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As you all might know, today was the launch of the Lanvin collection of H&M and off course I couldn't resist to buy at least something of it.. but I will have to wait until I get back to the Netherlands to open up my deliveries!
So I got up at 7 am to set myself up for the massive attack on the online shop.. From prior experience of standing in line at the door made me choose for the more comfortable option of shopping at home:)..
Yes call me crazy but I had two computers as reinforcement! So as soon as the clock on my laptop hit 8.00 AM I started to click on the shop.. one went immediately into the waiting line..GREAT.. so much for that! But luckily the other one did get in so I could shop at ease without having to get into cat fights with other women..
So rara the theme of today is my interpretation of Lanvin.. When I think of Lanvin I think of volume, rich fabrics and details. The collection of Lanvin for H&M is somewhat in line with this but it incorporates more outspoken colors. Besides the colors are combined in such a way that they really pop into your eyes...so as color loving person I was really inspired by this!
Key ingredients of my Lanvin style: flowers, pearls, waist belt, some sparkles and a petticoat to get the volume effect..
Hairband: Accessorize
Top: Fashion for Aids
Necklaces: pearls, H&M
Skirt: Vintage
Petticoat: Vintage
Shoes: New Look
Love Lyn


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In all of my Health Science classes we start off the semester watching this video. In many of my classes we have been taught and trained to create things such as health and wellness programs within our communities. Last semester I even had the opportunity to create and build a health and wellness program from scratch for the city of Rexburg. It was an amazing experience. So this video has always been very inspirational for me.
I had to watch it again today, because with graduation quickly approaching and me facing the unknown, I needed some inspiration.
This video reminds me that somebody as small and insignificant as myself, can make a difference in this world. I may not think I'm very creative, but in the Lord's eyes I am, and He has faith and confidence in me, and that is all I really need.
So to those select few that read this blog
Have confidence in yourself, because YOU can change the world.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Buttermilk Brined Grilled Chicken with Spicy Mango Sauce
While the mango sauce part of this recipe might not look the greatest... it gave me visions of baby food actually... it tastes amazing. Simple, sweet and spicy. The perfect sauce in my book! And the chicken? Well, the chicken was brined (or marinated) in buttermilk... one of the top three best things to let chicken marinate in for the juiciest outcome (in my book also). So of course, you are not going to be surprised when I say this chicken was DA-BOMB!!!
Buttermilk Brined Grilled Chicken with Spicy Mango Sauce
Adapted from Bobby Flay, Food Network
Printable Recipe
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 Tablespoons hot sauce (I used Frank's)
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
For the sauce -
1 very ripe Mango, peeled, pitted and chopped
1 Tablespoon Sriracha
1 1/2 teaspoon honey
Mix together the buttermilk, hot sauce and ancho chili powder. Place the chicken in a resealable plastic bag or shallow dish and pour the marinade over it. Seal or cover and place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
To make the sauce, place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Remove half of the sauce and set aside for dipping. The other half will be for basting while grilling.
Preheat grill to 375 degrees F. Clean and oil grill grates. Remove chicken from bag and discard marinade. Place chicken directly over the fire and grill 7-10 minutes per side or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Baste with glaze at least once on each side while cooking. Remove and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Serve with reserved sauce. Enjoy!
One Year Ago: Open-Faced Grilled Tuscan Chicken Sandwiches with Fresh Mozzarella
Two Years Ago: Avocado Basil Pasta
Three Years Ago: Stuffed Pork Chops
9 comments:
- Angie Schneider said...
Looks really yum!
I have everything for the chicken, but need to get a mango to make sauce...maybe I should use peach instead?
- September 3, 2013 at 4:02 AM
- Jenn S said...
I'm not a huge fan of peaches, but yes, Angie, those would work here too!!
- September 3, 2013 at 5:20 AM
- Cranberry Morning said...
It looks really good to me! And peaches or mango or apricot all sound delicious. Wish you lived closer. lol
- September 3, 2013 at 5:35 AM
- Pam said...
Brining the chicken is a great idea! The sauce sounds fabulous, like usual.
- September 3, 2013 at 8:40 AM
- Mary Callan said...
Looks so succulent - love the mango sauce!
Mary x
- September 3, 2013 at 6:32 PM
- Mary Bergfeld said...
I love the combination of sweet and hot in your sauce. I'll wager the chicken was delicious. Glad to hear you enjoyed the holiday weekend. Have a great day. Blessings...Marys
- September 4, 2013 at 7:02 AM
- Big Dude said...
I'm thinking that yo must buy sriracha by the gallon jug.
- September 4, 2013 at 7:35 PM
- Rebecca said...
I have been on a mango kick lately because Fresh Market just opened in our township and they have them on sale. I made this amazing mango sauce while the kids where in school today. The sauce was so good I had to put it away before I ate it with my fingers. My son loves to eat and LOVES to try new things so I decided to put a little sauce on his "before football triple decker sandwich". He loved it so much, he dipped the entire sandwich in the sauce AND his carrots!!! I was going to use the sauce for dinner tonight, but after I saw his tongue in the sauce bowl... I have decided on BBQ chicken instead :-)
- September 5, 2013 at 1:47 PM
- Chris said...
I love buttermilk brined chicken, it makes it so juicy and has that slight tang to it.
- September 10, 2013 at 5:56 PM


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Gas Reserves in Bangladesh Depleting Rapidly
"Bangladesh's gas reserves are in danger of depleting sooner than projected. Every sector in the country is guilty of misusing gas, which is resulting in severe gas supply constraints. A prepaid system for the domestic use of gas may have prevented misuse in the form of people not turning off their burners, but the Bangladeshi government never tried to seriously implement such a system. It is estimated that if only 1% of efficiency can be achieved via industrial boilers, then 95 million cubic feet of gas can be saved per month. Today, about 6,000 industries consume nearly 1,020 cubic feed of gas per day – 95% of that comes from boilers. "
Sources:Intellecap May 2011 page 14:


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This week, I followed my instincts and evacuated during an evolving disaster.
I walked out of Home Again, Reese Witherspoon's embarrassing favor for a friend. Home Again is the screenwriting and directing debut of Hallie Meyers-Shyer, daughter of filmmakers Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, whose combined successes range from Private Benjamin to Baby Boom to Something's Gotta Give. Meyers pushed the script on Witherspoon, an Oscar winner too nice to say no.
Thirty minutes of Home Again is enough to prove talent isn't hereditary. We already know alleged comedies that focus on how tough Hollywood lives can be are woefully unrelatable to anyone else. Meyers-Shyer writes flatly and directs without purpose, an unreasonable facsimile of her parents' fluff formulas.
Witherspoon plays Alice Kinney, daughter of a divorced filmmaking team bearing close resemblances to Meyers and Shyer. Her mother Lillian is played by Candice Bergen, which makes sense. Her father Austen is played by Michael Sheen, which doesn't since he wasn't born when Bergen was already a star and, in fact, is only seven years older than Witherspoon.
I mention this because Bergen and Sheen are the most authentic pieces in Meyers-Shyer's sputtering joke machine. Certainly not Witherspoon, consigned to eye-roll mugging and whines unbecoming an Oscar winner. Absolutely not the three young, aspiring filmmakers Lillian invites to move in with Alice while pitching their project around town. Because that's what Hollywood moms do when their egos are stroked by opportunists begging to hear more on-set memories.
In short order, Alice almost hooks up with one of her boarders, Harry (Pico Alexander, a mannequin in training). Reversing romantic age roles is a staple of Meyers' films that her daughter can't resist or perform nearly as well. Witherspoon is much too fine an actor to dither and sigh as Home Again requires her to do. Alice's two daughters, prop kids from central casting, don't stoke the actor's maternal warmth or the laughs Meyers-Shyer thinks they'll get.
Everything about Home Again until I could stand no more is trust fund narcissism in sitcom disguise. Striking out on her own creative course would make Meyers-Shyer's failure seem nobler but no less annoying. As it stands, Home Again would be a tolerable effort only on home video while outside a storm rages.
Then pray for a power outage.
Contact Steve Persall at [email protected] or (727) 893-8365. Follow @StevePersall.


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Through a sponsorship by Warner Brothers Theatrical for its upcoming "Watchmen" movie, New York-based online media studio For Your Imagination has created a custom package of comedy and entertainment shows produced under FYI's Axis of Comedy video network. Clever "Watchmen"-themed tie-ins and crossovers between four of their comedy web series through an integrated storyline defines their innovative approach to the promotional campaign which launched on February 18, 2009 and runs through March 6, 2009, the opening date of "Watchmen".
All programming will be available on www.axisofcomedy.tv utilizing a customized interactive video player by Innovid that includes clickable Easter eggs and "Watchmen" references as part of a fan contest. Videos will be syndicated across For Your Imagination's distribution network of video sharing platforms such as Blip, DailyMotion, MySpace, Yahoo! and Viddler, entertainment and comic book websites and as a podcast on iTunes.
I had the opportunity to speak with Paul Kontonis, CEO and Co-Founder of For Your Imagination about the Warner Brothers sponsorship and their unique campaign in the following interview. This is part one of a two-part conversation with Paul.
Larry Kless: It's certainly a great way to kick off the new year with this Warner Brothers sponsorship deal. How is FYI approaching the "Watchmen" promotional campaign?
Paul Kontonis: It's been a good strong start of the year with a nice mix of brand entertainment and original sponsored entertainment. The Watchmen is a sponsorship of current web series, Kyle Piccolo being one of them and three other series, The Retributioners, Abigail's X-Rated Teen Diary and HungrymanTV's Phistophicles, and the sponsorship is original videos within those four web series with the purpose being, and the reason those four were selected is the three series.
The Retributioners, Abigail's X-Rated Teen Diary and Phistophicles are very popular with mainstream audiences, adults 18-34 and not necessarily comic book focus. Kyle Piccolo's audience is a subset of the mainstream audience. They have much more of a comic book bent to them and they're the ones who are rabid and excited about the upcoming "Watchmen" movie.
Kyle Piccolo also has the benefit of having of an ability to talk to a mainstream audience without setting them totally astray. The purpose of the whole campaign is to take these three original web series that are mainstream ones and use them as a way of delivering the masses into the comic book airlock that is Kyle Piccolo and then bringing them to Watchmen.
This campaign right now looks pretty straightforward. You saw a video for Kyle Piccolo that has "Watchmen" tie-ins. Another one's going to come out and it's going to have "Watchmen" tie-ins and it's part of a mini-series called "3 6 9" and it's about the mystery of 3 6 9. 03.06.09 is the launch date of the movie but Kyle and Doucheus don't know that.
Now when you see the videos next week from the other web series. They have crossovers into the Kyle Piccolo world and what they're meant to do is to take you from The Retributioners' world into Kyle Piccolo into the Watchmen.
So for somebody who sees the Watchmen right away and get turned off because it's all superheroes, they'll get slowly introduced to it and acclimated to the storyline by going first from The Retributioners into Kyle Piccolo. Then if they're really interested, then they'll make the next jump.
So instead of making it a big leap, we made it two small jumps. We think this will be a great way of getting the masses to come to Watchmen while still exciting the base because Kyle Piccolo excites the base. What's cool about it is the videos are done from different point of views, so in The Retributioners' video Kyle Piccolo exists in that world. So Stephanie who is in The Retributioners is in the same world as Kyle Piccolo himself; in fact you're going to see her in one of the Kyle Piccolo videos. So she crosses over even in that way.
In "Abigail", Kyle Piccolo is media. It is a show you can watch. It is a web site you can go to. So it's as though Abigail is in our world and Kyle is just as he is in our world It is a web series you can go see.
And in "Phistophicles", it's done even more insidiously and Kyle is almost a fellow philosopher. They're almost peers since Phistophicles in the video is from 3000 years ago. So it's really unclear who Kyle is --- there's kind of a mystery about how old Kyle is; is he really an older soul, so it kind of gives it a little bit of a legend to it. So we came it from all different angles assuming that most people wouldn't see the connection. "Abigail" has its own fan base; "The Retributioners" has its own fan base, and all of the series have their own fan base. They share some commonality because they're all on "Axis of Comedy" but they really have their own unique points of distribution that will channel their own grouping of that 18-34 audience into a funnel that will take them right to "Watchmen."
LK: So for everyone on the shows, Stephanie, all the cast of Kyle, etc, How have they responded to the campaign?
PK: They're excited… it's a lot of fun. What was really fun about it was they got to do their own video with some elements of the campaign in it, but it's their own content that they can distribute across their sites out to their fans. They're done in such a way that their fans will like the content and not be, "what is this? A promotion video for the movie?" No, it will be like another video of Abigail or Phistophicles but it has these elements in it that pique your interest and give you the opportunity to explore more. So they were very happy about that, plus there's going to be a lot of distribution and a lot of points of syndication, as part of this campaign across a lot of comic book sites, movie web sites and entertainment web sites that will really increase the exposure of all these web series and really help build their audiences out, as well.
LK: I'm a comic book collector from way back and your approach reminds me the big comic crossovers they do every year (at Marvel and DC) and you have to get all the issues to get the whole story. From an editorial standpoint, how did you work with all the writers on developing the continuity of the storylines and how quickly did it come together?
PK: Hats off to Alec Pollak who is our Chief Creative Officer and he's also one of the co-creators and writers of Kyle Piccolo. He's the one who really spearheaded the integration and the crossing over to the other shows and he worked with each of the writers and helped them with the script ideas and the concepts. We had to run things by Warner Bros for approval to make sure they were okay with how we were using the Watchmen brand and we didn't have a lot of time to do it. The concepts came together in under a week and then we had to jump right into production. We only got approval for this in early February and we didn't get the g- ahead until the first week of February. It launched on the 16th and there will be four new videos out this next week. Each of the other web series plus another episode of Kyle. So as it was coming together, we knew we were going to be doing this, but we had to wait for approval.
LK: I just started following Alec on Twitter and I saw one Tweet saying "On set at Midtown Comics. New KP soon."
PK: We just shot the second one Wednesday (2/11/09) and just got the rough cut together yesterday and ran it by approval to Warner Bros for approval. We're hoping to get it approved as early as possible and once that's done, we'll shoot the last one one Wednesday (2/26/09) night. We're really excited about a possible surprise for the third episode, which we can't yet reveal. Stay tuned…
End of Part One of the interview. Read more tomorrow in Part Two.
A 3-part series on KYLE PICCOLO: COMIC SHOP THERAPIST
Problems with women? Frustrated at work? Suspect you have a mutant power? Just head down to your local comic book shop and have a chat with the man behind the counter — Kyle Piccolo, the always sardonic, sometimes empathetic, and not quite all-knowing Comic Shop Therapist.
Abigail is a 13 year-old girl vlogging about boys, school and living with Bloomberger's Syndrome. That's a fictional genetic condition that makes her look like a 30-something guy!
Stephanie Scott, is a happily married, accomplished woman, who feels that she has not yet proven herself to the world. She decides to contact past boyfriends, former friends, teachers, rude people, skinny people, etc., to seek retribution.
HungrymanTV's PHISTOPHICLES
The lesser known Greek philosopher, Phistophicles, recites his ponderings on all things important in this recently discovered, thought-to-be-lost ancient video footage.


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There is no serious alternative to treating water as an economic commodity. It is scarce in many locales even if it is not globally scarce, and its local scarcity may eventually prove globally threatening [i.e. "water wars"]. But calling it an economic commodity begins rather than ends the argument. What would it mean to treat it as such? First, water's scarcity requires users to be given incentives to use it efficiently. These need not always be price incentives, but we know that price incentives often have desirable features that other kinds do not. in particular, they make possible the decentralization of decisions, when we lack the detailed knowledge and mutual trust required for direct regulation or moral persuasion. The great merit of charging a price for water is that we no longer need to argue who deserves it more: if people are poor they may deserve our help, but if water can be priced to reflect its scarcity relative to other goods, we no longer need to argue the case for helping them separately when we consider food, housing, water, clothes, and all the other aspects of their lives. Proper pricing strengthens rather than weakens the case for helping the poor...Likewise, markets in emissions of pollutants would have a similar effect. Price incentives would give polluters an incentive to be more efficient.
"Economic life is dominated by two forces..."My response:
It seems to me there are at least three forces. You describe two social forces, but I feel that nature (the environment) is as dominant a force as the other two. I have to imagine resources play an important role in an economy. Re: pricing...isn't supply (and i'm referring to real world supply/scarcity not that created through monopoly, etc.) an important factor?
Later you describe the environment as an effect of the two social forces ("I want to study the dynamic between these two forces....how can markets be used to protect the environment..."), when I'm saying it's both a result and a cause...a circular reference if you will ;)
I guess since you can't really change the "natural force", it may become viewed more as a result of practices put in place by the social forces. However, I still feel it is a dominant/governing force because the individual and the community need to act (maybe react is a better word) and make their economic decisions based on the limits/resources in their environment...making it a cause in every decision's result.
I guess I'm making the implicit claim that while [main line] economic thought has been dominated by the "scarcity of (natural) resources" line of thought, I believe economic life is determined by the arrangement made between individuals and community. I'd contend, over all time, natural resources are NOT constrained... basically, we humans are only constrained by our creative use of resources (i.e. we rely on individual genius to invent new, more efficient, ways to use resources and social institutions to diffuse those inventions). Think of how much more gdp we produce today per ton of coal as compared to 100 years ago. This pov makes natural resources infinite.
Another way to see it... the economy is less and less built on resource extraction, but on services. Take a look at the gdp numbers for these industries.
So, I see the study of economics to be the study of the environment that fosters new/better ideas. This is an interaction between individuals and community.
I hope you'll elaborate on the second point about war being a negative sum game. Intuitively, this seems wrong. I would think it easy to construct an example, from history or otherwise, of a war with positive gains in sum. Off the cuff, imagine a war were the attacked lay down their arms without a shot fired. The victors march in, institute democracy, grow the economy and are adored by the conquered. Wouldn't this 'war' be positive sum?
Also, your arguments on this point seem to just have the effect of increasing the costs as discussed in Posner's post. You've discovered some 'hidden costs' in the Posnerian calculation. That's fine. Realize those costs and then redo the calculation.
Will, that's silly. Of course we can construct an imaginary example of a 'win-win' war; it's just that the preconditions very rarely obtain in reality. The neocons are rightly considered fools for kidding themselves that Iraq was an exception.Yes, the example was silly, but it was meant to illustrate that some such war exists. We're talking about imagining future states of the world such that we can create policy (waging war being a policy). To allow my example is to see what the "neocons" where up to when they were planning this war. They, and I, believe there is such a thing as a zero-sum or positive sum war. To dismiss the possiblity out of hand, is to miss the point and to misunderstand why we're in Iraq.
If the past teaches us anything, it is that war tends towards 'lose-lose' with occasional 'win-lose'. The likelihood of 'lose-lose' has to enter our prior calculations. And as others point out calculations geared to 'win-lose' ignore the welfare losses of the losers.
Thanks for the paper. For this budding economics student, the discussion of more and more general models of uncertainty was enlightning. I think I'll print it out and use it as a cheat sheet.We'll see if anyone responds.
Your analysis is VERY dependent on how the decesion maker determines which state of the world is "status quo" and what would be an "innovation". Where you see preemptive war in Iraq as an uncertain innovation, Bush sees uncertainty in the status quo, i.e. an unknown (and unknowable?) connection between Saddam's WMD and terrorist willing to use them. This would be analoguous to the "innovation" that you observe in the doubling of green house gas emmisions if we maintain the status quo.
Similarly, there is some fudgy-ness in the statement of the incompletness hypothesis. "Incomplete estimates will generally be over-optimistic." Your over-optimism may be my over-pessimism.
I'm reminded of Rumsfeld's famous line about unknown unknowables and some such. What rule of nature implies only bad stuff is more unknowable?
As I saw it, your talk consisted of one of two things. There was a strong argument in favor of using Russell sets as a model for the natural numbers OR there was a relatively weak claim that sets, in general, can't be in the set of "things numbers aren't."
I'm particularly fond of the stronger argument. That there would be a correspondence between all sets of pairs and the things we count as two seems to jive with my intuition of what numbers are. When I say "two", I just mean all those things that I can pair together. Two is, in a sense, a pronoun for all pairs of things (or a synonym maybe?). And when I say "two plus two equals four", I'm saying something like "two, for example, sheep, plus two, for example, rattle snakes, equals four things."
Given the title of the talk was "What Natural Numbers Must Be," its clear you intended to make the stronger claim. In any case, you at least argued the weaker claim. That there is a plausible argument at all for Russell sets as a model for numbers, means that sets COULD be such a model.
The word 'model' is tripping me up. Isn't a model just an approximation of the real thing? Models are built to mimic the behavior of what is being modeled. As long as the model behaves as the thing being modeled (at least in the area of concern), it is said to be a good model. In this sense, the flight of fixed wing airplanes is a good model for the flight of birds. Of course, physics has shown that they are far from the same thing. In the same sense, the natural numbers can be modeled by sets, but that doesn't mean that they are sets.
This is the same point Benacerraf makes in his essay. I couldn't find the Benacerraf's essay online but I found this article discussing the article. From that secondary article, "Benacerraf explains that to characterise the numbers is only to describe the structure, without any identification of the individual elements, and that this is why numbers are not objects at all." So the model of the numbers helps us describe the structure of the numbers, but it shouldn't be confused for the real deal.
Also, I can think of one more problem with trying to understand what the numbers really are. In your talk, you mentioned that the Platonists 'push' the location of ideas into the mind of god. Oh yeah, where's he?
Similarly, if we ever find out what the number really are, won't we just be pushing the problem? For example, let's say, at your talk, we decided that the numbers were Russell sets. But then an intrepid undergrad would ask, in his required email follow-up, "Thanks Prof. Derden for letting us
know what numbers are. Ok, so what are Russell sets?" To which you
spend another colloquium talk discussing and then narrowing the possibilities. Suppose, at the end of that talk we all decided that Russell Sets are really something called blarbs. Then we'd have to explain what the blarbs are, then what those things are, and so on into an infinite regress. Where would this all end?


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I am swooning over this sweet boy taking it all in at the Museum of Natural History in Joseph O. Holmes amnh #30. The silhouette of the lone little man against the vastness of the land is so stunning. Holmes's style and approach create a really incredible portrait that is intriguing in aesthetic and also precious in the moment that they capture.
Also available at the amazing 20x200.
April 26, 2011
Amnh Photography Series
6 comments:
- rebekah drey said...
These photos are terrific! Thanks for sharing!
- April 30, 2011 at 12:43 PM
- Adriana said...
These photos are so editorial! Love them!
- May 25, 2011 at 12:59 PM
- Victoria said...
Loving these photos, what a collection these would be - fantastic silhouetted imagery :)
- June 8, 2011 at 7:19 AM
- Kinjal said...
Hi there! It was lovely reading through your pages. I am a new blogger and am totally new 'around'! I would love it if you could take some time to visit me at http://blowtheashes.blogspot.com and read the first short story Ive dared to post!
- June 30, 2011 at 7:27 AM
- Business logo design said...
That's what i was looking for. I will definitely share it with others.
- July 16, 2011 at 7:52 AM
- kneearthro scopy surgery said...
As Craft is good for health. To see the beautiful crafts our mind got happiness which then help us to treat our body well .
- August 16, 2011 at 4:29 AM
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Guest Post by Kristin Smith: Top Ten Reasons to Love Dystopian Novels
Guest Post by Kristin Smith:
Top Ten Reasons to Love Dystopian Novels
After the rise of popular novels like Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Selection, publishers started chasing the next trend. And it was NOT dystopia. I recently wrote a blog post about whether or not dystopian novels are dead. And the consensus is that they are indeed NOT dead. They are still kicking and thriving and readers are enjoying them more than ever.
So if you haven't hopped on the dystopia train yet, why should you? I'm about to give you 10 Reasons Why.
Top Ten Reasons to Love Dystopian Novels
1) Dystopian novels typically take place in a futuristic time period, often after an apocalyptic event. The society is different, rules are different, and this can make for some pretty interesting plots.
2) There WILL be romance, and there may even be two love interests, creating an intriguing love triangle. I mean, come on, who doesn't enjoy a good love triangle?
3) There will most definitely be at least one HOT guy, and he'll probably have great abs and lots of strong muscles. And plenty of excuses to take his shirt off. YUM. :)
4) The heroine will likely be different from everyone else, but also completely relatable. You'll laugh with her, cry with her, and scream with her. She'll be like your best friend—only better—because she's also pretty kicka$$.
5) There will be at least ONE character who provides some comic relief. Because let's face it, when there're bombs going off and buildings are tumbling, you NEED someone to lighten things up a bit. Cue the funny man.
6) There's never a standalone book. It will most definitely be a series, making you wait and wait for the next one to release so you can finish reading all the epicness. Doesn't everyone love a good wait? No? Well, series are still pretty awesome because you get to be with the characters even LONGER!
7) When you're finished reading, you'll close the book and reflect for at least three minutes on the meaning of life and if anything you've read could possibly come true. Chances are, it could.
8) You'll find yourself comparing your significant other to one of the hot guys (or cute girls) in the book. And thankfully, your significant other will win out every time, especially once you come to grips that these characters aren't REAL.
9) Dystopian novels are often filled with blood, carnage, inhumane acts, and loads of hopeless feelings. My favorite things to read about!
10) Someone inevitably will die, and you'll end up crying big, fat, ugly tears with lots of snot, and you'll go through half a box of tissues. But that's okay. All you have to do is tell yourself that you never really liked that character anyway. That makes it all better!
So that's my Top Ten List! As you can see, it was full of snark. But one thing is certain—I DO love a good dystopia! <3
Author Bio:
Kristin Smith writes young adult contemporary and science fiction novels. When she's not writing, you can find her dreaming about the beach, beating her boys at Just Dance, or belting out karaoke (from the comfort of her own home). Kristin currently resides in the middle-of-nowhere North Carolina with her husband and five incredibly loud but extremely cute boys. To read more about her obsession with YA novels or her addiction to chocolate, you can visit her at kristinsmithbooks.com.
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Phil Ivey finished in 7th place, Jeff Shulman in 5th and 21-year old Joe Cada wins the Main Event, a WSOP bracelet and $8,546,435.
Here are final results:
|#1. Joseph Cada
|#2. Darvin Moon
|#3. Antoine Saout
|#4. Eric Buchman
|#5. Jeff Shulman
|#6. Steven Begleiter
|#7. Phil Ivey
|#8. Kevin Schaffel
|#9. James Akenhead
The total prize pool for the event was $61,043,600 and there were 6,494 entrants.
Ivey and Shulman were the big names at the table. Ivey is accepted by all to be the poker player in the world and may even be the best of all time. Ivey won 2 WSOP bracelets this year and has won a total of 7 in his life.
While many in the Penn and Teller Theater were rooting for Phil Ivey to take the Main Event title, the acclaimed pro does have something to hold onto from his 2009 run. With the seventh place prize of $1,404,014 and his other two bracelet wins, the man considered by many to be the finest poker player in the world increased his lifetime tournament earnings to $12,236,714. This leaves the Full Tilt Poker pro only slightly over $190,000 behind fellow top professional and PokerStars sponsored player Daniel Negreanu for the most money earned in a career.
Finally, the WSOP crossed an important threshold. With the $174,013,315 in prize pools paid out to winners this year, the WSOP crossed the $1 billion mark in prize pools in its history. In the past four years, there has been approximately $685 million in prize pools generated; in the years from 1970 to 2005, only $354 million was generated. The grand total of prize pools in the history of the WSOP now stands at $1,041,266,592.
Here are some of the big hands of the final table:
This is Ivey being eliminated:
The crowd was on their feet. Seasoned pros with millions in prop bets on the line crossed their fingers and looked heavenward. Phil Ivey was all-in with against Moon's , a nearly 3-1 favorite to double up. Hold. One time. Please.
"Good hand," Moon said, looking at Ivey.
"Good hand? Good hand he said!" Ivey laughed. "Well it's better than mine," he said, biting into an apple.
As we all know now, the flop was a disaster for the seven-time bracelet winner, coming down .
"How do they put a f***ing queen right in the window," Mike Matusow muttered, as he and Howard Lederer looked on.
Ivey, however, calmly took another bite of his apple as he waited for the turn and river to seal his elimination, still chewing as he shook hands around the table and made his exit.
In the front row, Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy (one of Joe Cada's backers) couldn't hide his ear-to-ear grin as he mentally counted up the tens of thousands more he just won with his horse taking a bigger lead in the race.
Ivey making a bad fold with his pockets Jacks:
On the last hand before the dinner break, Ivey opened from under the gun, then folded to Saout's three-bet after a long stay in the tank. We were "wamboozled" to discover that Ivey folded in that spot while Saout held .
A good bluff by Cada on Moon:
Hand 53 saw Cada make a river raise on a board of , Moon looking him up with for aces up. As it turned out, Cada was bluffing with nothing more than a small busted flush draw, the in his hand.
A terrible bad beat for Saout by chamipon Cada:
Everyone had barely recovered from Buchman's fourth-place elimination, when Cada stuffed his 40 remaining big blinds in the middle, four-bet shoving with pocket deuces, only to run into Saout's pocket queens. It looked like curtains for Cada, who had already escaped elimination so many times, but there was still plenty of run-good left in the 21-year-old Michigander. The hit the flop, and the room exploded as Cada leapt into the embrace of his yellow-shirted fans while Saout's cheering section looked ready to burst into tears.
Ivey also had a tonne of sidebets on him winning the event. He'd have taken home an extra 5 or 6 million dollars from fellow poker pros had he won the event.
With still a monstrous field of roughly 2,500 players remaining in this year's main event, Bloch offered Ivey 99:1 odds that he wouldn't win the tournament.
"He took $20,000 from his pocket and he threw it to Andy," Elezra said. That spur-of-the-moment decision could cost Bloch nearly $2 million.
Before the buzz had even begun to subside from the poker community becoming aware of the Bloch bet, Tom "durrrr" Dwan reportedly admitted that he would have to give Ivey $1 million as well if he were to become world champion.
Poker is a waste of time and ruins the lives of many.
WSOP Main Event, ESPN: Top 10 Moments of the Final Table
Phil Ivey May Make Up to $6 Million in WSOP Side Bets


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Mark Neumann and Scott Walker 08 17 2010
These two Republican candidates do not understand money and have a Stone Age mentality with regard to how to pull an economy out of a downturn. When I first heard that Newman was a former math teacher I was optimistic about his candidacy because both my parents were teachers. However with regard to math and how it applies to money, when an economy is down you do not pull out by counting how much money you have every day.
Why kind of a role model tells us that we cannot do something? Should not our political candidates also be good role models for our young people? What is the first thing Scott Walker did when he became county executive; he closed all the county parks. I wonder if Scott Walker even knows what kind of fertilizer is used on our golf courses and what its impact is on our water quality, you know the stuff we drink that is required for life, and not the stuff that you know when you drink it you will likely become cross eyed or lazy eyed. Are these the two role models that tell us we cannot do something? Part of government responsibility and those seeking office is to ensure progress. Neither of these two candidates have the authority or nature of government understanding to do this. Nor do their comments express optimism in Wisconsin or our future. Expressing optimism is the true nature of a leader. And leaders lead by example. What poor leaders they are for us already.
I find it odd that they think they are going to appeal to their well educated Republican base by cancelling a program that links the State Capital of Wisconsin to our heavy populated shore of Lake Michigan city Milwaukee. If Scott would become governor what would he then say sitting in his office in Madison, "The first thing we will do is close Milwaukee?" Typically the wealthy and higher grade point average students of Milwaukee and High Schools of communities near by it seek as a goal to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison, as it is still considered the preeminent University of Wisconsin. Does not Scott Walker understand the value of a sound education? Would not a high speed rail system between Madison and Milwaukee facilitate a greater intelligence level in Wisconsin? Would not Milwaukee benefit from a quicker and more convenient commute to the State Capital? Would not this facilitate greater change and improvement to our state as Madison is our Capital and a source of funding for other programs in the state, Milwaukee being one of the two largest cities of Wisconsin. How come Walker as the Milwaukee County Supervisor does not realize why faster travel to our states capital is important for our states future? Faster streamlined travel would better facilitate a state wide community of communication and understanding that would address the needs of this State's future. The change that we see in the world has already surpassed the capabilities of either Scott Walker or Mark Neumann.
Beware of political candidates that have a negative stance. "We can't afford that train." I heard one of these two say on the morning radio. An optimistic candidate would say we could and the reason why and make it happen. An optimistic candidate would also revoluntionalize our state in terms of clean alternative energy and infrastructure. Do we want to put into office a candidate that says, "We can't do that?" What good will a pessimist do for us? When they make all the way to the position of President of the United States they often take us to war. Not only should we put that high speed rail train to Madison but we should also run it straight west to the Mississippi River. Believe me the Mississippi river is another one of Wisconsin's great natural resources that we are ignoring and polluting just as much as Lake Michigan.
Scott Walker or Mark Neumann would not have a clue as to how to plan, organize, staff, oversee, fund, bring to fruition any such programs. They are a negative influence on the state of Wisconsin's future already.
As third graders these candidates should have been sent home for bad behavior and setting an example of bad behavior.
Once again I have said too much and now fear of getting shot by a member of the mongoloid race, i.e. today's new Republicans. But I'll continue on anyway.
Another Republican on this morning's radio program mentioned that there are only three ways to make social security work, 1. Raise the retirement age. 2. Decrease benefits, 3. Increase taxes. This snake is very pessimistic and indeed misled the population of Wisconsin today. What he needed to say is that we need to grow the economy in order to create a higher tax base. How come he did not think of saying this? Because he is a pessimist. He knows already he has no ability to grow our economy. Large programs of change, improvements in infrastructure, clean and renewable energy programs, and programs that clean and provide for clean lakes and rivers are required to do this. Neither of these two candidates would have the ability to successfully conceptualize these.
Another Republican candidate said that we need to fund our deficit. Who was he kidding? Republicans do not know how to pay down a deficit. Once the money goes into the treasury the first thing they try and do is give it back to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts. I paid as much as, if not more in taxes than the average Wisconsinite last year. And I do not believe the role of government is to put me through the time and hassle of filling out tax return only to give the money back to me. That money goes to the Treasury to keep the country up to date on an international scale and protect us from the inequalities that lead to a lack of repair and maintenance. Much of the oversight that government provides was lost by Newt Gingrich's smaller government program. This country needed the checks and balances that were eliminated. Those checks and balances would have seen that the SEC was in fact doing the job it was intended to. Those checks and balances would have ensured that the Federal Reserve that regulates the banking industry would have done its job. Those checks and balances would have ensured that our education system kept on "TRACK". That larger government is for our future. Republicans view their political positions appointed in government as a chance to more of a dog eat dog world, an everyman for himself world where those who already have money Republicans do well. This country no long has the power or infrastructure to regulate and take action against those that are crooked. Why? Because that is the way Republicans want it because they are themselves crooked. Our founding fathers of immense capabilities would have nothing to do with or any association with their ilk at all. Our country was founded by those who could not stand the likes of today's Republican Party. They would have regarded them as useless, crooked, lacking any real skills, of little true intellect and poor role models.
Another Republican candidate mentioned that nuclear power is our only option for this countries energy needs. This is a man that offers no future for our country. How can we make more nuclear power plants when we never really truly addressed the issue of how to deal with its radioactive waste? And these nuclear power plants are run by human beings just like the oil well in the gulf. Does anyone remember Three Mile Island or Chernobyl?
The cumulative effect of increased focus on alternative energy would solve our countries energy needs. If every building in the United States had a solar array on its roof that would do it right there. The air and water would be cleaner to. No Republican could ever conceptualize the cumulative effect of such good programs. It is just not part of their mental framework. They do not even understand what a high speed rail system from Milwaukee to Madison would mean to this country.
I would like to consider Wisconsin a Green State. Isn't this what most of us like about it? The lakes, rivers and forest, the (County Parks…shooo don't tell anyone I said this parentheses part.) I would like to think that our actions today would leave a viable future for our residents. First and foremost this relates to a clean environment. Our water is loaded with Mercury. Now this Republican candidate who dared to express his opinion on public radio professed that we should rely on nuclear power. Why doesn't he hire the workers from another large player in industry to man it BP Amoco. Why doesn't he privatize it like utilities are, and staff it with those responsible BP Amoco workers? I can see it already the plants implode and we have to rely on foreign oil AGAIN. After forty years of mistakes in this country and being wrongly influenced by the Republican Party when is this country going to wake up. They don't belong in office. And we should not have to put up with their counterproductive tactics and policies. They way they have subverted our bureaucracy to stagnancy and then wars is a crying shame.
Our water is loaded with Mercury and now they want it to be radioactive in the future also. Mercury is a heavy metal like the lead. Lead paint that was banned in the early seventies. Mercury water has yet to be banned yet. But there should be a national program that would lead the world by example to ban Mercury water. Now the short sighted Republicans are setting us up for a future of radioactive water. How well are our children going to learn as their skin is peeling off, their teeth are falling out, they are glowing in the dark, and maybe they are a good shade of gray too. It is a little known fact that children tend to act up in the classroom when the barometer is falling. This is because there is more pressure inside their skulls on their brains. This is made worse when Mercury is present in their bodies, why because it is highly toxic to cells. And when cells expand as they do when the barometer drops they are indeed more vulnerable to Mercury that might have been kept more distant from them in our bodies. It is a great source of inflammation that no Doctor would ever address or be a vocal advocate against on a national scale.
Disposal of nuclear waste has never been addressed. It is usually buried or held on premises. Our nuclear power plants all use water as a source of cooling. And that is what makes nuclear power inherently a risk too great to assume more of today. What happens years in the future when contained nuclear waste corrodes out of its containers and it reaches the water table? There are other risk scenarios where it could leach into the water table also. For example, human error like that that occurred on the gulf oil rig. Terrorist attacks. It's been about thirty years since Reagan stole the election from Carter who was going to lead us down a better path. Bush stole an election through duress also. When are we going to wake up and embrace solar energy? WHEN? How many wars and oil spills and corrupt oil men skinning all aspect of this country's infrastructure out will it take for the United States to Wake up. If you think an oil spill is hard and costly to clean up and ruins our national resources and causes a food supply that is now more cancerous, what do you think radioactive water would do for your health? You won't have any. There won't be much of the human race left. If they are they will likely be mutated and not for the better. If we follow the path the Republicans take us on will likely be the lesser apes in the future if any descendants live at all. We can't adapt to Mercury in our water you fools. We can't adopt to radioactive water either. Doing the right thing means you start going in the right direction, the Republicans of my lifetime have never taken us in the right direction.
The best way to handle nuclear waste is to design energy systems that uses the nuclear waste as fuel and drains its radioactivity to ZERO in the process. We need to develop the science and technology to use nuclear waste like a disposable battery, but better. And we need to learn and implement this before anymore nuclear power plants are built. THIS IS JUST PLAIN COMMON SENSE. Why didn't Republicans learn this? I doubt they ever learned a thing in school. I bet they were all disruptive child or the high school whores. As a matter of fact that is what all the ones I know have come to be, that or bratty children that were raised in an evil way. (But that is another essay I have written).
Republicans are so dumb in terms of their lack of "INSIGHT" and "VISION" that I often think they are members of a lesser species. In terms of money they are of the "TAKERS" and "COUNTERS" mentality that usually takes us to war and we then count our dead. A lot of us are sick and dying already because of them and their policies of inherent failure. A "taker and counter" of money (Republican of today) will never pay down a deficit. Who are they kidding? A taker and counter gives it back to taxpayers and that subverts the power of the government as there is no money for vision, change and progress. Republicans have lessened the power of government so much so that it cannot even protect us from the. We are now powerless to the way of their faulted idealism's. There delusionary governance has created a society that is blind to its own problems. You see them on television and they never offer a viable solution to this countries problems. The reason for this is because they are this country's biggest problem today. Today's problems require the ability to think about and spend money appropriately. Republicans do not have this ability. And indeed they are counter to this and therefore people. Without vision what are they running for office for????
One looks crossed eyed and the other has the beady cold eyes of a rendering vulture.
No one is better at creating fear and selling panic that feeds the profits of Wall Street than a Republican administration. Incidentally, Wall Street is said to be strongly Republican. Anyone besides me got the link between the Republican policies in avoidance of change for the better? How fear and panic just seem to happen during Republican administrations? (1987, 2001, 2007) Fear and panic all cater to the profits of Wall Street. Why? Because Wall Street thrives on the volatility created by fear and panic. They are always standing ready to take a counter position to profit from fear and panic. They short sell long before there is fear and panic and then profit from it. If you disagree with this you do not know of the record bonuses that are doled out to employees after market downturns. Go to your library and research this. They profit from the detriment to the rest of the country in many ways. Not only do they profit from the souls of individuals they steal they have also stolen the SOUL of this country. Wall Street and some larger financial institutions are just as if not more underhanded than organized crime in terms of their negative influence and impact on this country. Wall Street is said to be predominantly Republican.
God Bless Those Who Have The Courage To Say What Needs To Be Said,
Thomas Paul Murphy
Copyright 2010 Thomas Paul Murphy
PS I'll tear up their stance on health care in a future article, if I haven't implied enough about them already for you to not want to vote for them.


text:
I have a confession: I often complain about food in DC, particularly if it's Asian food. It's often too expensive compared to its relative quality (and compared to good food in Los Angeles, for example). Case in point: after several disappointing Sichuan meals, Ethan and I decided we would only eat Chinese food in the suburbs, never again in the city - a decision I stand by.
But recently, I've witnessed a small wave of donburi (Japanese rice bowl) shops hit the city. Japanese rice bowls are one of my comfort foods. When executed well, a rice bowl is satisfying and simple. I think I've survived on some type of donburi since undergrad. I even had a spot I frequented when I lived in Cambodia.
I'm thinking donburi may be a worth exception to my ban on (most) Asian food in DC.
Exhibit #1: The karaage (fried chicken marinated in mirin and soy) donburi from Donburi, a 14-seat bar in Adams Morgan, is topped with a hefty serving of pickled vegetables, sliced onions and a half-cooked egg that seeps into the warm rice.
Exhibit #2: Another favorite is Daikaya's Japanese twist on a traditional Filipino dish, the sisig donburi with citrus marinated pork belly.


text:
If you wandered over to check out something I have posted in the gallery at Splitcoast Stampers or linked to Papertrey Ink's MIM, again, thank you for taking the time and please take a look around.
I recently started blogging to share my creations with others who are as passionate (obessed?) with papercrafting as I am. There is an incredible amount of inspiration and creative energy in the online blogging/crafting world and I am thrilled to be a tiny part of it, participating in challenges and pushing myself to try new things.
I adore the à la Mode stamp set The Rainbow Will Come from My Favorite Things, and couldn't resist creating a cheerful set of rain gear. This is one of my first attempts at paper piecing.
Growing up in southern BC and living in the Pacific Northwest has given me a true appreciation for good rainwear - I would have loved a bright, cheery set like this!
Glossy Accents on the jacket and boots give a shiny, slicker effect.
Here in southern California, the Mamas & Papas were right, it never rains, "it pours, man, it pours"!
Gloria has included a few other friends in her blog referrals today - please take a moment to check them out too!
Patience - PB Creations (Plus here is a link to Patience's Adoption Profile!)
If you didn't head here through Scraps of Life, do yourself a favor and check out Gloria's blog first! Gloria's list of Design Teams and publications is long and well-deserved and being her friend means I can see her amazing projects in real life.
Thanks for stopping by . . . I hope to see you again,
Thanks for stopping by . . . I hope to see you again,


text:
The latest version of this reliance on the truthiness of Wikileaks is AP's stentorian piece on the Wikileaks reports that Ma's vice president Vincent Siew told then AIT head Stephen Young that Ma might go for political talks in Ma's second term. AP says:
The WikiLeaks cable, dated June 30, 2009, quoted Siew as saying that political talks during a possible Ma second term would address key issues including "a peace treaty, a formal end to hostilities, and development of bilateral military confidence mechanisms" with China.If you read the entire cable (here) you'll find that it is full of the standard bullshit the KMT always feeds its US listeners. I'm sure Stephen Young, a veteran of several years here, knew perfectly well what he was reporting. For example, Siew says that the beef issue would be resolved soon (hahahhaha -- if only). The Veep also promised to dialogue with the DPP (hahahahahaha). What does the Wikileaks report actually say?
In the past, Ma has conditioned the opening of political discussions with Beijing on China's removal of the estimated 1,300 missiles it has aimed at Taiwanese targets. However, there was no mention of this condition in the cable
If Ma is re-elected in 2012, observed the Vice President, the administration will confront the more difficult challenge of resolving outstanding cross-Strait political issues, including a peace treaty, a formal end to hostilities, and development of bilateral military confidence mechanisms. These "highly political" issues will be controversial in Taiwan, said Siew, but should be able to build on four years of cooperative engagement on economic issues.This is about as vague as vague can be. Make up your own mind -- did Siew actually say it as AP says he did? Then look at what it is sandwiched between -- BS about beef above, BS about the DPP below. Siew is just talking; he probably didn't mention the missile condition because, as Young notes, he was fresh out of surgery and not at his best. Not because of some secret nefarious plot -- anyone following events knows that Ma doesn't give a fig for Chinese missiles one way or another; the "condition" is purely for public consumption.
I have two other objections to the AP report. First, any fool could have seen that if political talks were to be held, they were going to held in Ma's second term since if public talks began in the first term Ma would never get re-elected. Pure logic, no Wikileaks needed. Indeed, Ma's KMT underlings still will need to be elected in his second term, and public displeasure at open political talks would definitely hurt their changes. Political talks will no doubt be held out of public sight, as.....
....as they are now. Second, and more importantly, political talks are already being held, privately and constantly. Does anyone believe that when Lien Chan visited in 2005, the discussion wasn't about politics? Don't the KMT and CCP communicate regularly to update each other about what's going on? When Washington, Taipei, and Beijing coordinated their approach to the F-16 sale, d'ya think the talks weren't political?
Indeed, the extent to which the KMT and CCP cooperate is largely kept out of the foreign media, enabling foreign journalists to pretend that a Chinese Wall separates them, bridged only by salvos of businessmen and tourists -- and thus, any bid to cross that wall is Real News. But it is a media construct, not reality.
Think AP will report on any of that truly important story?
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.


text:
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
L is for Look!
their circadian rhythm was humming under the snow." She says it's "magic". I had to look it up.
Circadian rhythms occur as a plant entrains to synchronize with the light cycle of its surrounding environment. Wikipedia
Sounds cool to me. I'm just happy to see that spring is actually beginning to show its pretty face.
For more ABC Wednesday, click here.
18 comments:
Wish I had some of those...and...a Drabbit! hahaha!
Linda :o)Replies
These are always my first flowers, but they typically have more int he way of greenery than they do at this particular moment.Delete
Yes, everyone should have a Drabbit or two, just for fun and to make people do double-takes as you walk by. (You can make their heads move and then they look alive.)
Oh precious little flower pushing it's way through the snow...What a lesson.ReplyDelete
I see one iris about to bloom in my back yard.Replies
I was genuinely surprised to see them actually blooming. They were scarcely popping out of the ground before the snowstorm. (And they say there isn't a God...)Delete
They are beautiful! My daffodils will probably open tomorrow. We hit 73 degrees today!ReplyDeleteReplies
lovely to have snow drops. Spring is here. It means we have Fall.ReplyDeleteReplies
It just goes round and round, doesn't it?Delete
Soon we will have fall and you will have spring.
Woohoo!!! :)ReplyDelete
It was in the 50s in Albany yesterday. NEED SPRING, badly.ReplyDelete
ROG, ABCWReplies
We're all ready for green grass and daffodils!Delete
ooh, really lovely!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you, Nonnie! I think so too.Delete
The first snowdrop is always a special moment. We had such a long cold spell last year that they lasted an amazing amount of time. I kept looking at them in a mix of joy and disbelief. This year it has been so warm so they were quite fleeting, happily we are now with the daffodils.ReplyDelete
Joy - ABC TeamReplies
I'm thinking these will be fleeting also. At least I am hoping for a good warming trend here.Delete
Here's to lookin up come Spring.ReplyDelete


text: You know how you can change the themes on liberty, and cm7 and just different roms all together. Well, Can you do the same thing for gingerbread? I am really thinking about going back to gingerbread for the battery life, but i want to be able to change the battery bar, time, wifi, and 3g icons. So, is it possible?


text:
Gourd Artist and SF Etsy member Cyndee Newick will be participating in Silicon Valley Open Studios with some other talented artists.
Please stop by and visit the Dry Creek Artist Studio in Campbell, near
the Pruneyard Shopping Center, May 1st and 2nd. Featured are gourd
artists, Jo Cooley and Cyndee Newick, Silk Painter, Carolina Mueller,
Fiber Artist, Blanche Prior and the well known watercolor painter, Bob
Jo Cooley creates whimsical gourd sculptures and figures and currently
has a large number of imaginative birds. Cyndee Newick has gourd
vessels, corn dolls and birdhouses inspired by southwestern indian art
and nature. Bob Newick is an award winning plein air watercolor
painter, known for landscapes, figures and antique farm equipment and
fire engines. Carolina Mueller creates beautiful, vibrant silk
paintings and Blanche Prior creates beautiful silk scarfs and has
recently been exploring mixed media, quilted fiber arts.
The studio is located at 876 Dry Creek Road, near the corner of Dry
Creek and Union Avenue in Campbell. Hours 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Enjoy art,
demonstrations and refreshments.
And SF Etsy member Rachel Tirosh of Mixsome says, "I'm doing my open studio this year with 2 other friends. We call it "A Show of Our Own", an independent Open Studio Exhibit. We will have oil paintings, collages, one-of-a-kind artisan pieces and photography. Shop for fine art, home décor, cards and gifts of all kinds. Take a look and find something unique!"
The show will be:
Sunday, May 2, 11am – 5pm
759 Talisman Ct, Palo Alto
Remember Mother's Day is Sunday, May 9 -- maybe Mom would love some handmade art!
If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!


text:
The state of public education in America is at the lowest point in its recent history. Our high school graduation rate has fallen from 1st to 21st in the world, since WWII. 1.2 million students drop out of high school each year and are forced to find work in a job market that, more and more often, requires a college degree or at the very least; a high school diploma. Charter schools are innovative public schools that are free from most of the rules and regulations that exist in traditional public schools but are accountable for their results.
It's undeniable that too many of our nation's kids are falling through the cracks. Public schools need quality teachers and educational programming that teaches to the students that the schools serve. Chicago International Charter School is addressing the problems of urban public education by making sure that every dollar is used both effectively and efficiently, and running CICS schools with the freedom and flexibly to develop curricula that works.
CICS is developing a unique, robust educational management system. With design input from national research and school management organizations (SMOs), the system will include the technology to:
The hope is that better data and improved student success will enhance relations with the community, the district, and regional policy makers. As we move forward as a data-driven school, we are able to see the growth of our students, and replicate best practices for scalable growth across the network.
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View Teaching and Schools Leadership opportunities in our network.


text:
motion of the waves on the beach. Cape Fiolent, Cr
- Code: 3581998
- Loopable: No
- Duration: 17 s
- Aspect: 16:9
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Motion of the waves on the beach. Cape Fiolent, Crimea, Russia. FULL HD
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text:
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Heavy things
Since running is out the window for now I've decided to try to rekindle my love for weights. I used to love using weights and found the discipline and rhythm of it almost meditative. What I didn't like was that once I got very fit and strong it made me a bit agressive. Since I've been running and practising yoga regularly I prefer the fluid movement I find in those activities rather than the slightly edgy way I have of moving when I train with weights a lot. But not being able to run has meant I've lost so much muscle tone that it's time I did something about that. I'm hoping that if I stick to light weights and continue with regular yoga practice I can rebuild strength without losing freedom of movement.
Inspired by my children's karate teacher, Sensei Gareth, (http://blogfitproject.blogspot.co.uk/) I'm also trying hard to eat more mindfully. I don't need to lose weight but not being able to take the kind of exercise I'm used to makes it doubly important to take care of what I eat and make sure it's all good stuff. Being vegetarian (more or less) I can't follow even a modified paleo diet, but I can eat more fruit and rely a bit less on toast! I've completely failed on the alcohol front though. Wine helps to suppress this horrid cough that I can't quite shift and it does work well with ibuprofen to dull the hip pain.
On a lighter note, I'm now knitting a honey bee.
Labels: honey bee, paleo diet, weight training, yoga
1 comment:
Differing points of view are always welcome, however don't waste your time or by posting comments that are rude or offensive.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
People don't like being told what to do, which makes a figure like Clarkson so appealing
He also happens to be wildly popular. Last year Top Gear averaged 5.3m viewers per episode, hitting a peak of 6m viewers, a figure I suspect is not solely down to an obsession with four wheels.
A petition to have Clarkson reinstated by the BBC currently has well over half a million signatures – more than the number of all political party members combined. In 2008, 50,000 people presented a petition to Number 10 calling for Clarkson to be made Prime Minister and, according to YouGov, he is more popular than either Nick Clegg or Nigel Farage among first-time voters.
But why? To begin with, Clarkson is a 21st century rebel who happens to be rebelling against things which are on the whole good – political correctness, anti-racism and the environment. Yet although few liberals will admit it, this formula – of giving gratuitous and boorish offence as often as possible – is successful not despite this, but because it sticks a middle finger up at decency and the so-called liberal establishment.
Key to understanding the Clarkson phenomenon is to recognise that his popularity is synonymous with the rise of the po-faced left. Despite the prevalence on Top Gear of politically incorrect views – and often deeply unpleasant views – the Clarkson bandwagon isn't really about that. The real target for Clarkson and his fans are superior liberal types with their organic foods and "we know best" attitude (in this instance they do know best, but that isn't my point).
George Orwell once wrote that "On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.' And it's a point the left – with its minimum alcohol pricing and tirades against smoking and gambling – seems perpetually unable to grasp.
Not everyone wants to spend time away from their soul-destroying office job reading books about polar bears and teaching the world to sing. Many, in fact, want to melt into the sofa with a beer and a fag and laugh at someone ripping through sacred National Trust land in a 4×4. In essence, they want to rebel; to stick two fingers up at "do-gooders", even if it is only for an hour on a Sunday night.
As a thought experiment, try to imagine what a left-wing Top Gear would look like without summoning up dreadful images of too-clever-by-half types in hemp cardigans lecturing people on the benefits of eco-cars. The nearest thing the left has to a Clarkson figure is probably the comedian Russell Brand who, revealingly, becomes less funny the more he talks about politics.
According to the Guardian's Zoe Williams, Jeremy Clarkson is on the "wrong side of history". And so he is – but unfortunately lots of people quite like being on the wrong side of history; or at least they like living at a tilt to those who would water down their beer and ban the car. Not everyone wants to be conscripted into somebody else's version of progress, however much it might have going for it.
The sooner we on the left recognises this, the closer we will surely be to ridding our television – and our politics – of crass buffoons like Jeremy Clarkson, before they do some real damage.
James Bloodworth is the editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on TwitterLike this article? Sign up to Left Foot Forward's weekday email for the latest progressive news and comment - and support campaigning journalism by making a donation today.


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The famous Justice Chukwudifu Oputa (rtd), the father of Charly Boy, is gravely ill at the moment. The former head of the human rights investigation commission, The Oputa Panel, was rushed to the hospital on Friday February 14th where he still lies in bed with partial stroke.
He was rushed from the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, to a specialist hospital in Enugu today. His condition is currently unpredictable and the entire family is hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
Justice Oputa who has been living with his son in Abuja recently traveled to their home town where he fell ill. He will be 90 years old in September this year.


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Reiterating her need to get things done today, but not seeming to really want to do much about it, Rori and I got up and moving around 10ish. She had her leftover Gomez for breakfast and I made myself a kind of breakfast burrito from fried eggs, salsa, black beans, and a tortilla.
After we'd eaten she finally got to show me the poem she wanted to the night before but couldn't because we had to leave for our date. The poem was very powerful and covered a lot of what is really important and meaningful in a human life. I highly recommend anyone reading give it a look. It's called The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
We talked about which lines of the poem we felt like apply to us more than others right now, listened to music, and sat in her big sunny windows while she kept asking herself what she really needed to get done today and how.
This went on for probably a couple hours while she went in circles rehashing the same handful of to-dos in her mental list of things to get done but then conceded that some of it just couldn't be scheduled and done during the weekend but would have to wait till the week. During this time we also did some rolling around on her living room floor and she challenged me to benchpress her so I did a handful of times and then tried to hold her up like an airplane with my legs. I was able to do it, but not with much control or any grace.
We kept getting side tracked by fun little distractions with each other and would keep coming around to what she was going to decide to get done. At one point I was going to drive her to get her car worked on and then we'd go to a place nearby to play laser tag but it wasn't in walking distance. Eventually she gave up on almost everything and we had gotten hungry so we went to grab lunch.
When we got to my car we saw that I had a parking ticket from misinterpreting the street sign. Since I had to move my car anyways I drove and she directed me to a lunch place that didn't exist anymore so we turned around and went somewhere close to where we started.
After a big lunch that filled me up I think I was feeling a food coma coming on and said I needed some coffee. She guided me to a nice unique coffee shop she liked and we almost got in a couple accidents on the way. Once we had my drink and her cookie we sat on a couch and discussed our feelings about the different love languages. I accidentally crossed the line and pulled back a couple times from being too affectionate with her in public since she was concerned about being a distraction to people working.
went somewhere else before getting her grocery shopping done together. She was fast, didn't get much, and bought some stuff for her kids that she didn't have to which I admired.
This time when we got to her place I parked at the cheap 24 hour library lot a couple blocks away.
We put the groceries away, then almost immediately took some back out when we decided what to make for dinner. Some kind of burrito bowl thing I think. Good though.
Rori decided to send her friend Michelle a photo of both of our bowls to see if she put together that she was on a date. Rori makes it seem like she's very reluctant to let almost anyone know when she is seeing anyone, and I've heard her say more times than I can remember that "I don't date." She seemed to me making some kind of exception for me, but I don't know what that means or really what to think of it.
We moved to the couch and watched a pretty good movie after dinner. I'm sure we were talking about other things now and then throughout the movie but I don't remember what exactly. She kept checking her phone waiting for her friend Michelle's reaction and eventually decided to take another photo where just my hand wrapping around her arm was visible. Michelle finally put it together and I think sent a few messages and then called. Rori gave me the phone to answer and I said hi to Michelle and there was just a confused and maybe stunned silence on the other end. Rori snatched the phone back, told Michelle she'd talk to her later, and hung up. It all felt reminiscent of the kind of 'reveal' moment that I haven't had for a very, very long time.
I forget exactly how we got to this topic exactly, but shortly after the movie was over she mentioned her crazier college days. I wasn't really able to share similar stories, but could only talk about how I was able to retain so much of my innocence through undergrad and how I actually like my innocence but how I think it can cause confusion with women specifically. Though I'm very honest and straightforward about my interest in them, I think they assume that comes with more expectations than I actually have. When they might think that I'm trying to stick it in, in reality I am trying to just cuddle and kiss them all night.
She's very smart and insightful so she asked some good questions and I ended up telling her about my current feelings about sex and partner selection. How the only person I'd been with since was someone who I met at a philanthropic event, who I found out volunteered and I could tell was a good person, but, kinda like Rori, had some walls up. We laughed about that a little. I talked about how thoroughly I tried to explain my situation to this girl out of fear of hurting her and she told me to shush, that she knew my situation, and to let it be. That was a gift. I also had a lot of meaning and personal conversations with her that I later found out meant enough for her to write me a letter thanking me for showing her it's ok for her to be herself and how grateful she was for having met me. That has kind of set the standard for how meaningful, if temporary, I would want any future sexual relationships to be.
We headed to bed right after that conversation because she was wanting to go to church in the morning. I really couldn't say exactly what I picked up on, whether her body language or verbal responses were distant or short, but once we got into bed I had to ask her why she felt distant.
It took some encouraging and questioning, and for a while her responses were too vague and evasive that I couldn't understand what was happening. It became clear that our conversation about my innocence and commitment to holding onto it had brought something up. At first I thought maybe she was remembering and feeling the loss of innocence for mistakes she felt she's made. I tried to tell her that I thought as long as mistakes were learned from that she didn't have to lose anything, but could gain it back. Her response was that the mistakes she's thinking of were someone else's, not hers, and that she had any choice in the matter taken away from her.
I told her I was sorry and that I understood now. Knowing that there was really nothing I could say to her, the only thing I could think that made any sense to say was to tell her about the ways I had been taken advantage of as a kid and how it has been a source of guilt and confusion for me.
Her response was pretty funny and typical of her, giving her professional social worker opinion on how textbook my case was and that any guilt or shame on myself was misplaced. Regarding her own traumas, she shared a little more of how they happened. I didn't show any reaction but let her know it made me want to kill someone and cry at the same time. She told me that she doesn't like telling people because then they feel a need to protect her, even from themselves, and she doesn't need to be treated differently like that.
Not long after that, in part to prove to both of us that I wasn't going to treat her any differently, and mostly because I just wanted to, I climbed on top of her and started thoroughly kissing her. She weakly tried pushing me off her with a smile on her face so I didn't let her move me. She'd previously told me that I do a good job of knowing when she's wanting to play-fight, and when she really wants me to stop something. She does a good job of flatly using her words if I'm accidentally doing something she doesn't like.
I kept kissing her and let my hands roam all over her. Again, I knew that I wanted, and was ready, for something, and that she could easily stop me if she wanted to. I led my hands around her hips and steadily between her legs, paying close attention for any indication to stop. She gave me none that I could tell, and instead gave signals of acceptance and encouragement, so I kept going. As much as I've fantasized about meaningless sex, I don't know if, in reality, I could enjoy it very much or in the same way. To me, the trust, gentleness, and acceptance that is required for physical intimacy makes it just as much, if not more, emotional than anything else I can think of. Being let into knowledge of someone's body is an incredibly personal and irreversible thing. That is even still the case in "meaningless" sex.
Once it seemed she was satisfied, I stopped and she almost went right to sleep, but she fought it and started kissing my chest. Working her way down my stomach, she had a lot of fun playing with how I would involuntarily twitch if she kissed me in the right places. She kissed her way down my stomach and kept kissing as she passed it. The knowledge that someone is choosing to take care of you in a way that doesn't give back to them except for the knowledge that you are putting your trust in them is pretty emotional and beautiful too when you think about it.
Maybe I'm putting too much into all this, but when you've been in one relationship for the entire nine years of your adult life, it's easy to take those things for granted unless they are violated, until they become fresh again, or both.
After a while, she said she was ready and would rather have me somewhere else. I told her I'd been thinking the same thing. This wasn't the first time I'd been with someone since my relationship ended. There had been one person before, but this was the first time since I had made major steps in grieving and fully moving on from it. It felt a little different; more real, since I'd gotten to know Rori better in a way that I have a great amount of respect for her personal values, honesty, integrity, toughness, and kindness.
I did my best to pay attention and do right by her, and from her non-verbal cues, I think I did an acceptable job, but her inability to verbally express anything positive that insinuates someone else has any power over her keeps me from really knowing for sure.
I went to sleep happy and content.


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The other day we had a doctor's appointment Jordan's Neurologist. First we talked about the problem with her eyes. He like everyone else thinks there might be some connection between her eyes and her seizures although all of her blood work comes back normal. He called her a strange kid, which she didn't seem to mind.
She has a few questions for him and the biggest one was swimming. I think she has wanted to swim from the moment she could talk. She loves being in the water and loves pushing her limits even more. We have been letting her swim in the back yard for a few days now so I was really interested to see what the doctor would say. He told her she could swim, although not very long under water, which made me happy because I am constantly telling her to not swim underwater. After talking some more she said "Can I dive?" and he said "No" Another point for mom and the doctor being on the same page. She asked about riding a bike, which she can do as long as we watch her like a hawk.
The appointment went well and he decided we need to get her off another medication. Over the next 2 months she will be coming off the Topamax. Keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go as well as the last time. He also doesn't want to see her for 6 months. While I am happy about this because it means she is getting better I am still a little scared. I know he is just a phone call or email away and it still doesn't make me feel better. It is like when we left the PICU. You become so comfortable with the doctors and the security they give you. Moving on means something good yet I still am afraid.
She has gone 6 months without any seizures and every day we get away from the seizure the better off she is. She is so excited for school to be almost over and she can't wait for summer to really begin. There will be lots of time swimming in the pool, riding our bikes and just having fun. We go back to Boston for her eyes in a week. Maybe the blood work they did will have some answers although at this point I don't know that I care. She is happy, healthy, kind and funny. She makes me laugh, cry and sometimes even scream yet I wouldn't trade it for anything. Enjoy your summer and we will keep you posted.


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July 21st, 2011
Max 6 students
10 am - 1 pm
No spaces left! as of June 13th, 2011
$ 100.00
In Rainbow at 5502 8th Street, Rainbow
We will be creating a Door Knob Bottle topper and your choice of a ceramic heart or bubble pendant. If you would like to make both charms there will be an extra $ 10.00 charge payable during class. Please bring your own bottle and needle nose pliers. I will provide the rest. This class is for beginners too. Trust me you will go home with the most beautiful bottle and pendant. Class is not refundable and spaces are going fast. Please register on the side bar.


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WAY back in the day, I decided I wanted to do a gallery wall in my living room, but I never actually did it. {Confession: I am a procrastinator on some things} However, part of designing my renovated life is bringing great ideas to fruition. I think the area just left of my front door is the perfect spot for a gallery. I decided to scout the world wide web to see what I could see. Look what I saw!
I especially love the ampersand, the oversized letter and the all black frames. I want to focus my collection using pieces of art, framed family photos and text. This might be a bit of a process because I am a bit picky but I am excited about this.
Do you have a gallery wall? If so, share the link, I'd love to see it.
If you don't, what do you think about this? Seriously, I wanna know! xoxo tami


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Karen Sebring
If you are my friend click the like button & then re-post. If I don't see your name, I'll understand. May I ask my "Facebook Family" wherever you may be to kindly copy, paste and share this status for one hour to give a prayer of support to all those who have family problems, struggles and worries and just need to know that someone cares. Do it for all of us for no-one is immune. I hope to see this on the walls of all my friends just for moral support. I know some will!! I did it for a friend and you can too. Share some faith and love for those in need. Life works in strange way.


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Had a great day at Martin Wishart's Cook School.
This was the best scallop dish I have ever tasted - though I say it myself.
A very absorbing class - no time to think about anything other than cooking (and eating of course).
Learned lots, realised there is a whole lot else to learn and used lots of nice kitchen equipment that I now absolutely need to have -obviously.


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Returning Exiles
Ellian Geraki
Returning Scion
Equally comfortable in metal armor or courtly garb, bloody battlefield or regal ballroom, Ellian Geraki is the heir to the Geraki title and holdings, though she has never seen her family home.
Ellian was trained in the arts of war and grace at the war academy along with her sister, Gwalchmai. The two learned tactics, strategy, command, and other skills that would benefit them as adults.
The sisters have a close bond, and fight especially well together, using the brutal but effective tactic of knocking an opponent to the ground, and then stabbing the prone victim until they stop screaming.


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A Quick Campus Tour
|The Kravis Center
|View of the mountains to the South from the top of the Kravis Center
|View of Mt. Baldy and the San Gabriel mountains to the North from the top floor of the Kravis Center
|Mt. Baldy topped with snow in January
Scripps College where I work was founded in 1926 and the campus is breathtaking. The photos below are only a few snapped on my walk to work and don't truly capture all the beauty of the college. The architecture style is the Mediterranean style popular in Southern California in the 1920s and 30s.
|Scripps College
|Pretty flowers in bloom in December
|Honnold Gateway at Scripps College
|Steele Building where Mary works


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Ben Affleck IS Batman!! - Part 8
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Re: Ben Affleck IS Batman!! - Part 8
Originally Posted by
Keyser Soze
While people are entitled to think what they want about Affleck's suitability for the role, it is really weird to see people trash Ben Affleck's casting because he's not an incredible, transcendent actor, only to then back someone like Scott Adkins, a glorified stuntman who you'd be hard-pressed to find delivering a noteworty acting performance anywhere. Thinking Affleck's not good enough an actor is one thing, feeling the need to have someone with the physicality of Adkins in the role is another, but "I hate Ben Affleck for Batman because he's a bad actor, so I want Scott Adkins for the role?" Does... not... compute.
I think it was regret who said it was a bit like someone turning up their nose at a vacation to Venice because the views weren't scenic enough, only for them to then suggest a trip to Detroit instead.
Here's the thing. Human beings are not cattle. Preference of any kind is never factual, nor can be. There is no objectivity of any kind in preference.
Say you prefer A as opposed to B, and 10000 people prefer B as opposed to A, that doesn't mean its a fact that B is better than A. Your preference remains AS WEIGHTY AS that of a 10000 people because again there is nothing factual here, only subjective opinions.
Anybody can want or prefer anything over anything else. Modern culture would like you to believe that humans are indeed cattle and the purpose of life is a furious dash towards consensus and conformity but that's not it.
Of course all this might be beyond the comprehension of fanboys but its a modern malaise of society that can't be helped it seems.
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|image credit: Fine Cooking
Lemon Shortcake Bars (Fine Cooking, Dec 2006)
7 oz. (14 Tbs) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to "just warm"
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
2 cups plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
Line a 13 x 9 inch metal or glass baking pan with foil. Lightly brush melted butter on the sides (not bottom).
Stir together first three ingredients and mix in the flour to form a stiff dough. Press the dough evenly into
the bottom of the pan and ad prick all over with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. Bake in
the centre of a 325 oven for 30 minutes or until golden and set.
Lemon Topping:
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (3-4 lemons)
1 Tbs (generous) finely grated fresh lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
1 Tbs confectioners' sugar
Whisk eggs, sugar, flour, and salt together until smooth (about 1 minute). Whisk in the lemon juice and zest. Pour topping over the hot crust and return to oven, increase heat to 350 and bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until set. Cool at least one hour, then list from pan using the tin foil and place on cutting board. Pull the foil away from the sides of the bars and sprinkle with the confectioner's sugar. Cut into squares. Will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, but should be served at room temperature.
-from Margaret