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The HighLine is a mile-and-a-half-long project that reclaims an old, elevated rail line into a 1.45-mile urban pedestrian park on Manhattan's West Side, visited annually by millions of people. The HighLine was built in New York City in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project that lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. It fell into disuse and no trains have run on the High Line since 1980 – but HighLine was built to hold two loaded freight trains and is still in good shape. So, in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition, Friends of the High Line (FHL), a community-based non-profit group, organized to save the line and turn it into a useful thoroughfare for foot traffic. A 2002 study found that the HighLine Park project was economically feasible because new tax revenues created by the public space would be greater than the costs of construction. An environmental survey found that removal of everything on the High Line down to the steel and concrete structure was necessary to begin reclamation into a park. Therefore, the structure has been fully rehabilitated, including concrete repair, repainting, and drainage improvements in three phases: the first phase removed all existing surface material on the structure, including gravel ballast, soil, debris and a layer of concrete, down to the steel and concrete structure. After renovations, new drainage and waterproofing was installed, and all steel surfaces of the HighLine structure were sandblasted to remove the original lead paint. The final phase in the HighLine's transition to a public park was the construction of park landscaping. Today, the entire HighLine is fully wheelchair accessible, and can be accessed at several bus and subway stops via stairs, elevators and ramps, and there are bike racks at eight of the street intersections. The park is open from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily, and to protect the growing environments, no dogs are allowed. (Scroll down for additional resources)
The FHL conservancy works with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to make sure the High Line is maintained as an extraordinary public space for all visitors to enjoy. In addition to overseeing maintenance, operations, and public programming for the park, FHL works to raise the private funds to support more than 90 percent of the park's annual operating budget, and to advocate for the preservation and transformation of the HighLine at the Rail Yards, the third and final section of the historic structure. FHL works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park. Millions of people visit the park each year, making the HighLine the most visited park per acre in NYC. In 2011, the HighLine welcomed more than 3.7 million visitors – that's almost double 2010. According to recent visitor surveys, nearly 50 percent of the HighLine's visitors are New Yorkers, while the remaining half is split between American and foreign visitors. When HighLine was a freight rail line in operation from 1934 to 1980, it carried meat to the meatpacking district, agricultural goods to the factories and warehouses of the industrial West Side, and mail to the Post Office.
Other similar projects are either installed or in the works in Paris, France, Rotterdam, Netherlands, St, Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia and Jersey City.
Travel + Leisure magazine named HighLine as one of the world's most popular landmarks in January 2012:
A great book, High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky.
Sustainable Operations on the Highline Park
The HighLine's landscape uses the same technology as a green roof, and has the same environmental benefits: a reduction of storm-water runoff by up to 80 percent; a mediation of the "heat island" effect created by dark, hard city surfaces; and plantings that create shade, oxygen, and habitat for insects and birds.
The HighLine's "living roof" system, set atop the waterproofed concrete of the structure itself, is made of several layers:
• A perforated black plastic "egg-crate" drainage panel to provide water retention, drainage, and aeration to the soil
• A layer of crushed pea-gravel to act as a buffer, regulating the speed at which water drains
• Woven filter fabric to keeps soil particles from clogging the drains
• A layer of coarser, clay-based subsoil
• A layer of finer, more nutrient-rich topsoil
• A top layer of gravel mulch to aid in water retention and prevent soil erosion due to wind
Drainage: The HighLine's pathway system was designed to reduce storm water runoff and to reduce the amount of water brought in for the plants. The paths are made of open-jointed concrete planks allowing rain water to drain between planks and into adjacent planting beds. Strategic location of the drains at low points in the planting beds maximizes water flow through the beds, reducing the amount of runoff.
Materials: All materials brought in for the HighLine landscape—the concrete in the planks, steel, wood, and other materials were selected based on long-term life-cycle costs to reduce the need to replace and dispose of materials. The wood used on the High Line is an FSC-certified ipe hardwood, sustainably harvested from a managed forest, selected for its durability and reputed life-span of up to 100 years.
Lighting: The HighLine's innovative lighting system uses energy-efficient LED lights to safely illuminate the pathways and plantings without causing overhead glare or wasting energy.
Water Feature: The water feature on the HighLine's Sundeck uses a closed-circulation system, which reduces the amount of water used in the feature.
Plant Selection and Sustainability
The HighLine's unique landscape was created in partnership with Netherlands-based planting designer Piet Oudolf. For inspiration, Oudolf looked to the existing landscape that grew on the High Line after the trains stopped running. The plant selection focuses on native, drought-tolerant, and low-maintenance species, cutting down on the resources that go into the landscape.
Site-Specific Landscape: Varied conditions of light, shade, exposure, wind, and soil depth on the HighLine in its out-of-use state led to an incredibly complex variety of growing conditions, or "micro-climates". The original, self-seeded landscape reflected this variation – where the HighLine was narrow and sheltered by adjacent buildings, water was retained, soil was deeper, and vegetation was thicker, including several groves of tall shrubs and trees. Where the HighLine was exposed to winds off the Hudson, the landscape was dominated by several varieties of tough, drought-resistant grasses and wildflowers.
The current park landscape was created to reflect the original micro-climates on the HighLine. By basing the planting design on naturally-created plant communities, we create a well-adapted, site-specific landscape, cutting down on water and other resources needed to maintain it.
Local Sourcing: Most of the HighLine's plants are native species, and many were produced by local growers. Locally-grown plants are better adapted to grow successfully in our climate, reducing the amount of plant failure and replacement costs. The HighLine's ecosystem provides food and shelter for a variety of wildlife species including native pollinators. Whenever possible, we source materials within a 100-mile radius, including some plants from the New York City Parks Department's Greenbelt Native Plant Center.
Equally important to the HighLine's design is the way in which it is maintained and operated on an ongoing basis. In all of its operations, there is a focus on sustainability with the same level of care that went into the park's design.
Watering: In addition to rainwater runoff , supplementary watering is provided as needed. Though drip irrigation is used on specific sites on the HighLine (largely where young groves of trees require a more consistent water source in the summer), the landscape relies for the most part on hand-watering. This way, the park's gardeners are able to tailor the amount of water based on the needs of individual species and weather conditions, and conserve water. Many of the plants are drought-tolerant and once established will only need supplemental watering in the cases of drought.
Composting: The park is in the process of establishing on-site composting facilities so that garden waste can be recycled on-site into compost. The park is exploring the possibility of partnering with local businesses to compost their food waste to reduce the amount of compostable material entering the waste stream.
Pesticides: The HighLine does not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Through sound horticultural practices and using well-adapted plants, the need for using pesticides and chemical fertilizers is reduced. An Integrated Pest Management program is in planning stages to sustainably address any issues dealing with potential pests and diseases. The compost produced on-site will provide the nutrients necessary for healthy plant growth; healthy plants are found to be much more resistant to pest and diseases than plants that are ill-adapted or stressed.
Solvents, Cleaners, and Other Chemicals: The HighLine promotes environmentally-sound purchasing through the use of Green Seal-certified cleaning solutions and post-consumer paper products for our recurring maintenance needs.
Snow Removal: On the HighLine, operations have reduced the dependence on the use of rock salt or chemicals to melt snow and ice by relying on manual methods of snow and ice removal. Snow is typically removed with a power broom wherever possible, and hand-shoveling when necessary. If needed, an eco-friendly ice melting product is applied that is safe for the plants and environment.
The High Line runs through three of Manhattan's most dynamic neighborhoods: the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea, and Hell's Kitchen/Clinton. When the High Line was built in the 1930s, these neighborhoods were dominated by industrial and transportation uses. Now many of the warehouses and factories have been converted to art galleries, design studios, retailers, restaurants, museums, and residences.
The Meatpacking District
Much of the first section of the High Line is located in the Meatpacking District. Around 1900, the district was home to more than 250 slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants. Before the High Line was built, trains on street level, as well as barges and ships from the Hudson River, brought goods to the district for processing. When the High Line was built, it carried freight trains full of meat and other goods directly to the upper floors of these meatpacking plants and factories.
In recent decades, as industrial uses have declined in New York City, the Meatpacking District has seen a resurgence of other uses. Its historic cobblestone streets and low-lying industrial buildings are now home to many restaurants, nightclubs, design and photography studios, and fashion boutiques.
West Chelsea
To the north of the Meatpacking District is the neighborhood of West Chelsea, where the majority of the High Line is located. West Chelsea shares the industrial past of the Meatpacking District, with large factories and warehouses lining its streets and avenues. West Chelsea is now home to the world's largest concentration of art galleries.
In 2005, much of West Chelsea was rezoned by the Department of City Planning, to allow for the High Line's reuse, to encourage the continued use of former industrial spaces as art galleries, and to encourage economic growth through residential development along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues.
Clinton / Hell's Kitchen
The High Line's northernmost section runs through the southern section of the Clinton / Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. Much of this neighborhood was part of the 2005 Hudson Yards Rezoning, which was meant to encourage large-scale development and the improvement of transportation infrastructure. In the next decade or so, this neighborhood will likely undergo significant changes to its built environment.
West Side Rail Yards
North of 30th Street, the High Line runs around the perimeter of the West Side Rail Yards, located between Tenth and Twelfth Avenues and 30th and 33rd Streets. This section of the High Line is not yet owned by the City (as of May 2012). Its future depends on a planning process now underway between the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the State agency that owns the site; the Related Companies, the developer leasing the site for a large-scale development; and the City. Throughout the planning process, Friends of the High Line is working with these parties, as well as with many community groups and elected officials, to ensure that the entire historic High Line is preserved at the West Side rail yards.
History of The HighLine Elevated Railway
The HighLine was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980.
In 1847, the City of New York authorized street-level railroad tracks down Manhattan's West Side. However, between 1851 and 1929, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and street-level traffic that 10th Avenue became known as Death Avenue. For safety, men on horses, called the West Side Cowboys, rode in front of trains waving red flags.
In 1929, after years of public debate about the hazard, the City and State of New York and the New York Central Railroad agreed on the West Side Improvement Project, which included the HighLine. The entire project was 13 miles long, eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings, and added 32 acres to Riverside Park. It cost more than $150 million in 1930 dollars—more than $2 billion today.
By 1934, the HighLine was opened to trains. It ran from 34th Street to St. John's Park Terminal, at Spring Street. It was designed to go through the center of blocks, rather than over the avenue, to avoid creating the negative conditions associated with elevated subways. It connected directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to roll right inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods could come and go without causing street-level traffic.
During the 1950s, the growth of interstate trucking led to a steep drop in rail traffic – both nationally and on the HighLine. As a result, the southernmost section of the HighLine was demolished in the 1960s.
By 1980, The HighLine had seen its last train, pulling three carloads of frozen turkeys.
In the mid-1980s, a group of property owners lobbied for demolition of the entire structure. Some members of the lobbying group owned land under the High Line that was purchased at prices reflecting the HighLine's easement. Peter Obletz, a Chelsea resident, activist, and railroad enthusiast, challenges demolition efforts in court and tries to re-establish rail service on the Line.
In 1999, Friends of the HighLine was founded by Joshua David and Robert Hammond, residents of the High Line neighborhood, to advocate for the High Line's preservation and reuse as public open space. The group was able to secure a fellowship from the Design Trust for Public Space provides for architect Casey Jones to conduct research and outreach for "Reclaiming the High Line." A planning study was jointly produced by the Design Trust and Friends of the High Line, which laid out planning framework for the High Line's preservation and reuse. In 2002 Friends of the HighLine gained City support—a City Council resolution advocating for the HighLine's reuse. A 2002 study finds that the High Line project is economically rational: new tax revenues created by the public space will be greater than the costs of construction. In 2002, the City files with the federal Surface Transportation Board for railbanking, making it City policy to preserve and reuse the High Line.
After holding an open ideas competition in 2003 for "Designing the HighLine," 720 teams from 36 countries submitted proposals, and hundreds of design entries were displayed at Grand Central Terminal. Mayor Bloomberg announced City funding for the HighLine.
In 2004, Friends of the HighLine and the City of New York selected a design team comprised of James Corner Field Operations, a landscape architecture firm, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, an architecture firm, plus various experts in horticulture, engineering, security, maintenance, public art, and other disciplines. The team's preliminary design was showcased at the Museum of Modern Art.
After a Certificate of Interim Trail Use for the HighLine was issued by the Surface Transportation Board, the City took ownership of the rail line donated by CSX Transportation, Inc., in 200.
Groundbreaking was celebrated in 2006 with the lifting of a rail track and construction officially began in April on Section 1 (Gansevoort Street to 20th Street), as tracks, ballast, and debris were removed, and the tracks were mapped, tagged, and stored (some were reinstalled in the park landscape). This was followed by sandblasting of steel, repairs to concrete and drainage systems, and installation of pigeon deterrents underneath the Line. Landscape construction began in 2008 on Section 1, with construction and installation of pathways, access points, seating, lighting, and planting.
By June 2009, the HighLine had been transformed into a popular public pedestrian park.
Piet Oudolf Landscape Architect
James Corner Field Operations Landscape Architect
Diller Scofidio Architect
HighLine Plan Too Taxing Say Neighbors (212 kb)
Urban Simulation on the HighLine Park (1,777 kb)
Reclaiming the High Line (5,478 kb)
HighLine Park ASLA 2010 Honor Award (530 kb)
Highline Park Printable Map Section 1 (2,388 kb)
Piet Oudolf Landscape Architect (The Netherlands)
Highline Park NYC Video
Highline Park Fly-Through Animation Design Video
Highline Park Design Video


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John Obrisset
English, active 1691–c. 1728
Snuff box, c. 1702–1714
tortoiseshell, silver, gilt
3 x 6.4 x 4.9 cm
Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Gift from the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Naylor
Objet d'art, Decorative Arts Silver
John Obrisset, a Huguenot refugee, came from a family of ivory carvers and immigrated to London in 1691. He worked in horn and tortoiseshell and various precious metals, establishing a reputation as one of the outstanding craftsmen in his field in London. This snuff box features a pressed tortoiseshell lid molded in radiating flutes. At its centre is an applied double portrait of Queen Anne (1665–1715) and her husband Prince George of Denmark (1653–1708), worked in silver. The interior of the box is gilt. The influx of Huguenot Protestants from France into England in the seventeenth century had a great impact on English silver design, as they brought with them continental tastes and fashions.
Gallery Hours
- Tuesday 11am-5pm
- Wednesday 11am-5pm
- Thursday 11am-5pm
- Friday 11am-9pm
- Saturday 11am-5pm
- Sunday 11am-5pm
- Closed Monday

subset: commoncrawl


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IBT researchers learn about fat cells, liver hormone
(HOUSTON) — Through a series of recent studies, researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) Institute of Biosciences and Technology have demonstrated that fat cells are the specific target of an anti-stress, anti-obesity liver hormone – a finding that could help in the development of treatments for obesity.
The three studies in Nutrition and Metabolism, Molecular Metabolism and Science Translational Medicine involved a research team coordinated by Wallace McKeehan, Ph.D., John S. Dunn Regents and Distinguished Professor in the Center for Cancer and Stem Cell Biology (CCSCB). The focus was on adipocytes, specialized cells throughout the body that store fat.
By specifically making adipocytes in mice deficient in a widely expressed tyrosine kinase receptor called FGFR1, researchers learned that the adipocytes and a specific receptor in them is the sole target of the circulating liver hormone FGF21. This hormone has potential anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects.
It was previously believed that similar to insulin, FGF21 acts directly on receptors in diverse tissues, including the liver, due to its dramatic effects on metabolism in the entire body. Instead, the TAMHSC-Institute of Biosciences and Technology researchers showed that the diverse effects of the hormone on tissues other than fat cells is indirect and due to its direct effects only in adipocytes that trigger signals from the fat cells affecting other organs.
Once thought of as simply a dispensable fat storage organ, adipose tissue is now believed to be an important endocrine organ in its own right that communicates with other organs throughout the body. More importantly, it indirectly affects metabolic parameters governed by the liver to maintain the metabolic balance essential for good health.
In the October 2012 Nutrition and Metabolism study, the normal physiological role of the FGF21 receptor FGFR1 in adipocytes was shown to underlie communication between liver cells and fat cells during starvation. Liver cells via FGF21 instruct fat cells to not send all of their lipid reserves at once to the liver for conversion to carbohydrates. In turn, the fat cells signal the liver that they received the message and to not convert the carbohydrates needed for brain food back into lipids.
"This communication enables the body to stretch out its lipid reserves as long as possible for critical carbohydrates needed to maintain brain function in order that eating can resume when food becomes available," Dr. McKeehan said. "Under normal dietary conditions, lipids and carbohydrates are exquisitely balanced. When one is too high, it is converted to the other and vice versa."
The liver converts excess fat or carbohydrates into the other form while fat tissue converts and stores any excess to lipid reserves. Liver FGF21 signaling to adipocyte FGFR1 seems to uncouple the process by slowing down the breakdown of lipids in the fat reserves and the synthesis of lipids in the liver in response to starvation and other conditions causing metabolic stress, Dr. McKeehan said.
Eating too much – whether carbohydrates or fat – results in obesity characterized by an increase in fat tissue far beyond what ever would be needed during periods without food. Remarkably, when FGF21 is provided externally at pharmacological levels, it causes weight loss and relieves consequences of obesity as diabetes, even when individuals continue eating too much.
Meanwhile, the August 2012 Molecular Metabolism study, in collaboration with researchers from Eli Lilly, Inc., examined mice deficient specifically in adipocyte FGFR1. Researchers learned the adipocytes – through their FGFR1 receptor and its signaling – accounts for the alleviation of obesity and its symptoms in obese mice. In addition, similar to FGF21 effects during starvation conditions, the adipocytes that comprise fat tissue account for the myriad of pharmacological benefits of FGF21 on the obese in vivo, and other effects may be an indirect consequence of signals to other tissues from the adipocytes.
"This exciting and somewhat unexpected finding of the specificity of adipocytes and its FGFR1 in alleviation of obesity suggests that adipocyte FGFR1 may be the specific and direct target of choice to stimulate with drug mimics of FGF21," said Chaofeng Yang, former TAMHSC-Institute of Biosciences and Technology graduate student and study lead author. "These are desirable since native FGF21 has a short life in vivo when injected in primates and humans. Activating the adipocyte FGFR1 receptor with the right drugs may work even better than FGF21 in alleviating obesity."
In the November 2012 Science Translational Medicine study, TAMHSC-Institute of Biosciences and Technology researchers, in collaboration with researchers from Amgen, Inc., showed FGFR1 together with a specific partner called beta-klotho in adipocytes is activated by a monoclonal antibody (mimAb1) developed by the Amgen group. The drug mimics the metabolic benefits of FGF21 in obese cynomolgus monkeys, which are more like humans than fat mice. The fat monkeys lost weight and body mass without reduction in their high calorie diet.
This unique drug appears highly specific for only FGFR1 complexed with beta-klotho in adipocytes, which should minimize side effects in other tissues that might contain FGFR1, Dr. McKeehan said.
"It may be the same mechanism of action by the stress-induced liver FGF21 acting on specifically FGFR1 in adipocytes during prolonged fasting that accounts for its pharmacologic benefit during obesity," said Dr. McKeehan about the studies collectively. "During long periods between meals as in prolonged fasting or starvation, the uncoupling of the strict inverse relationship between lipid and carbohydrate extends lipid reserves without using them all up at once to maintain carbohydrates essential for brain function at peak normal levels. In contrast, under conditions of constant overeating, the uncoupling somehow prevents the continuous buildup of lipid by liver cells and adipocytes that ends up as excessive fat."
Additional institute researchers included Fen Wang, Ph.D., CCSCB director, and Yongde Luo, Ph.D., CCSCB assistant professor.
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Eight members of the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team remain ranked nationally by Intermat, seven of whom appear in the top five at their respective weights. In addition, head coach Cael Sanderson's two-time defending NCAA and Big Ten Champions are the No. 1 team on Intermat's Tournament Power Index (TPI). The full list of national rankings is available at www.intermatwrestle.com.
Penn State is ranked No. 1 with 106.0 points on Intermat's TPI, almost 16 point in front of second place Oklahoma State, who has 91.5. Minnesota is in third, followed by Iowa and Illinois.
Sophomore All-American Nico Megaludis (Murrysville, Pa.) is ranked No. 3 at 125 with a 6-1 record, including two pins, a tech fall and two majors. Sophomore Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa) is 6-0 and ranked No. 5 at 149. Alton has five pins and a major (all in Sunday's Nittany Lion Open). Sophomore All-American Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is ranked No. 5 at 157 with a 5-2 mark and two pins.
Defending NCAA Champion and two-time All-American David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) is ranked No. 2 at 165 and is 7-0 with three pins and four tech falls. Sophomore Matt Brown (West Valley City, Utah) is ranked No. 3 at 174 and is 7-0 with a pin, a tech fall and three majors. Defending NCAA Champion and two-time All-American Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) is ranked No. 1 nationally at 184 with a 7-0 mark. Ruth has a pin, a tech and three majors. Three-time All-American Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa) is ranked No. 3 at 197 with a 7-0 record, including four pins. Sophomore heavyweight Jimmy Lawson (Tom's River, N.J.) makes his rankings debut this week, checking in at No. 15 at 285 with a 7-1 record, including a pin and two majors.
Penn State's next home dual is set for Sunday, Dec. 9, when the Indiana Hoosiers come to town for a 2 p.m. meeting. Penn State's full season of home duals is sold out but limited Standing Room Only tickets are available for select dual meets. For information on which duals have a limited number of SRO tickets available and to purchase tickets, fans can call 1-800-NITTANY or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office windows from 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at www.twitter.com/pennstateWREST and on Penn State Wrestling's facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling.


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Old School Silver Duct Tape
This color is part of the solid colors collection. Whether you use it for around-the-house repairs of funky craft projects, it is perfect for any die-hard duct tape fan! It has high performance strength and adhesion characteristics. Also, it tears easily by hand without curling and conforms to uneven surfaces-- just like traditional duct tape. Each roll of tape is 1.88 inches wide by 20 yards long. This package contains one roll of duct tape.
1.88" x 20 yards
Made in USA.


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This anxiety Walt Whitman has about poetry emerges in the poem "Song of Myself," as Whitman seeks to establish a taxonomy of poetry, a system classifying what is good poetry, what bad, but the structure he establishes keeps collapsing.
The poem is one Whitman's fullest explanation of his theory of language and poetry, perhaps even more clear than the few prose pieces on the subject that bear his name, and it serves to show and highlight his theoretical conceptions, but also to show how his work pervaded by a fear, a deep anxiety about poetry that inflicts his poems.
He works out, in the poem, a three-tiered idea of poetry. The lowest tier, the first level, is the poetry of refinement, and death. It is the poetry that actually goes by the name "poetry" in the poem, and reflects Whitman's ideas about language, and how language can stagnate, separate from life and reality, and be dead. The second tier is the poetry of people as it's commonly used -- "speaking." In the poem Whitman praises speaking and, in accordance with his theory about the American people and the vitality of their everyday talk, which is reflected, for example, in his love of slang, place names, nicknames and technical terms, but speaking is still not entirely free and safe from the death that inflicts "poetry." "Speaking" has the life that Whitman wants, but it's not entirely stable, and it can be buried, it can be silenced, and it can die. This leads him to a third tier of poetic language, the one he calls "singing." "Singing" is vivified and revitalized language, language that's not convention and not a system of signifiers, but which truly is alive, is life, is reality. "Singing" is also the elevated from of common speech, the form that raises the life that exists in language as it is actually spoken by Americans to a new level, in a sense beautifying it. It liberates language. It is, then, the opposite of "poetry," for poetry takes common speech and refines it, strangles it, and kills the life it had. This means, of course, that "speech," though praised by Whitman, celebrated by him, is also the site of a certain anxiety, as it is fragile and in danger of dying. There's always the possibility it will be smothered.
Up to this point, of course, the account of poetry presented in "Song of Myself" doesn't create any problems. It fits quite nicely with the image of Whitman as great emancipator who begins and ends barbarically yawping. No sooner is the system constructed, though, then it begins to fall apart. It collapses, and deconstructs.
The death that marks "poetry" as bad is also, Whitman finds as the poem progresses, as he sets out the ideal of "singing," a part of "singing." The best poetry always has a little of what makes the worst poetry the worst. It's haunted, and always already involved with the death, the dying, the stagnated, merely signifying language that is not vivified. No sooner is the three-part structure of poetry set up in "Song of Myself," then it disintegrates, and a panic sets in, a desperate worry about the worth of poetry. As he talks about "singing," the poet becomes paranoid, and fears the whole project has, before his eyes, flatly failed.
Very early in the poem, Whitman moves to attack poetry and also to separate his poem from that which is commonly called poetry. There's a bit of a sarcastic edge to the lines,30-37 and a kind of dismissal that could even be considered reminiscent of the disses of rap battles: "Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?" Whitman asks. "Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems … You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres of books" (32, 33, 35).
Whitman, here, is degrading poetry as such, and also setting his poem, his project, up against poetry. Even if one takes this as mere bravado, though, the braggadocio or the posturing of a young man who wants to challenge the establishment to a battle, the terms of his dismissals are important. The problem of "poetry," as Whitman sees it, is death. Poetry – the poetry he's rejecting and is opposing himself to – is a thing of ghosts, and sees with the eyes of dead. It is dead because of it's distance from the reader, from the reader's own body, life, breath and experience, is that way because it is a thing of reckoning and practice, which is exactly the kind of refinement Whitman thinks has marked the whole tradition of poetry, and which doesn't befit America. "The whole tendency of poetry," Whitman said in a newspaper interview in 1876, "has been toward refinement. I have felt that was not worthy of America. Something more vigorous, al fresco, was needed."
Whitman further pushes this idea of the wrong-headed tendency of refinement in line 49, where he opposes elaboration, which is "no avail," and opposes it to himself and his life, his soul, and other people's lives and life in general and their souls too. "While they discuss I am silent," Whitman writes, "and go and bathe and admire myself" (56).
Of course the contrasts here between death and life, books and experience, debates and one's own glorious nakedness, fit neatly into the frame of Whitman as a Romantic writer, the frame that's taught to American high school students and which works to give Whitman the reputation he has with Beat poets and ad agencies alike, but it also fits with his theory of language. The language he opposes is the language which Swinton's book called "dead mechanism." The language he wants is the language that is vitalizes, "something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground" ("Slang in America"). The contrasts and oppositions of Romanticism also have this poetic shape to them, and when Whitman lays out, early in one of his most famous and most recognized poems, his poetic project, he's using that specific theory of language to set the terms.
Having more or less started with a sign declaring the death of so-called "poetry," Whitman's "Song of Myself" then turns to the second level in the tier of language, that of common, everyday speech. Poetry is contrasted with "voice," with "talking," which is better and more natural than "poetry," but is tainting (from the start) with an anxiety:
"Speech" is presented as something that cannot be quite trusted, since it can be silenced, as in line 164, where it is "buried" – as though dead, like poetry – and "restrain'd by decorum" – also like poetry – even though it is, by nature, something that "is always vibrating" and howls. Speech, or voice, is pictured by Whitman to be something that has vitality, this life he wants his poem to have, and yet it is also something that isn't free from the danger of death. Common people, the one he wants to celebrate, can be oppressed and suppressed, and made to act like they're dead, even if they're actually not (145), and the same is true with their language. "Voices" can be made "long dumb" (508), becoming like poetry. Whitman doesn't want to attack talking, because it is, actually, a force for life that just happens to be dead or to look like it's dead, unlike poetry with is an agent of death. He does want to distinguish and distance himself from it, though. The poet-author knows that "the talkers were talking" (38) and what they were talking about, but finds it important to point out that he, himself, is not talking.
Whitman will want to celebrate and appreciate speech, both in the ways it's normally conceived of and as this second tier of his taxonomical account of poetry, but it's still problematic for him. It isn't free from the problem of "poetry."
This can be seen when the poet engages in speech, and then wrestles with it, almost epically battling with "speech" that, personified, tries to trap him, trick him, lock him into this limitation of articulation. "Speech is the twin of my vision" (566), Whitman declares, which might be taken as a commitment to "speech," but then that line's immediately followed by an explanation of an adversarial relationship: Whitman isn't attacking speech, but speech is attacking him. "It provokes me forever, it says sarcastically, / Walt you contain enough, why don't you let it out then?" (567-568). The poet then resists "speech," counters it, argues against it, rejects it, and ultimately rises above it. "Come now," he says, "I will not be tantalized, you conceive too much of articulation/ Do you know O speech how the buds beneath you are folded?" (569).
Mark Baulerlein, in his work, has identified this section as the center of the struggle in "Leaves of Grass," as Whitman fights to find "a language adequate to a certain emotional-spiritual import" (55), as he struggles against "representational limitations of language" (Ezra Greenspan). Whitman is fighting against language here, fighting for it to be more than mere system of signs, and as it threatens to trap him in he attempts to resist, He addresses speech, here, almost as God addresses Job from the whirlwind, attempting to take the position of having confounded "speech," which is too small for him. Speech, like a mere mortal inappropriately attempting to surmount the divine, has tried to reduce Whitman to something containable (just as "poetry" is a reduction of the life force of "speech"), but that reduction would, if Whitman, be a reduction unto death, and he rejects it:
My final merit I refuse you, I refuse putting from me what I really am.
Encompass worlds, but never try to encompass me,
I crowd your sleekest and best by simply looking toward you
Writing and talking do not prove me,
I carry the plenum of proof and everything else in my face,
With the hush of my lips I wholly confound the skeptic (576 – 581).
Whitman is still placing "speech," in his taxonomy of poetry, on a level above poetry – he, after all, is enthusiastically committed to everything that even seems democratic, and he will declare that talking is "the sound I love, the sound of the human voice" (585) – but he himself is doing something different. He is not one of the "talkers talking," and has separated himself from "speech," risen above to do something more.
What Whitman really wants to do with this second tier is save it. He wants to liberate it and elevate it, empowering the talkers with a new kind of language in the same way he has been liberated and has transcended. He knows a different type of speech, a different poetry than "poetry," a life-ful language with which Whitman can come and set the talkers free. He knows "the password primeval" (506), the "sign of democracy"; he can "Unscrew the locks from the doors!/Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!" (501, 502); through him, dead voices are resurrected, as he says, "Through me forbidden voices,/Voices of sexes and lusts, voices veil'd and I remove the veil,/Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigur'd" (516-518).
He can do all this, as presented in "Leaves of Grass," because he knows this different kind of poetry, "singing." This is the third tier, the top tier, of his taxonomy, which is presented, in the poem, as a discovery, a revelation. If the poem is taken as a narrative, Whitman engaged in "speech" and then with "speech," and then, in rejecting it, in finding it not quite free, not quite liberated from the stagnation and stink of "poetry," he finds this new thing, this higher plane of language with which he can transfigure and clarify the "voices veil'd" (517), the voices "long dumb" (508), "buried" and "restrain'd by decorum" (164). Right after Whitman rejects "speech" as insufficient, he discovers music. He sits silent and listens and he discovers music, starting with, hearing first, the birds. Returning the reader, perhaps, to the revelation (and the submerged anxiety) of the bird's he heard as a child on fish-shaped Paumanok, Whitman hear's "the bravuras of birds" (584) and that acts to open him up to a long list of sounds, which are, notably, not "voice," not "talking," even when and where they might have been taken that way by another, but music, singing and song.
The revelation of hearing the bird – this one and the first one too – is pronounced by Whitman with the sigh, "I hear the chorus, it is a grand opera,/Ah this indeed is music – this suits me" (599-600). In the context of the actual poem this is, of course, also literal music, with singing soprano and violoncello and keyed cornet, but as it "shakes mad-sweet pangs through [his] belly and breast" (598), "whirls [him] wider than Uranus files" (604) and "wrenches such ardor from [him] [he] did not know [he] possess'd" (605), he is opened to "feel the puzzle of puzzles,/ And that we call Being" (609 – 610). The bird reveals music to Whitman, and music reveals Being.
Following the revelation of music in "Leaves of Grass," Whitman's lists become longer, more exuberant. For example, poem 33 starts with the exclamation of "Space and Time!" and lasts, in that ecstatic mode, for 160 lines, with the narrator declaring himself liberated, "a free companion" (817) able to sleep with any bride (818) and speak in any voice he wants (819), since he is unencumbered by any law, unrestrained by any guard (801-803). It is as if, the poetry worked out, the justification of the poem itself established, Whitman is free.
He intends to use this freedom, this revelation that leads to liberation, to breathe life into speech. This Whitman, singing Whitman, is Whitman the liberator.
There is, in "Leaves of Grass," a whole list of people who do not sing, but use "voice," for example preachers and scientists, slaves and a sea captain, people whom he does not want to reject, but whom he, with his singing, can elevate to singing by singing them. His poem, his song, which is of himself but also of them, is intended here to be and is expressed here as being a manifestation or a realization of their spirit. "I act as the tongue of you," he says, "Tied in your mouth, in mine it begins to be loosen'd" (1248 – 1249). This music is understood to have a kind of salvific function. "Music rolls," Whitman says, "but not from an organ" (1061), coming to the aid of the speakers whose struggle for the breath of freedom he has. The prime example of this function of his singing and how he places "voice" in this middle tier of the taxonomy is the dying general who speaks to the narrator at the end of poem 33.
In line 869 and 870, Whitman writes, "Again gurgles the mouth of my dying general, he furiously waves with his hand,/He gasps through the clot Mind not me – mind – the entrenchments." Here speech is presented as a) difficult, b) involved with death, c) as something the reader and the poet should ignore or transcend, precisely for the sake of the speaker. The general cannot go on, and can barely utter the words he needs to utter, but Whitman can do it for him, with his singing.
This brings us back to the title of the poem, "Song of Myself," and the most the famous couplet, "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,/I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world" (1332 – 1333). This is Whitman's idea and ideal of poetry. This account, in "Leaves of Grass," fits into Whitman's Transcendentalism and his Romanticism and is how Whitman is typically viewed. Whitman is seen yawping, singing this barbaric, al fresco song, a sort of noble savage of verse. He is free from anxiety and invites his readers to come and romp, howl, dance naked and liberate themselves. Yet, just as "speech" was infected with the illness of "poetry," so also "singing." At the moment poetry – the new poetry Whitman has conceived as his project, his life's work – is supposed to take off and soar, to expand ever out like the universe "wider and wider" "expanding, always expanding" (1185) in unstopped and unstoppable growth, the anxiety of form and theory is there again. It vexes; it depresses; it comes crushing down. The bird, at the moment of the yawp, accuses him of being tame and translatable (1331). He claims this organ-like music rolls forth from his breast, but inside that is this cavity of anxiety that won't stop worrying him, "Ever the verxer's hoot! hoot! hoot! (1067).
Scattered throughout the poem are these little lines speaking of doubt. There is this fear, bubbling up, that his song is no more liberated than "speech," that is, after all, a poem. Not quite congruent with the image of Whitman, the singing savior, the one who's come to set us free with a song, to make us as free as his uncut beard, there are these moments of despair that speak of a man bothered, a man who would have to rewrite and revise almost until the end of his life: "I know the sea of torment," the narrator says, "doubt, despair and unbelief."
He is, despite protestations (1289), alarmed by death. It's not the death of his body that worries Whitman, though, but the death that seems to seize the words as they grow cold and lifeless on the page. The poem, Whitman's masterwork, ends with this note of anxiety and fear of failure entirely entangled with declarations of hope. He concludes with the despondent note that "You will hardly know who I am or what I mean" (1341), and counters "But I shall be good health to you nevertheless" (1342), and then counters and counters again, perhaps in a debate with himself, perhaps in an oscillation between hope and despair, "Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, / Missing me one place search another, / I stop somewhere waiting for you" (1344 – 1346).
It's a failure Whitman feels, too. The anxiety that underlies many of the poems, that seems to bubble up in them, sometimes erupts in his work in full-fledged declarations of failure. The problem of poetry sometimes seems too much to bear, and Whitman, in a poem, disavows poetry, gives up the project of vivifying words and putting life – his life – into a poem. "Conveying a sentiment and invitation, I utter and utter, / I speak not" (25-26), he says in "A Song of the Rolling Earth." The poem sets out the transcendentalist doctrine of nature, but the poem also denounces itself for its inability to be what the transcendentalist theory would have it be. Whitman wants "A song of the rolling earth, and of words according" (1), but cannot achieve it with the tool of the poem. "Were you thinking that those were the words," he asks, "those upright lines? those curves, angles, dots? / No, those are not the words" (2 – 3). Whitman uses the poem to commit himself or recommit himself to exactly the romantic, Transcendentalist, the vibrant, plenum of life he spoke of in "A Song of Myself," but where once Whitman was going to yawp over the rooftops of the world, now he says utterances all have to be abandoned:
I swear I begin to see little or nothing in audible words,
All merges toward the presentation of the unspoken meanings of the earth,
Toward him who sings the songs of the body and the truths of the earth,
Toward him who makes the dictionaries of words that print cannot touch.
I swear I see what is better than to tell the best,
It is always to leave the best untold.
When I undertake to tell the best I find I cannot,
My tongue is ineffectual on its pivot,
My breath will not be obedient to its organs,
I become a dumb man (98 – 107).


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When Richmond Fire Capt. Angel Bobo collected $279,105 in overtime last year, boosting his total salary to $426,303, alarm bells should have gone off.
Even after taking vacation, he had been on the job about 6,500 hours in 2013, or roughly three of every four hours, night and day, for the year. Sure, firefighters, unlike most workers, can sleep while at work, but those numbers are way beyond the pale.
No public sector employees should be collecting that much overtime, nor working that many hours — especially not police and firefighters who should be well-rested to make life-and-death decisions.
Unfortunately, Bobo is not an isolated example. Others last year include Vallejo Police Cpl. Stanley Eng ($221,073 in overtime), Monterey County Sheriff's Deputy Jose Garcia ($165,069), and Oakland Police Officer Huy Nguyen ($165,037).
They are among the top 10 overtime earners in this newspaper's recent regional analysis by reporters Thomas Peele and Daniel Willis. Managers should have seen and stopped such excesses. It threatens the pocketbooks of taxpayers and safety of residents.
Eng, for example, in 2013 worked an average 46 hours a week of overtime. Do we want him carrying a gun and making split-second decisions on whether to fire? Probably not.
The problem is not limited to individuals. Local governments have increasingly turned to overtime to provide service. The analysis shows the share of OT in payrolls of cities, counties and special districts across the region has jumped 26 percent over three years.
Some local fire departments are now laden with astonishing overtime costs. In the San Ramon Valley, 27 percent of payroll dollars were spent on overtime in 2013. The Moraga Orinda and Livermore-Pleasanton fire districts also spent more than 20 percent on overtime, while Woodside spent 17 percent.
Overtime has also become part of the culture for cities, including Oakland, Redwood City, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Vallejo, Antioch and El Cerrito. In each, more than 10 percent of payroll dollars went to overtime.
Interestingly, while much attention has focused on the San Jose police staffing shortage, that city's overtime bill comprised 7.36 percent of gross pay in 2013. While that's significantly more than two years earlier, 24 Bay Area cities spent a higher portion on OT.
Some overtime is inevitable, in some cases even cost-efficient because it can sometimes save additional benefit costs from hiring more workers. But relying on it to staff core service leads to abuses and dangerously tired workers.
It's time for government managers to better monitor overtime budgets and ensure no one works excessive hours. Overtime should be the exception, not the rule.


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Benefits & Features
Looking for a long sleeve jersey to complete your cycling kit? Our SKINS Cycle Men's Long Sleeve Jersey Tremola was designed by cyclists for cyclists with a jersey that is focused on performance, functionality and comfort.
The partial compression on your arms increases oxygen to your active muscles and provides added stability and support, which minimises the amount of vibration your arms endure while racing down the mountain or bike trail.
Full-length lightweight front zip with clipdown as well as 3 back pockets with reflective Pixel® fabric panels for high visibility add functionality while a back mesh panel for increased ventilation and stretch zones for full freedom of movement provide you with the comfort you need to keep you focused on the road ahead. In addition our bacteriostatic carbon fibres under the arms reduce body odour and friction to keep you feeling fresh.
Combine the Cycle Men's Long Sleeve Jersey Tremola with our cycle bibs and shorts for the ideal cycle kit.


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Roia_jabari necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 94 diseños de 30 diseñadores freelance.
The Living Concept
The idea behind this retail home/lifestyle shop is to bring unique and creative furniture and home accessories to the market. The business is owned by interior designer and they are well know to the local market. The business is located in a villa with a very nice garden and lots of modern outdoor furniture. Basically we would like the name to reflect "the living" concept as in a concept that is living with us at the moment. Design ideas and things that are about living well and practical for our times. We buy most of things from Italy and France and the styles we carry reflect this.
Our target audience is the local community in which we live in. There is a very international community in our area ranging from the local Arabs to foreigners from all over the world. Most people are between the ages of 30 and 50. There are no so many older and fewer younger. Most people in the area are well traveled and cosmopolitan with exceptional taste.
We need a logo that reflects who we are and has style. That gives a feeling to people who see the logo a desire to see what we are all about. It should be clean and simple yet attractive to the eye. People should know we have style and a cutting edge to fashion. You can look up http://www.minotti.com and http://www.wordofmouthbali.com to have an idea of the spirit of the shop mixed with just a bit of http://www.colette.fr. Put these all together and you get the image we want to have with our logo.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Benefits & Features
Colder climates or seasonal considerations mean it's sometimes tough to stay on top of your game. SKINS' Men's Carbonyte Thermal Long Sleeve Base Layer Top offers a design alternative to the Mock Neck version but is identical in all other ways. Tested in winter conditions by top international football and rugby players, this thermal top ensures the best performance and protection in even the harshest training or playing environment.
SKINS Men's Carbonyte Thermal Long Sleeve Base Layer Top includes integrated carbon thread which reduces friction and enables you to have full freedom of movement with increased durability and breathability. Combine this shirt with our thermal long tights for the ultimate winter base layer set.


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courses.uww.edu »
2019 Spring Term
Biological Sciences 354
A study of the identification and ecology of flowering plants, conifers and ferns. Emphasis will be given to the plants and plant communitites in the vicinity of the course location. A collection of local plants is required of all students. Field trips required. Summer session only.
Other Requirements: PREREQ: BIOLOGY 141 OR EQUIVALENT OR CONSENT OF INSTRUCTOR
Class Schedule
There are no sections offered for this course and term that meet your criteria.


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Talk:Main Page
From ForensicsWiki
I am setting up a global directory of computer forensics analysts, and am looking for feedback to the idea. Although the directory is in the UK, I want it to be global. Any thoughts, please put them on Computer Forensics [1] in the forums section. Thanks and regards, Simon
- Given the lack of response I'm not sure this is a viable idea. Jessek 21:13, 26 February 2007 (PST)


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14 Songs You Didn't Know Sia Wrote
Photo: Getty Images
Sia is well known for her global hits 'Chandelier,' 'Elastic Heart' and 'Cheap Thrills' as well as a bunch of collabs, but she's actually had a major contribution to releases from other artists also.
Australian born Sia is in no shortage of artists to work with, demand for her talents coming from all over the world and different music genres. She has a profound way of creating a hit like not many others can, such as the 14-minute brainstorm that created Rihanna's 'Diamonds.'
Here are 14 songs you may not have known Sia is behind.
1. "Sledgehammer" – Rihanna
'Diamonds' worked out so well that Rihanna called upon Sia again to help co-write her latest release 'Sledgehammer' from the new Star Trek movie, Star Trek Beyond.
2. "Pretty Hurts" – Beyoncé
Sia originally wrote 'Pretty Hurts' for Katy Perry, but it never came to fruition, apparently the song never reached the singers ears. Sia then sent it out to Rihanna and Beyonce and Beyonce ended up grabbing it.
3. "Try Everything" – Shakira
Recorded for Disney's Zootopia, 'Try Everything' ended up becoming a success outside of the animation, topping charts in many countries.
4. "Radioactive" – Rita Ora
Sia joined up with Greg Kurstin to write Rita Ora's third single from her debut U.S. album 'Radioactive'.
5. "Perfume" – Britney Spears
Spears' favourite song 'Perfume' on her album Britney Jean was co-written with none other than Sia.
6. "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)" - Ne-Yo
Ne-Yo's R.E.D. single was created by Sia and StarGate. The song reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
7. "You Lost Me" – Christina Aguilera
Aguilera teamed up with Sia and Samuel Dixon for one of the best songs on her album Bionic, 'You Lost Me'.
8. "Loved Me Back to Life" – Celine Dion
A top 40 hit in a number of countries, Celine Dion's 'Loved Me Back to Life' is yet another power ballad that Sia nailed.
9. "We Are One (Ole Ola)" – Pitbull
The 2014 FIFA World Cup Song peaked at No. 1 in three countries with a bit of help from Sia.
10. "Flashlight" – Jessie J
Sia joined up with Sam Smith, Christian Guzman, and Jason Moore to design this song for Jessie J, who placed it on the Pitch Perfect 2 soundtrack.
11. "Invincible" – Kelly Clarkson
Sia wrote 'Invincible' for Kelly Clarkson after Clarkson performed a cover of Sia's song 'Breathe Me' on her Stronger Tour. Three years later, 'Invincible' came out. Sia also wrote 'Let Your Tears Fall' for Clarkson's album Piece by Piece.
12. "Double Rainbow" - Katy Perry
Perry walked out of a yoga class and into a recording session with a melody, verse and the title "Double Rainbow." With assists from Sia and Greg Kurstin, the Prism track was fully brought to life.
13. "Expertease (Ready Set Go)" – Jennifer Lopez
A bonus track from Lopez's album A.K.A., 'Expertease' has an intense start and builds up to a Sia specialty: a catchy, creative chorus that reels in her fans. Lopez said that the writers who helped on 'Expertease' brought a new strength to the song, which plays on themes of "emotional torment and depth."
14. "My Heart Is Open" – Maroon 5
Gwen Stefani and Adam Levine trade vocals on this Maroon 5 track that Sia co-wrote, although Adam Levine did take the track in a different direction to Sia's original vocal demo.


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Bedroom Wall Decor the most important place in the house as this is the place which is exclusively built for rest and comfort. If you are looking for bedroom ideas then you need to view this post. We are going to look at three things to consider before you decide on a theme bedroom.
This example images gallery for Bedroom Wall Decor. There are many more bedroom decorating ideas that you can easily incorporate for awesome effects. I hope you come up with more great ideas from here.


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Hump Day: Here's your Wednesday banking roundup: Wells Fargo gets biggest tax break. More probes at Bank of America, J.P. Morgan lowers expectations, Senate blasts Credit Suisse and Credit Suisse fights back.
Biggest Break: Wells Fargo & Co. received the largest estimated federal tax break between 2008 and 2012 out of the 288 Fortune 500 companies that made money, according to a report in the SFGate, citing a report issued by Citizens for Tax Justice. The report compared what the firms would have paid with the statutory corporate rate of 35%, compared to what they did pay over the five year period. Wells Fargo had the largest subsidy by dollar volume because it's so profitable.
More problems: Bank of America Corp. could be facing charges it violated rules for a U.S. government housing program. The second-largest bank in the U.S. revealed its part of a federal investigation looking into compliance with the Federal Housing Administration's "direct endorsement program." The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, based in Brooklyn was investigating.
Tax Evaders: A Senate report blasts Credit Suisse Group for going to great lengths to help U.S. customers open Swiss bank accounts and evade paying federal taxes. The report points to the Swiss bank holding a Swiss-themed ball in New York, golf tournaments in Florida and even setting up a bank branch at the Zurich airport to help U.S. customers on their way to a ski vacation to win clients.
Punching Back: Credit Suisse's CEO hit back on charges the firm assisted U.S. clients to avoid taxes, according to a report in the Financial Times. Brady Dougan said the bank has conducted an internal review and blamed a small group of private bankers for helping Americans hide their wealth. The CEO said the firm has made some policy changes and is cooperating with U.S. investigators.
-- Sital S. Patel
-- Follow The Tell on Twitter @thetellblog
-- Follow Sital @Sital
More on MarketWatch:
Bank of America faces credit-card probes
Morgan Stanley reaches deal in SEC probe


text: The Young Athlete Program was created in consultation with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, to meet the physical and developmental needs of children, ages 2 ½ to 7, in the areas of physical activity and play, with an emphasis on sports skill development. Download Program Fact SheetSpecial Olympics New Jersey currently serves more than 24,000 athletes throughout the state. All programs are free to registered athletes including insurance, facilities, equipment, uniforms, housing & meals for events, awards, sports, education and more. In addition to programs offered on the local, county, sectional and state levels, Special Olympics New Jersey offers free programs and activities at the Special Olympics New Jersey Sports Complex in Lawrenceville, including Camp Shriver, fitness training, Athlete University, coach and volunteer training sessions, family programs and so much more.Through sports training and competition, people with intellectual disabilities are benefited physically, mentally, socially and spiritually; families are strengthened, and the community at large, both through participation and observation, is united in understanding individuals with intellectual disabilities in an environment of equality, respect and acceptance.


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Have you ever had a project that went so smoothly from start to finish? I was fated to have this vest! First of all, I had a suitable yarn in my stash, in just the right amount. The magazine was the last one at the grocery store. My admittedly meager swatch showed I had the right gauge with the first needles I tried. I cast on 120 stitches only once and ended up with a tail in just the right amount. Even the mistakes I made were able to be fixed easily, and I didn't have to rip anything out!
Pattern: Planche Vest by Meghan Jones, Interweave Knits Summer 2012
Yarn: Araucania Pomaire Solid in Melon, 2.63 skeins
Needles: US 7 and 9 Harmony Interchangeables
Started: July 14th, 2012
Finished: July 31, 2012
Mods: The only adjustment I made was to not have quite so many knit stitches around the keyhole in the back. I tried what the pattern told me to do but I thought it was too thick. And if I were to knit it again, instead of using the pattern's directions for the applied I-cord, I'd just pick up the stitches as I went around. I thought this way was a little too fussy, having to move the stitches back to the left hand needle each time.
The vest did sag a bit after wearing it all day (which is when the pictures were taken), but I'm still perfectly happy with it. I received so many compliments, two requests for one, and one request to teach someone to knit.
And Hubby loves it too. I wonder why?
He even agreed to take pictures for me! (Love my sunburn?)
For some reason he thought it was important to get a shot of the side of the vest. So this is the part that goes under my arm.
Raise the roof! Another successful project!
Everybody's smiling.


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Marquette students impacted by scholarship support
Marquette students share their gratitude for the scholarship support they receive from alumni and friends of the university.
Take Action
Tuition Runs Out Day at Marquette University
Marquette, D.Wade and BGCA Partnership
What do you remember about your Marquette University experience?
I stand on the shoulders of giants; everyone helped me get where I am and everyone expects me to do well with the life they have given me. I will not let anyone down.
College of Engineering '10
Marquette Magazine
This building has muscle
Marquette Nation
Bringing students and alumni together
Giving To Marquette
Go Marquette
Athletics Web site


text:
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Sports News
Exhaust Does Not Work, Says Rosberg
Send a link to a friend
[May 15, 2014]
By Alan Baldwin
(Reuters) - A 'megaphone' exhaust tested
by Formula One leaders Mercedes in Spain on Wednesday failed to make the
quieter new cars sound any louder, race driver Nico Rosberg said on
"It wasn't a great solution," the German said in a video posted
on Instagram after he had lapped Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya
with what looked like a shiny vuvuzela at the back of the car.
"It just didn't work. It didn't make it much louder. So we'll just
have to look for another solution."
The season's dominant team, runaway winners of all five races so
far, had agreed to try out the trumpet-like device to try and pump
up the volume after complaints that the new V6 turbo hybrid cars
were too quiet compared to the old V8 screamers.
The softer sound provided an immediate controversy when the season
started in Australia in March with some race promoters, who met in
Barcelona on Saturday, fearing ticket sales could fall off if fans
were alienated by the lack of decibels.
Others in favor of the quieter new era argue that increasing the
noise goes against the greener spirit of the regulation changes,
which reduce wasted energy from the exhaust and brakes and harness
it to improve fuel economy.
"It's an interesting moment in time for Formula One," Mercedes
motorsport head Toto Wolff said last weekend. "Traditionally you
would have said... that Formula One needs to be loud to be
spectacular. Maybe now that's changing."
While the noise, or lack of it, was a talking point on Wednesday
others got on with their regular business.
Red Bull had quadruple champion Sebastian Vettel in their car while
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado topped the fairly meaningless timesheets
with Lotus.
Williams had Wolff's British wife Susie getting acquainted with
their car before she becomes the first female driver since 1992 to
feature in a grand prix weekend when she takes part in practice at
Silverstone in July.
[to top of second column]
She was fifth fastest and did 55 laps.
Belgian reserve Stoffel Vandoorne had his first drive of a Formula
One car and completed enough laps with McLaren to secure the
superlicence he will need if a race seat comes his way.
The 22-year-old, currently competing in the GP2 support series,
finished runner-up last year to current McLaren rookie Kevin
Magnussen in Formula Renault 3.5 and is seen as a talent for the
Vandoorne did 136 laps – more than twice the distance of Sunday's
Spanish Grand Prix - in a program reserved for testing Pirelli's
hard tires. Other drivers used the medium or soft compounds.
"This has been a fantastic day for me: my first experience in a
Formula One car, and a really great opportunity to get plenty of
laps under my belt," said the Belgian.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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text:
Agitation is an unpleasant state of extreme arousal. An agitated person may feel stirred up, excited, tense, confused, or irritable.
Agitation can come on suddenly or over time. It can last for a few minutes, for weeks, or even months. Pain, stress, and fever can all increase agitation.
Agitation by itself may not be a sign of a health problem. But if other symptoms occur, it can be a sign of disease.
Agitation with a change in alertness (altered consciousness) can be a sign of delirium. Delirium has a medical cause and should be checked by a health care provider right away.
There are many causes of agitation, some of which include:
Agitation can occur with brain and mental health disorders, such as:
The most important way to deal with agitation is to find and treat the cause. Agitation may lead to an increased risk of suicide and other forms of violence.
After treating the cause, the following measures can reduce agitation:
Do not physically hold back an agitated person, if possible. This usually makes the problem worse. Only use restraints if the person is at risk of harming themselves or others, and there is no other way to control the behavior.
Contact your health care provider for agitation that:
Your health care provider will take a medical history and do a physical examination. To better understand your agitation, your health care provider may ask about things about your agitation.
Tests may include:
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, Va:
American Psychiatric Publishing. 2013.
Inouye SK. Delirium or acute mental status change in the older patient. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 27.
Park JM, Park L, Prager LM. Emergency psychiatry. In: Stern TA, Rosenbaum JF, Fava M, et al., eds. Massachusetts General Hospital Comprehensive Clinical Psychiatry. 1st ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Mosby; 2008:chap 87.
Rossi J, Swan MC, Isaacs ED. The violent or agitated patient. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2010;28:235-256.


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HIGH POINT, N.C. – Coker College's Amber Lau has been selected as the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas women's basketball Player of the Week during week number ten of the 2011-2012 season.
Lau averaged a double-double for the week as she led the Coker women's basketball teams to a pair of Conference Carolinas victories, including a 60-58 win over previously unbeaten Limestone College. Lau was the driving force behind the Cobras win over Pfeiffer earlier in the week with 23 points and 12 rebounds and then added 11 points and eight rebounds in the Cobras win over Limestone at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte. The wins improved the Cobras winning streak to three games and gives Coker victories in five of their last six games.
Lau is the Cobras leading scorer on the year with an average of 17.1 points per game. Coker is 5-13 overall on the season and 5-4 in league play.


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>General Running>More miles than degrees club
Queen of 3rd Place
Ex runner
So what does one do in an area that's famous for triple-digit temps? And the usual low here in winter is right around freezing?
I need to get into ultrarunning!
Running the 2016 Boston Marathon for Children's Hospital
Running safely
Lazy idiot
Use the Celcius scale!
Tick tock
Professional Noob
Roads were made for journeys...
Has been
"I would never die for my beliefs, because I might be wrong."--Bertrand Russell
Go Pre!
Top 'O the World!
go Care Bear go!
My sweet new crank!


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Sources say Facebook advertising is "beating the s--- out of its numbers."
One big reason? Social games maker Zynga.
Making Facebook games like FarmVille and Texas Hold'em and then selling its users virtual goods to help them advance in the games, Zynga is pulling revenues over $500,000 per day, All Facebook reports.
To keep that momentum going, Zynga then turns around and spends a big chunk of that money -- "a reported $50 million," writes All Facebook -- on Facebook ads.
Bonus: Read more about Zynga CEO Mark Pincus and the other 10 Rock Star Tech Execs You've Never Heard Of →
For years, tech industry watchers wondered if any American startups would ever make money selling virtual goods the way many companies in Korea and Japan do. Now Zynga and Facebook are marching toward IPOs on the back of that suddenly booming business.
Lots of Facebook insiders think the company could double-dip into this burgeoning virtual goods economy by building a "Pay With Facebook" PayPal-killer. But recent reports suggest that a payment platform is at least a year or two off.
All Facebook reports this profitable relationship between Zynga and Facebook is also a very cozy social one. Whatever it takes!
AF: A company's success on Facebook revolves around three factors: ability to maximize viral channels (to drive new users), the ability to create an effective internal engagement loop within an application, and access to an open communication channel with Facebook's platform people.
Zynga has all three of these and they have an extremely tight relationship with Facebook through private parties (which are buzzed about heavily) and through committing to large ad buys. In other words they're helping out each other. As many developers have noticed, Zynga has managed to own entire sets of ads on a single page sometimes. In other words, all "three" advertisements on a single Facebook Page will link to Zynga's Mafia wars game.
Bonus: Read more about Zynga CEO Mark Pincus and the other 10 Rock Star Tech Execs You've Never Heard Of →


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- AltCar Auto Show
- Beijing Auto Show
- CES Auto Show
- Chicago Auto Show
- DC Auto Show
- Detroit Auto Show
- Frankfurt Auto Show
- Geneva Auto Show
- LA Auto Show
- NAIAS Auto Show
- New York Auto Show
- Paris Auto Show
- Philadelphia Auto Show
- SEMA Auto Show
- San Diego Auto Show
- Shanghai Auto Show
- St. Louis Auto Show
- Tokyo Auto Show
Auto Show: 2014 Detroit Auto Show
2015 BMW M3: Detroit Auto Show
What Is It?
There's been much weeping and gnashing of teeth over the 2015 BMW M3's departure from the high-revving, naturally aspirated engines of yore, but when a modestly sized sport sedan produces 425 horsepower, there's really not much to complain about. Yes, that power comes from a twin-turbo inline 6-cylinder rather than the previous M3's yowling V8, but there are 11 more hp in the new car's stable, and the turbo 6-cylinder's 406 lb-ft of torque put the V8's 295 lb-ft to shame. The next-generation M3 has arrived at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show. And make no mistake, it's bound to be BMW's best yet.
If you still aren't convinced, check the performance numbers. With the dual-clutch, 7-speed M-DCT gearbox with launch control, the 2015 M3 hits 60 miles per hour in a sizzling 3.9 seconds (4.1 seconds with the 6-speed manual), making it easily the quickest M3 ever. BMW is also justly proud of the M3's reduced curb weight compared with the previous model -- the first such reduction in M3 history from generation to generation. Of course, the 2015 M3 also gets the usual array of handling upgrades relative to the regular 3 Series, including staggered-width wheels with wider rear tires, a standard limited-slip differential, an adjustable sport-tuned suspension, bigger brakes (with optional carbon-ceramic rotors) and quicker steering.
Other notable M3 features include an integrated track-day smartphone app that can analyze your hot laps corner by corner, logging entry and exit speeds, throttle position, steering angle, gear choice and more. A carbon fiber roof is also standard.
How Much?
Expect pricing in the $60,000 to $70,000 range, depending on options, when the M3 goes on sale.
When Can You Get It?
June 2014
Add It to Your Shopping List Because...
You demand the best performance BMW has to offer. The M3 is arguably BMW's most iconic performance car, and you know it's not going to mess with success. Even though some current BMWs disappoint with their relatively distant characters, the 2015 M3 is going be a tiger through and through.
Other Cars to Consider
Audi S4 -- It may be closer in performance to the 335i than the M3, but the S4 nonetheless appeals as a sport-oriented model that's much more affordable.
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG -- Drive one while you can, as the C63 AMG's stupendous naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8 will soon be going the way of the dodo.
Used BMW M3 -- Despite the 2015 BMW M3's superior performance, we'd be hard-pressed to turn down a cheaper, lightly used E90 M3 with exotic, racecar-like V8.


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Jump to navigation Jump to search
Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport contested by two teams, usually of eleven players each, which is played in over 100 countries.
- Of all the races in the Galaxy, only the English could possibly revive the memory of the most horrific wars ever to sunder the Universe and transform it into into what I'm afraid is generally regarded as an incomprehensibly dull and pointless game.
- Douglas Adams, Life the Universe and Everything (1982).
- In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P.
N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.
- Reginald Shirley Brooks, published in The Sporting Times (1882).
- See wikipedia on The Ashes.
- After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind), I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn't fix in a hurry.
- Bill Bryson, Down Under (2000)
- It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavours look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game.
- Bill Bryson, Down Under (2000)
- What is human life but a game of cricket?
- 3rd Duke of Dorchester, Ladies and Gentlemens Magazine (1777)
- That cricket is going to stay in India there cannot be a shadow of a doubt; it has taken hold all over the country, and chokras can be seen playing in every village with any sort of old bat and ball that they can lay hands on. I should hope that it will do something to get over any racial antipathy; for instance, it must, I think, bring the several races together more and more, in a spirit of harmony that should be the spirit in which cricket is played. Unquestionably, it arouses excitement and enthusiasm, and extreme ambition that one's own side should succeed, bit it also ought to lead to friendliness, and that is what is needed in India. East will always be East, and West, West, but the crease is not a very broad line of demarcation – so narrow, indeed, that it ought to help bring about friendly relations.
- Lord Harris, A Few Short Runs (1921)
- I was brought up to believe that cricket is the most important activity in men's lives, the most important thread in the fabric of the cosmos.
- Bernard Hollowood, Cricket on the Brain (1970)
- Before we were old enough to practise at the nets with the Burslem men, we played most of our cricket on waste land that had been trampled flat by the clogs and boots of generations of miners.
- Bernard Hollowood, Cricket on the Brain (1970)
- The true charm of cricket and hunting is that they are still more or less sociable and universal—there's a place for every man who will come and take his part.
- Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days (1857)
- Cricket had plunged me into politics long before I was aware of it. When I did turn into politics I did not have too much to learn.
- C. L. R. James, Beyond a Boundary (1963)
- There is so much uncertainty in cricket. One day you can get a hundred, the next day you can be dismissed for a zero. It makes you become practical about things. Teaches you to accept both success and failure. I think I have learnt a lot about life from cricket.
- Mahela Jayawardene Quoted in S. Dinakar, "I have learnt a lot about life from cricket," Sport Star, vol. 24, no. 38
- When's the game itself going to begin?
- Groucho Marx, watching a match at Lord's, attributed in Colin Jarman, The Guinness Dictionary of Sports Quotations (1990).
- Cricket civilises people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen.
- Robert Mugabe, attributed in Helen Exley, Cricket Quotations (1992)
- It is hard to tell where the MCC ends and the Church of England begins.
- J. B. Priestley in The New Statesman, July 20, 1962, p. 7.
- In spite of recent jazzed-up one-day matches, cricket to be fully appreciated demands leisure, some sunny warm days and an understanding of its finer points.
- J. B. Priestley in The English (1973)
- Cricket is not so much a game as an extension of being English: a gallimaufry of paradoxes, contradictions, frightening logic and sheer impossibilities, of gentle courtesy and rough violence.
- Rowland Ryder in Cricket Calling (1995), p. 19.
- Baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended.
- George Bernard Shaw, attributed in Colin Jarman, The Guinness Dictionary of Sports Quotations (1990).
Sledging is the practice in cricket of insulting opponents to break their concentration and cause them to make mistakes. The aim is to intimidate or distract the batsman into making a fatal mistake and being dismissed. There is debate in the cricketing world over whether this is poor sportsmanship or good-humoured banter.
- I think sledging is healthy for the game. I don't really call it sledging -- at the end of the day it is gamesmanship. What you are trying to do is put the opposition off their game.
- Andy Bichel former world cup winner with Austraila [1]
- Sledgers try and put you off but the way I look at it, people who sledge probably aren't at the top of their game so they have to try and use underhand methods to put you off your stride.
- Liam Plunkett - Durham & England fast bowler 2nd Nov 2006[2]
- Sledging is not required in cricket. It's not good for the game, cricket is a gentleman's game, not a contact sport. We don't see why there should be any abusive language at all.
- Niranjan Shah of the BCCI (Board of Cricket Control in India) thinks that it should be abolished.
- India board proposes sledging ban (2008-02-14). Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- I think once it broaches personal issues and once it sort of supersedes your moral boundaries of what language is tolerable, and also when it sort of gets a bit mundane and boring to the point of just going on all the time.
- Simon Taufel, cricketing umpire, on preventing sledging turning ugly.[3]


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Nickelodeon is mixing and matching two of its top co-stars in a bid to keep its winning tween formula.
Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande will co-star in "Sam & Cat," a spinoff of McCurdy's "iCarly" and Grande's "Victorious."
The actresses will reprise their roles as Sam Puckett and Cat Valentine, respectively.
In the new show, they'll play mismatched roommates who start their own aftershool babysitting service.
"iCarly," perhaps the most successful tween show in Nick's history, wrapped its seven-season run Nov. 23 with a finale that snared 6.4 million viewers.
McCurdy played the best friend of Carly Shay (star Miranda Cosgrove).
In "Victorious," Grande co-starred opposite star Victoria Justice. "Victorious" is in its final season.
"Sam & Cat" comes courtesy of tween wunderkind Dan Schneider, who created both "iCarly" and "Victorious" — in addition to long-running series "Zoey 101" (Jamie Lynn Spears); "The Amanda Show" (Amanda Bynes); and "Drake & Josh" (Drake Bell and Josh Peck).
Nickelodeon has ordered 20 episodes of the new series, which will air later next year.
"Jennette and Ariana are adored by our audience, and it's great to unite these talented actresses ," Nick's Russell Hicks, president of content development and production, said in a statement.
"This show promises to deliver . . . laugh-out-loud humor and nonstop adventure."


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Different from all other AK-47 variants manufactured in other countries, the Centurion is assembled with American-made parts making it unique in the long list of examples of the most-produced rifle in the history of firearms.
Previous wars have proven that any peasant with no education can learn how to use the AK-47 within an hour and thus, the gun has found a home throughout the world's revolutions, uprisings, and insurgencies. When Mikhail Kalashnikov designed it in 1947 he was just trying to fill a need for the Russian army. Often referred to as the Kalash in Russian, this rifle has been picked up by more countries then I can count as a standard military rifle.
The Centurion 39 is chambered for the 7.62X 39 cartridge, which delivers a strong downrange punch and penetrating ability; unlike its rival the 5.56 NATO. In my opinion, the only reason our military doesn't use the same cartridge is that pride just won't let the powers that be admit that this is one hell of a round.
The folks at Century Arms have seen the light by offering a completely American-made rifle where the level of quality can be controlled and production planning can be addressed. The end result is the shooter has a high-quality AK-47 that shoots straight with the dependability of its forerunners. This thing never quits in the field.
In some grades the receivers on AK's tend to be a bit sloppy to say the least. Not so with the Centurion 39. This rifle makes use of a completely machined receiver from an 11-pound block of high-grade 4140 ordnance steel. This is the heart of the rifle's quality and the basis for its ability to deliver accuracy down range. With a 16.5-inch barrel with a 1-in-9.5 twist, the rifle stabilizes bullets in the neighborhood of 125 grains very well.
Sights on this rifle are far better than most standard AK-47 systems. This rifle carries a red high-glow bright front sight post and is fully adjustable for elevation to 800 yards, with windage adjustment as well.
With a complete set of Weaver rails on the forend the rifle can be fitted with lights, lasers, broomhandles, or scopes.
The composite stock has an upgraded design that is an inch longer at the butt making a better fit for larger-frame shooters and yet is still fast handling in tight quarters. Century Arms uses a special flash suppressor, the V -shaped Chevron Compensator, that is designed to drive spent gas away from the muzzle, which aids in reducing muzzle jump when firing rapidly. The controls on the rifle are standard and simple like those on other AK-47 rifles.
Accuracy and Field Testing
Test firing consisted of using Remington factory loads with a 123-grain full metal jacket bullet. We fired at 100 yards to test for accuracy.
Shooting 100-yard groups of five rounds with the standard open sights from a light bench rest produced a 4.182-inch group. Not fancy, but with a heavy front-sight blade, keeping everything level and on the money was a bit of a chore.
Later with an Aimpoint Comp M4 mounted on a QRP2 with a spacer and killflash, the groups shrunk to 2.821 inches. During additional testing the use of the Aimpoint would be very significant regarding raw, on-target, combat-related scores.


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Conversations with Vanguard Writers of the Bay Area
Sarah Rosenthal interviews contemporary experimental American writers about art and life.
A Community Writing Itself fills a major gap in contemporary poetics, focusing on one of the most vibrant experimental writing communities in the nation. It features internationally respected writers Michael Palmer, Nathaniel Mackey, Leslie Scalapino, Brenda Hillman, Kathleen Fraser, Stephen Ratcliffe, Robert Gluck, and Barbara Guest, and important younger writers Truong Tran, Camille Roy, Juliana Spahr, and Elizabeth Robinson. The writers discuss vision and craft, war and peace, race and gender, individuality and collectivity, and the impact of the Bay Area on their work. The book's introduction places the interviews within the context of the history of experimental writing.
"…vivid commentary on the state of the art…" – Charles Bernstein
"…an invaluable resource of 'deep talk' for writers, scholars, and fans alike." – Anne Waldman
"…a liquid, prickly conversation…" – Bhanu Kapil
"If one is interested in the evolution of American poetry since 1950, it is necessary to engage these
conversations." – Claudia Rankine


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Do you know what I mean?
No? Didn't think you would really!
I'm just feeling a bit flat and all the un- words like
un-motivated (or should that be "de-"?)
un-economic (why do I keep spending money I haven't got?)
and then a few of my own inventions like
(and I'm the kind of person that really NEEDS to feel bouncy and sparky)
un-thin - oh yes, very definitely un-thin
although I'm not necessarily completely un-happy
but it means that I'm wandering around blogland seeing all your lovely posts and inspiring New Year's Resolution type ideas and it's just making me more aware of how un-resolution-y, how nothing-y I feel. Which then makes me go all introspective.
But the problem with being introspective is that I don't much like the view.
So I haven't been blogging and now that I'm back at work I'm really struggling to keep up with reading and commenting - but I'll keep trying.
But enough of all that. Do you want to know what has been going on?
It's been snowing!
Had you noticed? ;o)
And last night is snowed and snowed and snowed so we have loads and loads of the white stuff - and very pretty it is too - unless you actually want to go somewhere!
Frustratingly, despite all the white stuff and the nasty-pasty icy roads the Little Lockets are blessed with practically the only schools in the region that have stayed at open which means they've had to go to school (not happy) and I've had to go to work (really not happy) and I've been late every day and had to leave early some days so my timesheet is looking really bad already this month which means I will be trying to catch up for ages :o(
Mr Locket and the Littles have gone for a walk and a bit of sledging but it has just started to snow REALLY heavily again so I'm not sure how long they will last. I've stayed at home to tidy - can you tell how hard I'm working?
I've done lots of knitting lately - but forgotten to take photos.
I made Mum a lovely Noro Blossom scarf like this one
Dad a pair of Cash-Soft mittens
Bossy-Big-Sister Ally a Mousie by Ysolda
My friend and childminder Janice a pair of silk and merino mittens a bit like these
and my friend Jane a Noro Blossom scarf and mittens just like
(modelled by mad-dottie-locket)
I've also caught the lets-knit-hats-in-one-and-a-half-hours bug from Anna and Moogs but as Mr Locket and Fred are actually wearing theirs at the moment there's no photographic evidence.
And I bought lots of lovely bargain wool at John Lewis this week - the one perk of working in Newcastle centre being the ability to pop into the shops on the way home.
But my new obsession has been jewellery making so lots of family and friends received bracelets for Christmas made by the Little Lockets. Here are a few I've made for myself
and this is the gorgeous necklace and bracelet that my much cleverer jewellery-making friend Alison made for Mr Locket to give me for Christmas
But, being the sad kind of person that I am, what REALLY gets me excited about beads and jewellery making is playing around sorting them into these little boxes and arranging them "just so".
And I really love how the boxes fit perfectly inside this tin.
I have another tin that the contents "fit perfectly" in and it makes me happy every time I use it!
That says a lot about me really, doesn't it?! Hmm, perhaps I should have kept it to myself!!! ;o)
Ok then. For someone who isn't in the right kind of mood for blogging, I seem to have wittered on for rather a long time - but it's put me in a much better frame of mind so for those of you who have made it to the bitter end - thanks for reading!
Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!


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We have a new website
The iCITA website has been discontinued and information is now located on the Accessible Information Technology Group pages. These are a part of the Disability Resources and Educational Services website.
For questions or additional information, please contact Christy Blew at email@example.com
You may also find upcoming event information at the CU IT Accessibility Interest Group on MeetUp.