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LONDON: Today the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) announced that a record number of investors making up a combined US$87 trillion in assets, have called for over 5,000 public companies to report on their carbon emissions.
The 722 investors, which make up around a third of the world's invested capital*, demand that the listed companies disclose their emissions and climate change strategies through CDP's system. The number of investor signatories is up 10% from last year.
Companies have until May 30, 2013 to disclose their emissions and related reduction activities. Once submitted, the data will then be used in public and investor-facing reports that will be published later on in the year.
Paul Simpson, chief executive officer, CDP said: "Since pioneering a system for natural capital disclosure a little over ten years ago, the number of investor signatories to CDP programs has grown more than twentyfold and growth in the number of companies using the CDP system has nearly matched this rate. This is testament to the economic relevance of environmental data to investment decisions. Our expansion into different areas of natural capital, and our efforts to provide integrated information to the global market, represents vital progress toward a sustainable economy in which natural resources are valued efficiently."
Jim Walker, Co-founder and International Programmes & Strategy Director, The Climate Group said: "With a record number of CDP signatories this year, there is obvious investor demand for consistency of carbon disclosure among businesses.
"Good carbon management is both a proxy for good management, and a prerequisite for leadership on climate change. Measuring and disclosing emissions should therefore be a mainstream activity for publicly listed firms. Laggards risk missing efficiency and alternative energy opportunities, and are unprepared for the transition to a low carbon future."
*CDP reference research from McKinsey & Company, Mapping global capital markets 2011, which placed a total value of US$212 trillion on the world's financial stock, comprising equity market capitalization and outstanding bonds and loans.
By Clare Saxon


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Health Benefits of Massage
More than an indulgence, massage therapy can help you sleep better, boost your immune system and reduce aches and pains by Judy Jones
For the past few thousand years, the Western world has largely resisted the notion that a procedure as noninvasive and, yes, pleasurable as massage could have a significant healing effect. Finally, however, clinical centers throughout the U.S. are taking a closer look at massage's medical benefits. One of the researchers most responsible for this change in attitude is Tiffany Field, PhD, who in 1992 founded the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine, the first major center devoted to studying the healing potential of touch. Over the past 30 years, Field has written 20 books and more than 450 journal articles on the subject, collecting the kind of hard evidence that makes the scientific and medical establishments pay attention.
As head of the Touch Research Institute, she has documented the effects of massage on a dizzying variety of disorders. We asked Field to tell us more about what she has learned in studying both healthy and unhealthy people.
Q: How does receiving a massage affect most people?
A: It's like finishing a run: You have the same feeling of total relaxation. We know that even a 10-minute chair massage can lower your blood pressure and slow down your heart rate. And your mental performance is enhanced. When we gave people math problems to solve after a massage, they did them twice as fast with half the errors.
Q: Many people suffer from some kind of physical pain. How can massage therapy make them feel better?
A: Massage helps people spend more time in deep sleep, the restorative stage in which your body barely moves. In our studies of fibromyalgia, we monitored the sleep of subjects who received 30-minute massages three times a week for five weeks. We found that the fibromyalgia sufferers slept nearly an hour longer at the end of the study period than they did at the beginning and that their sleep was deeper. We also found that by increasing sleep, we could reduce substance P, a neurotransmitter that's closely associated with pain. Fibromyalgia is a vicious cycle: The less restful sleep you get, the more substance P is emitted and the more pain you have; the more pain you have, the more difficulty you have sleeping. We were trying to use massage to break that cycle, and it was very effective.
Q: How about reducing stress via massage? Does that have an effect on pain?
A: Yes. In a review of research on the topic, we determined that massage therapy lowers cortisol, a hormone that's produced in response to stress, by an average of 31 percent. And when cortisol levels decline, serotonin, one of the body's antipain mechanisms, increases. In our review, serotonin grew by an average of 28 percent after massage therapy. So by lowering cortisol, you boost your ability to fend off pain.
Q: How does massage affect the immune system?
A: In studies of women with breast cancer, we found that when cortisol levels are up, natural killer (NK) cells are down. Natural killer cells are the front line of the immune system. They kill cancer cells, viral cells and bacterial cells, so you definitely want them up. In one of our studies, for instance, women with stages 1 and 2 breast cancer were given 30-minute massages three times a week for five weeks. At the end of the study, the women had lower depression and hostility levels and increased urinary levels of serotonin, dopamine, NK cells and lymphocytes—all of which suggested their immune systems were stronger.
Q: You've also found some fascinating evidence that people benefit from giving massages. Can you talk about that?
A: Yes, we did a study in which elderly volunteers massaged infants at a nursery school three times a week for three weeks. There were a lot of positive results for the volunteers. Immediately after the first-day and last-day sessions of giving massages, the volunteers had less anxiety and depression and lower cortisol levels. Over the three-week period, they showed reduced levels of norepinephrine and epinephrine, two neurotransmitters connected to feeling revved up. Giving a massage turned out to have some of the same benefits as getting one.
Source: http://www.more.com/
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Works of Art made its world premiere at the 28th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2010. Between 2010 and 2011, it appeared in 17 film festivals across North America, winning Best Narrative Short at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and The Asian Film Festival of Dallas, and Best Romantic Short at the Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival.
Meet Art Hahn (Paul Juhn), whose days are a blur of demoralizing auditions and bleak temp jobs just another actor numbed by the New York struggle.
One day, an unusual proposition from his friend, John Kim (Ken Leung), leads him to a remarkable role that jolts his system like never before.
Watch the film:
Works of Art is now available on iTunes »


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Kanye West, Kim Kardashian Purchase $11 Million Mansion
Looks like baby Kimye is going to be living in the lap of luxury. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian have purchased an $11 million mansion together.
While they haven't made the move to walk down the aisle just yet, the parents-to-be are shacking up in a 10,000-square-foot estate, according to TMZ. The spacious pad is located in a private, gated community in Bel Air, Calif. Actress Jennifer Aniston and basketball player Chris Paul are apparently their neighbors.
The home will feature a bowling alley, hair and makeup salon, indoor and outdoor pools and movie theater, among other extravagant amenities. West and Kardashian haven't moved in just yet to experience all the mansion has to offer; the residence is currently being gutted in order to build a 14,000-square-foot abode.
Do you think baby Kimye will get an entire floor all their own? Let us know in the comments below.
Watch Kanye West's 'Gold Digger' Video Feat. Jamie Foxx


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edited July 2010 in Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent
Steam version?
Jake Telltale Alumni
Thanks I will buy that.
Jennifer ModeratorWill it be available on Steam for Mac too?
Not showing up in that list for me at all, newest entry's Devil's Playhouse. Maye it's a geographic thing
I don't think it's showing up for anybody yet. Jake posted the link to show that Steam already carries all of Telltale's other downloadable games, so it's reasonable to assume that Puzzle Agent will show up there sometime closer to release.
Any news on if it's coming to Steam?
Will Telltale AlumniI think at this point it's safe to assume that it will be a same-day launch for Steam for all of our games to come unless otherwise stated.
Will Telltale AlumniOh hey, you know how I said "unless otherwise stated?" So apparently there were conversations going on that neither Jake nor I knew about, and the Steam version won't be launching until later next month. Sorry to have misinformed you!
Oh, wow. That was kind of a slip up, huh?
Andrew Ryan wrote: »Oh, wow. That was kind of a slip up, huh?
Uh? He went back to inform people as soon as he learned about it, what part of that is a "slip up"?
Too bad, I really want to buy it on Steam, just like every other Telltale games I have. So I guess I'll have to wait a bit more then...
PetiteBiere wrote: »Too bad, I really want to buy it on Steam, just like every other Telltale games I have. So I guess I'll have to wait a bit more then...
Valve is probably very busy with their current summer sale.
Plus, releasing a game after that sale would make sure it'll get noticed by more people, increasing sales.
1) Buy game on telltale.com
2) Add game to Steam through "add non-steam game"
3) Enjoy game and Steam features all at once!
StingingVelvet wrote: »1) Buy game on telltale.com
2) Add game to Steam through "add non-steam game"
3) Enjoy game and Steam features all at once!
Only problem is, no autoupdating, no cloud savegames config stored online, and the absolutely worst thing of all, having all your games at 257 different websites with different logins, very very uncool.
no cloud savegames config stored online,
None of Telltale's games have Steam Cloud support.
The problem I have with the Steam releases is that I don't have the option to get any of the extra swag, like the full-season DVDs. And I now regret purchashing Sam & Max 1 and 2, ToMI, W&G, and SBCG4AP on Steam, because they won't count toward anything on Telltale's website. And as previously mentioned, none of the Steam services are taken advantage of, like Steam Cloud, or even the Steam achievements. As far as auto-updating is concerned, I think it would be trivial for Telltale to add updater functionality to their little Unlocker/Launcher for each game.
I didn't say it was steam's fault.
I'm not saying Steam's at fault for anything; I'm just expressing my opinion.
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It's spring and everything around us is changing and in bloom. For a lot of us the snow is starting to melt and we can actually see the grass again. The grass is starting to turn
Read more
I am so excited to see all of the comments. Thank you AthenA, Annette, Heather, and Judy! We love seeing your comments and hope that more people will post. As I started responding to the comments,
Wow! Thank you for your kind words and comments Sandy, Samaima, and AthenA. My faith, my friends, and family have all helped me through these tough times. 2012 was a tough year. I am, however, excited
Happy New Year! Are you so glad to be done with 2012? I am! I have never had a worse year than 2012. So, since it's a new year, I want to remind you of what
We're about halfway through our "Practice Now, Shine Later" series. So far, I have given you two techniques to help you make your clients sparkle and shine this holiday season. We introduced "Foil Nails" and "Glitter Toes." Those
This is my friend Nicole before her wedding. This is her "something blue." We used royal blue, silver, and turquoise glitter. We're continuing our "Practice Now, Shine Later" series. Last week, I introduced you to Foil Nails for
Here's the first technique in our "Practice Now, Shine Later" series. This tutorial presents step-by-step instructions on how to create Foil Nails. I have done this with Shellac gel-polish by CND. I think the same techniques
Welcome back to our "Practice Now, Shine Later" series. This series will be about several things to get us ready for the holidays. It will include some business practices as well as techniques to wow your
We've talked about how the holidays will be here before we know it. There are many steps that will help us to prepare for the busy holiday season. But we have to practice the skills now,
Fall is here which means summer is officially over. Kids are back in school, the leaves are changing color, and hopefully the weather where you live is getting cooler. Fall is my favorite time of the
This is the final part of our back-to-school series — or as I have called it the "back-to-work" series. So far, we've talked about renovating our look to be more professional. We've mentioned updating out hair,
We're continuing our "back-to-school" series. In my last post I asked, "What does back-to-school mean to you? Does it mean back-to-school clothes shopping?" We talked about the face that back to school can mean shopping with your
It's "back to school" season for so many of you. I know that a lot of states have already started classes at universities and local schools. Here in Minnesota, our kids don't return to public schools
How many of you have kids who are going back to school? Does your salon have a back-to-school display set up already? My salon always does a shampoo and conditioner liter sale for back to school.
We've been discussing how to keep current by continuing your education. Now that you've taken the education, how do you let your clients know? This has been a three-part series about how to post your educational
We have been talking about continuing education and ways to let our clients know that we've received advanced training. Last week we talked about posting it on your salon's website. I gave you a great example
So, we've taken advanced education classes, now what? This is a question I get a lot when I visit salons for a day of in salon training. What do we once we have taken the education?
We have been talking about continuing education and ways we can learn and stay current in our industry. Last week, we talked about a few ways we can get education at little or no cost to us.
Recently, I attended The Summit Salon Consulting Group Company Retreat. This is a companywide retreat with all of the consultants, the leadership team, seminar trainers, Michael Cole, and Summit's CEOs, etc. I love attending this retreat for
We're halfway through the year, so we are revisiting the goals we set at the beginning of the year. As I mentioned last week, I injured my left foot in May, throwing a monkey-wrench in my
It's already June and half the year is over. The Fourth of July is right around the corner. In January, we talked about goal setting; we also set some goals for the year. Since we're halfway
We have been talking about client events — how to host them and how to make your event successful. I have shared several ideas and event planning tips to get you thinking about your next event.
We're finishing our series on client events. We have covered so much over the last few weeks. Here are the final preparations to make your event a success.Station Set Up: Make sure that all of the
Preparing for a client event takes time and planning. So far, we have covered picking a date, selecting the event type, sending out invitations and getting employees to volunteer. The next step is to plan and set
I hope you have been enjoying our focus on loyalty programs and how to reward our clients. We have covered loyalty cards — a way to reward our clients for purchases, referrals, and pre-booking, etc. Last
Thank you for your comments about the loyalty cards. Keep posting comments — Sandy and I love hearing from our readers. The past two posts were about loyalty cards and how we all have them floating
If you are just tuning in, we are talking about loyalty card programs. Be sure to check out last week's post on the same topic. This series is just options/suggestions that I've come across when out
Do me favor and go get your purse before you read this article. Look inside. Try to see past the miscellaneous receipts, loose change, and multiple tubes of lip gloss or lipstick. How many loyalty/punch cards
The referral contest winner at Sandy's salon sure did a lot to increase her referral base! The beauty of all of those referrals is that the new referrals will tell their friends and they will tell
Yay Sandy for getting your nail department to 12% — that's huge! I know that it was not an easy task to get the department to that level. One thing for sure is that it really takes
When a client comes in, does she receive a similar services every time? What if you're out sick or on vacation and your client needs to see someone else, what happens? Is the level of customer
We're sticking with our spring cleaning and keeping it clean theme this week. Now that you have cleaned out your station, it's time to talk about how to keep your implements and utensils clean. Does your
Spring has sprung early in Minnesota this year. We have had record-breaking temperatures for this time of year. Our snow melted in just two days — that's unheard of. With highs near 80 degrees, we feel
It's a new month already, February is past and we're already into March. Before you know it we will have the first quarter under our belt. I know you are all wondering how I did on
How are all of you doing on your 2012 goals? The second month of the year is almost over. Are you still working diligently on you goal? Do you still have your game plan in place?
I am glad to see that our readers are commenting on our articles! We LOVE the feedback and appreciate you leaving us a comment. We really enjoy hearing from you. We like to know that you
This week I want to take a minute and comment on Sandy's post, Praise for Rachael's Raging Success. Congrats Rachael on your progress! You have set many goals and achieved them. I am astonished at how many
We've been talking about what it takes to make your business goals a reality. It's important to write your goal in your Jump Journal or a sheet of paper for tracking purposes. Write how much, of
In last week's post, I mentioned something I learned from Michael Cole. This formula helps me when setting goals. The magic formula is how much, of what, by when. I shared my goal with you. To
Since the first of the year we have been talking about goal-setting. Some people like to set goals and others say, why bother? I think goals are good as long as they are realistic. If you
Welcome to the one-year anniversary of my tenure at The Coaching Chronicles! Can you believe it's been a year already? Wow, how the time and information have flown. It has been a great year writing these
So, how are you doing on the thank-you notes? Have you written out a few or are you trying to avoid it by stalling? Make a commitment to set aside time this week if you haven't
So it's 2012 and a new year is already upon us. I hope everyone had a nice holiday and a made lots of money working extra holiday hours, selling products, and performing additional services. I know
We all have holiday retail items. These are items the salon owner purchases to increase holiday sales. Some of these items may be special purchases, stocking stuffers, or free gifts with purchase. Retailing these items helps
Awesome Sandy! I am really glad to hear that the pre-book contest is working and increasing your pre-books salon-wide. Pre-booking your client is not only great customer service, but it also guarantees your business during the
We've been talking about our holiday game plan. It's not too late to get your holiday cards together. Your clients have already made their holiday appointments and soon we'll be so busy we can't take a
We've been talking about getting our holiday plan together and about putting it into action. Hopefully you've taken my advice and have made your list of clients you wish to give a holiday card to. I hope
The holiday season is just around the corner and some of your salons are already decked out for the season. Pretty soon our stations will be full every minute of the day. We'll be making our
Wow! What a series about pre-booking we've had over the last two months. Just by implementing one of those pre-booking ideas with incentives, you will raise your pre-book percentage. Who has implemented one of the three
This is the last week of our discussion about pre-booking. My hope is that you have really taken this to heart and taken action after reading our blog. All my posts throughout September and October have
Over the past few weeks we have talked about how important it is to pre-book your client's next appointment. I've shown you the math and hopefully you've seen the light and realized what it means to
During the months of September and October we have been talking about pre-booking. We've discussed how important it is to your business and to your revenue. I have given you numerous ways to get your client
Picking up from my last post, I'd like to discuss some ways you can respond if your client initially says no to your offer to pre-book. So after the appointment, I've walked my client to the front
In my last post I showed you the math of how much money can be lost by not pre-booking just one pedicure. Hopefully the math made sense to you and you've started to make the pre-book
I've mentioned that pre-booking your clients guarantees your salary, but do we really know what that means? To give you a better understanding, I want to show you some numbers. This will really give you a
Thank you for your comments and keep your comments coming! We enjoy hearing from our readers. We love to hear that you are learning from our blog and have found something that works from our words.
Since Rachael is focusing on pre-books, I thought this should be the topic this week. I want to show you how pre-booking can affect salon congestion. When Summit Salon Consulting Group held seminars in Minneapolis, my salon
This week we're following up with onsite in-salon training at your salon with me. In last week's post, we talked about custom-designing your add-on menu and getting the nail department consistent with all services. This week,
I am a successful nail technician because of the many people who have shared their expert advice with me. I believe, as I mentioned in other articles, that passing it on is one of the best
Product costs are a big contributor when it comes to making a department non profitable. As I stated in my last post,"Is Your Nail Department Profitable?", many owners have a lot of their money tied up in
I'm so excited that we had several comments from the last article. Keep the comments coming — we love hearing from you! Thank you Kim, Lydian, Natasha, Helene, and Gerry for being brave and posting your
I want to take this opportunity to thank Nails Magazine for this opportunity. I have enjoyed writing this blog over the last six months with Sandy. When I accepted this position I thought, "What am I
Pedicures are our biggest dollar earner per hour. We may have natural nail clients and artificial nail clients, but guess what? They both need pedicures. Stylists have to do chemical services to make more money and
Wow! A round of applause goes out to Sandy and Rachael (the nail tech Sandy spoke of in her last post). Congratulations Rachael for taking a leap of faith and trusting the suggestions to make your
We're wrapping up our series on getting healthy for a better career. We've conquered getting a good night's rest and we now know how sleep can affect our day. We've talked about eating healthy and no
In the previous post we talked about the F-word: fitness. This is the continuation of that discussion. The same month I started attending boot camp, I also started the Couch-to-5K running program. This program literally gets you
Wow, Sandy, thank you for your testimonial. I am so proud of you — losing 22 pounds is awesome! So happy to hear about your weight loss and that you're eating healthy. I am equally excited
Have you started to pay more attention to your sleep schedule yet? Have you started a nightly regimen to get to bed early? Are you getting the recommended seven to nine hours? I hope you listened
Yesterday, I ran my second half-marathon, 13.1 miles. This was hard work and today my body feels my accomplishment! I live in Minnesota, where it gets hot and humid during the summer months. The race was
This is part two of the list of solutions for the seasoned nail technician who is reluctant to offer add-on services. These suggestions will help us to become more confident and give us new techniques to
In last week's post, I gave new nail technicians solutions to feel more comfortable with making add-on offerings. This week's list of solutions is for the seasoned nail technician. These suggestions will help us to become
In last week's post, we talked about the many reasons why nail technicians hold back on offering additional services and add-on menus. This list of reasons is from the last article and below each one you'll
I consult with salons all over the U.S. and Canada helping to build strong successful nail departments. Many times, I see a lack of add-on services being offered. Although there are many reasons the nail techs
Anyone out there want to make more money? Do you know nail technicians who want to increase their income and transform their lifestyle? Who wants to add a little excitement to performing the same old services
We have formally introduced ourselves to our client. We've exchanged pleasantries and welcomed them into our salon as we walk toward our station. At this point, most nail technicians will seat their client and begin the
I'd like to continue our discussion about hand-washing. Before leading our client to the hand-washing station, here is what we need to set it up properly:• Post a sanitation policy sign stating: Salon clients must sanitize their hands
Did our client recently sneeze or cough into her hand? Does she have a sick family member at home? Did she wash her hands after going to the restroom? Did she apply her makeup or lotion
Last week Sandy inspired me to talk about how we need to be more effective when giving a grand tour. We talked about planting seeds and letting your guest know about the services we offer. These
Reading Sandy's last post got me thinking about a crucial part of welcoming new clients to our salon. She said "We are usually on our best behavior when we have guests in our homes, especially if
This is the most powerful part of the first impression series. This information comes from one of my mentors, Michael Cole, an icon in our industry. I learned about communication from Mr. Cole many years ago
My hope is that you have been listening real hard to the best practices of successful nail technicians. Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing how to make a good first impression. I have
We only have 10 seconds to make a first impression — what will we do to make it a lasting impression? We've already discussed how significant it is to look like we're a part of this
My friend, colleague, and fellow NAILS contributor Kristi Valenzuela asks, "Have you ever asked what makes your salon bigger, better and different from other salons? Are you the nail tech that's one in a million or
We should be experiencing some higher client counts from the recent field trips promoting our salon. As a result, we have some new clients in our chairs. We've gained access to new people, new referrals, and
We have begun to notice all of the businesses in our area. We have realized that there is so much potential surrounding us. We have compiled a list of the companies near our salon we can
When we drive to work, do we pay attention to all of the neighboring businesses? Do we realize the buildings we pass are full of opportunities? Do we miss out on all of the potential clients
Last week we talked about the importance of self-promotion and the significance of getting out there to promote yourself. This leads me to my first suggestion: the "Business of the Week." This is a great way
Who wants to fold towels for hours in the back room? Who wants to sit around and wait for a possible walk-in? Who wants to count down the minutes until it's time to end our clientless
When we walk into the salon each day, do we know what our schedule is going to look like before we even check it? Do we know if we are booked solid? Or do we pray
NAILS is pleased to welcome a new team of bloggers to The Coaching Chronicles: salon coach Jill Wilson and nail tech Sandy Combs. A licensed nail technician since 1994, Jill Wilson started her career at Snips SpaSalon
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Vashikaran Baba ji In Kangra
If you are fed up with your life and you think that you are the most unfortunate person born, then, yes you are under ''depression" and you are absolutely wrong about your Imaginations because you haven't met with your spiritual healer yet. If you are abroad where the people are more realistic and they don't know about the healing done by spiritual healers and probably Astrologists.
Today I will let you know about Vashikaran Babaji who will absorb your difficulties as his own and make your difficulties as his own. You will feel free of Depression. There are many reasons for Depression that might be Love, Property matters, failure in every work or it may be your financial issue. Until now you don't have solutions but after today you will know that you were very wrong in your Imaginations and you were depressed for no reasons. If you are very unfortunate than don't blame your luck and don't blame your creator for it. The one who creates difficulties have also created healers for it. Basically, unluckiness is the disturbance in your stars to whom astrologers and healers knew how to handle. Vashikaran babaji -Moulana Rashid Khan are here for you to handle these problem and want to spread happiness in the world.
The Gate of Solutions
Today we will let you know the gate of solutions to which the whole world is seeking. Everyone is finding this gate because some people are indulged in disputes, some are fed up of themselves, blaming themselves for their whole lives. They are actually unaware of healing till now. Today the person we will introduce to you will drag you out of problems. You will wish that you must have known that person before so, that you would have never been passed a difficult phase of your life. Vashikaran babaji-Molana Rashid Khan has devoted his life for others probably for solving the issues of others. Molana is blessed by nature to help others in order to serve humanity. I want to tell them that" Now or Never" come here in the ocean of healing. Drink water of Healing you are finding for your whole life. Yes it's Vashikaran babji seeing your way to heal you in order to serve humanity. Moulana ji have solved many issues regarding these before and made the lives of many people from "Hell to Paradise". Thousands are already healed "be one of them to be free of worries' and make your life as those people who are happy and fully satisfied of their lives. Healing of people are guaranteed for those who enter in the ocean of Healing. By Healing mean, Vashikaran Babaji which is famous as Molana Rashid Khan.
Be among those who are happy. The World is a beautiful Place to live. Don't spend it by staying sad or not fulfilling your desire. Every Desire is achieve able in the Teachings of Moulana Rashid Khan. We should believe that "Vashikaran Babaji" Moulana Rashid Khan is not less than a hope in a sea of Problems. He is a candle in a night. Seek the light and consult Molana Rashid khan as your problem healer. I hope you will surely have the solutions of your problems. And for sure you will start a new phase of your life.


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The Seattle Seahawks have a pair of starting wide receivers in Sidney Rice and Mike Williams who are large, physical targets for either Tarvaris Jackson or Charlie Whitehurst.
But undrafted rookie Doug Baldwin leads the offense in catches (28), is tied for first with Ben Obomanu for first in receiving touchdowns (two), and ranks second in receiving yards (434).
Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb, who could line up in the slot against Baldwin when Seattle employs a three-wideout set, said he has been impressed with Baldwin's fast transition to the NFL from Stanford.
"We've just been watching him," Webb said Thursday. "He's a great receiver, has got great hands, runs great routes. He's one of the quicker guys than the other ones. Those guys are big and have got the size and hands and athletic ability. So that's a great group of guys. We just have to contain those guys. We can't let them get any big plays."


text: I try to start my Christmas shopping each year at the Peasant Market, which is the big flea market in July at St. Stephen's on the green in Middlebury. There is always a lot of great stuff there — more stuff than I can reasonably justify buying at one time for the modest needs of me and my family. So a couple years ago I struck on the idea that I could pick up a few extra things beyond what would satisfy our immediate needs and desires and squirrel them away as Christmas gifts, or at least stocking stuffers.


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EDITOR'S NOTE: Register editor in chief Jeanette De Melo interviewed Andreas Widmer March 1 on Register Radio. Listen online.
Pope Benedict XVI's decision to leave his office on Feb. 28 shocked the Catholic world and set off a firestorm of speculation on everything from why he is leaving to who will be his successor.
As the dust storm settles and the mainstream media moves on to other topics, cooler heads with thoughtful observations of what the Pope's decision means to the Church now and in the future are beginning to emerge. One such thoughtful leader is author Andreas Widmer.
Andreas Widmer served Blessed John Paul II as a young Swiss Guard, and, later, after becoming a successful businessman, wrote a book about the leadership lessons he learned from the Polish Pope, The Pope and the CEO.
During the time he lived in the Vatican, Widmer had an opportunity to meet and observe not only Blessed John Paul II, but also then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
He spends one week each year at the Vatican and has built friendships with a number of cardinals and bishops around the world.
In a Feb. 16 interview, Widmer discussed why Benedict XVI's decision was not only sound leadership, but a humble act of love for the Church.
As someone who follows the papacy closely, what was your initial reaction to Pope Benedict XVI's decision to leave his office?
My first reaction was disbelief. Then shock. Once I had some time to read his actual statement, pray and reflect on it, I came to see this decision as a positive moment for the Church.
Pope Benedict XVI finished what Blessed John Paul II started, or, to be more precise, he finished the basic implementation of Vatican II, which started under Paul VI. This now set the stage for the era of the New Evangelization.
I believe the Pope is aware of this shift, and, after assessing what abilities the Church needs in a pontiff, to embark on this new endeavor, he decided that he could not offer that to her. That is the reason he abdicated: to make space for a person who has the ability the Church needs.
From a leadership perspective, this is a most humble and selfless move. From a Church perspective, this is a most loving and prudent move. I really respect Pope Benedict for his thought process and decision.
As a former CEO, can you explain why being a pope is different from being a CEO?
The pope is primarily a bishop, particularly, the successor in the See of the Apostle Peter, and, as such, he is the vicar of Christ. This is not so much a "job" as it is a mission and a responsibility. Being pope is the individual's primary vocation — being a CEO is someone's secondary vocation.
How is it similar to being a CEO?
The pope is a leader. One of the things he leads is the Church as an organization and administration. In that role, he makes decisions and manages people very much like a CEO would.
Does comparing him to a CEO detract from the spiritual and moral authority of the papacy?
I do not think so. As I said earlier, being pope is a person's primary vocation. His work as an organizational leader is part of his secondary vocation. The two interplay, but are definitively separate.
In a recent article for the Huffington Post, you wrote that Pope Benedict XVI was completing the work begun by his predecessor. Is that work completed in your opinion? Why or why not?
Yes, I believe it is. John Paul and Benedict are the last two popes who were actually present at Vatican II, and I believe that Providence granted them the opportunity to secure its intended implementation.
If you look at the overall situation in the Church, though there are people who do not agree with that implementation, it is pretty clear that the form of implementation [given by the last two popes] is the one that'll remain.
The two pontificates corrected any of the misguided efforts, such as a trend in the marginalization of the Eucharist, the role of priests and the laity, the validity of the Tridentine Mass, the path of interreligious dialogue and the pursuit of Christian unity, etc. All these issues have been addressed. They're not universally embraced, but it is now clear what the Church teaches.
As such, I see the task of the implementation of Vatican II complete and a new era for the Church to commence.
What will be the biggest challenges for Pope Benedict's successor?
The New Evangelization. The issue has two aspects: First, how do we re-evangelize cultural Catholics? And, second, how do we evangelize non-Catholics? And the two are actually connected.
In reaction to my piece at the Huffington Post, some readers objected to the notion of evangelization. One reader in particular wrote: "The Church exists to evangelize! ... That phrase bothers me. Haven't we gotten into enough trouble with the evangelical sects we already have? Those who are so sure of their faith that they wish to pass it to others are often the ones who are intolerant and unforgiving. Why can't we have a pledge to follow Christ's teachings?"
I'm thankful for that comment because it allows me to point out a possible misreading of my statement: Evangelization comes from the word evangelion (the Good News). Evangelization, thus, means living the Good News. The New Evangelization consists of living out the Good News in one's personal life, leading to a profound happiness and peace. This in turn will attract others to imitate us and to join us in following Christ.
From the early Church on, this is the only viable path to evangelization — and it is this approach that Vatican II asks every Catholic to put into practice. When we do not follow this path, we become examples of exactly what the reader of the Huffington Post pinpoints as her experience of that kind of misguided "evangelization."
So what do you make of some pundits who speak of "major changes" that a new pope could bring about in terms of birth control, same sex "marriage," abortion, etc?
I think that people who make such predictions or project such changes do no one a favor. They are very misleading in two ways:
First, the papacy is not about the person, but the office, the ministry. I think it's not so much "who" the pope is than "what" the pope represents. Telling people that "another" pope would change some of the fundamentals of the Catholic faith is akin to making the papacy into a personality cult — something very far away from what Catholics actually believe.
The pope doesn't make up the faith; he defends it.
Second, someone making these predictions — or, as some phrase it, "holding out hope" for such "changes" — just does not understand the Catholic faith. Saying that the Church is going to change its view on abortion or birth control is akin to holding your breath for PETA to endorse seal clubbing. The change is in fundamental opposition to the creed of the organization.
The Catholic Church cannot condone abortion, birth control, same-sex "marriage," in vitro fertilization and designer babies as much as it will never change its view on transubstantiation, confession and the divinity of Christ. These are teachings that come out of the very essence of the Catholic belief, and they do not change from pope to pope.
Quite to the contrary, each pope is relied upon to protect and uphold these teachings.
How do you think Pope Benedict XVI will be remembered by the world?
For his thoughtful leadership. I think Benedict is one of the most outstanding thinkers, one of the most brilliant intellects of our time. His contribution to the Church's theology will stand the test of time and only grow in importance. The three encyclicals on the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, together with the trilogy on the life of Jesus and his discourses on the Fathers [of the Church] and saints of the Church are going to serve as core tools in the coming era of the New Evangelization.
I believe Blessed John Paul II was a prophet for our times, and I see Pope Benedict XVI as a doctor of the Church. It is really quite amazing that we were blessed with so many exemplary popes during the last 100 years or so. That only reinforces my belief that the Church is indeed guided by the Holy Spirit.
We have the pope we need, not always the one we want.
Randy Hain writes from Atlanta.
He is the senior editor and co-founder of The Integrated Catholic Life eMagazine
and the author of The Catholic Briefcase: Tools for Integrating Faith and Work,
Along the Way: Lessons for an Authentic Journey of Faith and
Something More: The Professional's Pursuit of a Meaningful Life.


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The NAG Library for SMP & Multicore, a de facto standard for numerical code, has been extended with an additional group of algorithms, specifically engineered for the current generation of computer systems.
NOTE: The NAG Library is the largest commercial numerical algorithm library. It was developed to harness the performance gains from the shared memory parallelism of Symmetric Multi-Processors (SMP) and multicore processors. The NAG Library is used in fields such as science modeling, weather forecasting, financial modeling, and complex engineering design.
With new functions in important areas that include optimization, statistics, matrix operations, PDE solvers, and ODE solvers, the update should logically benefit software developers who run code on multiple core systems.
To take advantage of the latest processor and memory configurations, NAG (which stands for Numerical Algorithms Group Ltd) says it reimplemented many mathematical algorithms so that they are more efficient when running on multiple cores.
Additionally, new parallel routines are making their debut in the library and these routines, such as Particle Swarm Optimization, that are chosen for their special characteristics when run on parallel architectures, are said to be powerful when solving important classes of problems on parallel hardware.
"I have made extensive use of the performance optimized routines from the NAG Library, both on a PC and on two large supercomputers, as part of a research project," said Konrad Bartkowski, of Mathematics and Education Division at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, in Germany.
"I integrated the copy of the NAG Library for SMP & Multicore, which was installed on one of our supercomputers, with my research code. The huge gain in performance was impressive. What is more, the flexibility of the NAG library allowed me to obtain these increases under very different system conditions such as different programming languages and different software engineering models," added Bartkowski.
The newly engineered NAG Library routines are available with OpenMP (Open Multi-Processing) support.


text: Welcome to the FAST online home! Feel free to jump right in and post some of your adventure photos, comment on a forum posting, or RSVP to one of the upcoming events. I look forward to meeting you and moving forward in this years activities with you. If you have any questions just let me know.


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Linda Lavin talks return to comedy in "Sean Saves the World"
A year after relocating to New York full-time, former Wilmington resident Linda Lavin is once again dividing her time between two cities. The actress co-stars on the new NBC comedy "Sean Saves the World," which films in Los Angeles. … Read More »


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Hurricane Basics
What is a hurricane?
The ingredients for a hurricane include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds aloft. If the right conditions persist long enough, they can combine to produce the violent winds, incredible waves, torrential rains, and floods we associate with this phenomenon.
Each year, an average of ten tropical storms develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. Many of these remain over the ocean and never impact the U.S. coastline. About six of these storms become hurricanes each year. In an average three-year period, roughly five hurricanes strike the U.S. coastline, killing approximately 50 to 100 people anywhere from Texas to Maine. Of these, two are typically "major" or "intense" hurricanes (a Category 3 or higher storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale).
What Is a Hurricane?
A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone, which is a generic term for a low pressure system that generally forms in the tropics. The cyclone is accompanied by thunderstorms and, in the Northern Hemisphere, a counterclockwise circulation of winds near the earth's surface. Tropical cyclones are classified as follows:
- Tropical Depression
An organized system of clouds and thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds* of 38 mph (33 kt**) or less
- Tropical Storm
An organized system of strong thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of 39-73 mph (34-63 kt)
- Hurricane
An intense tropical weather system of strong thunderstorms with a well-defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of 74 mph (64 kt) or higher
* Sustained winds: A 1-minute average wind measured at about 33 ft (10 meters) above the surface.
** 1 knot = 1 nautical mile per hour or 1.15 statute miles per hour. Abbreviated as "kt".
Hurricanes are categorized according to the strength of their winds, using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. A Category 1 storm has the lowest wind speeds, while a Category 5 hurricane has the strongest. These are relative terms, because lower category storms can sometimes inflict greater damage than higher category storms, depending on where they strike and the particular hazards they bring. In fact, tropical storms can also produce significant damage and loss of life, mainly due to flooding.


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Jonathan Ogden got the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony started the same way he played his brilliant 12-year career.
Easily, effortlessly, and effectively.
Thanking his presenter, Baltimore General Manager Ozzie Newsome, Ogden said that using the Ravens' first ever draft pick on him instead of running back Lawrence Phillips was, in hindsight, the right call.
"I think that worked out for everybody," Ogden joked.
Mostly, for the Ravens. Ogden was an 11-time Pro Bowler in 12 seasons, with six first-team All Pro nods.
Ogden also did a little stumping for the late Art Modell, saying he hoped to see the former Ravens owner voted into the Hall one day. That drew a mixed response from the crowd, as they were in Ohio, and not everyone in that corner of that particular state shares Ogden's view considering the way the Ravens got to Baltimore.


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MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) Tyshon Pickett and Jordan Prosser scored 17 points and Bradley breezed to an 82-65 win over Central Michigan Wednesday night.
Prosser's total, in 21 minutes, was a career high for the junior center. He was 8 of 11 from the floor, Pickett was 8 of 12 and the Braves (5-1) shot 54 percent from the field. Walt Lemon Jr. and Dyricus Simms-Edwards scored 14 apiece for Bradley, and Jake Eastman added 12 points.
Kyle Randall was the only Central Michigan player in double figures with 21 points. The Chippewas (3-3) shot 36 percent from the floor.
CMU outrebounded Bradley 36-34, but the Braves owned a 66-24 scoring advantage in the paint.


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Big Ten M5: 12.16.13 EditionPosted by Deepak Jayanti (@dee_b1g) on December 16th, 2013
- Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has suspended redshirt freshman forward Kenny Kaminski indefinitely. Izzo had already suspended the freshman earlier this season, but this time there is no timeline for the return. After a close win over Oakland on Saturday, Izzo said, "Kenny Kaminski's got to grow up, he's just got to grow up. And I'm gonna keep suspending him or sitting him out until he takes care of all his business that he's got to take care of, whether it's in school, off the court." Regardless of Kaminski's playing time, the Spartans need to make sure they enter the Big Ten season with good chemistry, and most importantly, good health. If Izzo can get a healthy Gary Harris back in the lineup, his team should be in good shape to contend for the Big Ten title.
- Before writing about college basketball for Grantland, Mark Titus rode the bench at Ohio State during the 2006-07 season when the Buckeyes made it to the national title game. Titus was a walk-on who didn't play much during his time at Columbus, and Thad Matta doesn't want Jake Lorbach, another walk-0n, to play like Titus. "He [told me], 'I don't want another Mark Titus. So just try not to do that.' But sometimes you can't help yourself," Lorbach said. The 6'7″ forward has averaged only 1.5 PPG and is not expected to contribute immediately, but after a year under his belt, he may be able to play a reserve role on the team.
- After a tough loss to Notre Dame at the Crossroads Classic on Saturday, Indiana still hasn't secured a marquee win during the non-conference season. Inside The Hall's Jordan Littman discusses the Hoosiers' ongoing search for an identity. After the game, Tom Crean said, "Our identity has got to be in the fact that going into the game, we were fifth in the country in field goal percentage defense, we were No. 1 in the country in rebound margin, we were way up in the country in getting to the free throw line." Noah Vonleh needs to learn how to stay out of foul trouble against tougher opponents because his time on the court is too valuable. When he is on the court, the Hoosiers can rebound with reckless abandon, but without him out there, they lose their only strength at this juncture of the season.
- John Groce's Illini lost a close one to Oregon over the weekend, but the Illinois fan base did an excellent job of representing its team on the west coast. According to Illiniboard, 15 percent of the 10,000 fans in the arena were supporting the Illini, which is pretty impressive for a road game taking place in Portland. Groce's squad led for most of the game in front of the raucous crowd, but it couldn't find any kind of offense over the past five minutes of the game when the Ducks were able to get to the free throw line consistently. After two close losses to Georgia Tech and now to Oregon, the Illini need a win over Missouri next weekend before beginning conference play. The annual "Bragging Rights" game will take place on Saturday in St. Louis.
- One more shot against Arizona and Michigan could have erased its disappointing non-conference season, but the Wolverines will need to wait a bit longer to regain their confidence. John Beilein's team almost pulled off the victory over #1 ranked Arizona on Saturday afternoon, but it couldn't close the deal over the last minute. When asked about beating good teams afterward, Beilein said, "The devil's in the details." Despite the loss, Caris LeVert continued to impress with 15 points, but he and his teammates couldn't handle Arizona's size and athleticism at the end of the day. After a tough first month of action, the Wolverines won't have it easy against conference competition because the tougher defensive units in the Big Ten have traditionally given Beilein's offense trouble scoring.


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text: In June, Cat dealer Ring Power's Sarasota, Florida, facility was robbed. Someone cut a hole in the fence, rammed through the north gate of the property and fled the scene in a Cat Truck. But there's a happy ending to this story. Because the CT660 comes standard with Product Link, Caterpillar's comprehensive asset and fleet management tool, police were able to locate and recover the stolen truck quickly.


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Rad Red Storage: Dressers, Trunk & Hutch
Storage is such a boring word, and serves such a blah purpose. It deserves a vibrant color to wake everybody up.
- Blowing Rock, NC: Vintage Dresser - $295
- San Francisco, CA: CB2 Chest of Drawers- $250
- Brooklyn, NY: Storage Trunk - $87
- Berkeley, CA: Red Hutch - $725
- Montreal, CN: Bombay Chest - $195
Shoppers, check out the Classifieds for many more listings. Sellers, gather up your goods and list them in our Classifieds to turn them into a little extra spending cash.
Go To: Classifieds Main Page
(Images: As linked above)
Apartment Therapy is not the seller of these items. This is an edited selection of our favorite offerings from our Classifieds. For more information, see How it Works. Happy Scavenging!


text: The Leaky Cauldron (Leaky, TLC or Leaky News) is a fansite and blogging web that launched on 5 July, 2000 by Kevin Murphy and was later taken over by Melissa Anelli, the current webmaster. John Noe is the creative director of the site. The site includes news, video galleries, widgets, a chat room and discussion forums. The website later opened up a podcast called PotterCast on 22 August, 2005.


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Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo came back to Miami last year in a plain, gray casket with a crucifix on the lid. When he arrived, his 179-pound body underwent an autopsy - its second - during which Dade County medical examiners noted the sixteen bullet holes in the head, face, and torso, and the several peculiar tattoos.
Constanzo's career as a devil-worshipping cult leader fizzled in a shoot-out with police in Mexico City on May 6, 1989. But his life spawned legends, ghost stories, and at least three volumes of hastily written bloodbath journalism; his death rocketed the 25-year-old ghoul to number one among the infamous dead who have come to rest in the graveyards of the greater Miami metropolitan area. At the time of his demise, Constanzo was wanted in connection with the ritual killings of at least fifteen people. Near a lonesome desert ranch house outside Matamoros, Mexico, investigators from both sides of the border uncovered dismembered bodies, human and animal skulls, and satanic iconography - Constanzo's handiwork.
By itself, the 1500-mile journey of Constanzo's corpse was nothing unusual. In death, as in life, South Floridians are a transient lot. The remains of one out of every six people who die in Dade are removed from the state. Al Capone was embalmed in Miami Beach in 1947, but took the train to Chicago for burial. Nicanor Navarro, a jockey struck by lightning after a bad showing in the second race at Calder Race Course two days after Christmas 1978, was shipped back to his native Panama. Anton Uibopuu, a celibate Hare Krishna who had accidentally hanged himself from a ficus tree that same year, returned to his family in New Jersey. (Uibopuu is among two dozen in Dade who have died by autoerotic asphyxiation in the past three decades.) Prince Thamer Bin Abdul Aziz, a despondent member of Saudi Arabian royalty, was flown to Riyadh, dead, the day after setting himself on fire in a Miami motel room in June 1957. Albert Brust, one of Florida's most gruesome crime figures, murdered, raped, tortured, and entombed one victim in a cement-filled bathtub. Brust committed suicide in 1973, by mixing a glass of chocolate milk and cyanide and repairing to the chaise longue in his sunny South Dade back yard. His ashes were buried in an urn in Franklin Square, NY.
In Dade County in 1988, the latest year for which figures have been tallied, 19,475 people died. More than 4000 of those corpses were cremated. Eight went to their graves unidentified, and no one has yet discovered who they are. Two were buried at sea. Sixty-three people donated their bodies to science, had them frozen in cryogenic institutes, or stored them "for sentimental reasons," according to Florida's bureau of vital statistics. Of those buried here, 797 adults and children were too poor to afford a funeral, and wound up in the newest of the county's two potter's fields - a fenced acre of unmarked graves in a corner of Kendall Indian Hammocks Park.
Indeed, some of Dade's deceased seem to consider it a form of punishment to be buried here. Despite the best efforts of groundskeepers at more than a score of cemeteries, Dade's boneyards are relentlessly flat and shadeless. The county's seaside location and sandy soil have always conjured up fears of undesired disinterment by hurricane. Grave robberies, though underreported, are more common here than in many other American cities. "Under no circumstances is my body to be returned to Brooklyn," wrote Dante Contessa before gunning down his sweetheart, Sophia Chadwick, in a Miami Shores trailer park in 1960. "I do not wish for a decent funeral. If the army does not bury me, please just put me in potter's field."
Unlike Paris or Boston, Miami's dead are far outnumbered by the living. But there should be no scarcity of ghosts here on All Hallows Eve. From Hialeah to Homestead, some of the meanest, unluckiest, prematurely deceased folks in the world lie in wait. Zigzagging from south to north across Dade's sprawling, sunbaked necropolis, here's where to find them:
Miami Memorial Park, 6200 SW 77th Ave., South Miami, across the street from Tropical Park
After shooting himself in the head, Dante Contessa wound up here, along with 31,958 other people. They've been pouring in since 1925, when the developers of Miami Memorial ran a full-page newspaper ad pitching the graveyard's "beautifully laid out evergreen lawns and shrubs, stately and dignified buildings in quiet, restful, towering trees and bushes, shaded paths and winding roadways." Drawing on the land boom of the time, Miami Memorial confidently described itself as the progressive place for the postmortem smart set: "In this great history making Magic City, with its hundreds of subdivisions and talk of subdivisions, in all this hustle and bustle, there is but one association taking into consideration the fact that the hundreds of people who are coming to Miami to make their homes will some day pass on to eternal rest. Let our courteous salesmen call on you and explain the Miami Memorial Park in detail."
No salesman got a chance to explain it to Schubert Darmon Lee. The only known suicide-by-snakebite in Dade history, he lies in an unmarked grave in the southwest corner of the cemetery. At the time of his death in May 1964, Lee, the son of two-time Miami City Manager L.L. Lee, was engaged to be married. As the wedding day approached, the groom-to-be fell into a funk, depressed because he couldn't afford a nice house for his bride. All day long on May 20, he sat in his tiny Coconut Grove cottage, moping and staring at the burlap bags that held his collection of pet snakes - several water moccasins and a four-foot-long Pakistani cobra. Sometime after midnight and a few cocktails, Lee thrust his left hand into the cobra bag. Ouch. By a strange, telepathic twist of fate, his fiancee, Florence Gutierrez, thought she heard him calling her name from twenty miles away. She rushed to the cottage, dragged the semiconscious Lee into her car and drove to the hospital. But despite antivenin supplied by friends at the Miami Serpentarium, Lee died. Back-from-the-dead potential: Low. Lee got what he was after.
Eggs, milk, sardines, and peppers - the totality of his diet for the last years of his life - finally caught up with Edward Leedskalnin. Dade's most productive and best-known eccentric is laid to rest in section B, lot 1886, grave 5, just south of the east mausoleum, 50 yards from the Palmetto Expressway, beneath a live oak tree and a new granite marker donated five months ago by some of his fans. "Born in Latvia. Creator of Coral Castle," reads the marker, embellished with bas-relief orchid blossoms.
Leedskalnin died from malnutrition on Pearl Harbor Day 1951, after having spent his life experimenting with magnetism, writing bizarre essays about politics and morality, and quarrying 1000 tons of rock to build his Coral Castle at the intersection of U.S. 1 and SW 286th Street. How Leedskalnin, a skinny, five-foot-tall recluse who worked alone and at night, accomplished this engineering feat is a bona fide mystery. His motivation is only slightly less murky. Legend has it that before leaving Latvia for the United States in 1918, Leedskalnin was jilted by his sixteen-year-old fiancee, Agnes Scuffs. The teen-age betrayal led him to an obsession with sexual purity, which helps explain his superhuman energy and determination. "A girl is to a fellow the best thing in this world, but to have the best one second hand, it is humiliating," he wrote in his essay "Ed's Sweet Sixteen."
Leedskalnin may or may not be rolling over in his grave. His former home is now a privately owned national historical site that yanks $7.25 apiece from thousands of tourists each year, and conducts a "psychic fair" the fourth Saturday of every month. So far Leedskalnin's ghost hasn't put in an appearance at the fair, staffers say. Back-from-the-dead potential: Extremely high. Leedskalnin said he could do anything he set his mind to, and he hated being underestimated. Plus, he may now regret having died a virgin.
Don't leave Miami Memorial without asking for the date and time of the next party. Gypsy tradition calls for a lively relationship with the dead, and caretakers say there are more Gypsies buried here than anywhere else in Dade. "They believe you should talk to the dead," a cemetery worker says. "The last time they had a cookout here, they came by the office to invite me. This woman said, `My husband wants you to eat lobster with us.' They have a party and they dance and sing. They drink like crazy. That's the only time this job is really fun."
Pinelawn Memorial Park (formerly Paradise Memorial Gardens), 13900 SW 117th Ave., Richmond Heights, just north of Metrozoo
It was the sort of police sting operation that might have caused a riot in Miami today. In 1956, though, it was more like business as usual. "The killing by a deputy sheriff of a Negro who reduced a White woman to a state of hysteria by daily telephone threats was ruled justifiable homicide today," the Miami News reported. The woman, whose name was never revealed, had been receiving naughty phone calls from a mystery man. Finally the caller requested a face-to-face meeting. The woman drove to a lonely spot in Richmond Heights, with officer Bruce Berry hiding in the back seat of her car. Robert Lee Manuel drove past and blinked his lights. A few minutes later he was dead, brought down by a double blast from Berry's shotgun. The officer later said Manuel tried to flee, then jumped out of his car and charged. There were no other witnesses. Back-from-the-dead potential: High. Manuel never got to tell his side of the story. And he never got to see the child his wife was carrying at the time of his death.
Pinelawn's 22 acres were fairly peaceful until the state department of transportation constructed Florida's Turnpike on its western edge. Now the noise of the traffic is loud enough to wake the dead. Ownership has changed hands twice in recent years. The latest proprietor, the aptly named Osiris Holding Co. of Philadelphia, hopes to spruce up Pinelawn and diversify the ethnicity of the dead buried here. Until lately the population has been, like the subdivision the graveyard served since the 1940s, mostly black. "We are going to invest a lot of money down here," says cemetery manager Juan Ramos. "It has been neglected for a long time."
A year after the six-lane freeway was finished, John Lee West moved into Pinelawn. On the afternoon of July 25, 1975, West and two other Metro garbage men arrived at the last house on Northwest 97th Street. The driver stopped the truck, and West and another man jumped off. All at once a snarling Great Dane appeared from behind the house. The guard dog's temper was not improved when West's partner hit it in the head with a trash can. West, who was petrified of dogs, jumped onto the slime-covered lip of the garbage truck, lost his balance, and fell into the trash bin. An emergency shutoff switch apparently failed, investigators later said, and while his fellow workers watched aghast, the compacting mechanism crushed West to death. Back-from-the-dead potential: High. You know those split-second decisions you make that you wish you had a chance to make over again?
Palms Memorial Park, 27100 Old Dixie Highway, Naranja, just off U.S. 1
Before heading north, visit Palms Memorial, the southernmost of Dade's major graveyards. The A-frame office building gives the place the look of a KOA Kampground, but it's actually less commercialized than most cemeteries. In an era when large corporations are buying into the death business across South Florida, Palms Memorial, founded in 1912, remains in private hands, its homey atmosphere enhanced by the fact that the place has become quieter since U.S. 1 replaced Old Dixie Highway as the main traffic artery and the freight trains stopped running past the eastern edge of the cemetery. Grave markers at Palms Memorial bear the names of many of the Homestead area's pioneers - Mowrys, Kings, Campbells, and Birds, to list a few. "We also have a high percentage of young people here," says cemetery manager Ray Fuque sadly. "There's something about Southwest Dade. Lots of suicides, murders, and accidents. I knew a lot of the folks buried here."
Emory Brannen was not a South Dade pioneer, but he was inquisitive. He worked at the Princeton Farm Packing House in Florida City. One rainy morning in 1957, he came to work and found an artillery shell in a warehouse. The 30-year-old Brannen carried the giant bullet out into the rain and proceeded to beat on it with a pipe. "Maybe he was trying to get the shell loose from the casing," suggests Bill Edwards, who runs a military surplus store a few miles north of the graveyard on U.S. 1. "But to beat on the back of an artillery shell would be sheer stupidity." To keep a short story short, the shell blew up and sent a fragment of steel through Brannen's heart. Brannen is buried in an unmarked grave, plot M-99, not far from Stephen King (apparently no relation to the best-selling author of horror fiction). Back-from-the-dead potential: Low. Brannen was a nice guy, possibly poltergeist material, but not likely to engage in full-blown devilment. Embarrassment also figures into the equation.
Charlotte Jane Memorial Cemetery, Douglas Road and Franklin Avenue, Coconut Grove
"You wanna hear a good graveyard tale?" asks Dr. Charles Wetli, Dade's deputy assistant medical examiner. "Come with me." Wetli, an expert in Afro-Caribbean cults, walks to a collection of knickknacks at the back of his office. There he keeps the charred tennis shoes of a burglar who was zapped after breaking into a power plant, as well as a six-inch hunting knife with alternating red, yellow, and black handle.
The knife turned up one full-moon night in April 1983, in the crowded annex of Charlotte Jane Memorial, one of Miami's oldest and most-neglected graveyards. Wetli investigated the scene and wrote a report: "Just inside and to the right of the gate is a brown paper bag with numerous flies swarming about it. Emptying its contents revealed a decapitated chicken with black and white feathers. The gravesite in question is the seventh from the gate. The adjacent vault has markings on it indicative that the vault cover of Louise Cooper has been moved and placed upon it temporarily. The top half of the casket was opened by myself, and inspection of the remains disclosed the head had been stolen. On the floor of the vault was found a hunting knife with a partially rusted blade.
"It is the impression of this observer that the grave robbing is linked to the Santeria religion and most probably the palo mayombe cult," Wetli added. "The symbolism of the decapitated black and white chicken near the gate is that of Eleggua and the colors are that of Oggun. The knife discovered on the floor of the vault is symbolic of Oggun, and the black and red stripes on either end of the handle of the knife are typical of Eleggua. The gravesite chosen was the seventh one in from the gate, and the number seven in the Santeria religion frequently symbolizes the Seven African Powers. The exact reason for stealing the head is obscure." Grave robberies aren't that common in Dade, insists Wetli. Maybe. "From what we can tell, there aren't that many. But look at it this way - if you owned a cemetery, would you report it? It's an easy crime to cover up. Literally."
Louise Cooper, a long-time Coconut Grove resident and mother of nine who in life did her own dentistry and suffered the loss of her legs from diabetes, died in 1977 at the age of 73. Back-from-the-dead potential: High. Only Louise Cooper knows who took her head. And anyone who can raise nine kids and perform oral surgery on herself knows something about will power.
Flagler Memorial Park. 5301 W. Flagler St., just south of Blue Lagoon Lake and State Road 836
In divorcing her husband in 1950, Betty Jane Maxwell noted that Clifton Springmyer "devoted practically every waking moment to the furtherance of his profession." The naturopathic doctor, his brother noted, "worked sixteen or eighteen hours a day. I was always after him to relax a little, but he would never let up." So it was that Springmyer was working late at his clinic the night of June 24, 1952, and became an object lesson for type-A personalities. Why small-time mobster Joseph Albert burst through the door and killed the doctor with a handgun never became clear. Three years later the killer himself was shot to death by Richard Svoboda after Svoboda came home and found Albert making love to his wife, described by then-Miami Herald reporter Al Neuharth as "a pert, saucy brunette."
The two murder victims, one responsible for the other's death, are buried on opposite sides of Flagler Memorial, once a sort of low-rent alternative to nearby Woodlawn Park Cemetery. The years have been kind to Flagler. The layout is tasteful, the grounds are well kept, parking is plentiful, separate burial gardens have been provided for Elks and Masons, and the Mediterranean architecture of the office buildings is charming.
"Would an electrician use his trade to kill his wife?" asked defense attorney James Gilmour. "It's like leaving your business card on a body!" But the jury disagreed, and Joseph Roth got life in prison. His wife, Barbara Ann Roth, wound up at Flagler Memorial. When the cops arrived at the Roth home in Southwest Dade on March 20, 1975, they found Barbara Roth, described by friends as "a pill freak," surrounded by prescription medicine bottles. Joe Roth said he had awakened at 3:00 a.m. and heard his wife screaming. He went to the bathroom, where he found her vomiting. He hadn't reported the death for four days, he said, because he thought suicide victims couldn't get a Catholic burial.
But Joe Roth couldn't explain the burn marks on his wife's wrist and ankle. Roth and his most recent girlfriend had taken out a life insurance policy on his wife shortly before Mrs. Roth's death, prosecution witnesses testified. The medical examiner said he thought Joe Roth had attached wires to his wife's extremities and killed her with a 60-second jolt of electricity from the wall socket. Lights out. Back-from-the-dead potential: High, in all four cases. Flagler Memorial has real potential for Halloween action. Barbara Roth, though not a suicide, never did get her Catholic funeral. And before she left this world, she threatened to "take Joe with her" if she died. Joe should be a worried man. As for Dr. Clifton Springmyer, he has to travel only 100 yards to get hold of his murderer.
Graceland Memorial Park, 4420 SW Eighth St.
Like Pinelawn, Graceland has recently been purchased by Osiris Holding Co. of Philadelphia. That's probably a good thing. Squeezed in between Flagler Memorial and Woodlawn, this may be Dade's most nondescript boneyard, one of its many defects being an absence of plot markers. You could spend half an hour looking for the grave of Daniel Garcia, Jr., a 31-year-old insurance salesman who took a wrong turn on North River Drive one rainy night in 1977, and drove his car down a boat ramp into the Miami River. Garcia had just purchased a brand-new Mercury Cougar, and apparently was quite tickled with it. The car's standard features included automatic antitheft door locks. When the Cougar hit the water, the electrical system shorted out, leaving the door handles and locks inoperable. "He died while trying to get out of the car," a medical examiner noted. "Evidence of this is that he bent the door handle outward nearly 90 degrees." Back-from-the-dead potential: Moderate. Certain Ford Motor Co. engineers might want to lie low.
Woodlawn Park Cemetery, 3260 SW Eighth St.
Woodlawn's wealth of history and fastidiously kept grounds have been extolled by well-known writers, including author Joan Didion and poet Theodore Roethke. It's the Coral Gables of Dade graveyards. A shady, vine-draped portico leads the visitor to a plush, lamplit lobby, where three kinds of credit cards are accepted and smoking is not discouraged. Ruben Nieves, accidentally crushed to death in a cement mixer, is a resident. So are father-and-son gangsters Ronald and David Yaras, the younger murdered by gangland enemies weeks after the death, by natural causes, of the elder. Angeline Peters was cremated here, having shot herself after killing her lover, Miami Beach socialite George C. Clarke, as he sat on the toilet. Three former presidents of Cuba were laid to rest at Woodlawn. So was Anastasio Somoza, the former Nicaraguan dictator.
The cost of burial or entombment at Woodlawn can run into five figures, but that doesn't discourage folks any more than the high price of Coral Gables real estate. "We're swamped," says Richard Medina, director of sales-recruitment and training. "We have 100 salesmen working on fourteen-percent commission, and we can't keep up with the demand. This business is recession-proof," he adds. "People have to pay the price, no matter how high it goes. I consider burial like a utility, like running water or electricity. You gotta have it."
What's most stunning about Woodlawn is its mausoleum, a vast, three-story maze that spreads through seventeen interlocking marble buildings filled with private chambers, tiny chapels, statues, and stained glass. Despite the fact that workers are constructing an eighteenth wing, the mausoleum is eerily quiet. Occasionally one hears the gentle paddings of the staff - small, respectful men in white khaki pants, white T-shirts, and white tennis shoes, who resemble angels and spend their days polishing the acres of white marble. Back-from-the-dead potential: Zero. The management wouldn't stand for it.
City of Miami Cemetery, NE Second Avenue at Eighteenth Street
Big, brawny John Rebar was the kind of guy you hope your sister doesn't marry, especially if you have to live with him, too. The sister of James Hamilton III did marry Rebar, and James Hamilton III, a wearer of horn-rimmed glasses and a raiser of ornamental plants, was a witness to their persistent nuptial bickering. Hamilton's job, secretary to the administrative assistant to the Dade school board superintendent, didn't pay enough for him to rent his own apartment. When Rebar lost his job with Dade's sheriff's department, he took to drinking, and hit Hamilton's sister. Big mistake. One night in October 1957, Hamilton surprised Rebar in his sleep and hit him in the head with a sledgehammer. More than once.
Rebar is buried in the American Legion section of Miami Cemetery. Hamilton escaped the electric chair but got twenty years at hard labor, later reduced to five on appeal. "It isn't fair," Hamilton's widowed sister said after the sentence was handed down. "They don't know what a rotten thing John was." Back-from-the-dead potential: High. By all accounts Rebar was a mean, vindictive bully and never let anyone have the last word. And Hamilton, long since out of prison, lives within walking distance of the cemetery.
The City of Miami Cemetery is Dade's oldest, shadiest, and most picturesque graveyard, and also the one closest to breezy Biscayne Bay. Tombstone design, a dying art, is in its full glory here: grave markers in the shape of logs, grave markers in the shape of tiny lambs, grave markers in the shape of pineapples, tremendous, black-granite balls atop Corinthian columns, lifelike busts, intricate monuments, mausoleums with porches and benches, and witty epitaphs. Dr. Paul George, a local historian, gives occasional guided tours of the cemetery, pointing out the graves of Civil War soldiers, the Burdine crypt, the separate Jewish cemetery within the main graveyard, and the final resting place of Miami's founder, Julia Tuttle.
For years the cemetery has also been a favored sleeping spot for people who have nowhere else to sleep, as well as a short cut between North Miami and Second avenues. Despite the presence of an elderly caretaker and his guard dog, after dark the cemetery can be a dangerous place. For Lovina Peggy Pritchard, it was fatal. In January 1974 she was raped, robbed, and beaten to death near the south fence. As many as a dozen people saw her nude body lying amid the headstones, but didn't bother to investigate. "They thought it was a fairly normal thing," a police sergeant suggested at the time. "They often see drunks lying in the cemetery. I guess it's an indication again of the mores of our society." Pritchard, whose murder remains unsolved, is buried at Vista Memorial Gardens in Northwest Dade. Back-from-the-dead potential: Extremely high, for all of Miami Cemetery. Despite the nature of their business, few graveyards have actually witnessed a murder.
Lincoln and Evergreen Memorial parks, 3001 NW 46th St., just north of Miami International Airport and State Road 112
Blacks used to be buried at the back of the City of Miami Cemetery. To save space, they were dug up and moved here. More bodies were moved in from a Lemon City graveyard to make room for a road project. The dead at Lincoln and Evergreen include Artemus Brown, the first blacksmith in Miami; Kelsey Pharr, a former ambassador to Liberia and Miami's first black funeral director; H.E.S. Reeves, father of the current publisher of the Miami Times; Elliot Pieze, a local black radio personality; and D.A. Dorsey, Dade's first black millionaire.
Lincoln, which is still open for business, and Evergreen, now closed, are separated by two residential blocks. Each holds about twenty acres of chipped vaults, set half-above and half-below ground in the New Orleans style. The roots of giant rubber trees have disinterred more than a few of the residents. From the office, crammed with two Coke machines and a half-dozen caskets, to the rows of vaults along the graveyard's narrow, sandy trails outside, space is tight. "You, as a layman, can't see where there's room, but we, as professionals, can," says manager Ellen Johnson.
In life, most of the residents of both cemeteries were poor. Today you can still get planted at Lincoln for as low as $600. "This cemetery is a sort of stopgap between potter's field and some of the more upscale graveyards," Johnson says. "They are dying to get in." On the other hand, she complains about the growing popularity of cremation in the black community, a trend she blames on the Republican administration in Washington. Desegregation in the Sixties, she says, also cut into revenues at what was once Miami's only black graveyard. Although there are several black-owned funeral homes in Dade, Lincoln is still the only minority-owned-and-operated cemetery in the county.
Across the street from Lincoln's gate, a perpetual dice game is in progress, punctuated by loud arguments. Milton Facen would appreciate that. Before moving into Lincoln, Facen had a fascination with dice and lottery tickets, and a rap sheet as long as his gangly arms. In July 1977, Facen was rolling the bones at Tiny's Bar, five blocks from the cemetery. The game broke up after he pulled out a gun and shot James Walter Dukes in the face, knocking him off his crutches. While Facen was out on bond that December awaiting his murder trial, he got into a dice game on the sidewalk in front of his house. One player left, returned with a gun, and shot Facen in the chest. Game over. Back-from-the-dead potential: Extremely high. From Facen's gravesite, if you listen hard and the breeze doesn't blow, you can hear the click of the ivories across Northwest 46th Street.
Dade Memorial and Mount Sinai parks. 1301 Opa-locka Blvd., just off Interstate 95
You may have seen Lazaro Laurencio Alvarez's face on the Post Office wall. If you did, and you perused the wanted poster, you know that "the suspect is an admitted homosexual, a believer in voodoo, and almost always wears a red shirt." Metro detectives finally caught up with Laurencio at the Franklin Correctional Facility in New York, not far from the Canadian border, where he was serving time for weapons possession, under his brother's name. They charged him with killing his roommate when the pair lived together in Hialeah in 1984. Lazaro's brother, Angel Laurencio Alvarez, is buried at Dade Memorial, about twenty yards south of a live oak in section F, just inside the main gate.
Lazaro had used his brother's name before, when he was arrested here in May 1983. Around dawn, a patrolman saw a red-shirted man walking out of the graveyard, clutching a pickax, a dead turtle, and a paper bag full of hair. A human skull fell out from under his T-shirt. He had intended to dig up his brother's remains for transport to Cuba, Lazaro explained to the authorities, but in a drug-addled state had accidentally disinterred Dolores Lopez and cut off her head. "I was so nervous I dug up the wrong one," Laurencio said. "This has nothing to do with Santeria." Police returned the head to its owner. Actually, Lopez's grave is remarkably similar to Angel Laurencio's, and only a few feet away. Considering it was dark, and Lazaro was stoned and illiterate, he might have made an honest mistake.
At the other end of this large, flat, and exceedingly ugly cemetery is the grave of Theodore Marginean, a Romanian immigrant who beat his wife to death with an ax in 1964, then committed suicide with a straight razor. The sheer bloodiness of his deed is matched only by the fate of Rafael Toledo Susi, who is buried at Mount Sinai Park, which abuts Dade Memorial to the north. Susi fell in love with a Dutch waiter named Bauke Geerstma in Miami Beach, and in 1967 followed him to New York City. In 1971 Susi returned from the Big Apple on a Greyhound bus - in four suitcases, in five pieces. The baggage was insured for $500 and listed "Glenn Miller" as the return addressee. Police found Susi's ring finger in Geerstma's apartment in New York. Back-from-the-dead potential: High. Both Marginean and Susi have the makings of very scary ghouls.
Vista Memorial Gardens, 14200 NW 57th Ave., Miami Lakes
From the Fred Flintstone architecture of the office building to the two-story mausoleums (each with balconies, and each named after a different type of fowl) to the multicolored-plastic cremation-urn viewing nook, swampy, sunbaked Vista Memorial is totally tacky. A huge sign advertises the graveyard to passing motorists on noisy Red Road. The on-site funeral parlor is equipped with a souped-up van with "Vista" emblazoned across it in red racing letters. The Diamond Benevolence Knights of Pythios vault, a memorial in marble, chrome, glass, black-lacquered steel, and pink, black, and white granite is a sight to behold.
Frank Garofalo was drinking at the Post Inn one hot Hialeah night in 1962, just before taking the trip to Vista. "This beer tastes like kerosene," he mused aloud, so the bartender gave him another. By and by, Garofalo had to be helped into a taxi. He ordered the driver to take him to the hospital. He arrived dead. His demise is a cautionary tale for tenants, one that will confirm all their worst suspicions about landlords. Garofalo, late with his rent, was having a drink with his landlady, Florence May Bousquet. When he walked over to the jukebox, Bousquet inserted a small quantity of Parathion into his beer with an eyedropper. "I just wanted to get him good and sick," she said later, describing her role in the murder-by-insecticide. Back-from-the-dead potential: High. Tenants of a certain residence at 769 E. 28th St. might have reason to be nervous.
"Mayhem," "rampage," and "berserk" are words that come to mind when one ponders the events that bought Antonio Lapica a grave at Vista. On Friday the Thirteenth of October in 1978, Lapica showed up at the house of his ex-wife and her new husband, and started shooting. He shot the sister of his ex-wife's new husband. He shot the woman's baby. He returned home and shot his own daughter. Because of poor planning, Lapica never did shoot either his ex-wife or her new husband. Perhaps meditating on his own pathetic nature, he got tired and hanged himself. When the rope broke, he shot himself in the chest. Back-from-the-dead potential: Unclear. Psychologists and sociologists have been arguing for ages about the purgative value of violence. On the one hand Lapica may have gotten things out of his system. On the other hand, he may lust for more blood.
Our Lady of Mercy, 11411 NW 25th St.
It must have taken a tremendous act of tolerance for Dade's only Catholic cemetery to welcome Jose Manuel Gonzalez into its earthy bosom. Not only was Gonzalez guilty of murder and suicide, he was a liar, a cheat, and a polygamist. When he sat down at his desk and pumped a .25 caliber slug into his head on November 30, 1972, he was married, divorced, and widowed, all at the same time. Deep in debt, hounded by creditors, police, wives, and girlfriends, he had married Maria del Carmen Torra for her money ten days earlier. She was found strangled to death in the couple's Brickell Avenue apartment. Olga Echezarreta, one of Gonzalez's three other wives who lived down the street, thought Gonzalez was away on an extended business trip. She knew nothing of his other love interests. "He was a pretty smooth operator," a homicide detective noted. Back-from-the-dead potential: Low. The grave, specifically grave no. 6 in block 77F of section T, was the last place Gonzalez had to hide. Lucky for him Maria del Carmen Torra is buried at Flagler Memorial.
At Our Lady of Mercy, the dead are taken seriously. Unlike at any other Dade cemetery, a computer is used to keep track of the location, name, date of death, and type of burial each person has received. And near the entrance of this vast and elegant graveyard, a bronze placard reminds the guest that "indulgences applicable to the dead may be gained by the faithful who visit this cemetery in a spirit of piety and devotion and pray even mentally for the dead." Extraordinary indulgences may be gained on All Souls' Day, a time of special services and prayer for the dead, observed the day after Halloween in many churches.
On leaving Our Lady and ending your tour of Dade's cemeteries, say a prayer for Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, the Satanist from Miami who in 1989 took fifteen people with him to the grave in Mexico. He is not buried at Our Lady. No matter. Any prayer for the dead carries with it a subtle plea for protection.
Survivors of Constanzo's cult, like the minions of Vlad the Impaler five centuries ago, expressed doubt that their former leader was capable of dying. In life, they said, he had already achieved a dark immortality. They might be right.
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In a tiny research room at the Dade County medical examiner's office, I read about Constanzo's life and death. Something distracted me, and I set the file aside and moved on to a stack of others. Later, when I looked for the notes on Constanzo, they had vanished. They were not on or under the table. They were not in the trash can. They were not in my briefcase or next to the photocopy machine. I was alone in the room.
That night at home I went for a swim. In midstroke I noticed a cat sitting at the edge of the pool in the moonlight, staring at me. A black cat.
Later, while working at home, writing about Constanzo, a crash came from the bathroom. On the floor, a small mirror lay in pieces.
The remains of Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo lie somewhere in Dade County, but I'm not telling where. When someone has been warned, especially at Halloween time, they should listen.