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The surprising thing is.... normally, books like this would completely deter me. I'm not a massive fan of historical fiction, sequels following a revolution/resistance or slow burning romances. But, for some reason, I absolutely adore them in this sequel and it creates what I can safely say is my favourite ever duology (I know duologies are pretty rare but still...).
This series is set in alternate history world- one where Hitler won the war and has been ruling for ten years. In the first book, Yael played an important part of the resistance and began her mission to get close to Hitler in order to assassinate him. Yael is a kick-ass protagonist and following her though these books and seeing her character development is so rewarding- but devastating at times. Don't even get me started on the end of this book... the tears are still falling (I cried for a solid hour when reading this sequel).
This alternate history series has a cool twist of magical realism threaded throughout which makes it so much more gripping and intense and I recommend everyone to read it.
Wolf by Wolf- Ryan Graudin BOOK TALK
SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEADI really loved the sporadic flashbacks following our three main characters, Yael, Luka and Felix (who was very much a bigger character than I ever thought he'd be).
The first flashback consisted of previous Christmas Eves.
The initial impression I got from the real Adele was that she was a selfish a spoilt bitch. She's so self-centred, just taking Felix's gift without any hesitation or thanks! Felix was a sweetheart (my opinion skewed as the book went on, though) and I couldn't believe how much he would sacrifice for such a selfish sister,
And my poor baby Luka! He was thrown out by his dad on Christmas Eve! I loved the insight into their previous lives and how that moulded them into the people they were.
I was all ready for Yael's past Christmas Eve to be the worst and... she was shot at. That's a pretty lousy Christmas.
I was so happy that we got to see in different perspectives and I swooned when reading everything from Luka. I was so happy that he was in love with not-Adele and I was so happy that he followed her when she fled from the building! I was worried that he'd lose her and wouldn't find her for ages. Or that he'd meet Yael and have no idea that they'd already shared so much with each other without him knowing their true past. He took the skin-shifting thing pretty well and I was so giddy when he already knew the true Yael- counting on her heart to help him and not abandon him. I thought he'd be a bit more bewildered to find out that Adele wasn't really Adele through the whole race but... he took it pretty well. Oh, my beautiful ship!!!
And of course, Luka instantly goes and gets them caught. Bless Yael for going back for him... though it was obvious she would. I loved seeing Luka's perspective so much because I was hooked on his reaction to everything about Yael- what her name was, admiring how she came back for him, in awe of her withstanding torture. I needed this viewpoint in my life and Graudin delivered.
From here, we first get introduced to the downfall of Felix Wolfe- what a bumpy road that one was. I honestly thought he wouldn't go through with it- I thought he'd change his mind as he got to know and forgave Yael. From Wolf by Wolf and the beginning of this book, I always thought the world of Felix- he was a sweetheart that did so much for his family. But I really grew to despise him in this book and it killed me.
The second round of flashbacks came and they were just as hard-hitting! It was all about Aaron-Klaus and where the other characters were when he killed Hitler and then himself. These flashbacks really just confirmed what I already thought and felt; Adele's a stupid brat, Luka is a rebelious beauty and I love him and Yael is a poor girl and her painful past makes me so sorry for her.
Felix, Luka and Yael go on their little sky-diving escapade and damn, they nurture the deceitful traitor Felix. If they'd abandoned Felix, they may've been just fine and Luka may not be.... nope. I'm not ready to accept that yet.
But compassionate Yael just has to lug Felix along.
I loved the Red Riding Hood feel when Yael skin-shifted into the grandmother....what strange company you keep grandmother....what strange clothes you wear grandmother. Brilliant!
I freaking cheered when Miriam came on! Miriam!!! We never got justification that Miriam survived or not and I loved that she was back!
We had mission to try and collect some information on the doppelganger project from Dr Geyer. I liked how it was a little 'Girls Only' mission as it was awesome to see Miriam and Yael kicking ass like the warriors they are!
I don't know what information I was expecting them to get but... I'd kind of already assumed that there were more Hitler doubles. It seemed logical enough but I understand their plans completely to expose the project for what it really was.
We had a third set of flashbacks and the only one I truly cared about was Luka's perspective. We got a little snippet as to his and Adele's journey during the motorcycle race last year and.... Luka why the hell were you so gullible? It was adorable how smitten he was over her but... he needs to gets over that bitch.
Felix decided to call and essentially snitch on what Miriam and Yael were doing and from then... I had a niggling feeling that Himmler and co. were tricking him by using doppelgangers to pretend to be his mum and dad in captivity. But Felix is an idiot and does it anyway despite the reassurance that Yael provides by saying that his family is safe. It's basically their word against Yael's and Felix obviously doesn't trust her as much as the people who tortured him...
So when the girls broke into the office, found their information and had a narrow escape, I knew Luka would bare the brunt of Miriam's suspicions because Miriam has never liked him. I was seriously fearing for Luka's life at this point!
I can't believe that they questioned Luka all detective like and I was even more surprised when that slick idiot Felix managed to get through it! If he hadn't taken those damn drugs then maybe the ending wouldn't have happened!!!! I will always blame Felix for the ending.
All throughout the book I loved the little moments between Luka and Yael- I've been shipping them since the beginning of the first book! I like how they had a nice banter but had such a deeper connection underneath the flirting.
And the heart to heart talk they had was perfect- the cherry on the cake being that Yael could finally skin-shift into herself as she'd found a picture. And when Luka said it was her best face yet.... the feels!!
We had a bit of hard trek back to the resistance headquarters and I almost cried when Henryka and Yael reunited! We don't see the growth of their bond but we know that they're like a mother and daughter to each other so seeing them both safe and together was a beautiful moment.
And then we had the event that I'd been low-key waiting for this entire book! Adele.
I couldn't wait to see the awkward reunion of Adele and Luka interacting with everything having changed between them. And Yael having pretended to be her.... I was super excited for these conversations.
I stand by my opinion that Adele is a spoilt brat.
It wasn't long before Adele had a little conversation with Luka and.... it made my heart so happy! Just the way that he brushed her off so quickly and went straight to Yael's side as he realised that he loves her. The long wait was totally worth it.
Because then we had their little love declaration and Yael saying that she lied at the ball in saying that she could never love him and then they kissed.... it was beautiful.
And, of course, the couple can't enjoy their newly found love can they? Because an attack always happens halfway through a kiss in fiction!! I could've killed Felix right then and there and I hadn't even read the heart-shattering ending yet!
I kinda liked how Yael broke a bit during the attack. Yael has totally been on top of her shit through this entire book, constantly saving Luka and the others so its refreshing to see her cry, lose it and have Luka be the one to reassure her and keep her safe- it highlights how genuine his feelings are for her through his actions.
I couldn't believe that Henryka died! My heart was breaking for Yael- for another wolf that was no doubt going to appear on her arm. But, the joke was on me because I thought that Henryka's death was the full of it- that her death was going to be the only tear-jerking experience in this book. Little did I know...
Throughout this book, I've really appreciated the beauty of the word 'more' associated with Luka- the idea threaded through the entirety of the story. And when Yael told him that he'd decided to be more.... my heart soared. She just gave him the best compliment he could ever receive and more is my new favourite descriptor- it's so simple but so profound.
I was so happy when Miriam deliberately screwed up the counter-phrase over the communications! It brilliantly alerted everyone that they'd been infiltrated without them even knowing!! Take that, Felix, you think you're so clever now?!?
Luka and Yael went off to play it solo and fight everyone themselves. I know they didn't expect to get out of it alive but... I'm totally the type of person who wishes that they'd both died together than only one of them dying and leaving the other to grieve through life alone.
I felt so victorious when we found out that Aaron-Klaus had actually killed the real Hitler and that all the others since had been fakes. Aaron-Klaus didn't die for nothing and it felt so good!! Himmler was the one that was controlling the fake Hitlers.
I love that Luka was the one to figure it all out (not just a pretty face, am I right?). He proved how smart and loyal he really is- showing such growth and depth in his character. I felt so much love and pride for him in that moment.
And then....
Luka's death broke me. It pains me to even type these words.
I had sixty pages still to read after Luka's death and I cried through every single word (it was difficult because the tears made my eyes super blurry). Luka should not have died! I feel like we came such a long way and all my hopes were shot through the chest! Luka was my favourite character in this series- he grew so much and it feels like it was all for nothing! I've seriously grieved his character and, if I may be so bold, have to say that this is the worst character's death I've ever been through- I grieved him like it was me that lost him and not Yael.
My heart sure hurt for a long time after reading this. It still is...
I wanted Felix dead. Seriously. I lost all my love for him and I really wished that Yael had killed him (though, that probably would've screwed her up). Felix sure as hell didn't deserve a happy ending, though! Not when Luka didn't!
Six wolves and a lion. As soon as she mentioned Luka as being the lion, it fit so well in my head. Luka was totally a lion!
I've always wanted a tattoo when I'm older and I'd probably have book related ones. I'll probably have a quote and then little symbols around it, representing some of my favourite books. I'd of course have The Night Court symbol from my favourite ever book A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas but this book seriously has me thinking about getting a wolf and lion- I'd love to honour these characters and how much they mean to me and inspire.
I like this design I found of the lion and wolf. Who knows? It may be inked on my skin one day along with my favourite quote 'she reads book as one would breath air; to fill up and live'.
Thank for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts! Stay amazing!


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This evening marks a solid week I've lived in Thurber House as the 2016 Children's Writer-in-Residence. I've spent the time working on a rewrite of a recently completed manuscript, and today, I knuckled down and wrote for the longest protracted session since I got here. I didn't even stop for lunch, just drank a protein shake at my desk.
I did take a break at 5pm, to take an hour walk around the city, during which I passed the spot of the original Wendy's hamburger restaurant. (It isn't there anymore, but a marker is).
So this Herculean accomplishment must be celebrated in style, and it was--with a huge plate of nachos, Dragon's Milk, and catching up on episodes of Game of Thrones. (I'm not to the finale yet, but I'm getting there. So far, though, I prefer season five to season six.)
Meanwhile, I've been making notes towards the next project all week, and tomorrow I start working on it in earnest. No other obligations tomorrow, just writing, so I have a good chunk of time to dive in on day one of project two. And three more weeks to go!

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Flew back from Kentucky to Washington this weekend where the pilot told me it had been 103 degrees on the tarmac at the Seattle airport. I wanted to cry as it was cold and foggy when I came in. Bless Randy - he had finished the deck and so I admired it in the rain (it was pouring by the time I got home). You'd think after living here a few years I would just accept the fact that it is downright dismal weather-wise most of the year but my southern roots always rebel.
Glory be, but the boys loved camp. And the girls loved the boys. It must start young these days. And this was a Christian camp but it seems the love bug bites regardless. Paul, who just turned 9, told me about a little girl named Grace, age 8, who just "wanted to snuggle me all week." He said he told her no every time. Mercy! Maybe she was just feeling homesick. I'm glad I didn't know this going into it or I might have kept them home!
I so missed my granny this trip but know I'll see her again. She would have been 98 this year. I went to the Berea cemetary and was glad it didn't affect me at all. When you are a Christian there is such hope. I knew she wasn't there - just a cold, stone marker. And I knew she wouldn't want to be back on her front porch waiting for me to come home. I thought of what she said to me once when she was well into her 90's. She told me she often looked in the mirror and was startled to see such an old face staring back at her when she still felt like a girl inside.
It makes me think of what the Bible says about our lives - we are all just a breath, like a flower that springs up and then fades. That truly puts things in perspective and reminds me of how wonderfully long eternity is and all that awaits us when we leave this life. Ours souls never age even though our bodies do. They are eternal. And one of the most amazing aspects of being eternal is that there are no more goodbyes. Ever.
Monday, August 18, 2008
goodbyes and all that
Posted by Laura Frantz at 2:55 PM
Categories: my granny
2 comments:
Hi Laura,ReplyDelete
So glad you made it home safely and all is well with everyone. Great the boys loved camp as I knew they would and the boy/girl puppy love/crushes do start much younger than they used to, ha! Usually it's the girls liking the boys earlier and not vice versa. You should have Sydney a week or so and see! :) I know you missed your Granny this visit and thought about her alot but as a Christian, you know what lies ahead so never a worry knowing you will be with her again. That promise and hope just sees us all through. Have a great week and hope to talk with you soon.
Hi Rhonda,ReplyDelete
I knew you would understand as you definitely share this hope!!
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Mars Design is a multi-disciplinary studio with over 17 years of graphic design experience in both print-based and motion graphics.
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(Don't miss your chance to win one of her ebooks in our giveaway extravaganza!)
Author Bio: Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor. She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill.
Blurb: Rock star Alec Daniels has it all. Love, fame, money... But being in the limelight isn't all it's cracked up to be, and after one bad choice comes back to haunt him he is left picking up the pieces of his carefully constructed life. Now he faces the toughest decision of his life:
Deal with his mistake like a man, or dive back into the dark hole of depression, drugs, and denial that have been his comfort for so long.
One wrong move could destroy everything. His girlfriend, his family, and his future.
Deal with his mistake like a man, or dive back into the dark hole of depression, drugs, and denial that have been his comfort for so long.
One wrong move could destroy everything. His girlfriend, his family, and his future.
*To start out, could you tell us about your journey toward publication?
"I started out as most authors do--frantically searching for someone ANYONE to accept my manuscript. I was blessed enough to discover Astraea Press and published my first 16+ books with them. They are a small indie publisher that publishes sweet romance. Once I started getting my feet a bit more wet, I decided to start branching out into self publishing as well as publishing with an indie publisher. My self-publishing titles were New Adult and had more mature themes than what AP would allow. As soon as they started gaining notice, (And I'm still freaking out over this!) I was given the opportunity for representation with a fantastic agency and soon after that, given a four book deal with a big six publisher."
And congratulations on your deal with Grand Central Publishing! Your success is a shining beacon of hope for so many of us still navigating the choppy waters of publication.
*What does your writing process typically look like?
"It's insanity. I have up to four manuscripts open at any given time. I like to switch between genres. So I may have a regency open and then decide to write some New Adult, then switch back over. I usually get up, go for my run, get my coffee (get ready for my day), and sit down at my computer. I write anywhere from 6-12 hours a day most of the time it's more. My poor husband is so understanding. An authors work is never done, so I usually bring my computer or iPad with me everywhere. I work until eleven or midnight, and sometimes wake up in the middle of the night if I have an idea. I LOVE it though and would not change it for the world!"
I guess one woman's definition of insanity is another woman's definition of 'awesome.' I should like to borrow your straightjacket sometime. ;)
*What do you think has drawn you to writing within the New Adult contemporary and Historical genres?
"Historicals have always called to me because I LOVE the idea of the regency rake, how delicious is that? I think I was drawn to YA or NA for similar reasons. I wanted to put something out there that was kind of angsty yet still fun. I wanted to write the contemporary bad boy and found that it was really a fun niche for me" ;)
Ah, rakes and angst. You surely MUST have an understanding husband. ;D
*Looking back at all you've undergone up to this point in your career as an author, what would you have done differently?
"Nothing. I only say that because I truly feel like every choice and every decision has led me to where I am today."
Coming from you, I can believe that.
*Would you tell us a little about your current Work In Progress, and what you have in mind for your next project?
"Right now I'm working on the sequels to The Bet and Elite. The Wager is the second book in The Bet series and stars the "other brother," Jake Titus. He's a bad boy millionaire who doesn't care about anyone but himself. The catch is, his grandma's out to change all of that by any means possible. It's been a lot of fun so far! Elect, which is the sequel to Elite, is kind of like Gossip girl meets The Godfather. It's about a group of mob bosses who are pretty young, and a girl that's been under their protection, without her knowledge, for the past eighteen years. It's loosely based on true events and has been a really exciting WIP for me ;) I LOVE the research behind it and get to have a lot of fun with the characters."
I'll look forward to hearing more about all three of those in the near future.
Irrelevant, nonsensical questions:
*If you could have any Disney sidekick creature as a manifestation of your muse, which one would you pick and why?
"As a muse...okay I would totally pick the dragon from Mulan, or possibly the cricket ;) They are HILARIOUS and always meant well! I love the dialogue from that Disney movie and would love to have two little companions whispering in my ear all hours of the day."
Mushu! Why am I not surprised your muse would be raucous and full of sass? ;)
*Paper, plastic, or BYOB (bring your own bag)?
"BYOB if I can, and if not...then paper..only b/c I save the paper bags and make caramel popcorn every Christmas!"
Ooo...I want in on your Christmas candy list. >.> Or at least the recipe. I can already hear my dentist prepping her lecture... but it will be SO worth it.
*If you were banished to live in a storybook world, in what book would you most prefer to find yourself trapped?
"Hmm....probably Cinderella, but only if I was actually Cinderella. She has awesome shoes and got the prince in the end." ;)
If you overlook the years of emotional abuse and servitude, I suppose she did end things on a high note. ;)
And now, let's have a look at an excerpt from your latest release, Shatter...
Crap. What the hell were we going to do at a bed and breakfast? We could eat, but we couldn't really sleep, not if we had that stupid restaurant opening in a few hours.
My control was seriously slipping. I flexed my hand and began reciting the states in alphabetical order. Other than burying myself deep in the girl I loved — it was the only way I could relax. Running had stopped working, and I knew it was absolute insanity to run fifteen miles a day. Singing helped, but we were supposed to be acting, not singing. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona…
I took the stairs two at a time. Arkansas, California… Thankfully, the elderly couple was already waiting for me in the main dining room.
"Alec!" Mr. Smith came forward with arms open. I hugged him and then kissed Mrs. Smith on the cheek. There were only a few guests and most of them were over the age of sixty. They probably thought I was the Smiths' grandson.
The familiar smell of the restaurant calmed me down. "I need a favor."
"Anything." Mrs. Smith pinched my bicep and winked. "Now, what can we do for you?"
What could they do? Oh you know, erase a few nights from my memory and convince Bob, my bodyguard, to assassinate the one person who could ruin my entire freaking existence with one push of a button. "Um, how about a room? Something nice? I want to spend some time with Nat away from everything."
"Done." Mr. Smith walked over to the main desk and pulled out a key. "Enjoy yourselves."
I reached for my wallet to pull out my credit card, but he held up his gnarled old hands. "Oh no you don't. You've done so much for our business already, son. This one's on the house, alrighty?"
"Please. Let me pay." I offered one last time. Charity made me feel nervous, like I couldn't control the situation. Wow, I had issues.
"Nope. That's final." Mr. Smith held out his hand for me to shake it. I wanted to shake it. Instead, I just stared at it and told myself to stop freaking out. It was a free room for a few hours, not a house. Smiling, I reached for his hand and shook it.
"Thank you."
"Have fun! And let us know what you want for your meal." Mrs. Smith waved goodbye as I turned and jogged back out of the building.
Nat was in the middle of the patio, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. I could watch her forever. She tucked her hair behind her ears and crossed her arms. She had no idea how precious she was to me — or how deep she had etched herself into my soul. I couldn't help but wonder… would she curse me later for that very thing?
I tried to push the dark thoughts away, but it was hard. My brain felt fatigued, probably all that alphabetizing. I managed a smile as I walked up to her and whispered, "Surprise," dropping the key into her hand.
"You bought me a car! You shouldn't have!"
I paused. "Wow, never actually thought about it. Do you want a car? I guess I could buy you a car. Would that make you happy?" I smirked at her eye roll. "Would you jump up and down and possibly make out in the backseat with me?"
"Maybe." She blushed.
"Would you scream my name over and over and over again?" I kissed her hard on the mouth. "Would you be mine forever and always?" Damn, I was losing my mind. The need to be with her was trumping everything. I knew it was wrong. I was using her. Using the way she made me feel in order to push away my demons. But nothing else was working. Not the pills, not my ridiculous staff of people that I pay millions to keep. Nothing. Only her kisses, her touch. If I was going to hell, I wanted to take every shred of this feeling with me.
Nat exhaled and pulled back. "Yes. I would."
"And all because of a car?" I squinted, trying to calm my heated body down. "Hmm, too bad this key doesn't lead to a car. But…" I grabbed her hand. "I think you'll still feel the same way when this afternoon is over with."
"Oh? That confident, huh?"
I stopped and pulled her into my arms for another earth-shattering kiss. "Extremely."
In celebration of her May 19th release, Rachael is giving away 10 ebooks! You read that correctly. She has made available 5 copies of 'The Bet' and 5 copies of 'Elite' for a total of 10 winners! (If you have a preference, please be sure to list it in your comment when you enter.) The drawing ends Tuesday, May 20th, 2013 at midnight CST. Winners will be announced and contacted by mid-day on May 21st. Take advantage of extra chances to enter!
Other titles by Rachel Van Dyken
"The Bet"
"The Wolf's Pursuit"
"The Devil Duke Takes A Bride"
"Tear: A Seaside Novel"
"Pull: A Seaside Novel"
"Whispered Music"
"Upon A Midnight Dream"
"The Ugly Duckling Debutante"
"Waltzing With The Wallflower"
"Beguiling Bridget"
"Savage Winter"
"The Redemption of Lord Rawlings"
"The Seduction of Sebastian St. James"
"Every Girl Does It"
"An Unlikely Alliance"
"Compromising Kessen"
"The Parting Gift"
"Taming Wilde"
And Coming soon!
"Shatter: A Seaside Novel"
"Divine Uprising"
"When Ash Falls"
"Fall: A Seaside Novel
"The Wager"
"The Spinster Club"


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Market 707
Housed in retrofitted shipping containers, Market 707 is Toronto's most unique street food and retail market. This space brings together local entrepreneurs serving up more than 10 types of delicious international street food, along with unique goods and services to create an urban food and shopping environment unlike any other. Stop by for an event or take a lunch break on the sidewalk patio.
"Market 707 is an incredible community of forward-thinking entrepreneurs, hoping to
utilize environmentally sound and creatively stimulating platforms to purvey their goods."
– BlogTO
Market hours:
SPRING & SUMMER (Apr. to Sept.): Tuesday to Saturday 11:30am – 7pm
*top photo - courtesy of 'The Working Habitat'


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When Larry Wienner of Baltimore heard that Prodigy, the computerized home-shopping and information service, plans to limit the number of free messages people can send each month, he decided to call a boycott against the service.
But he's had a hard time getting things organized because Prodigy, citing its business interests, won't let him or anybody else send messages across the network if they call for a boycott.
"It's, like, weird," said Mr. Wienner, a computer buff who works evenings in a Giant food store pharmacy. "I feel like I'm living in Orwell's '1984.'"


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Author Archive
Yeah, Aktel is now offering 7.5% bonus for BDT 51,101 and 201. You may ask why 51 or 101 instead of 50 or 100? The answer is very simple, the bonus is for electronic recharge only. If you recharge from scratch card, you will not be able to enjoy it. Its an indication that Aktel wants its subs to move from scratch card recharge to electronic recharge. Quite naturally, question arises- WHY?
Well, the answer is very straight forward. Electronic recharge is much cheaper for the company. It ensures more margin for the company and more control over the distribution channel. That's why Aktel is trying to move towards this new direction.
But Aktel may face challenge in the Chittagong and Noakhali region where it has the strongest presence because scratch card (especially BDT 20) is quite popular there. Scratch card allows a lot of flexibility (like can be stored for later use, can be taken anywhere etc.) for which it surely has a loyal customer base.
What is encouraging for Aktel is that Grameenphone and Banglalink has already done it, their maximum subs do their recharge by electronic means. So let's hope Aktel will be able to achieve the same in short times.
Karsten Nohl, a research scientist at a Californian security research firm H4RDW4RE, and a member of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Germany, is behind the effort to crack the A5/1 encryption technology used by GSM, and he plans to release the keys publically on the Internet by the end of the year.
Every phone using GSM has its own secret key, which is recognized by the network. When a call is made the secret key is used to create a session key that is then used to encrypt the phone call. It is the session key that Nohl plans to crack.
Nohl has created an open-source program that will enable a peer-to-peer network of up to 80 computers to share the computing required to break the code. Since the files are distributed across the network, it will be virtually impossible to remove the code-breaking tool from the Internet. When the encryption code is cracked it will be compiled into a code book that could be used to decode any data sent to or from a GSM phone.
Computing time for the project is being speeded up by the use of components not usually found in a standard computer, such as the expensive Xilinx Virtex field-programmable gate arrays and Nvidia's compute unified device architecture (CUDA) graphics cards. According to Nohl, graphics cards are faster than CPUs for certain applications, such as computing the A5/1 code.
The goal of the exercise, according to Nohl, is to highlight the vulnerability inherent in GSM technology and to encourage mobile phone operators still using the system to upgrade their digital phone system to 3G, which has better encryption, or to use the more advanced A5/3 encryption technology instead of A5/1.
GSM phone networks in the U.S. include AT&T and T-Mobile. Commercial tools that decrypt GSM communications have been available for some time, but they cost from $100,000 to $250,000. When Nohl's project cracks the key and publishes the code book on the Internet, it will be possible for almost anyone to get the encryption key for any GSM call and eavesdrop on the call or read SMS messages.
Source: Click this Link
How Islamic Banking System missed the opportunity created by the Global financial crisis
Posted December 9, 2009on:
"When Western banking collapsed, one sector should have escaped unscathed: Islamic banking," says Mohammad Saeed Rahman, chairman of a US-based think tank, the Institute for Halal Investing.
But from Mecca to Malaysia, the world's Islamic bankers were paralysed and failed to take advantage of the opportunity.
And now Dubai's debt problems have soured the sector's image, with property developer Nakheel asking for the trading of some of its Islamic bonds to be suspended.
So what happened?
At that time, the world needed another hero. A way of doing business that was free from rampant speculation, free from excessive risk and was banking back-to-basics – taking deposits from savers and lending to borrowers for a profit.
Arising from the glittering new cities of the East, primarily Dubai and Singapore, was the champion of Islamic banking.
Faith in finance
"Technically, Islamic banks should have sidestepped the falling grand piano," says the Institute for Halal Investing's Mr Rahman.
"The industry was not allowed exposure to CDOs, derivative products and the kind of intra-financial counterparty risk that crippled the conventional banks.
"It couldn't play the sub-prime mortgage game, was backed by real money in the form of petro-dollars and manufacturing export receipts. It was simple, straightforward banking."
The two main principles of Islamic banking are an avoidance of interest and an avoidance of uncertainty.
Islamic economics is a well-documented system, practiced by the Prophet Mohammed, a merchant, and his companions. The core of the Islamic economic system is an avoidance of usury.
Islam is not anti-moneymaking. In fact, the Thatcherite dogma of self-reliance and entrepreneurship is championed in the Islamic sacred book, the Koran.
What is discouraged is making money from money.
Risk-sharing and trading is the central tenet of Islamic economics.
The financial institution goes into partnership with the borrower and both share from the profits of the venture. It is very similar in approach to private equity.
Principle and practice
The other prohibition is an avoidance of uncertainty or gambling. If Islamic economics had been at the centre of the global financial system, the type of speculation that has led to the emergence of bubbles and then runs on stock would not have occurred.
Finally, the need to have all lending fully covered by cash deposits, and the risk management that this would entail, would have never seen the emergence of sub-prime lending.
Conceivably, such a system, based on ethics and principles of fairness, could have created a "third way" between control-style and free-market economics.
However, principle is a long way from practice, and Islamic bankers are no more and no less greedy than conventional bankers.
The modern Islamic banking industry is very much in its infancy, with a history of less than 40 years.
But in an attempt to compete with the conventional finance industry – its fees, its bonuses – much of the modern Islamic finance industry has aped the practice of the conventional.
Sharia opportunities
Arguably, the modern Islamic finance industry and its cohorts of scholars, who give the official religious seal of appeal to the products of finance firms, have been set up to circumvent the principles of Sharia law.
Scholars and bankers have become more and more sophisticated in finding ways to get around the prohibition of interest and of uncertainty – and create a shadow of the conventional finance system.
"Both share the same material goals and adopt the same institutional structures, with the result that the products promoted by the Islamic finance industry are often indistinguishable from those of interest-based institutions," says Tarek El Diwany, an analyst for London-based Sharia finance consultancy, Zest Advisory.
He explains that a serious and nimble response to these concerns is often hindered by a lack of intellectual honesty within the Islamic finance industry itself.
Platforms are rarely provided to scholars who wish to take one step back and question some of the fundamental concepts that are being applied.
Few questions are raised regarding the validity of Islamic debt financing, limited liability structures, speculative methods of market trading or the nature of the monetary system.
Such matters are given little attention in the headlong rush to copy interest-based methodologies.
Money trap
This has resulted in a number of embarrassing paradoxes.
For example, while some Islamic investment managers attempt to develop Sharia-compliant short-selling techniques, several Western authorities are banning the practice, on account of the instability that it causes.
The missed opportunity for Islamic finance is that in the "sunshine years" when all assets seemed to be heading northwards, the industry morphed into a soft version of the conventional industry and became vulnerable to the same systemic failures.
The Islamic banks and the Islamic bonds they issue will default, and are doing so as we speak.
The banks, and the governments that finance them, have fallen into the trap of creating money and then making money from it and will suffer from boom and bust.
For Islamic finance to step into the mainstream and offer a third way, there will have to be a reconsideration of the objectives, institutional frameworks and contractual methodologies of the modern Islamic banking and finance industry.
This effort must encompass the full range of technical and scholarly opinion, and it must have sincere political support.
Soberingly, "Christian" banking started off prohibiting usury and evolved into the Wall Street and City we know today. Islamic finance must try to avoid doing the same before the process becomes irreversible.
Flat tariff is gaining popularity among Bangladeshi Mobile Phone Operators
Posted November 6, 2009on:
First, it was Warid who introduced 89 paisa/minute call rate to any operator. Then in September 2008, Aktel introduced 68 paisa/minute call rate to any operator. Teletalk followed their footsteps by introducing 66 paisa/minute call rate in 2009. Now it is Banglalink's turn to follow the other three operators who already have offered flat tariff to their subscribers. Today (6th November, 2009) Bannglalink just launched their 87 paisa/minute flat tariff plan.
Looks like its becoming a trend in the Bangladeshi market, to introduce flat call rate and allow the subscribers to call any operator's number without worrying much about the differential charges. As more and more operators are adopting it we can safely assume that the financial impact of this tariff is quite positive. In fact, if we analyze the financials of the two operators- Banglalink & Aktel, we can easily see that AMPU of Aktel is lower than Banglalink but their ARPU is much higher. Yes, there might be some other factors but flat tariff is got to be a major factor behind Aktel's higher ARPU.
As Banglalink has finally introduced flat tariff, it seems they have got the message and has acted accordingly. Question is when Grameenphone is gonna realize it?
- In: Bangladesh
- 1 Comment
Aktel is leading the way for Bangladeshi mobile operators to increase tariff. They were the first to raise the FnF tariff from 25 paisa per minute to 40 paisa per minute in 2008. Following their footsteps, Banglalink and Grameenphone increased their FnF tariff to 45 paisa and 49 paisa respectively. Now Aktel is active in another front, they have increased tariff of their NORMAL tariff plan.
Aktel has 3 different tariff plans for the subscribers which is flexible and can be changed twice within 15 days by sending SMS (charge applicable). Among the three, NORMAL tariff plan is the oldest one (the other 2 was introduced within the last 1 year). Most of the old Aktel subscribers (who bought their SIM before 2008) are subscribed to NORMAL plan. This is also true for the subscribers of Chittagong-Noakhali region where Aktel is holding a dominant position. Now subscribers of this tariff plan have to bear almost double call rate during the time slot of 4 PM to 12 AM.
For more, visit http://aktel.com/?module=176
Its KPI that matters……….(choice between Subscribers Market Share and Revenue Market Share
Posted October 30, 2009on:
There is Tk. 800 tax on every newly sold SIM in Bangladesh. By adding the production cost, import tax and distribution cost with it total cost becomes something around Tk. 1200 for every SIM. But still time and again Bangladeshi Mobile Operators are introducing new campaigns to sell their connection as low as Tk. 150. Which means a subsidy of more than Tk. 1000 for each SIM sold. Grameenphone did it, Banglalink is doing it and Aktel, Warid, Teletalk are doing it all the time- selling new connection way lower than their cost. But question arises, why they are doing it?
I am sure that there is no real business case behind it. There is only one thing that can explain it is the 'KPI factor'. All the big bosses of Bangladeshi mobile companies surely have some KPI. And a major part of that KPI is related to achieving or maintaining certain market share. So when they see their market share dropping, they launch one or two new sales campaign and try to gain some 'EASY' subscribers. Of course, most of the customers acquired through this process are multiple SIM users. They buy new SIM at a lower rate just for the fun of it. After using the initial bonus (freebies) they keep their newly purchased SIM in the pocket (or drawyer) and wait for a CRM campaign.
Though the company suffers a huge financial loss, the bosses achieve the desired market share, after all its KPI that matters. I think it is the fault of the 'KPI setters' who don't recognize that subscriber market share is no longer relevant in a market like Bangladesh. They should set their KPI based on REVENUE MARKET SHARE instead.
China Mobile is reportedly in talks with Norway's Telenor concerning an acquisition of their Pakistani mobile network. Both companies are denying such development, yet sources told the local Dawn newspaper that negotiations were being held secretly at the group level.
According to some statistics, the combined customer base of China Mobile (NYSE: CHL)'s and Telenor's Pakistani operations is around 26 million, representing a 28% of the market.
For the record, China Mobile entered the Pakistani market in 2007, when it paid $460 million to buy Paktel from Millicom International. Previously, they had tried to acquire Warid Telecom, another smaller operator in the country, but failed to reach an agreement on the price.
China Mobile's Pakistan subsidiary is called Zong and with just under 6 million customers, it is the smallest of the 5 main operators in the country.
Source: Into Mobile


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This blog is dedicated to someone very special in my life, who has helped me and shaped my life in a new direction.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
My very first post
The quaint little Bungalow cottage once omnipresent in the first decades of the 20th century and then esperienced a decay after society started to move away from the center city neighborhoods. The Bungalow ushered in a new era in society and solidifed the middle class families with decent living quarters that were in sharp contrasts with the ostentatiousness of the Edwardian Era. As the century progressed the bungalow slowly became forgotten after Second World War as the public's tastes palette changed for more Modern and Ranch style homes. Withing the last couple of years the quaint little bungalow who was once looked over and neglected has experienced a resurgence. This resusitation of people slowly buying these homes and lovingly restoring them has solidfied once again the fashionablity of the Bungalow.
Posted by Missy A at 2:19 AM 3 comments:
Labels: cottage, quaint bungalow
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- The Great Egg-Venture at Sentosa HarbourFront
- This Easter, hunt for 100 giant eggs through the nooks and crannies of Sentosa HarbourFront to win egg-citing prizes.
- Witness the world's only street night race in a backdrop of heritage sites, modern architecture and breathtaking skyline combining a nice mix of sounds, festivities and sights, Coming this September 18 to 20. For entertainment, how about a line-up of Pharrell Williams and Maroon 5 at the Padang Stage; and Spandau Ballet at the Village Stage.
- Be amazed at 2D paintings on the museum walls, floors and ceilings which appear to pop out of the surface and come to life. Step inside the paintings and take pictures to post in Facebook and Instagram then witness the optical illusions do the trick.
- Pose with your favorite celebrities "in the flesh". Well, not really in person but in a realistix wax version of themselves. Meet Michael Jackson, Angelina Jolie, Bradd Pitt, Johnny Depp and most recently, the iconic Singapore Girl. Madame Tussauds Singapore is located at Imbish Lookout on Sentosa sitting alongside images of Singapore LIVE which introduces an entirely new element with live actors telling Singapore's history.
- It is one of the new entertainment destinations suitable for all ages modernizing the concept of art into fun and entertainment. More than 80 artwork exhibits are brought alive with 3D painting, shading and drawing techniques that create visual illusions and visitors will be able to be part of the masterpiece. At this museum, visitors may get up close and see interactive pieces on exhibit.
- Tulipmania is a highly anticipated display and it returns at the Gardens by the Bay from March 20 to May 10 - this time in the midst of a colorful setting of magical fairy tales, an even wider selection of tulips in a myriad of hues and forms.
These are just some. New hotels, restaurants and many more attractions are sprouting in Singapore so those who have gone to Singapore last year can still come back to Singapore to try something new.


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Diet vs Non-Diet Thinking
I recently went to a fitness forum in Vancouver Washington, where we got some great nutritional advice from a registered Dietician. Nothing fancy, but some great information:
From Dana Sturvetant, MS, RD
On eating:
Dieters think: Do I deserve it? If I eat heavy food, I try to find a way to make up for it. I feel guilty when I eat heavy foods. I usually describe a day of eating as either good or bad. I view food as the enemy.
Non-Dieters think: Am I hungry? Do I want it? Will I be deprived if I don't eat it? Will it be satisfying? Does it taste good? I deserve to enjoy eating without guilt.
On Exercise:
Dieters think: I focus primarily on calories burned. I feel guilty if I miss a designated exercise day.
Non-Dieters think: I focus primarily on how exercise makes me feel, especially the energizing and stress-relieving factors.
On Success:
Dieters think: How many pounds did I lose? How do I look? What do other people think of my weight? I have good willpower.
Non-dieters think: While I'm concerned with my weight, it is not my primary goal or indicator of progress. I have increased trust with myself and food. I am able to let go of "eating discretions." I recognize inner body cues.
1. Decide to change from a deeper place.
2. Make a firm commitment to do this for a lifetime.
3. Find what works for you rather than letting an "expert" tell you what to do.
4. Improve your health and let your weight loss be a side effect.
5. Identify other ways to judge your success.


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I am a big believer in Flu Shots. I know that some people try to avoid shots (who really likes needles anyway?!) If you don't have asthma, you can have the flu mist. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) the flu mist is for "healthy people."
Asthma is one of those conditions that "predisposes people to influenza complications." The flu mist is made with a live, weakened virus. That's not good for people with asthma, especially if you use corticosteroids. One of the side effects of steroids is that it impairs your immune system. The Free Dictionary by Farlex says that:"Healthy" indicates persons who do not have an underlying medical condition that predisposes them to influenza complications.
"...patients being treated with corticosteroids should avoid receiving live virus vaccines."
So check with your doctor, but we have always been told that if you have asthma, you can't have the flu mist. My kids are used to shots anyway, they get weekly allergy shots, so it's not a big deal. Check with your doctor to see if other family members who don't have asthma can get the mist. They may want the whole family to have the flu shot instead.
I have asthma, as well as all 3 of my kids. So we all just get the flu shot every year. We have the worst luck in the world, I know that if we didn't get the flu shot, one of us would get the flu and end up in the hospital. Son #2 and daughter Kitty have been hospitalized 12 times for asthma. And that's more than enough times for me. I feel like we payed for our own corner suite in the pediatrics ward at the hospital......
So, plan a day with the kids, roll up your sleeve and get your flu shot. Then take yourself out for a treat as a reward (bakery, ice cream, whatever.) Why should the kids have all the fun? We should get a treat for getting our shots too!


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Oh My! Where do I start? On last week I was dropping my SUV off to the mechanic for him to correct a mistake that he made so of course you already know that I was steaming hot when I got to the shop. In the process of explaining to the mechanic what was wrong with my SUV he proceeds to grab the keys out of my hands and my baby (iPhone4S) goes flying and the concrete caught her fall. Lord she was cracked at the very top. Why you ask? Because the plastic film that is supposed to keep her safe started to peel back hence you will see the extent of the damage in the below picture. Needless to say I cried. Yep! I cried!
As I was heading back to the office I remembered that I met Terrance known to us bloggers as BrothaTech at Blogalicious5! I sent him a message on Facebook because you already know that at that moment I wasn't thinking about searching for his business card. I was hysterical! BrothaTech responded immediately and asked me to answer four questions and requested a picture of my iPhone. I was so excited that he was able to make me an appointment immediately to repair my baby (iPhone4S). When I tell you that he provides top-notch service please believe me. My iPhone was repaired in less than an hour and I was excited to get back to blogging and posting pictures. LOL. Here's a picture of my baby after repairs.
I also have an iPad2 that he will be repairing after the New Year! Please make sure that you check him out for assistance with your technical devices and yes he repairs all brands. Here is his info:


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first MLive.com user to add photos or videos of Excellent Limousine
Excellent Limousine Inc was founded in 1987. Excellent Limousine Inc specializes in Limousine Rental, With Driver. Excellent Limousine Inc has 1 employees and estimated revenues of $85,000.00.
Excellent Limousine can be found at Parkview Blvd 27200. The following is offered: Limos & Shuttles. The entry is present with us since Sep 7, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 12, 2013. In Warren there are 5 other Limos & Shuttles. An overview can be found here.


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Running A Small or Big Business?? Then Take Advantages of Using an Advertising Agency
Introducing A great Media Agency from Lahore Named Linking Media with whom i worked and found them one of the best and promising PR Agency!
About The Agency:
Linking media is an exclusive "Digital Media Marketing Agency" Which provides full services to market your brand online and offline. Our digital media experts provide highest level of services to satisfy your marketing goals. Our team at "Linking Media" works to make your brand visible, creates relevant content, market your product online/offline and get valuable feedback. We provide you a complete solution for digital marketing using all the tools such as, Digital media, offline marketing, Creative designing and Social media marketing.
Our talented, experienced, well connected team love creating, engaging campaigns for our clients.
As with all our other services, the focus of our Digital media marketing activity for your brand is results. We deliver compelling, strategic PR campaigns with metrics and measurement. For more information about what we can do for you, let's do what we do best – start a conversation
Though i am a blogger and content writer not running any business but found them very useful and beneficial . i am going to explain some Main befits they can give u to ur business hope it will help many people out their which are running small business too :)
Saving Time
Using an advertising agency can save a business valuable time. Hiring an advertising agency means that you and your staff do not need to spend time developing an advertising campaign.
Saving Money
Although it may seem as though hiring an advertising agency will be expensive, you need to consider that an agency can save you a lot of money on ad placement. Most agencies are given discounts by publishers, and radio and TV stations, so they can get cheaper rates than someone dealing directly.
Brand Development
Even for experienced businesses, developing a brand can be a complex undertaking. Advertising agencies can help this process by developing logos and advertising that will develop brand awareness. They can also provide you with research that will allow you to target the most effective market.


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CNN host Ashleigh Banfield on Friday awkwardly explained that she had misspoken when she said that "homosexuality is a lifestyle choice."
During a Thursday segment about Kansas Pastor Curtis Knapp, who believes that LGBT people should be executed by the government, Banfield attempted to address his comparison between homosexuality and pedophilia.
"Pedophilia is not by choice, last I checked," the CNN host said. "Those things are often not by choice and are crimes. Homosexuality is a lifestyle choice by people; it is voluntary."
By Thursday evening, Banfield had issued the following clarification on Twitter: "Incest and pedophelia are CRIMES & victims have no choice. Being gay is not. Relatnshps r by choice. Way of life not crime."
During Friday morning's CNN broadcast, she continued trying to clear things up.
"I probably misspoke and mangled words, but I want to be very clear," Banfield insisted. "When I said that incest and pedophilia involve people who don't have a choice — victims who don't have a choice — and then said a gay relationship, you do have a choice, they are not crimes."
"Gay people involved in relationships are not committing any crimes at all," she continued. "I don't know that my comments were taken in that light and I certainly hope they were, but in no way did I ever want to suggest that being gay is a choice. It is not. And I probably used the word "lifestyle choice" — not what I meant to say at all."
"Being gay is not a choice; being in a voluntary gay relationship is a choice. It is not a crime."
Watch this video from CNN's Early Start, broadcast June 1, 2012.
(h/t: Mediaite)


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Since it has been so long since I updated the blog I thought I'd do a quick re-cap post about our summer. What we've been doing and some fun summer memories- that kinda thing. I'll have a few more recap posts coming up about some of the more important events from the past 7 months too. Not sure how interesting that will be for anyone but at least I'll have it for myself to look back on haha.
Charlie started doing a funny little dance where he just pumps his arms up and down. He randomly did it once at the grocery store as he was dancing along to whatever music they were playing and I died laughing because he looked so silly. Ever since then he is constantly doing this dance to make me laugh. Every. Where. We. Go. Lunch = dancing. Fro Yo = dancing. Haircut = Dancing. Errands = Dancing. Driving = Dancing. He's even been known to peek around doorways and start dancing when you least expect it lol.
We had a great 4th of July filled with beach, family, fun, fireworks and sparklers! I love these photos because you can see exactly what was going through Charlie's head as he held the sparkler-- seriousness, apprehension, worry, and then excitement haha.
My dad painted his stock car with Charlie's favorite cartoon characters and named it the "Charlie Special" - Charlie loves it!
We did many weeks of Swim Camp and had fun swimming in our pool too! At least until Robb told me that he found a baby spider nest inside of a pool noodle and hundreds of baby spiders drowned in the pool. That was the day the fun stopped and the pool became dead to me.
We visted Grandpa again at his metal shop and they made their very own motorcycle together.
Many trips to events at the library! A complete stranger covertly snapped this picture of the two of us reading and then emailed it to me because she thought I'd like to have it. I'm just now realizing we were sitting under a sign that says "Stop It's a Photo Op" and maybe that's why she took the picture.....*dawning realization*.....ohhhhhhh
Splash pads with our nanny! Who BTW we no longer have any more- she went off to graduate school right around when Charlie started Kindergarten so it worked out nicely since we didn't need a nanny anymore anyways. It's very weird not having someone at home to help us out with things like cleaning, laundry, and treatments! But since Charlie is now gone at Kindgarten for my 3 days away from work I have time to do more chores so I guess it works out just fine.
We spent a ridiculous amount of time at the beach this summer! Robb and I have every Monday off together but since he was so super busy photographing weddings this summer he requested that Charlie and I give him some time alone to edit every Monday. I'm pretty sure he only edited 50% of the time we were gone and spent the other 50% enjoying having the house to himself haha. Anyways, in order to give Robb some time alone to work Charlie and I went to the beach pretty much every week in addition to going to the beach with his nanny in addition to going to the beach whenever he stayed overnight with my parents because Robb was working on the weekend. So a LOT of beach time.
Robb and Charlie went on their first camping trip! I did not join them, and was very pleased about that. It all started when I saw a tent on a lighting deal on Amazon, which turned into Robb buying it for a camping trip, which turned into Robb buying literally every camping supply known to man for a 2 day camping trip that was only 10 minutes away from our house at a camping site with electricity.
The morning of the big camping trip Charlie spiked a small fever and started complaining of a sore neck. After a horrifying Google search told us it could be a deadly meningitis infection we rushed to the pediatrician where they told us he was fine and just slept on his neck funny. Since he gave the boys the clear to go camping off they went and when they got home I went to give Charlie a bath and found two HUGE bullseye rashes on his legs and thought "oh shit, it's Lyme Disease". So back to the pediatrician we went where they said "Oh yes, there's a huge Lyme Disease outbreak right now, this is the 4th kid today we've seen with it" which prompted us to ask "Then why the fuck didn't the pediatrician from 2 days ago think to look for it when we were here, especially considering a sore neck is freaking symptom?!" except we said it politely and she gave us a non committal shrug which did NOT make us feel better. Anyways, we got a new 30 day supply of antibiotics (MORE meds! Wooohooo) and Charlie is now right as rain but man, poor kid!
Charlie and my mom attended my end of Summer work picnic. They had bounce houses, face painters, and Charlie's favorite- a balloon artist! He made Charlie all sorts of weapons like a sword, holster, bow and arrow, and a helmet. Such a boy...
OK I think that's a fair recap of the summer! Hope you all had fantastic summers as well, now that daylight savings time has hit I sure do miss summer already. Gonna be a loooooong winter.


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The Vancouver Sun let us all in on the name of the school being used in "New Moon"!
Twilight film crews were rolling cameras at David Thompson secondary in Vancouver Monday — and an insider tells The Vancouver Sun they'll be back again Tuesday.
Vampire fans were craning their necks to catch glimpses of the Twilight stars at the high school on East 55th Ave.
It's unclear which New Moon cast members were on location, but stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner are currently filming the blockbuster sequel in Vancouver.
You can read the full article here before heading up to East 55th Ave.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Name Of "Forks High" School Set
Posted by Cullen Boys Anonymous at 7:03 AM
Labels: New moon filming
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Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Announcing...it's a boy!
But now I can tell you. I have some exciting news! We've got a new dog!!
Please meet Ike.
Peppertree Rescue, the same group that helped us with Moses and then Brooks, alerted us to a 6 year old golden retriever they called Burghley. Burghley had been in a home with a 3 yr old golden, and unfortunately the family was relocating and unable to take their dogs with them.
We met Burghley in the park, anxiously wondering what Kelly would think. She let him know she was boss, but otherwise she more or less ignored him and seemed comfortable with him. He didn't seem to mind her bossy ways. The rescue group sent an experienced dog person to help us get a sense of both Kelly and Burghley's reactions and determine if they might be able to live peacefully together. She indicated that it could work.
We thought Burghley was adorable. He is much younger than Brooks and has a good deal more energy. He has Lyme disease, an ear infection, and is not neutered. He gets car sick. He escaped from his crate, chewed through a wooden door, and is a known wanderer. He was the top dog in his old home, so that made me a little nervous. But at the end of the meeting, the rescue group said that they could either take him back to the kennel at the vet's, or we could take him home. Well....how could we send him back to the kennels??
So we all went home. We renamed him Ike. And we've been taking our time to get to know each other and get adjusted. He's a bit of a counter surfer. He doesn't like to be left alone. He cries when we put him to bed at night. He needs obedience training. But he's super sweet, he loves attention, he's fun and playful. And he's OURS!
We've had Ike for one week now, and so far so good.
Tomorrow... How does Kelly like Ike?
47 comments:
- Sue KottwitzAugust 6, 2013 at 7:39 AM
Congratulations to all of you!ReplyDelete
- Elaine PritchardAugust 6, 2013 at 8:18 AM
I am so glad you have a new member of the family. Looking forward to hearing the next instalment about Kelly's reactions. I am sure it will all work out.ReplyDelete
Congratulations! I'm so happy for you and Ike! It sounds like he's starting a great new chapter with you! :)ReplyDelete
- Amber DaWeenieAugust 6, 2013 at 8:43 AM
So happy to hear that you're added to your family and rescued one in need of a wonderful forever home. Can't wait to hear more about Ike!ReplyDelete
Golden Congrats. Love the name. Great to have an energize 6 years Golden. Golden ENJOY! Lots of Golden Woofs, SugarReplyDelete
- Roxanne @ Champion of My HeartAugust 6, 2013 at 9:37 AM
So happy to hear the news. Welcome home, Ike!ReplyDelete
Fantastic news!!! I'm so happy the right one found you :)ReplyDelete
- Frankie and ErnieAugust 6, 2013 at 10:12 AM
WELCOME TO BLOGVILLE .... IKE ! You will adore it here. There is so much fun stuffs going on.ReplyDelete
Awww this is soooo awesome! Welcome Ike! We look forward to hearing more about you!ReplyDelete
- Jackie BouchardAugust 6, 2013 at 11:04 AM
OMD, how could you keep succh a big beautiful secret for a week?! He's gorg! Looking forward to getting to know Ike!ReplyDelete
Aww!! Congratulations! He's gorgeous! And what a lucky boy to find such a loving home! Can't wait to follow his adventures...ReplyDelete
- Elizabeth KAugust 6, 2013 at 2:01 PM
Congratulations to you! He is a beauty! Thanks for taking him, especially with his special needs. :)ReplyDelete
- Words With WienersAugust 6, 2013 at 2:16 PM
Yay! I was hoping you'd post this today after I finally caught on to your hint from other post (duh!). Wow, he is absolutely beautiful! Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you, as he has quite the personality already! I see many interesting adventures ahead. Congratulations!ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 2:58 PM
Thank you! LOL about the hint! Most of his naughty behaviors before had to do with his girlfriend in heat...he ate through a door to get to her! Well he's getting neutered next week so that should help.ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 2:58 PM
Aww thanks. I guess we all have our issues, lol.ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 2:59 PM
Thank you Maggie. I'm sure he'll be leading us into many adventures. Stay tuned!ReplyDelete
It did take a lot of self control, haha, but I wanted to be sure he was going to work out. We have one week left of a two week trial period, but I think he's here for good.ReplyDelete
Congrats! He is handsome!ReplyDelete
Stop on by for a visit
Ike says hello!ReplyDelete
One of the first things Ike wants to do is get to know the famous Frankie and Ernie!ReplyDelete
Me too :)ReplyDelete
Thank you so much. It is quite a transition but soon we'll all be settling in together...even Kelly.ReplyDelete
He sure does have a lot more energy than Brooks. Maybe you can give him some of the wisdom of your senior years.ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 3:02 PM
I'm sure there will be many adventures to share. Thanks!ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 3:03 PM
Thank you. You know the heartbreak of losing a pet, and then when the time is right and things work out, the joy of getting another.ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 3:03 PM
Thank you Elaine. You know I wasn't sure it was going to happen, lol. But it did!ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 3:04 PM
Thank you!ReplyDelete
- Pup FanAugust 6, 2013 at 4:23 PM
Yay Ike!ReplyDelete
- Shelley PAugust 6, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Congratulations!! I'm so happy for you : ) and Kelly and especially for Ike! I'm glad he is getting such a great home. Awesome!ReplyDelete
- catchatcarenAugust 6, 2013 at 5:10 PM
YAY!!! I LOVE Ike's smile (and i LOVE that name!) He just looks soooo proud of himself! Wishing you all the best!ReplyDelete
- Jan K, Wag N Woof PetsAugust 6, 2013 at 5:36 PM
Congratulations! Ike is adorable!ReplyDelete
- Pamela | Something WaggingAugust 6, 2013 at 6:04 PM
Sounds like you got a boy who will keep you busy. Will he sit still long enough to inspire Ike's LIke's (like Brooks' Book's?).ReplyDelete
Can't wait to hear the rest of the story. After all, we know it all comes down to Kelly in the end. :)
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 9:51 PM
Ahhh well aren't you clever! Ike's Likes it is!ReplyDelete
I'll give you a hint...Kelly is being a very good girl :)
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 9:52 PM
Thank you so much!ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 9:52 PM
Thank you. He's only been with us here for a week, but he's a really good boy!ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 9:53 PM
awww thank you. Ike is going to teach Kelly some things I"m sure.ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 9:53 PM
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 9:57 PM
Thanks for visiting. I love your blog too!ReplyDelete
- Two French BulldogsAugust 6, 2013 at 10:05 PM
Welcome Ike!ReplyDelete
Benny & Lily
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 10:18 PM
Thanks you two! woof woof!ReplyDelete
- SlimDoggyAugust 6, 2013 at 10:34 PM
So excited for you and for Ike! Can't wait to hear more about him! Welcome to the family Ike...will be looking forward to his exploits in FitDog Friday!ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 6, 2013 at 11:09 PM
Ike's first installment will be this Friday!ReplyDelete
- HufflePupAugust 6, 2013 at 11:53 PM
Oh he's adorable! And I'm sure he's going to be so grateful that you took him in when it all sinks in that this is HOME. I wish you all the best in the continued integration of your new family member :)ReplyDelete
- peggyfrezonAugust 7, 2013 at 12:24 AM
Thank you for the wishes. Yeah, that integration is tough. But all in all it's going pretty well.ReplyDelete
- Susie-BelleSchnauzerAugust 7, 2013 at 1:20 AM
Fabulous, you're in YOUR home now Ike, forever, enjoy it xReplyDelete
- annybooAugust 7, 2013 at 3:58 AM
He's so beautiful!!! Have fun in your forever home Ike!ReplyDelete
- Dawn RossAugust 7, 2013 at 12:47 PM
Congratulations!!! One good thing about a dog with some issues is that you get to bond while training him. :) Burghley is an interesting name, but he does look more like an Ike.ReplyDelete


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On Christmas morning as we were opening presents with our kids and family, I got to thinking about how lucky I am. I really don't know how I got into medical school.
I grew up in a pretty modest home. These days you would have called us poor. At the time I thought we were middle class but, I didn't know that middle class families were not on WIC. But we never went hungry and my mom kept us in clean clothes (though they were rarely new clothes). We lived in several places growing up but my grandparents lived on a farm in rural SW Missouri, so I thought of myself as a country (rural) boy. We didn't have any doctors in my immediate family, although my grandmother was a nurse and my great ,great uncle was a country doc (more about him some other time).
So, how did I get into medical school???
These days my chances would be pretty slim at most medical schools. The vast majority (65%) of our current medical students come from the top quintile of wage-earning families.(1) From 1997 to 2004, students admitted to medical school with a family income of greater than $100,000 increased over 60%, while those from the middle and lower income quintiles declined. The median income for the parents of a medical student is over $110,000 per year. 59.7% of students' parents make over $100,000. (2)
Many of our students at Kansas come from urban counties. In Kansas that means basically one of five counties/metropolitan areas (KC, Overland Park, Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence). We have to work very hard to get and keep qualified applicants from small towns and the rural counties. On the 2009 AAMC Matriculant survey, only 2.8% of matriculating students were planning to practice in an area with a population of 2,500 or less.(3)
We have seen an increase in students whose parents are physicians. Some of these are physicians from the community and some are kids of our own faculty. Most medical students' parents have a high level of education. 52% of the fathers of medical students have a graduate degree compared to 12% in the general population. For moms, it is 35% and 10%, respectively. (4)
So what?
Several things in my opinion.
First, as a state school, we have a contract with the state of Kansas. We are the only medical school in Kansas we have to provide doctors for the state. All of the state. Not just the urban/suburban parts of the state.
We also need to produce doctors that look like the population of the state. If all of our students are from the urban counties, they are going to be much more likely to be white or Asian and not underrepresented. If they are all from the highest income brackets, we are neglecting a large part of our population.
And they will be much less likely to practice in the places that we want/need doctors. Rural underserved counties. Urban underserved areas. Primary care practices. Community health centers. Rural health clinics.
Right now we are doing pretty well in this area when you compare us to the rest of the country. The problem is that the rest of the country is doing really badly. So, even though we look good in comparison, we aren't doing that great. A recent analysis done by Fitzhugh Mullan (5), found that many of the "top" medical schools in the nation did pretty poorly when you measured them on social mission (Vanderbilt #141, Duke #124, Boston U #131, Mayo #103). Social mission is a construct that uses number of primary care physicians produced, graduates practicing in HPSAs, and numbers of underrepresented minorities. KU ranked 5th in the nation on that scale.
We also do pretty good at turning out primary care doctors, at least in Family Medicine. Over the last 10 years (1998-2009 graduating classes), KU and the University of Minnesota were ranked number 1 and 2 when you combine number and percentage of students that graduate and choose a residency in Family Medicine.
But, we have to continue to work hard to maintain what we have. It is a constant struggle to convince people on the admissions committee that we shouldn't just take the students with the highest GPAs. And it is easy for the Dean to say, "we need to raise the MCAT scores of our incoming students". And it is easy to decrease funding for programs that support students from underserved backgrounds. But those are the battles that have to be fought. As someone who is really smart told me, "we don't need programs to increase the number of white kids from Johnson County".
(1) Bowman B. personal communciation
(2) Jolly P. Diversity of US Medical Students by Parental Income. AAMC Analysis in Brief. 2008;8(1).
(3) AAMC Matriculating Student Questionnaire (MSQ) 2009
(4) Grbic D, et al. Diversity of US Medical Students by Parental Education. AAMC Analysis in Brief 2010;9(10).
(5) Mullan F, Chen C, Petterson S, Kolsky G, Spagnola M. The Social Mission of Medical Education: Ranking the Schools. Annals Intern Med 2010;152:804-811.
This blog is my thoughts about medical education, research in medical schools about the educational process, and my opinions about the state of medical education in the US.
This blog is about medical education in the US and around the world. My interest is in education research and the process of medical education.
The lawyers have asked that I add a disclaimer that makes it clear that these are my personal opinions and do not represent any position of any University that I am affiliated with including the American University of the Caribbean, the University of Kansas, the KU School of Medicine, Florida International University, or the FIU School of Medicine. Nor does any of this represent any position of the Northeast Georgia Medical Center or Northeast Georgia Health System.
The lawyers have asked that I add a disclaimer that makes it clear that these are my personal opinions and do not represent any position of any University that I am affiliated with including the American University of the Caribbean, the University of Kansas, the KU School of Medicine, Florida International University, or the FIU School of Medicine. Nor does any of this represent any position of the Northeast Georgia Medical Center or Northeast Georgia Health System.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Christmas gift
Posted by John E Delzell, Jr, MD, MSPH at 10:20 PM 1 comment:
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The clinical enterprise is to a medical school as the athletic department is to an undergraduate university
I love analogies and while no analogy is perfect, I find this one fascinating. If you are like us, you probably watch a lot of college sports this time of year. I was watching a basketball game the other day (KU vs Arizona) and I was thinking about the athletic department at our school. Like many large state schools, we have a pretty large budget for the athletic program. (more than $50 million in 2006) (1) All of that money may translate to some success , at least on the basketball court, not so much on the football field. A report last year from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics detailed athletic department spending increases at major colleges and universities. Increases to the tune of 11% annually, and this was during the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Why do we spend so much money on the athletic department? And what does this have to do with medical education, which after all is what this blog is supposed to be about? It struck me that in a medical school system the clinical enterprise has some similarities to the athletic department at the undergraduate school.
Both the clinical enterprise and the athletic department are askew from the primary mission of the university at large. Each has a significant portion of the budget. Both generate significant revenue. Both attract philanthropy for their own use. World famous specialists and top athletic teams attract media attention. Attention leads to more patients and more fans and more money and higher rankings and goodwill from the local community. The highest paid people are the stars in these areas: the super subspecialists and the coaches for the money-making sports. They are arguably the highest paid because they bring in the most money. And, because of their ability to generate revenue, they seem to have a different set of expectations for their behavior. (2)
But here is where the analogy breaks down. It seems that few undergraduate universities have as part of their mission statement, "to have the best athletic department" or "to generate the most money on athletics." And if US News and World Report has done a ranking on "most lucrative athletic departments," I haven't seen it. On the other hand, medical schools invariably have something about the clinical enterprise in the mission statement. And, that statement is not, "create a clinical enterprise that is sufficient to meet the educational needs of our students while providing excellent patient care."
Perhaps the most important difference is that while the athletic department has some opportunity to impact the education of students, the clinical enterprise profoundly affects student education. The athletic department probably pulls some philanthropy away from other areas and definitely pulls attention away from other areas. But if the university decides to focus on football instead of swimming, the science majors are probably not affected by that decision. However, if the clinical enterprise focuses on higher revenue specialty practices and decreases lower paying primary care or generalist practices, the medical students are at risk of receiving inadequate or inappropriate medical training. If the clinical enterprise adopts policies that limit medical students' use of the electronic health record or participating in procedures, their education suffers. If the clinical enterprise needs the physicians to make more money by seeing more patients and spending less time teaching students, their education suffers.
Generally, about this time in the argument, someone pipes in with No Money, No Mission. And they go on to describe how the clinical mission funds the other missions of the medical school. Some people believe that the clinical enterprise and the athletic department works hard to make money for the university, so that the university can attend to its other, less interesting mission: education. And perhaps it does work that way in some places. Perhaps, but mostly they fund themselves. They make decisions based on revenue and they keep most of the profit. In fact, an article in USA Today says that for every dollar the university spends on the athletic department, they only realized one dollar in revenue. (3) Not a great return on the university's investment. At least the athletic department pretends that they aren't trying to make money.
Medical student education at allopathic schools in the United States is clearly in a marriage with the clinical enterprise – sometimes an abusive marriage and maybe sometimes a partnership, but nonetheless a marriage. So what can be done? Perhaps that is a good topic for another blog – what would a counselor say about the marriage of the clinical enterprise and medical education?
(1) King, Jason. "Hawk Market", The Kansas City Star (June 11, 2006), pp. C1
(2) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/11863-from-caron-butler-to-chris-andersen-how-should-we-handle-troubled-athletes
Posted by John E Delzell, Jr, MD, MSPH at 8:23 PM 1 comment:
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one, two, three.
one, two, three: a look back at the week. photo via.
one. I've been digging Design*Sponge's Thanksgiving Table series, the above, by Reform School, most especially.
two. Kate Dougherty: I LOVE YOU, DREAM WOMAN. via NYTimes.
three. Oh, man! Thank you so much to Refinery29 and Brightest Young Things for spreading the word about Sunday's PANDA HEAD BIZARRE! We sincerely hope to see you there, and will repay your support not only with a seriously A++ Issue 7, but with a combination of DC BRAU, GOOD TIMES, and GOOD VIBES, all from 4-8 at the Adams Morgan location of The Press Dry Cleaning & Laundry.
Labels: one two three


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September 10, 2012
Life sometimes deals you a bad hand and you make a lot of mistakes along the way but as long as you believe in your self and walk along your chosen path with a smile, everything will be alright.
September 7, 2012
How I wish I could win this giveaway to purchase my favourite dresses.
Try your luck here and who knows you will be luckier than me.
Here is the link for you to join the lovely giveaway by lovely blogger Meanz at http://koi-story.blogspot.com/2012/09/50-lulus-gift-card-giveaway.html. Good Luck.
Thanks Meanz for the awesome giveaway. Love reading your blogs.
September 5, 2012
To succeed, you need to take that gut feeling in what you believe and act on it with all of your heart.


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Community Wiki Support Meeting 10 April 2012
0000; Join the meeting; Dial-in number: 877-453-7266 9:00 am. Mountain time on Tuesdays
- You can join up to 10 minutes early. If you try to join the meeting at any other time, you will get an error that the meeting doesn't exist.
- Prior to joining the meeting for the first time, run the MeetingPlace Test to verify that you can participate in a web meeting.
Meeting Agenda
Introduce new members
Kudos go to ...
- Sandra - huge job on categories this week
Updates and follow up
- Maintenance status - Good progress, but pages with Unresolved Issues need attention. Do we need a committee to work on these, or make assignments to specific people? Should this topic be better in Content, rather than Administrative?
- Jane will contact FH library about putting categories on their pages.
- Sandra and Lee have talked to FHL employees and they are cooperating
- 5 Stars have been removed from the bottom of pages, while the engineers work on a problem associated with those.
Telephone support - Chat has not been productive.
- Other departments have no way to reach us.
- The library is going to be recruiting groups, etc. to come to the Wiki. The library people do not know the Wiki, and they need to be able to contact us.
- With the phones, we can have access to Team Viewer that works like Landesk, so we can see the patron's computer screen to help them.
- We will give one-on-one training for phones and the viewers.
- We want to go live on May 1st.
- Lynda & Jane can click into calls for extra help if necessary.
- We will make no changes on patron's computers
Improve the Wiki
James Tanner - Copyright issues
- Copyright is under the Library of Congress - link to Copyright.gov, where all the basic information is for copyrights
- All copyrights are automatic. Bern convention was signed in 1888, but was not ratified by the US in 1988. The Bern Convention controls copyright laws. Any original work is subject to copyright.
- Anything that's put on the internet that is original is subject to copyright.
- A non-profit corporation was created about 10 years ago - Creative Commons.org - provides a way to license internet content that is given other levels of license..
- There are three layers of license - the danger is in copying and pasting until the document is in public domain
- We should be aware of the different types of licenses and make sure attribution is done correctly.
- Fair Use - created by the courts - a reasonable standard (copying full article is not Fair Use).
- Public Domain - items that are not longer under copyright, or released from copyright.
- Be aware of different versions of Creative Commons.
- Article in Tech Tips will be published in the next few days.
Ken Knight - Unresolved Issue (4 years old)
Issue: "Talk:A Guide to Research The article that tells how to name a wiki article says we should avoid the use of an initial "A" in the title of an article. Would it be appropriate to rename this page? Diltsgd 22:05, 10 February 2008 (MST)"
Context: Help:Name a new article Guidelines for nameing articles. "10. Do not start article names with "A," "The," or "An" if possible" https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Help:Name_a_new_article
Proposed Resolution: The key is "if possible". This case is an exception, it works here. Respond to Diltsgd https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Talk:A_Guide_to_Research


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Why don't you try once, while reading very exciting book, to ocasionally make short pauses, which you would use for checking what time it is (the clock is already prepared, at the night table).
You would notice few things.
1) Time is passing by very slowly (the last time you glanced the clock was barely 10 minuts ago)
2) Neither minute has passed in vain.
3) You'd have the experience of time as a dense smooth substance filled with a cream.
Taste it.


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Someone once told me that I deserved to be loved to the fullest capacity that an individual is capable of. That got me thinking. I had never considered the notion of capacity and love in the same thought, now I can't stop thinking about one without the other. They have become inextricably linked, and possible always were.
When I decided to look into this notion of capacity, I knew that I had to start with the meaning and the very intention of the word. After pulling up the definition from the dictionary I was quite intrigued. Although the word capacity has several definitions, three stood out to me. The first definition listed was "the ability or power to contain, absorb or hold". Skipping down to the third definition, it states "the power of receiving impressions, knowledge, mental ability. The fourth definition was listed as "actual or potential ability to perform, yield or withstand". Multiple words to help understand one meaning... capacity.
So from these three definitions, I pulled two important concepts; the power to contain, and the actual ability to withstand. With these in mind I can only draw one conclusion; the deciding factor in a relationships survival is dependent upon ones capacity to love and the others capacity to withstand.
From here several questions come to mind. What happens when our threshold for either of these capacities is met? Do we have the potential ability to change our capacity for love? Can we even raise our threshold for withstanding? More importantly, do we hold the key to our own ability to change?
With these questions in mind, all I can do is wonder... when the capacity for love is maxed out and the threshold for withstanding the pain is met, where do we go from here?


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It's August, which means heat and humidity is bearing down on most of the country. In some parts, there is more heat than humidity, and they are suffering from severe drought. Lucky for us, we are not having a repeat of last year's 100 year drought. We've had a lot of moisture come through this summer, so much so that I have not had to worry about watering my lawn much. In fact, some members of my family have equated it to living in the rain forest since we seem to have an afternoon shower every day and the humidity feels like a wet blanket.
We've each adapted in our own way, and the newest member of our family has taken to hiding in the palm tree, looking like a fierce jungle animal waiting to pounce.
O.K., maybe not that fierce.


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Demand for gold coins among American investors has soared since the presidential election, as investors are growing increasingly worried about the lack of action to address America's debt problems.
The US Mint's sales of American Eagles, the most popular bullion coin, soared 131 per cent in November, hitting the highest level in over two years. November was also the strongest month in 2012 for gold Maple Leaf coin sales for the Royal Canadian Mint.
The political gridlock in Washington and the prospect of further quantitative easing when the Federal Reserve's "Operation Twist" expires at the end of 2012 have fuelled demand for gold investments among investors.
While the jump in gold bullion coin sales highlights gold's role as the preferred safe haven for investors, investors should realize that bullion coins make up a relatively minor sector of the investment market for gold coins.
Rare gold coins, for example, offer security, privacy and performance advantages over gold bullion coins. They are immune from possible government restrictions on private gold ownership. They are anonymous and, because of their scarcity, they can appreciate even when the price of gold is falling.
The experts at Coin Trader can help you select the gold investments that are right for you.


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Saturday, October 6
How sweet it is to ...
12 comments:
We have the opposite problem here not enough rain.ReplyDeleteReplies
I think we must have been getting everyone else's rain Cathy. Around your area and across the Atlantic people have been wanting more rain and we would have happily sent some either way!Delete
I always freeze my on the cob Sue...I love to eat it this way. How do you strip it down though as it would be good to do this with a few for the freezer in the future.ReplyDelete
I stripped my plants today...i got less corn than you but you can de rest assured we will be enjoying every bit of it!!Replies
We just haven't room in our freezers to store it that way Tanya. You just get someone (Martyn) to run a knife - more a sawing action - down the cob (held over a bowl or colander) from the tip end downwards hoping that most of the kernels fall into the container.Delete
Compared with my dismal result, I think that is a fantastic crop! When you are planning to strip the kernels from the cobs it's not so important to have perfect kernels right down to the tips. If I ever grow sweet corn again I'll grow MORE to improve the chances of pollination.ReplyDeleteReplies
It was better than we expected, Mark. One thing that I did wonder about the three sisters idea is - would the beans cut down the wind action - sort of staking the corn and also cover the female flower so pollen didn't reach her as well.Delete
Those looks great Sue. I've only tried one of our cobs and it hadn't been pollinated. I'm thinking the rest may not have either. Ho hum; I stripped the not-properly-formed kernels from the cobs, they were still edible enough.ReplyDeleteReplies
It's just been one of those years, Lee. last year the corn plants didn't grow at all as it was too dry.Delete
Well I am glad I read this entry as I just today planted corn, 2 varieties right next to each other. Not sure but I do think we might be in for a hot dry (and no doubt humid) summer. So I shall keep up the water and I shall be that mad girl running around encouraging extra pollen on mine and clients corn crops .ReplyDelete
At least yours came out looking niceReplies
Hi dutd - Planting two varieties closely may result in cross pollination which in sweetcorn land can mean you don't get the best flavour. Hope it doesn't happen to yours. When the pollen is running if it is hot and dry try spraying with water.Delete
A triumph of hope over bad weather!ReplyDeleteReplies
I didn't even dare to hope that the corn would amount to much this year, Janet!Delete
Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment - it is great to hear from you and know that there are people out there actually reading what I write! Come back soon.
(By the way any comments just to promote a commercial site, or any comments not directly linked to the theme of my blog, will be deleted)
I am getting quite a lot of spam. It is not published and is just deleted. I have stopped sifting through it and just delete any that ends up in my spam folder in one go so I am sorry if one of your messages is deleted accidentally.
Comments to posts over five days old are all moderated.


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Beers and links for the weekendNovember 20th, 2009 | Posted by Real Beer
– Pennsylvanian Dale Van Wieren has recorded every beer he's drank since 1971 and tomorrow he'll knock back No. 10,000. Don Russell has the story.
– Yule Beer Blog Photo Contest returns. You'd already know this if you were reading Beer for the Holidays.
– A six-pack of holiday beer suggestions: Samuel Adams Holiday Porter, Rogue Santa's Private Reserve, Goose Island Christmas Ale, Stoudt's Winter Ale, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and Alaskan Winter Ale.
– Women of Craft Beer: A Quick List. Pioneers, brewers, advocates and more.
– How do you know beer's hip? They're loving it in Hollywood and the rest of Los Angeles.
– Looking ahead. Deschutes Jubel will be back in February. From the press release: "This 'Super Jubel' was discovered by accident two decades ago when a clumsy burglar didn't realize the weight of his stolen keg of Jubelale. He dropped it outside to freeze in the season's sub-zero temperatures – only to be discovered the next morning by Gary Fish, Deschutes Brewery owner. More than half the liquid in the keg had frozen and the remaining beer was a very cold, highly concentrated 'Jubelale on steroids.' It was so good that the brewers set about recreating it, coming up with an annual 'Super Jubel' that is aged in oak barrels. A limited amount has been available on tap every year, 2010 will be only the second time that the brewery has bottled up this brew for sale. The first time it was available by bottle was a special millennium edition in 2000."
– MillerCoors has launched GreatBeerGreatResponsibility.com, a "consumer website designed to educate consumers about its corporate social responsibility initiatives."


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In the past week, we have hosted a sold-out show by the wildly funny humorist Jeanne Robertson, a very well-attended Clayton Wedding Expo, the successful winter booking meeting of the North Carolina Presenters Consortium, and the annual awards banquet for the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. These events prove that there truly is always something going on here at The Clayton Center!
February may be the shortest month of the year, but it's also long on entertainment and other activities at The Clayton Center. The fun begins this Saturday night, January 31, when Granite Lodge 191 of Clayton will host its annual Father-Daughter Dance in the Main Lobby. Tickets are $40 per "couple" and are available at GI Joe's on Highway Business 70 or Annie V's Florist on Barbour Street in downtown Clayton. Light refreshments will be served. There also will be a DJ and dancing, and each couple receives a free 4 x 6 Photo from 1000 Words Photography. For more information, call Russell Ragland at 919-663-6499.
On Saturday, February 7, the Malpass Brothers come to town. These Goldsboro boys bridge the gap between traditional country and rockabilly in their look and style, taking us back to the day before rock and country went their separate ways. Their energetic performing style and passion for this heritage American music make a unique experience. Drawing from their family's love of early country music, Taylor and Christopher Malpass channel the sound of musical greats like Hank Williams, Sr., Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Carl Perkins, the Loovin Brothers and even the Young Elvis Presley. One reviewer said, of the Malpass Brothers' experience, 'These guys don't just sound retro… they are retro.' See the Malpass for yourself at our Vimeo channel.
Thursday through Saturday, February 26-28, Clayton Youth Theater presents Anatomy of Gray, by Jim Leonard. Set in the 1880s, but with a timeless theme, the play takes us through the humor and grief of the Muldoon family in Gray, Ind., and the events following the arrival of the mysterious Galen P. Gray, medical doctor. Gray presents the family with some hilarious situations and serious choices as he makes his home in the town that bears his name. The play is rated PG+ for mild language and tragic circumstances. Show times are at 7:30 PM. Clayton Youth Theater highlights the talent of area students, grades 7-12.
For tickets to the Malpass Brothers or CYT's Anatomy of Gray, contact the box office Monday through Friday, 10 AM–Noon, and 1 PM-5 PM, at 919-553-1737. The Clayton Center, located in Johnston County, is convenient to Raleigh and southeastern Wake County, with easy access to Durham, Chapel Hill, Zebulon, and other parts of Orange, Durham, Harnett, Lee and Johnston Counties.