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A printed maternity kimono. Open front. This style was created to be worn before, during, and after pregnancy.
We have found the ultimate transitional layer for the season in this maternity maxi kimono. All the things we love about the lightweight, flattering kimono with the length and hues of fall! Don't go another day without this gorgeous piece in your wardrobe.Content + Care:

subset: commoncrawl


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Other countries that (which have no registries) psychology deem a past sex offender as a pedophile, are considered to have a mental disability and are provided with welfare type of compensation. The disability leaves them to a point that they can't control their sexual urges. I think someone like that needs to be put in a mental institution when they can't control their urges. However, here in America, we're putting anyone and everyone on the registry with no chance at a life without support of others. To be able to live an independent life after society says "you can't have a life because you were convicted, regardless if you did it or not", then we as a society must be responsible for putting the alleged offender in that position!
Should criminals and sex offenders be allowed welfare my opinion is yes. Do their criminal acts make them not people any more? In most cases they need it the most. They are less likely to have an education and will have a lot harder time finding a job with their criminal/background.
No, we should not give welfare to criminals and sex offenders, because these people have already gotten enough from society and they should give back. People will think twice before committing crimes if they know that they will lose their government handouts if they are convicted. Banning them from handouts is a much more fair policy.


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Consumer sentiment improved in June as higher stock prices and an improving labor market helped bolster Americans' views of the economy.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final sentiment index climbed to 82.5 from 81.9 in May. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected an increase to 82 after a preliminary June reading of 81.2.
More employment opportunities, record stock prices and improved property values are giving consumers cause for enthusiasm attitudes, reducing the odds that consumers will retrench. At the same time, Americans are paying more at gas pumps and grocery-store checkout lines, underscoring the need for bigger wage gains.
"Confidence is fairly upbeat on the part of the consumer, simply because their two major components of wealth -- the stock market and the value of homes -- are doing better," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, said before the report.
Estimates of the 57 economists in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 80.8 to 83. The index averaged 89 in the five years before December 2007, when the last recession began, and 64.2 in the 18-month contraction that followed.
The Michigan sentiment survey's index of current conditions, which measures Americans' views of their personal finances, increased to 96.6 this month from 94.5 in May. The preliminary reading was 95.4.
The gauge of expectations six months from now was little changed at 73.5 after 73.7 the prior month. The initial reading was 72.2 for June.
Other measures
Other measures of consumer sentiment have improved this month. The Conference Board's index climbed to 85.2, the strongest reading since January 2008, from 82.2 in May, the New York-based private research group reported earlier this week.
The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index last week held near its 2014 high as views on the economy were the second-strongest since 2008.
Better job prospects are a bright spot for consumers. Payrolls increased by 217,000 in May after a 282,000 gain in April, according to Labor Department data. It marked the fourth straight month employment climbed by more than 200,000, the first time that's happened since early 2000.
Demand has been strong enough to reduce the number of dismissals. Jobless claims last week fell to a one-month low, the Labor Department said yesterday. Firings are hovering just above their pre-recession lows as companies grow confident the economy will snap back from the worst contraction in five years.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Wow. Just wow. Stadium Rat, as he is known on the food and drink board at www.tigerdroppings.com (an LSU sports-centric website), has shared something with us that took the Metairie resident some time to develop: his Jambalaya Calculator.
It's an Excel spreadsheet based on ratios, which helps figure out how to cook large quantities of jambalaya, a common occurrence around these parts, at tailgates, festivals, backyard parties, etc. The ratios are based on how big the pot is that you are using.
This is from his comments section: "I just want to say that I cooked a jambalaya for the first time in my new cast-iron pot a couple hours ago. I did the 5-gallon setup. It came out perfect! This calculator is awesome! Thanks!"
So why does one spend a year working on an elaborate spreadsheet for all things jambalaya?
Reading the food and drink board, Rat said, "I realized people constantly have all kinds of questions about ratios to use, how big a pot do I need, how many can I feed and the like, when they are cooking a large quantity of jambalaya," he writes. "Jambalaya depends more on ratios than almost any other food out there ... unlike most dishes, jambalaya has some ingredients that expand (rice) and some that shrink in volume (meat and veggies). Figuring the volume produced and the minimum pot size needed took some experimentation and calculating."
After someone on the board asked him to post his ratios, he thought, "I know how to do that." The positive reinforcement he got kept him going.
Rat measured how many cups of rice come from raw rice, and did an experiment cooking down raw pork, a Boston butt, to measure the volume before and after. And he collaborated with others on the site, he notes, especially a guy who posts as Pochejp.
"He is an expert," Rat said in a reverential tone. "He had a thread he did a couple of years ago, just amazing, step by step making a small batch with instructions and pictures. You make that, and it's the best jambalaya you ever had. The formula that's on there is pretty much his, with a couple of changes."
Rat added that the revelation he learned from the other cooks on the board was to use pork in the jambalaya instead of just the chicken and sausage he had always used before. And the best pork to use? Temple meat. That was a new one on me.
"It is just what it sounds like, chunks of dark meat taken from the head of the pig," Rat writes. "It apparently is what the big-time jambalaya cooks like to use. It has little fat that needs to be trimmed, but cooks tender. It is readily available around the Gonzales area. I have never seen it around N.O., but if you ask for it, a butcher should be able to get it for you. I understand it comes frozen in two-pound cryopacks."
After a year in the works, the Jambalaya Calculator version 6.0, the one he sent, is "probably the final version."
It can be downloaded here.
Thank you so much, Stadium Rat.
IT'S TIME FOR ICE POPS: Food and travel writer Nathalie Jordi lives in New Orleans in winter and summers in Brooklyn, where she and partners David Carrell and Joel Horowitz run People's Pops, an ice pop business they founded in 2008. Right in time for our sultry summers, their new "People's Pops" cookbook officially debuts Tuesday from Ten Speed Press ($16.99) and is subtitlted: "50 Recipes for Ice Pops, Shave Ice and Boozy Pops from Brooklyn's Coolest Pop Shop."
The recipes, organized by season, are super simple, based on seasonal fruit from the farmers' market, simple syrup and most of the time another flavoring, sometimes unusual. And as the sweetness and taste of fruit varies in season, tasting as you go is a must.
The quicker the pops freeze, the cookbook notes, the smaller the ice crystals will be, leading to creamier texture and longer shelf life. For best results, turn your freezer to its coldest setting, place the pops in the back near the bottom where it's coldest, and avoid opening the freezer door while the pops are freezing.
This recipe is a riff on blueberries and cream.
You're cleaning out your freezer right now for hurricane season anyway, aren't you? Time to make the pops.
Blueberry & Buttermilk Ice Pops
Makes 10
1 pound 2 ounces (4 cups) blueberries
2/3 cup simple syrup*
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk
Puree blueberries in a food processor to make about 1-3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons puree. Combine puree, simple syrup and lemon juice in a bowl or measuring pitcher with a pouring sprout. Taste; the precise amount of simple syrup and lemon juice needed will depend on sweetness of the berries. Be aware that blueberries are one of the rare fruits you don't want to oversweeten, because they tend to get sweeter as they freeze.
If you want to strain out the skins, do so now. Press mixture through a colander or sieve with a wooden spoon, rubber spatula or your fist (note: berries stain so you might wear gloves). Or don't. Swirl in the buttermilk, minimally if you want a marbled effect, maximally if you want the flavors to coalesce.
Pour mixture into ice pop molds, leaving a little bit of room at the top for the mixture to expand. Insert sticks and freeze until solid, 4 to 5 hours. Unmold and transfer to plastic bags for storage, or serve at once.
*Simple Syrup
2/3 cup organic cane sugar
2/3 cup water
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and the mixture is transparent. Turn off the heat and let cool.
To infuse, add any spices before the mixture starts to simmer; add any herbs only after you've turned off the heat. Store syrups in sealed containers in the fridge.
Check out the archive of Times-Picayune recipes at www.nola.com/food
Exchange Alley seeks to rebuild recipe collections. Send requests (described as fully as possible) or recipes (along with a phone number, your name and where you live) via e-mail with ALLEY in the subject line to: firstname.lastname@example.com. Send mail to: EXCHANGE ALLEY, Food section, The Times-Picayune, 3800 Howard Ave., New Orleans, La. 70125-1429.
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9 October 2013
Last updated at 13:39
The study reveals new information about how animals forage
Birds, such as great and blue tits, search for food in the morning but only return to eat it in late afternoon, scientists have found.
The team believe the behaviour maximises their chances of avoiding predators during the day without starving to death overnight.
Researchers from the University of Oxford tracked the birds' winter foraging movements using tiny tags.
All five of the studied species of songbirds behaved in the same way.
The results are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
Continue reading the main story
The tales of tits
Watch how the Wytham Woods birds stay synchronised with spring
How do great tits make themselves heard in loud cities?
See how blue and great tits were once a milkman's nemesis
"Our results are important because they provide a new hypothesis for how animals forage," said Damien Farine, lead author from the University of Oxford.
"They suggest that animals integrate the different risks they face into one strategy that can be applied to satisfy both their need to avoid predation and avoid risk."
Scientists have been studying bird populations at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, UK since 1947.
Finding food becomes more and more relevant towards the end of the winter when large sources of food, such as beech mast, have become depleted.
The team knew from previous studies that, when the predation risk appears high, birds delay putting on fat until late in the day.
"In the 1970s, when there were almost no sparrowhawks, tits used to be much fatter [in winter], which helped them avoid the risk of starvation.
"When sparrowhawks returned [in greater numbers], the average body weight of great tits, for example, decreased," Mr Farine told BBC Nature.
According to Mr Farine these birds had shifted from a strategy of being fat, to a strategy where they delayed putting on fat until late in the day.
The birds were tracked using small tags similar to those used for identifying pets
"However, no one had previously thought to test how birds manage the need to find food so that they can ensure that there will be enough food left at the end of the day in order to put on the necessary amount of fat and survive the long winter nights," he said.
Instead of simply idly waiting until the afternoon, birds were actively seeking out new sources of food to work out where their next meal was coming from.
Mr Farine said: "They can vary their strategy within the day in order to satisfy multiple needs, in this case avoiding predation but also finding ephemeral food."
Food for thought
Mr Farine said he was hoping to test a number of questions that arose from these results.
Previous studies have shown that along the social ties, information about food sources are transmitted between individual birds within a population.
Over 100 data logging stations were positioned in the study area at Wytham Woods
"We would like to test if individuals vary in their use of this social information over the course of a day. For example, if they have not gained good quality information in the morning, do they ignore it and search for their own food?" Mr Farine told BBC Nature.
"We would then like conduct further research on the afternoon and evening strategies in order to test whether the birds actually do remember what the best site was that they visited by placing different quality foods out for them to discover."
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Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/24458583 The feed :