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It is almost end of the year and another calamity struck the Philippines. The reporters did not bother if the pictures were graphic or not. Just like incident of the plane crash in Paranaque weeks ago, they took pictures of the victims with disregard to the grieving relatives.
Corruption wastes peoples' money; incompetence wastes money and peoples' lives.
If the claim by the US Navy that:
The US Navy forecast days in advance that a powerful storm was headed towards Mindanao, yet PAGASA and national disaster officials did not seem to believe it. PAGASA issued its first storm signals only on Thursday, December 15, less than 24 hours before its predicted landfall in Mindanao. PAGASA's own policy is that it would raise storm signals at least 36 hours before a storm hits.were true, who's to blame for the wanton loss of lives of people ?
Here is the news:
Manila, Philippines (CNN) -- At least 436 people are dead after Tropical Storm Washi pummeled the Philippines, Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang said Saturday.
The vast majority of the bodies were found in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, according to military officials and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Five people were killed in a landslide, but all others died in flash flooding.
The provinces of Compostela Valley and Zamboanga del Norte were also hit, added Benito Ramos, chairman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
About 400 people remain missing after the storm, which is called Sendong locally. More than 2,000 have been rescued, the country's military reported.


text: We report the abnormal behavior of longitudinal optical (LO) phonon in a silicon dioxide (SiO2) film on a 4H-SiC bulk epitaxial substrate using an attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique. The peak frequency of the LO phonon in the ATR spectrum was observed at around 1165 cm-1 and red-shifted by approximately 92 cm-1 relative to that at the grazing incidence (40°), whereas the peak frequency of the transverse optical (TO) phonon in the ATR spectrum agreed well with that at the grazing incidence. Furthermore, the peak frequency of the TO phonon hardly depends on change in the incident angle and thickness, suggesting that the microstructure of the sample is homogeneous within a thickness of 100 nm. On the other hand, we found that the microstructure of the sample was inhomogeneous within a thickness less than 5 nm. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy provides us with a large amount of data on microstructures in the SiO2 films on a 4H-SiC substrate.PDF Article

subset: commoncrawl


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Chicken Gnocchi Soup
1 lb. mini Gnocchi (I used regular)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
4 ribs celery, finely diced
4 carrots, finely diced or shredded
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup greek yogurt (I used plain)
2 cups milk
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
14 ounces chicken broth
2 cups fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon parsley
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Drop gnocchi into a pot of boiling water and cook until it floats, about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter and oil and add onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Saute until the veggies are soft. Add flour, stir and cook about 1 minute. Add the cream, yogurt and milk. Bring to a simmer, then add the chicken.
Once the mixture has thickened, add the broth and return to a simmer. It will thicken again. Then stir in the cooked gnocchi, spinach and parsley and simmer until soup and herbs are heated throughout. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese
This was really a good soup. I had my doubts about it at first. I have never eaten gnocchi but to my surprise, I really liked it. So did my whole family.
This soup, like most any soup freezes well. Make a huge batch and freeze for later!
This soup, like most any soup freezes well. Make a huge batch and freeze for later!
God Bless!


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Has a degree in mathematics (yes, mathematics) 1979, Exeter (also England). After varied but relatively normal career as estate manager at some run down country mansions etc. etc. our hero embarked on a spell with rock band, which led to the predictable nervous exhaustion and bout of pleurisy. In a search of rest and recuperation, and in meditative mood, he rekindles an age-old interest in art. (Birmingham has one of the countries largest collections of Pre-Raphaelite art in the world, by which I had always been fascinated)
After untold years investigating and reproducing oil painting techniques of the past (luckily there are some great galleries in London…) our man came to a crossroads. On the same day he had to either accept or decline a place at teacher training college (Thinking of becoming a mathematics teacher) he unexpectedly sold some work, and being single with no dependants, "took the bull by the horns" and ran headlong for the world of art, screaming furiously
He then proceeded to exhibit at various London galleries, The Dive Gallery, Muswell Hill, London, "The Gallery" Muswell Hill, London; The Whitechapel Gallery (in Jack The Ripper Country…ooooooeeeeeerrrrrr) The Mall Galleries (central London, Very ritzy) The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists & The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (Piccadilly, London). (Does all this "Royal" stuff imply that a clandestine relationship with the Queen? Read on)
He struck up a relationship with a… nameless dealer in Chelsea (London) & another in Amsterdam (Holland) and for the next 12 years or so he busily painted away, desperately trying to provide the almost infinite amount of money necessary to feed his 2 growing son's Playstation habit. He cultivated rich & powerful patrons in Paris, New York & Tokyo
Then, out of the blue, an email arrived from New York. It was from some guy calling himself "Steve Diamant" claiming to run an art gallery. He checked Steve out, and found that despite his shady mob connections, he seemed an honest fellow. Before the month was out, Diamant had sold our Hero's entire back catalog and our Hero bought a chateau in the South of France with the proceeds, and died at the ripe old age of 213 smiling happy, having outlived his usefulness


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Microsoft's 6th Worldwide Innovative Education Forum validated by new research
School and country leaders should commit to the next wave of learning with technology, said Microsoft boss Anthony Salcito when he opened the sixth, and biggest, annual Worldwide Innovative Education Forum in Cape Town, South Africa. He revealed that new research shows that innovative teaching is successful in equipping learners with 21st century skills.
And the mood of the 500 teachers from more than 70 countries was briefly but powerfully epitomised by advice to teachers worldwide from award-winning Lesotho teacher Moliehi Sekese from the forum stage: "Use a stumbling block as a stepping stone to success."
Anthony Salcito, who is the US software giant's vice president of education for its worldwide public sector division, welcomed teachers representing 125 projects selected from 200,000 participants globally, "the best of the best", and encouraged them use the event to "meet others – open your minds and hearts to that collaboration". But he warned that the first phase of ICT and learning in schools had not brought about the kinds of changes seen in other sectors.
'We have got to think deeper, to think differently... ICT is critical'
"ICT is used in many places around the world and in many countries, ICT has been used for 10-20 years with no real difference in terms of education test scores or graduation rates," he said. "We have got to think deeper, to think differently about how technology can be used to drive real change. It links to the leadership question... ICT is critical.
"The change is happening often in spite of the leadership decisions that were put in place. Many times technology comes into schools first, and teachers are left to figure it out. And because many of the people in this room represent true leaders who work tirelessly to make things possible, you are working through the issues and the barriers. One of the things we try to do with Partners for Learning and our commitment to education, is to support you through those challenges, so you can effect faster and easier change but more sustained impact because we can bring leaders together with a holistic change agenda."
Overall, the use of ICT in learning was still rather basic, he said. "When we see quality ICT integration it goes a step beyond. The way we use collaboration, the way in which we connect content to dynamic and personal learning opportunities. The way we use data to drive the personal learning experience. And that's very different to the way we display the data we collect on student achievement, the grades, the attendance etc. The way in which teachers are using data to drive specific and individualised learning outcomes, is a tremendously powerful concept."
'Technology must be combined with fundamental shifts in pedagogical approaches...'
ITL Research), the report is sponsored by Microsoft Partners in Learning, and the pilot year of it took place in Indonesia, Russia, Finland and Senegal. In the coming two years of the project, the UK will be joining the research sponsored by Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and the London Knowledge Lab. Preliminary data from the pilot year suggest that in the countries studied so far:The new research suggests that, as much as has been invested in technology and education, we are just now at the end of the first stage of the process of true integration of technology for learning, says Maria Langworthy, who is programme director of innovative teaching and learning research for Microsoft Partners in Learning Research. Called "Innovative Teaching and Learning Research" (and downloadable from
- The overwhelming majority of technology use in teaching and learning is very basic level use, which replicates traditional pedagogies using technology. Higher level uses of technology that lead to deeper student engagement in learning are used much less frequently.
- Technology access within classrooms associates much more strongly with technology integration into teaching and learning than access to technology in computer labs or other shared spaces in schools, but technology is much more frequently found at the school level.
- Professional development courses that emphasise the integration of ICT into instruction and student centered pedagogy appear to increase the use of ICT for learning by educators. Yet educators report that most professional development focuses on basic ICT skills only.
"Education leaders around the world are frustrated by the inconsistent evidence of the impact of technology investments on student learning," says Maria Langworthy. "What we see in this research is that it takes much more than the mere presence of technology in schools to have an impact on learning. Technology must be combined with fundamental shifts in pedagogical approaches, higher level uses of technology that connect with learning goals, and an education system context that measures and rewards innovative teaching practices."
'People can transcend their circumstances. Welcome to Cape Town'
Microsoft South Africa managing director Mteto Nyati had quickly established the African flavour of the event. He recalled an African proverb of the gazelle, waking every morning in the knowledge that it would have to out-run a lion to stay alive, and the lion that woke every morning knowing that if it couldn't out-run a gazelle it would die of starvation. "When you are in Africa it does not matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle – when the sun comes up you had better start running," he quipped.
South Africa, like other countries, was experiencing severe economic conditions, he said, and this made education even more important in the drive to up-skill the workforce and be more competitive. South Africa had discovered this to its cost at the fall of apartheid when economic sanctions were dropped and everyone looked forward to entering a global commercial market. Only to find that South Africa consumers often favoured the cheaper products from overseas and local producers suffered.
He also shared his personal commitment to education. "I come from the wrong side of the line," he said. "I come from a relatively poor family but my parents focused on providing education for us." It was a commitment that opened an international stage for him, even while at school. "Education is one of those things that can make a significant difference, he concluded. People can transcend their circumstances. Welcome to Cape Town."
His commitment to learning was evidently shared by the teachers attending, many of whom had faced extremely daunting journeys, like the South Americans who had to travel to the event via Europe. And by the teachers who had to overcome huge local challenges of meagre resources, like Indian teacher Krishna Sharma, from Vidisha Government School. She teaches children who are "first generation learners", a term for children from families who have never been educated. From farming families, these children would normally go straight to work, so it's difficult to get them into school, and then to keep them there.
Krishna's school has no computers and only an intermittent power supply, but that didn't stop her getting her own laptop and learning materials to use with her children. Now her children come to school – and they stay to learn.
With its sheer size and a highly active community which now has its own feedback loop for research, Microsoft's Worldwide Innovative Education Forum is now the most effective and powerful international organisation of innovative teachers that is commercially-sponsored. And the investment continues. Cape Town saw the launch of a major global environmental project for schools, Shout, which is a partnership between Microsoft, the Smithsonian Institution and TakingITGlobal that is backed by a £1 million investment.
One target that's nearly achieved, might have been disbelieved at the beginning of Partners in Learning. Anthony Salcito's parting remark to teachers was: "By 2013 we expect to influence 230 million educators and students via Partners in Learning and continue to extend our journey to celebrate innovation… and to demonstrate to education leaders and country leaders the potential for change, the need for change and the need to embrace all of you as heroes for the future."
But maybe the last word should go to Reid Falconer, a Grade 10 student at Bishops College, South Africa, who was asked for his message to teachers. "Let our students listen less and act more," he replied.
More Information
Microsoft Partners in Learning
Anthony Salcito blog
"Innovative Teaching and Learning Research" is downloadable from ITL Research


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Service - Sales - Restoration
All classic pinball machines have been thoroughly reconditioned with a 40 point checklist including and include a 60-day warranty. Manufacturers include Bally, Williams, Gottlieb and Data East.
Arcades At Home - 630-306-2567 - Romeoville, IL
- Copyright 2017 - Designed by She Can Do That-


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Posts Tagged 'apple'
it's so hard to say goodbye
have you ever had one of those days where you walked around with a sad thought lingering at the back of mind, mind far far away from the physical body and your heart so heavy and yet you somehow know you need to keep it all together?
i had one of those days last thursday. just before i left the house at 7.30, a breaking news flashed across bloomberg announcing the death of steve jobs. when he announced that he could no longer fulfill his duties as ceo, i guess i knew it was anytime soon that we'd be seeing that in the news. but still i was really sad. till now, i cannot understand the wave of sadness that i felt because steve was not anyone i knew personally.
i felt so silly when i told my boss – steve jobs passed away and i was fighting to hold back my tears. i don't know steve. i am just one of the many million of beneficiaries of his innovative products. i have a mortal fear of dentist and every time i went to the dentist, i made sure my ipod was powered up with the loudest possible songs. prior to my ipod era, the sound of the drills just drove me crazy.. so thank u steve for that.
there are days i get really bored with the world. i hate the fact that our civility has made us so void of humanity.. everybody tries to do the same thing without questioning the integrity of doing it.. but steve was different. steve jobs was a bright spot in the midst of all the blindness.
the apple store in hk has become somewhat tribute hall for steve. i stood there reading some of the many notes that were written for steve..
many people said – you are an inspiration.
i hope that many people can see that steve did not become an inspiration by trying to be somebody else. i am sure as hell as steve became who he was without asking – do you have a template or a case study to do this?
he was who was because he could not agree with the way things were done. while many of us including myself find it hard to agree with how things are done but we don't do anything to turn it around and present a different view to it. we just walk away, shrugging off the thought and accepting it.
steve – you make me want to fight harder for the things that i don't agree with because if i walk away not doing anything or saying anything or presenting my view – i have failed to make an impact to the world.
for days now, we also have been anticipating farewell to my good friend ruby's cat – bagel. it happened on the same day.
that anchor in my heart just became heavier. my godson jake had to learn to say goodbye to a friend that has been so much a part of his life..
goodbye bagel – hope towards the end, it wasn't too hard. you were a good cat.


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Marine taxidermy.
From Coastal Living.
Why are beach houses so... literal? I get that you are a beach house. No need to have giant fish over the fireplace.
Nevertheless, I would take this place. In fact, all weekend I kept doing mental calculations, "How much and how long would we have to save to buy a place on the island..."
For the first time in my life, the lottery started to sound like a good financial plan for me.
13 comments
- An Aesthete's Lament said...
At least the owners/designers had enough of a sense of humor to hang a whole school of fish on the wall rather than the standard-issue "catch of the day" swordfish ... And I could do without the ceramic fish on the table. Those push the geographical narrative over the edge, frankly.
- April 21, 2008 at 7:20 AM
All that white makes for a pretty room, but realistically, people make messes in beach houses, and when you're at the beach, no one is in the mood to vacuum, sweep up, dust, etc.
- April 21, 2008 at 7:49 AM
Yeah, it's a prob, Decorns, people ARE literal about "vacation house" - Oh, I'll put this in my VACATION house....Oooo, I can let it all hang out in my VACATION house......Um, think this will go nicely in my VACATION house?
For chrissake, if you like it, if it does it for you, if you want to have fun year round, pretend you ARE on vacation EVERY day and don't save it all for the VACATION house, really.
At the same time, if you have a VACATION house, then do it up the way you want. Not just to I.D. it as a VACATION house (lest someone may be confused!)
Make NO mistake, ye who enters here, this IS a VACATION house.
Because that's just plain ol' bad decorn.
- April 21, 2008 at 8:40 AM
- April 21, 2008 at 9:32 AM
- Elizabeth said...
better a literal beach house than a something-else themed beach house - I say this because I'm in the middle of un-decorating an autumn leaves/international house of tchotchke themed beach house. Let me just say - NO. Autumn leaves are, in my opinion, never a good theme to go with when decorating (ok, when I think about it, I'm not actually sure if there is a good theme for a house ever) but at a beach house it's just. . . NO.
- April 21, 2008 at 9:32 AM
- katiedid said...
I don't have a problem with the fish and agree with AL, at least in this case it was done with a sense of humor. I will say, though, that people are most likely not going to be putting their prize possessions in a vacation house that is perhaps rented out to others periodically or is not occupied year round (break-ins). But you are right. It can be done in a way that is not cliche and a bit more personal.
- April 21, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Uh-huh, "D'corns".
Just having a little fun, that's all.
Not to be mistaken with "D'planeD'plane.
Welcome to Fantas.....ummmm, I mean Beach House Island.
Where all houses come with requisite hurricane vases filled with shells & sand (bought in bags from craft store) and if you want to get fancy some FAKE seaglass tossed in (also from hobbystore) wooden sign painted with "to the beach" and an arrow pointing you there (from Lillian Vernon) and cork bobbers/buoys strung on the bannister or strewn across the mantle (a kit).
And everyone is GOING TO HAVE FUN, because this is a BEACH HOUSE.
Anon 8:40 (looks like a bible passage, haha!)
- April 21, 2008 at 10:36 AM
It's just unfinished is all, stick some bamboo screens and tiki torches around the room and presto, you've got a classy flat to visit on holiday. If only the nanny could see it.
- April 21, 2008 at 11:48 AM
The red chairs are hurting my neurons.
- April 21, 2008 at 11:56 AM
- Mackenna said...
as i recall that home is in gulf shores, al or orange beach or something like that soooo... pros:you might be able to afford it, cons: there are oil derricks all over the place (in my opinion ruining the entire purpose of a home at the beach as well as just ruining everything actually)
- April 21, 2008 at 8:48 PM
just saw this entryway cabinet in the PB catalog and thought of your VACATION house.
- April 22, 2008 at 3:37 AM
- Christine in DC said...
Because of it being scanned from your magazine, it kind of looks like wallpaper. That would be very tongue in cheek...
My friend's aunt with a beach house got really tired of people giving her shell and beach themed stuff. It's so very irresistible for people without them, though--I bought her a lovely beach-themed candle holder.
- April 22, 2008 at 8:36 AM
On another note, I love the lottery. I'll never buy a ticket, but the fantasy of buying one and winning and spending it remains a comforting one nonetheless...
- April 22, 2008 at 6:34 PM


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Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Bayrou: Will He or Won't He?
If he gets in the race one can expect him to be more outspoken. His presence would of course plunge everything back into turmoil. He'd draw votes from Macron, and he'd draw votes from any Plan B successor to Fillon, or from Fillon himself if he stays in. It's hard to even guess at what the split might be in the middle of the spectrum. All bets would be off. In a 5- or 6-way contest with Bayrou in, Hamon could squeak by, or even Mélenchon. Macron is likely to have the advantage over Bayrou in the middle because he's been in the field for a while now and is a new face, but Bayrou would definitely hurt him. The waters would become incredibly muddied.
I think the odds are about 50-50 he goes for it.
2 comments:
- baronniesereinedecaux said...
Or could he do a deal with Macron? There is a lot of potential variable geometry in the race. I am agreeing however with the emerging thesis that Fillon is toast/pain grillé/pain perdu. I live in a fairly bellweather village and can detect no support for him here. Beyrou hasn't much pulling power and is a yesterday figure. I do detect support for Le Pen (I'm guessing she'll get close to 40% here in round 1)and Hamon (maybe 15%). Few here know what to make of Macron except that he seems weird, geeky and except for the gloss of Justin Trudeau style modernity and metrosexuality, oddly represents continuity with Hollande (will attempt reforms, but sacred EU and Germany-first policy continue). I am thinking FN can get very close to 50% here in round 2, under some envisionable circumstances.
- February 16, 2017 at 7:04 AM
It seems there are two big issues here. Are they possibly interconnected? Many people have been wondering whether Bayrou would enter, splitting up the center. Fewer have been wondering whether Melenchon will find a way to team up with Hamon.
But if Bayrou enters, does that increase the left's prospects to get into the second round? And aren't those prospects immeasurably increased if Melenchon and Hamon arrive at sone kind of modus vivendi. Surely that's what the simple math of recent polling data suggests. So, in short, would Bayrou entering put a lot of pressure on Melanchon to do a deal to unify the left? Or, in this topsy-turvy year, might Melenchon's supporters, even if Melenchon himself might shun it, see this opportunity and run with it--or better, towards it?
- February 20, 2017 at 11:40 AM


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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Eddie's Guitar
I first tried to fold the model diagonally, but that turned out messy and too small. I then went on to make the basic shape out of a 4:1 rectangle, which is how I decided on how I would make the color changes. I ended up doing the same thing as when I only made the shape of the guitar, plus some squashes and color changes.
The color changes on the body and head are done by squashing the bottom two corner flaps irregularly and by the valley fold at the top. The model does take a look of time to shape, especially on the color change on the body.
7 comments:
Very nice! A true fender strat shape :)
- Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:33:00 AM
- Dustin Wortman said...
dude, email me at firstname.lastname@example.com, how did you make it? im very good at origami but i have yet to understand crease patterns. if you could help me, i want to make this guitar for my gf. your help is greatly appreciated...
- Monday, February 01, 2010 2:56:00 PM
Sorry, but the CP is pretty much all I can tell you about how to make it, especially seeing as I folded this two years ago I and don't know if I could refold it.
- Monday, February 01, 2010 5:41:00 PM
- super manolo said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- Tuesday, February 15, 2011 1:36:00 PM
What size paper did you use?
- Monday, August 06, 2012 6:17:00 PM
Please tell me what size paper you used and please can you alter the CP to show mountains and valleys! I really want to make this for my Dads bday.
- Monday, August 06, 2012 6:21:00 PM
- Aleksandra Kołaczek said...
hey! This guitar is really great! Is there any chance that you could show more about how to fold it? At least valleys and mountains ? :) I would really appreciate if you write me back - firstname.lastname@example.com :)
- Monday, September 23, 2013 3:20:00 PM


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Here's a little peek! I am so happy to be finished! There is still time to sign up! Drawing is next Wednesday!
Posts Tagged 'Recycle'
Green Giveaway Bag is Finished!!
Posted in Crafty!, Giveaway!, Go Green!, Handmade, Sewing, tagged Go Green!, Green Giveaway, Handmade, Recycle, Tote on 24 July, 2008| 19 Comments »
Giveaway Date Announced!
Posted in Giveaway!, Go Green!, Handmade, Homekeeping, Sewing, tagged Giveaway!, Go Green!, Handmade, Recycle, Tote on 23 July, 2008| 32 Comments »
I am going to repost the previous information about the GoGreen with NotQuiteJuneCleaver Bag Giveaway and add the date of the drawing which is July 30 – a week from today! How do you enter? Leave a message on THIS post. Telling me something GREEN and what you plan to do with the bag should you win it! Check back later today for a recipe!
ORIGINAL POST: (more…)


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Repost by request
Led Zeppelin: That's Alright New York. (The Godfatherecords :: G.R.327/28/29)
Recorded Live at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA - February 12, 1975.
Excellent+ Soundboard Recording :: Silver CD/s Bootleg :: CBR 320 kbps.
Disc 1
01. Rock And Roll
02. Sick Again
03. Over The Hills And Far Away
04. In My Time Of Dying
05. The Song Remains The Same
06. The Rain Song
07. Kashmir
Disc 2
01. No Quarter
02. Trampled Underfoot
03. Moby Dick
Disc 3
01. Dazed And Confused (incl. San Francisco)
02. Stairway To Heaven
03. Whole Lotta Love
04. Black Dog
05. Heartbreaker (incl. That Alright Mama)
Total Time: 02:51:01 hour/s.
*** 10th US Tour ***
Personnel: Jimmy Page :: John Paul Jones :: Robert Plant :: John Bonham.
Notes: This title that Godfather released is flat out Amazing. I own 7 different labels of this show and without a second thought after Jimmy hit that first cord; This is…"The Example of Supreme." All the current labels should grab a copy of this and frame it, hang it on their walls, and while gazing at it, realize this is Mastering at it's Finest! -bostonbro-
Review: When Empress Valley released the soundboard for this show it was a revelation of sorts. Not only was it previously uncirculated but it sounds as if it's a professionaly mixed multi-track recording. The general consesus among collectors was that this recording was the best of the best and could not get any better. UNTIL NOW!!! Godfather has pulled off a miracle. This new release has taken what was already a three layer cake and added the richest icing possible. Godfather has improved the seemingly unimprovable. They did what was said couldn't be done. They have taken the best sounding soundboard out there and turned it into the best sounding soundboard ever… Sure Flying Circus is great but this recording blows it away. Godfather used a professional recording studio to work their magic on this release. This release may definitely take the place of the official Live Led Zeppelin releases in my collection. This release has a beefier sound to it which overall makes this a slamming recording. There's absolutely no hiss present and this is as clean as it gets. This release will help to set Godfather's Legacy in stone. -Collectors Music Reviews-.
FiLEFACTORY | UPLOADED.TO | DEPOSiTFiLES
FiLEFACTORY | UPLOADED.TO | DEPOSITFiLES


text: That I wasn't going to have more spare time on my trip to just sit back and revel in the beauty of this place. I arrived by airport shuttle. You walk past the pool area, down the hallway full of historic mementos, and into the main lobby. When I saw the white rocking chairs all lined up in the pretty... More


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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Every Thursday night, Lonnie Bishop and Lisa Case have a dinner date. For $5 each, the couple dines on fancy hot dogs served from a food truck parked outside their favorite wine shop in Los Angeles.
The fire engine-red truck labeled "Let's be Frank" is part of a growing fleet of mobile food vendors that serve tasty and inventive fare, often organic.
The trend has drawn entrepreneurs looking for opportunities in the recession and diners seeking cheap eats.
The new vehicles raise the bar from the traditional "taco trucks" that sell mainly Mexican fare at construction sites and in neighborhoods in U.S. cities with big Latino populations.
Their menus are wildly different, attracting adventurous foodies with unusual items: tacos filled with Korean-style barbecued meat, vegan burgers, sushi, cupcakes, and architecturally inspired ice cream sandwiches.
"I've eaten all over the world in three-star restaurants. I enjoy this as much as I enjoy anything and I save a lot of money," said Bishop, 46, holding a bun-wrapped sausage made from family-farmed pork and topped with pickles.
With the economic downturn, restaurateurs have struggled to find funding to open full-scale restaurants, said Tom Forte, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group in New York City.
The cost of setting up an eatery on wheels is a fraction of what's needed to open a sit-down restaurant, Forte said, noting it takes $900,000 to open a Chipotle Mexican Grill.
Erica Cohen, 34, began her career at an upscale restaurant group but scaled down her dream of opening a traditional burger joint because it seemed so risky during the recession.
So, for $30,000, Cohen and her business partner leased a boxy truck complete with a kitchen and an order window.
Their hot pink truck, called "Baby's Badass Burgers," flaunts a logo of two buxom cooks who could double as pin-up models and sells gourmet mini-burgers. Parked off Hollywood Boulevard, the truck draws workers like Lara Yturriaga, who ordered a Cougar -- two mini burgers topped with St-Andre cheese and black truffles.
"I'm on a quest this whole month (to eat at) 10 food trucks," Yturriaga, 25, said. So far, she's tasted Indian crepes and Asian-style meat in a rice-patty bun.
"I like that it's always something different," she said.
Many operators use Twitter to tell customers where they're going next. 'Kogi,' which serves Korean barbecue tacos, was among the first to use the free social media site.
"A restaurant is more like a passive sell. The lunch truck is more active," said Takeshi Kimura, who launched his "Fish Lips" sushi truck this summer.
Big chains are putting their own spin on the trend.
Taco Bell, owned by the giant Yum Brands Inc, uses Twitter for its promotional taco truck that hit the road this summer, handing out free food along its cross-country route.
Diner Michelle Madrid, 26, said the fun is in the chase.
"It's cool -- the whole 'guess where we are,'" she said.
Plus, it's now hip to be a penny-pincher.
"It used to be cool to have a credit card and be all high-flying. Now cash is king," said Kam Miceli, who helped start "Green Truck," which serves high-end organic fare.
Miceli, who built up a fleet of 11 trucks in Los Angeles and New York, plans to expand in Miami in the fall and is eyeing markets like Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C. While developers have tried to convince him to open a traditional sit-down eatery, Miceli says he is not interested.
"We are sticking with trucks," he said.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Recession drives U.S. restaurateurs, diners to trucks
In the September 6, 2009 article "Recession drives U.S. restaurateurs, diners to trucks," Laura Isensee reports:
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Sunday, February 13, 2011
Farewells and Change
Today is about changes and taking a moment to say farewell. Changes are always hard but can also be the right thing, too. After much thought and prayer, I have decided to step down from being the Design Team Coordinator and on the Design Team at My Creative Scrapbook.
This was a really difficult decision. I have truly loved being a part of the team at My Creative Scrapbook. After almost 3 years, I have made wonderful friends and memories. Pam and the design team girls are such sweet and supportive people. I have grown and learned so much from each of them about scrapbooking. They have all inspired me, pushed me and taught me to be a better designer. Most important of all, they have been my friends. I will truly miss being on the team.
So, today I'm saying farewell to being on the design team at MCS. I am not disappearing from MCS, just taking on the role of being a friend, a fan and a member. I Love Pam's Kits and Love MCS!
I decided to share some of my favorite layouts from my years at MCS today. After 3 years of multiple kits each month, I could go on and on with kits that I loved best. I decided that 10 favorites was enough for one post! :)
Sweet Snacks
January 2011
Island Motion
October 2101
April 2010
A True Friend
October 2009
September 2009
Love - Pass it On
May 2009
December 2008
October 2008
Birthday Girl
August 2008
May 2008
Thank you Pam for letting me be a part of My Creative Scrapbook!! I can't imagine a better kit club owner to work with and for!
Thanks for dropping by!
4 comments:
I'm so so so sad to see you leaving MCS:( But I think you followed your heart and took the right decision. I enjoyed watching your gorgeous work each month...thank you so much for all the inspiration you gave me! A very fond farewell! But I'm lucky to be still on the Bo Bunny DT with you: you're such a wonderful and sweet person and your work is amazing!ReplyDelete
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we have been struggling with language. luciana seems to have not realized how important language was going to be until recently. she focused on puzzles and books and dancing and finding really great hiding places for toys and not on learning words. she is getting frustrated because she can't express herself, which leads to lots of tantrums and tears. this summer we are going to work on potty training and english.
in the meantime, luciana is randomly and inexplicably learning other languages. she doesn't have english down, but who cares? she is learning sign language, french, and german!
about a week or two she started signing "more." sometimes she'll say and sign it at the same time. "more" has made life a lot easier. no more crying when she wants another helping of something and can't express that. now she can put in requests for more gogurt, more milk, more books...
over the weekend luciana brought me a number 5 from one of her puzzles and asked "what is this?" I told her that it was a "five." she said "no" and asked again "what is this?" I repeated that it was a "five." she said "no. c'est cinq." I thought I might have just misunderstood her. I held up the five and asked her what it was and she confidently repeated "c'est cinq" and walked off.
today luciana came into the kitchen where I was putting dishes away. she climbed onto her walker and got ready for a ride (she loves being pushed on her walker). she turned and looked expectantly at me and said "bitte bitte bitte." I asked her what she said and she repeated "bitte bitte bitte" and pointed with this expression on her face "like come on lady, I said please now let's go!"
edited to add: we aren't intentionally teaching her these things. I have no idea where she is picking them up!


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A meditation on Arundhati Roy's novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (TMoUH)
The first time I travelled to India, I came via Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That was in 1970. Arundhati Roy was then 9 years old, living in the Kerala of her The God of Small Things (TGoST). My wife and I holidayed in Kerala in 2012, and part of the motivation was to see the literary landscape depicted in TGoST. I had contacted Noam Chomsky and Anthony Arnove (the latter listed in the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS of TMoUH as 'comrade, agent, publisher, rock' while the former is not … in my book about Noam Chomsky I included a photograph of Noam and Arundhati together) but neither of them obliged in giving me Arundhati's private contact details, citing the promise they had made to Arundhati never to divulge them. I suppose if they had done so I would have asked Arundhati if we could meet her if she happened to be in Kerala at the time. I also tried to contact her mother at the famous school she runs in Kottayam but to no avail either. In the event our driver just took us to the 'house' in Kottayam where the Roys used to live along a river bank and where much of the action of TGoST took place. It was kind of disappointing as the area had been developed as a sort of up-market residential area. We also saw the Baker's House in Kumarakom which featured as the haunted house in TGoST. By now it was converted into a Taj Hotel – I told the hotel manager that a plaque of literary interest might attract more tourists. He said that Arundhati Roy did not merit such honours as she advocated 'extremist' views.
Anyway, having come to India the first time via Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan in 1970, arriving in Amritsar, I was thoroughly immersed in what in broad terms can be called Islamic culture. Being 21 years old and having been brought up in West-Germany and having been educated to university level (Munich University, studying psychology) I had relatively little knowledge about the history of the Indian subcontinent, merely following the overland hippy-trail all the way to Australia.
When my German travel companion and I came to the Golden Temple and were accommodated there as honorary guests, we immediately adopted Sikh culture, at least as far as getting a bracelet, kara (which still adorns my wrist some 47 years later), and sporting shorts and a dagger (and of course very long hair and a beard). Personally I was even more fascinated by the many chillum-smoking sadhus who loitered along the highways and byways. After a few weeks at the Golden Temple we decided to hitchhike to Srinagar. Given our Sikh-garb it was a piece of cake getting lifts with the long procession of gaudy trucks that weaved up the Kashmir valley. I was given the honorary title of 'commander' by the Sikh drivers, sleeping under their trucks at night. In Srinagar we of course rented a HB (as noted in TMoUH and where tragic events happen subsequently) and paddled around in a small shikara exploring Dal Lake. In those days Srinagar and surroundings seemed to be a peaceful and very pleasant place. Having obtained a generous amount of Kashmiri opium we did not exactly have sharp political eyes – we were radical anarchist student activists in Munich in 1969 – and as such we were not aware of any frictions between the Kashmiri Moslems and Sikh Punjabis (not to mention the Hindu sadhus), nor were we actually aware that Kashmir was a divided region, torn apart between India and Pakistan. The local youth that hung around our HB were mainly interested in our music tapes that played the Rolling Stones and of course Leonard Cohen – and as Musa in TMoUH says:
"Even he doesn't know that he's really a Kashmiri. Or that his real name is Las Kone …"
In those days the 'trav'ling lady' was more likely a hippy lady but certainly of the mould of Tilo (aka Arundhati?) and the occasional fellow hippy visitors to our HB would include some outrageous Norwegian femme fatale that even then outraged the local customs. While all and sundry were used to scantily clothed (if at all) sadhus only us HB dwellers were used to such foreign female sadhus.
In TMoUH Tilo (aka Arundhati?) on quite a few occasions gives voice to such crass gender bias which goes against her grain even in her admiration of moderate Islam:
"Women are not allowed. Women are not allowed. Women are not allowed." (p.387)
Not that women are treated any better in Hindu/Sikh/Western or what have you culture. One of the main points of TMoUH is of course that access to the Ministry of Utmost Happiness is only granted to the hijra of this world, and possibly to people like Tilo.
On my second visit to India in 1974 (before the Emergency), in the company of a wild New Zealand femme fatale who would not bow to any religious of secular customs, Kashmir was not included in the otherwise extensive travels (coming from Myanmar, Kolkata, Varanasi, Agra, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa (again), Kerala … on to Sri Lanka). Goa was then still a haven for 'trav'ling ladies' and me having acquired a sitar in Kolkata and having learned to play it a bit from Mr. Khan in Kathmandu, there was no end to more of Leonard Cohen and of course Ravi Shankar (the latter who cultivated a reverse Indian guru meets Western ladies of wealth and taste …). There was a certain male Hindu menace that not only googled the 'trav'ling ladies' but felt free to grope and assault. Luckily my female companion in the mould of Tilo was adept in muscular self-defence and swatted them like flies. Of course we know that the rise of right-wing (neo-fascist) Hindu nationalism, so eloquently and passionately decried in TMoUH (is Modi nick-named Gujarat ka Lalla to forestall libel?) has given rise to previously unheard of levels of sexual violence against women (no woman adept at self-defence can defend against gang rape, and anyway why should a woman have to practice self-defence against men).
Back to Kashmir, surely the centrepiece of TMoUH. Tilo's (aka Arundhati!) unflinching support for azadi is accentuated by her non-English language feature, namely Urdu. Hardly any review I have read mentions this but I as a linguist take note, and as one of the misguided protagonists (The Landlord) in TMoUH states somewhat sarcastically:
Because nothing warms the subcontinental Muslim's heart more than a few well-chosen lines of Urdu verse (p.158).
Reading up on the history of Urdu, one is somewhat surprised that Arundhati Roy is an adept as an offspring of a Kerala Syrian-Christian family. However when considering her long life in Delhi, especially in Old Delhi, one can understand her choice of language. Not that I fully understand the ins and outs of language choices in India (or in Kashmir for that matter) but on quizzing some Indian and Pakistani colleagues at my work, one comes to the conclusion that modern Urdu is inextricably linked to Muslim culture although liberal Indians of all denominations (atheists included) appreciate Urdu as a Hindustani mutually intelligible variant of Hindi, especially as a linguistic vehicle of fine poetry.
I suppose only readers who can read and understand Urdu and Hindi in Roman alphabet transliteration – it is not clear what system the author uses – can also figure out what is what. For example the first such instance comes about when Anjum (who only speaks Urdu) says "You mean I've made a khichdi of their story?" one could safely assume that is an Urdu word. When subjected to Google Translate it yields HUG (as in 'to hug, hugged') which doesn't seem to make much sense in the sentence quoted. While Arundhati does provide English translations for most of her Urdu and Hindi texts, there are quite a few – as above – where the uninitiated is at a loss, i.e. no translation is provided. I suppose as well that such language questions are a can of worms, what with an Indian author writing about India in English, an India (and Kashmir) where ordinary folks (as the main protagonists) speak no or only little English. Comrade Revathy's (CPI (Maoist)) long letter in halting English may or may not be a genuine article in this regard. The grim content of the letter played out in Southern India mirrors that of Kashmir. When we were in Kerala in 2012 the Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T. P. Chandrasekharan was murdered and the local newspapers reported the story as internecine fighting, blaming the local CPM faction. The English language daily the Decan Chronicle (8 May 2012) reported that a suspect was 'nabbed in a secret operation' and that 'the interrogation is on in a secret place'. Sounds very much like the secret interrogations in the Shiraz in TMoUH. A political commentator cum academic historian in a previous edition of the Decan Chronicle had put down the whole saga to primitive Dravidians who were prone to believe Marxist and Muslim (sic) propaganda, resulting in the 'Talibanisation of Kerala'. I wrote a letter to the editor which to my surprise was published in large print, pointing out that a complicit corporate media is to blame instead and that ordinary Keralites know as much as anybody that the 'Talibanisation of Kerala' is a common tactic used by the elites to scare the populace into accepting extreme measures of arrest and detention (and murder by the secret state police).
That the educated elites in India (see Kerala above), Pakistan and Kashmir read all this stuff in English as a matter of course is of course a mixed blessing but of course (excuse the endless pun) we (who read English only, and maybe German and French) are ever so grateful to a myriad of Indian authors whose English prose surpasses that of the English English writers. Arundhati Roy certainly is in a league of her own in this respect (but what if she were to write in Urdu?). The main point, however, seems to be that Roy's choice of Urdu as local language flavour is destined to be an eye-opener for all of her Indian readers, inasmuch as her book is really compulsory reading for all Indians. Readers like me will miss many of the allusions, Urdu or otherwise. Readers like me will however receive an English education as to what the political, social and individual issues are. Of course it is grim reading. Roy subverts Stalin's saying that one death is a tragedy but a thousand are a statistic. By describing the tragic deaths of individuals like children that get mowed down by indiscriminate machinegun fire, the reader has to contemplate the many more deaths, twenty at a time. For anyone who has never ever been even close to such massacres, the scenarios are beyond comprehension. Those in the midst of it all, be it in Kashmir, Syria, Yemen or whatever place you care to name, the reality of such incomprehensible suffering on an almost daily basis must amount to barbarity on a scale not seen before on this earth. How a literary voice like that of Arundhati Roy gets inside the heads of both victim and perpetrator is also short of miraculous. Sure there are other harrowing accounts of the brutality of warfare, be it All Quiet on the Western Front or the seminal The Wretched of the Earth, but written by male protagonists who experienced many of the atrocities themselves. As such there can be only few women authors who lay bare both the facts and emotions, none more cutting to the bone than Arundhati Roy. As I write this review, Guardian news from Kashmir is that seven Hindu pilgrims got shot during an ambush, inserting Modi's tweet that 'India will never get bogged down by such cowardly attacks & the evil designs of hate'. Maybe it is not too surprising that so-called liberal news media as the Guardian see the need to side with Modi. Has the Guardian forgotten that much of the Northern Ireland bloody conflict resulted from the Ulster Regiment provocations, marching through Catholic neighbourhoods under heavy military protection? A reported 115,000 Hindu pilgrims marched through Moslem Kashmir neighbourhoods last year, all under heavy military protection. Obviously violent death cannot be condoned in any circumstances but those who provoke sectarian conflict for political gain must be answerable for the gravest of human rights violations. The Modis of this world are of course beyond the law that may yet silence the likes of Roy (that she fled to London to complete her book is testament to that). The Landlord in TMoUH is given a voice that seems to be intended to showcase how certain Indian liberal reactionaries think about Kashmir:
… I have never understood how that storm of dull, misguided vanity – the absurd notion that Kashmir should have 'freedom' – swept him up as it did a whole generation of Kashmiri men (p.160).
Of course the Landlord in the end realizes his incorrect thinking when deprived of the 'infrastructure of impunity' (p.434) – unlike the one enjoyed by Modi. It is of course interesting to note in our era of political revenge politics that occasionally the high and mighty get caught up in the net and end up in jail – rightly or wrongly (the latter include Brazil's former popular president da Silva and the Taiwanese Chen Shui-bian, what with the former lot including South-Korea's impeached Park Geun Hye, and who knows if Tony Blair will for ever escape a court hearing and if Trump escapes impeachment). In TMoUH the other semi-reactionary character, Naga, the TV journalist semi-celebrity who is handled by the Landlord's Indian Secret Service outfit gets married to Tilo after Musa is killed. One does wonder about this a lot. Would a real Tilo (aka Arundhati?) contemplate such a marriage? Arundhati's own marriage adventure, as much as it is revealed in her various biographies, begs the question. One's obsession to equate Tilo (from Kerala) and Arundhati also stems from the mother's story, the Syrian-Christian who has a school – biographical coincidences? One hopes so, as Tilo's mother dies a sad death while Arundhati's mother is alive and kicking as far as I know. In any case if I were Arundhati's mother I would be a bit worried. Of course there was a lot of speculation as to who is who in real life compared to the characters in TGoST, what with mother and various uncles protesting that it wasn't them. It is common literary speculation that many a great novel has autobiographical traits – and why not? One's real life experiences provide many facts that are stranger than fiction, and weave stories from them is an art form that Arundhati Roy surely masters like no one else.
As such it also perhaps no surprise that a lot of the story in TMoUH plays out in Delhi, Roy's long-term place of residence. Her intimate knowledge of all the nooks and crannies of this vast metropolis shines like nothing else in TMoUH. Not being much acquainted with Old or New Delhi other than on my first visit to India when my new travel companion, a guy from Switzerland and I applied for an Australian resident visa at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi – of course as hippies were domiciled in Old Delhi. It was quite a lengthy process that required us to be there for a couple weeks. In those days the Australians welcomed any white-skinned Europeans, hence with my personal lack – as a German passport holder – of any qualifications other than an unfinished psychology degree but with a good head of very long hair, all I needed to do was to fill out lots of forms, get passport photos with hair out of the way and get a medical clearance by going to a flash hospital for rich expatriates and even richer Indians. Being short on money we walked for miles and only used rickshaws in emergencies. One day we ended up in a dusty park (minus the graves as in TMoUH) where squatters welcomed us like newfound brothers. We also hung around the Red Fort – minus the light shows mentioned in TMoUH – 'shooting the breeze' (which seems to be a favourite idiom in TMoUH). Not that we ever came across any Hijra there or anywhere in India (I did come across some in Sri Lanka though). That the Red Fort should be a special attraction for the band of Hijra in TMoUH is of course further testimony to the fact that Old Delhi and the Red Fort still are part of the essential Urdu-Moslem fabric of India (the 'Urdu' language itself is said to be named after the Urdu Bazaar that existed there), what with Roy also acknowledging her supporters in Shahjahanabad (the ancient capital of the Moghul Empire and what later became Delhi). The Hijras' excursions into New Delhi, with its monstrous highways and byways, shopping malls and high-rise residences growing like tropical mushrooms by night, are both hilarious and somewhat tragic, giving voice to Roy's anti-capitalist (anti-corporate) stance that has seen her operate as a major activist in the many environmental battles that rage across India. Delhi, now one of the most polluted super cities of the world, is destined to be submerged in the sludge of ever faster development. Roy's dire warnings in TMoUH are falling on deaf ears. Kashmir due to its lack of rapid industrial development may well come out best in the end, if only by default. Indeed when in TMoUH in the last (short) chapter, Tilo shows off 'her prowess in Urdu' to her Kashmiri tragic hero Musa , there is also Guih Kyom, the dung beetle, announcing that 'things would turn out alright in the end'. This by the way is not an allusion to Bertrand Russell's dystopian famous lines on how the world, trilobites and all, will return to peace when man makes himself extinct but rather a celebration of the human species 'because Miss Jabeen, Miss Udaya Jabeen, was come' (note the clever braking of a rule of English grammar).
The last chapter also contains that statement stretching across the page – noted by almost every review I have come across – namely 'How to tell a shattered story? By slowly becoming everybody. No. By becoming everything.' I suppose reviewers prefer such mystical statements to the grim political narratives spanning most other pages. Actually I think this line is very much in keeping with ancient Zen practice: didn't the Zen painter of bamboo say that in order to paint the perfect bamboo he (or possibly she) had to become a bamboo? Or is it the Kafkaesque 'metamorphosis' that necessitates one to become a beetle in order to understand what it is like to be a beetle? Or what does Arundhati really mean when in the first chapter Anjum 'lived in the graveyard like a tree'? Yes, surely we have to agree with Arundhati that we have 'to become everything' in order to make this world a better place.
In the first place, reading her book TMoUH will make you a better person.


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But once property rights are disrespected – no matter the theoretical soundness of the professor's idea – will the masses listen to libertarian reason about where to draw the line?
If I have a right to control the borders to my property, I along with my neighbors have the right to delegate this to an agent, acting on our behalf. This is as perfectly libertarian as it gets.
The only issue is that today's provider is the monopoly state; I have only one way to put my sound libertarian right into practice. Only one. It is also true that those libertarians who wish to allow any and every biped from all corners of planet earth onto their property also have only one way to put their desire into practice. Only one.
Libertarian theory supports both. Libertarian theory offers no answer.
Of course, we have no way of knowing how many people would choose this service given that the agent today is the monopoly-state. We do know that where property owners have freedom to discriminate, they do so.


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Thanks to DWImage2005.co.uk for tracking down some new stills/promos.
Below is the new unwatermarked image of Jenna-Louise Coleman together with a few promos from "Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" (these images seemed to be previously unavailable in the larger sizes). Right click and open in new tab for large versions. For the original, very large sizes, head over to DWImage2005.co.uk
Source: DWImage2005.co.uk


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"A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again. Alexander Pope for Chuy!
Guess who is all about sophistcated fiscal love saving Chicago from Detroitis, a simile for detritis. .
Guess who says so.
Noodles take sips of the heady stuff brewed by disciples of Dave Axelrod - the Godfather of the Narrative Meme and distilled bull-jive. Noodles get hammered on a sip if Sneed, a snifter of Zorn, au bon pere of Old Trib and Early & OftenTimes and go from pleasant, witty and charming to bullet proof in every political exchange quicker than REM cycles.
Noodles thank their lucky stars, charms, strikes and lottos that Rahm Emanuel has guided the small city wagon train with sure and steady tough-minded fiscal sophistication and love these last four years. Ever mindful that Rahm can be a prickly little prique, Noodles know that unless Commissioner Jesus"Chuy" Garcia lays out ever measure he plans to take over next four years Chicago will surely become a ghost town on a lake like Detroit.
Detroit is the magic charm elixor for the sippers of heady brew. My Alderman, Matt O'Shea, as fine and hardworking a young chap as one could find pours Detroit for Noodles in my Ward in mailer I got yesterday. Matt O'Shea is loyal to Rahm and still respects his constituents who will put Chuy Garcia over Rahm come April 7th.
Noodles will weave and argue the tight and conversation ending meme that only Rahm can save Chicago from going the way that Rahm drove this hick burg on wheels. And that settles it!~


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openSUSE Project Says 750,000 Linux Installs
WALTHAM, Mass. – Novell's openSUSE.org project, launched in August 2005, continues to generate tremendous interest and activity, recently surpassing 13 million page views and 750,000 verified installations of SUSE® Linux. SUSE Linux is installed more than 7,000 times every day, an average of one installation every 12 seconds. The openSUSE™ project features easy access to builds and releases, and will soon offer new resources and programs for open access to the development process used to create SUSE Linux, the award-winning distribution that contains everything users need to get started with Linux®. Developers have contributed thousands of suggestions, bug fixes and provided significant input which will improve Novell's leading Linux distribution for developers and customers around the globe.
In early 2006, the openSUSE project will begin to release a public development framework. This framework will provide open source contributors and third-party application developers with tools and resources to streamline code and patch contributions to SUSE Linux. The framework will include code libraries and a public build server that can be accessed and used by any registered project member. Novell will make it simple and easy to create packages and applications that will run on SUSE Linux and SUSE Linux-based distributions.
"SUSE Linux users, who number in the millions worldwide, continue to show their support by installing the software in great numbers and seeking more opportunities to collaborate with Novell," said Jeff Jaffe, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Novell. "The huge interest in the openSUSE project shows they're serious about shaping and improving the software they use. We're thrilled at the level of involvement and are stepping up our commitment to maintain SUSE Linux as one of the most popular distributions in existence."
Posted at: LinuxElectrons
OpenSUSE and Ubuntu are my Linux Distros of choice and I personally recommend these two distros to my customers in a computer shop that I manage. Out of that 750,000 confirmed installations, I'm very much happy to say that I've contributed at least 100 installations. Linux is the future, and that future is just a day away, and I'm proud that I already made a head start in using such great Operating System.


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The white iPhone four: soon after months (and months) of delays, Apple nowadays lastly released the albino edition of it newest addition to the iPhone loved ones. It's accessible for both AT&T and Verizon and, if you plan on joining the white iPhone 4 owners club, you can expect to pay either $199.99 for your 16GB model or $299.99 for your 32GB flavor. If you're still on the fence about picking up the frosty handset or just want to see what all the fuss is about, though, our friend Cam Bunton over at Today's iPhone recorded a video of himself unboxing the device and we've embedded it below for all to enjoy. For your price, same with the iPhone four black, which is $ 199 for the 16GB model and $ 299 for the 32GB model. Apple said the iPhone 4 will be available in nearly 30 countries and territories.
Besides the United States, iPhone 4 white sold simultaneously in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Rep. Ceska, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand and Britain.
The presence of iPhone four white had several times experienced delays. Some time ago, it was rumored if Apple would delay the launch of the iPhone four white until the spring of next year due towards the peeling white paint exposed to heat.
While his brother, iPhone four black which went on sale in June 2010, ambled smoothly and be a best-selling. Apple's own party, giving no explanation why it happened.


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Trump isn't Hitler; he isn't Father Coughlin; he isn't even Henry Ford (whose racism was theoretical rather than opportunistic like Trump's). History can't shed much light on Trump, because it's written by winners. We read it as a parable of progress, in which, thanks to the checks and balances that the Federalists carefully wrote into the Constitution and our own better nature, the worst impulses of the democratic mob have consistently been foiled. Slavery met its Lincoln; the Know Nothings were swept into history's dustbin; and once Pearl Harbor was attacked, even Ford and Lindbergh joined the fight against fascism (literally–Ford hired Lindbergh as a consultant at Willow Run, which was making bombers).
As ugly as Trump's historical analogs were, they didn't do well in national elections. The Know Nothings did elect a bunch of congressmen and eight governors in the 1850s, but they didn't survive the Civil War. Father Coughlin endorsed the Union party's William Lemke for president in 1936; despite his millions of dedicated listeners, Lemke got less than 2% of the vote. As dangerous as Coughlin and Lindbergh were, as pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic as many of the America Firsters were, they couldn't stop either FDR or America's entrance into the war. What's scary about Trump isn't his racist demagoguery per se–we've seen his like before, they show up every 30 years or so, usually at times of economic stress and social change. What's scary is how deep his support may run during this particular cycle. That's an open question and one that history can't provide an answer to.


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Bilcom announced that it agreed on management integration with Shanghai YMG China. Bilcom sets up 100% subsidiary, BILCOM China in April 2011, and transfers digital marketing business unit of Shanghai YMG China to BILCOM China.
Bilcom is a PR agency with strength in digital marketing. The company said that the integration with Shanghai YMG China will allow them to provide digital solution utilizing social media in China. Also it plans to provide digital solutions to not only Japanese customers, but also Chinese or Western customers.


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"I have, which will surprise you not a little, been speculating - partly in American funds, but more especially in English stocks, which are springing up like mushrooms this year (in furtherance of every imaginable and unimaginable joint stock enterprise), are forced up to a quite unreasonable level and then, for the most part, collapse. In this way, I have made over £400 and, now that the complexity of the political situation affords greater scope, I shall begin all over again. It's a type of operation that makes small demands on one's time, and it's worth while running some risk in order to relieve the enemy of his money."
— Karl Marx: letter to Lion Philips - 25 JUNE 1864


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A friend introduced me to this BBC News In Pictures site a few years ago.
I used to have it as my homepage when I worked an office job as it was a great way of keeping in touch with what was going on in the world. They always ask for photo contributions from anyone willing and one of mine was featured (number 3) a few years back. Have a look!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Lismore, Louisiana
On our way home from Bangalow we took the scenic (educational) inland route through Lismore, Nimbin and Murwillimbah. We were heading out of Lismore, dissapointed by the apparent lack of coffee spots when we came accross Blue Tongue cafe. It was a fantastic place and reminded us of New Orleans, Louisiana - ecclectic, perhaps a little tired and worn, but warm and homely and I'm pretty sure it had the obligatory friendly, kind-of-creepy, grey cat. Attention to detail included perfectly preserved dead butterflies in the front window, newspaper to steady the table and wild jungle out the back. Be sure to stop there next time you're visiting. It's on the way out of town opposite a mechanics shop. Delightful!
Posted by Sharolyn Newington at Monday, July 26, 2010 2 comments
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Lichen on a country fence of...
Posted by Sharolyn Newington at Saturday, July 17, 2010 0 comments
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Somewhere to start
Not so long ago I got together with some good friends of mine - Kim and Catie and some paints, pencils and paper, but I find it is difficult to be creative on demand. Moments of inspiration seem to often come in the midst of madness don't you find? Stuck for somewhere to start I cut a section of text from a newspaper, circled a few words I liked, blanked the others out and proceeded to draw what the words described. A fun way to start. I will try this again sometime I think.
Posted by Sharolyn Newington at Tuesday, July 13, 2010 2 comments
Friday, July 2, 2010
Around me
Posted by Sharolyn Newington at Friday, July 02, 2010 2 comments
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Oh what a foolish person I have been to complain about the sometimes over-the-top Canada/USA border. The great thing about the getting to cross the borders in Latin America is that they make great stories, and they are always a great conversation topic when you meet up with other bikers.
The Mexican border was quite tame, though it can be confusing as a first-timer because of the "travel free" zones for Americans. We thought we were lost since we had to drive 50km to the immigration offices. For the most part we tried to stay away from Panamericana border crossings but things were still hectic for pretty much all of our Central America border crossings. Even with the advantage of speaking fluent Spanish it's hard to make sense of the borders. Knowing Spanish did not seem to make things move any faster. South America was noticeably more organized though the experiences were still sometimes just as frustrating.
We managed to get away without paying any bribes whatsoever, but it can happen because you will find yourself at the mercy of the border officials. Some time and money can be saved by having copies of your driver's license, title and passport cause almost every border before crossing the Darien Gap will ask for copies. I've included a list of all the borders we crossed and what we encountered (fees paid, time etc...). The list can be found here. Also there is lots of information on the HUBB regarding border crossings and you can find lots of personal accounts on rider's blogs. I think that every experience is different but it's nice if you have an idea of what to expect.


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To sign up for the Julia Quinn 2012 Reading Challenge - CLICK HERE
Below is the link up for all your AUGUST reviews.
Please link directly to your review, not just your website.
In the name field, please include the book title..
Example: Aislynn @ S-R-C (When He Was Wicked)


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A custody evaluation "should be" a very thorough examination of all family members for the purpose of making recommendations to the court about a parenting plan (also known as a custodial arrangement) that will be in the best interests of the children involved. Unless specified by a court order, a custody evaluation may or may not include a psychological evaluation. In general, a custody evaluation needs to consider the nature of the past and present relationships between the parents and children, the abilities of the parents to provide for their children physically, emotionally and financially as well as any deficits and/or impediments that might interfere with a parent's ability to care for their children and/or maintain a healthy relationship with their children.
The scope of the custody evaluation can also vary. This is largely dependent on the wording of the court order, the choice of professional who will be conducting the custody evaluation and the cost involved. Although it seems reasonable to expect that the more trained and experienced an evaluator is, the better the quality the custody evaluation should be. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. As in other matters, it is very important to know what you are getting into and to make sure that the custody evaluator doing the assessment is properly trained and experienced.
A comprehensive custody evaluation "should include" the following elements:
A custody evaluation following the above protocol is labor intensive, time consuming, expensive and stress provoking. Depending on the complexity of the case, a custody evaluator could spend anywhere from 20-40+ hours completing an evaluation and writing the report. A custody evaluation of this type could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 or more.
Need More Information?
Everyone's concerns are unique. For that reason, Dr. Reena Sommer invites you to call her without obligation for a 15-minute consultation to receive some initial direction about your specific concerns. You can reach Dr. Sommer directly by calling her at 281.534.3923.
*FYI: We are not attorneys nor are we members of any bar in any state. We do not offer legal advice nor do we present ourselves as doing so. However, we do help attorneys to better represent their clients through our services as divorce strategists and divorce consultants.
Dr. Reena Sommer & Associates PLLC ĺ©
Houston, Texas


text: Dwight Yoakam was presented the Country Music Association's International Artist Achievement Award during an event prior to Wednesday's (Nov. 7) CMA Awards show in Nashville. Throughout his career, Yoakam has worked to develop a worldwide fan base through tours of France, Germany, the UK, Australia, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and other nations. Yoakam said he received early tour support from Warner Bros., his first record label, but added, "I think it is incumbent upon the individual artist to sometimes take the economic hit and go overseas. It's expensive to travel, but I've reaped great rewards from having fans all around the world. I was very, very honored that CMA would give me that award."


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Let it be known that this August has been the longest month of my life.
Literally, I've been counting down the days since the Orientation at central on the 1st. It SUCKED to wait this long, and I've still got 12 days! Still, fun to think I'll be turning the page this upcoming September today, how exciting is that.
I didn't accomplish my goal this month of studying accounting every day, but I did study a few solid hours this month and read the first about half of the textbook. It was a good enough review that I think if I were to just pick it up a couple more times before the class I'll be more than ready to ace it.
I've gotten a bit better at the guitar these last couple weeks (more than usual) because I finally got my hand positioning completely correct. Now that this is done my risk of carpel tunnel is alleviated because I'm more relaxed in my playing, it's a really big accomplishment! It's Week 21, week 22 is my last week with Jacob but I intend to continue my practice logs to map out exactly how many hours I've done. I'll have to buy an awesome piece of music equipment once I hit 1,000 hours. Maybe even a new guitar.
Project Year Timeline
Age 15, 2006-2007
The Year that Broke my Initial Spirit
That picture was taken by a professional photographer so it's not the most accurate representation of who I really was back then. Maybe this is better...
Okay those are crumbles of cookies with green frosting which we left on Les's porch. Why? I don't know? Notice that I look pretty psychotic. I genuinely was pretty crazy, but it was the first time in my life that I was happy and I wasn't used to it.
Summer before freshman year... I had pretty bad depression in middle school, for MANY reasons which I will explain to you in the next entries for that age. My mom had started me on Paxil for depression just a few months earlier, and it certainly worked. For the first time in my life I wasn't depressed and angry.
I was dating Toren S. that summer. Katharine was dating RJ so we'd spend a lot of time down at the skate park with the "BSK" group. Ever since then I call us the skate park groupies, because that's what it was like. Neither one of us could skate (Though I did try, of course, and failed miserably) so we'd just go there to hang out and goof off.
The BSK group was probably stoned all the time and that's why they acted so goofy and crazy. Katharine and I never were though, and we'd pretty much just feed of their craziness to get the proper vibes to come up with our own inside jokes. Damien C. was funny as Hell; they all were. They seemed like the right people to be hanging out with at the time. I felt like a cool 70's kid taking buses from skatepark to skatepark with no money and all the time in the world.
I started to think I was rather cute, so my confidence was in the sky when I started highschool. I had Katharine, my boyfriend Toren, everything was going to be okay.
Of course things were NOT okay rather quickly. Toren and my relationship didn't translate well into highschool. Toren was just as crazy as he was during the summer. He was extremely loud and would wear pigtails to assemblies. This one time it embarrassed me and I politely asked him to take them out and he snapped back that he'll do whatever the Hell he wants. We broke up shortly after.
I think I originally broke up with him because of his "pot smoking," even if I had no idea what it was at the time. I'm pretty sure I just wanted an excuse to break up with him before he got to me, but the depression that the breakup caused spiraled rather quickly. I was sad about Toren for a few months, I think I really loved him back-- I mean my brain now is so different that I can't even say it counted as love but for young teenage love, yes it was pretty genuine.
Because of Paxil I would act really loud and crazy too, but I really don't think it was just for attention. I think I just did it because I wanted to have fun, but once the relationship with Toren was over I quieted down quite a bit.
When I first started highschool I didn't fit anywhere. Like I said before in my previous entries, my class and I never got along so I figured Katharine would have a spot for me. She did, she managed to make it okay that I sat at the Mormon table but I said something really offensive and got booted.
Katharine and my friendship during freshman year was really short lived. Things were fine originally, we'd joke around at soccer practices, sit next to eachother on bus rides, etc etc... But as time went on she became more and more cold toward me. I didn't know why, I figure I was just acting like myself and she was used to it; little did I know I was probably doing things every day she was keeping track of because months later when I tried to rekindle our friendship she gave me a big long list of all the things I'd done wrong.
Anyway... We'd been on the bus, it was a long ride home from Cle Elum or something and I was next to Katharine. Katharine had been talking on the phone with RJ since we'd left and didn't care to hear it so I looked for another seat. Haley M. and I had just met a few days earlier, she was a junior and had a lot of seniority on the team because she was really good and I was attracted to that. Well, that and I didn't want to listen to Katharine's sweet nothings on the phone anymore, so I moved.
My mom always hated this picture because she says we look like lesbians. This was taken before a football game in my basement.
Haley and I got pretty close quickly. She was an open minded person-- she had a lot of cool afterlife theories, zodiac books... She was just an all around fascinating person and she was always pretty nice to me. At the time she was dating Indy, and I thought he'd be jealous of all the time Haley and I were spending together. After actually dating Indy myself, though, I realize he really didn't give a damn either way.
So this friendship with Haley progressed during September where we'd walk over to Indy's and hang out there, hang out at her place or mine; I didn't really think there were any problems. Unfortunately Katharine got pretty jealous of this new friendship Haley and I had, and on top of the other vices that she had against me, decided this was enough of a reason to attempt to destroy my reputation.
The shit really hit the fan Halloween night. Katharine and I had made a new tradition (that we'd started my 8th grade year) that we'd spend Halloween together, act crazy and give out candy. She came over and everything was alright for the first couple hours or so until Indy and Haley unexpectedly showed up.
I think Indy actually had to talk to my mom about something, like he wanted to visit, but of course once Haley was at the door I was more than happy to make our halloween party four people. When Haley and Indy didn't leave Katharine started to get really quiet and bailed. Me being naive, I didn't think about it and really thought she had to go somewhere. I stuck with Haley the rest of the evening until she went back to Indy's.
That night I went on MySpace and Katharine posted a blog entry that talked about her disgust with me. She mentioned that I was "spending time with Haley, who knows what they're doing... gross!" Or something like that, implying that I was gay and that everyone needs to know what this new friendship REALLY is. Celeste P. had commented, who was pretty popular in highschool and known for having a bit of a big mouth; no offense Celeste-- again this is when we were 15, 16 years old so it's not like any of this implies today.
Katharine took down the blog when I called her house asking why the HELL she would post something like that. She was pretty quiet, she ended up taking it down but this was just the beginning of the rumor mill saying I was gay. It didn't bother me as much as it bothered my mom.
I didn't dodge the "Easy freshman" entirely, but my situation was more complicated then just hooking up with guys at parties or something. I was in a full out mind game with Tony L., he'd call my phone almost every night and we'd talk on the phone for hours. It was the weirdest ass thing I'd ever experienced, I had no idea why he was talking to me, I KNEW we weren't actually going to date... Mainly because he had a girlfriend and he was way out of my league. He pretty much stated this. I'll never forget when he said...
"Emily you're hot, but not really right now because you're so young... You'll be hot when you're like 18 years old."
I appreciate this compliment a lot, I was coming out of an awkward stage my freshman year. I just really didn't understand why he'd be talking to me, but I went with it.
Things got REALLY bad with Tony, however, when he ditched talking to me to go for Ainhoa, the foriegn exchanged girl. At the time I was actually hanging out with Heather E.'s group, which Ainhoa was a part of. Ainhoa was on my soccer team too so we knew eachother rather well when I told her that "Tony is a player." BAD!!! BAD idea! Should not have done that, in a matter of hours the entire school felt like they were gunning for me. Maria E. told me what was about to come and it scared the shit out of me.
Tony called, "WHAT were you thinking. Why the FUCK would you say that. You're the one that made that mock myspace account didn't you?! Just to talk shit!!" There was some mock myspace account that someone created that was saying Tony was a player, this was NOT me. Of course I didn't want to create waves with Tony, I was really intimidated by him (obviously, he had so much power and I had NONE. Nothing, I was 15 for god sake and had just lost my best friend).
Ironically enough, I ended up dating Chino, Tony's cousin for about six months. My relationship with Chino was pretty bizarre, he was nineteen years old and didn't really know what to make of me. I was still sort of crazy because of my influence from Toren but he really just took me as I was. Chino was really attracted to me physically and didn't seem to care much for my other weirdness. He didn't really get my sense of humor but we did have some good times...
Chino was freaking loaded, all the time. I have no idea where he got his money but he used to shower me in dates and gifts... He'd shower himself in gifts too, I'd never seen anyone who wore more Buckle and Ed Hardy style stuff (this was before Ed Hardy was big, but he dressed so perfectly.) My mom loved Chino, she liked having him around because he was the type of guy SHE would have dated and liked me being with him. Dad wasn't so fond of it though because he thought Chino and I were gonna end up getting too serious. Nooo way, my brain back then was so loopy there's no way I would have taken anything too seriously; with Chino I was just along for the ride.
Freshman year was also a year of a lot of failure in attempt at being school spirited. I tried a lot of things, I tried being class treasurer and had to come before a group of leadership Mormons that probably thought I was the anti-Christ for my crazy behavior and short shorts, needless to say I didn't get the spot. The Mormon girls also didn't like me because I had hung out with Evan B., this totally hot, picture perfect Christian whose family did NOT like me that I met at Freshman orientation.
Basketball season was a nightmare. I was originally on C squad which was fun because I got a lot of playing time but when the school cut the program I was stuck on a large JV team... The coach benched me for entire games, it broke my heart because I loved basketball and thought it was my best sport. Of course I was on a team with Jessica Small who even if it was her first year playing got all the playing time. She was tall, and probably in all fairness a better player than I was. This was the start of a long chain of Jessica S. senselessly beating me in practically everything. I hated her.
After the awful basketball season I tried out for cheerleading for the following year. Jessica tried out too. We got our results delivered to my English class (with Sterns, she liked me a lot). This was very embarrassing because there were three of us-- Jessica, Kim and I, that all openned them up to see if we made it. Jessica starts screaming and jumping up and down, "OMG I MADE IT!!!" I look down, I didn't. I sat quietly for everyone to leave before breaking down to Mrs. Sterns. Sterns told me, "Why the Hell do you want to be a cheerleader anyway, that's not you." She couldn't have been more right.
After that though, I was like F*ck Ki-Be spirit, I hate it here.
I wanted to quit. Everything. I wanted to die. I'd come home and scratch big gashes into my thighs until they bled. I'd scream and cry into my pillow and wish things would change. Luckily my wish came true, here I am 20 years old looking beautiful, successfully have my first college degree and shred the f*ck out of a guitar. It's taken so much pain to get where I am today.
Again, I should have probably just changed schools. I should have just gone to Hanford or something and things would have probably been a lot easier but I'm happy to have lived through these experiences because it's made me a more well rounded person in the long run.
In all this, at least I wasn't completely alone. For most of the year I had a place to sit for lunch because Heather took me in. I felt pretty fortunate of this.
Having Heather and her friends there made things a lot easier, it helped me blend in and feel I was part of some clique which is what I really needed at the time.
The one good thing that happened freshman year was trying tennis. I was partners with Michaela and we barely won any games or had any coherence but at least I got to play all my matches and got some good playing experience for the following years. I ditched the partner game and decided to take up singles, Michaela was okay with it though because Chelsea E. had started playing.
Well lets face it.... Freshman year was a BITCH. And this was actually an improvement from middle school. Tomorrow I'll do 14 and talk about 8th grade, the year I almost fell to my death.


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Today we learned specifically about the feather...the shaft, quill, vanes, barbs and barbules. I think it's incredibly neat how God created the barbs to "zip" and "unzip"...it's really mind-boggling how He created all of these things, isn't it?
Here are some neat videos we've come across:
photo credit
Click HERE to see the neatest lyrebird video ever! It's a recording that was captured for the BBC Wildlife documentary "The Life of Birds"...very neat!!
Belle's little cheer to go along with the video: "Dance, dance, dance, dance(say this as long as they are dancing)....check your pit--Whoo!!" I just about spewed Sprite everywhere when she said that!! By the way, these are albatrosses doing their courting dance. Again...quite neat! lol!


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I never thought I'd be one of those bloggers that pleaded with their readers to vote for them in some contest or another. Which is why I quietly announced I had been nominated for the Cooper Hewitt's People's Design Award, and left it at that.
But something unexpected has happened. People have been voting for me!
Folks, this little blog is now 19th out of almost 150 nominated designs. Top 20. How cool is that?
So if you love an underdog, and if you're so inclined, please vote for me now.
Voting closes October 20.


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May is National Bike to Work Month and May 13th-18th is National Bike to Work Week with Friday the 18th being Bike to Work Day.
This past week I picked up a stack of information from the Bannock Planning Organization, the Portneuf Greenway Foundation, and the Idaho Transportation Department about the National Bike to Work Week. I am very impressed with the amount of work going into Porteuf Valley Bike to Work and wonder how I've missed it all these years that I've been in Pocatello.
There were two events over the weekend supporting the Green Bikes program and the Poky Free Bikes organizations here in town. I wasn't in town most of the weekend so I couldn't attend, but both of these organizations are worthy of all the support they can get. If you are interested in more on National Bike to Work Month, bicycle safety, the goings-on in the Portneuf Valley, Portneuf Greenway bike trails, and other environmentally friendly transportation you can visiit http://www.pokybiketowork.org/.
I can't commit to riding my bike every day this week to work and school, but I will be riding on Friday if not several days this week as I do most weeks when my time is spent on campus.
Please join me in this environmentally friendly, healthy, and fun week of cycling!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Bike to Work Week
by Tara A. Rowe at 6:48 AM
1 comment :
- Sara E Anderson said...
I work in Pullman, which is 7 miles away, but there's a great trail alongside the highway, and I've been using it to bike home from work every once in a while as the weather has been getting nicer. 7 miles takes a pretty long time, so I like to take the bus in the morning and put my bike in their rack, and then ride home in the evening. It's a pretty great commute.
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But wait, there's more! Tonight my doorbell rang with a cable salesperson who had my name as recently discontinued, with an offer for a package deal of $80 per month for cable, tv, and phone. (The normal rate for "Extended Basic" cable tv alone is about $65 per month. I was paying about $18 for bare-bones basic.) He was stymied when I told him I no longer own a tv and don't use a land line.
It's not about you, cable. It's me....really.....we're just not going anywhere, y'know?


text:
The Adventures of Edwin D Ferretti, Author
Part thirteen
Sliding my chair back I stood. "You look amazing," blurted out of my mouth.
"Romance can come later. You need to ask me questions and bring me back home."
"Sorry, it's just that you've been on my mind since I first saw you." I realized that forgot to bring my list of questions and would have to wing it. "Tell me about this dimension." I sat down again and turned on my tape recorder.
"I call it the October Country."
"October Country?"
"Reminds me of Chicago during winter; icy and windy. If it weren't for the elves, I would've frozen to death a long time ago. They brought me food, warm clothing and blankets." She blushed, "I changed to these cloths for you." I made a mental note to thank the elves.
"Where is this dimension located?"
"Not a clue. The night sky is totally different than the one over us now. It's cloudless and dreary during the day. At night things fly about in the dark that I can only imagine, want to do me harm."
"Where do you spend your nights?"
"The elves found a cave for me. After checking it they helped me build a wind block and a secure door. I collect wood during the day and burn it inside at night. Water trickles in the back of the cave. The elves have brought cast iron pots and pans that I use to cook in and gather water."
"If I can locate this dimension then I can write about it; changing the weather and creatures that wander its barren landscape. I wonder if there's anything in your father's room that might shed some light."
"The old goat did have a cabinet filled with his things. Problem is that it's magic spelled shut. Cynthia and I couldn't open it."
"I'll check it out...say how did you send your cat through the portal?"
"You mean Bast? She's still with me. She keeps me company. If it weren't for her I'd have gone crazy."
"Huh, still with you...then who is this other feline that Cynthia recognizes and calls Bast?" Oh my, could it be the cat that I wrote into all of my books, Bast? Bast has magical powers, because she is the offspring of the ancient Egyptian Cat Goddess Bastet. It made sense; I created Bast in my normal dimension. My mind raced, I can use her to undo the spell on Cindy's father's bookcase. "I believe that I have a solution to opening your father's bookcase." Cindy smiled.
"Cindy, how is it that you can visit here without the use of a portal?"
"I use the portal. It's still open at my end and closed at yours. Only my spiritual body can make the trip. My physical body is sleeping behind the locked door of my cave. When both ends of the portal are open then I'll be able to come home.
"Did the elves tell you about your mother?"
"You know where my mother is?" I nodded my head.
"She landed on Pelta, a planet that I'll be visiting tomorrow. Jen and Company are going to introduce me to the use of magic. Once I understand its concept I'll be able to use it in my story to aid my protagonists. On the next foggy night I would like both you and Cynthia to visit me in my new home. I'll be able to bring your mother for a visit."
"Wonderful, I can't wait. Maybe you could also print out copies of your completed manuscripts and I can begin reading them."
"After you leave here are you going to visit your sister?"
"Depends on the time; I have to be back inside my body before midnight." I checked my watch.
"We have been chatting for almost two hours; still have three and a half before midnight. Cynthia has copies of my books."
"David I should go. I promise to visit you in your new dimensional house on the next foggy night." She began to fade away. I reached out my hand; too late, all I felt was an icy cold breath wrapping itself around my arm.
Verbal stories, passed from one person to another,
often differ from the original with each telling.
Stories in an author's mind that are turned
into books remain unchanged for eternity.