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(Words, marked in red are linked at the glossary of this website, opening in a new frame)
|Large quartzite plano-convex core from the MA4 location, belonging to the
oldest European cultures
The MA- locations
In 2007 a focused prospection started for possible human (activity) traces from the pre- Saalian periods ( < 200.000 BP) in the Maas (= Meuse) region south of Maastricht (Netherlands) ( location in Google maps) , to see if traces about these period could be found on this almost unknown period.
Surface finds, without any other stratification than a description like 'found at the upper terrace of..."will give information, but maybe it was possible to find more...
Mainly Middle -Palaeolithic
In the cretaceous area around the Dutch city of Maastricht, 60 locations were visited. This lead, as almost expected, to several possible (Early -) Middle Palaeolithic finds / sites at various locations, especially in the region south of Maastricht, between Maastricht and the Belgian city of Liège.( see : Miscellaneous artifacts at this weblog) Such, often isolated surface finds from middle and high terraces of the Maas/ Meuse - river, only indicate a possible human presence in the earlier phases of the Middle Palaeolithic, but do not tell us more than that.
The information in this article is preliminary information, interesting enough to be published and discussed, but the finds from the Belgian Kempen for this period are only discussed and validated by some archaeologists from France.
The Belgian Kempen area
|The Belgian Kempen area (in yellow)The investigated Pleistocene riverbank of the Maas is over 20 km long and in this project divided into 7 sections from MA1 to MA7.
The western Maas/Meuse- river area north of Maastricht (NL) from Lanaken (B) in the south till Maaseik (B) in the north, is a large sandy region, covered with eolian fine grained sands (mostly originating to the late Saalian and the Weichselian periods), where Early Palaeolithic finds are scarce (1), but the (Middle) Palaeolithic, the Upper Palaeolithic, the Mesolithic and the Neolithic periods on the other hand are abundant.( An overview of the Palaeolithic of the region at this weblog:Regional Limburg(NL) The Palaeolithic ) In the image left, brown lines indicating the boundaries of the plateau, the red square representing the investigated area. Several articles are handling mainly the MA4 section .
The highest points of the region can be found at southwest of Zutendaal (+ 103 m a.s.l.) and to the north the altitude is declining at only + 40 m. a.s.l.. The coordinates of the center of this investigated region is centralised at 51°00′N 5°40′E.
The former, Middle- Pleistocene Maas/Meuse channel edges ( = main river banks) (2) were build up by thick layers of gravels during the B- Cromerian Complex ( stadial), ( Paulissen, 1974)) between the Belgian communities of Lanaken ( Pietersheim) and Maasmechelen- Opoeteren, which layers are covered by thick layers of sands (= cover-sands) during later stadial periods ( especially the Saalian glacial).
North of Maasmechelen, much river terraces are gone, destroyed by incisions and other former dynamic river processes ( flush, erosion, Saalian- landscape equalizing).
Eroded surfaces containing possible prehistoric traces outside the plowed, reworked arable areas, almost only can be found after e.g. forest clearing activities, where big 'wounds in the landscape' are leaving exposed surfaces at the terrace edges. Such temporary exposed situations demand quick response during investigations, so preparations for the study objects are essential.
The discovery
The artifacts, found at this site complex, are completely different in type or shape compared to the previous finds of surface scatters at the Maas high terraces.
Not only are large numbers of artifacts forming logical lithic assemblages, found at single find-spots, possibly clustered with others, eroded out of stratigraphical known layers, i.c. formed by depositional gravels from the Maas- river, but also the assemblages do have a direct link with gravel horizons in the local stratigraphy.
The Maas- river sequence is one of the worlds best studied and completed 'time-lines' in the world, so correlation with the geological framework ( and thus the chronostratigraphy) is basically possible ( Rosenbaum, Turner 2003, Westaway et al., 2002).
In the past months, over 4000 artifacts are collected, samples were taken and pictures and drawings were made of site circumstances.
The so called 'pebble tools' usually are not regarded as the most nice artifacts to collect and often they look like randomly broken stones. In reality such stones are representing very old artifacts, belonging to the same tool technology stages like old tools found at the Olduvai Gorge site in Kenya ( image here) excavated by Mr. L.S.B. Leakey, 1951, the Oldowan- tool technology.
Finding artifacts in an area of roughly 200 km 2, where up to 15 meters of gravel has been deposited in a wide fan gravel "estuarine" of the Maas/ Meuse river is not easy.
99,9 % of the surface is covered by woodland, roads, cities and villages, very large amounts of scattered buildings..., industries, sand pits,railways, private domains, heath-lands, arable lands...
So the places to search for artifacts are very limited. Since it's nearly unlikely to find bones from early hominids in the region, due to bad geological conditions ( especially in the sandy northern part), the only remains to prove their existence are the artifacts, left somewhere in the landscape.
Topographical maps have been compared with the fields, forests, etc. , elevations lines and possible eroded surfaces are studied. In the field, often good looking places seems to be inaccessible either by prohibited access, infrastructural works, or simply by the absence of any ( quality, unmixed) exposed eroding surface, of which you depend. Few "disturbed" area's were found, where gravels from other locations were imported, transported and dumped, always very well visible by the deviant gravel types compared with the local gravel depositions of the river.
So within this 1 % of possible usable locations,where artifacts could be found, there are only very few locations where artifacts really could be established. So, it is difficult, even to locate few locations that are "good enough" to expose the right 'artifact bearing' levels.Pebble tools mainly are traced by fieldwalking of terrace landform surfaces i.c. in a forested area like the Kempen area:. like after forest clearing activities, infrastructural activities ( draining activities of brooklands, clearing heath-lands, digging, etc.). Besides of useless contexts, as pebbles could be naturally broken, this alone is not the way locating a real Paleolithic location / site. For locating a real site, it is necessary to find established man- made tools, fitting in the local stratigraphical position ( analogous gravel types, analogous alteration, etc.) and with a remarkable deviation in presence ( concentrations). So in reality we cannot always speak in terms like "surface- finds", as lots of artifacts were taken from an exposed part of any eroding gravel layer, where artifacts still were found clamped in situ in i.e. the dark yellow loam layer of a late Elsterian or even a Cromerian deposition of the Maas/ Meuse river. Both this stratigraphical position in which artifacts were found, as well as the locations on the upper terrace of the river, brought 'reasonable' outcomes for the periods when the artifacts were produced and used.
Large scale clearing of heath land, like here at Zonhoven- Molenheide brings back original cover-sand layers that might show some erosion after time. Such parts of the forest lands could bring new information about prehistoric archaeology.***
Why are such large pebble tool collections not found before?
In the first place the Kempen - pebble tools do not come to us as very nice, easy recognizable (Acheulian) artifacts, that are easy to recognize. Moreover, tools are processed at minimum effort and at first sight, modifications are not noticed easily. Such tools often are abjected by amateur- archaeologists. To recognize such tools and distinct them from geofacts, one should see lots of such artifacts and search at exactly the right locations - it took more than 3 years to find them: the limited number of sites makes it very hard to detect them in a forested area....
Why search at the surface and in possibly disturbed contexts?
The answer is simple: this is the only way to detect more about this period. Usually excavations do not take place in such forested areas, and gravel depositions are not part of usual excavations.
In situ
Several artifacts at MA4 were found in situ. The eroded surfaces however could show a ( local) secondary context caused by geological processes and recent changes in soil structures by human activities. On the other hand, tools were found in such big concentrations,( estimated >500 /m2 for a local 4 m2= nearly 2000) and do not show any abrasion or other signs of fluvial or post- depositional transport, so it's unlikely they have been moved over a long distance.
In this way, the find spots would even indicate the true locations where the artifacts were produced, what is a natural situation in case of pebble tools: produced, used and discarded, and contemporaneous integrated into fluvial depositions, preventing weathering influences for ( the majority of) the artifacts.
Another indication pointing at local use in one " limited" period ( but probably during different phases within that period) is the fact, all locations within the site- complex are discovered at about the same level, over an estimated area of ca. 200 x 500 m (= 1 km2). This could be the indication for the existence of a large site, which would be logical, regarding the large amounts of artifacts at the different find-spots within the site cluster.The large amounts of artifacts would imply a habitation zone, as it is unlikely to make so much artifacts without staying nearby.
|Local stratigraphy at the Upper Kempen Plateau Terrace, based on visible stratigraphy.
The dominant factors for the in situ stratigraphy of several observed artifacts are the possible correlations with embedded gravel layers combined with the fact the entire site- cluster is positioned at the same altitude of the Maas/Meuse upper- terrace.
The top gravel horizons however, are heavily reworked during two different known periods: first after the fan gravel- depositions ( final -? Elsterian) and during another time during the Saalian II-III.(3)
In this way, artifacts originating from these parts of the gravel deposits, could have been moved upwards in the sandy cover-sands. Indeed, in the stratigraphy we notice a certain mixture of eolian ( very fine grained) sands, mixed with relative big granulates, i.c. pebbles, as shown in the picture above at level C2. A "transitional horizon" would occur between the typical Cromerian - dated Zutendaal fluvial gravel depositions (MIS 13, early MIS12(?)) of the upper horizons and the Saalian dated eolian depositions, that originally were deposited above these gravels in younger periods (MIS 7/8).
The artifacts are likely to have been used after the first ( inverse) erosion of the Kempen fan gravels, ( towards the east), so after the Elsterian period. Indeed, there has been observed a relation with ( large?) high- energy deposits of the Pleistocene Maas /Meuse river, as these coarse sands are different from the eolian sands, by the bigger sand granulates dimensions.
So these more coarse aggrading clastic gravels, were deposed during a glacial period (i.c. most probably the Elsterian) and when the Maas /Meuse river had begun to down- cut itself into the landscape, during a post- Elsterian date, roughly after 450.000 BP, early hominids would have used stones from these gravels(4). This original aggrading process on the Maas /Meuse channel might be the reason for a swaying, capricious channel edge just before site use, leaving a wide 'beach -like' channel edge, where gravels were exposed at the surface.
The same ( present) altitude for the whole site -cluster ( over a distance of 400 meters) is suggesting a contemporaneous use of the sites, in which case the gravels over this 400 -500 meters must have been simultaneously accessible for tool-production, which is commonly reported for sites with large good quality clasts depositions (5)
At locus MA4-2, a rather deep incision ( about 5-8 m deep) has been formed after site use: the currently divided MA4 -2-N and MA4-2- Z parts, show similar tool types, see the other article on this weblog Tool types and raw material of Acheulian -like tools in the Belgian Kempen area , indicating the site was not located at e.g. two sides of a former brook, forming an undivided 'activity zone'(6)
In the original stratigraphy the artifacts possibly were in a pre - Saalian I ( before or at first stages of the formation of the middle terraces) stratigraphical position between C2 and D in the image above: this would place them in a rather wide range between 450.000 BP - 300.000 BP, (MIS 7a - MIS 12). (7)
Further investigations on the in situ artifacts is necessary to specify the stratigraphical position in more detail, if possible. (8)
Geofacts- artefacts
Surface finds without any exact stratigraphy always are suspect. At first, they must be distinguished from geofacts and moreover they could originate from every possible period. This is why many archaeologists do not (like to) value them: the case is much more difficult and complex than finds from well dated horizons and the outcome is more limited, so less interesting for the archaeological record of an area. On the other hand, the lack of well preserved early Palaeolithic sites in the region brings, such 'minor 'cases, like assemblages from 'surface finds' , is all we have. Moreover, before these discoveries ( by the author ) no- one ever had thought such large scale European Oldowan cultures do exist in the wider region.
Man-made artifacts are different from geofacts by special features, that deviate from each other. Unifacial flaking patterns are very rare in trampling experiments ( as mentioned by Mortensen, 2008), and trampling and other accidental events usually are causing "random flaking". Besides of the regular flaking patterns, patinas, concentrations of pebble tool artifacts - so the features of the tools itself - there is stratigraphical evidence, derived from nearby local stratigraphies, especially from the numerous sand- pits in the region.
|Flint - stones and pebbles, especially from the Late Elsterian gravels, sometimes have a man-made appearance. They must not be confused with prehistoric artifacts, though the shape of these geofacts often reminds more the later tools, made by men.
|Especially flint from the Elsterian deposition has suffered a lot from frost . Notice the abrasion and the lack of percussion rings. When such ripples occur, they are concentric, but irregular, fleeting of a visible navel point
http://www.saa.org/AbouttheSociety/Publications/AmericanAntiquity/Volume72Number4October2007/TramplingExperimentsintheSearchfortheEarli/tabid/431/Default.aspx - abstract andCalico --- The
- The assumed man-made artifacts show features that occur during experiments showing logic basic concepts for tool processing
- These features are suitable for appropriate tools with small cutting edges, but could very well have served as 'intermediary' tools for the production of wooden tools. weaponry (like spears, harpoons)
- Comparative tool forms are reported from the French Moselle region ( especially flakes) and from other North-West European sites, in Germany and England
- Further experimental production of quartzite and quartz tools will possibly give new perspectives
- This, while such pebble tools only can be found in context of disturbing surface activities ( digging, forest clearing), so real undisturbed contexts are not possible to find for this group of artifacts. To rule out trampling, pebble damaging, crushing by machines, etc. further experiments are necessary.
The tools from the site complex can be regarded as very special, even when - for the moment- the latrge assemblages must be regarded as a very large surface- scatter. Large scale quartzite tools in a pebble tool- tradition are not common in the Lower countries. An exception is the hilly region of Luxembourg where pebble tools are found, see http://www.prehistory.lu/vo_txt2.htm See also another article at this weblog, a brief overview about pebble tools found in The Netherlands and Belgium : pebble tool artefacts in The Netherlands and Belgium (Arbannig). Notwithstanding the absence of a clear chronostratigraphy for the artifacts, such large assemblies, if well documented, obtain much information.
Besides, the chronostratigraphy for these artifacts is estimated between 550.000 BP and 350.000 /330.000 BP, based on visible stratigraphy , etc. ( see below).
Very early occupations ( Pre- Neanderthal) of Belgium and The Netherlands (?)
These tools would be the markers of the arrival of one of very early migrating groups of tool- makers, and indicate the presence of very early hominids in the Lower countries (NL/B). Though pebble tools were used in different other, later periods, the combinations of find- spots ( also in situ) i.c. in the high river-terraces, the total absence of any imported tools, the heterogeneity of the assemblage, the lack of artifacts from identifiable commonly known periods ( such as the Mousterian tool technology, the Upper Paleolithic, the Neolithic , etc.) and the tremendous similarities with the Mode 1 / Developed Oldowan tool assemblages, give a full impression of dealing with tools of Homo erectus / Homo heidelbergensis. Added to this there is the taphonomy of the artifacts, which would indicate a very high age
The sites in the palaeo - environments of Lower Palaeolithic/ Middle Pleistocene
Finds of archaeological evidence at former ( main ) river channel edges of a Pleistocene river will have a direct link with the benefits of such palaeo environment, providing humans with large animal accumulations, especially nearby ( former ) attributes and lakes/ ponds. However, remains of ( large) Pleistocene fauna from the Kempen Plateau seems to be totally absent in the archaeozoological record.
This could partially be caused by the bad circumstances in the acid sands ( especially in the northern regions of the Kempen-plateau), where bones dissolve quickly, on the other hand the hydrology of the environment had changed over long periods, causing changing water-levels. Present drainage paths were formed during the (late) Weichselian period and were especially influenced by changing vegetation covers, by land -use during late Holocene periods,especially the Middle Ages.
The Maas /Meuse river must have been a wide, longitudinal meandering river during post- Elsterian interglacial conditions ( i.c. MIS 11) , with low energy transport. Evidence for this slowly meandering river type could be derived from the altitude of comparable finds ( small tool production) between the MA1 and the MA7 section, with an over all decline of ca. 12 m/ 20 km (0.85 /km; tertiary: 1,5 m/km; present: 1m/km)
This river type would be rather small ( up to several km's?) with changing gravel banks, depending on river dynamics directed by climatological conditions. Like in the present, small beaches occur in low height gradients and the cut- off channels were turned into larger swampy areas. This type of environment shows a large diversity of biotopes with a large diversity of life, providing a wide spectrum of food supplies for humans, both vegetarian and animal: herbs, berries,plant-roots, fruits,seeds and nuts as well as meat from larger animals, such as horses, deer, badger and boar and smaller animals like serpents, frogs,turtles,freshwater - mussels, fish, etc. This fits into the climate type of the long Holsteinian period ( over 40.000 years), with a variable warm climate with average temperatures more than 1- 2 degrees more than present; in the vegetation for the relating region we find Buxus sempervirens and some archaeological/ palaeolontological records from northern parts of The Netherlands speak of the Hippopotamus amphibius bathing in the North sea and at the Maasvlakte.
Such climatic conditions could explain the choice of early hominids for East- to South - East orientated sites, though MA4 could also be part of a real South orientated site.
During glacial conditions, the very large, up to over 20 km wide braided river system, cutting itself into the landscape, causes many channels, transporting large amounts of gravels and even very large ice raft blocks from the mountainous regions Vosges and Ardennes. Gravel deposits could form inexhaustible sources of raw material for the production of ( pebble) tools ( pebble clasts). Large animals crossing the river valleys, and at suitable crossing places (fords) people would get a chance for large scale hunting.
The variety of blind river arms, river gravel-banks, small left over ponds, etc. with changing vegetation patterns must have presented a very rich fauna and flora in this region, satisfying the needs for early hominid migrating groups.
The sites of MA4 / MA6 are located at current elevated, high points in the landscape and possibly they were similar in the past, to keep dry feet and to have an overview on the landscape. This does not mean they coexisted in the same period, though this is most likely, based on comparable assemblages at the sites.
|MA4 site cluster; size of triangle marks importance of site; black lines : current elevation lines of + 85 m a.s.l. ; brown line is a possible Pleistocene riverbank during site use; mint green spots are current dry valleys ( erosional valleys) formed during the Saalian
The Middle Pleistocene west bank of the Maas/Meuse river was an ideal place to stay during the post -Elsterian period.
Two important issues were decisive for the settlement in the Belgian Kempen area: the occurrence of large wildlife groups ( food), dwelling the alluvial plains and the presence of "good enough quality-" gravels along the Maas/ Meuse river, deposited during the Elsterian.
At first incisions into the present valley, the Maas/ Meuse river still had a very large alluvial plain, at Dilsen-Stokkem this plain would have spanned about 20 - 25 km to the east.
Old river channels were cut of, and were overgrown with lush vegetation. The large braided river system changed under climatological circumstances into a slow meandering river; the main river channel or one of the river channel(s) flowed somewhere in the western part of the large alluvial plain starting to cut itself into the large gravel- layers from Cromerian depositions.
The first hominids arriving must have faced a rather cold climate. At the highest parts of the Kempen plateau, only relative large cutting / cleaving tools were found, implicating the use of these tools for butchering large animals. It is very well possible, these hominids settled on small raised areas, located directly nearby small peri- glacial lakes, high on the plateau which lakes would be the base for the later sources of e.g. the Bosbeek, the Asbeek and the Ziepbeek. Still today, we see the higher parts of these valleys are dry, supposing they started at higher altitude during pre - Saalian periods as melt water channel, forming tributaries for the main channel(s).
During the cold (-er) climate type, so during the late Elsterian (Noordbergum MIS 13?) till early Holsteinian ( transitional phase MIS 12- MIS 11) the Maas /Meuse river beach reached even over + 90 m, so was directly laying over the Tertiary horizons at highest levels (see: Paulissen 1974, and Quartaire Geologische Kaart Belgie, Rekem nr, 26).(1)
Large tools from these locations were made by hard hammer technique, and tools show large cutting edges.
From the raised places (orientation unknown, but not specific oriented to the east, to the riverside) , they must have had a splendid wide view over the region, they looked into what is now Germany and movements of the game could be followed over big distances. Tributaries from the east plateau of the river caused wider alluvial plains - in combination with large swampy areas , ( former ponds), of which the Dutch city of Meerssen is a good example (Meerssen = House in the marsh, the marsh of the Geul- brook).
The deserted river channels on top of the plateau filled up slowly with sprayed sands, and were mixed with the late Elsterian gravels, today still visible at many places on top of the Kempen plateau. Melting waters must have caused erosion at the plateau. leading to new sources, forming the fossil floors of the present brooks.
Afterwards, the climate changed from a glacial period into the longest interglacial ever known. The vegetation must have changed drastically. Coniferous forests disappeared and were replaced by mixed deciduous forests.
Changing climate and associated changing vegetation - response causes the necessity for new foraging strategies.
Early hominids in the Kempen region were faced with a large alluvial plain, with river beaches where gravels were exposed.
The prove for the fact, tool production must have taken place on / nearby such beaches is simple: such small pebbles (<3 cm cross cut) for the fabrication of micro -choppers and micro- chopping tools, only can take place when the raw material is available and visible. At the beaches such small pebbles were exposed, uncovered, so visible. Another fact is, the present Maas/ Meuse valley did not exist yet, so these early hominids had to search their tools at the places where gravels were exposed: on what now is the upper terrace of the Maas/ Meuse river and on riverbanks of the alluvial plain, but this plain has been destroyed completely, so the only remains of gravel-banks are the plateau's edges.
Inhabited Pleistocene channel edge
Two different site complexes with possible dimensions of 400 / 400 m (MA4) and 300 / 400 m (MA1), makes it believable there were organized camps at the Pleistocene Maas /Meuse channel edge.
Where did these tool -makers come from? Did they use the Belgian Kempen area as a seasonable camps? Are the camps, oriented east -wards to the river, forming a statement for a warm climate? Are the small tools a response to environmental conditions with small pebble clasts, or is it a reflection of a wider cultural determinated tradition? The numbers of the artifacts (> 3000) could point at repeated habitation, or indicate a long - term habitation.
The study of this site cluster will take many months / several years. The good news is, it might be possible that parts of the site cluster MA4 would still be covered by the Late Pleistocene eolian sands, so parts of the sites, especially those parts located more on top of the plateau, could be " intact".
In November 2011 a first publication ( in French) is published on the internet. This full report in French could be downloaded by clicking "Galets aménagés de la région Campine, la Belgique." ( page = argeocol. hpage. com, A.S.A.C. geological -pages)
|An example of a quartzite pebble tool ( unifacial chopper) found in the Kempen.
|An example of a quartz tool; quartz is usually difficult to recognize by the lack of final characteristics
Image above: tool types in the assemblages from different sites show very little variation, the general aspects are about the same: chopping tools dominate, choppers occur and in the assemblage we find picks, side scrapers, "sliced pebbles", "split pebbles ", flakes, core tools and a small amount of flint tools.
Image: impact point is visible as a light spot on the edge. Also visible are the percussion lines( direction left), which are still visible in the grain - patterns, bending away from the impact point.
This image shows three transverse strikes, showing a developed mode 2: tool makers were very efficient in making the tools.
|This image shows the well placed flake removals to get a chopping tool
Large quartzite side scrapers are normal at MA6 and MA4
core tool
Erosion processes of the East Kempen plateau
After the large fan gravel deposits during the Cromerian, during the pre - Elsterian phase (< MIS14), an inverse process took place. The Elsterian phase is characterized by the first incisions of the Maas river by large aggrading gravel deposits and ice drafts. The post- Elsterian- interglacial period was rather warm and caused heavy oxidation of soil layers, still visible as intense red soil layers, integrated in the pre- depositional layers.
The Saalian period caused large, deep incisions, bringing large amounts of the Cromerian gravel depositions towards the east edge of the Kempen area. These incisions were partially filled afterwards by eolian sand depositions ( cover sands) and partially eroded on the slopes, depending on the particular area ( the plateau edges in some parts of the Kempen area are on the other hand either formed by large dunes, or heavily eroded in longitudinal valleys, caused by incisions that suffered from heavy erosion during glacial conditions).
The image above is a compilation made of images taken in the Sibelco S.B.S. pit, Maasmechelen. According to this uppermost stratigraphy ( left), the pebble tools from MA4 would originally be positioned in the gravels of horizons between 30 cm and 1 m. For MA6 the situation looks more like the right picture, showing a heavily red oxidation horizon directly beneath the reworked and remixed Saalian lower horizon stratigraphy. Local stratigraphies can vary tremendously.
In the images below, an impression of what happened at site MA4, during the periods from MIS 11 till the Holocene (MIS 1). (Click to enlarge)
|During the Weichselian period the landscape was more formed by melting waters, forming new gully 's . Linear sand- dunes were formed falling over the plateau' s edge at the east side of the plateau.
|During the Holocene, plateau edges were eroding and the Maas/ Meuse river flows over the current alluvial plain. Eroding surfaces occur because of i.e. deforestation, a wrong use of the landscape and by changing water tables.
Tool technology
Naturally broken pebbles are rare in the Kempen area. Where we find them, they only occur sparsely, i.c. showing random fractures, but mostly on the edges ( where the pebbles are more thin. Naturally split pebbles show steep angle fractures, capricious edges, and do not show controlled flaking ( e.g. bulb complex fracture or bulb setup ). Outside the sites where thousands of artifacts were found, there were hardly found any naturally broken pebbles, only sometimes on unpaved sandy forest paths.
The found objects were determined as man-made artifacts by following arguments:
1. repeating flaking patterns, showing flat bulbs and impact points, sometimes even with indications for the direction of the blow ( grain wave patterns)
2. Blows positioned at exactly the same positions on e.g. rounded pebbles, providing logical working edges combined with logical handles;
3. Identical blows on same raw type of materials independent of size of pebble
4.low angle blows
5. large assemblages, found in concentrations/ outside the concentrations at the sites could not be found a single fractioned pebble
6. Unifacial flaking indicates controlled flaking by leaving useful tools such as choppers, chopping tools, core tools, spheroids
7. Only quartz was transformed into the 'pick' tool type
8. Concentrations of nice "spall burin - flakes", often partially secondary retouched
9. Denticulate edges
10. Total tool groups form logical assemblages
11. Assemblages found at same altitude, strongly suggesting simultaneously made artifacts
12. Comparative artifacts from other similar locations ( river upper terrace) like "Haute Garonne"(France) and "Atapuerca" Spain (part Sima de los Huesos)
13. Local gravel type, belonging to one period ( depending on loci)
14. Finds of several 'hammerstones', like with battered textures either distal or around
15. For an overview of tool types and technology see the article from this website
Tool types and raw material of Acheulian like tools in the Belgian Kempen area
The period of production, use and discard for these artifacts has been determined by the following arguments:
1. Position of the artifacts in the upper river terrace of the Maas/ Meuse river, = Belgian Kempen Plateau, where the artifacts are part of the local Zutendaal gravels.
2. Artifacts are found 'in situ' in horizontal layers, showing a direct relation with the Zutendaal gravels; positioned below the reworked ( mixed) eolian cover sands and positioned at the top of the red oxidation - layers of the As paleosol;
3. This is confirmed by the comparisons of this stratigraphical position with visible stratigraphies nearby
( pits)
4. In all assemblages at all sites not a single artifact has been found originating from
possible other periods, nor any indication has been found of different tool production
within the assemblages- indicating one homogeneous standard of tool technology and
virtual tool concept, fitting in the Acheulean / i.c. European Oldowan
5. The taphonomy of the artifacts is in accordance with the estimated age of a Middle
Pleistocene - early Middle Palaeolithic period, showing iron stains, sanded surfaces and
shiny mineralization of the surface "the sparkling effect"
6. Comparative assemblages from the same type of locations ( upper terraces) in
different countries - France, Hungary, Germany, Spain , England- show similar tool
assemblages that all have been placed in the Acheulean period
7. Adapted flint artifacts show a similar bifacial tool technology concept as for the
pebble tools, suggesting one concept for tool production, in a stadium before the
Mousterian core preparation techniques;
8. Both within the different sites as well as between the sites, some small differences in
tool production technology can be noticed. Such a thing is indicating a similar use
of the sites during a period, where pebble tools were the standard ( contrary to flint,
found ca. 25 km to the south, which has become more or less the standard during
the Mousterian
9. It is very unlikely large amounts of exposed pebbles from the river coast
were transported from the middle terrace to the upper terrace during a
Saalian period or later ( so the period of the Neanderthals and later),
for the production of tools. Moreover, it is not likely too, this would have happened
at all places along the Maas river, as the tool production sites all are located at the
upper Maas terraces
Homo heidelbergensis (?).
The tools are very comparable to those tools attributed to H. heidelbergensis ,
( Thames river terrace, Haute Garonne river terrace.)
The "Kempen Stone Face"
At site MA4 a side scraper has been found, with an appearance ( en profile) of an human face, complete with heavy eyebrow, common to H. eretcus / heidelbergensis species. Ken Johnston, specialist on portable palaeorock -art writes about it at his website Portable Rock Art. Direct link to the articles about the Kempen Stone Face
Section Site Preforms Large tools Small tools
In the continuous search for early hominid presence in the region, several remarkable objects were detected, of which it is not yet clear what the meaning and relation is with the tools found at the various sites. A number of these objects are presented here.
|This object could be interpreted as a biface - form, made on a flake ( split cobble). In the assemblages of MA4, where this object was found, random flaked objects were found. The triangle on this object might have a meaning.
(1) see for an overview of archaeologic sites in Vlaanderen : Onderzoeksbalans Onroerend Erfgoed Vlaanderen or only look the map for the locations of communities where early Palaeolithic sites were found image here
(2) The former Pleistocene Maas riverbanks at the Kempen plateau have been heavily eroded during the Saalian, At Opoeteren we can stil see a meander bend positioned on the Eisden-Lanklaar terrace near Bergerven. The Saalian period causaed heavy erosion, making large incisions ( up to 25 m , visible like present dry valleys) in the steep east slopes of the Kempen plateau. So the exact distance between a findspot and the Pleistocene Maas river is unknown. All erosion of the surfaces of discovered sites is a recent happening, due to human activities.
(3) See for this Saalian erosion : Gullentops et al. 1993: Saalian nivation activity in the Bosbeek-valley -PDF
(4) Gullentops and Paullise, reporting ice rafted blocks in the Zutendaal Gravels, (Quarternary Lithostratigraphicunits ( Belgium) (2001) , 3.1.5., deposits from "Cromerian"probably glacial B (= MIS 20) ; indeed I found large ice rafted blocks in the main original context on the terrace; artifacts were found in large amounts of ( disturbed) coarse sands on the slope
(5) It is not very likely that after covering of the gravels during Saalian / Weichselian period, so after the glacial periods, people have dug out gravel stones for tool -production exactly at the same level, over a distance of 500 m. Gravels were very easy accessible without digging in the Maas riverbed during the pleniglacial and (post-) glacial periods. The reason to produce large numbers of artifacts at one place is not always because this is a habited site ( compare i.c. The Ryckholt Flint Mines Complex (NL), where raw materials were transformed into tools ). Since no traces of fire are ( yet) discovered, there is no real evidence of habitation. The large scale production of such archaic tools is suggesting people produced and used these tools, especially because large cleavers were found.
(6) This is in accordance to the conclusions of Gullentops/ Paulissen ( 1972): the dry valleys in the eastern part of the Kempen plateau were formed by intense erosion during the Saalian period. This underlines the pre- Saalian date of the site MA4-2.( Gullentops, F. & Paulissen, E. 1972: Origine et âge des vallons du rebord oriental du plateau de la Campine In: Congrès et Colloques. Symposium de Géomorphology, 137-151.)
(7)This period would correspond with the human occupation compared with e.g. The Somme, Seine and Yonne- region in France , as a 'nearby' region. Human presence is established in interglacial conditions, mainly in MIS 11- MIS 13 stages ( 450- 500 kya) the MIS 10-11 transitional stage ( 400 kya) ( dated to the northern European chronostratigraphy (Antoine et. al 2007),. The site cluster MA4 could reflect activities from the interglacial Holsteinian- phase ( ca 400 kya) and the following undefined glacial period (386 kya - 338 kya, this corresponding with the As Palaeosol and the overlaying gravels under the eolian sand deposits. For chronostratigraphy for this article see: chronostratigraphy table Version 1.2 ASAC at this website
(8) All these investigations are only made by vision, not by excavations or digging
(9) See : Sarunas Milisauskas, in : European prehistory (p. 30) : a survey; Springer 2002. Milisauskas warns in the book for naturally broken stones, causing problems with the identification of the earliest arrival of humans in Europe.
Ref. + internet
Armand. J.1979 The Middle Pleistocene Pebble Tool Site of Durkadi in Central Inida PDF, (Persée fr.) ,vol 5, nr 5 105-144
Bridgland, D.R. 2000 River terrace systems in north-west Europe: an archive of environmental change, uplift and early human occupation Quaternary Science reviews Volume 19, Iss.13, September , Pages 1293-1303
Kolfschoten, T. van & Y. Vervoort-Kerkhoff, 1985 Nijlpaarden van Nederlandse bodem en uit de Noordzee. - Cranium 2(2); 36-43.
Lauerent, M. et al. 2007 ESR chronology of the Somme River Terrace system and first human settlements in Northern France Quaternary Geochronology, issue 1-4, volume 2
Mortensen, Peder 2008 Lower to Middle Palaeolithic artefacts from Loutró on the south coast of Crete Antiquity Vol 82 Issue 317
Raynal J.P., Magoga L., Sbihi-Alaoui F.Z., Geraads D., 1995 - The Earliest Occupation of Atlantic Morocco : The Casablanca Evidence. in The earliest occupation of
North- West European rivers in the Elsterian/ Anglian stageAHOB publications list England ( Early dispersal of humans in Britain)
TopoEurope/ Pleistocene maps
Identifying and protecting archaeological remains; English Heritage 1998
Map of Kempen area, Wikipedia, 2010 by Willy Leenders ( free license)
Special thanks to Guillaume Willems from Maastricht for his continuous support in many ways, as for the transportation and for providing of facilities.
|Guillaume Willems, during one of the many field trips in the Belgian Kempen.


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Jeff Wall, "Photography's Liquid Intelligence"
In photography, the liquids study us even from a great distance.
Jeff Wall. Milk. 1984. Silver dye bleach transparency (Cibachrome); aluminum light box.
Jeff Wall splits photography into two sides, wet and dry. 'Wet' photography or described by Jell Wall as liquid intelligence. It is linked to water and that connects photography to the past. Wall also uses liquid intelligence to talk about natural forms in photographs. Wet or liquid is represented in photographs through natural forms. 'Dry' relates to the optic and mechanical side (lens, shutter) or technological intelligence. There is technological intelligence and liquid intelligence. The change from wet to dry is neither good nor bad necessarily, but it alters the "historical consciousness of the medium." When wet is removed:
The symbolic meaning of natural forms, made visible in things like turbulent patterns or compound curvatures, is to me, one of the primary means by which the dry intelligence of optics and mechanics achieves a historical self-reflection, a memory of the path it has traversed to its present and future separation from the fragile phenomena it reproduces so generously.
Jorge Ribalta, "Molecular Photography…"
Ribatta finds it problematic because the same issues may still be posed in the post-photographic era. "Post-photography means that a cultural transformation is involved in the technological decline of chemical photography." This decline of analog photography signals the death of photography disjointed from traditional medium. Photography is dead and the "photographic" or to use Ribalta's phrase, photography become "molecular." Digital photography changes the relationship between photographer and the photograph. The indexicality of the analog photograph has been stripped by digital photography. The question is how does digital photography now show the real? Without realism, photography is irrelevant. A photograph loses its power when we no longer believe it. This is connected to the historical discourse on photography's vital role "truth" as a document, indexical. For Ribalta, it is still possible, however a new set of rules or challenges are set up because of the amount of easy manipulation that can happen to a digital photographic image. It has to redefine realism. Realism is something that we need; it is what gives images relevance. Realism will continue with our notice or without, so he claims that photography will find the happy medium in portraying realism because our culture is based around images.
Gillian Wearing
Signs That Say What You Want Them to Say and Not Signs That Say What Someone Else Wants You to Say
Nicholas Bourriaud, "Post Production"
Post production is a technical term from the audiovisual vocabulary used in television, film, and video. It refers to the set of processes applied to recorded material: montage, the inclusion of other visual or audio sources, subtitling, voice-overs, and special effects.
Post production in Bourriad's definition are artworks created from preexisting works, partially as a response to the over-saturation or increase of access and supply to objects, things, ideas. Bourriad uses music creation as a parallel to address to post production and detournement in artworks. Using terms like, crossfader, pitch control, cutting, playlist, to speak about the different ways artworks or forms are mixed to create something new. Bourriad outlines some tactics artists used post production with examples:
- reprogramming existing works
- inhabiting historicized styles and forms
- making use of images
- using society as a catalog of forms
- investing in fashion in media
DJ Mark the 45 King uses pre existing products to create his own. "Any elements, no matter where they are taken from, can serve in making new combinations… Anything can be used…One can also alter the meaning of these fragments in any appropriate way." (Guy Debord)
Each form or material has its own history. When mixed with other forms, a conversation between the elements is created; "objects already informed by other objects." The new art is created with the analysis of how they coexist by considering their original histories and their new contexts. The arrangement of these objects matters. For instance, an artist could use a "simple" chair to make a piece; also one could use Rodney McMillian's Chair and the resulting piece would include the history of that object and the context it was created.
David Oresick – Soldiers in Their Youth
"I'm not stealing all their music, I'm using your drum track, I'm using this little 'bip' from him, I'm using your baseline that you don't even like no fucking more'."
Digital technology has become the default equipment choice in photography. I am increasingly having to defend my use of film (image creation) mainly because of cost. Post-production (output) in digital photography is a different consideration.
My criticisms of digital technology:
- default, after-thought
- digital aspect ratio
- reliance on auto features (light meter, focus, white balance)
- Not utilizing the capabilities of the equipment (software, hardware, glass/lenses
- immediacy (screen)
- speed of taking an image (amount of time to set up)

subset: commoncrawl


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Nets kill nearly 1,000 marine mammals a day, says WWF
Fishing nets intended for other marine species are killing at-risk species of dolphins and porpoises around the world, according to a report commissioned by the nonprofit World Wildlife Fund-U.S.
Leading marine scientists ranked dolphins and porpoises across the globe for the risk they face from lethal fishing nets. Ten species are included in a list of populations conservationists say require urgent action to prevent further deaths.
The report lists the following priority locations and species:
- Philippines and Southeast Asia: Irrawaddy dolphins
- Zanzibar (East Africa): Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins
- Black Sea: Harbor porpoises
- Philippines: Spinner dolphins and Fraser's dolphins
- Ghana and Togo (West Africa): Atlantic humpback dolphins
- Peru: Burmeister's porpoises
- Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil: Franciscana dolphins
- Argentina: Commerson's dolphins
Researchers say most of these species are killed by gillnets. Made of monofilament (single-strand) nylon mesh, gillnets are difficult for dolphins and porpoises to see or detect with their sonar.
Once entangled in netting or its supporting ropes, marine mammals face high risk of drowning. Driftnets and crab nets can also kill the mammals. Nontarget species accidentally caught in fishing equipment are known as bycatch.
"Almost one thousand whales, dolphins, and porpoises die every day in nets and fishing gear," said Karen Baragona, of the WWF species-conservation program.
The new report will be submitted to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) at its annual meeting next week in South Korea.
Last year the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy identified bycatch as the greatest global threat to cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises). Marine experts estimate that more than 300,000 cetaceans are killed by fishing gear every year.
Randall Reeves, lead author of the WWF-U.S. report, chairs the World Conservation Union's Cetacean Specialist Group, based in Gland, Switzerland. He says the study team focused on identifying cetacean species or populations most likely to end up as bycatch—especially those where the prospect of successful mitigation measures appeared good.
Conservation Guidance
"It's crucial to give guidance to agencies and organizations on how they should invest their resources," Reeves said.
Baragona, of the WWF-U.S., says accidental dolphin and porpoise deaths can be significantly reduced, often with simple, low-cost solutions.
"The United States and several other countries have significantly reduced bycatch in their waters," she noted. "Slight modifications in fishing gear can mean the difference between life and death for dolphins."
Species on the bycatch priority list include the Irrawaddy dolphin. Globally threatened, the marine mammal has at least two populations that are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN.
The dolphin's last known haunt in the Philippines is Malamapaya Sound, where only around 77 individual dolphins remain. Study co-author Brian D. Smith, of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, says the population's decline is almost certainly due to crab fishing.
Smith said a positive step would be to develop more efficient crab pots as an alternative to nets, which ensnare and kill Irrawaddy dolphins. He and his colleagues also recommend closing some Irrawaddy dolphin habitats to gillnet fishing.
In addition, data suggest that thousands of harbor porpoises are killed annually in the Black Sea by gillnets set for turbot, sturgeon, and dogfish.
In 2003 the International Whaling Commission indicated that existing fisheries regulations for the Black Sea were not being enforced. The WWF report recommends assisting Black Sea nations, such as Ukraine, to tackle illegal fishing.
In the case of Atlantic humpback dolphins, the report's authors have little idea how many of the animals remain or how many die as bycatch. The coastal species is found only in West Africa. Some Atlantic humpback dolphin populations are known only by a single specimen.
Lack of Data
In Ghana, West Africa, tens of thousands of coastal residents earn their livelihood from the sea. Because of this, researchers say, gillnet closures are unlikely. They add that little has been done to safeguard dolphins in the region, mainly because a lack of data has left regional governments unconvinced that stocks are severely depleted.
In other parts of the word, measures to reduce levels of cetacean bycatch are thought to be working. In U.S. waters, for example, gillnets are now prohibited in some coastal areas. Pingers (acoustic deterrents that warn or scare dolphins, porpoises, and whales away from fishing nets) are mandatory in other areas.
In European Union waters, the use of drift nets for tuna in the Atlantic and Mediterranean was banned in 2002. All other drift-netting will be phased out by 2008. Pingers are also becoming mandatory for all E.U. gillnet fisheries.
It's the fate of dolphins and porpoises in the developing world that most concerns conservationists, especially because these waters support the greatest number of cetacean species and the most at-risk populations. The WWF report says fisheries in the developing world "tend to be small-scale and decentralized, making assessment, monitoring and conservation intervention difficult."
Baragona, of WWF, says developing nations must recognize they have a problem and make change a priority. She also calls for better data on fisheries by these countries: "How many boats? What type of gear? What are they targeting? How much bycatch are they landing?" She adds that better enforcement of fishing regulations and increased monitoring of cetaceans is also needed in developing nations.
Baragona says that, around the world, fishing gear that traps marine mammals needs to be replaced.
"A more cutting edge approach is to use nets infused with barium sulfate, which makes them stiffer [and thus less likely to tangle] and easier [for marine mammals] to detect acoustically [for example, with sonar]," she said. This technology could possibly be "combined with materials that make the nets glow in the dark underwater, so the animals can see them," she added.
In April WWF awarded a prize for a fishing net design incorporating such dolphin-friendly features.
Related Article: Fishing net wins battle with Great White Shark
Source: news.nationalgeographic.com


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We recently visited Del Frisco's Grille on The Street in Chestnut Hill, a newer outpost of the very successful steak chain located in this very popular shopping and dining district. It was mobbed, of course. The Saturday night wait for a table was 90 minutes so please make a reservation ahead of time if you plan to go. The crowd was an eclectic, sophisticated bunch from college students to families and couples.
We started off with a cocktail. The signature drink is called the VIP: Sweet Hawaiian Pineapple Infused Svedka Clementine Vodka. Very refreshing. We also tried the Apt 5D: Tito's Vodka, Muddled Strawberries, Lemon Sour, Simple Syrup and a Dash Of Balsamic. This was also quite nice but we preferred the former.
We tried several appetizers. These Berkshire Pork Meatballs were stewed in tomatoes with red pepper and served with basil and a garlic aioli. Very good but just a slight bit on the dry side.
These Cheesesteak Eggrolls came with a spicy chili sauce that was excellent. Perfectly crispy and filled with a rich helping of meat and cheese.
The Ahi Tacos With Avocado had a spicy citrus mayo. The taco shells were perfect and the tuna was very fresh.
I went with the dinner special: Fillet with Baby Shrimp. Covered with a great barbecue sauce and served with a crispy potato muffin and grilled asparagus, the meat was an exemplary medium rare. Their steaks are always great and this was a fantastic combination, the three fillets covered with flavorful baby shrimp.
My dining companion went with the Chicken Schnitzel. Squash and chive noodles in a rich lemon-butter sauce accompanied the chicken which was extra crispy and flavorful, as a good schnitzel should be. I was also tempted to order this and my few bites confirmed that it was a great choice. The pasta was also good, perfectly al dente.
This side of Truffled Mac and Cheese, however, was my hit of the night. A comforting cast iron tray of the hearty macaroni was drenched in cheese and a very rich truffle flavor. Honestly, I could have made a feast out of this alone.
Despite being stuffed we did manage to taste desserts with a cup of cappuccino. This Nutella Bread Pudding was not heavy at all but dense with flavor and served with coffee ice cream and a caramel sauce. Heaven. Do make a point of saving room for dessert if at all possible.
And, of course, we could not visit without a sampling of their signature Lemon Doberge Cake with six layers, real buttercream lemon frosting and a lemon glaze. If you are a lemon cake lover like me it does not get any better than this.
The food was great, the service friendly and informal yet professional. This is not a stuffy restaurant at all and a great, fun place with views of the reservoir in the middle of the dining room and a hopping bar scene. I would confidently recommend Del Frisco's Grille to friends and family, steak lovers or not.
Del Frisco's Grille
33 Boylston Street (Route 9 on The Street)
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Telephone: 617.608.3682
Plenty of free parking. Reservations strongly suggested.


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A web site called Agent Hunter contacted us through Newbie Writers Podcast and asked for a review and some exposure on our show. Listen to more of what they have to say Friday June 7.
Here are more features of Agent Hunter I like:
Meet Agents
Some agents make themselves available to meet writers at conferences like the Writers' Workshop Festival of Writing in York. If you want to meet agents, you can set this option to "yes" to select only those agents you have a chance of meeting face to face.
Notice when we say meet, we do not mean stalk. You are not encouraged to follow an agent around during a three day conference.
- Do know who you want to sign up to meet during an agent speed dating session.
- Do sit in on their presentation.
- Do discover who they represent who is also at the conference and talk with THAT author.
- Do sit at their table during a meal.
- Don't trap them in the rest room
- Don't push your manuscript to them under the bathroom stall door (true story).
- Don't follow them outside to share a smoke if you don't smoke.
Blogs / Twitter
If an agent blogs or tweets, you can sometimes get a useful idea of who they are and what they want. If you value that kind of data, set these search terms to "Yes" to select only those agents with the relevant online profile.
If you are a fan of Twitter, do follow the agents you love! It's cheaper than a conference and easier to start a relationship. When to follow? Now, even as you are creating your book. By setting up the relationship ahead of time, you'll be poised to send off your book to the right agent, who, at the very least, will send you a more personal rejection.
On line directories and sites are very, very helpful in honing in on the best agent to pitch to. It does take time. The most frustrating part of finding an agent is how long it can take. Overnight success is like that.
You are welcome to re-post this article in your own blog or
You are welcome to re-post this article in your own blog or newsletter – please include this entire statement, "Catharine Bramkamp is a Writing Coach and podcaster, find out if you're ready to go from Newbie to Known visit www.yourbookstartshere.com or email@example.com for a complimentary consultation."


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Love seems confusing to a lot of people these days.
I have touched upon that in other posts and love could hit you with: "Is this universal love or is it romantic love, we're having? I'd really like to know !"
It's both…Why divide?
Every love affair on this planet is a love affair with God, God being the word for the high etheric cosmic touch-down.
The problem could be, whether the love we express and feel, is inclusive or exclusive.
That problem could be a hybrid between the division bell and the tune: "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one your with". The tune being from the Woodstock ambiance and the division bell – both being a Matrix construct.
The Matrix loves both. Exclusive love: "Only you and me" and " Everybody else", sort of in the body fluid department. So that's a poor bipolar compass.
Exclusive as in: I only love appearances.
Bad idea, since a lot of people need love to thrive on. The etheric heart charger.
The Love inclusive test: If we can feel inclusive love some aspects become quite dull and uninteresting such as: Age, looks, gender, color and whatever. And there is too much elitist exclusiveness on this planet. Especially differences in age seems to be transcended now and since age is a state of mind and not so much a count of meaningless digits, it actually makes a lot of sense.
People are stopping the division, the 'overthinking' or the distinction in our " I love you software " and transforming it into: 'Just' love, no matter the conditions. Mind, body and soul, as it should be.
The process being: we become more and more vibrant in the exclusive and morph into the inclusive field of vibrant high frequency love in order to become lovers in-clusive, in-love, not lovers ex-clusive within a pre-defined prison of the hearts.
It seems like a hard task, since the division is so well programmed through the tentacles of the matrix, sucking people dry in perception of love, as we would know from the Hollywood "exclusive" love programming, written media and further on.
More esoterically that would be the emotional nervous system and the brain kicking in and ohh boy are they ever so fearful and programmed. Don't give in.
If we are at that point where our love is expanding into the inclusive, it can be somehow confusing. When we meet love at that level, and the heart people are somehow about to gather and meet, loving inclusively would cause the effect:
Whoa, should I engage in french kissing and spooning here or avoid that?
New coordinates:
If you are in that place and you feel that this is a thousand kisses deep, please dive in.
The concept of soulmate here really doesn't cut it, it's way deeper. It's total surrender outside the Matrix conditioned blueprint of romantic love.
To put it bluntly:
It's so obvious, so clear, it doesn't make sense and it would require a tremendous amount of guts, dodging the programming and: Surrendering to it. And stop making sense.
Both exclusive and inclusive love have entered an alchemistic marriage here: beyond any resonance of the division bell´s ringing through our matrix programming of color, age, looks, gender and so on. It's appearances!
That Morph would make you go:
"Yes I love you like mad. I´m humbled by your presence in my life, I'm humbled by the synchronicity that has made us meet and I would very much like to spoil you silly", then you're entering the realms of transcending the love conditioning in Morph City.
We will find ourselves in a "Rumi-state-of mind", healing every fiber in our being. And that would be the secret in this, because if you can heal yourself within every fiber, you will actually find out, that it is the other person you're healing.
Since the concept of "You and Me" is no more, and Rumi is not just beautiful intoxicating words anymore, he´s describing an experienced reality quite within reach.
That love will blow you to quantum pieces by the high frequencies love zapping device that is becoming the more and more obvious glue that holds this universe together.
All Inclusive.
Re- edited – Originally posted Nov. 2012
©2013 Soren Dreier / Full repost with permission.


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Welfare For The Future - "Welfare for the Future" is an example of strategic framework on a national level and is the perspective of the Icelandic Government on Sustainable Development in Iceland to the year 2020.
- Location: Iceland
- Sectors:
- By: Iceland
- Type: National
- Source: Ministry for the Environment, Iceland
- Year: 2002
- More information
Welfare For The Future
"Welfare for the Future" is an example of strategic framework on a national level and is the perspective of the Icelandic Government on Sustainable Development in Iceland to the year 2020.
Agenda 21 encourages countries of the world to prepare a national sustainable development strategy. At the UN General Assembly Special Session in 1997, countries were encouraged to complete such strategies before the 10th anniversary of the Rio Conference in 2002. The Icelandic government has been working on such a strategy. The first comprehensive policy of Icelandic authorities on environmental affairs, 'Towards Sustainable Development', was prepared in 1993 and followed to a large extent the decisions made at the Rio Conference. Following this policy, an implementation plan was prepared bearing the title 'Sustainable Development in Icelandic Society', which was submitted to a special Environmental Assembly in 1996 and subsequently approved by the government. The strategy presented here is intended as a general framework for policies set by authorities in fields relating to sustainable development in the near future.
The strategy has been prepared by several government ministries, but the comments of municipalities, interest groups, non-governmental organizations and the public have also been sought. The strategy has been formed for a period well into the future, or until 2020, which means that it is intended to be a dynamic document, responding to changes in circumstances and emphases.
The main purpose of the strategy is to: 1) set long-term goals, 2) set priorities for the near future and 3) define and develop criteria to measure progress. The strategy is not an implementation plan, but it can help authorities and others to prioritize projects and gauge the success of trying to promote environmental protection and the quality of life.


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Sunday, April 3, 2011
One Last Gingerbread
It snowed again. I couldn't believe that one. I had to go digging in the back of the coat closet to find my Sorrel boots and ski gloves so that I could go outside and shovel. I swear to God I've shoveled enough snow this winter to cover a small state, like Rhode Island or West Virginia. So you can imagine my frustrated surprise and smoldering anger as I banged around the basement trying to remember where I had put the snow shovels. Of course I've already planted the peas and fava beans, which should both be fine. But the patch of spring mesclun mix that's just beginning to germinate-is that going to make it? I'm about to fly into a gardener's rage. Are gardeners supposed to fly into rages? I'll wind up in gardener's anger management:
"My name is Michael and I began yelling at the garden in 2011. No, wait–it was 2010 with the Japanese garden beetles and the cut-worms. Or was it 2009 and the lead-contamination in the soil?" Then an elderly lady in a wide-brimmed straw hat and canvas tool-apron leans over and gives me a long, firm hug of support.
If it's going to keep snowing then I'm making gingerbread and that's all there is to it. I've got all these apples left over from a photo shoot, so it's going to be an apple-ginger bread. Try and stop me.
Apple-Ginger Bread
adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 pounds (about 4) apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter @ room temperature
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon micro-planed fresh ginger
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
4 large eggs
In a medium saucepan, combine the 1/3 cup sugar, lemon juice and apple chunks and cook over medium heat until the apples break down (5-10 minutes). Cover and continue to cook another 5 to 10 minutes until the whole thing looks like applesauce. Let cool.
Preheat the oven to 350˚
Butter 2 loaf pans and line with parchment paper.
Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and all the dry spices.
Into a small bowl, combine the milk, vanilla.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, 1 3/4 cups sugar, molasses and fresh ginger on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk mixture; beat until just combined after each addition, being careful not to overmix. Add the applesauce and mix to combine again.
Divide the batter between the two loaf pans and bake until a skewer or cake tester comes out clean - approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes and then run a knife around the edges and invert the pans to release the loafs. Let the loafs cool completely before slicing (if you can wait).


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So true story, later that night while in the shower, inspiration struck me like a thunderbolt! I think I figured out a way to make at least some of my centers easier to prep while providing both rigor and engaging activities for the kids. I'm calling them EZ Prep See-it Centers. EZ Prep for you, See-it for the kids. All you have to do is print out ONE page for the center and and answer sheet for the kids - and done! This is from the preview, it explains the whole idea. You can download the preview here.
Since that original post, I've created EZ Prep Centers for Beach and Camping, Fall, Winter Fun, Bowling and Day at the Park, Pirate Adventure and Undersea Fantasy and a FREE Back to School version.
Here's a peek at my newest set, which happens to be my favorite. It's a great one to use at any point in the year and it's going to captivate both boys and girls with the fantasy scenes.
Along with the scene and answer sheets for the kids, I've also created answer keys for you with possible answers. These are really valuable to help you train the kids for how to find what they're looking for. It may be odd at first for a kid to try to list 10 verbs they see when there are no words in the picture! They pick it up fast though and this center has a ridiculously high engagement factor compared to matching cards and writing sets of answers.


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I'm starting this post to say that I am not a fan of horror. I get easily freaked out and I rarely ever read horror books – I like thrillers and occasional suspenseful books, but never really horror books with ghosts and stuff.
But since it's so close to Halloween, I though why not post a review of a book everyone knows is a perfect book for the month?
I don't even remember why I picked The Shining by Stephen King in the first place. I guess I just wanted to challenge myself, and see if I was actually brave enough to read it.
Title: The Shining
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: June 24th 2008 (first published 1977)
Num of pages: 450
Date read: February 28th 2015
Goodreads link
The Shining is a very famous novel and movie, and it's about a father, Jack, who gets a job to take care of a secluded hotel in the middle of nowhere for a few months during the winter with his wife, Wendy and young son, Danny. And the story takes off from there. Also, if you have never read this book you might not want to read this review, because it has some spoilers. It will also help if you've read the movie as well, since I might be comparing the book with the movie.
This was my first Stephen King book, and I was very impressed. The story itself is great – although the idea of being in an isolated hotel filled with supernatural creatures lurking and a child with supernatural abilities might seem a little cliche or boring at first, it didn't become boring because of the characters. This is what really draws me into the story, how the three main characters of the book are so real and likeable that you just can't wait to see what happens to them next.
But see that you get on. That's your job in this hard world, to keep your love alive and see that you get on, no matter what. Pull your act together and just go on.
I really like Danny even though I'm not a huge fan of children. But just thinking of Danny's braveness and his obedience and great manners I am really in love with him. Also Wendy is a great character. She's definitely a strong woman, a fighter, but she also portrays the good womanly and motherly person in the book, balancing out the manliness and harshness of Jack. Meanwhile, for Jack in the beginning I had some mixed feelings. But after the middle part I began to also really like him. I like how he tries to be a good father and husband but deep inside he knows he's got this beast inside of him. But I just think that he's a really genuinely good person with good intentions. I was very upset when he died, especially since we don't really know the exact moment or line where Jack isn't Jack anymore and is only the hotel in his body.
Thinking about how Jack didn't get to have closure with his wife and son, how he didn't have goodbyes or couldn't finish his play or couldn't really find inner peace is really sad and it's probably the only thing I didn't like about the book – Jack's death. It might seem hard to think about a reasonable way to twist the plot so that Jack can become the old Jack again and not die and still be able to kill the monsters and such and burn down the hotel and killing him alongside the hotel might seem like the reasonable plotline but I still sort of hope that he didn't die.
The horror-ish stuff itself, with the ghosts and people, the hedges and sounds and all that are also great. I realized how in reading a horror novel you really depend on your imagination while conjuring up the images of the scary things in the book. I guess my imagination isn't that wild or strong because I don't have the image of the woman or the hedges or any of that at night when I sleep in the dark unlike when I just watch a horror movie and at night I would still be able to see Ju-On's face lurking from the ceiling. So I think that horror books aren't really as scary as the movies because of those images.
But I do have to say the way King writes the scenes of the scary parts is excellent. He really gets you in the zone and makes your heart beat faster, eyes read faster along the words and it's just a wonderful and unique experience. But compared to the scenes with Jack fighting Wendy or the last scenes with Jack being half monster on a killing rage and action but human-y stuff, I prefer the action and gore than the paranormal stuff, although those scenes were also chilling and exciting.
And comparing it to the movie, which is highly acclaimed and received a lot of fame especially with Stanley Kubrick directing it, I very much prefer the book. I know how a lot of fans didn't like the movie adaptation because it was so different from the book, and I quite agree. In the movie, it was mostly focused on the horror, the supernatural beings and events leading to them.
Of course Jack Nicholson was incredible in the movie, and the whole cinematography and dialogues were amazing. Although I disliked the woman who played Wendy, I still really enjoyed the movie and it really did creep me out. But the movie was different from the book, because the movie was more of a horror movie with less character introduction and the plot wasn't focused much on Jack or his relationship with Danny and many more, while in the book you can really relate with the characters.
So all in all, I didn't expect to really like The Shining, but I really do. I think it was a good way to start reading Stephen King, and after reading this book I was intrigued to read more of his work. It left a deep impression to me, it was scary but it was so much more than that – it has excellent characters, amazing narration and the whole vibe of the setting is remarkable. Overall an excellent and very memorable book for me, and almost a perfect book.


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When I was growing up, Harold Johnson, the Hall-of-Fame light-heavyweight champ from Philadelphia, was my boyhood idol. So much so that when I would get my hair cut, I had it cut so
short my head looked like a dirty tennis ball. Friends at Lower Merion High School would call out: "There goes Peltz with his Harold Johnson haircut."
The 1963 night the Las Vegas judges robbed Johnson of his world title on a 15-round split decision against Willie Pastrano was one of my worst. I remember storming out of my friend's house, heading home and being in a funk for weeks. When I ran into the one kid in school who thought Pastrano deserved the verdict, my only response was: "Are you Italian?" He was.
Jack McKinney, as good a boxing writer who ever walked this planet, wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News a less-then-flattering story about the fight. It seemed as if McKinney also thought Pastrano won. At the time, McKinney had a nightly talk show on WCAU radio and I called in, arguing with him. I never forgot what he told me: "Russell, I never said Pastrano won the fight. What I said was that because it was not one of Harold's better nights, the fight was close enough to steal."
Close enough to steal!I never forgot that line because that's how I felt Saturday night, back in Las Vegas, when middleweight Gabriel Rosado was judged a 10-round split-decision loser to unbeaten J'Leon Love. Scores were 95-94 Rosado, 95-94 Love and 97-92 for Love, a scorecard from judge Herb Santos, who should be suspended for six months and required to pass the same ophthalmological exam Nevada requires of its boxers.
Among the things I talked about in the dressing room prior to the fight was that Rosado should jump on Love from the first bell. Love had been fed a steady diet of no-hope opposition and I thought the more battle-tested Rosado should put so much pressure on Love early that Love would start asking himself: "Why am I in here?" The last thing I said before going to my seat was that if the fight goes the limit, we won't get the decision. This was Las Vegas, backyard of the "in crowd" and we were going against a fighter controlled by the "in crowd" and we were not going to get any favors. Rosado told me not to worry because, he said, it wasn't going 10 rounds.
Then the fight started and my worst fears were realized. Far from jumping on Love, Rosado was pawing at him with a range-finder left jab, spending precious minutes without any real offense. When things got only slightly better in the next two rounds, I went over to Rosado's corner and yelled at his trainer, Billy Briscoe, imploring him to get Rosado to be more aggressive and rough Love up on the inside. Billy said that's what he was doing but Rosado was not responding. In the meantime, Love was probably thinking that this fight isn't so tough after all.
Ironic, isn't it, that nearly one year ago, when Mike Jones was fighting the same way in the same ring against Randall Bailey, Rosado had texted me during the fourth round, wondering why Jones had not stepped up the pace.
I thought Rosado won at least one of the first five rounds. Actually, I thought he won two of them, but again, this was Las Vegas. In many of those early rounds, nothing much happened and those were the rounds given to Love. Things changed late in round six when Rosado dropped Love in the waning seconds, but took his foot off the pedal in the seventh and let Love back into the fight.
Rosado took over after that, hurting Love on several occasions, but failing to close the show. Two judges, Glen Trowbridge and Dave Moretti, had it even after nine rounds. Trowbridge gave the 10thto Rosado; Moretti gave it to Love, another strange call. That was the deciding factor since judge Herb Santos was in another solar system.
I had it 95-94 Rosado. People say there were a lot of close rounds. So what? Professional judges are paid to decipher who wins close rounds. If every round was one-sided, any fan in the audience could be a judge. If the Phillies beat the Mets 2-1, they get as much credit as when they win 10-1.
As usual, Rosado showed class in his post-fight interview, but he was distraught in the dressing room, surrounded by his father and two cousins who worked the corner. I sat there listening to their complaints—justified as they were—but couldn't help but think about Jack McKinney's "close enough to steal"line.
"What did I tell you before we left the dressing room?" I asked Rosado. "I told you we weren't going to get the decision."
"I know, Russell," he said, "but I still deserved to win."
"You did," I said, "but it was close enough to steal and they stole it,"
Judging professional boxing is not rocket science.Rosado landed the harder punches, scored the only knockdown of the fight and finished stronger. The rounds he won were much more dominant than the rounds Love won.
Love says he will give Rosado a rematch. Sure, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. If boxing were a sport, that would happen. But boxing is a business, not a sport. It ceased being a sport in the 1980s when many promoters decided that forging relationships with TV executives who liked a particular fighter of theirs was more important than pleasing fans with competitive matches. That's why you often seen televised fights in 10,000-seat arenas where 9,000 fans show up disguised as empty seats (An old line, but an appropriate one).
My fighter, Mike Jones, was judged the winner over Jesus Soto-Karass nearly three years ago in Cowboys Stadium in Texas. Moments after Jones was given an unpopular decision, I went to Soto-Karass' dressing room and asked trainer Joe Goossen for a rematch. I may be one of the few promoters on the winning side to ask the loser for a second chance. HBO liked the idea and bought the fight and Jones proved his superiority the second time around. Let's see if Love and Showtime are up for it!
In the meantime, I had decided before the fight Saturday that if Rosado won, I would wear home his black souvenir T-shirt with his picture on it.
When I woke up Sunday morning and got dressed to go to the airport, I looked at that T-shirt and proudly put it on.


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Come join me on Monday, September 5, 2016 for the
Moda "Be My Neighbor" Quilt-Along.
Every Monday from September 5 thru December 19, 2016
a new block will be posted here on my blog.
I will be making mine in Moda Grunge fabrics.
Kits will be available at
Made With Love Quilt Store & More.
(I will have the price for the quilt kit available soon.)
There will be weekly give-away here on my blog!
More details will be available once the quilt-along begins.
Leave a comment to let me know you are participating.
All participants will receive a
"Welcome To My Neighborhood" gift!
Won't you be my neighbor? :D


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Carry On My Wayward Googlers: Political Distraction Edition
Once again, you don't need a license to breed
how to tell what trimester you are in
It's been a while but I believe you count from the first day of your last menstrual period
i looked different until i stopped breastfeeding
Yeah, that baby attached to the boob generally sets you apart.
how to raise a boy with no brothers
Stop at one.
weaning dr sears
No need to wean - just put down the book and go cold turkey.
things swallowed by toddlers
Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, "Sorry, the ice cream store is out of ice cream."
my son penis is big
Oh why oh why oh why would you ever name a child Penis? And maybe you should stop feeding Penis so much junk food.
Kinda freaking me out
smelling friends moms feet
Better than her butt?
which is better flowbee or robocut
Something tells me you have bigger issues
placenta pot pie
vagina hurts when it cough
if your vagina is coughing, please get off the computer and seek medical attention
Challenging the premise that there are no stupid questions
whats the technical term for vagina?
Um...vagina? Too obvious?
men like small boobs?
I know, I was surprised too.
booger eater smart intelligence?
If so, you are clearly not a booger eater
whats the kind of things that come out of dog vaginas?
If I'm not mistaken, they're called puppies.
phallic kids drawing teacher?
I always feel bad for those phallic kids
where do you put a tampon in?
Generally the bathroom
how did the north carolina get its names?
Carolina was to honor Charles IX of France. Not sure where the North part comes from.
anyone tried innuendo for sex?
It's not as good but the clean up can be way easier.
sibling vulva differences?
Well, one is a person and the other is a part of a person.
why aren't eyebrows identical?
The majority of eyebrows are in fact fraternal
Why spelling counts
beautiful buts
"...but I will do the dishes for you after rubbing your feet, my pregnant wife."
silicone verses latex nipples
Pure poetry
tonight im going to part like its 1999
See also: Midwestern Hair
the bleeding hearts media
See also: Gardening blogs
beau chevaux hair salon
For your horse? Or yourself?
i need somthing funny to write one a bosses birthday card
"Dear boss, I deserve a raise. Happy birthday"
Sorry, can't resist
Mens room icon
Larry Craig
quaker oatmeal tragedy
"And then the small, slippery grain spilled out of the box and across the floor killing two puppies"
gloria steinem hates feminism
Just like Marx hated Marxism. He was tricky that way.
bladder song
Track #7 on the Red, Hot + Essential Organs compilation CD.
bras dent balls
That is a serious, serious bra
pesky unavailable callers from boa
One of the great problems of our day
boobs parasite creatures pregnant
I can only nod my head and agree.
retarded tuna
I believe the proper term is mentally challenged tuna.
Why must you taunt me?
worlds longest ingrown hair
Argh! You search for this every damn day you freak. If you haven't found it yet, maybe it's just not on my blog.


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We take running water for granted. Even though I went to junior high and high school with several people who had neither running water nor electricity on their properties, I have come to expect running water wherever I am in the U.S. Especially in my own house. It's not until you don't have it that you realize how convenient it is to turn on a faucet and not have to wonder if you're ever going to get anything out of it.
It's not like we've been living totally without water, but we lost 1/2 of our water pressure overnight about eight years ago after the City did some work on the water main in front of our house. A couple of months ago, our front yard got hit by lightning, and at that point, we lost what little pressure we had until then. The hot water still worked because it was being slowly accumulated overnight in the water heater, but we had no cold water in the kitchen, and the water in the bathroom was just a weak stream.
All this is to say that over the past two days we've had our house entirely re-plumbed. I hadn't realized how deprived we'd been until I turned on the kitchen faucet yesterday and WATER CAME OUT OF THE SPOUT. How did the plumber make that happen? We have water in our kitchen sink AND our bathroom sink AND even in our toilet. Do you realize it's not supposed to take 10 minutes for the tank to fill, or 30 minutes to fill the washing machine? For the past eight years, we've been wasting all this time waiting, waiting, waiting on water, and it turns out a couple of thousand bucks and a good plumber could have fixed it for us in 48 hours.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Posted by JR at 7:09 PM
Labels: Miscellaneous
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Harlequin Romantic Suspense Author Melissa Cutler shares the inspiration for the black ops soldier hero of her June release, TEMPTED INTO DANGER
ICE Special Agent Diego Santero first appeared on the page in my 2012 book Seduction Under Fire. Before his first scene, I'd already set him up as a Puerto Rican-American and one of the best black ops agents in the world, but I had no idea until he swaggered into the room that he was going to be a profanity spouting Jersey boy with a short fuse and a biting sense of humor. Color me surprised.
When I set out to find an inspirational picture of Diego to share with the Harlequin art department to help them out while designing a book cover, I already had a clear picture of him in my head (and he was hella hot!). First, I googled "Puerto Rican models" and there wasn't a huge selection. The most notable was Carlos Ponce. Sexy, right? Well, in this picture, anyway. But then I found out he played the long haired, skinny dipping, horny yoga instructor in the movie Couples Retreat. Remember that guy?
Next I googled "Puerto Rican men" to broaden the search. Look who Google came up with: Ricky Martin, looking ever so fine.
I was perfectly content with Ricky Martin as Diego—albeit a foul mouthed, foul tempted
Jersey accent sporting
black ops soldier version of Ricky—until I saw this guy on Pinterest. I don't
even know who this guy is, but I'm in love. He is the perfect Diego Santero and
exactly matches the image in my imagination. So yummy! This is the kind of guy
I'd want protecting me if I had to go on the run in the jungle
with a bunch of bad guys on my tail. Wouldn't you agree? Panama
The Harlequin art department did a phenomenal job on the book cover. They captured one of my favorite sexy scenes in the book and came up with a great model to represent Diego (that shoulder! that hand!). I can't wait for you to meet Diego Santero for yourself.
Tempted into Danger is available all over:
Check out TEMPTED on Goodreads, too:
My thanks to the Pink Heart Society for having me on Male on Monday. I love hearing from readers and am really easy to find at www.melissacutler.net, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/MelissaCutlerBooks ), and Twitter (@m_cutler). And you can always email me at email@example.com or sign up for my newsletter (http://www.melissacutler.net/newsletter/) to find out about my latest books and upcoming events.
Bio: Melissa Cutler is a flip-flop wearing Southern California native living with her family in beautiful
. In 2008, she decided to take her
romance novel devotion to the next level by penning one herself. She now
divides her time between her dual passions for writing sexy, small town
contemporaries for Kensington Books and edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense for
Harlequin. San Diego


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Pens v Sens: Game 5, or 'I think I need a hug'
I'm about a nine.
Why only a nine, you ask? Well, possibly because I'm not suspended by my underwear from four stories, but mostly because I think next year will be better.
Sure, it sucks losing, and I'd like to reference this picture to show my post-game reaction (fairly accurate, even though I'm no longer a blonde. Just put tears of dejection and hopelessness on her cheeks and a Pens jersey on and we're all set), but as I said before: the Pens went farther, did more, than anyone gave them credit for being capable of at the beginning of the season. They rose up to the challenge, although not as much as I'd really like (or they would, I bet), but they came and gave Ottawa a run for their money on their way to the next round. The Senators were simply an unreal team, they were everywhere the puck was, or was even going to be, they were faster, more accurate, had a stronger defense and play action than the Pens did. It's just the way it is, and I congratulate them on their win.
In terms of the Penguins, I'd just like to point out one thing: this was their debutante party. Yes yes, I've heard it all before too, but just sit down and think about this for a moment. Most of the guys on that team are just beginning their careers or coming into their own as a hockey player and have a lot more game left in them. Sure, you can say all you want about empty comfort for a losing team, and yes, they need to keep them together, but we all can imagine what that bunch of guys are going to look like in 3 years, if that. Let that digest and contemplate again that this was their start. Good. Now think about what they're going to be like next year, and the year after that. Scared yet? If you're not a Pens fan, you should be.
That said, I can't wait to start cheering for the Sens' fiery demise in the second round. I'd hate to let all of the Ottawa jokes I've thought up go to waste, after all.


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Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
January 22, 2012 by TheBoyAndMe
Red Rose Mummy says
January 22, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Great self portrait by The Boy there!
TheBoyAndMe says
January 28, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Not the best shot, but it's the only one in focus that he took this week!
Notmyyearoff says
January 23, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Ahh did he take this? Very well done!
He did, not the most attractive shot though!


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My Story Conference – the second edition!
The second edition of My Story Conference will take place at Impact HUB Bucuresti, starting with 2 PM, on May 16 th 2015. The destiny has no connections with Chance, but with the Choice; we are not waiting for him, we chose to make him became true.
We Draw Your Future Association (DVT) is a non-governmental association founded by Visinel Balan, an young man who once he left the foster home he assumed the mission of achieving an independent life skills consolidation mechanism for institutionalized youth from Romania and founding the first Youth Center in which the mechanism mentioned above will be applied.
We truly believe that society can be develop through and by the young people's support and we want to have near us as many of them as possible. We offer to everybody the chance to learn how to see life, how to know each other, how to develop, how to let their dreams to be higher than fears and actions which are stronger than words.
My Story Conference is a community empowerment demarche, unique in Romani, undertaken by We Draw Your Future Association (DVT) with the support of Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), Impact HUB Bucuresti, Black Hat Production, Decat o revista, FEDEREII –Adult Association from Orphanages and Perso.RO.
We plan to pun in foreground the life stories of people who left the foster home with the purpose to create in collective mind a place for institutionalized child, in order to make it more visible and to decrease from the stigma attached to social condition. The institutionalized child is in the collective mind, a marginal, so that in his evolution in the socio –affective plan, he becomes more aware of it.
He child protection system does not prove to be quite effective in offering him a personal development direction. This is one of the reasons why we want more young people aged more than 13 years old from the Child Protection System to participate at My Story Conference. Also, this Conference is for those who at a certain time were part of this system and who were raised in a foster home.
This year's edition will be held inside the Impact HUB Bucuresti, from 14:00. The event will be held in an artistic opening of Alma Nicole artist – winner of the competition 8 in a boat at TVR.
The first component of the conference will put in foreground the life stories of those people who left turn from a foster home. The main purpose is to decrease form the stigma attached to the social condition, through courage, support and motivation. A total of three speakers will hold the conference: Vasile Porumbaru (Chairman of the Future Youth Association)–"Color, appearance …, does it matter when you want to make a purpose in life?"; Ionut Ursu (medical volunteer ambulance) –"Foster home –it doesn't represent m. I mean more than that…"and Ana Maria Ciobanu (reporter at "Decat o revista"magazine) –"In the last few years we wrote the stories of many young people from foster home …all of them were afraid not to be introduce as some victims … actually, we found out how strong they are."We want to tell "children woke stories",to prove them that the fact they are in a social content different than the cultural ideal, it doesn't mean they are inferior to society. The second component of the conference is represented by theater workshop, in which the participants will tell their life experience/story. Starting from everyone's dream, we will try to make a workshop objective. Another moment was the meeting with Melania Medeleanu TV presenter, who held a public speaking course for the three speakers and to the moderator. In order to participate as a speaker, the participants answered to our previous challenge to fill in the registration form.
Sometimes you have the impression that everything is ended up, life offers you a new beginning. You cannot come back in time to make a new beginning, but today you can start to build your future. My Story Conference can be the start that will help us to make the final we want – stimulating and strengthening life skills.What we get at the right moment is a dream came true.


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LONDON — Producer Damon Bryant has left Natural Nylon, the film production company he co-founded with Ewan McGregor, Jude Law and Jonny Lee Miller.
Decision follows his recovery from a long illness, which drastically curtailed his involvement in the company for two years.
Bryant will produce movies under his own banner, starting with two projects he is taking from Natural Nylon — "Marlowe," to be directed by John Maybury, and "White Clouds," helmed by Alison Maclean.
Both projects were developed with Andras Hamori and Alliance Atlantis. Bryant has a long-standing relationship with Hamori, with whom he co-produced "Owning Mahowny" for Alliance and "Max" for Pathe.
'Air' optioned
Bryant also has optioned Iain Banks' latest novel, "Dead Air," and tapped Roger Gray to write the screenplay.
He remains a 30% shareholder in Natural Nylon, which will continue to develop its own slate of movie projects under the management of Bradley Adams.
Bryant said: "Over the past months I have realized just how much time and energy I've been spending on management chores rather than the creative side of filmmaking. After much debate, I am delighted that the partners have amicably agreed that I can move on."


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Read More UMBC News Blog Stories
January 30, 1998
BALTIMORE - The Phoenix Dance Company, a professional group in residence at UMBC, will present a program highlighting the human experience through a variety of art forms at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, February 11, 12, 13 and 14. The group will perform in UMBC's Fine Arts Studio 317; admission is $10 general and $6 for students and seniors.
Hailed as a bold, ambitious artist" by the Washington Post, Doug Hamby brings his experimental choreographic style to this performance in Walk to Heaven, a score written by Nino Rota for filmmaker Federico Fellini. Hamby also collaborates with intermedia artist Steve Bradley in the premiere of an untitled work which juxtaposes dance, video and music. The piece explores Chaos Theory in its use of video to create an environment for thematically unrelated dance. Three dancers adorned in white costumes symbolic of video screens create the impression that they are only semi-human among the multimedia images which surround them.
Other works on the night's program include the premiere of Carol Hess' Shooting Gallery which explores a male-female relationship using dance and video images. The Baltimore premiere of Two by Eartha by Irene Hultman features Sandra Lacy with music performed by Eartha Kitt.
For more information on this performance please call 410.455.6240 or visit Arts .
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Posted by dwinds1 at January 30, 1998 12:00 AM


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Samsung Galaxy Tab Verizon Launch …Thursday?
It appears that Verizon Wireless will be announcing on September 16th a partnership with Samsung to carry the Samsung Galaxy Tab. This will also be the same day that Samsung hold their event. Again, the Samsung Galaxy tab is rumored to be on Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, and come packed with, Android 2.2, Adobe Flash 10.1, a 3 MP camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 7" Screen. Are you buying?
[source link="http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/09/14/verizon-wireless-samsung-tab-gets-unofficially-official/"]BGR[/source]
Tags: 3g, 4g, android, Apple, apple ipad, att, chart, comparison, galaxy, galaxy tab, ios, ipad, iPhone, Samsung, samsung galaxy tab, sprint, Steve Jobs, t-mobile, tab, tablet, tmobile, verizon, verizon wireless, versus, VZW, WiMAX