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I spent some time thinking idly this morning - always a dangerous activity! Yesterday I watched a video interview of Sir Ken Robinson in France - he spoke in English with French sub-titles.
Here it is: Créativité avec Sir Ken Robinson
I don't intend to engage with his ideas on creativity here, but simply to note as a cultural historian that 'creativity' is an interesting concept to engage with in the study of religion. Dr. Robinson [notice my segue into Brit style determination to use proper titles! To go off on a wild tangent - I recall in the early 70s, English newspapers referring to Fidel Castro as Dr. Castro because he had an honorary doctorate...] Anyway.... I don't intend to engage with his contention that every human is creative, but that our schools squash that over time. What I do intend to engage with is that some people are indeed creative in different ways.
I am not either, going to get into the debate over creativity in terms of Catholic vs. Protestant - Weber has fierce and pointed critics enough here. But, this morning I was mentally caressing the Robinson video and up popped Martin Luther into my mind. He was religiously creative. That is, he took existing elements of western Christianity, aka Roman Catholicism, and moved the pieces around, gave new emphasis to some, and rejected others to create a new form. I am also avoiding another debate here - was his new form actually an old form reborn as he claimed? Anyway, it was new and creative within the context of the 16th century. His creation caused the then standard form to become creative itself and move around bits and pieces and rejig generally.
Then, of course, I thought of J.R.R. Tolkien. Why, you might ask? Well, Tolkien insisted that we humans are not creative in an essential sense, but rather we are sub-creative. That is, we re-arrange already created elements of this world. We do not do anything 'de nihilo' [for those Latin-challenged who might happen to arrive at this blog - this means loosely translated, 'out of nothing']. Even if you go down to the physical level of quarks.. or atoms etc... they exist already.... to use modern advertising parlance, they are pre-enjoyed. We merely alter them to sub-create. If indeed, we humans are made in the image of God, the creator, then of course we must sub-create as a function of our very essence as human.
There is a battle over to what degree should we change anything? What, if anything, is left sacrosanct, and what is allowable in terms of change...
My next set of ruminations looked at the tendency of the 'western' world to give special privilege to creativity in all areas - not without protest! That is the essence of what we call conservativism - meaning simply to conserve....and there is a constant tension between liberalism - the tendency to liberate ideas from constraints and conservatism, the tendency to conserve and change as little as necessary. Both are human traits.... but we honour the sub-creators generally over the conservators.
Anyway... off to more mundane tasks now that I would love to change... but alas, cannot...


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There are countless online stores these days which are selling products online of all kinds. And everyone wants to join in on the party and set up their business online. Whether it is expanding an already existing business online or making a complete set up; there are countless people adding themselves into the mix of selling products online.
There are thousands of people who want to set up their businesses online however do not know where to start. There are countless routes to take and places to set up your business online, the amount of choices one has at times makes the entire process fairly daunting. Hence it is a good idea to take a deep breath and look at what options you have and then choose the one which is best suited for you and the kind of products you want to sell online. So here are a few ways you can set up your online store:
Your Own Website
This is one of the most commonly taken route; building your own website. A lot of times people find this daunting since they do not know a lot about how to set up a website hence it makes them nervous but other people can be hired to set up a website. And if you want to do it yourself, these days there are tools such as online builder which help you set up your own website. You can follow the easy step by step guide and set up your own website where you can go ahead and easily be selling your products online. This might require that you purchase a domain name and other services as well injunction to the online store builder in case they do not provide that service. We recommend Shopify for this manner!
Major Shopping Websites
There are tons of shopping websites which are huge already existent online. These online businesses usually allow independent retailers to sell their products on their website. Websites such as Shopify, Etsy, AliExpress and more have store for different individual business which have a platform through their website. This means you already have the vast audience such online stores have and thus will not need to set up an independent website. Instead of setting up an entire business online, you just need to create online store on an already giant retailing website.
Social Media
Something which has become increasingly popular these days is people setting up stores on social media platforms, usually on Facebook. People establish pages for their home-based businesses on Facebook and post images of their product offerings and how much the product costs. This means you do not have to navigate through technical aspects of other websites or of using an online store builder to set up the website yourself but have to navigate through the already familiar waters of Facebook. Selling products online can be done through multiple means and depends on what you are comfortable with.
What you need to see is the scale of your online store and how you can best sell your products online. The demographics for your product or services should be kept in mind when setting up the online store so you can set the business online on a medium which will be more preferred and easily navigable for your target market as well. You should also keep in mind the scale of your online business as well as your budget since both things will factor into you making a final call and decision regarding what option you should choose for setting up your online business.
You are brimming with knowledge about a certain subject, and are willing to share with others. You get hold of the software that you might need and spend your days and nights in creating the [...]
The Rise of the Online Store Builder in 2017
Are you looking to build a business online that sells products? Well, you are on the right place – in this article we`ll talk about the rise and improvements of the online store builders in [...]
How to Build an Online Store?
To build an online store, you begin with creating your domain name. Try to choose a domain name that is easy to remember and catchy. Use a name that is unique so that you know [...]

subset: commoncrawl


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My son just came up and sang me twinkle twinkle little star to make my headache feel better. Can I get an "Aw" from the crowd?!
That is the child that is going to take care of me when I'm old and feeble.
The Almighty Liz
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
2 comments:
- Dana Cheryl said...
awwwwwwww... How sweet is that?! You'll definitely be in good hands in your latter years. :)
- October 27, 2010 at 11:03 AM
- timpani76 said...
My kids already take care of me (and help with Sorsha). What a sweet little guy!
- October 27, 2010 at 5:18 PM
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Published: 2009/02/18
Dave Twitters About Album Delay
The forthcoming Dave Matthews Band disc had been set for an April 14 release. However, as Matthews indicated earlier today via Twitter, the new recording may not see the light of day until a bit later in the year. Matthews reports, 'The album will probably be a little late. But not for a lack of effort. Work work work. Today I am not fond of myself. Ugh. Good music tho.' Dave Matthews Band will open their spring tour at Madison Square Garden on April 14.


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Most pundits agree that Mitt Romney isn't going to win this election because he's Mitt Romney, but because he is not Barack Obama. Obama-hatred is supposedly going to spur Republicans to support a milque-toast nominee.
Obama supporters, on the other hand, are theoretically going to vote for their man because they still feel the hope and the change and want to move forward.
But what if this thinking is wrong? What if some Obama voters are, likewise, going to be motivated by antipathy for the opponent?
A recent CNN/ORC poll found that a quarter of Obama voters were not voting for the president, but against his opponent. A Suffolk poll in the swing state of Florida also found that a quarter of Obama supporters are more against Romney than for Obama.
This proportion is lower than those Romney voters who are more against Obama than for Romney, but it is still a sizeable one. These anti-Romney voters, as my colleague Paul Harris reports, are likely motivated by Romney's positions on the bailouts, taxes, and just his overall perceived elitist character.
My advice to Obama is that he should play to this constituency. There is a long-held belief that negative campaigning hurts turnout. You hear voters say, time and time again, that they don't like negative campaigns. But that really isn't borne out by the facts.
Studies indicate that negative campaigning not only increases campaign contributions to the person doing the negative advertising, but it also increases turnout for the person doing the negative advertising, in comparison with the same candidate providing a positive message. Obama's victory in 2008 was propelled by record turnout among young and minority voters, and he would greatly benefit from garnering this high turnout again – by any means necessary.
Obama probably does not have a choice when it comes to playing in the mud. His net (approve-disapprove) job approval ratings are underwater at -0.6%. His net approval rating in polls among likely voters is -4%. These are not the numbers you normally associate with incumbents who get re-elected.
Over the last eight election cycles, however, candidates' favorable ratings are better correlated than net approval with the final outcome in a race. The presidential candidate with the higher favorable rating wins tends to win. Obama's net favorable rating is currently +3.3%, while Romney's lags at -7.4%.
Given these numbers, it's not surprising that there seem to be signs that Obama is polling better against Romney among at least one core constituency than his approvals would indicate: Latinos. As Electionate found, Obama is polling against Romney among Latinos at about 5 percentage points above his approval rating. Latinos continue to voice frustration with Obama's lack of progress on immigration reform, but they are likely turned off by Romney's harsh stance on undocumented immigration.
The 5-point difference is not huge, given that Latinos only make up a small percentage of the total electorate, but it could be significant because many Latino voters are in the swing states of the south-west, where immigration continues to be a hot-button issue. Two years ago, south-western Latino voters played the pivotal role at re-electing Democratic incumbents Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. About 30% of Latino voters (above the national Latino average of 18% in voting for the Senate) who voted for Bennet or Reid stated that their vote was against the Republican rather than for the Democrat.
Obama is unlikely to win the 2012 election if his net approval is lower than -4%. If, however, the race is close, Obama might greatly benefit by winning those voters who may not be for him, but are against the other guy. Going negative could prove positive.


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New Fasting Moon
**** **** **** **** **** **** ****
Have you seen the moon these last few nights? We're a week into the new moon and it has been a lovely little crescent hanging in the western sky in the early evenings. I had a rough day at school early this week but when I walked out of the building at 5pm, I saw the fingernail moon peeking out from between some fluffy clouds. I watched it all evening as I drove home and took the dog for a walk and it was like a beacon to remind me of the beauty of the day even in the midst of all the hard. Last night I was treated to an even better show; the crescent moon and two bright planets! Venus and Jupiter were shining out the haze of an
approaching storm. Apparently, Venus and Jupiter will be getting closer and closer together as the month goes by and Mercury can be seen right behind the setting sun, and soon Mars will be visible rising in the East in the early evenings. What a great way to start a month!
|by Pierre J.
As I was preparing to write the blog post I went back to review my posts from the winter and read the chapter in Annette Hinshaw's Earth Time Moon Time for the upcoming month. I couldn't figure out why the months in the book weren't lining up with the months in my blog and then I realized - I messed up my calendar! Sometime during the Sorting Moon I skipped a month and have been off all winter. When I thought it was the Birth Moon it was really the Death Moon. Eep!
To fix the mess I reviewed all my posts and decided which I could just put new tags on, and which I needed to just call a mess and leave it at that. All the posts that are tagged incorrectly or talk about a month that is not the actual month it was written in are now labeled with the tag "wrong moon."
|by meglet247
Besides being embarrassing that I messed up, this situation brings to the forefront the question of how real are the moon energies anyway? I just saw a video of Bill Nye discrediting astrology by invoking the fact that the axis of the earth has wobbled in the last 3,000 years. This means that the sun rise on your birthday is in a different constellation than your astrological sign. That is true, but it discounts the non-material truth of the astrological archetypes. Being a Virgo is a way of thinking about the complexity that is my personality and life, not some material truth like the fact that every gold molecule has 79 protons or water freezes at 0 degrees centigrade. The moon energies of Annette Hinshaw's calendar are archetypes too, not astronomical truths.
This winter I had a really rough time with school and student teaching. I had to do a lot of searching in the deep truths of my moral and theological universe to find ways to cope with the challenges I was facing. The archetype of the Birth Moon, a time when the new year is very young and faces all the challenges of a new born baby, helped me find some meaning in my own challenges. Does it matter that the time I was going through these challenges was actually the Death Moon? My answer is no, it does not.
Archetypes, myths, stories and images are tools for thinking that are not strictly aligned with the physical, material world. Would it have mattered if I looked to tarot or Sabian symbols instead of moon energies? What if I'd been looking at the Parables of Jesus or Koranic suras for my inspiration? Can you only look at the story of the passover during the spring and it holds no meaning at other times of the year? In my way of thinking, the moon energies are well aligned with the
|Earthrise, a NASA photo
seasons they occur in, like the passover story, but they are not rigidly linked. The story of Yaweh choosing his people and letting his plague pass them over is a powerful one, even when you tell it in the deep winter.
So, yes, it's disconcerting to think that I was getting ready to celebrate the spring joy of the Seed Moon when in fact I have a whole Fasting Moon to get through. I have never been fond of the Fasting Moon, but I guess that means I have some more work to do with these archetypical energies. It's leap day this week, a time for readjusting our thinking about time. I'll be readjusting to thinking about the Fasting Moon for another few weeks and letting spring creep slowly on instead of rushing full force into it.
When have you made a mistake that made you think more deeply about what you were doing? When have you had to readjust your thinking about something? How have you been enjoying the astronomical show in the sky, or the botanical show starting to make itself known in the garden?
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New Fasting Moon 2009: The Fasting Moon is New and New Fasting Moon Photo
New Fasting Moon 2010: Spring is Springing
New Fasting Moon 2011: The Nian


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Just wanted to share this recipe today from Betty Crocker that I tried out for Key Lime Cupcakes. I had a lemon cake mix I needed to use up so I gave these a try. I didn't alter the recipe any. I didn't add any food coloring either. The lime jello give it plenty of green color.
Hop over to the Betty Crocker site for the recipe.


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Angelina Jolie Beats Jennifer Aniston To Be Celebrity Face Of The Year
And guess who is in second place? That right: Brad Pitt ex-wife, Ms Jennifer Aniston. That right, people: Angelina Jolie beat Jennifer Aniston. Forbes took over the American tabloid and magazine market - and discovered that the face most likely to sell is Mags to Brad Pitt wife. Not in life, you understand - but in the realm of celebrity magazines. (Shakes fist at the sky and shouts, youoou Angeliiiinaaaa Damn! )..


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Lauren London and Cassie stopped by MTV's "Sucker Free" on October 17th to talk about Sean John's women's line. Both women are spokesmodels for the line and both of them looked beautiful at the taping. Lauren's outfit is really cute, especially the shoes...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Cassie & Lauren London on "Sucker Free"...
Posted by Dee at 4:50 PM
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text:
By Amanda Becker and Emily Stephenson
PITTSBURGH/SARASOTA Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump crisscrossed the country on Monday as they raced to sway undecided voters in a tight U.S. presidential race that has Clinton with a narrow lead according to opinion polls.With only one day left before Election Day, the Clinton campaign was boosted by Sunday's unexpected FBI announcement that it stood by its July decision not to press any criminal charges in an investigation of Clinton's email practices.A Fox News opinion poll on Monday had former Secretary of State Clinton leading Trump, a wealthy New York real estate developer, by four percentage points among likely voters.Financial markets brightened on Monday in reaction to the latest twists in what has been a roller-coaster presidential campaign. Stocks and the dollar posted their biggest gains in weeks after Sunday's FBI announcement.In early trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 243 points, or 1.36 percent, at 18,131.33.Opinion polls show a close race, but tilting toward Clinton. Major bookmakers and online exchanges were more confident than public opinion polling that Clinton will win Tuesday's election.Predictit put Clinton's chances of capturing the White House at 81 percent.Both Clinton and Trump will spend the day racing across a handful of battleground states that could swing the election, given the Electoral College system that awards the White House on the basis of state-by-state wins.Trump was scheduled to hold his first campaign appearance of the day in Sarasota, Florida, where he and Clinton have been locked in a tough battle in a state with a large Hispanic-American voting population.
He was also heading to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan, closing with a late-night rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.COMEY SURPRISE
FBI Director James Comey again sent shockwaves through the race by telling Congress on Sunday that investigators had worked around the clock to complete a review of newly discovered emails and found no reason to change their July finding that there was no criminal wrongdoing in Clinton's use of a private email server, rather than a government system, while she was secretary of state from 2009-2013.It was uncertain whether the announcement came in time to change voters' minds or undo any damage from days of Republican attacks on Clinton as corrupt. Tens of millions of Americans had cast early votes in the 10 days since Comey first told Congress of the newly discovered emails.
"Nothing's going to change between today and tomorrow to help [Clinton] win back" undecided voters," Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on ABC's "Good Morning America."Trump, who drew wide criticism last month when he said the election was rigged against him and that he would not yet commit to respecting the outcome, questioned the thoroughness of the FBI review and said the issue would not go away.Clinton did not mention the FBI finding during her last two campaign events on Sunday. "That's behind us now," campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN on Monday.
Clinton was to make two stops in Pennsylvania and visit Michigan on Monday before wrapping up with a midnight rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was to appear at an evening rally at Philadelphia's Independence Hall with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, as well as rock star Bruce Springsteen.Clinton, speaking briefly to reporters before boarding her campaign plane in Pittsburgh, pressed her commitment to bringing the country together."I think that these splits, these divides that have been not only exposed but exacerbated by the campaign on the other side are ones that we really do have to ... bring the country together," Clinton said.Asked if she would be able to heal the country after such a divisive election season, Clinton said, "Absolutely."Markets have tended to see Clinton as the status quo candidate, with more uncertainty over Trump, and news favoring her bid often boosts investors' risk appetite. Global financial markets slipped last week as opinion polls showed the presidential race tightening. News of the renewed FBI investigation had appeared to fuel a slide in Clinton's poll numbers since late October. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Clinton with a 5 percentage point lead over the New York businessman nationally - 44 percent to 39 percent support - while races in the swing states of Florida and North Carolina shifted from favoring Clinton to being too close to call.Clinton held a 4-point lead in the ABC/Washington Post poll and a CBS news poll released on Monday. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by John Whitesides and Richard Cowan; Editing by Frances Kerry)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Updated Date: Nov 07, 2016 21:46 PM


text: i'm not a big fan of thighs unless they're deep fried. in fact, i remember responding to a thread a while back and the OP had the same issue. the other day i made stock with organic thighs. now i'm stuck with a bunch of boiled thigh meat. i thought boiling them would get the gaminess out but i'm afraid it's enhanced the flavor. is there anything i can do with them before i toss a bunch of decent meat out. i wish i had a dog!


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|Screenshot via YouTube shows the confrontation.
"The actions and words captured on video of MU students and staff are disappointing to advocates of free speech and the First Amendment," said MPA President Jim Robertson, managing editor of the Columbia Daily Tribune, one of two daily papers in the town, along with the Missouri student paper. MPA has 275 member newspapers.
"Public areas on the university campus are public for all individuals and the attempts by some to keep media from documenting the protests show a disturbing misunderstanding of how the First Amendment protects all individuals' rights and freedoms," Robertson said. "The university is a taxpayer-funded institution representing not only the students who currently attend, but alumni everywhere and residents of the state at large. Student photographer Tim Tai should be commended for not only defending his First Amendment rights to document the student and faculty protests on the MU campus, but doing so in such a manner as to avoid escalating tension."
Tai, 20, was on a freelance assignment for ESPN. When he took photos of the protesters' tent city on campus, surrounded by a ring of protesters attempting to create a "media-free zone," some of them restricting his access and pushed him away. He "reminded protesters of his First Amendment right to be present and to document the events taking place," MPA notes. "The Missouri Press Association fully supports Tai's First Amendment stance and reminds people that access to public space, such as the grounds of a university funded by taxpayers, is available to all citizens, without prejudice."
A six-and-a-half-minute video of the confrontation, shot by Mark Schierbecker can be viewed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRlRAyulN4o.


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Patricia 40s Floral Blouse is a true vintage style top with long cuffed sleeves, an open collar, and a pointed back yoke. Our bespoke 40s Floral fabric is a traditional flower print with blossom and foliage. Why not wear tucked in to a plain pencil skirt?
Fit is true to size.
Fabric: 100% Polyester
Washing Advice: Machine Washable at 30 Degrees.
Check out our full Delivery & Returns Policy or our FAQs.


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Harrington, who was the third overall pick in the NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions this year and was a finalist for the 2002 Heisman Memorial Trophy, will appear on the cover of NCAA Football 2003, the latest iteration of the award-winning college football series. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"This has been a very exciting year for me and being on the cover of NCAA Football 2003 is a huge thrill," said Harrington. "I'm a big fan of video games and never imagined I would ever be on the cover of one. EA is known for making the best games and it is an honor that they chose me to be on theirs." Harrington's image will appear on all NCAA Football 2003 packaging and merchandising.
Harrington helped the Oregon Ducks win the 2001 Pacific 10 Conference title and led the team to victory in the Fiesta Bowl in 2002. Harrington, the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, threw for 2,414 yards and 23 touchdowns as a senior, the second-highest single season total in school history.
NCAA Football 2003 relives the intensity, pageantry and spirit of college football and celebrates the loyalty and tradition of college football's storied football programs. NCAA Football 2003 will be available on the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft and the Nintendo GameCube in July.
EA SPORTS is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world. Its top-selling titles and franchises include John Madden Football, FIFA Soccer, NHL Hockey, NBA Live Basketball, Triple Play Baseball, NCAA Football and NASCAR Thunder.


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I WISH there were 100 days of "summer"! Alas, summer, as defined by Kevin, is from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next, and there are only 74 days between the two. 74 days of relaxing, unstructured freedom. Days to fill with swimming and board games (Bananagrams and Spongebob Monopoly are faves), a vacation to the beach (Disney this year), sleeping in and staying up late. Days without school. And in case I didn't emphasize it enough, DAYS WITHOUT SCHOOL! Yep...100 such days would be nice, but I'm sorta looking forward to the routines of fall. (Did I say that?!)
Supplies: Patterned paper-Simple Stories (100 Days of Summer collection), BasicGrey, Lace cardstock-KI Memories, Stickers-Simple Stories, Bingo Card-Jenni Bowlin, Chipboard letters-American Crafts, Letter stickers-BasicGrey.
The two little girls in the photos below are my daughters, now 28 and 30! I recently came across these photos from a company "picnic" on the beach in Biloxi. The kids swam in the murky gulf water while the adults played volleyball in the sand. Fun times.
Supplies: Patterned paper-Simple Stories (100 Days of Summer collection), BasicGrey, diecut paper-BasicGrey, flower-Prima, dye ink.
Friday, August 12, 2011
100 Days of Summer-NOT
3 comments:
- Heidi Smith said...
I've been meaning to pick up these collections! you did great! love the second one.
- August 12, 2011 at 9:44 PM
- Susan Stringfellow said...
oh I have got to pull out these papers! I just love the way you punched the circles on the 74 days and I have to admit that that background scene had me pretty intimidated but I love the way you used it. Such a fun layout.
LOVE that summer banner overlapping that quote piece. The whole page just looks very refreshing and cool.
- August 13, 2011 at 11:42 AM
- Nancy Burke said...
Such fun and bright pages! You always have the best photos!
- August 19, 2011 at 11:06 PM
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text:
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 18 -- Hours after two senior US Administration officials bragged about what they Atrocities Prevention Board claims to have done in Burundi, President Obama nominated a new Ambassador to the country, Anne S. Casper.
Here's what the Senior Administration Officials (SAO) 1 and 2 said on may 18:
SAO 1: "Burundi would be our case in point, where years before the international community was seized of Burundi, we were concerned about the early warning signs of atrocity risk. We sent a team to go and examine the drivers and the potential for mitigation, doing their risk assessment. We put together a resource plan with some 7 million of programming – and this was three years ago – doing community leader training on conflict resolution, helping civil society with tools to monitor hate speech, to amplify messages of peace – those types of interventions. We also sent a prevention advisor to the embassy there to do more intensive analysis and we supported civil society assessments. And then we worked on the sticks piece as the situation evolved, eventually making it clear that we would be denying visas to those who ordered, planned, or perpetrated violence, and we coordinated with our European allies to reinforce this message.
"Obviously, the situation in Burundi has evolved to a place where it remains at significant risk for mass atrocities, but I think that we feel confident that we were working on this case earlier and in ways that have contributed to the relative – let me put this a different way – we have helped to mitigate the risks that civilians have been killed as the crisis has continued to unfold."
SAO 2: "It's given us the capacity to surge civilians into situations like Burundi to help develop action plans that have made us, I think, more effective at preventing mass violence there... the Democratic Republic of Congo would be a country where we want to make sure that as they approach this sort of big moment with upcoming elections, that that transition goes smoothly and doesn't descend into a – into the kind of problems that they've had there in the past."
One would have liked to ask about South Sudan. In full disclosure, Inner City Press has a Freedom of Information Act request long pending with the State Department about its Atrocities Prevention Board. See also,GAP, Vine and Vine.
With Burundi troops accused of raping children as part of UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous' MINUSCA mission in the Central African Republic, as well as accused of abuses in Burundi itself, a new funding question has arisen, involving Commerbank.
And the UN of Ban Ki-moon moved to evict Inner City Press, which is asking the question. It happened on April 16, video here and here (Periscope). The New York Times covered it on May 14, here.
On May 17, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric this question about Audace Nduwumusi -- a name conveniently left out of the UN transcript here.
On May 18, Inner City Press asked again, UN transcript here:
Spokesman: I'll be honest with you. I failed to get… I failed… I probably asked and I didn't have the answer. So, I will try to get you something tomorrow.
We'll see. Inner City Press previously published the leaked cable naiming Nduwumusi, here - and has been evicted by the UN, NYT here.
On May 11, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Dujarric, Vine here,UN transcript here.
Waiting for the Security Council, in which Ban Ki-moon's Herve Ladsous undermined proposal with a statement of delay the UN won't even confirm?
On May 4, Inner City Press at noon asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric to confirm or deny that Herve Ladsous told the Security Council it would take 18 months to deploy 3,000 to Burundi.
Inner City Press sources on this say it is troubling it would take the UN that long. Others surmise the Ladsous is trying to undermine the proposal by making it take so long, or saying it would take so long.
On May 3, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: on Burundi, various countries have spoken about the postponement of the talks that were supposed to begin in Arusha under ex-President [Benjamin] Mkapa. Does the UN have no involvement in them or no view of whether it's a good or bad thing that they were postponed?
Spokesman Dujarric: I don't have anything on Burundi.
That's an understatement.
On May 2, the US issued this:
"While the United States strongly supports the regionally mediated Burundi dialogue, led by former President Mkapa under the auspices of the East African Community, we are disappointed the scheduled dialogue did not resume today.
Postponement of this dialogue only serves to worsen a crisis that has already resulted in hundreds of lives lost, thousands injured, more than 260,000 Burundian refugees displaced, and a worsening economic situation.
We call upon all stakeholders to ensure the dialogue resumes immediately and to commit to participating without preconditions or redlines.
Burundi's political leaders owe it to their citizens to take concrete steps to resolve this crisis as soon as possible within the framework of the Arusha Accords, the foundation for peace and stability in Burundi. Now is the time for all parties to cease all violence and exercise restraint and engage in an inclusive and peaceful dialogue."
But will the US propose anything in the UN Security Council, or encourage the "penholder," France, to? On April 29, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman, video here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I've asked you several times about the reported non-payment of Burundian peacekeepers. I have now seen a document that more than $4 million has been transferred by DPKO (Department of Peacekeeping Operations) to the Commerce Bank account in Paris that I'd also asked you about. Have they gotten back to you about the multiple reports that this money, in fact, doesn't go to the peacekeepers?
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: You know, we pay the Governments, and we expect the Governments to ensure that the peacekeepers are given the money that is owed to them.
Inner City Press: And if you hear that they don't or find that they don't, what would you do?
Spokesman Dujarric: We would expect that they do, and I'm sure the issue would then be raised.
Since the UN and Ban Ki-moon are embroiled in their own bribery and corruption scandal, the issue was raised to Commerzbank, which replied:
"Please report potentially fraudulent activities to [Link]"
But Commerzbank's link to report fraud returns, "The document you requested does not exist on this server."
For a bank with legal duties, this is a problem, as is opening an account to receive the UN's Herve Ladsous' payments to Pierre Nkurunziza for troops accused of rape in the Central African Republic. We'll have more on this.
Update: after this Inner City Press story and complaint, Commerzbank belatedly fixed it s "Fraud" link. But what about the substantive behavior?
On April 22, after three separate screenings by UN security, Inner City Press was allowed to the photo op of Ban with Alain Aime Nyamitwe. Albert Shingiro was there too, taking his own smart phone photo. There was Jamal Benomar, and David Nabarro. Tweeted photo here. Periscope video here.
Outside there was Edmond Mulet, Ban's chief of staff who has received correspondence about the eviction of Inner City Press.
What would they discuss? Mugamba? (Since Ban's meeting, General Athanase Kararuza who spoke against the killing in Mugamba had been assassinated). Even more UNlikely, press freedom?
From the read-out below, it seems they did not discuss crimes against humanity, much less genocide. But here's what the International Criminal Court's Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on April 25, opening a preliminary examination -- note that the FIFA post offer to Pierre Nkurunziza, which Inner City Press exclusively reported in May 2015, here, well before Sepp Blatter's book, may be looking better and better to him)
On April 21, amid published reports of up to 150 people detained in Mugamba, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it. He said he hadn't heard of it but would check.
An hour after the briefing, this was sent to Inner City Press:
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply un.org
Date: Thu, Apr 21, 2016 at 1:46 PM
Subject: Your question on Burundi
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Cc: Stephane Dujarric [at] un.org
"Regarding your question at the noon briefing: Our human rights office was informed that on 20 April 2016, following a security incident that occurred in Mugamba commune, Bururi province (an exchange of gunfire between unidentified armed men and military elements, during which two people including a military lost their lives), three persons, including a teacher, were arrested by the police and detained in Mugamba police station. No charges were retained against them and they were finally released on 21 April 2016 following an intervention by the Regional police commissioner."
Is that all that happened?
Dujarric also at the April 21 briefing, when Inner City Press asked why its office has been seized - to be resold, it seems - while that of South South News, named in October 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as Ng Lan Seng's vehicle to bribe the UN, still has its office, said "You have been afforded quite a lot of courtesies." Like ouster by eight UN DSS guards? Five boxes of files dumped out onto First Avenue?
On April 20, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about hate speech, UN transcript here.
Inner City Press' sources say many opposition leaders are worried about Ban Ki-moon's typically waffling three-option report because "the report is a proposition to a dictator rather than being a decision against him... The corpse of Jean De Dieu Ndayikungurukiye who was stabbed and killed by Imbonerakure four months ago in Nairobi, is still in detention. According to family members and other Burundian Refugees in Nairobi, Burundian Embassy in Nairobi recommended this detention."
On April 12, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here.
Hours after these claims, and in retaliation, the UN sent Inner City Press an eviction notice for April 16, which despite push back they implemented.
Even as the European Union considers changes to it payments for Burundi peacekeepers in AMISOM in Somalia, so that less of the money is taken by the Nkurunziza government for repression, UN Peacekeeping under Ladsous and Maria Costa have made their pay-out to Nkurunziza's government - no longer through the Burundi National Bank but through a bank account in Paris, at Commerzbank.
On April 11, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about this: why is the money not being paid to the Burundi Central Bank? Would Ladsous pay to an offshore bank, in Antigua and Barbuda or Panama for example, without looking into it?
Dujarric said he does not have details on member states banking relations; he did not answer on offshore banks. Here are some photos,here.
On Burundi Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric on March 31 about the death in prison of Jacques Bihozagara.
Unlike several member states, but not the Security Council's penholder France, the UN had only this: "We obviously would hope that his death will be investigated in as much of a public manner as possible."
Now the inadequacy of the UN's response is even more clear in light of this report: "During his detention, Bihozagara was visited by several diplomats who were assured he was in safe custody. On Saturday night, reports indicated that Burundi official demanded that the deceased's family sign documents indicating that he died of natural causes or forget asking for the body."
On April 5, Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about it, UN transcript here.
We'll have more on the UN's actual position on that sort of practice, or these type of offers.
In a smaller but similar way, the UN on February 19 told Inner City Press that if it did not move eight years of investigative files out of its UN office, even the offer of a reduced non-Resident Correspondent accreditation would be withdrawn.
Now while threatening to throw or move everything out, the UN is making even more troubling "offers." Perhaps this is why the UN Secretariat cannot criticize Pierre Nkurunziza's Burundi; instead Ban Ki-moon praised Nkurunziza for half re-opening a mere two of four radio stations he closed. New low for the UN.
Ban Ki-moon, his deputy and chief of staff have received this sample letter to reverse Gallach's outrageous decisions, concluding, "Your decision to restore ICP's full accreditation and office will be highly appreciated by many Burundians crying out for peace and protection while promoting the freedom of press in Burundi." As of this writing, still no response from Ban.
On March 25, Inner City Press' sources reported to it that "Around 4 am today, heavily armed police surrounded the zone of Musaga, searched homes without warrants, arrested around five young men and killed an old man by shooting him purposeful on First Avenue Musaga. Among the arrested young men, two are related as a sister and a brother -- the shocking story behind these two is that the old brother Arnaud was shot and killed by the police during the demonstration."
Meanwhile to cut off further protests, the government is regulating SIM cards - and, some say, the French firm SG2 may be engaged in wire tapping in Burundi: "several technicians of local companies have confided that: 'We were obliged to provide SG2 with some 200 free numbers and to authorize their technicians to access our networks. They connected their own systems. We are sure that they have the technology to carry out phone-tapping.' Since the introduction of this system, international calls to Burundi have become very expensive, and Burundians in the diaspora now choose to use Skype or other calling systems (Viber, WhatsApp, etc). Soon people will do this for local calls as well, to avoid being tapped."
Again, no UN comment on surveillance? Well, this is from an Organization which got its favored correspondents to give it their cell phone footage to try to eject the Press on a pretext.
When Burundi was belatedly discussed at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 22, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns urged the government of Pierre Nkurunziza against reprisals on those who talk with the UN Panel of Experts. But how will that be enforced?
The United States for its part said Burundi should "lift all undue restrictions on the media." It's a fine sentiment - but the US Mission to the UN has been asked, by the DC-based Government Accountability Project, to ensure that the UN lifts restrictions on Inner City Press which covers, along with UN corruption, Western Sahara and Burundi. GAP Letter here.
On March 22, Inner City Press was entirely unnecessarily restricted from reaching the UN Security Council stakeout to cover a meeting on Western Sahara, Periscope on YouTube here. What will the US Mission do?
In Geneva, Heyns had to leave; Rwanda and South Africa were added to the speakers' list, but only for the afternoon session. Watch this site.
A week ago Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, about UN (in) action in Burundi. UN transcript here.
A week later from Dujarric, who threw Inner City Press out of the UN Press Briefing Room, there has been no answer, as on so many Press questions to Ban Ki-moon's UN on Burundi. So on March 21, Inner City Press asked Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq, UN transcript here.
As Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza government stepped up the killing and censorship of opponents, its lobbyists in the U.S. capital, Scribe Strategies, were paid $60,000 to among other things set up interviews with US-government broadcaster Voice of America and the French government's France 24.
Nkurunziza's party the CNDD-FDD paid Scribe Strategies $59,980 on November 10, 2015. Scribes has this month disclosed, for the six month period ending January 31, 2016, that in exchange for this money it arranged for example for Nkurunziza's adviser to be "interviewed" on Voice of America and France 24.
Scribe Strategies also, during the reporting period, was paid to arrange for Sam Kutesa, a former President of the General Assembly who was involved with many of the same donors named in the corruption case against his predecessor John Ashe, to be "interviewed" by Voice of America about his tenure as PGA, during which he was as now foreign minister of Uganda.
Inner City Press has covered not only the John Ashe / Ng Lap Seng / Frank Lorenzo / Sheri Yan corruption case, but also Kutesa's dealings with the highest reaches of Ban Ki-moon's UN Secretariat, for example here and here.
On February 19, Inner City Press was thrown out of the UN on two hours notice. Audio and petition here. On February 22 Inner City Press was told it was Banned from all UN premises. After three days reporting on the UN from the park in front of it, and stories in BuzzFeed andBusiness Insider, Inner City Press re-entered the UN on a more limited "non-resident correspondent" pass, under which on March 10 UN Security ordered it to leave the UN as it worked in the UN lobby at 8 pm. Video here; UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's March 11 justification here.
The underlying UN rule only says that non-resident correspondents can only come into the UN up until 7 pm. But the UN's goal, it seems, is to prevent or hinder coverage of UN corruption, which usually doesn't take place in the UN Press Briefing Room. (January 29, 2016 and September 8, 2011 -- Frank Lorenzo, UNdisclosed -- are notably exceptions.)
Lobbying the deciding UN official, Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach, were the honchos of the UN Correspondents Association, including France 24 and, as in 2012, Voice of America.
Scribes Strategies' disclosures do not (have to) mention the Nkurunziza government's lobbying in and around the UN. We'll have more on this.
Back on March 9 when the Burundi configuration of the UN Peacebuilding Commission met, the conference room was too small and the meeting was not televised, at least not to the outside world (see below). There was talk of Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza have allowed two of four closed radio stations to re-open.
But Special Adviser Jamal Benomar said these two stations were not critical of the government; beyond that, it has emerged that the stations' directors had to sign a commitment about their future coverage. Some in the UN, it is clear, would like to do just this - in fact, that's why Inner City Press could not watch the meeting on UN in-house TV in its shared office the UN has seized, and so came to the meeting.
In Conference Room 8, the Permanent Representatives of Tanzania, Belgium, Burundi, Norway, The Netherlands, and others, and Deputies from France, Rwanda and others. France was given the floor first in the debate; its Deputy Alex Lamek after a bland speech left the meeting, his seat taken by another French mission staffer. Belgium called for a re-opening of all media without restriction.
There were other speeches, but Inner City Press had to go upstairs, with its its currently reduced access pass, and ask the UN's Deputy Spokesperson why Ban had praised the re-opening, with restrictions, of only two of the four radio stations closed. Vine here; UN transcript here
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Ultimately, what we want is for the media to be free to do their work unconditionally.
This is ironic: audio here, petition here. We'll have more on this.
On January 28, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about a meeting held but not televised on January 27, at which it was urged that mass grave sites in Burundi be preserved as evidence,video here, transcript here.
Obtained by Inner City Press
Ladsous' lack of vetting was criticized in the recently released report into the cover up of peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic. Earlier, Inner City Press exclusive reported on Ladsous in his October 1, 2015 meeting with Burundi's vice president saying that he is "pragmatic" on human rights.
On December 16 Inner City Press was banned from questions to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, but learned from the mission MINUSCA that Baratuza was already in Entebbe. Inner City Press asked several Security Council members, then Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric on December17.
Dujarric told Inner City Press Baratuza's deployment is suspended and he is being repatriated: "based on the information we've received regarding the Lieutenant Colonel, his deployment has been suspended, and he will be repatriated back to Burundi." Video here. Dujarric told Inner City Press this shows the UN system working - on a day when a report on rapes was issued showing UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous not sufficiently vetting for human rights. We'll have more on this.
Amid the escalating killings in Burundi, summary executions in neighborhoods opposed to Pierre Nkurunziza's third term stand out. But Burundi Army spokesman Gaspard Baratuza was quoted on December 12 blaming all of the deaths on attempts to steal weapons to free prisoners.
Inner City Press heard that Mr. Baratuza was already in the process of being deployed to the UN Peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) even when he was giving these quotes, issuing statements and speaking to state-owned radio, and so asked MINUSCA's acting spokesperson, "Is Gaspard Baratuza of Burundi's army getting a MINUSCA job?" Ultimately, after the questioning, he didn't.
But the UN should have to say more. Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the UN how its Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous vets those who deploy to UN missions; Inner City Pressexclusively reported on an October 1, 2015 meeting in which Ladsous told Burundi's Vice President Joseph Butare that he is "pragmatic" on human rights.
Ban Ki-moon and his spokesman declined to take Inner City Press' questions on December 16, as they did on December 14. Vine here. Watch this site.


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Presidential Election:
Barack Hussein Obama w/ Joe Biden as VP.It doesn't matter that sixteen electoral votes are still being decided, because Barack Hussein Obama is our next president. Period. He earned is 349 electoral votes to McCain's 173. And if you didn't see Obama's acceptance speech, then look no further than here:
Part One
Part Two
I don't think anything else needs to be said. This has been one of the most amazing moments in American history. Can we change America for the better? Yes we can!
Senate Election:
Democrats -- 56
Republicans -- 40
I don't when we'll find out about the last four seats that the Dems need to have a fillibuster proof majority, but right now they have a pretty firm hold on the Senate. Not much more to say about that.
House Election:
Democrats -- 252
Republicans -- 172
Talk about taking everything! Dems control all branches of power now. This could mean disaster, but I hope it means that change will come easier for us. I really hope so.
California Ballot Measures:
Prop 1 -- Yes
Oh man, this is awesome! We're going to have a highspeed rail!
Prop 2 -- Yes
Overwhelming picked, unfortunately, and we will all face the consequences of this bill head on. Prices for produce will go up drastically. Many people will be forced to close their businesses, thus putting thousands and thousands of workers out of jobs, and we'll likely start importing more of our meat. Good work animal rights people. You're doing a fantastic job of destroying America. I don't like the mistreatment of animals either, but you could have come up with a better way to deal with it than this. You know, like putting in protections for California families and businesses, or a good transitional period for them, or a billion other things. Jerks.
Prop 3 -- Yes
Great, so we're going to throw a billion dollars at people who haven't even spent the $700 million we gave them four years ago. What kind of crap is this? Think about it. We're giving a loan to someone that hasn't used their last loan yet and going into debt because of it.
Prop 4 -- No
Not by much either. I think a better bill will show up eventually. I'm not saying that teenage girls shouldn't share information with their families, but I'm not willing to support a bill that forces them to ahead of time so they can intimidate these already terrified girls.
Prop 5 -- No
Hope this is a good thing.
Prop 6 -- No
Big no on this one. That's probably a good thing.
Prop 7 -- No
Overwhelming voted again. Something else will spring up for this eventually. You know it will.
Prop 8 -- Yes
Looks like one point for bigots here. It was an incredibly close one though, with a difference of about 300,000 votes, which sounds like a lot, but really isn't. It'll get overturned eventually. Not much more to say here other than I'm sorely disappointed in Californians right now. I'll post more about this one later.
Prop 9 -- Yes
Good. Now more rights go to the victims.
Prop 10 -- No
Good, we were smart on this one!
Prop 11 -- Yes
Pretty close on this one, which shows that a lot of people were also iffy on it.
Prop 12 -- Yes
I'm glad that Californians like veterans too.
Well, that's it. It was a relatively good election and most of the propositions that should have gone through or been shot down did.
And with that, I'm off to school to go learn and be useful to society.


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Monday, May 5, 2014
Teacher Appreciation Week
I hope this will resonate with someone else out there the way it did with me. Once you get into one of these jobs that isn't "in" the classroom anymore, people often forget that you're a teacher, too! You will be forgotten when your colleagues in the classroom are collecting those proverbial apples for the teacher during this week of appreciation. So when I run across little gems like this video, I am truly inspired! I do believe that I am right where I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to be doing! Enjoy and I hope it makes you smile, too!
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Feminism rears her ugly face in Poland, threatening the Poles with ruin and degeneracy. https://t.co/Vj9h9d1ZhO— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) January 5, 2017
The New World, It's the Demography, Stupid! https://t.co/PutsROpZWS— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) January 5, 2017
God had to be conscripted to serve patriarchy and human civilisation, and He was.
Now, however, He is sitting in a dark corner, twiddling His thumbs, under-employed.
It is not like He has to be assembled from scratch all over again. He is already before us, fully conceived and assembled, with His accompanying instruction manual called the Koran, in its original packaging as well as the receipt.
God has a lifetime guarantee and this lasts for all eternity, or at least for as long as Man exists and needs Him to assist in government, politics and morality to protect him and his civilisation from the depredations of feminism and liberalism.
It is easily demonstrated that patriarchy is much harder than matriarchy, requiring the postponement of pleasure. Matriarchy, on the other hand, is about undeferred gratification with no thought for the future.
It is therefore easily demonstrated that matriarchy is easy and patriarchy is hard, and actually even harder on men. To motivate men into patriarchy, the status of the beta male must be raised above that of the fornicating slut. To demotivate men from aspiring to patriarchy, simply keep his status below that of the fornicating slut.
The operation of the rules of traditional marriage is almost as mysterious as the way God moves, but I now understand how they both work.


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E400 Pearl II, $25.90 - reserved
Originally uploaded by Beads of Lav.
Similar to Pearl, Pearl II is its remake, with almost similar beads except that the czech flowers are of a darker translucent pink shade and coin pearls are pale pink instead of silver. This earring also measures about 4cm.


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One month into 2009, job cuts by corporations have become a major news story around the world. In one week alone, almost 100,000 jobs were eliminated. These included 20,000 layoffs at NEC, 19,500 at Pfizer, 15,000 at Metro, 10,000 at Boeing and 8,000 at Sprint Nextel. Thousands more from Starbucks, Ericsson, Kodak, Philips, Microsoft, Caterpillar, Home Depot and others added to the total. According to an estimate by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, layoffs in January totaled 241,749, up 45% from December and the highest monthly number in seven years. In response to this situation, U.S. President Barack Obama pushed even harder for passage of an $819 billion economic stimulus plan. "The most important number for this recovery plan is how many jobs it produces," said Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, "not how many votes it gets."
Unfortunately, more cuts are probably on the way, according to economists watching the situation. "From what we are seeing, the fourth quarter was breathtakingly weak for companies,' says Christopher Portman, a senior economist at Oxford Economics, which builds macroeconomic models for banks and governments around the world. "In terms of the global economy, 2009 will be the worst year since World War II and even since the 1930s. I don't know that the job losses we have seen so far show the full picture. Unemployment does lag [behind other indicators of economic performance], and even after we hit the bottom of this downturn, the job loss numbers will continue to rise.'
Περισσότερα μπορείτε να διαβάσετε εδώ.
Ευχαριστούμε πολύ την κα Λήδα Βασσάλου που μας το απέστειλε.


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Friday, July 23, 2010
Winter in July
In the northern hemisphere its summer. In the US, its hot. It's supposed to be hot. That's what summer means.
Lately, there has been a number of bloggers, including me, whinning about how uncomfortable the heat is. Can ever be too hot at the beach?
For those of you, who have gotten out of the kitchen, let these snaps may remind you of better days to come.
Pour a cool drink, sit back and feast your eyes. Your day is coming.
7 comments:
- James said...
I wish it could be Autumn year round.I'm no fan of winter, but much prefer it to 100 degree days. Still it was a little wicked of you to remind us of whats coming. Thanks as always for a great morning read.
- July 23, 2010 at 6:04 AM
- SouthernProletariat said...
You made me laugh this morning. Fortunately, that is not the winter I usually encounter.
- July 23, 2010 at 6:08 AM
- Suburban Princess said...
I am with James...beautiful changing leaves, pumpkins, hot chocolate, apple pie, sweaters and sunglasses...that's my kind of day!
- July 23, 2010 at 8:08 AM
- Patsy said...
No! I'm not ready!
- July 23, 2010 at 9:04 AM
- TWJ said...
It is around 11:00 AM here on the East Coast. I am sitting here on the fantail of a very large ship at the world's largest ship yard. It is already 105 in the shade. Am I ready for winter, no. Six months from now this location will be 10-20 degrees with no wind chill, overcast and icy cold.
Now if I could move my office to that location in the first picture above.
- July 23, 2010 at 10:05 AM
- Toad said...
TWJ you are not that far, its the western side of Captiva Island, Fla.
- July 23, 2010 at 10:24 AM
- Lily Lemontree said...
Ahh, this is what we all needed, a little reminder of what was and what shall be once again quicker than a wink.
I for one, will stop my complaining immediately, slap on a little sunscreen and venture forth!
Hope you enjoy the balmy weekend!
- July 23, 2010 at 11:26 PM


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December 2015 - 10 Night Ultimate Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip) Cruise on Celebrity Equinox
Celebrity Equinox | Dec 11, 2015 | 10 Night Ultimate Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
We opted for Select Dining, and it was awful. Making a reservation ranged from difficult to impossible. The dining room was crowded and so noisy that it was nearly impossible to talk with our table mates.
Drink prices in the lounges were significantly higher than I have paid on any other cruise, and the service was mediocre at best. The attendant mixed up the charges on at least three occasions.
Disembarking was chaos. Trying to get an elevator to the assigned waiting area was impossible. Having the gangway on a different deck than the waiting area was a bad idea - again, no elevators


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I'm late with this message but it's still not Christmas yet, First let me say that it looks like I won't be getting my PC Christmas story up this year. Kinda late to say It's okay to say Merry Christmas and any store that doesn't is biting the hand that feeds them because it's Christmas that brings in so much money. The few people who read this may have red it last year. In either case:
But the real message is about Jesus being born. God's love was shown that day even if it wasn't DEC 25. Jesus the Creator took a turn as a human being for two reasons. One was to be the second Adam and to do what the first one didn't do--obey God, live a perfect life. The second reason was to later die in our places. Our sins can now be totally forgiven, not just covered but completely done away with. We can have a full relationship with God our Creator. With all the Joy-Unspeakable, Peace-Inner, and Love-unrestricted...not to mention hope and justice, that brings.
My pastor spoke on Christmas today speaking of the need for us to be Seekers---The Bible says if we seek him with all our being He will let us find Him. In some of the books I read and mention on my blog there are seekers after other types of spiritual beings or themselves or power but in the Real Life, Actual World, we seek God. The power to live a good life comes from Him. Even though finding ourselves isn't necessarily bad, He can help us with that too. My Pastor--Bill Chaney--mentioned how those in the US are Seekers-looking for something good. I add that yes many are but they are looking for the exotic and skip over that which has been around-staring them in the face-for a long time. In fact I think that is why some skip over Jesus because He is something they are too used to and my consider too simple. But the hard part has been done already. It is simple because it has to be.
The second thing My Pastor said was that we shouldn't leave any gifts from God unopened. It's His birthday we celebrate but Jesus gives us presents. Salvation being the best and biggest. Saved from judgement and hell but that includes wrong choices in our life and who we have become because of bad circumstances in our life.


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"The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself."
― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
I think I have come to be grateful and appreciate all the little things that I had taken for granted until this point in my life. I don't have food arranged for every day, like I did for the past 25 years. I don't have someone to give me a glass of milk because I'm too lazy to take it myself. I don't have my bed made, my clothes washed, the dishes done, the house cleaned, groceries stocked, clothes folded and ironed, anymore. Thank you, Ma. I realize with every passing day how much you have done for me and I am truly indebted.
What I do have however, is lots of silence and time to discover myself. What I did not figure in 25 years, I have in a month. I have come to figure that I love my own company. I love the conversations I have with myself – they are brutally honest and extremely ridiculous even, at times. I love staring at myself in the mirror, and sometimes wish I could kiss myself. I have developed a new kind of love for myself - the empowering sorts. I have come around to love the silence around me. The riot that used to consume my mind has departed; it's just me and my own banter now. My quirks are mine to accept and love.
In the darkness and silence of the nights, I have revived my flair and love for the arts. I don't need to talk to someone all the time. I am happy hearing from people who care enough to talk to me, but the need is gone. I am a bit of a cleanliness freak. I love having plants. I don't like someone else cleaning the house; I'd rather do it myself. I love the freedom to do what I want. I have also figured that I like cooking – it is not as drab like I used to think it is. I make time to read. I make time to talk to my mum every day. I don't need to text or use my phone as much as I used to, only because I have better things to do. I am more responsible and utilize my time better. I don't need to watch TV; I can do without it. I love sleeping in and waking up to the voice inside my head telling me that it's time I wake up. I love waking up and having nobody to tell me what to do. I have time to reflect on how wonderful my life is and has been...knowing that this phase is a vital part of my journey to come.
I think I underrated how wonderful and gratifying living alone can be. I am very glad I am getting to experience it sooner than later. Everyone should live alone sometime in their lives – not to experience solitude, but to get to know themselves better.


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I think it would vary a lot, family to family, location to location. But one thing is sure: people trying to disassociate from our culture in an intentional way would probably avoid buying games like this one:
This is not a review. I'm only able to tolerate playing Duke Nukem Forever for about an hour at a time, and then I have to take a shower to wash away the stench of the thing and maybe go to my Quiet Place and turn out the lights and listen to soothing music. Or perhaps play a little Portal 2 to remind me that games don't have to be this grotesquely awful, and that there is goodness and decency left in the world of PC gaming.Read the rest of Thomas McDonald's excruciatingly well-written anti-review here.
It's not that the game is vulgar, gross, sexist, crass, and stupid. It's certainly all those things, and deliberately so. It would be pointless to rail against the misogyny, omnipresent scatological references, juvenile sexuality, outrageous gore, or profanity. Those were always going to be signature elements in any Duke Nukem sequel. Complaining about them would be like going to Hooters "for the food" and complaining about the way the waitresses dress.
The only real point to be made about these elements is this: while the original Duke Nukem managed to be somewhat tasteless while still being a decent game, Duke Nukem Forever is grindingly, insultingly, nihilistically tasteless while simultaneously being one of the worst shooters I've played since Corridor 7. What was a send-up of 1980s action stereotypes in the original is now just self-referential, tired, and joyless. [...]
If this game was a person, he would be a paunchy middle-aged man with a bad combover and a silk shirt open to the waist to reveal the cornicello tangled in his matted, graying chest hair. It is so desperate to be Super-Alpha-Male-Plus-With-Extra-Testosterone-On-Top that it winds up merely sad and sickening.
And speaking of Hooter's, people opting for the Benedict Option life would probably not be stupid enough to try to schedule a Catholic fundraiser there.
I'm all for trying to reform the culture. But we're not going to reform it by going along with its worst elements as unreflective consumers mindlessly absorbing and imbibing them. Recognizing that we live in a cultural wasteland, and learning to say "no" to its allures, demands, and glittering follies is the first step for anyone who wants to live in, but not of, the world.


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A little about myself. I'm a 30 year old stay at home mom/photographer/independent Scentsy consultant. Yeah, I spread myself a little thin, but hell I love it. I'm married to who I'll call... Chuckuardo... Been married to him for 8 almost 9 years. It hasn't always been pretty and there's times that I'm sure he's felt the same way about me that I've felt about him. But despite his flaws, and mine *gasp, yes I have flaws too!* I still love him. He's my rock. My go-to guy. The one that has ALWAYS been there for me. So he deserves some props.
I have two beautiful children, who I'll call Cubby and Princess Twit respectively. Cubby's 10 and Princess Twit is 8. Why Princess Twit you ask? Because... She thinks she's a princess, which makes her look like a twit. Pretty easy. (BTW... Did you know that a twit is actually a pregnant goldfish?)
I'm obsessed with all things coach.....
Like I said, I'm a photographer... I shoot with a 10 megapixel Sony a230... Looking to upgrade my camera come tax season ($$$$). Hoping to get something that will work with my lenses I have, I'm too cheap to buy new ones and the ones I have are fabulous.
I live in the gret state of Kansas. Don't ask me about Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man or the Emerald City. I've seen em all, kicked Toto's ass and stole Dorothy's ruby slippers. Yeah, I said I was a rouge. That's me.
Right now that's all I can think of. But beware... There will be more... Oh yes, there will be more.


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I had to find some little gifts for his previous teachers pronto. I had some Dove chocolate eggs on hand (more on that next week). Who doesn't love chocolate, right? But how to make them into a cute presentation?
I thought about making my own treat bag, but had a tough time figuring out would I make it expandable to allow for the bulkiness of the eggs. Then I remembered my stash of kraft lunch bags. These have gussets on the side so they can expand. I was still limited by size since the collection bags set out at the school were pretty small. And honestly, I only had 2 bags of chocolate eggs to go around to 8 teachers! So I decided to trim down the bags.
I used a scalloped blade on my paper cutter to cut off the bottom half of the bag where the rectangle base is. You can also use fancy edge scissors, pinking shears, or regular scissors and a shaped border punch. Then I sewed a basic white stitch with my sewing machine on the bottom to close the bag.
By the way, I should note I was doing this around bedtime last night, so forgive the lack of daylight in my photos!
I'm a scrapbooker in addition to general crafter so I have random things stashed around the house to use for a project like this. My set of clear Thank You stamps from Fiskars caught my eye.
Have you seen all the subway art around blog world lately? I decided to make my own on an acrylic block with the stamps above.
Inked it up and stamped it on the bag above the sewn edge.
Filled the bags with some of the eggs.
I thought about sewing it closed, but I ran out of bobbin thread. And I'll be honest - I'm lazy when it comes to filling my bobbin. (I know, G would be shocked if she heard this pathetic sewing confession.) It was my little one's bedtime and with the sewing machine in the room next to his, I just didn't have time to deal with it without making noise and keeping him awake. So I cut the same scallop on the top and grabbed some cute colored binder clips to close them.
Ten Teacher gifts in ten minutes? CHECK! Cute, easy, and entirely made with stuff I had on hand.
PHEW! Avoided that emergency! By the way, apparently Teacher Appreciation Week is May 2-6. No idea why my son's school decided to instead celebrate this week, but maybe you can benefit from my lack of planning and odd school schedule and make your own! These would also be simple favors or thank you gifts to neighbors and friends any time of year. Fill them with home baked goods for an even sweeter treat!
Are you doing special Teacher Appreciation gifts?
UPDATED: I also made tags for the gifts for his current teachers with the stamp - just stamped it on a mailing tag and attached it to the gift!
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Wilson Parker Homes is delighted to announce that we will soon be opening our first community of new homes in Gwinnett County at Clearwater Place. Located in Lawrenceville, these homes will be priced affordably from the $100,000s.
When you purchase a home from Wilson Parker, you can sleep easy knowing your new home will stand the test of time. We partner with the best in the industry to guarantee that your new home not only looks good, but that it is good too. You'll find windows from Anderson Windows, a multi-time Energy Star Partner of the Year that provides a lifetime warranty; cabinets and flooring from Atlanta Flooring and Design and exterior siding with a lifetime warranty from Nichiha, the industry leader in sustainability. Plus, all of our homes are backed by 2-10 Home Buyers Warranties and we are the only builder in Georgia to provide our customers with our industry best buyback guarantee.
By introducing our fantastic line of homes into the Gwinnett market, we're bringing even more buyers the opportunity to call Wilson Parker home. Lawrenceville, the county seat, is home to more than 28,000 residents, and you could be one too with a new home at Clearwater Place!
We've been watching the housing market here in Atlanta, and Gwinnett tops the list for growth with home prices in Lawrenceville rising 4.2 percent over the past year according to Zillow. These home prices are the best in the area, meaning you'll not only enjoy the great value of one of our homes, but you'll also benefit from a superior location.
Since Lawrenceville is the state's second oldest city, there is no lack of historic sites, shops, restaurants and entertainment venues to keep the whole family entertained.
Some of the city's most popular spots include McCray's Tavern on the Square, Aurora Theatre, Gwinnett Historic Courthouse, Freeman's Mill Park, Medieval Times, Lawrenceville Ghost Tours, Coolray Field and more. Children also have a wide selection of top ranking public and private schools.
We can't wait to start building our newest collection of homes at Clearwater Place, and we hope you'll be our first neighbor!


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Eleven years ago, when Cerebus ended, Dave Sim decided to answer all of his back mail. A month or so later, he had his "Jeff Seiler Day" in which he answered multiple letters I had written over the previous year. After I received that letter, I decided to keep writing, and he kept his promise to answer every letter he received. And now, I have a foot-high stack of letters written and received over 10 years or so. I will be posting full paragraphs or pages of interesting excerpts from those letters every Saturday.
The VeriChip article was interesting in a vague and distant sort of way. I think I'd be the last one to actually undergo it, because of my rock-solid conviction that all health concerns are the hand of God. I don't know of any good medical stories. [Ed: He does now!]Gene Day had a check-up and was given a clean bill of health the week before he died of a heart attack at the age of 31. I tend not to read any medical stories because of my belief that good health is a matter of taking as good care of yourself as you can and accepting that only God knows when your "best before" date is. There's a part of the Koran which describes the ambivalence about going to war -- those poor fellows who would be alive today if they hadn't gone to war. This is sharply corrected by the observation that, if they had chosen to stay home, they would've walked to where they are lying right now because it was God's will that that was where they were going to die. Sounds like fatalism or predestination, but that's my view of life. When your number is up, your number is up.Thanks for writing.
Best, Dave.


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A stunning KPM porcelain bowl with one of the best luster finishes we've ever encountered--the rainbow of colors is just outstanding. The rim of the bowl is hand painted with beautiful purple grapes, green leaves, and flowers and finished with a gilt edge. A band of gold separates the painting from the luster. The bowl's exterior has the same wonderful lustreware finish. The bowl is marked in green KPM with the scepter above, and the number 28 is impressed.
9 1/4" in diameter, 2 3/8" high. Excellent condition, free from chips, cracks, or crazing, no paint loss.
USPS Priority Mail.
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She's a furniture-redo-extraordinaire and really just the DIY queen (: Our styles are really similar, as we both love vintage and modern combos. Cassie is a ball of fun and always so encouraging. Let's hear what she's loving and what she's not...go girl!
Hello! I am Cassie from Primitive & Proper and I am so excited to be here! I never tire of answering fun introspective questions, so I was so excited when Michaela asked me to be a part of this series. I feel like I am at camp with my girlfriends sitting around a fire, and sharing our thoughts! And Michaela is one of the sweetest bloggers out there... I don't think there is a picture of her not smiling. And not to mention she's adorable. And probably looks great in skinny jeans, but we'll get to that later.
She Loves Me:
1. Baby Carrots
I seriously cannot imagine my life without baby carrots in it. I eat them all time time... so much that my the palms of my hands actually have a slight orange tint from so much beta carotene. Sweet, crunchy, and good for you!
2. Costa Rica!!!
My husband and I went to Costa Rica for our one year anniversary... it was the most amazing vacation of our lives. It was inexpensive (realtively speaking), the food and drinks were amazing (hello pina coladas!), and there is so much nature to be enjoyed. It is heaven on earth.
3. Since it's happening right now as I write this....
Rain!!!! I love weekend days where it storms and I am home with my family. I love the smell of rain, the sound it makes, and I love being stuck inside with the people I love most. It forces us just to relax, snuggle, play games, and talk... just enjoy each other's company.
4. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
A seriously amazing, though rather depressing book. I read this book when I was in high school (so like years and years ago...) and loved it. I am thrilled that it will be released in 2012 as a movie soon starring Julia Stiles and Virginia Madsen. I know I will be seeing it!!!
5. Scary Movies!!!
I love creepy, snuggle on the couch under a blanket, sit on the edge of your seat, scary movies!
She Loves Me Not:
With my body type (thicker thighed!} there is nothing "skinny" about these jeans on me! And I'm really sad I can't participate in this trend. Boo on all you skinny legged girls! ;)
2. Pork.
Yeah, you. I know who you are. And I don't like you.
Thanks, Cassie...I loved hearing your love and love-me-not list! Dontcha just hate those little meanies on the playground?!
Be sure to stop by and say hi to Cassie over at Primitive & Proper (:
Have a wonderful Wednesday. We're half way through the week which means I'm half way to recovering from my little procedure. Hopefully I'll be back making blog rounds soon!


text: The argyle pattern is derived from the tartan of Clan Campbell, of Argyll in western Scotland. And from a fantastically groovy pair of blue argyle thigh high socks that I wore back in the seventies. Well, so they seemed at the time. Regardless of my questionable fashion phase, this pattern is a classic.


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Paolo Crivelli has kindly sent remarks in response to the doubt that Ursula Coope had raised in her review, and which I had seconded in a post. The remarks also contain a reply to another concern raised in the review. With his permission, I am posting those remarks along with my initial response. Here are Crivelli's remarks:
I do think that according to Aristotle, if something (in particular, an object) is true (or false) in the strictest sense (kuriōtata), then it is true (or false). The picture of the relationship between the uses of 'true' and 'false' in Metaph. Ε 4 and Θ 10 can be drawn more precisely as follows:
In Ε 4 Aristotle is focusing on a use of 'true' and 'false' that is close to that of ordinary language. According to this ordinary use, 'true' and 'false' apply to thoughts and sentences, but not to objects: ordinary people do not contemplate the application of 'true' and 'false' to objects (states of affairs, simple items, or even concrete substances). In connection with this ordinary use of 'true' and 'false', Ε 4's remark 'Falsehood and truth are not in objects […] but in thought' (1027b25–7) is correct: truth and falsehood here are the properties signified by 'true' and 'false' in their ordinary use.
In Θ 10 Aristotle is operating with a new, expanded use of 'true' and 'false', which is more comprehensive than the ordinary use: according to this expanded use, 'true' and 'false' apply not only to thoughts and sentences, but also to objects. What is true or false in the strictest sense (or way), with respect to the expanded use of 'true' and 'false', are only objects. Objects are true or false in the strictest sense because their truth and falsehood are mentioned in explaining on what grounds 'true' and 'false' apply (both in their expanded use and in their ordinary use) to thoughts and sentences (note that if the extension of 'true' and 'false' on their expanded use is restricted to thoughts and sentences, the result coincides with their extension on their ordinary use). So, objects are true or false in the strictest sense and are also true or false on the expanded use of 'true' and 'false'. What is not the case is that objects are true or false on the ordinary use of 'true' and 'false'. Note that in Metaph. Δ 29 objects are simply called 'false': this is the expanded use of 'false', not the ordinary one. Similarly, at some points in Θ 10 (1051b18, b21, and b34–5) Aristotle commits himself to applying 'true' and 'false' to objects: again, this is the expanded use of 'true' and 'false'.
The reviewer favours an alternative hypothesis: that Aristotle did contradict himself in Ε 4 and Θ 10. This hypothesis is perfectly plausible, but I still have a slight resistance to it because of the cross-reference at Ε 4, 1027b29.
I would like to say something about another critical point made by the reviewer: the possibility of a state of affairs remaining unchanged when the world changes. The critical point made by the reviewer is that given that Socrates is a component of the state of affairs that Socrates is seated, one might expect that when Socrates gets up the state of affairs undergoes some change (after all, a component of it changes). This is supposed to create some difficulty for my view that 'a state of affairs can "be" in the sense of being true at one time and "not be" in the sense of being false at another without changing' (p. 197). What I meant, however, is that a state of affairs can 'be' in the sense of being true at one time and 'not be' in the sense of being false at another without this swap of properties itself amounting to a change. I agree that in other respects the state of affairs perhaps changes (I am unsure about this).
In reply, I first said something about the book, Aristotle on Truth, in general, which I wish to include here, so that any criticisms I may raise--perhaps based on misunderstandings--may be placed in the correct context, at least as far as I am concerned:
Your book is extremely impressive-... I particularly like the clarity with which you describe Aristotle's view, as you construe it, and your explicitness in distinguishing what your conclusions are, from the evidence for those conclusions. Your quasi-scholastic method of stating objections and giving replies is, frankly, refreshing. The only point about it that puzzles me is this notion of 'states of affairs', which is why I decided to post on that.I then wrote the following:
You take 'in the strictest sense' (*kuriwtata*) to mark a restriction on a correct, 'expanded' sense of 'true', not a restriction of a loose, ordinary sense. That is interesting and would take care of the objections. (What is true in the strictest sense is also true, simply, in the expanded sense, but not in the ordinary sense.)
Here is an initial response. It seems to me that a question remains and another one arises. The question that remains is whether there is some analogue of this elsewhere in the corpus. Of course you wouldn't need to provide such a thing, but it would be helpful.
The other question which arises involves the relationship between the loose and the expanded senses. I take it that you believe that the former is derived somehow from the latter. Then the latter is primary with regard to the latter. But elsewhere, when Aristotle admits that the same term can be applied to things related as primary and secondary, he isn't disposed to deny that that the term should in any way be withheld from the primary case. A comparison: Aristotle thinks that 'complete friendship' is friendship in the strict sense; also, that what people ordinarily and in a loose sense call 'friendship' is some distinct sort of relationship; nonetheless, he does not deny, even with respect to loose ways of thinking and speaking, that one should say that friendship in the strict sense is friendship. (The reason is that the central case somehow captures and accounts for what people are looking to even in the loose senses.) Rather, all his doubts are in the other direction--he wonders whether perhaps the term should be withheld from the secondary cases.


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Girls, yesterday I went on the most fabulous beauty tour . Having participated in beauty tours of LA and New York I decided (due to the recent openings of Ted Gibson Salon, Hela Spa, Bliss Spa, The Red Door at the Willard, Juara's invasion of Celadon Spa, and the ultra hip new offerings at the Ritz Carlton Georgetown) that it was time to get my DC beauty girls together with my favorite brands and make a day of it.
The first hurdle was transportation. These are some of the most coveted bloggers in the country and they are used to being spoiled. Despite my well intentioned efforts to throw them all in my step-mom's SUV I knew that wouldn't fly. So I started with the connoisseurs of perfection, The Ritz-Carlton. After finding out they preferred US Sedan, I knew we had to have them.
I couldn't have been happier. If Yasser, our driver wasn't a well trained, professional attentive luxury car driver, I could have easily mistaken him for a stalker. Despite our getting lost in product and primping and getting off schedule several times. Yasser always knew where we were and would roll up at the exact moment we exited DC's most fabulous beauty haunts. The ride itself was hot. Part limo, part van, with flat screen TV and leather seats we had the paparazzi stalkin' - or at least several heads turning. Anytime your are staying at the Ritz's ultra hip Georgetown location or simply need to go anywhere in the DC area in style, US Sedan is the way to go. For reals. Tell Yasser I sent you!


text: The president of the Russian Federation will allocated a record amount for army modernization.The president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin is ready to allocate 20 trillion roubles (over 550 billion dollars) for financing the Russian army. He claimed that yesterday in Yalta during a meeting with the members of the State Duma and Russian government, TV Rain reports."We need good arms. I am ready to allocate 20 trillion roubles for that", - Putin mentioned."This is not militarization. This is a good impulse for developing the military branch", - the president of the Russian Federation said.Apart from that Putin supported the suggestions of Russian parliament members to create a separate military group in Crimea. "I have already approved this program", - he said in Yalta at a meeting with parliament fractions members.As it was reported earlier, yesterday in Yalta the Russian president communicated with Russian parliament members and Cabinet of Ministers officials.


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Corny Post
We got fresh sweet corn with our veggie co-op yesterday. It is the most awesome sweet corn evah!! Corn is one of my most favorite things. I froze two bags of it to enjoy on other days. I plan to buy a whole crate of it for myself in the next day or two. I want to freeze alot more of it. We have planted some in our garden but our gardening skills don't always live up to their full potential. ( ;
I am also excited about the eventual homegrown tomatoes-but that is way far off for now! I like a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich better than almost any other sandwich. YUM.
So I'm just wondering...what is the summer vegetable that you most look forward to??
PS-yesterday was an exhausting full day 8AM-4PM with my mom, but it went very well. My tongue is really sore because I bit it so often-but the victory is that I did bite it alot instead of trying to "FIX" her.
Friday, May 09, 2008
3 comments:
- ~ Stephanie. said...
Hmmm . . . veggies? What I really look forward to in the summer is berries! All kinds, any kind!
- Friday, May 09, 2008 10:05:00 AM
- Mama Mia said...
squash/okra LOVE IT!!!!
also love that white field corn...fried of course!
- Friday, May 09, 2008 10:09:00 AM
- hulagirlatheart said...
Since we have 30 tomato plants in our backyard right now, I guess I'll have to say tomatoes. We make whole meals out of them in the summer. Sometimes we add a little corn. It's a wonder my lips survive the summer.
- Friday, May 09, 2008 6:28:00 PM
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Sunday, 24 November 2013
Huge Ukraine Rally Over EU Agreement Delay
KIEV, Ukraine -- More than 100,000 people have gathered in the Ukrainian capital Kiev in defiance of the government's move to delay an association deal with the EU. Opposition leaders joined the protest, said to be the largest since the Orange Revolution in 2004. There are reports of police firing tear gas as protesters tried to break through a cordon around government buildings. A pro-government rally a few miles away attracted about 10,000 people. Ukraine made the decision on the EU deal last week, saying it could not afford to break ties with Moscow. Russia is trying to bring Kiev into its own customs union. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the EU of blackmailing Ukraine to sign the deal during a summit in Vilnius next week. People arrived at the rally, on European Square, with families and children, many holding banners with slogans like "I want to live in Europe" or "Ukraine is part of Europe". "We want to be together with Europe," Volodymyr Mnikh, a 62-year-old retired chemist, told the Associated Press news agency. "We want our children to have a future and not to be pressured by Russia." Several rallies in Kiev and other cities have been held over the last few days, but Sunday's has been the largest so far. World heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who leads the Udar movement and attended Friday's rally, was not present. Ukrainian news agency Unian said he had been flying back from the US after celebrating his daughter's birthday but his plane was not allowed to land in Kiev because of weather conditions. On Friday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the decision not to sign the deal was motivated solely by economics and was "tactical". He said it did not alter Ukraine's overall development strategy. The Ukrainian government says it is now looking into setting up a joint commission to promote ties between Ukraine, Russia and the EU. Ukraine depends on imports of Russian gas, but recently the supplier, Gazprom, complained that Ukraine had fallen behind in payments. Pipelines transiting Ukraine pump Russian gas to many EU member states. In 2009 Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in a dispute about prices, causing fuel shortages across Europe in the middle of winter. Russia has a customs union with two other former Soviet republics - Belarus and Kazakhstan - and has been urging Ukraine to join it. A free trade agreement with the EU would mean Ukraine adopting different trade rules. Kiev's decision on Thursday prompted EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele to cancel a trip to Ukraine. It had been planned for the run-up to the key "Eastern Partnership" summit between the EU and several ex-Soviet states, which will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 28 and 29 November.
Posted by dimakrozlovae at 22:17
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Title: Speaking in Bones
Author: Kathy Reichs
Series: Temperance Brennan, #18
Published: July 2015, Bantam
The latest blockbuster suspense novel in the pulse-pounding Temperance Brennan series, from #1 New York Times bestselling author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs.
For every case Temperence Brennance has solved, there remain innumerable unidentified bodies in her lab. Information on some of these is available online, where amateur sleuths sometimes take a stab at solving cases. One day, Tempe gets a call from Hazel "Lucky" Strike, a web sleuth who believes she's successfully connected a body in Tempe's lab to a missing persons report on an eighteen-year-old named Cora Teague. Since the bones in her lab do seem to match Cora's medical records, Tempe looks into the case, returning to the spot where the bones were originally found. What seems at first to be an isolated tragedy takes on a more sinister cast as Tempe uncovers two more sets of bones nearby. When she then learns that the area is known as a viewing point for a famous unexplained light phenomenon with significance for a local cult, Tempe's suspicious turn to murder by ritual sacrifice—a theory thrown into question when Hazel herself turns up dead. Still reeling from her mother's diagnosis and the shock of Andrew Ryan's potentially life-change proposal, Tempe races to solve the murders before the body count climbs further.
*** Penguin Random House is introducing Kathy's new book in a slightly unconventional way. They're inviting you to participate in the mystery via Tumblr, where one of the main characters in the book is collecting clues to help solve a chilling murder. Kathy will also be posting about the clues via her Facebook page. Check it out! Also, follow along on twitter with the hashtag: #SpeakingInBones
GIVEAWAY DETAILS - (US only)
One reader can win a signed copy of Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs. (Please note - this is an advanced copy edition.) To enter the giveaway, please fill out the form by July 17th.
Form closed
This giveaway is open to US residents only and ends July 17th.
Good Luck!!!


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|Oxycontin/Stacy Kranitz photo
One story, "A Portrait of Coal Town on the Brink of Death," is a first-person narrative of Boone County, West Virginia. "Handley's Funeral Home buried most of my family," Jacob Knabb writes. "The stone structure sits on a corner lot near the terminus of Phipps Avenue, a couple miles downriver from my parents' house in Madison, W.Va., and right across the street from the old Bank of Danville building. The funeral business is one of the few that remain viable here in Danville—these days home to a smattering of churches and fast-food joints, a shocking number of for-sale signs, and not much else. But there are always going to be bodies to bury, grieving families to comfort, and so Handley's remains, its logo emblazoned on the menus a few blocks up Phipps at the Park Avenue Restaurant, on the fence at the Little League Ballpark in Madison, and on the press box perched above the football field where the Scott Skyhawks play."
Another story, "The Hard Times, Struggles, and Hopes of Addicts in Appalachia," looks at opiate addiction. "The opiate epidemic in Beckley, W.Va., is something that reveals itself quickly and casually—on the side of the road, in the parking lot at Walmart, in line at Taco Bell," writes Juliet Escoria, a Beckley resident. "Burnt bits of aluminum foil, paper packets that once held heroin. People nodding out, buying drugs on playgrounds, smoking heroin on the side of a busy road. It's worse on hot days, immediately after snowstorms, and especially on the first of the month, when paychecks and government benefits come through."
Other stories include: "What It Means to Be a 'Redneck' or a 'Hillbilly'"; "How Environmental Activists Are Fighting Back Against Pollution and Big Business in Appalachia"; and "Inside a Life-Saving Rural Clinic in Appalachia".