text:
Back after a travel day from Montreal and an off day courtesy of my generous editor (Thank You Rob!)
The Flyers had an off day themselves today, so the only contact we had with the team was through a few conference calls with Kimmo Timonen, Mike Richards and John Stevens.
You might be a little surprised by what they had to say about Sidney Crosby... but you'll have to check out the Wednesday edition of the Daily Times for that story...
Instead, I'll tel you a little anecdote that Stevens passed on to us about his preparation for playing Pittsburgh.
Pulling out a coaching tactic he learned from Colorado Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville back in the days when Quenneville was coach of the Springfield Falcons of the AHL and Stevens was a player, Stevens asked each Flyer to do research and provide a scouting report to the them about one player.
Stevens handed out assignments based on matchups, so it's a safe bet that Evgeni Malkin went to Timonen and Crosby went to Hatcher, or something like that.
Stevens: "I had one coach that did something similar to that and I thought as a player it was very helpful. It narrows your focus and really gives you top to bottom look at their personnel. I played for Joel Quenneville in Springfield and we did that one year and I thought as a player it was good. It usually makes for some good humor. It gets the guys to interact. There is usually something that comes out that is a lot of fun. It doesn't take a long time to do it and you usually end up learning more about the other team them you might have already known. Some of these guys have played together and they know each other well. Some of these guys have played in World Junior Tournaments together have grown up together so it is something fun that we do and it has value as well."
Q: Any rhyme or reason who gets who?
Stevens: "We assign guys whether its similar guys who they are going to be playing against each other or guys that have played together before. There is thought that goes into it and everybody gets a player."
The one thing that can be said about Stevens is... he keeps the guys loose at a time when being tense is the norm.
A lot of people were questioning his coaching ability down the stretch of the regular season, but let me be perfectly clear - the guy can coach.
And when the games are most important, he thrives. I witnessed it first hand in the AHL during the lockout.
Trent Yawney, who coached in Chicago, and some guy named Michel Therrien - the guy currently coaching the Penguins.Don't be surprised if Stevens has a trick or two up his sleeve for the Pens in this series that Therrien may have missed in his preparation.


text:
SDCC/ Thank You!
I feel amazing! Very tired, but amazing.
So our first San Diego Comic Con has come and gone.
It has taken us a long time to get to this point; but all the hard work was worth it.
I would like to take a moment to thank all of my friends and family for the love and support.
Thank you Robert for helping me from our start in 2009.
Joe and Chris for living the SDCC adventure with us.
David and Mark it was good to see you guys.
All the Cal State Alumni; thank you for all the support and inspiration.
Lastly, Thank you to all the people who have been so supportive of the book.
It means so much to me!
Where do we go now?
I have a many plans for the future, but for now.
I'm going to do a victory lap, and then go on vacation.
I will be back in mid September with new art and finish this year out strong.
Thanks Everyone,

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The reason for having this feature has yet been clarified by the relevant authority. It is believed that the square dot is to differential the various printing made at different time. This square dot feature is also observed on other denominations.
Additional square dot is observed at the reverse of the note, underneath the wording. For instant, the square dot located underneath the word Sports for $10 Polymer Note.


text:
Of a self professed bookworm and geek girl.
Book One: Learning
The Dragon Chronicles, #1
D.R. Grady
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Date of Publication: April 22, 2015
Number of pages: 291
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde
Peace has reigned for so long, most beings believe dragons are mere myths, including elf professor Dr. Lindy Veles. After meeting attractive Dr. Alex von Schreider—a surly professor from a bear shifter family who possesses plenty of paranormal power, yet can't shift—things start to spiral downward. Especially when he catches Lindy's strong shifter scent. Elves don't normally shift. Alex finds the compelling elf's denials suspicious. Lindy thinks he's crazy to believe she's a shifter.
As they delve into the ancient Dragon Chronicles, tomes about dragons, it quickly becomes clear their efforts are no mere academic exercise. Dragons are suddenly becoming all too real. When Lindy shifts into one, Alex discovers he's meant to control her dragon—the most powerful creature on earth. The pair is caught in the middle of two raging battles... their own personal emotional war and the war to save their world.
With the clock ticking, Lindy and Alex must surrender their misconceptions about themselves and dragons, and unite to begin the fight for their very existence.
As anyone who reviews books on a blog knows, you can get lots and lots of review requests. All too often, the requests I get are some form of form letter for a book that's not even remotely something I would be interested in. However occasionally, I get a request that gives me pause and has me stop and pay attention, actually doing more than hitting delete. This book is one such request and I am really glad that I did.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I mean, bears, elves, dragons, together? It seemed an odd mix, but ultimately it worked for me. The prologue threw me a bit, but once the story got going, I was totally in it. I couldn't believe how fast I read this book. The story is fairly fast paced, and stays on point throughout. There weren't a lot of sub plots or side bars going on to distract from the original story being told. If you have ever read a book with so many subplots you can't keep track, you can appreciate the beauty of a simply told story. Especially one that doesn't make you feel like you need to get or create a dictionary to keep track of unknown words or phrases.
The characters were well thought out and had some interesting quirks. The relationships and interactions between the characters felt natural and believable. There were several awesome secondary characters that I can't wait to see more of. As this is the first book in the series, I don't know whether the follow up ones will continue to be centered around Lindy and Alex or start branching off onto the other characters. I would be happy either way.
This book is classified on the Soul Mate Publishing website as strictly Fantasy, but personally I can make a case for Paranormal Romance or even Urban Fantasy. It's a clean romance, absolutely PG clean. But that doesn't change the overall dynamic between the two main characters. They go from a strong dislike of each other through the gamut of emotions all the way to love and commitment. Sounds like a romance to me. Why Urban Fantasy? For me, it's because this is a story set in modern-ish times in the area of Pennsylvania on the campus of an institute of higher learning. There are shifters, elves, and other folks, including humans living in a large group (hence city or urban). It was never spelled out, but this felt like a slightly alternate world to our own.
Overall, this was an original story and a great introduction to a new world. One that I would really like to spend some more time in. I already have a hint of a feeling of who one of the bad guys is and want to be able to confirm or deny my suspicions. I gave this book 5 stars for a surprisingly good story.
Thanks to the author for the opportunity to read and review the book.


text:
Just wanted to send warm, wintery blessings to all of my faithful readers, and wish all of you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and a peaceful and healthy New Year! I will be away for a while til after the New Year to try and catch up on things, and I will be closing my Etsy Shops for a week or two, or even three so I can catch my breath and just enjoy a bit of down-time! But I'll be back before you know it! Happy Holidays, dear ones!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Congratulations, Colleen T. of Hillsdale,Michigan!
Colleen has been selected to receive the Sledding Crow Hang Tags offered in my latest Blog Give-Away. (I know... I'm a day late in posting this, as I was gone all day yesterday to Vermont getting feed and food!)
Colleen raises shelties and has a lovely Cafe Press shop full of all kinds of items featuring her photographs of her beautiful shelties. Here is her shop greeting...
"Welcome to our Sheltie store fellow dog lovers! We have items for all Sheltie lovers, but we know how hard it is to find that special Tri-color Sheltie item, so we are trying to offer all kinds of great gifts featuring Tri-color Shelties."
You may visit her shop here... http://www.cafepress.com/tricolorcal
Again, congratualations Colleen, and thank you to all who entered, and to all who read my humble ol' blog! May each of you find peace and joy this holiday season. Warmest regards, Laura of Wildenblue Farm
Posted by Laura of at 9:52 AM 2 comments: Links to this post
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Holiday Recipes
As promised in my last post, here are a few recipes for the holidays that make perfect gifts... to you or yours!
Orange & Chocolate Truffles
8 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate
1/3 cup Heavy cream
1 tablespoon Espresso Powder
4 tablespoons Butter
1 teaspoon grated Orange Peel
1 or 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
Cocoa Powder for dredging truffles
Melt the chocolate in the microwave carefully. Add the cream, espresso powder, butter, orange peel, and Grand Marnier. Mix all til combined, then refrigerate for an hour.
When mixture has chilled, dust your hands with cocoa powder and roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Dredge in cocoa powder. You may also choose to dip the truffles into melted chocolate first, then dredge in cocoa powder.
Chocolate-Raspberry Truffles (my favorite!)
In a saucepan over low heat, melt together
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
12 ounces chopped Bittersweet Chocolate
1/4 cup Butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup Seedless Raspberry Jam
2 tablespoons Chambord
Refrigerate for about 4 hours or overnight. When properly cooled, form into balls , then dredge into cocoa powder or dip into melted chocolate.
Kahlua Truffles
In a saucepan, melt together
2 cups Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1/4 cup Butter
1 Tablespoon Instant Coffee crystals
2 tablespoons Kahlua
Whisk til smooth, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Form into balls and dredge in cocoa powder.
Alright, enough of the truffle recipes! You can have fun with these three and adapt them to suit what you like by varying the liqeurs and flavorings you use! I will include two of my other favorite sweet-tooth recipes for holiday gift-giving, too! Enjoy!
Candied Orange Peel (use organic oranges!)
2 cups orange peel, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
Place peel into a pan and cover with water, bring to a boil , then drain.
In a saucepan, combine the drained peel with
2 cups Sugar and 1/2 cup Water
Heat and stir til sugar dissolves. Cook slowly til peel is translucent. Drain, then roll in granulated sugar. dry on a rack or on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. If you like, dip into or drizzle with chocolate.
1 cup chopped Almonds
2 cups Butter
2 cups Sugar
2 tablespoons light Corn Syrup
2 cups Chocolate Chips
6 tablespoons Water
Line a large heavy baking pan with aluminum foil. Sprinkle with half the chopped almonds, set aside. Melt the Butter in a large heavy pot over low heat. Stir in the sugar, water and corn syrup. Cook over medium-high heat til mixture boils; stir and let boil for 4 minutes. Clip a candy thermometer to pan, lower heat to medium, and stir often til thermometer registers 290 degrees... soft crack stage.
Pour into prepared pan, let stand for three minutes, sprinkle the chocolate chips on top, let stand one minute, then sprinkle with the remaining nuts, pressing them into the melted chocolate. Chill and break into pieces. This makes about 1 1/2 pounds of toffee.
Posted by Laura of at 2:53 PM 6 comments: Links to this post
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Christmas Tidings and A Give-Away!
Sigh... December 1st, and still no snow. I do tend to get impatient when Christmas Time is coming and there is not even a hint of snow. I remember when we were little, we would have snow at Thanksgiving... and occasionally when we were out on Hallowe'en, we'd be spreckled with snow flurries! We had more snow then than now, that's for certain!
Well, I am having another Give-Away! I have been trying to get my workshop in order (there is still SO much to be done!), and I have discovered exactly how many Rubber Stamps I possess! And whilst mom has been sewing my curtains, I've been trying to feel useful! So I will present a very primitive looking set of six Sledding Crow hang tags to one reader, whom I will select on December 15th!
If you'd like to enter the SLEDDING CROW HANG TAG GIVEAWAY, simply send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com, attention Hang Tag Giveaway, and include your name and address. On December 15th, I will select a winner and will mail your Hang Tags to you!
Each grubby tag measures 2 1/4" by 4 3/4". They are stamped in red, brown and black, and feature two prim Crows on a sled. They top phrase reads "Christmas Blesses Little Hearts" and the bottom says "BELIEVE". The back is stamped with a bottom row of red hearts, and "to" and "from". I have drawn a line of "stitching" all around the tags.They are tied with scraps of red checked cotton Homespun.
Well, I just had to stop in with holiday wishes to you and yours! I'll be back in a few days with recipes for homemade truffles. They make wonderful little gifts, and you'll want some, too! Til then... remember the true meaning of this season, and that the best gift is a gift not from your wallet, but from your heart!
Posted by Laura of at 12:47 PM 2 comments: Links to this post
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
I was going to post this after I get a job. But that doesn't look like happening very soon, and old stories become stale. So here eet ees. (If you don't have patience, feel free to wander away from here :-)
Nandhini has been trying so hard to find me a job. She kindly told her friend Lavanya, Lavi for short, that I needed a job and sold me so well that Lavi got convinced what a super woman I am :P So, I went for the interview to her company. I was interviewed by FIVE people, for 3 and a half hours. I was applying for a position in their Sales team, so I was separately interviewed by the HR, two Sales managers, Vice President-sales and the COO.
1. I told the Vice President my favorite author is JK Rowling and my character from Harry Potter is Sirius Black :)
2. Q: Why do you think you will fit in here?
A: Heard of Ad zap... they make u sell BIZARRE products there. If I can do that and win prizes, I can of course sell software
3. Q: What are you proud of? (To be written)
I'm proud of the fact that when I die, a lot of people will cry.
4. Q: Ok, so explain data mining with an example.
A: Sheepish grin. Example... er... example... ok, Let us say you want to know who uses washing powder on a daily basis. We have a data of 100 random people. Split into man and woman. Woman, further split to above 20 years and below 20 years. Above 20 years, split into working woman and home-maker. So, the home-maker uses it on a daily basis. (As an afterthought)... this is the classification method.
5. Nature keeps calling me. I'm sitting right before 2 toilets. Both men. Then I ask the HR lady where the ladies room is. She shows me the way. There are two toilets. One on which is written Women. I assume, since the other place had two men's, this should be two women. I open the toilet on the side, and I'm wondering what this fat guy with glasses is doing there. Then with a jolt I close the door and hurriedly enter the Women's room. I hide there till I convince myself the coast is clear to come out.
AND, the same day night at 10pm, the CEO called from the US (their office is in San Jose, CA) and he asked me all sort of techie stuff as well. (Example: Difference between Stored Procedure and SQL Query) Lavi told me in the evening itself that she was getting super feedback from whoever interviewed me. So I was sort of confident already.
And then, the HR person called me with the offer. (Out of the 6 candidates who had come in, out of which 3 candidates were filtered and sent to the sales manager, he picked only me. All the others were MBAs. I was the only under graduate. Felt so cool) Lavi had already asked me to negotiate pay cuz hr adi maatu velai dhaan solluvanga nu she'd already warned. But later... I said yes to the pay they offered after I realized they weren't ready to negotiate. After an hour after I said yes, the HR calls and tells me I'm on hold. Wondering what was going on...I asked Lavi. She thinks it's because she is this egoistic bitch who wants to prove her authority. She probably thinks me bargaining is a question on her authority. And apparently she doesn't get along with the sales manager AT ALL, and he has marked me pretty high on the interview. So she wants to have the satisfaction of annoying him and not getting him the candidate he wanted on his team. Etc etc.
(The sales manager is a good friend of Lavi. So that's how I came to know about all these inside issues. ) Lavi and this sales manager(thoroughly good looking :P), asked me to talk to this woman once and maybe then things might work. And, I tried calling this woman that day and she just said 'oh...Vedha... listen I have to talk to the CEO and only then decide' and she hung up on me. Talking to the CEO is not even a likely excuse. The VP spoke to her(as told to Lavi) indirectly enquiring about me. She has just told him she has her own apprehensions. But when the sales manager asked her, she put the blame on the VP, saying he thinks I'm not good enough for the position. We knew something was wrong. But we couldn't figure out what. After two shitty days(where my hair fall got pretty high)… Voila! We understood what the catch is – the HR's Annan ponnu has come to attend the interview for the same position :-)
Saniyan Sevvailendhu Sarukittu vandhu en vaazhkaila sadugudu aadudhadaa saamy!
This blog is for people who can make sense from the non-sense I write, so if you stumbled across this blog, and it made no sense to you, you only have yourself to blame.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
My interview Story
Labels: interview
நாங்களும் வரைவோம்-ல!
Lol. When I was in 5th standard or something, I used to fill even ruled notebooks with my drawings and water color paintings. (I think I still have them somewhere). Then somewhere down the lane, I lost touch... But yeah, now me being vetti, and Bumboo, Blab and Nithi being the full the inspirations, I sat down to sketch Nandy(ayyo paavam).
Kadasi varaikum, that smile couldn't be duplicated (eppadi ellam samaalika vendiyadhaa iruku?!) Still have to do finishing touches(?!) but yea.. you can see what it looks like.
Idhu Nandhini illa.. Nandhini maadiri :P
Kadasi varaikum, that smile couldn't be duplicated (eppadi ellam samaalika vendiyadhaa iruku?!) Still have to do finishing touches(?!) but yea.. you can see what it looks like.
Idhu Nandhini illa.. Nandhini maadiri :P
Labels: Stuff I do
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
fuckyeahsurveys -
Phanfiction, Masterpost of all the phanfics we've reblogged. currently 56 fics (under construction) // use ctrl+f to search for a title. - chaptered & completed x - chaptered.
Online shopping mall master list - ulzzang boys, Woo i finally finished. this took way longer than it should have. oh well enjoy. if you have any questions let me know. since it is enormous i put it all under a read.
Johnlock fanfiction, F/f really isn't all that common with johnlock - in fact, i rarely see double genderswaps as is. so i'm afraid i don't know any fics that are both femslash and.
Find penpal - tumblr, This is not a dating site!!! looking for love? search to find a new penpal or submit your own post..Comixology unbound, Comixology: bloodshot . a former soldier with powers of regeneration and meta-morphing made possible through nanites injected into his blood. after having his memory.Chip zdarsky, As foretold by the fact that i couldn't even pose for my newspaper columnist headshots without a hamburger, i am writing jughead now. ha ha ha ha ha what.Fuckyeahsurveys, Fuckyeahsurveys: tw suicide and depression below. i know i've neglected this blog but i really need some help/advice right now if anyone can spare the time..
Report Image to: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Holy crap!
How on earth did this happen?
I will be holding a similar contest to the one Pike put up when her blog hit 100, 000 visits.
Whoever gets a screenshot of 1000 visits will have a picture of their character and/or pet drawn by me!
I don't draw as well as most, and I don't draw as lovably adorable avatars as Pike does, but I can damn well try to make it decent!
If you want an idea of what I can do, here's a picture I drew.
I would like to say thanks to everyone who reads Slow Wolf. I would also like to say that this was an idea completely and shamelessly stolen from Pike. I did ask for permission though.
So… GO!
Oh, and you can send me the screenshot to slowwolfblog(at)yahoo(period)ca


text:
Lids Locker Room
Cincinnati Bengals Coasters
Please check the latest pricing and stock availability directly with the retailer before traveling to the center.
Call Store
941.926.2434Buy from Lids Locker Room
Hunter Manufacturing Coaster. Add this 4-pack to your collection for a fun way to enjoy your favorite beverage while protecting your furniture! Neoprene coaster, Measures 4" x 4", 1/4" …
in thickness, Team logo and colors.


text:
In July, the bylaws director for the District of Maple Ridge, BC, Canada recommended a new bylaw that singles out pit bulls as "aggressive" and would charge their owners a licensing fee four times that of other breeds. The fee would apply to pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers, or a cross of any of the breeds. Pit bull-type dogs would also be required to be muzzled when off the owner's property and would also be subject to higher impound fees.
According to the bylaws director, pit bulls are being singled out "to encourage responsible pet ownership." While the bylaws director is pushing for the change, the mayor and some council members have expressed concerns with implementing a breed specific ordinance.
"Pit bulls" have been a hot topic in British Columbia lately, and we need a good showing at the council workshop meeting set for October 15. Workshop meetings begin at 9:00 a.m. and take place in the Blaney Room at City Hall. Animal Control Bylaw No. 6908-2012 is number 4 on the workshop agenda, and City staff has recommended the proposal be forwarded to the full council.
Please continue to send your polite, respectful and informative opposition to BSL to the Maple Ridge city officials listed below. Please include suggestions and viable alternatives, and urge officials to encourage responsible pet ownership through education and by enforcing the laws already in place.
District of Maple Ridge
11995 Haney Place
Maple Ridge, BC Canada V2X 6A9
Tel: 604-463-5221
Fax: 604-467-7329
Mayor Ernie Daykin
Councilor Cheryl Ashlie
Councilor Corisa Bell
Councilor Judy Dueck
Councilor Al Hogarth
Councilor Bob Masse
Councilor Michael Morden
Mayor & Council
Tel: 604-463-5221
Fax: 604-466-4308
Previous alert for Maple Ridge


text:
Half a dozen blogs I've not linked to previously.
- The Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London blogs what it says on the tin.
- Adam Pogonowski is one of our new Green Party councillors. He blogs rather well.
- Crooked Timber is a well established group blog that I've been reading for some time.
- An Australian left of centre group blog Larvatus Prodeo (h/t Hackney Pippa)
- I may or may not have linked to Left Foot Forward, so consider this a double check.


text:
te·na·cious tuesday…
Later on in my bookstore visit the other day, I sat down to skim a few books I didn't want to purchase. But before that, I went to the checkout counter to ask where I would pick up a book that I reserved on line.
The cashier, a middle- aged woman, said in the back at Customer Service. Mind you, I'd just come from that desk when the employee ignored me( Face to face or over the phone). When I did get some help, the book was at the front of the store with the middle aged woman, that I'd clearly just asked 5 mins prior about.
I looked at her already not in the best mood Read More


text:
Six years ago, when my daughter went to school for the first time as a high school freshman, I opened a blog about her new adventure from homeschool to high school. The blog was deleted from the server a couple of years ago, but I kept the posts, minus comments. Recently she asked me to send them to her, so I did, and I've also been reading through them myself. I had no idea how I was going to get through her teen years then, and I still don't know how I made it now, a mere six months after she left teenhood behind.* This post, I think, is a perfect example of what I mean.
Scene: My daughter and I are driving home on from a Passover Seder in Cincinnati. We pass a storage unit facility with a display of colorful neon lighted palm trees and fireworks.
Reticula: That's really cool! I wonder when they put that up.
Daughter: Mom, it's always been there. You've seen it a hundred times.
Reticula: Huh uh. I've never seen it before. We've driven by a thousand times and I've never seen it there.
Daughter (sighs heavily): Mom. It. Has. Always. Been. There.
Reticula: When the Alzheimer's gets bad, promise you'll take care of me.
Daughter: (silence)
Reticula: Promise you'll change my diapers. Don't let anybody else change my diapers.
Daughter: No.
Reticula: I've changed thousands of your diapers. You won't change mine?
Daughter: No.
Reticula: You're won't take care of your poor demented mom and change her diapers?
Daughter: No.
Reticula: Will you help me kill myself then?
Daughter: Yes.
* The irony does not escape me that my daughter is now changing her daughter's diapers, and someday she too could have this conversation with the same conclusion. She is now aware that her time on earth is limited, and that she too must follow the laws of karma. That's why she has apologized to me for being such an awful teenager and why she has started praying to whomever will listen--and nobody will, we all know that--that her daughter won't put her through the same thing. I tell her birth was the least painful part of being a mother....She'll learn that on her own though.


text:
Hi All,
It's my SO's birthday on Friday and I'm looking for a Mexican restaurant that has good food and a casual, fun atmosphere. I know NOTHING about Mexican food so would appreciate anything anyone can tell me. Ideally I'd like to be downtown or uptown, around Yonge and Eglinton. I've heard of a few places, Milagro, Hernando's Hideaway and Mariachi's... Anyone know anything about these places?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!


text:
It started with a question
A certain topic has been brought to my attention on many occasions recently. After speaking to people at stalls, via email, on the telephone and face to face, this topic has continued to arise and it now needs to get out of my head. This topic can be controversial, which … Continue reading


text:
Now, class, let's daintily unfold our damask dinner napkins, because today the Academy of Gracious Living Even for Slobs Like You is discussing that essential component of fine dining: wine. Everybody knows that if you are going to set a gracious table for your guests, you need to serve wine with the meal.
However, there is a great deal to learn about wine. This is a problem for most hosts, especially since the more wine we drink, the less able we are to retain this information.
Many hosts needlessly fret, "Am I serving the correct wine that goes with this food?" Relax; most guests will drink anything. Really, there is only one all-important rule you need to follow: If you are having guests over, always get a bottle of wine with a cork in it.
If your guests see the bottle has a cork, instead of a screw-top like that stuff you drink all Sunday afternoon while falling asleep in front of the football game, they'll be satisfied that you're putting on the dog for them. This is why the wine industry invented corks.
Of course, you also must have a corkscrew handy.
While this is all the average host needs to know, I realize that some of you wish to be true wine connoisseurs. You would like, when a restaurant's wine steward pours that splash of wine in your glass and you swirl it around in your mouth, to be able to say: "It has a truculent bouquet and a bemused yet fungible aftertaste, but the question remains: Would this vintage make a suitable fuel for public transportation?''
Yes, this is now a major criterion for wine selection, according to an brief article I read in the newspaper recently. This wire-service article, from Stockholm, Sweden, noted that wine is not just for human consumption any more, at least not among the Swedes:


text:
Officials in the Republic of South Sudan, said more than 150 people were killed in the battle was fought in Jonglei province east of the country between the army and the rebels.
The South Sudan army had launched earlier this month campaign against rebels led by David Yao Yao in Jonglei, where the government plans to explore for oil with the help of the French company Total.
The state of South Sudan have been trying to exert control over large tracts of its land since splitting from the Sudanese body in July 2011.
And Yao Yao had announced disobedience in the past year based on support Almrla range to which he belongs, after the loss suffered by the local elections in 2010.
The news agency Reuters Philip Aguer spokesman army of South Sudan as saying that the army was able to killing of 143 element of militia Yao Yao in the battle was fought near the town of Pibor on Tuesday, adding that the battle that also killed 20 of the soldiers and wounded 70 wounded .
The Information Minister said the Government of Southern Sudan Barnaba Marial Benjamin by another army forces captured the runway was used to provide Yao Yao fighters flown weapons and equipment.
The state accuses South Sudan Republic of Sudan of backing the militia Yao Yao and other armed groups, a charge Khartoum denies.
According to have links to the rebel radio Yao Yao, they are fighting the government in response to the violations committed by government forces during the campaign to disarmament conducted in Jonglei.
And advocacy groups accused of human rights South Sudan's army of human rights abuses during the campaign, which was designed to put an end to the fighting between tribes Almrla and Lou Nuer.
The United Nations says that nearly 900 were killed when attacked 7000 Lou Nuer youths villages Almrla in Pibor area late last world.


text:
Lowry appears to have been an avid reader of sea stories before he went to sea in 1927. It is easy to see why Lowry would identify himself with Bill Adams who had gone off to sea himself at 17 as had Lowry at the same age in 1927. Bill Adams also used his sea experiences as a source of inspiration for his writing. Similarly, Lowry used his experiences from his Far East voyage in 1927 for his early short stories 'China', 'Port Swettenham' and later his first novel Ultramarine.
His early sea stories were collected in Fenceless Meadows (1923), and he published a volume of sea verse, Wind in the Topsails, in 1923. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he published several good sea stories. Although they appeared in such excellent magazines as The Atlantic Monthly and Esquire, and there were enough for another volume of stories, he never collected them. At least three of his stories appeared in O. Henry collections of best short stories of the year: 'Jukes' (1927), 'Home Is the Sailor' (1928), and 'The Lubber' (1933). 'The Foreigner' appeared in Best Short Stories of America (1932). As ex- pressions of his socialist values, his stories often celebrate the lives of working sailors, and they are notable for their frequent inclusion of sea songs.
Many of his poems were previously published in magazines such as Adventure, The Outlook, Pictorial Review, The Saturday Evening Post, Short Stories, McCure's, Premier, London, Neptune's Log, Hearst's International and Blue Peter.


text:
Have you ever looked around on the web at all of the talent? People who can paint, make beautiful jewelry, take vivid pictures, design websites, make furniture. I know of a lady who makes memory bears for people using her feet. She takes special pieces of their clothing or what you want her to use and makes these beautiful bears that you can hold that have the essence of that person. I know this because we lost our daughter and my mom told me to pick out some of my daughter's clothing and get one. How can some one have more talent in one of their feet than I have in my whole body?
We simply look at talent wrong. Talent isn't just something of the arts. There are people who can make wonderful speeches, motivate others to succeed, run a company, make others feel better or stir a feeling at all. Everyone has a talent. It may not be the one you want but you can sure work with the talent you have. You simply have to find it. This is usually just trying different things and making determinations of what you do best. Trial and error, trial and error, trial and error… We all want to know what our talent is right now! Sometimes we aren't ready to handle the talent effectively and we find out as we mature. Sometimes we bump right into it. Don't despair.
Maybe your talent is running a business. Maybe it is your own business. Yes, I know there is a lot at stake but not if you cross your t's and dot your i's. We offer these opportunities so people can find whether they are talented at running their own business or whether their not. This is because there is no overhead charges. No inventory, warehouse, employees to pay, products to find or building for offices. We supply it all. Lets get started.
Joe and Cindy Rhineheart have a website that they feel needs some help. They also have a drop ship company where they feel like a number. The products sounded great but between all the expenses, the products ended up higher than 99 out of 100 ebay stores. They have to pay a surcharge for every drop ship item and simply can't afford to do this anymore. They are broken. They have decided to give it another try if they can find help. They really thought if they had great products and a website people would come. This happens all of the time.
1. We supply a large assortment of quality home and garden products.
2. We drop ship for free.
3. We mail all of your items to your customers without our names anywhere.
4. We give you the tracking numbers to supply your customers.
5. We offer a 30 day money back guarantee
6. We can help you with your website
7. We can build a website for you
8. We know what it takes to get a website recognized so it will rank high
9. We will set up your facebook, twitter, stumbleupon sites and more
10. We will help you set up a great blog
11. We will market and promote your store
12. We will make video's for you
13. We will make you logo's and banners
14. We can make business cards too
15. Starting to get the point?
We have the products and services to help you succeed with an internet store. Since you only purchase an item after it sells, you are out no money. This makes this the perfect opportunity to see if running your own business is a talent you have. We can help you find that talent and harvest it.
So look at all the talent. Where is yours? Cozy Cottage Drop Shipping might just be your cup of tea.
See you in your dreams
Lesa and Taylor
Cozy Cottage Drop Shipping & 58th Street Marketing….Sister Companies with one goal


text:
Monday, May 10, 2010
bit of a tease
While creating
havoc lovely ornaments on my dining room table today, it occurred to me that I had not made a teaser photo......so these uber close ups will have to do!
Posted by Yarni Gras! at 4:38 AM
Labels: A Year of Enchantment, mermaids, teaser pic
6 comments:
- Chickens in the Basement said...
Very intriguing! I'm dawdling on this one. Thanks for the motivation!
- May 10, 2010 at 5:34 AM
- Annesphamily said...
Pretty. I love an original ornament! Thanks for sharing! Anne
- May 10, 2010 at 6:37 AM
- Kerry said...
I like the colors - the ones i think i see anyway...hee...hee!!!
Today is mermaid day in my house - have the ideas in my head, now to put them into reality:-)
- May 10, 2010 at 7:05 AM
- Robin (rsislandcrafts) said...
Everyone is doing better than me...I don't even have the idea in my head lol. Everything in my head is too cutsie so far.
- May 10, 2010 at 8:18 AM
- Ruhammie said...
Woohoo!! Fun pics! My chosen medium is not behaving properly and I may need to rethink my whole idea...I'm gonna tackle more today, I hope I can get it to work.
- May 10, 2010 at 10:22 AM
- Little Messy Missy said...
Hmmmm, can't wait to see the bigger picture!
- May 10, 2010 at 5:48 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Our Blackbird Design Group
Stitching projects from BlackBird Designs and other favorite designers...
Monday, April 23, 2012
Wild Garden
I completed my Wild Garden over the weekend. A small but significant finish. Since I had started this piece the night before I got the call that my Mother was getting seriously worse, I decided to stitch it as a little memorial piece for her. It was completed one month and one day after she passed.
Can't wait to get it framed.
Rest in peace, Mom.
Posted by
2 comments:
Monday, April 2, 2012
Wild Garden Progress
I worked on BBD Wild Garden over the weekend and made some progress. I really like this little design. It's fun to watch it coming together, although it seems like a lot of color changes...but worth it. I started this the day before I learned that my mother had taken a turn for the worst. She died ten days ago. Now that I am back to working on it, I plan to put her initials on top and list her birth and passing years toward the bottom, and then have the piece framed.
I don't stitch on 30 count, unless the piece has to be a specific size to fit something, so I am stitching mine on Picture This Plus 40 count Legacy. The photo shows it a little light. I am using the specified colors...they are gorgeous...except since I am stitching with one strand of thread, I have to substitute for the mixed color. Not sure yet, but I might use Dried Thyme in place of the two colors.
What a beautiful day we have here in Cleveland today...much nicer than either of the two weekend days. Bright sunshine and beautiful blue sky highlighting the trees in bloom or budding out. Perfect! Enjoy...
Posted by
2 comments:
BBD Wild Garden
Newer Posts
Older Posts
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)


text:
This is a photo of my Grandma Jane, who apparently nurtured Pete shortly prior to the Silly Putty days. Grandma was a domestic servant and laundress and also worked briefly at the Block Shop. She mainly worked for Professor Rollin Osterweiss and/or his family. She was originally from Lewisburg, West Virginia, and she was the daughter of a Black/"mulatto"* female, Mary Alice Kelly Knight and a white male, Harry Suthcliff Cooper, who owned the Lewisburg hotel in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. She moved to New Haven around 1924. She was the mother of my dad, William "Bill" Henry Haynes, and also Alice (who both worked at the Block Shop). She was also the mother of Mary, Edna, Ethel, and Albert (who died as an infant). Even though Grandma Jane was a domestic servant, I wouldn't characterize our family as a "poor" family. Thus, I wouldn't describe my dad's ascent as a "rags to riches" story. Blacks were largely confined to certain occupations in my grandmother's day. She had a sister in law who was a podiatrist, though, one was the principal of an elementary school in WV, one was married to a physician, and others were teachers. But many of my father's aunts and uncles worked for families either in Ohio, WV, or Connecticut. For instance, my father's first cousin, Mary E. Brinkley, worked for the Woodbridge Country Club for many years.
*Because I am also a genealogist of sorts, I tend to characterize folks the way they were listed in the various censuses though I really don't like the word "mulatto". Nevertheless, it describes the person's condition (i.e. that, at least from what I have learned of my family, they were most likely born of a Black or "mulatto" woman and an unidentified white male).


text:
On the same day, July 28, two men on opposite sides of Europe would take actions that would lead to the Ottoman Empire joining the German side. In London, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill initiated the idea of confiscating two Turkish battleships being built in British shipyards, one already complete and the other nearing completion, and adding them to the Royal Navy. Meanwhile on the same day in Constantinople, the most pro-German member of the Ottoman Cabinet, War Minister Enver Pasha, was proposing an alliance to the German Ambassador. Over the coming days Churchill's move inadvertently would provoke popular outrage in Turkey, helping push reluctant members of the Cabinet into Enver's pro-German camp.
As most other media are focusing on the centennial of the opening moves of the Great War, this blog will concentrate on the series of events that brought Turkey into the war on the side of the Central Powers, setting in motion the events from which the modern Middle East emerged.
At the moment Austria declared war on Serbia, Britain was still trying to avoid a war; in fact the British Cabinet, preoccupied with events in Ireland, had not even discussed the European crisis until July 27.
Churchill, with responsibility for the Royal Navy, was astute enough to realize that the tangle of European alliances was dragging Britain towards war, and he was determined to make sure the Royal Navy was prepared to meet its only serious challenger, the German High Seas Fleet.
|Churchill in 1914
The decision not to disperse had been made in response to the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia. Now, on Tuesday, July 28, Churchill still moving ahead of a reluctant Cabinet (whose reluctance helped convince Germany that Britain would not go to war), unilaterally another huge step: he ordered the Fleet to move from its home ports to its War Station at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys north of Scotland, where it would be in position to intercept the High Seas Fleet in the North Sea if it came out.
These moves were widely praised at the time and since by naval historians who recognize Churchill's prescience about the impending war. But July 28 seems to have also marked the genesis of another idea whose impact Churchill had not entirely foreseen: the seizure of the Turkish battleships.
Under the long reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II the Ottoman Empire more than earned its reputation as the "Sick Man of Europe." Both the Army and the Navy had been neglected, to the point that the navy had no modern warships. But with the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, Turkey had embarked on a major military modernization program. For advice and training of its Army, it turned to Germany, and the famous military mission of Liman von Sanders. For the Navy, it turned to Britain, even proposing an alliance to Britain in 1911. (It was declined. Even Churchill, considered more pro-Turkish than most in the British government, was opposed. Disdain for Turkish military capabilities would persist in Britain, at least until Gallipoli and Kut.) (To balance things further, the French were training the police.)
|Ex-Reshadiyeh (as HMS Erin)
Meanwhile, in the interim, an even larger warship became available. Brazil, engaged in a naval arms race in 1911, had ordered a Dreadnought-class battleship named Rio de Janeiro from the Armstrong-Whitworth shipyard at Newcastle upon Tyne, designed with heavier gunnery than previous ships. When rubber prices declined and relations with Argentina improved, Brazil decided it could no longer afford payments on the ship. In December 1913, she was sold to Turkey, and the Rio de Janeiro became the Sultan Osman I. (Perhaps setting some sort of record, within less than a year she would become HMS Agincourt.)
|Ex-Sultan Osman I (as HMS Agincourt) in 1915
On July 7, the head of the British Naval Mission in Constantinople had embarked for Britain for the handover of the ships, as had the Sultan Osman's captain; preparations were under way to welcome the ships in the Dardanelles. On July 28, Churchill asked Prince Louis and his Third Sea Lord, who was in charge of procurement, if the ships could be seized. Churchill may have thought of the idea previously, but the paper trail starts on the 28th. Turkey was a friendly power with a valid contract, and Churchill was advised that there was no legal ground for seizing the ships since Britain was not at war; the contract allowed Britain to purchase the ships in case of necessity, but not to seize them without compensation.
On the 29th, there were reports that Sultan Osman (which had its Turkish crew for training) was fueling, despite not being completed. Churchill ordered security aboard the ship to prevent it from sailing or from raising the Turkish flag. On the 30th the Attorney General advised the move would be illegal but might be justified under the exigencies of ear, while the Foreign Office decided to let the Admiralty deal with Navy issues. I don't see much evidence in the histories of the event that anyone was discussing what the Turkish reaction might be. It just wasn't part of the equation. On July 31 the Cabinet approved the decision, and on August 1 the two shipyards, Vickers and Armstrong-Whitworth, were informed that the ships were to be detained.
It was not until August 3 (the day Britain issued its ultimatum to Germany in response to the violation of Belgian neutrality, and the day before Britain declared war) that the British Government officially notified the Ottoman Government that the ships would not be delivered, and that the British were prepared to give "all due consideration" to the financial loss to Turkey: not exactly a promise of full compensation.
August 3 is often given as the date of the decision, but clearly it had been under active discussion for a week. In fact, the fueling of the Osman on July 29 shows the Turks suspected what was happening, and certainly the Turkish crews in Britain knew they were barred from leaving; David Fromkin in A Peace to End All Peace notes that evidence discovered long after the war shows Enver discussed it with the other Young Turk leadership on August 1, suggesting the Government knew before the official notification on August 3. And that beings us to what was going on on the other side of Europe.
Meanwhile, in Constantinople . . .
|Said Halim Pasha
Said Halim Pasha, however, was not a member of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, the "Young Turks"), who had led the Revolution of 1908 and taken effective control of the Cabinet in 1913. Despite being the nominal head of the government, the Cabinet was dominated by the CUP "triumvirate" consisting of the by the War Minister, Enver Pasha, the CUP Secretary-General and Interior Minister, Talaat (Talat) Pasha (who would succeed Said Halim as Grand Vizier), and the Minister of Marine and later commander of the Fourth Army against Britain, Djemal (Jemal, Cemal) Pasha.
|Enver Pasha
Germany spent parts of 1913 and 1914 trying to push Germany into an alliance with Greece (even today you may guess how that was received) or Bulgaria (its recent Balkan War adversary. These went nowhere.
|Talaat Pasha
|Djemal Pasha
But neither the German Government nor General Staff initially saw much value in a Turkish alliance. The presence of Liman von Sanders' military mission meant that they knew that the Turkish Army would take some time to prepare for war, and the assumption in Beflin that July was still that Britain would stay out, France would be quickly defeated, then the Army would turn to Russia,nd be home before winter. (The Chief of the German General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke the younger, apparently forgot his uncle and much more famous namesake Moltke the elder's maxim that "war plans never survive contact with the enemy." Moltke the Elder got to Paris in 1870-71; his nephew never did.)
|Baron von Wangenheim
German parties agreed that Turkey must be kept from an alliance with the Entente (unlikely since Russia was seen as the major threat). Nevertheless, Enver strongly hinted that an alliance with Russia and France was favored by some in the Cabinet, and on July 22 explicitly said the Grand Vizier, he, and Talaat were unwilling to become "vassals of Russia." (Quoted from Luigi Albertini, The Origins of the War of 1914, Volume III, as is much else about the treaty negotiations in this section.)
But as the July crisis deepened, Berlin began to feel need for allies as war with Russia loomed, and on July 24, the day after Austria's ultimatum to Serbia, the Kaiser himself overruled Wangenheim and ordered his envoy to reopen discussions with Enver. On the 27th, Wangenheim signaled willingness to discuss the alliance.
|Generalleutnant Otto Liman von Sanders
The Ottomans preferred that the treaty run at least to 1918, when the Liman von Sanders mission was due to conclude. By July 31, the day Russia mobilized, both Wangenheim and Sanders were expressing doubts to Berlin that Turkey was going to sign. Later that day, after Germany had declared a Kriegsgefahrstand or probability of imminent war, Chancellor Bethman-Hollweg agreed to the condition and urged Wangenheim to pursue imminent conclusion of the tresty, but with a caveat (again from Albertini):
. . . it must, however, first be ascertained whether in the present war turkey can and will undertake some action worthy of mention against Russia. In negative case alliance would obviously be useless and not to be signed.At 4 pm on August 2, the treaty was signed. The negotiators were th Grand Vizier, Enver and Talaat on the Turkish side and Wangenheim and Liman von Sanders on the German. What exactly transpired in the negotiations on August 1 is still unclear a century later. David Fromkin, cited earlier, notes a report discovered much later that indicates that Enver already knew the British were seizing the Turkish battleships in English shipyards, and another indicating that he offered the Germans those two battleships. if both statements are true, he was offering something he already knew or suspected was not his to give. But perhaps, Fromkin suggests, that is what met Bethmann-Hollweg's condition.
That may never be known for certain. Talaat and the grand Vizier were assassinated by Armenians soon after the war and Enver died in an improbable cavalry charge in Russian Central Asia during the Russian Civil War.
Germany hoped (and Enver claimed to agree) that Turkey would declare war on Russia immediately on August 3 and announce the alliance. But in fact the treaty had been negotiated without consulting the rest of the Cabinet, and Bulgaria's continuing neutrality was an awkward geographic obstacle to the alliance.. And Turkey was nowhere near ready for war. Instead, on August 3 Turkey ordered mobilization, and declared its armed neutrality (siding with neither alliance but prepared to defend itself against either). on August 3, the day Germany declared war on France and violated Belgian neutrality, and Britain issued its ultimatum to Germany. It was also the day Britain officially informed Turkey it had seized the battleships.
Though Turkey had already committed itself to Germany, this was not known to the allies or to the Ottoman citizenry, so the parallel events leading to Churchill's seizures of the ships handed Enver a fine propaganda lever for turning the Turkish populace against the Entente. Churchill, unintentionally to be sure, had helped Enver push the Ottoman Empire to Germany's side.
Epilogue and Teaser
On that same August 1, in the midst of the treaty negotiations, Enver held a private meeting with Wangenheim and Liman von Sanders at the German Embassy. Having on the same day offered Germany the warships being built in England (which he knew were being seized, but Germany did not), he asked for German naval support against Russia in the Black Sea. On August 3, Germany ordered the commander of its Mediterranean Division, Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, who was attacking French transports carrying troops from Algeria to metropolitan France, to proceed to Constantinople. Turkey was still publicly neutral and the following day Britain, with a dominant force in the Mediterranean, entered the war. Souchon's force was to lead the British Navy on an epic chase, push Turkey more openly towards war (and ultimately ignite it), and at the same time redress the loss of the two battleships.
But Souchon had only two ships: the battle cruiser SMS Goeben and the cruiser SMS Breslau. The Goeben and Breslau were about to become two of the most famous vessels in all of naval history.
But that is a tale for the first week of August.


text:
at this point i don't remember much of day 4 & 5. i had typed out lengthy, detailed emails to family and friends for both days, but the internet cut out when i was ready to hit send and for some reason the email didn't save to my drafts. so, i gave up. i do know that we went to the orphanage both days. thursday we had to pick up levi's passport and visa. and since the nannies are there different days, i wanted them to all have the chance to tell levi bye. and i wanted the chance to tell them thank you for taking such good care of my baby boy. i cried both days as we were leaving. jason made fun of me. but what's new? :) we did take danny out to lunch on friday at Top View. i highly recommend this restaurant if you're ever in Addis. we ate there twice. really good food with a really good view.
|with our favorite nanny
|with our second favorite nanny
|lunch with Danny, Levi slept the whole time!
|the view from Top View
|the staff at the orphanage
side note: i am a blog stalker. i usually stalk silently, meaning i read blogs and never "follow" and never comment. however, i did find a blog and emailed the girl because i thought her agency used my agency and was hoping for a chance at more pictures of Levi when she traveled for court. come to find out, her agency uses a different agency now, but we stayed in contact...and ended up having the same embassy appointments. we met at the airport in DC and saw each other at the embassy and then hung out at the airport in Addis before boarding our flight. it was such a treat to meet a blog friend and make that connection. (shout out to Lesli!!)
anyway, back to our flight. it went as well as could be expected. levi did sleep. and he slept for a while in the bassinet, but really he preferred to be held. all in all the flight was 17 hours...with a pit stop in rome for fuel. it was pretty miserable. my entire body hurt. i was hungry. and tired from not sleeping. but we made it. our good friend nick picked us up in DC and took us back to their house for a nice hot breakfast and a wonderful visit. can i just say how much i love the Fiore's. it was nice to wash my face, change my clothes, and let Levi crawl around on the floor before heading back to the airport for two more flights.
the next two flights went well. levi slept almost the entire second flight and stayed asleep until we boarded our final flight. that flight was miserable. levi was cranky. we were in the back. the flight attendant was cranky. levi pee'd on us. but, we made it. and were welcomed home by many friends. more on that tomorrow. this is long enough. :)


text:
Yesterday was my anniversary (4 years with my Talia!) and we live very similar to the Moomintrolls, although we don't have a tree in the middle of our house. Their motto - to live in peace, plant potatoes, and dream - is a good motto. Talia and I do something like that, making new traditions everyday, with our own Little My...
Tove Jansson was from Finland and created the lovable Moomintrolls back in the 1940's because the War depressed her. She wrote many books and comics about them, but my favorite was written in 1952 - a children's book called The Book anout Moomin, Mymble, and Little My. It remains fresh even today, 60 years later.
In her later years Tove wrote exclusively for adults, but her little Moomins will forever make people of all ages very happy.
Tove Jansson (with 2 Moomintrolls):


text:
As SB Sarah said,
The iPad, now available in Light, Maxi, and Super (8Gb, 16Gb 64Gb)? As Tessa Dare said, are there NO women at Apple who could have given them the heads up (HA) that this is a BAD NAME?
Please someone tell me they'll just name the next device iVAGINA and be done with it? Is this how they're targeting female technology consumers and book readers? Sweet holy crap.
Hmmmm, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the uber-geeks at Apple were rabid MadTv fans and that is where they got the name. I wonder if this skit reveals the names of their next few products?
Sadly, I think my prior knowledge of the MadTv iPad sketch has added this to the list of things I can NEVER, EVER take seriously.


text:
I have some.
One is called Our Story. I have posted much more there than I have here.
I have some.
One is called Our Story. I have posted much more there than I have here.
On the 6th of February I expect to land in Bangkok old, tired, and jet-lagged. I'll arrive without a visa. That is a bit like me showing up on your front porch unannounced and expecting to stay. Still I have high hopes that the Thais will let me stays for awhile. Without leaving BKK I hope to get a flight to Chiang Rai and begin to get comfortable there.
I think that the air in and around Chiang Rai gets smoky in March and stays that way for over a month. Might go to Vietnam to get better air during that time. Who knows about the likely air quality in Thai Ngnugyn in March?
Sold my nice little Suzuki and expect to rent a car today. This little JT house is just about empty of furniture and belongings. I've sold and given away most things, but will still leave a lot in storage.
Looking at what I've just written I don't see much beautiful adventure shining through. Do I fear that my capacity for adventure has diminished? However, my witting or capacity for adventure may be, I feel satisfied and energized. I feel pleasant anticipation knowing how likely it is that I will soon be surrounded by the novelty and beauty of Thailand and the rest of SEA.
The prospect of shopping for used first grade( or kindergarten) textbooks with which to begin to learn to read and write Thai pleases me.
Musica de bogota pasillos y bambucos, cundinamarca boyaca y tolima Colombia musica.
Music typical of Colombia!
No es Marta la Reina pero si es Colombiano


text:
Please comment id there are any issues with these trial nod32 password. Please bookmark user name password nod32 page for later use. Before bookmark the page make sure to add the mask to your eset nod32 virus guard as describe bellow.
eset nod32 username and password
keys nod32
Believe me, This will work 100% !!!
The working eset nod 32 key only from NODMAN.
nod password update process
Step 1
Go to Nod32 antivirus
Step 2
Press F5 , Then you will get eset nod 32 Advance Setup window. Or Go to Setup tab and then click on Enter Advanced setup..
Step 3
Go to Computer ==> Web and Email ==> URL address management
Step 4
Click on Add... enter addres
and press OK to finish. (with * marks)
Now you can enter your nod32 username and password . Copy nod serial ( user password nod32) given on this page into your eset nod32 antivirus.
IF these eset serials are not working for you please visit few minutes later and try again !!!-
If the keys worked


text:
Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, yet I rarely eat it because I am always hustling to the office early, thinking only about the mountain of work awaiting me. It just doesn't feel like there is any time to sit down and eat a meal at the beginning of a workday, and even if I did eat one, thinking about the waiting work would prevent me from enjoying it.
So I tend to savor every minute of breakfast when I am on vacation. I love its freshness. I love its distinct flavors and aromas, and the relaxed feeling of drinking coffee while waiting for it to be served. I love the promise it holds as the beginning of a day on which you can do whatever you want -- a day on which you are liberated from schedules and deadlines.
And here, in alphabetical order, are five of my favorite places in
Alexander's Country Inn; Ashford, WA
Set amidst a dark green forest a mile from Mount Rainier National Park, this historic inn (Theodore Roosevelt once stayed here) has a restaurant which stands out as one of the most memorable culinary gems Erika and I have ever encountered. Its locally focused menu changes with the seasons and features high-end dishes at modest prices. When we were there several years ago I had salmon quiche for breakfast -- which sounds odd, but turned out to be the single best breakfast I have ever eaten, anywhere. As we dined at a window seat, mule deer grazed on the lawn right on the other side of the glass.
And on a side note, if you're planning on spending the day hiking, Alexander's will prepare a big boxed lunch for you to take with you when you depart. When we left breakfast, we took one for each of us at a cost of just $5 each. A few hours later we were eating those lunches while sitting above timberline and staring out at glorious alpine peaks.
Café Eleven;
On the outside it looks like a convenience store (which it once was) and on the inside it looks like a funky modern bistro (which it now is). Five miles south of downtown and across the street from the ocean, Café Eleven offers a breakfast menu with five sandwiches, nine entrees, and nine sides, plus a good variety of coffees and teas. Erika is partial to the Praline French Toast and I am partial to the Café Omelet. However, the next time we go I think I'll have to try The Scramble, which consists of scrambled eggs with cheddar and asiago cheese, peppers, mushrooms, and onions on top of homefries, with a choice of white, wheat or rye toast. And if looking at the décor and layout makes you think this place would be good at night, you are correct, for that is when it transforms into a live music venue serving craft and import beers plus wines from around the globe.
First Watch; Multiple Locations
Typically, I am against recommending chain restaurants to travelers. But there are exceptions to every rule, and in the case of First Watch I would be remiss not to recommend it. I remember when this plucky little chain consisted of just a handful of eateries scattered across the Tampa Bay area, but today it has 75 locations in 11 states reaching as far north as Pennsylvania and as far west as Arizona. That means you don't have to be in just one place to experience First Watch, and its expansion has been accomplished without any sacrifice in quality.
Menu options that are big on both flavor and health have always been a First Watch trademark (we once saw Derek Jeter eating in one) but that does not mean the menu has no guilty pleasures, for alongside banana-crunch-with-granola pancakes they also offer chocolate chip pancakes. Personally, I favor the Breakfast Scramble -- a croissant topped with scrambled eggs, ham, and melted cheese, topped with hollandaise and served with fresh fruit on the side. No matter what you choose, however, you will leave satisfied and ready to seize the day.
Mud Street Café;
Situated below street level, in a brick building that was constructed in 1888 -- in a mountaintop town that ranks as the highest in Arkansas -- about 50 feet from an auditorium where concerts have been performed by everybody from John Phillip Sousa to Willie Nelson -- Mud Street Café is certainly unique. It won 16 awards between 1997 and 2007, and has been mentioned in publications as diverse as Southern Living and the San Francisco Chronicle. It offers 19 different coffees and 17 different teas, and whips up everything from scones to muffins to Greek omelets to sour cream blueberry pancakes. A large oak bar centers the dining room, local artwork adorns the walls, and the carpet is Victorian. There is nothing here not to like.
The Old Chickahominy House;
Miss Melinda's pancakes are 10 inches in diameter. The Virginia ham tastes every bit a salty as one of those blocks that horses lick in their stalls. A beverage called the Special Rebel Cocktail is a combination of tomato juice, hot sauce, and beer. The restaurant occupies a white clapboard building that has three stories, three dining rooms, four dormer windows, and is bookended by a pair of chimneys. And there is an antique shop to boot. And


text:
Oral Argument Moved to September 8, 2010 In Chrysler Dealers' Appeal
The Court, sua sponte, moved the oral argument to September 8, 2010.
Steve and I were ready to argue the case, but now we have five extra weeks to prepare and we intend to put that time to good use. In all things, preparation is the best offense. So it's back to the books.
Leo Donofrio, Esq. for the law firm of Pidgeon & Donofrio GP


text:
By Linda Hayes
Summary: Testing processes and practices are well defined and generally understood for internally developed applications, but what about those that are licensed from third parties? Granted, the vendor has responsibility for testing its own products, but the possibility of the software failing still exists and can be costly, even devastating; blaming others offers little consolation. If you rely on a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) application, where does your trust in the vendor end?
While there are no hard and fast answers to how much trust you should instill in commercial, off-the-shelf applications, there are some basic guidelines that can help. Start by asking yourself these questions:
What is the risk that the application has defects?
What is the risk that your use of the application could cause errors?
What is the potential cost of a defect or an error?
If you do test, what type of testing should you do?
Depending on the answers, you may find that your COTS application-testing needs and approach will vary widely.
Application Risk
The risk inherent in the application itself is a function of its scope of functionality, its breadth of users, and its maturity. For example, most would agree that mass-market utilities such as word processors, spreadsheet programs, slide presentation programs, and graphics tools pose little inherent risk. Their scope is narrow, they have millions of users, and most are highly mature.
Then there are more specialized applications, such as accounting systems, that are still somewhat narrow in scope but whose maturity and customer base may vary widely. Consider that there are mass-market accounting systems, niche products that address smaller segments such as non-profit accounting, and even custom solutions for highly differentiated customers. These products may also have wide variations in maturity. A new product for a small market with few customers poses inherent risk.
And then there are massive applications, such as enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), that encompass multiple departments across many industries and support complex, critical business processes. These have a wide scope of functionality, may have many users, and may or may not be mature. Due to their scope and complexity, there is inherent risk in these systems. These risks may be greater for newer products with fewer customers or for customers in a new industry or using a new component.
Usage Risk
The way you use an application can also change the picture. Consider a spreadsheet used by a construction company to manage multimillion-dollar bids. In this case, the software itself may have low inherent risk, but if the template contains complex formulas and is tweaked often, the risk of errors rises.
Many desktop utilities also can be programmatically integrated with other software. For example, an internal stock trading application might integrate a spreadsheet for its graphing capabilities. In this case, the risk of the spreadsheet malfunctioning might be low, but the potential that the integration has errors is higher. The wrong data might be mapped to the formulas, for example.
The usage of enterprise applications is usually controlled by configuration settings and master data. However, the rules that govern a business process can vary significantly from one company to another, and the sheer complexity of these applications with their multiple points of integration raises the risk of error dramatically.
In other cases the user might actually modify an application to accommodate unique requirements. Clearly this type of usage poses the greatest risk, regardless of the stability of the original state of the software.
Potential Cost
An essential part of any risk assessment includes the cost of failure. A garbled word processing document or scrambled slide presentation might be embarrassing, but a spreadsheet with template errors might cost millions if a bid is incorrect or if an improperly integrated graphing capability of a spreadsheet triggers the wrong buy or sell order.
Similarly, a poorly-functioning accounting system for your checking account might make it hard for you to balance your checkbook, but if used by a public company, it could create massive liability for inaccurate financial disclosures. Or, an ERP application that controls the manufacturing floor could literally shut down production if a business process goes awry.
Thus, the potential cost of a failure must be balanced against the cost of testing.
Type of Testing
Once you determine that some testing is needed, the next step is to decide what type to conduct. Unless you make modifications directly to the software, unit testing should not be needed. In fact, in most cases you won't even have access to the underlying source code.
But in those cases where you are integrating a purchased application with other systems, whether developed or purchased, integration testing of the seams is clearly required. The goal of this type of testing is not to verify the functionality of each application, but to assure that the information shared between them is correctly sent and received.
And in virtually all cases where substantial risk is identified, whether risk of inherent defects or those arising from usage, the most common form of testing is acceptance testing--that is, to test the software from a user's point of view to assure that it meets its critical requirements. This does not necessarily mean that you exercise all positive and negative cases or that you execute every possible path, but that you verify the functions with the highest risk.
As tempting as it is to dismiss the need for testing COTS applications, it's just not that simple. Take the time to analyze the application so you can balance the cost of testing against the potential risk and cost of failure. And then, after you test, all there's left to do is hope that it works.


text:
... along came Ishbel
In the fall of 2005 I bought a beautiful skein of Fleece Artist merino "basic sock" yarn at the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters' Fair, and I've been saving it since then for the right project. It was just so pretty -- a semi-solid forest green. Too pretty for socks, even though Fleece Artist is a great sock yarn. Also, it was precious because it was from a previous generation of Fleece Artist sock yarn; a few months later, they changed suppliers (or something) and the sock yarn got a little fatter and a little softer. So once this skein was gone, my stash of F.A. v.1 would be gone, too.
And then, just a couple of months ago ... along came Ishbel.
A super-fast knit because it's half stockinette, Ishbel took me just a few evenings of TV-watching to finish. The pattern includes instructions for two sizes (as well as for sock yarn and laceweight); my version is a combination of the two. I'd planned to knit the small size, for more of a scarf, but when I'd finished the stockinette section I still had so much yarn left. I wanted to use as much of my pretty yarn as I could (what was I going to do with a quarter of it left over?), so I kept knitting. My stockinette section is from the large size, and then I went back to the small size for the lace portion. (I see on Ravelry that a lot of people have done this. It's certainly the way to get the most of your yarn.) Blocked, my Ishbel measures about 54 inches (137 cm) across the top, and about 23 inches (58 cm) at the deepest point (which isn't actually a point!). It's a great size -- not too big, but big enough to wrap solidly around my neck. And I have, literally, a handful of yarn left over. (So I'd estimate that it took ... about 320 meters?)
And with that, I'm going to disappear for a while. I need to be more focussed on my school work for the next little while, so I'm taking a break from both the Internet and knitting. Only e-mail and writing for the next month (?). We'll see how it goes, and I'll be back when I've got a good handle on my work. Enjoy the beginnings of spring! And thanks for all your nice comments on my recent FOs -- you're sweet. xo


text:
Monday, June 1, 2015
Glamping Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy
My homemade seafood dinner was one of the highlights of our Spring Break trip to the Outerbanks. We shopped at a local sea food market and came home with fresh fish, scallops, and a huge bag of clams. It was a feast!
I thought it was a perfect page to make for the latest challenge up at Another Freaking Scrappy....
Anne is asking you to scrap: using a tool you have not used before (a particular diecut, punch, rub-on tool, heat gun, stencil, new scissors), or to scrap about your favourite tool or experience with all tools (not necessarily scrapbooking tools). You can use one or all of the prompts.
I choose to pull out a woodie stamp that has not had much use at all but is one of my favorite stamps. I also grabbed some new embossing powder and a heat gun. Of course the embossing pad was nearly dried up as I haven't used it in ages...but I persisted and got that cool image on my page.
I also pulled out some embellishments that have gotten passed by in my stash, including that cute little green deer hair pin.
Loving the pretty stuff on this page! The gold mixed in with the polka-dotted burlap bow...kinda fits with Glamping!
Hope your Monday is fantastic and you get a change to play along with this awesome challenge!
4 comments:
This is Fabulous ! Love everything about this. The title, the embellishments and design. Really love the little deer !ReplyDelete
wow wow wow...your layouts are simply amazing...ReplyDelete
This looks wonderful! Love the gold and the cluster of embellies in the top corner looks fabulous!ReplyDelete
Oh YES! The bow with the key and it takes right on down to that fabulous golded up title!!! Gotta loooove that!!!! You can keep your seafood feasts....TOm would be there in a flash, I'd be screwing up my nose! Give me pizza any day.....Phillistine I am;)ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Website Fuels Rumors of a Charlie Sheen & Lindsay Lohan Marriage Engagement
In a time where celebrity meltdowns and personal turmoil are more common than ever, Actor's Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan have been taking the world stage, fitting right into those leading roles.
For Charlie Sheen, his very personal troubles come with strange 'sayings' and illogical common sense for his actions. For Lindsay Lohan, her addictions are simply too much to control -her relapses have even come with Theft. These days, It's no wonder why many mention Sheen and Lohan in the same sentence.
A match made up in heaven? This is clearly a joke, but one that may just turn viral as the joke gains popularity via blogs and social media. It seems that the rumors may be true to some, as the editor of the Love War Blog (LoveWarBlog.com) –Mr. Marcos Viñas, continues to get emails from people all over the world. They are asking, "Is it true? Did Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan get engaged? Is it a publicity stunt? –People want to know" says Viñas.
So who comes up with this crazy stuff? Well, its: SheenLohanEngagement.com The website is an online parody & quote generating love for one another. It's the best 3 minutes you'll ever spend, sheer entertainment. You click on either of the two and watch their best quotes come to life, right there on the screen.
SheenLohanEngagement.com was created in the spirit of 'Live the Sheen Dream'. In fact, "Sheen Lohan Engagement" website can be called Part 2. "It's the continuation" says Whilly Bermudez – the marketing whiz kid that created the site. The Charlie Sheen "Tiger Blood" references are really funny, but adding Lohan to the mix – makes it a full blown 3 -minute "Tell Your Friends About It" campaign.
Check it and make sure you RSVP for the engagement party! http://www.SheenLohanEngagement.com


text:
We have all experienced the spontaneous and magnetic phenomenom called "Flow" at some point in our lives.
When you find yourself so deeply entrenched in work, an activity, or a project, that you just seem to be on "automatic," and you are no longer thinking about what you are doing because you are just so "into it" that time becomes irrelevant, that's Flow.
Proposed by positive psychologist, Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, flow is defined as completely focused motivation. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task.
Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove. In an extreme state of being in the zone, time slows down and unusually higher physical performance may be achieved.
Check out Mihaly's TED Talk below, and use it to find your flow!


text:
Why the conquering of Manchester City was vintage Jose Mourinho
We are, perhaps, not quite deep enough into the 2013-144 Premier League to talk of results defining the title race yet Chelsea's 1-0 win over Manchester City was significant enough to impact upon it and sent out a message that it may well go right to the wire.
It was a performance that will see Jose Mourinho grab much-deserved headlines, and rightly so, for this was vintage Mourinho. This was no parking of the bus, instead a plan executed to the letter; strong and stifling in defence and creative and threatening in attack.
Manuel Pellegrini spoke post-game that his side struggled to cope with the injuries suffered of late. Not only were City without Samir Nasri, but Sergio Aguero limped off last week at Tottenham and they were dealt a pre-match blow with Fernandinho also being ruled out. Despite their squad depth, Pellegrini found himself shorn of three key components of his strongest side.
Chelsea and Mourinho took advantage. Pairing Nemanja Matic alongside David Luiz and Ramires starved the supply line to City's forwards; David Silva with little space to manoeuvre and Yaya Toure caught between a desire to attack and a necessity to cover for the absent Fernandinho.
City too have not been attacked – especially in number that Chelsea broke with – which is where Fernandinho's absence proved the most telling. Martin Demichelis, a makeshift midfielder, was willing but the defence was not afforded the protection it usually receives and out wide the visitors also profited, knowing that Pablo Zabaleta and Aleks Kolarov were required to attack with licence. Many a time were City outmanned and were fortunate for a degree of profligacy on Chelsea's behalf.
MORE: Jose Mourinho: Chelsea's 'Scottish' masseur Billy McCulloch gave team-talk ahead of Manchester City win
City had chances, particularly in the second half as Chelsea reined in some of their attacking intent as the hosts moved up the gears yet the feeling persisted that it would take something unlikely for City to get back into the game – a set piece or a mistake rather than a moment of skill or quality that has lit up their recent performances
To put into further context the enormity of Chelsea's win is the fact that this was the first time City have been shut out in 61 home games and there form is so dominant that they entered the game with a 100 per cent record.
City's form in December and January was such that it put them back at the top of the table, recovering from their wretched early season form. February and March were always going to be the crucial months though, the games increasing in importance and with no respite in the fixture list.
It has been plain sailing of late with City sweeping up the points and plaudits as they brushed all comers aside. The injuries of late though revealed one or two chinks in their make-up that Chelsea clinically exposed.
The recovery from such a setback will be a telling challenge ahead for Pellegrini.
MORE: Chelsea's young stars need to stand up and be counted at Manchester City
MORE: Club Metro


text:
Antoine Young calls Grant Gibbs the "Floor Dad" for Creighton's basketball team.
Gibbs, voted a captain, is the Bluejay who deals with referees. He is the player who positions teammates on defense and calms or instructs in the huddle. Star forward Doug McDermott, the nation's second-leading scorer, carries the offense. Gibbs, a junior guard, makes that load lighter with his passing and court savvy.
"He has a great feel for the game," Young said. "He's our glue guy."
For proof, look no further than Creighton's No. 21 national ranking and its offensive statistics. The Bluejays (10-2, 0-1 Missouri Valley Conference) endured ups and downs last season and struggled to win close games. With Gibbs in the lineup, Creighton is a smarter team no longer bogged down by a negative turnover margin.
"He's got a point-guard mentality," WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. "He's a great passer. He puts it in very small places in the exact time the receiver needs the ball. McDermott is a great player, but some of McDermott's baskets are directly attributed to how well Gibbs passes the ball."
The Bluejays play Wichita State (10-2, 1-0) tonight in a matchup of preseason favorites at Koch Arena. The Shockers can put Creighton, picked first, in an 0-2 hole and grab an early edge in the MVC race.
WSU is in this enviable position because Missouri State stunned the Bluejays 77-65 on Wednesday in Omaha. Creighton's offense stumbled to its lowest point total of the season, and Gibbs recorded more turnovers than assists for only the second time. While he doesn't play point guard, he does handle the ball. Gibbs, 6-foot-4, leads Creighton with 74 assists. He is a transfer from Gonzaga who settled into the role of helping Young run the Bluejays.
"He makes great decisions on the floor," Young said. "It takes the pressure off me, not having to make all the decisions. If teams pressure us, he can bring it up."
The Bears also did an admirable job keeping McDermott under control. He scored 19 points, six under his average, and needed 18 shots. For the season, he averages 24.8 points and makes 61.5 percent of his shots, 56.3 percent from three-point range. Many teams throw two defenders at him when he posts up. Tulsa declined, and McDermott burned the Golden Hurricane for a season-high 35 points on 16-of-23 shooting.
The Shockers no longer possess experienced defenders such as Aaron Ellis and Gabe Blair to deal with inside-outside threats such as McDermott. Junior Carl Hall and senior Ben Smith normally guard the opposing power forwards. For Hall, filling that role is a change because he is used to guarding players who rarely venture outside the lane. At WSU, he has had to expand his defensive efforts out the three-point arc.
"He's getting better," Marshall said. "He's taking it very seriously."
Hall got a bit of a preview in Wednesday's 90-51 win at Bradley. He guarded Taylor Brown, a forward who prefers medium-range jump shots and driving to the basket over banging in the lane.
"Every team, their best player is (a power forward), so I have my hands full," Hall said.
So do all the Shockers. The Bluejays like to run and they fill the court with shooters. Creighton averages 84.3 points and makes 44.6 percent of its three-pointers.
"They score the ball very well," WSU guard Demetric Williams said. "We say they've got to guard us, too, and we're going to be ready to play good defense."


text:
The last time I posted something here was in the late 17th century, during the latter days of the reign of King Charles II.
Or at least that's how it feels... and lately I've started to wonder why.
Having enthusiastically churned out around 160 reviews of beers from across the world, why would I suddenly lose the will?
It's not as though I've stopped getting excited about beer. After all, it's arguable that things have never been so exciting in the ever-widening world of brewing - as my three most recent acquisitions (pictured above) demonstrate with mouth-watering panache.
And it's not as though I've grown tired of writing either. During this period of blog silence I've been tinkering away with screenplays, revisiting old novel manuscripts (pretty decent one of them is, too) as well as knocking out the odd beer descriptor for any breweries which ask me to do so.
So what's my problem?
Well, after a lot of thought, I suspect I may have found the answer...
I think there may be more to life than beer.
I won't blame you for reading that last sentence three or four times, I know it's hard to compute.
But I have reason to believe it must be true because very often, when I sit down to extrapolate my views on yet another golden beer from the South East of England, I find I'm actually suppressing a more urgent need to talk about something else entirely. This suppressed 'something' comes in many forms, depending on what's going on in the world, it really could be anything, even something which - just imagine - hasn't the merest connection with beer at all.
So, having had this realisation - I've decided to shake things up and make some changes to this site. I'm going to break free from the shackles of my own design concept and use this quiet corner of the Webosphere to bleat on about whatever the heck happens to be on my mind. Who knows, maybe that other side of my life - that which involves prancing around in front of film cameras - might find a voice here. It seems that my rather odd profession can sometimes be of mild interest to many of you humanoids, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to share some of my 'on-set' experiences.
Maybe something will make me laugh or get me raging and I'll feel sufficiently compelled to share it. I don't really know how this will go, to be honest.
Beer will continue to feature, that's a given. Some beers are just too good to ignore. As things stand, the hyper intensity of creative energy, the abundant raw talent, and the sheer hard graft going on within the brewing industry will guarantee that I continue to get vocal from time to time.
But the unfortunate flipside of these unprecedented levels of brewing endeavour is that there is now way too much beer out there, and a lot of it simply doesn't inspire. So from now on only the brews that genuinely raise my spirits will be given air time here. Expect to find brews from Mikkeller, Avery, Evil Twin, Magic Rock, Kernel, Thornbridge, BrewDog, Russian River, Marble, Angel City, Cigar City, Beavertown, Sly Fox, Bear Republic and plenty more firms that fit comfortably onto this "kind" of list.
(You know what "kind" I'm talking about. Some like to call it "Craft Beer". Others then demand a more detailed explanation of what "craft" means. Then someone fetches a shotgun because they're so sick and tired of all this aimless, soul-destroying infighting.)
Anyway, there you have it. It's official. The Bottled Beer Year is back in action, replete with fancy new bells and whistles, and henceforth it will be - rather like life itself - about much more than pleasant tasting liquid.
I hope you'll stay tuned, and maybe you'll even enjoy it.
In the meantime, I'm going back on set.
(N.B. - The beers pictured are 'Gamma Ray' American Pale Ale from Beavertown, '113 IPA' India Pale Ale from Sly Fox and 'I Beat You' Imperial IPA from Mikkeller. Each can now be found on the High Score Chart.)


text:
Here's the final blog from our trip -- a selection of Gavin's pictures from tonight's Twin-Red Sox game. You can tell from the quality not only Gavin's good eye but also his good seat. He and Lois sat in row M right behind home plate -- thanks to Tom's connections! Twins won 5-2.
|The Twin's right fielder makes a catch on the warning track.
|David Ortiz celebrates after hitting a home run
|Kevin Youklis practices his hitting swing before an at bat.


text:
Iranian writer-director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad is probably Iran's best known and certainly most prolific female filmmaker. She began her career making documentaries for television and her features are steeped in research on Iran's economic and social problems (source). A number of her films are available abroad, including the features Nargess (story of a prostitute in love in the IRI), The May Lady(the story of a single mother of a teenage boy in love) and Under the Skin of the City (about ordinary urban realities of ordinary people which are extraordinary struggles), Gilaneh and the documentary Our Times (about women's political aspirations and regards of democracy.)
I am not afraid.I am not afraid if in the turmoils of these conspicuous times I will be accused of conspiracy.I am not afraid to be accused of stirring unrest, but you cannot deny that I am a mother; not only the mother of "Tandis & Baran" [refering to her daughter Baran Kowsari], but also the mother of all that youth who has been witnessing their own mothers through the windows of my films; mother of "Touba", "Gilaneh", "Forough", "Narges", "Seema" and ... [names of female protagonists of her films]I am the mother of all those who have opened their homes to me; who have told me their suppressed pains of years, such that I can depict their life sufferings on film.Out of respect for the trust of all my audience, I feel entitled to the right of seek justice for all these mothers who, in the chaos of this crisis, are helpless and vulnerable, either having lost their children, or frantically and frightened seek the missing ones in the four corners of the city. [I feel entitled] to writing this open letter to say that no law, no concern, and no politics justify the pain they are suffering.In a condition that no media is there to report the truth and no official takes the responsibility of helping the killer anxiety of these parents, how can we not tremble on every rumor of the torture of killing of a young son or daughter?Give my camera a break to provide you a naked picture, perhaps you do not know what is really happening under the skin of the city.
We are documentary filmmakers.
Our job is to uncover and express truth. expressing truth from several points of view. In the events of the past few days, by hiding reality, the national media is making it impossible for the members of the society to have access to the reality.
We are documentary filmmakers, our job is communication.
Iranian national TV belongs to the whole of the country and is obliged to reflect the opinions and the events of society, hence it must not be the mouth peace of a specific faction and exclude a large portion of the society.
We are documentary filmmakers, and our job is art, committed to culture and the language of our country. Reporting language has to be the guardian of the dignity of the nation. By censoring, spinning and using an inappropriate reporting languahe, the national TV has on the one hand, made lying a norm in the society, and on the other uses disrespectful language against people and in so doing provokes people into chaos and revolt.
We warn you that at the current inflamed situation, depriving the society from ability from peaceful expression of their demands draws the society into violent reactions in people who prior to election were expressing their opinions on their favorite candidates, peacefully side by side.
We warn that these actions [of the national TV, Seda o Seema] lead to violence and unrest and makes them liable for any massacre and chaos in the society and endangers a country that if guaranteed of justice, can reach a true national unity.
Every single one of these people, in every single day of every single year of the past 30 years have been compassionate to each other's sorrow and happiness. They have fought next to each other and have given martyrs and victims.
We are a people of thousand years of history. We are all together, we all share the history of this land.
Don't break us apart!
June 16, 2009
Source: http://iranfacts.blogspot.com/2009/07/mrs-rakshan-bani-etemad-one-of-best.html


text:
MARCH WRAP-UPI think this month reading and blogging have felt like chores more than anything. In April I'm going to attempt to manage my time better so I can get the most out of reading and blogging, while still having some sort of life!
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Wither by Lauren DeStefano
- Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis
NONE! I've failed this month :'(
The Hunger Games--Read Dystopia Challenge & Mythology Challenge
Wither—Read Dystopia Challenge
I fell really behind on the Pride and Prejudice read-a-long because I kept losing my copy and my patience. I will finish it some time, but I think it's time for a break.
The Hunger Games read-a-long was a flop, just like I knew it would be. I still read the book, but I don't believe I had any participants, and I didn't get any of my awesome posts up on the blog.
The only read-a-long I've been successful with is the Catch Wither Fever read-a-long. I've read Wither, I'm in the middle of writing up a Wither related post or two, and I'm checking all my local libraries for Fever.
Bloggiesta is going on right now, and I think it's helped me get back my blogging vibe. You can check out my to-do list right here! As you'll see, I still have a lot left to do.
- The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott
- Inside (Inside Out & Outside In) by Maria V. Snyder
- I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
- Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
- Fairy Bad Day by Amanda Ashby
- The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
- To Catch a Prince by Gillian McKnight
- Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
- Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Thanks Jacinda!)
I've heard that those who liked the Wolves of Mercy Falls series didn't enjoy this book, and vice versa. As I haven't read the Wolves of Mercy Falls, hopefully I'll find this one enjoyable!
Deep Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards by Janette Rallison
Well, this was kind of gifted. Janette was doing this thing on her blog, and, well, I ended up with this!
- Casey Barnes Eponymous by E. A. Rigg
- Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott
- Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson
- Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
- Casey Barnes Eponymous by E. A. Rigg
- Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott
- A True Princess by Diane Zahler
- The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
- Once by Cameron Dokey
- The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
- Stork by Wendy Delsol
- The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott
Fairy Tale Fortnight is approaching! I'm so excited! I've been stockpiling some fairy tale retellings since the start of this year, and I'm excited to finally be getting to them! I'll be celebrating on this blog the whole time, with lots of fairy tale reviews, discussion posts, and more!
Yep! It's steadily approaching, and should arrive sometime on Friday the 13th! I'm planning some sort of week-long thing which will include some looks down memory lane, fun games, and possibly a giveaway! I hope to see you there.
Other than that, I don't think I have much going on in April. And thank goodness for that because I don't think I could handle much more!