard. Ideas include covering the doorbell with a black-caped witch, sitting a life-sized pumpkin man on the porch, and hanging flying ghosts from trees. To make your stoop the scariest of them all you won't want to miss out on the Terrifying Tombstones craft.
Give Rooms an Eerie Glow with Crafts (p. 38)
To help set the mood in the house, All You shares loads of ideas and inspiration to transform rooms. For an eerie glow, create miniature haunted dollhouses, googly-eyed spiders or ghostly window treatments. To celebrate in a more subdued elegant fashion, display framed leaves, faux pumpkins or harvest vases made from winter squash.
Throw a Fang-Tastic Theme Party (p. 62)
Throw a party with suitably festive food and decorations. All You provides dozens of recipes for appetizers, main dishes, sides and desserts, and suggests setting the table with bat mobiles, ghost lights and other spooky ideas.
Whip Up Some Terrific Food (p. 94)
Delight Halloween revelers with creepy-crawler cupcakes, spider web cakes and dozens of other spirited desserts. And they didn't forget to include their yummiest Halloween dessert recipes!
For ideas on how to use your extra candy after Halloween, you'll find ideas for things like Snickers Cheesecake ...
... or how about some Almond Joy Brownies?
Make Curiously Captivating Costumes (p. 130)
Be it a princess, a robot, or a bunch of grapes, All You offers costume ideas for the whole family to help bring dreams to life, like this Family Circus.
It's the perfect resource for Halloween and you'll hold onto it for inspiration for years to come. Purchase your copy of the Frightfully Fun Halloween Handbook on Amazon.com or a local retailer or bookstore near you today!
GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! Please check back shortly for the winner's name to let me know where to mail your book!!
HURRY!! This giveaway closes at NOON CST Thursday, October 24, 2013. One winner will be selected at random from the comments and will be announced on Thursday evening at the site on this same post.
Readers are responsible for checking back to see if they were selected and need to provide name a complete mailing address to me via email at email@example.com as soon as possible, so that I can get this out to you in time for Halloween party planning! Giveaway open to U.S. residents only please.
This giveaway is a quick turnaround and only open for ONE DAY, so I can get the copy out to the winner so STOP BACK by no later than Friday morning to learn if you've won and shoot me your address real quick like, so I can rush this out to you.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
Disclosure: I received one free review copy plus another copy of All You Frightfully Fun Halloween Book to host this giveaway.


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Santa Clara, California (August 1, 2019) – Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL) today released the industry's lowest power PCIe® Gen4 NVMe™ solid-state drive (SSD) controller portfolio. Marvell's newest SSD controllers are designed to meet the need for lower power and higher performance in next-generation data centers and edge devices as artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G gain momentum. This breakthrough technology delivers unparalleled performance in an ultra-compact footprint, leveraging the company's complex system-on-chip (SoC) design expertise and groundbreaking storage IP to help data center, notebook, tablet, gaming and edge computing platform architects advance their solutions for the highly distributed data era.
"Marvell's latest family of storage controllers has been architected to optimally address edge computing and data center pain points of power-performance and capacity-performance," said Nigel Alvares, vice president of marketing for the Flash Business Unit at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. "With today's launch, we're once again demonstrating Marvell's leadership in storage, delivering the industry's first 4-Channel PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD controllers with the industry's lowest power consumption that will help revolutionize SSD solutions for the data economy."
Ecosystem Support
"AMD recently introduced the world's first PCIe® 4.0 ready desktop PC platform, the 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processor and AMD X570 chipset for socket AM4," said Chris Kilburn, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Channel, AMD. "We are delighted with the Marvell DRAM-less PCIe Gen4 SSD controller helping bring the increased bandwidth and performance required to elevate the user experience with next generation computing devices."
"As a strategic storage partner of Lenovo, we are dedicated to transforming our customers' experience with technology innovation," said JP Yang, general manager of SSD BU, Union Memory (a Lenovo company). "The PCIe Gen4 host interface, high-speed 1200MT/s NAND flash interface and low power 12nm technology of the Marvell SSD controllers support our vision of bringing significant value with superior power-performance in small form factors, low latency for fast wake-up and prolonged battery life operation."
"We have worked closely with Marvell to validate Micron's high-performance, 96-layer NAND components supporting 1.2 GT/s interface with its PCIe Gen4 SSD controller family," said Arie Tal, senior director of business development for the Consumer and Components Group at Micron Technology. "Marvell's optimized controllers will allow our mutual customers to deliver innovative, low-power, small form factor SSD solutions for emerging data center, edge computing and PC OEM use cases."
"Marvell and Toshiba Memory Corporation have a strong established relationship delivering best-in-class SSD offerings for markets that span client to cloud data center," said Hiroo Ohta, technology executive, Toshiba Memory Corporation. "We believe Marvell's PCIe Gen4 controller product family combined with our TLC, QLC and XL-FLASH BiCS FLASH™ Gen. 4 devices will enable new edge and data center storage architecture solutions utilizing flash technology."
Advancing Next-Generation Technology
The Marvell SSD controller portfolio of devices, including the 88SS1321, 88SS1322 and 88SS1323, represent the industry's first PCIe Gen4 DRAM and DRAM-less SSD controllers to be fabricated on a 12nm process. With support covering all existing and emerging m.2 (22110 to 2230), BGA, EDSFF and U.2 SSD form factors, the controller family is ideal for cloud data center server compute storage, enterprise boot drives, PC client storage and gaming storage as well as emerging industrial and edge device applications.
Importantly, the new Marvell solutions will enable next-generation 3D and QLC NAND devices that maximize cost efficiency and reduce total cost of ownership. The ultra-compact DRAM-less controller architecture allows for a stand-alone SSD controller and NAND unit to be mounted side-by-side on a single-sided ultra-compact m.2230 form factor SSD. This significant space savings enables platform OEMs more room to house battery packs versus m.2280 SSDs, while also providing better performance compared to PCIe Gen 3x4 SSDs and lower power consumption compared to eight NAND channel controller-based SSDs.
Marvell's revolutionary SSD controllers are available for sampling today. For more information, please visit: https://www.marvell.com/storage/ssd/88ss1321-1323/
Marvell will showcase its SSD controller product line at the Flash Memory Summit, August 6-8, at the Santa Clara Convention Center (Expo Booth #511, Exhibit Hall A). Nigel Alvares' conference keynote, "Innovative Chipset Solutions for Accelerating the Data Economy" takes place on August 7 at 2:10 p.m.
About Marvell
Marvell first revolutionized the digital storage industry by moving information at speeds never thought possible. Today, that same breakthrough innovation remains at the heart of the company's storage, processing, networking, security and connectivity solutions. With leading intellectual property and deep system-level knowledge, Marvell's semiconductor solutions continue to transform the enterprise, cloud, automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. To learn more, visit: https://www.marvell.com/
Marvell and the M logo are registered trademarks and NANDEdge is a trademark of Marvell and/or its affiliates in the US and/or elsewhere. NVMe is a trademark of NVM Express, Inc. PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG Corporation. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Marvell Media Relations
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Senior Manager, Public Relations
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For general media inquiries, please contact email@example.com.
Copyright © 2024 Marvell, All rights reserved.


text: Baby Photography / Photoshoot Props. Sponge Clean Only. Do not immerse in liquid. Dummies and charms may be selected at random and may vary in style or colour due to stock availability. All clips will feature the new popper vow instead of previous double bow. We are not liable for any stones that may come loose or items that are damaged during use. Important Information – Legal Disclaimer: Adult supervision is recommended. Always inspect before use and if damaged, discard immediately. Never leave a child unsupervised with item and do not use whilst child is sleeping. Do not make dummy clips longer by attaching to belts, cord, other ribbons etc. to avoid a strangulation hazard. These are NOT teethers or toys.


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What should every Princeton student, upon graduating, know about America?
A new course in the Program in American Studies, being taught for the first time this spring, seeks to answer that question by immersing students in an interdisciplinary cross-section of the American experience — from the familiar to the unfamiliar.
The syllabus for "America Then and Now" is filled with historical and contemporary novels, poems, film, songs, paintings, and archival documents. Students will examine widely disparate but related items — from the Gettysburg Address to the songs of Bruce Springsteen, from Dr. Spock's "Baby and Child Care" to Amy Chua's controversial 2011 Wall Street Journal article "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," from the paintings of Alfred Bierstadt to the 1977 movie "Saturday Night Fever."
Assignments and class discussions are designed "to prompt a range of sensory and cognitive experiences," said Hendrik Hartog, the Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor in the History of American Law and Liberty and director of the Program in American Studies. Hartog will co-teach the course with Anne Cheng, a professor of English and African American studies, and Rachael DeLue, an associate professor of art and archaeology.
Nearly 200 undergraduates, ranging from freshmen to seniors, are enrolled in the course.
Close to five years in the making, the course grew out of a 2008 workshop, "Thinking About Diversity, Ethnicity and Difference in the 'New' Princeton," attended by members of the Princeton faculty and administration spanning the University.
"It was an intimate forum for frank and rigorous discussions about the opportunities and challenges facing the institutional and intellectual commitment to diversity at Princeton," Cheng said.
The workshop, which included representatives from more than a dozen academic departments and programs, jumpstarted an initiative to rethink the curriculum of the Program in American Studies and reflect broader changes in the field.
"American studies as a field has been undergoing much disciplinary self-questioning and changes in the past decade," Cheng said. "The outcome of the workshop was a unanimous agreement that Princeton could become a leader in teaching students about the complicated issues that are rapidly emerging surrounding the issue of racial, ethnic, gender and cultural diversity, beyond the black and white dyad."
Eddie Glaude Jr., the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies and chair of the Center for African American Studies, was a core participant in the workshop and suggested the Program in American Studies play the lead role in developing a course that would become the "gateway" for undergraduates intending to earn a certificate from the program, Hartog said.
"That was the beginning," Hartog said. "The course has been constructed to illustrate diverse and distinctive ways of 'knowing' an immense and impossible subject — America."
To help students who are looking at American history from the vantage point of the early 21st century approach such a vast area of study, the course is divided into 12 units. In the "American Properties and Terrains" unit, for example, students will read legal documents including "U.S. Steel Workers of America v. U.S. Steel Corporation," listen to the Bruce Springsteen song "Youngstown," and view historical and contemporary photographs of steel mills and life in steel mill towns.
By examining individual items — a song, a poem, a painting — students will learn "how the microanalysis of specific objects yields major insights about the bigger picture of American culture, history and experience," Hartog said. "Analyzing a rock song, for instance, can aid in illuminating aspects of economic history, while examining a work of art can yield information about immigration policy or controversies within the scientific realm."
In the unit on "American Landscapes," students will view landscape paintings dating from the mid-1800s through the 20th century in the Princeton University Art Museum, as well as various kinds of images of the urban landscape, including a silent film of New York City from 1920, and will read an excerpt from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."
"The history of the United States is in many ways a history of land: its discovery, exploration, conquest and settlement and, more recently, its over-development and degradation," DeLue said. "Put simply, looking at pictures of nature and of cities is really a matter of looking at history and historical consciousness in the making."
During the unit on "Borders and Movement," New York-based playwright Jorge Cortinas will visit the class to discuss the dramatic portrayal of migration to America. Students will watch a video of Cortinas' 2012 play "Bird in the Hand," about a Cuban-American teenager growing up in Miami.
"Memorialization" is another topic of focus, and will include a visit to the "still-developing space around the World Trade Center, to think about what memorialization means in 21st-century America," Hartog said.
Students will gain exposure to the various ways scholars approach different subjects dealing with America. DeLue explained: "An art historian attempts to understand the story of America by looking at its pictures, a scholar of literature seeks meanings in texts, a scholar of the law pays attention to the nature and outcome of legislation and court cases, and a musicologist looks for insight in American music."
The course will center on conversation-style lectures — two or more of the faculty will be "in conversation with one another, working to make sense of a shared problem," Hartog said.
The course had a test run last spring with a small seminar of 14 undergraduates co-taught by Cheng and Hartog. "'Reinventing American Studies' was an exploratory and experimental mini-model of the new course," Cheng said. "We tried many things, including giving the students opportunities to determine some of the contents of the course, as well as trying untraditional assignments. The experience was wonderful and enlightening."
Said DeLue, "We want our students to come away from the course with a sense that the complexity of the present — from immigration, health care and presidential politics to gay marriage, the globalization of Wall Street and the war on terrorism — is a product of the past, that where we are now is a function of where America has been."
All three instructors agree that the course is relevant for every student at Princeton, regardless of whether they intend to earn a certificate in American studies. "The course will greatly expand participants' understanding of America, then and now, while fostering skills of rational analysis and critical thinking immensely useful for other courses, other fields of study and perhaps, most importantly, other walks of life," DeLue said.
"We want the course to be exciting and fun and experimental and imaginative," Hartog said. "We believe that it is important for students across the Princeton campus to think hard about the America they are living in. One of the key questions that emerged from the 2008 diversity workshop and that guides this course is: What should every Princeton student, upon graduating, know about America? That is, what should we have given the students so that they might leave Princeton and become the best citizen — or global citizen — that they can be?"


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Ray Lewis 'agitated,' not angry about deer antler spray story
NEW ORLEANS (AP) Ray Lewis is "agitated."
Not because the Baltimore Ravens linebacker thinks the magazine report linking him to a company that purports to make performance-enhancers will affect his play or that of his teammates against the San Francisco 49ers">49ers in the Super Bowl - the final game of a 17-year NFL career that most assume will earn him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Rather, Lewis did not want to spend time discussing the subject in private with his head coach or in public with the media, as he did Wednesday, when his forceful denials - and attacks on the owner of the supplement company - meant the matter intruded for a second consecutive day on his retirement send-off.
"It's so funny of a story, because I never, ever took what he says or whatever I was supposed to do. And it's just sad, once again, that someone can have this much attention on a stage this big, where the dreams are really real," Lewis said, wearing his white No. 52 Ravens jersey, gray sweat pants and a black hat with the team's purple logo. "I don't need it. My teammates don't need it. The 49ers don't need it. Nobody needs it."
He smiled widely when the first question at his media session was about the topic - surely, he figured it was coming - then chuckled later while addressing it. Known for his frequent references to God and faith, Lewis called the whole episode a "joke" and a "trick of the devil," adding that he told teammates: "Don't let people from the outside ever come and try to disturb what's inside."
Sports Illustrated reported Tuesday that Lewis sought help from a company called Sports With Alternatives To Steroids (SWATS), which says its deer-antler spray and pills contain a naturally occurring banned product connected to human growth hormone. The 37-year-old Lewis, the MVP of the 2001 Super Bowl, is the leading tackler in the NFL postseason after returning from a torn right triceps that sidelined him for 10 games.
SI reported that company owner Mitch Ross recorded a call with Lewis hours after the player hurt his arm in an October game against Dallas. According to the report, Lewis asked Ross to send him deer-antler spray and pills, along with other items made by the company.
On Wednesday, Lewis called Ross a coward and said he "has no credibility."
Ross declined an interview request from The Associated Press but emailed a statement reading: "It is the view of SWATS and Mitch Ross that the timing of information was unfortunate and misleading and was in no way intended to harm any athlete. We have always been about aiding athletes to heal faster and participate at an optimum level of play in a lawful and healthy manner. We never encourage the use of harmful supplements and/or dangerous drugs."
Told by a reporter that he seemed angry, Lewis replied: "Me? Never angry. I'm too blessed to be stressed. Nah. You're not angry. You can use a different word. You can use the word `agitated,' because I'm here to win the Super Bowl. I'm not here to entertain somebody that does not affect that one way or another."
Christopher Key, a co-owner of SWATS, said in a telephone interview that the company removed NFL players' endorsements from its website because "all the players were given letters by the NFL two years ago saying they had to cease and desist and could not continue to do business with us anymore."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed that but did not respond to other requests for comment about SWATS or Lewis' involvement.
Teammates uniformly pushed the same message as Lewis and Ravens head coach John Harbaugh - "Everybody heard about it, but we're not worried about it," is the way rookie running back Bernard Pierce put it - and several said NFL players often are offered products to aid in muscle-building or recovery.
"You've got to be real careful. You've got to think there's a reason they're giving you this product," Pierce said. "If someone has success, another person wants to be mentioned in that - like, `Oh, I'm the reason for that.' If anybody tries to give me anything or tries to sell me on their stuff, I say, `Go right to my agent."'
Wary of using something that has no real benefit - or, worse, that would result in a positive drug test administered by the league - players seek approval first from the NFL, the union, or a team trainer or doctor.
"I've been approached," Baltimore nose tackle Ma'ake Kemoeatu said. "They'll come to me and they tell me, `This will help you with recovery and all that.' I say, `OK. I appreciate it.' And then I will call the NFL."
Another athlete mentioned in the SI story, three-time golf major champion Vijay Singh, released a statement Wednesday at the Phoenix Open, acknowledging he used deer-antler spray and saying he wasn't aware that it may contain a substance banned by the PGA Tour.
Sports Illustrated reported that when it spoke to Lewis for its story, he acknowledged asking Ross for "some more of the regular stuff" on the night of the injury and that he has been associated with the company "for a couple years."
Lewis' stance was different Wednesday.
"He told me there's nothing to it. ... He's told us in the past, he's told us now, that he's never taken any of that stuff, ever," Harbaugh said. "And I believe Ray. I trust Ray completely. We have a relationship. I know this man. And I know what he's all about. It's just too bad it has to be something that gets so much play."
While Lewis did face a handful of questions about SWATS, plus some on-field topics, he never had to deal Wednesday with a single reference to a dark chapter in his life: He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the stabbing deaths of two men after a Super Bowl party at an Atlanta nightclub in 2000.
"We all in here have a past. You know? But how many people actually dwell into it? You know? Nah, it ain't about your past. It's about your future," Lewis said in response to a question about keeping focused on Sunday's game.
"And for me and my teammates, I promise you, we have a strong group of men that we don't bend too much, and we keep pushing forward. So it's not a distraction at all for us," he said, raising a clenched fist.
"The trick of the devil is to kill, steal and destroy. That's what he comes to do. He comes to distract you from everything you're trying to do. There's no man ever trained as hard as our team has trained. There's no man that's went through what we went through," Lewis said. "So to give somebody credit that doesn't deserve credit, that would be a slap in the face for everything we went through."
Asked about deer-antler spray, 49ers tight end Vernon Davis' take was, "I don't think Ray would take any substance."
Carlos Rogers, a San Francisco cornerback, chuckled when asked about it and what effect the headlines could have on the Ravens.
"I don't think they'll get a distraction. I don't know what to make of that. I heard it was something that can't be detected. They can't test (for) it, anyway," Rogers said. "Him saying that he's never failed a test, he probably hasn't failed a test for what they test for."
Boasting that "you will never fail a drug test from taking our product," SWATS co-owner Key said the company has sold its products to more than 20 college football players each at Southeastern Conference schools Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, LSU and Georgia.
Alabama has sent two cease-and-desist letters to SWATS, university spokeswoman Debbie Lane said, adding: "UA has been aware of this situation for some time, and we have monitored this company for several years." Auburn and LSU representatives also said they have asked the company to stay away from students.