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Quick, can you guess what is shaped like a heart, and may also be good for your heart? Since research seems to indicate that pomegranates can fight heart disease, my frozen pomegranate lollipops fit the bill quite nicely! Lucky enough to receive a few bottles of POM juice to play around with, I knew that blood-red elixir was bound for a special V-Day dessert the moment it landed on my door step.
Though Valentine's Day isn't a holiday that I typically celebrate, it does lend itself to a variety of fun treats that I'd otherwise have no excuse to create, and any reason to get into the kitchen is good enough for me. The first experiment resulted in these simple yet crowd-pleasing pops, complete with crisp chocolate shells and vibrant pink interiors. A healthier alternative to the generally cream- and butter-soaked bon bons that one might give, I think such a carefully constructed morsel would make a much more thoughtful gift to someone you care for. Plus, who can resist food on a stick?
Eat your heart out or just give it away; There are plenty of options for such symbolic sweets, whether romantic or macabre!
Pom Ice Cream Pops
Meat of 1 Coconut
1 1/2 Cups 100% Pomegranate Juice
1 Cup Agave Nectar
1 14-Ounce Can Sliced Beets, Drained
1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Pinch Salt
To make the ice cream centers, simply toss all of the ingredients from the coconut through the salt into your food processor or blender. Thoroughly puree, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically, until the mixture is completely smooth. Be patient; this could take between 4 – 10 minutes, depending on how powerful your machine is. Once perfectly blended and creamy, carefully pour the mixture into the indentations of a small, heart-shaped silicon mold. Place on a level surface in your freezer, and let rest for at least 6 hours or overnight, until frozen solid.
Pour any excess ice cream base into an air-tight container, and store in the freezer as well. You can scoop this just like any normal ice cream after about 24 hours, no churning necessary! Bear in mind that it does become more solid the longer you leave it, however.
Prepare your magic shell and lay out a silpat-lined baking sheet to place your finished pops on.
Removing one heart from the mold at a time, carefully but firmly insert a lollipop stick into the bottom of the shape, pushing it straight in without twisting or jiggling it, as this will elongate the opening and make it more likely to fall off later. Dip the whole heart into the magic shell quickly, immersing the pop a little ways up the stick as well to help "glue" it in place. Let the excess chocolate drip off, and place the finished pop on the silpat. Repeat with the remaining hearts, pausing between every two or three to return all of the ice cream hearts to the freezer for 15 minutes, to make sure they don't get too soft and become difficult to work with.
Stash the whole baking sheet in the freezer until you're ready to serve the pops.
Eat immediately after removing from the freezer; these hearts melt fast!


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The State Fair of Texas is one of the biggest, longest-running state fairs of the country. It's steeped in tradition, from its livestock competitions to its architecturally significant Art Deco grounds. But perhaps the most important part of the Texas State Fair? Its role as America's fried food mecca.
The fair's iconic fried item is the Fletcher's Corn Dog. The origins of the corn dog are hotly contested, but the Fletcher family claims to have been the first to introduce the dogs at the fair back in the late 1930s. Fair vendors have been frying just about everything but the kitchen sink ever since.
In 2005, the fair starting hosting the Big Tex Taste Awards—a formal competition that ranks the fried fare that's new to the park every year. This year, we did our own taste test. Here are the results.
Fried Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving in a ball? Yeah, Thanksgiving in a ball. This is stuffing mixed with turkey dipped in cream corn, rolled into a little round package, fried, and served with gravy. It won the Big Tex award for most creative this year, because it is pure genius.
Fried Chicken and Waffles
This was one of the best. As you can guess, it's the perfect amalgam of sweet and savory. Chicken plus waffles plus a deep frier? There's nothing not to like.
Fried Spaghetti and Meatballs
This softball-sized dish is exactly what you'd expect if your Italian grandmother dropped her signature spaghetti and meatballs in a deep frier. Which is to say, GD delicious.
Fried Nutella
Nutella might be the most perfect condiment. Bread it and deep fry it, and it transforms into a hazelnut and chocolate croissant. Also, it will probably give you diabetes.
Fried King Ranch Chicken
This Texas-shaped dish is based on a casserole served for ages by Southern moms. Chicken and cheese are married with peppers and, of course, dropped in the frier. Sure, it's weird, but it doesn't make it any less delightful.
Fried Grilled Cheese
If fried grilled cheese didn't have the nutritional value of fried grilled cheese, we'd be inclined to eat one on the daily.
Deep Fried Chocolate Chip Burrito
Wrap chocolate chip cookie dough into a burrito and fry that baby up! It's delicious. And it was obviously invented by someone who was stoned as hell, because that is pretty much the only explanation for the existence of this gut-busting burrito.
Deep Fried Cuban Roll
Now this flaky, fried mish-mash of pork shoulder, ham, and swiss cheese was delectable. And greasy as all get out. This little guy was the overall winner in the Big Tex awards for 2013. Rightfully so!
Texas Fried Fireball
Here we have fried pimento cheese. It was good, it was greasy, but it was disappointingly small.
Chicken-Fried Meatloaf
You've been to a diner somewhere in the south, so you've had chicken-fried steak. But you haven't had chicken-fried meatloaf. It's the same idea, similar taste, but it's so much meatier. By this point in our taste test, we were legitimately worried about going into cardiac arrest. Yet we pushed forward.
Fried Millionaire Pie
You're really covering all your food groups when you eat a fried millionaire pie: cream cheese for dairy, pineapple for fruit, pecans for protein, and breading for your grains. This is last meal-caliber stuff.
There's one thing we didn't try because it just sounded a little too unappetizing. That's the spicy Spam empanadas—yes, that Spam. And there was some fair fare we missed, simply because we were running a serious risk of entering diabetic coma—like the fried BBQ wontons (pulled pork in a wonton and fried) and the deep fried shrimp and grits.
But there's always next year. And who knows what kind of crazy crap vendors will be dropping in the deep frier by then?

subset: commoncrawl


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If Frank Washington has told his mother once, he has told her a thousand times: Do not change the account passwords on your iPhone.
His mother called the other day. She had a password problem.
"I thought we agreed you would keep the password the same," Washington said he told her.
"But the phone asked me to change it," his mother insisted.
Her befuddlement was partly his fault. The District Heights, Md., scientist had succumbed to his 69-year-old mother's pleas for an iPhone, buying her one for Christmas. He had now become her tech support.
"I told her to call Apple support this time, because I was done with it," Washington said.
Last week, the world's gadget makers and tech swamis gathered at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to celebrate the latest gizmonic advances – wearable computers, refrigerators with Internet connections, teddy bears that measure pulses, iPhone-controlled drones, Facebook apps for cars.
But as the devices get more sophisticated – Samsung's new Android phones recognize "air gestures," which amount to waving hands above the screen – there are hordes of users who can barely keep up.
Sixty-two percent of Americans now own a smartphone, a Gallup poll shows. For many of them, smartphones are confounding and intimidating, and they often wind up just using the phones as expensive cameras that can make calls – if they don't hide the phone icon by accident.
And lest anyone think the technological stumbling blocks are limited to senior citizens, consider the example of a 41-year-old interior designer in Montgomery County, Md., who is so embarrassed at her smartphone ineptitude that she would allow only her first name – Jennifer – to be used in explaining the repeated trouble she once had snapping photos.
"I couldn't get the camera flipped around so it would take a picture of an object and not myself," Jennifer said. There were a lot of pictures of Jennifer. "Finally a client said, 'Here, let me help you with that.' "
While there are apparently no studies that quantify gadget incompetence or measure whether smartphones are more mystifying than, say, programming a VCR, revealing hints turn up in usage statistics. About 81 percent of cellphone users send text messages – among the easiest functions to use on a smartphone, requiring just basic spelling and typing abilities – but only half the nation's cellphone users download apps and read or send email, according to research by the Pew Research Center.
Women are slightly less likely to download apps then men, but twice as likely to find smartphone use at a business lunch unacceptable.
Some of the most highly touted smartphone innovations are barely used at all. A 2012 Harris Interactive poll showed that just 5 percent of Americans used their smartphones to show codes for movie admission or to show an airline boarding pass. Whether that's because of a lack of interest or lack of know-how (or both) is not entirely clear, but experts who study smartphone use, as well as tech-support professionals who work with the confused, say they see smartphone obliviousness at all ages and for all kinds of reasons.
Digital Immigrants have the toughest time. They did not, like their Digital Native children or grandchildren, grow up with computers in the classroom or tablets in the back seat during long car trips to take the place of counting license plates. They grew up with pencils, paper and phones attached to walls. But lately, they've gotten Androids or iPhones for Christmas or from their employers, who increasingly are dropping BlackBerrys with their familiar, much-beloved physical keyboards.
For Digital Immigrants, there is nothing intuitive at all about manipulating data with their fingers, whether it be swiping screens back and forth, pinching to shrink an image, or entering information into glass. They typically worry that doing something wrong on the phone will cause it to self-combust.
According to Jeff Johnson, a consultant who worked on some of the earliest computer interfaces, those users get lost in part because designers are not like them – which is to say older and very practical – and aren't dreaming up software with any industry-wide guidelines for usability or consistency, like, say, a washing machine has.
As evidence, he read off several design principles from an Android developer's website: "Enchant me, simplify my life, make me amazing."
"Whatever happened to usability?" he marveled. "Make me amazing. What does that even mean?"
Tammy – another embarrassed smartphone owner who refused to offer a last name for publication – certainly doesn't know. She is 52 and lives in Alexandria, Va. She has an iPhone. She struggles. It took her about 18 months to figure out how use the calendar, a development she found "really cool because you can put alerts on it, and I am constantly forgetting to do things, so that's great."
But the real problem is her husband's Android phone. Make me amazing. As if.
"He has this Galaxy Something, Galaxy Whatever," she reported. She was asleep one night when the Galaxy Something beeped repeatedly with texts from her husband's friend, who was in Las Vegas with a different time zone and set of sleep expectations. The beeping would not stop.
"This is not working for me," Tammy said she decided.
She doesn't know how to silence the phone. She doesn't know how to turn it off.
"My husband is snoring away," Tammy recalled – she was unable to stop that, either – "and I'm downstairs in the kitchen trying to find a place to hide the phone so I can't hear it anymore."
The other problem with smartphones is that for many users they are way more powerful than they need to be, a story that repeats itself in the history of computing.
Desktop computers in the 1980s had more power than was needed for a typical family with children typing homework or playing "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" Now smartphones have more computing power than the earliest desktops, and with them comes added complexity, which can be bewildering and even a turnoff.
Kyle O'Donnell, 25, a Ph.D. student in economics at George Mason University, was startled recently by his iPhone.
"I found out the other day that I could do voice control with it," he said. "You can do directions or whatever just by saying stuff. I didn't know I could do that. I actually don't want to do that, and I don't know how to do that. It seems more confusing to do it that way."
Confusion points smartphone users in many directions. Owners of iPhones can turn to the Genius Bar at Apple stores, where appointments, owing to the many desperate souls who need them, often must be made several days in advance. Stephen Hackett, a former Genius who wrote "Bartending: Memoirs of an Apple Genius," said the company teaches its employees to be extremely empathetic to users no matter how simple or silly their problems might seem.
Like misplacing the phone app.
"Losing an app in a folder is definitely something that people do," he said. He acknowledged that some of the issues can wear a Genius down.
"Every shift someone will roll their eyes and say you're not gonna believe what this person did," he said.
Amazon recently launched Mayday, a feature on its Kindle tablets that allows baffled users to hit a button and within 15 seconds see a real live human appear on their screen to help. The rescuers can take over the device, drawing circles and arrows to help the frustrated.
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text:
Blue By Enzoani Janessa
US$400 • Save 71%
- —
- US$400 Total in USD
The Dress
(**Please note that this dress has noticeable wear on the inside, including at the cups, and may require cleaning due to normal wear in the boutique. However, the hemline can be hemmed during alterations, and this should not be a problem for someone who is 5'8 or shorter with appropriate shoes. To reflect these minor imperfections, we have applied a discount to the price of the dress. **)
Bring on the drama and turn every head. This showstopping, full-length stretch georgette mermaid gown features a classic sweetheart neckline.
Be sure to check out all of our listings at:
**10 Day Return Option (US 48 Customers Only) - You have 10 days after delivery to return the dress for any reason for a $75 restocking fee. The dress must be returned in the same, unworn, and unaltered condition.
International sales are final sale.
We list 20-25 new dresses each week. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to be notified about every new dress posted!
https://www.instagram.com/dearlybeloveddresses/ or find us @dearlybeloveddresses
Read our reviews from real brides on theKnot:
Info from the designer: Bring on the drama and turn every head. This showstopping, full-length stretch georgette mermaid gown features a classic sweetheart neckline.
Color: Ivory
Dress Info:
The dress is an unaltered sample and has been very well taken care of in our shop
Damage Found:
**Please note that this dress has noticeable wear on the inside, including at the cups, and may require cleaning due to normal wear in the boutique. However, the hemline can be hemmed during alterations, and this should not be a problem for someone who is 5'8 or shorter with appropriate shoes. To reflect these minor imperfections, we have applied a discount to the price of the dress. **
No visible discoloration
How To Purchase:
Message us with any questions you may have and provide us with your city and zip code. We can create an offer with total shipping costs for you to complete your purchase. UPS Ground insured ranges between $30-55 for US 48 and takes 3-5 business days to arrive. We typically ship out the next business day.
We are here to help you with any questions you may have. Don't hesitate to contact us. We try to respond throughout the day and night.
Shipping Outside of the US:
**You are responsible for paying any import fees**
We use USPS international for international shipping. Most countries typically range from $100-140 with a few going as high as $200. Message us with your country, city, and postal code and we can provide you an offer with shipping fees.
Important Information about Sizing & Alterations:
Bridal sizing varies from designer to designer. The measurements listed for each dress are accurate and come directly from the designer. It is important to know your 3 measurements when determining if the dress is the right fit for you.
Here is a great video we recommend on taking your measurements and how Bridal Sizing works.
Most unaltered wedding dresses are a standard Hollow to Hem of 61" which makes it perfect for a bride who is [removed]" with shoes on. Any shorter than that, the dress will be hemmed to length. If you are taller than that, you will need a special order which we do not provide through Stillwhite. Most sample gowns are not a good fit for taller brides.
All of our dresses are either samples or new which means they have never been altered. All wedding dresses require some alterations. Typically a hem to length, a bustle, and brought in to be shaped to your body. Wedding dresses can be brought in a size or two on any of your measurements but can only be let out 1-2" depending on the dress. Letting out a dress can be a more tricky alteration and should only be done by a more experienced Bridal seamstress. We typically see alteration costs run between $300-750 depending on the work needed and your local market. We do not provide any alterations services.
About Us:
DearlyBelovedBridal.com sells authentic designer wedding gowns up to 70% off retail. All of our dresses are either new or bridal boutique samples that have been tried on but never worn at a wedding.
We take great care of our samples and inspect each one before posting. We are honest and upfront with the condition of every dress and do our best to make an accurate representation of every posting.
We are located in San Antonio, TX but do not have a retail location to try on dresses. If you are in the San Antonio area, 1-2 day delivery is only $25 and we waive the restocking fee if you change your mind within the 10 day return period.
Feel free to drop us a message if you would like more pictures or have any questions.
- Condition: Sample
- Color family: Ivory
- Year: 2018
Seller Dearly Beloved Bridal
- San Antonio, Texas, United States
- Email verified
- Last active 2 hours ago
- Response rate 97%
- Response time within a few hours
Price guarantee
Dearly Beloved Bridal is selling this dress at the lowest price on Stillwhite.
Exclusive to Stillwhite
Dearly Beloved Bridal is selling this dress exclusively on Stillwhite, so you won't find it anywhere else.
Always communicate through Stillwhite · To protect yourself, never transfer money or communicate outside of the Stillwhite website or app. About payments
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Visit our help center or reach out to our friendly support team


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Everything was quite nicely packaged, with no breakage. I placed the order on 11 December. It was despatched on 15 December and took just one week to arrive. Luckily it managed to escape the delays caused by the snow in the UK!
Sparkle is the limited edition palette for this holiday season. Both Kas (Shine, Shimmer & Sparkle) and Sophia (Make-up blogette) have just featured this palette on their respective blogs so do check out their reviews. I'll probably get around to trying this only next week.
When I saw the Acid palette in London, I thought it looked too much like those bright watercolour palettes for kids. But after being impressed by the other Sleek palettes that I purchased, I figured I might as well get this to round out my collection.
The second parcel was my ASOS order that I placed while I was still on vacation in New Delhi. ASOS was offering free international shipping at that time. Coupled with the low pound, it was just too good an opportunity to pass up. I have a second order that should be arriving soon as well. My order was placed on 9 December and despatched on that very day.
The Lipsy jersey dress feels very soft and comfy. Originally priced at £50, I purchased it for £40. It has since been further reduced to £35 on ASOS.com. Lipsy is also available locally at Robinsons (Raffles City).
As my Swatch bracelet watch was already missing a couple of crystals, I decided to get this Lipsy Charm Bracelet Watch as well. At just £35 (about S$70), I thought it was very affordable!
It is slightly chunkier and heavier than my Swatch version, but I love the crystal embellishments and attached charms. You can find it on ASOS here.
It sits quite loosely around my wrist so it does slide around quite a bit.
The final item is this ASOS ring (£12) which was featured on the website's front page when I was shoppng. I was intrigued by the wing-like pattern and placed it in my basket immediately. The S size turned out to be a perfect fit for my middle finger.
Very happy with all my purchases! :-)


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- Departments
- Trial Court
- Family Division
- Juvenile Center
Juvenile Center
|Phone and Mail Policies
|Secure Detention
|Education Services
|Medical Services
|Summer Food Service Program
|Residential Treatment / Family Services
The Berrien County Juvenile Center (BCJC) is a branch of and operated by the Family Division of the Berrien County Trial Court. The facility is inspected under regulations of the State of Michigan as a Court-Operated Facility.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Berrien County Juvenile Center is to have a significant, positive and corrective impact upon the youth in our care. In so doing, we contribute to the Court's efforts to serve and protect the public by providing temporary care and custody, crisis intervention and other helpful services to pre-adjudicated and post-adjudicated youth, with a sensitivity to the special needs of these individuals and their families.
Operational Goals
- Create and maintain a safe, secure, and therapeutic environment which addresses the identified needs of the youth and staff and families.
- Provide helpful services for youth and families which will enhance self-esteem, promote self-discipline, ensure physical well-being, and encourage social development and build resident skills and competencies.
- Maintain, ensure, and protect the constitutional, personal, and legal rights of the youth under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Center while holding them accountable for fulfilling program expectations and responsibilities.
- Recruit, select, retain, and promote only the best educated, most dedicated, and highest quality experienced professionals to serve in the organization.
- Inform and educate the community about Juvenile Center services by implementing an active public information plan.
- Design, implement, and monitor an ongoing evaluation system which will accurately assess goal achievement and program effectiveness.
Berrien County Juvenile Center (BCJC) Overview
The BCJC has a total capacity of 42 beds; divided between Secure Detention (16 beds), Alternative Detention Program (8 beds) and the Residential Treatment and Family Services Program (18 beds). Currently the BCJC employs 50 staff (includes Administration, Youth Specialists, Mental Health Professionals, Maintenance, Food Service, Medical, etc.) with the majority of that workforce being Youth Specialists. The BCJC undergoes yearly inspections by the State of Michigan Bureau of Child and Adult Licensing as well as by a State-Authorized Fire Inspector.
NOTE: Enhanced monitoring and supervision is conducted within the facility and on the premises (including the grounds) via video surveillance recording systems.
Youth are placed at the Berrien County Juvenile Center pursuant to Court Order or authorized admission protocol. Their identities are confidential and can not be made public unless authorized by court order, statute or valid release of information.
Court Hearings for youth who are held at the BCJC occur mostly via video-conference connection with the main courthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan. Youth will not have direct contact with parents/guardians or relatives during the video-conference court proceedings. Parents/guardians or relatives participate in the court proceedings by attending at the courthouse. Secure Detention youth are typically required to be placed in mechanical restraints (handcuffs and shackles) if removed from the secure unit to attend the proceedings and while being transported to and from their Court Hearing.


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Episode 160: AspectJ and Spring AOP with Ramnivas Laddad
Recording Venue: QCon San Francisco 2009
Guest(s): Ramnivas Laddad
Host(s): Robert
This episode is a conversation with Ramnivas Laddad about aspect-oriented programming (AOP), Aspect J, and Spring AOP. We review the fundamental concepts of AOP, discuss AspectJ (an open source compiler that extends java with support for AOP), and cover the Spring Framework's proxy-based AOP system. Laddad also gives his thoughts on the use cases for AOP and where we are in the technology adoption curve, and updates on the state of the AspectJ project itself.
- AspectJ in Action: Enterprise AOP with Spring Applications (2nd edition) by Ramnivas Laddad
- Episode 145: Spring in 2009 with Eberhard Wolff
- Episode 106: Introduction to AOP
- Episode 49: Dynamic Languages
- Episode 11: Gregor Kiczales
- Ramnivas Laddad's web site
- Follow Ramnivas Laddad on Twitter
- AspectJ Development Tools
- Spring AOP Support Forum
- The AspectJ project
- AspectJ User Mailing Lists
- The Spring Framework
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Tags: domain-driven design, jbi, large scale, xp


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Everyone has been told to jump into social because it is so good for their business. I know for a fact that Realtors hear it all the time. Sadly, many people don't really know how to use social effectively and they don't understand what drives different social platforms.
The people I see wasting their time, and money, the most on social is Realtors. I am not claiming all Realtors don't know what they are doing; I am just saying the majority don't and I am going to tell you why.
1) Some Realtors Don't Understand Twitter
Twitter is really about conversation and relationship building. There is a ton of information to find on Twitter and it can be powerful when it comes to influencing sales, but that is only after the person using a Twitter account took the time to build friendships and/or a community. I use Twitter to find articles that educate me, but it took time to find just the right people to provide me with the type of links I was looking for.
Twitter takes a lot of time and effort. You just don't tweet random things and walk away.
I see way too many Realtors tweeting about houses they have listed. Things like;
"Just listed…Gotta have this house."
Ummm, no I don't. I already have a house and the tweet you just shared told me nothing so I won't be sharing it with friends, FYI.
It is a massive failure to tweet only about houses a Realtor has listed and blog posts that discuss the houses they have listed. If that is all the Realtor has to say, they should avoid social completely.
2) Some Realtors Don't Understand Facebook
Facebook is called a social network because that is what it is. People like to be "social" with other people. Facebook users do not want to be spammed with information about houses they have no intention of ever buying.
Newsflash – your friends may agree to like your page, but they can also tell Facebook to stop displaying your posts in their feed. This means the only way they are going to see what you are discussing is to make an effort to go to your page to see it. Do people have a reason to go to your Facebook page?
Facebook business pages are often a major joke to many of us in the industry. They provide no value and often appear to be a spam factory. If you want people to engage in your page, you have to give them something. It can be an idea, a funny item, an interesting conversation and even support of some kind. You have to create something people will go back to.
Example of Creating Engagement
Realtors need to blog about things that matter and educate people, share the post on Facebook and engage the audience in conversation about the topic. Example:
"5 Common Things That Go Wrong with Pool Decks: What You Need to Know Before You Buy or Sell."
This title would interest anyone that has a pool deck, not just those buying or selling a house. You are educating home owners, buyers and sellers. If you shared an article like this and asked your Facebook community what other issues they see or if they are having any of the issues mentioned you are starting a conversation. You are being social and engaging your audience. Most importantly you are educating people on taking care of their homes and people love to be educated.
Be strategic on Facebook and find ways to keep people talking and also coming back.
3) Some Realtors Don't Understand That Bragging Irritates People
It is great to let people know who you are and what you have accomplished, here or there, but NOT all of the time. If you spend your day bragging on social about how fantastic you are, what awards you have received, why your brochures are the most creative of all, how rich you are or why God broke the mold making you, please stop. No one cares and you are irritating people.
When you try to get people to believe you are wonderful it is obvious and it turns people off. As I said in point #2, educate people. Give them something and educate them.
Be real, be friendly and be someone people can be interested in. By engaging and creating friendships you create trust. When people trust you they are more likely to listen when you finally share a great house (but you have to do it the right way).
4) Some Realtors Don't Understand They Shouldn't Only Share Their Listings
The most interesting thing about Twitter, that most people don't understand, is that Twitter isn't about oneself; it is mostly about sharing what others have created. People tell me they follow me on Twitter because I keeping sharing great articles they can learn from. These articles are NOT what I have written, but what others have written. I am sharing great things and NONE of them make me money, but the shares have created a following and engagement.
If you are a Realtor and you see a really great home pop up in foreclosure it is most likely wise to go on social and say:
"Hey, to all my local friends, this 3/2 house just popped up in foreclosure in X neighborhood. If you or a friend is looking for a good, affordable house let me know."
I get that it isn't your listing and the commission isn't the same, but what it does is tell your friends and audience is that your concern is what is best for them and not that you are just concerned about making money.
If You Want to Be Good at Social
This applies to ANY industry – you have to:
- Do for others.
- You have to share information that is helpful and educational.
- You have to give more than you receive.
- You have to spend time building relationships.
- You have to care about the people that are speaking to you.
- You need to not be focused on self.
- You cannot brag.
- You CANNOT only discuss yourself (and Realtors, your listings).
- You absolutely have to engage.
Realtor Photo via Shutterstock


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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 27, 2002
President Signs Campaign Finance Reform Act
Statement by the President
Today I have signed into law H.R. 2356, the "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002." I believe that this legislation, although far from perfect, will improve the current financing system for Federal campaigns.
The bill reforms our system of financing campaigns in several important ways. First, it will prevent unions and corporations from making unregulated, "soft" money contri-butions -- a legislative step for which I repeatedly have called.
Often, these groups take political action without the consent of their members or shareholders, so that the influence of these groups on elections does not necessarily comport with the actual views of the individuals who comprise these organizations. This prohibition will help to right that imbalance.
Second, this law will raise the decades-old limits on giving imposed on individuals who wish to support the candidate of their choice, thereby advancing my stated principle that election reform should strengthen the role of individual citizens in the political process.
I long have believed that complete and immediate disclosure of the source of campaign contributions is the best way to reform campaign finance.
These provisions of the bill will go a long way toward fixing some of the most pressing problems in campaign finance today. They will result in an election finance system that encourages greater individual participation, and provides the public more accurate and timely information, than does the present system. All of the American electorate will benefit from these measures to strengthen our democracy.
However, the bill does have flaws. Certain provisions present serious constitutional concerns. In particular, H.R. 2356 goes farther than I originally proposed by preventing all individuals, not just unions and corporations, from making donations to political parties in connection with Federal elections.
I believe individual freedom to participate in elections should be expanded, not diminished; and when individual freedoms are restricted, questions arise under the First Amendment.
I also have reservations about the constitutionality of the broad ban on issue advertising, which restrains the speech of a wide variety of groups on issues of public import in the months closest to an election. I expect that the courts will resolve these legitimate legal questions as appropriate under the law.
As a policy matter, I would have preferred a bill that included a provision to protect union members and shareholders from involuntary political activities undertaken by their leadership.
Individuals have a right not to have their money spent in support of candidates or causes with which they disagree, and those rights should be better protected by law. I hope that in the future the Congress and I can work together to remedy this defect of the current financing structure.
This legislation is the culmination of more than 6 years of debate among a vast array of legislators, citizens, and groups. Accordingly, it does not represent the full ideals of any one point of view.
But it does represent progress in this often-contentious area of public policy debate. Taken as a whole, this bill improves the current system of financing for Federal campaigns, and therefore I have signed it into law.
March 27, 2002.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Millions of gay rights supporters crowded parade routes in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, and other major U.S. cities to celebrate what once was unimaginable — two Supreme Court victories on same-sex marriage.
The high court gave celebrants one more reason to cheer Sunday when Justice Anthony Kennedy rejected a last-ditch effort by opponents to stop gay marriages in California.
Among the thousands at San Francisco's event, now in its 43rd year, were scores of teenage girls, opposite-sex couples and families with children.
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"You can feel the smiles," Graham Linn, 42, of Oakland said as he stood on a three-foot-tall building ledge surveying crowds 10-deep on the sidewalks. "All around you there is a release. There is a vindication, and you can feel it."
The biggest applause went up for the two newlywed couples whose legal challenge of Proposition 8 made it possible for Californians to wed.
The couples — Kris Perry and Sandy Stier of Berkeley, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo of Burbank — waved from convertibles as a group of people carried cartoon-style signs that read, "Prop. 8-Kapow!"
[Story and more photos from Kris' and Sandy's wedding are here; and from Paul's and Jeff's wedding are here.]
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, who orchestrated the lawsuit, and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won an Academy Award for the movie about the slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, marched with them.
"It's so historic," Jeff Margolis, 58, said. "So many of us could never imagine this would happen, that people would be able to do what they want for the rest of their lives."
Loud cheers went to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Kamala Harris — straight politicians who have been vocal advocates of same-sex marriage.
San Francisco's parade lineup illustrated how mainstream support for same-sex marriage has become.
Companies such as Facebook (photos here) and supermarket chain Safeway were represented. Police officers and sheriff's deputies marched while holding hands.
There was also a group that called itself "Mormons for Marriage" that drew enthusiastic applause. The Mormon Church was one of the main sponsors of Proposition 8, the 2008 voter initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down Proposition 8 and also invalidated part of a 1996 federal law that denied spousal benefits to gay couples.
On Sunday morning, Justice Kennedy denied a last-ditch request from the sponsors of Proposition 8, who argued that a lower court on Friday prematurely allowed gay marriages to continue in the nation's most populous state before the high court finalized its ruling.
Ron Prentice, chief executive of the California Family Council, a Proposition 8 sponsor said its legal team will continue to fight to keep marriage between a man and a woman.
"Last week's Supreme Court decision against the federal Defense of Marriage Act has encouraged same-sex 'marriage' supporters across the country who believe it is now 'open season' on marriage in every state," he said in a written statement. "The team continues to work around the clock to identify the best legal strategies to limit same-sex 'marriage' in California, and nationally."
San Francisco City Hall remained open on Sunday so couples who wanted to marry could obtain their licenses. Every other clerk in California's 58 counties will be required to issue same-sex marriage licenses starting Monday.
Parade organizers planned to hold a VIP reception for the newlyweds following the parade.
The parade in New York City, where the first pride march was held 44 years ago to mark the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots that kicked off the modern gay rights movement, also was a sort of victory lap for Edith Windsor, the 84-year-old widow who challenged the federal Defense of Marriage Act after she was forced to pay $363,053 on the estate of her late wife.
Windsor, who was picked as a grand marshal of New York's parade months before she won her case before the Supreme Court last week, walked up Fifth Avenue during the event and recalled watching it on television in past years with her wife, Thea Spyer, before Spyer died in 2009.
"I love it obviously," she said. "If someone had told me 50 years ago that I would be the marshal of New York City gay pride parade in 2013 at the age of 84, I never would have believed it."
[Story and more photos from New York pride are here.]
In Seattle, the two women who were the first same-sex couple to be granted a marriage license in Washington state after same-sex marriage became legal there last year, Jane Abbot Lighty and Pete-e Petersen, helped raise a giant marriage equality sign featuring a red equal sign on top of the city's iconic Space Needle for the first time.
[Story and more photos from Seattle pride are here.]
In another first, the Seattle Mariners flew a rainbow flag — the symbol of gay pride first unfurled during San Francisco's parade in 1978 — during their game Sunday against the Chicago Cubs.
The Supreme Court wins motivated many first-time pride parade spectators, including Michael Pence, 53, and John Moehnke, 46, of North Carolina.
The couple, who are engaged and plan to marry in New York in the fall, attended Chicago's annual Pride Parade with a church group, saying they were thrilled about the court decisions and want to see gay marriage extended to Illinois and other states.
"We have such a long way to go but we're ready for the fight," Moehnke said.
Efforts to legalize gay marriage in Illinois have stalled. Advocates started the year with intense momentum and received backing from President Barack Obama and Illinois' top political leaders.
The measure cleared the Illinois Senate on Valentine's Day, state Rep. Greg Harris, the bill's sponsor, decided not to call a vote in the House because he didn't have the needed support.
Harris was one of several politicians at the parade Sunday, where the crowd topped 850,000. He said he would bring back the issue in the fall, adding that the Supreme Court's rulings have resonated with his colleagues in the Illinois House.
"Illinois is in a truly second-class status until we pass marriage equality," Harris said.
[Story and more photos from Chicago pride are here.]
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Two months after al Qaeda terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan on September 11, 2001, analytical chemist John Butler found himself working late nights in his lab, developing DNA assays to identify 911 victims from the tens of thousands of charred human remains recovered at Ground Zero. Thinking back, he still clearly remembers the sense of rising to a national need that was shared by dozens of researchers recruited to the same difficult problem. "People wanted to step up and help the country," he says.
Ten years on, Butler's solitary effort at National Institute of Standards and Technology has grown to a large research group working on the forensics of blended, degraded or soiled DNA, and U.S. expertise developed in the wake of 9/11 has also been exported worldwide, put to use identifying victims of mass atrocities in Africa, Asia, Bosnia and Iraq.
It is just one example of how a research direction blossomed as a result of 9/11. Scientists and science policy experts say the federal government's response to terrorist events in 2001, both the September attacks and the anthrax letters in October, have had a profound effect on U.S. research in areas as diverse as forensics, biodefense, infectious diseases, public health, cyber security, geology and infrastructure, energy, and nuclear weapons. Even the social sciences have been affected by the emergence of "terrorism studies" and the new emphasis on the threat in the field of risk analysis.
A major conduit for the shifts is the availability of money: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), created by consolidating 22 federal services and agencies in 2002 in direct response to September 11, had a science budget that peaked at $1.3 billion in 2006 before falling again to about $700 million in 2011. Key science-funding agencies including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy, also put money into research motivated by security concerns (amounting to a total homeland security (this number does not refer to DHS but to homeland security funding across all agencies) research budget of $7.3 billion in 2011) and a small amount of the U.S. Department of Defense money associated with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ended up in the hands of researchers as well—for example, by funding work on explosives detection and weaponry.
In biodefense, so much money poured into science that Judith Reppy, a science and technology studies expert at Cornell University, even considered whether (adapting the term coined by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1961) a "biomedical-military-industrial complex" has emerged in which scientists, the military and lobbyists conspire to try to keep the funds coming. She rejected that hypothesis, finding that biomedical science in the U.S. remains primarily a civilian endeavor, but says 9/11 has introduced trimmings of "guards, guns and gates," and increased funding research on pathogens that might be used by terrorists.
Some of the post-9/11 changes have entailed increased regulation. Jerry Jaax, a veterinarian and infectious disease researcher who oversees research compliance at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kans., says that many biomedical fields have been swamped by such new regulations or increased enforcement of pre-9/11 regulations in a bid to prevent researchers and the materials they handle from becoming security threats. He says federal rules on select agents—pathogens that require special facilities and handling—and on imports and exports of biological samples and materials, have slowed the ability of scientists to do research important to public and agricultural health. "Some say we're regulating away our ability to do this kind of research and I think there's some truth to that," he says.
And, a major difficulty has been immigration. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 imposed stringent new visa requirements that restricted scientists and science students from all over the world from entering the U.S. Albert Teich, who has tracked the issue for the American Association for the Advancement of Science where he is director of science and policy programs, says that problem peaked in 2003, but has since improved, especially following lobbying of Congress by scientific societies and advice from the National Academy of Sciences, whose 2009 report "Beyond 'Fortress America'" and 2007 report "Rising above the Gathering Storm" were among those to suggest the rules be eased. But the policies had a lasting impact on the ability of U.S. researchers to collaborate and recruit students, he says.
Teich adds that security concerns have cast a shadow over U.S. science in a number of ways, and points to the erection of a steel security barrier around the perimeter of the previously open campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. "To me," he says, "that fence is a very dramatic visual impact of 9/11 on science."


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Torrey Smith quietly enters his contract year
When thinking about the current state of the Ravens' corps of pass catchers, several names emerge before the player who has every reason to emerge in 2014 as one of the better wideouts in the NFL.
Torrey Smith, a second-round pick in 2011, enters the final year of his rookie contract with no current indication that the Ravens are prepared to extend his deal. In his third season, Smith cracked the 1,000-yard barrier for the first time, generating 1,128 yards on a career-high 65 catches. That puts Smith at No. 17 among all pass-catchers, and it creates a potential conundrum regarding his worth.
On one hand, Smith had a great year given the lack of complementary weapons. On the other hand, a high-end wideout should have had even better numbers, especially without players like Anquan Boldin (who was traded in the 2013 offseason) and tight end Dennis Pitta (who missed most of the year with a dislocated hip) not siphoning off throws.
This year, Smith will be sharing the stage with a healthy Pitta, a newly-arrived Steve Smith, a currently-underrated Owen Daniels, and a frequently-overlooked Jacoby Jones, who contributed 455 yards after missing time with a Week One knee injury. To get a big-money, long-term deal, Smith needs to emerge once again as the top option -- and to find an even higher ceiling of production.


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Steven J. Molinsky is Professor of Education at Boston University, where he is a senior faculty member in the Graduate Program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. He holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Linguistics from Harvard University. His primary interest is the development of innovative approaches to language teaching. He has taught methodology courses at Boston University for more than 30 years and has worked with teachers in-training throughout the world.
Bill Bliss is President of Language & Communication Associates, which provides training and consulting services in language learning, literacy, immigrant education, and citizenship. Since 1974 he has worked as a teacher, trainer, refugee camp program manager, consultant to government agencies and school systems, and advocate for immigrant and refugee education. He holds an M.Ed. degree from Harvard University. His interests include social justice education, immigration policy, and the impact of social media and emerging technologies on education.


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This entry was posted in Blog, Other Whisky News, Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival and tagged dram18, Glen Scotia, Glenfarclas, Haggis, Spirit of Speyside, Tomintoul on .
Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2018 Wrap-up #1
Over a dozen festivals we at The Whisky Shop Dufftown, courtesy of our guests at Spirit of Speyside Whisky festival, have been trying to answer this life-affirming question. Each year we pitch 3 new contenders against the reigning champion from the previous festival to see which one wins and goes forward to the next contest.
The winner is decided upon by guests attending our haggis and whisky tasting who vote for their favourite in a blind tasting. We have collated the votes from all of the tastings we held. Counted them. Checked them again. And ensured there was no outside influence.
We can now formally announce the results:
4th - Ben Nevis 10 Years Old (4)
3rd - Glenfarclas 10 Years Old (1)
2nd - Glen Scotia 15 Years Old (3)
1st - Tomintoul 15 Years Old Port Wood Finish (2)
- The number in brackets denotes the place of the whisky in the order of the tasting.
Glen Scotia 15 had been the winner in many many beautiful tastings previously and was pipped this year by Tomintoul 15 by just 1 vote!
62 people took part and we thank them for their kind support.


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- Home
- Government
- Departments L - Z
- Sheriff
- Services
- Detention Center
Detention Center
Public Safety Facility
The Blaine County Detention Center is a 36,000 square foot state of the art facility with a total of 90 inmate beds.
- 66 General Population Beds divided into 4 pods
- Minimum, Medium, and Maximum Security Classifications
- 20 Work Release Beds in Segregated Dorms
- 4 Segregated Juveniles Holding Beds
The Blaine County Detention Facility offers modern new technology to assist inmates and visitors and ensure safety and security for all.
Who Is in Our Jail
- Inmates from every law enforcement agency in Blaine County
- Offenders just arrested
- Offenders awaiting trial
- Offenders serving sentences
- Juvenile Inmates up to 48 hours
- Inmates from other jurisdictions that require housing
- Inmates awaiting transfer to the Idaho Department of Corrections housing
Detention Deputy Duties
Being a Deputy in the Blaine County Detention Facility is a highly skilled profession for which deputies receive continual specialized training. Detention Deputies perform a long list of interesting and challenging duties daily. A typical shift may include:
- Booking and/or Releasing Multiple Inmates
- Processing Inmates in and out for the Work Release Program
- Assessing Inmates for Security Classifications
- Processing Legal and Financial Documents
- Supervising Inmates in Video Arraignment in our Facility and in the Actual Courtroom
- Controlling Inmate Safety
- Performing Routine Security Checks
- Providing Suicide Watch every 15 Minutes when needed
- Supervising Meal Delivery three times a day
- Supervising Inmate Workers
- Managing Clothing, Property and Hygiene Supply Exchange
- Ensuring Inmates Receive Medical, Dental and Mental Health Screenings through our Licensed Providers
- Transporting Inmates to and from Other Facilities
- Provide Courtroom and Jury Security
Most importantly, our Detention Deputies provide safety and security for all the inmates, staff, visitors, and citizens of Blaine County. We believe in treating every inmate with dignity and respect while protecting public safety.
Jail Rules & Regulations
Detailed and bilingual listings of the Blaine County Detention Center's Inmate Handbook Rules and Regulations Orientation Information is available below in English and Spanish:
The Blaine County Detention Center, in compliance with the Idaho Prison Rape Elimination Act, has a policy to ensure that allegations of sexual abuse, assault or harassment are properly referred for investigation to an agency with the legal authority to conduct criminal investigations as soon as possible after the report is made.
The Blaine County Detention Center will receive and respond to third party reports of sexual abuse and sexual harassment in an expedient and efficient way. Third party reports may be done verbally or in writing and may be submitted to any of the following:
(1) On duty staff member
(2) On duty supervisor
(3) Administration
(4) Medical or Mental Health Personnel
(5) Investigators
(6) IPREA Coordinator


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OK, this is not a Paper Pumpkin post, but any way we can raise money for breast cancer research and have fun is a good thing :) So if you have not subscribed to Paper Pumpkin yet, now is a great time to do it! Just click on the banner above, and it will take you to my Paper Pumpkin store. Be sure to chose me as your demonstrator!
Here it is, my moment of brain storm this afternoon! I found another great way to use the new Wonderland stamp set from the Holiday Mini! I was cruising through Pinterest looking for some fresh ideas for Breast Cancer Awareness month (October) craft activities. And wouldn't you know it, antlers are finding their way into this area as well!!
I think this fun embellishment could be used on all kinds of things! Gift bags, tags, magnets, cards, pins, etc. Let me know how you used yours!
And I did a quick video to show you how I made them. Please forgive the noisy dogs in the background, Rose desperately wanted back in despite the fact that she had desperately wanted out 2 minutes earlier, lol! Yes, she has a very loud bark....
The stitched circle dies are here and here and here. The stitched oval dies are here. I used the Simplicity font for the phrase.
Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog


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Challenge Basics:
Name: 2012 Reading Challenge Addict
Hosts : Reading Challenge Addict
Starts: January 1, 2012
Ends: December 31, 2012
Eligible Books: Complete the reading challenges I've signed up for.
Levels: Four; I am going to try for the third level: 11-15 challenges
Prizes? Yes, TBA
Sign up page
Why I'm Interested:
Well, I've already signed up for
7. Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
6. Free Reads
5. Finishing the Series Challenge
4. The Dystopia Challenge
3. Just Contemporary Reading Challenge
2. Bucket List Challenge
1. YA Mythology Challenge


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Written and Directed by: Eli Roth
Starring: Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo and Bijou Phillips
Reviewed by: Brett Gallman
Do you think we're sick?"
"Fuck no. Dude, you look anywhere in the world where there's no law... whether it's fucking Chad or New Orleans... and this is the shit people are doing, bro. We're the normal ones."
"Fuck no. Dude, you look anywhere in the world where there's no law... whether it's fucking Chad or New Orleans... and this is the shit people are doing, bro. We're the normal ones."
I always thought Hostel (and the similarly unfairly maligned Saw series) got a bad rap when it was credited with spawning the whole torture porn thing. Sure, there was torture involved, but one could hardly call it an orgy of death and dismemberment; if anything, it more resembled a good old fashioned regular porno, what with all the naked girls, hostel sex, and other teen comedy style shenanigans. It did, of course, eventually morph into a full on horror movie, complete with genuine, unsettling dread and, yes, sick gore; in fact, I found it to be one of the best horror flicks of 2005 thats held up remarkably well. So theres little doubt that few people were as excited to see Eli Roths follow-up in 2007, which surprisingly left me with disappointment; see, I couldnt help but think Roth actually made the movie everyone assumed Hostel was: gratuitous, violent, and empty. But, hey, Ive been wrong before, and, like any franchise, this one cant leave well enough alone, so the impending release of part 3 gave me an excuse to revisit the second one.
Seemingly picking up where part one left off, we find Paxon (Jay Hernandez) in a hospital room recovering from his near death experience. Unfortunately for him, his visitors end up being a part of the Elite Hunting group and have shown up to silence him forever; fortunately for him, its all just a dream. His relief is short lived though, because, (surprise!) Elite Hunting tracks him down, and we move onto the next batch of fresh meat in the form of Beth (Lauren German) and her friends. Theyre enrolled in an Italian art school but are about to head further east for a vacation; one of their models from class (Vera Jordanova) convinces them to make a detour, and they end up at the familiar hostel from the first film (where they only show Pulp Fiction). Upon arrival, the girls are all put on the market for auction, and a couple of American businessmen end up purchasing the right to kill them.
In hindsight, I might have been a little unfair to Hostel II when I first saw it, or maybe Ive just gotten smarter in the past few years (dont answer that question). While it still doesnt quite match the original, its commendable that Roth refused to do a simple retread; its easy to look at this one and say that its just the same movie with a group of girls instead of guys. That isnt quite true, though I do think the switch to female protagonists is still one of the weaker points; I dont know, maybe Roth just doesnt have the ear for girl dialogue because they dont quite come off as well as the guys did in the first film (then again, I suspect most ladies probably hated those characters, so it probably evens out). German is a pretty decent, tough, and smart protagonist, but Bijou Phillips plays a pretty cliché slutty blonde; meanwhile, Heather Matarazzo plays a mousy, nerdy companion whos kind of annoying.
More interesting are the two businessmen, played by Richard Burgi and Roger Bart. When it comes to the climax of Hostel, I think everyone remembers the image of the girl with the dangling eyeball; that was a great gag, but I thought the most terrifying moment came when Paxon ran into the guy who was psyched about killing another human being. There was something so cold and genuinely disturbing about the casual disregard for human life on display during that scene, and the descent from the jovial comedy to that sort of primal terror was brilliant. Part II gives us more of that stuff, as the Elite Hunting is revealed to be this worldwide cadre of sickos that make of transactions of human bodies. Though their two customers here dont get an equal amount of screen time as the girls, its difficult not to call them main characters all the same. In Burgis character, we see the same sort of false machismo that the American guy in the original, as hes out to kill someone just for the experience, and he has some sick notion that itll make him more intimidating as a man (he tells his buddy that people can just sense it when someone has killed another human being).
Bart is a little more skittish about the whole thing, an inspired character choice because he eventually runs into Beth, with whom he shares a friendly exchange. This sets up an interesting dynamic that eventually pays off in the climax; its difficult enough to kill a total stranger in cold blood, but what about someone you met, however briefly? That climax is rather wild, as we of course end up in that grungy warehouse, where bodies are splayed and scattered by the Elite Hunting clients (one of whom is Rugerro Deodato, making an appearance as a cannibal!). One body is rendered unrecognizable, while another victims fate should leave any guy instinctively crossing his legs and wincing in pain. Roth really ups the gore quantity here, so if thats what drew you to the original, youll get a kick out of this one.
In fact, I still cant help but think that Roth did believe in a lot of the bullshit that was spewed about the original; its like he cant help himself at times. For example, one sequence finds a naked woman bathing in the blood of another naked girl thats been suspended above her; its so over-the-top, and its probably the most memorable sequence from either film, solely due to its gleeful, batshit insanity, so its no wonder the series has had a tough time shaking the whole torture porn moniker. Other moments, such as when one of the members of the Bubblegum Gang, ends up receiving a bullet to the head, seem solely to exist so Roth can just one up himself from the previous film. Then again, there are some gory moments that are denied us, such as when he intentionally obscures one of the girls being tortured on a monitor, so it seems like Roth is mostly toying with us.
Maybe thats why this one ends with a girls severed head being kicked around like a soccer ball. As sick and depraved as Hostel II is at times, it mostly feels like Roth indulging himself, and it mostly works. Its not nearly as unnerving as its predecessor, which is to be expected; after all, the jig is up this time out because we already know the horrors this hostel holds. Fully exploiting it and (somewhat) giving audiences what they expect out of the sequel is probably the best way to go, and Roth mostly succeeds. I liked this movie more the second time around, mostly because I found it smarter than I gave it credit for being a few years ago. If you felt the same way, give it another look before part 3 hits later this month. Lions Gates Blu-ray looks and sounds rather spectacular, plus its loaded with extras, including three commentaries. Ones a solo track with Roth, while another features him alongside Quentin Tarantino and associate producer Gabriel Roth, while the third track features German, Jordanova, and Burgi. Other supplements include deleted scenes, some behind-the-scenes features on the effects and production design, a blood and guts gag reel, a radio interview, interactive surveillance cameras, and "A Legacy of Torture, which was an international TV special produced for the film. Definitely a package worth picking up, and the film itself is worth a couple of looks. Buy it!
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A simple analogy for this approach is your monthly check-book: by looking at your bank statement you know exactly how much money you have in your account on the 1st day of a new month. The challenge is to reconstruct the sum of income and expenses since the last month that matches your total exactly. For the global atmospheric carbon dioxide budget, this check book looks something like the figure on the left.
By measuring carbon dioxide frequently (the bold-faced sum that makes the total), and at many places on Earth, CarbonTracker can break down the budget even further, and thus keep track of uptake and release for many places on Earth. And just like your bank statement, the atmosphere never lies!
How does CarbonTracker work?
CarbonTracker produces model predictions of atmospheric CO2 mole fractions, to be compared with the observed atmospheric CO2 mole fractions. The difference between them is attributed to differences in the sources and sinks used to make the prediction (the so-called 'first-guess') and the sources and sinks affecting the true atmospheric CO2. Using numerical techniques, these differences are used to solve for a set of sources and sinks that most closely matches the observed CO2 in the atmosphere.
CarbonTracker has a representation of atmospheric transport based on weather forecasts, and modules representing air-sea exchange of CO2, photosynthesis and respiration by the terrestrial biosphere, and release of CO2 to the atmosphere by fires and combustion of fossil fuels. More details about these different components and why they are needed can be found in our documentation pages.
Where can I learn more about CarbonTracker and CO2?
We can highly recommend to visit our North American partner pages hosted at NOAA ESRL with more outreach material on the carbon cycle, and a more detailed description of the NOAA CarbonTracker system. We can also highly recommend the very accessible carbon cycle pages at NCAR/UCAR, which include the very instructive carbon cycle game!


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For the 4th we sailed over to Angel Island, spent a few days enjoying the hot Marin air, BBQing it up w/ friends, and watching the fireworks from it... A warm clear evening and you could view both of San Francisco's fireworks and also Sausalito's as well... That is a damn fine island.
Bay Area photographer shits out another photo of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Two boats are better than one for an overnight.
Walk back to the boats and drink more wine.
Best spot to view San Francisco's duel fireworks show.
Seagull on her mooring.


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If you'd know the value of money, go and borrow someThe almanac Jul 07, 2008
If he made some mistakes, it was because he was a challenged man300 join to honor Nixon on his birthday Jan 10, 2008
If all goes as planned, the old Nixon library is basically going out of businessNixon library under new management Jul 11, 2007
In Saigon the tendency is to fight the war to victoryNixon, Kissinger found Vietnam unwinnable Apr 03, 2007
I think I must say I have more experience first hand than anybody might want in what can go wrong and how a presidenDean: Bush abused power Mar 31, 2006
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate work at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon, moved to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942. He subsequently joined the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. Nixon was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Hiss Case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevated him to national prominence. He was the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election, the first of five national nominations he received from his party, a record he shares with Franklin Roosevelt. Nixon served for eight years as vice president, traveling extensively and undertaking major assignments from Eisenhower. Nixon waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and lost a race for Governor of California in 1962. Following these defeats, he announced his withdrawal from political life. However, in 1968 he ran again for the presidency and was elected.
American involvement in Vietnam was widely unpopular; although Nixon initially escalated the war there, he subsequently moved to end US involvement, completely withdrawing American forces by 1973. Nixon's ground-breaking visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year. In domestic policy, his administration generally sought to transfer power from Washington to the states. In an attempt to slow inflation, Nixon imposed wage and price controls. He enforced desegregation of Southern schools and established the Environmental Protection Agency. Though he presided over Apollo 11, the culmination of the project to land a person on the moon, he scaled back manned space exploration. He was reelected by a landslide in 1972.


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Nov. 4, 2013 — -- The mother of a New York University student recovering in the hospital after being trapped between two buildings says her son "can't remember" how he got stuck and that he has several broken bones and possibly a fractured pelvis.
"He really can't remember up until when he fell in there, exactly what happened. Maybe as he comes to," mom Habiba Vongtau told ABC's New York station WABC. "[He has] broken bones, arm, and contusions, and I think [a] fractured pelvis."
Firefighters arrive shortly after 5 p.m. on Sunday and had to break through a concrete wall to get to Asher Vongtau, 19, who was wedged in a coffin-sized space between a 17-story NYU dormitory and a parking garage in lower Manhattan.
"We had an unconscious male stuck in between two buildings," an FDNY spokesman told ABCNews.com. "We had to breach a wall to gain access to get him out. We had him in serious condition and he was rushed to Bellevue Hospital."
A firefighter on-scene told WABC that Vongtau's legs were crossed, he was on his side and he was moving his right arm.
Vongtau was stuck at the ground floor, the FDNY said. The rescue took about an hour-and-a-half. It is unclear how he got wedged in between the two buildings. Officials believe he may have been trapped for up to two days, according to ABC's New York station WABC.
Friends told WABC that they reported him missing after a fire alarm drill. When they called authorities to file a missing persons report, they were also told to check the roof of the building.
"We went door-to-door asking people what they knew about him and one person told us that the last that they'd seen, he was headed up the stairs," Vongtau's friend Michael Yablon told WABC.
Yablon said the friends went to security and told them they needed to check the roof. He said Vongtau's cell phone was found on the roof and that led to finding him.
"Had we not told the security guards -- the three of us 19-year-old students -- to check the roof, they would not have found him for who knows how long and he would probably be dead right now," a distressed Yablon said.
NYU said their Department of Public safety first received word of a missing student at about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and "immediately began a search" that included NYU locations, local precincts and area emergency rooms. Vongtau's possessions were found later on Sunday at the residence hall.
"One of our Public Safety sergeants in the course of his search of the building extended his search to a narrow space between our building and an abutting garage, where he discovered someone wedged into the space and heard moaning," NYU spokesman John Beckman said in a statement.
"The FDNY and the NYPD were immediately called; they responded and rescued the student. Our understanding is that the student was conscious and able to communicate with rescuers throughout the rescue," Beckman said. "The circumstances of how the student came to be in this space remain unclear to us."
Vongtau is in fair condition at Bellevue Hospital, according to the hospital.


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1PC Belly Dance Belt Hip Scarf Wrap Belt Skirt with 128 Gold Coins – Black
1 in stock
Belly dance hip scarf is coming very popular in a variety of ways. It creates loud and lovely sound when the dancers move and shakes hip. It match with any outfit, shawl, head wrap, skirt etc. Swimsuit models occasionally wear a hip scarf with their bathing suit for special contest and events.
Condition: Brand new
Color: Black
Material: Chiffon
3 row of total 128 gold tone coins
Length(Approx.): 58 inch (147cm)
Width(Approx.): 10.5 inch (27cm)
It also can be weared as shawl, hip scarf or halter top with your jeans
Package Includes:
1 x belly scarf
There are no reviews yet.


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"Oh yes!…The sweet summons of God to man. That's when He calls you up to His arms. And it's the most beautiful thing, a rebirth, a new life. But, just the same I'm in no rush to find out." ― Mr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos
Oscar Hijuelos, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for his novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love , died yesterday of a heart attack while playing tennis, according to his agent, Jennifer Lyons. Hijuleos was 62.
Hijuelos was the first Latino writer to be awarded the coveted prize. The novel traces the journey of two Cuban brothers who leave Havana for a life in New York to pursue a career in music. In 1992, the novel was adapted into a film starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas.
Although the Pulitzer brought the author fame, it also brought hardships. Hijuelos felt labeled as an "ethnic" writer. In an interview on NPR's Newshour in 2011, Hijuelos discussed his memoir Thoughts Without Cigarettes. He told interviewer Ray Suarez that he
sometimes felt like a freak, simply because the level of my success and traveling around the world as — quote — "a Latino writer" as much as anything, was sort of wonderful and also very strange for me at the same time, because, indeed, I'm — I came up as but one version of many potential versions of Latinos that there could be.
And I have never — as I say in the memoir, I have never intended to represent myself as a spokesman for anybody but myself. And yet I would be in a roundtable in Sweden, in Stockholm, Sweden, at a live television show, and the host would come on and look around trying to figure out who the Latino guy was in the group. That kind of thing was both interesting and alarming at the same time.
Here is the complete interview. Rest in Peace, Mr. Hijuelos.


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With each passing year, hardware devices grow less dependent on proprietary components and more reliant on open source technologies. Network routers are among the main beneficiaries of this trend, especially those that can support a variety of third-party open source firmware projects. Two of these firmware projects stand apart from the rest: DD-WRT and OpenWrt.
DD-WRT has become a common out-of-the-box option for many routers, but also exists in stand-alone implementations that can be installed on routers that support it. Hundreds of routers can run DD-WRT firmware, including nearly 100 Linksys models alone.
[ Also on InfoWorld: Linksys WRT1900AC, the best open router yet. | Get expert networking how-to advice from InfoWorld's Networking Deep Dive PDF special report and Technology: Networking newsletter. ]
DD-WRT has a slightly convoluted history. In 2002, Linksys started releasing a line of routers (the WRT54G models) that used Linux as an embedded system. The company was eventually obliged to release the source code for those routers under the terms of the GPL. Another company, Sveasoft, picked up on the results and created its own third-party firmware (aka Alchemy). Eventually this work was turned into a commercial offering, which encouraged the folks at DD-WRT.com to launch their own branch of the project.
The project was successful enough that DD-WRT has become the basis for other firmware created by router manufacturers themselves. Consequently, while DD-WRT has been released under the terms of the GPL, commercial builds of the firmware may incorporate much non-GPL code. While DD-WRT has its roots in open source, it has a more commercial flavor than some of the projects in the same vein.
OpenWrt is open source firmware similar to DD-WRT, but with a markedly different approach to its construction and deployment. The OpenWrt project home page unpretentiously describes the technology as "a Linux distribution for embedded devices," but that humble label doesn't cover the whole picture. Instead of being released as a monolithic build à la DD-WRT, OpenWrt is more akin to an actual Linux distribution with its own package manager.
Because of all this, setting up and running OpenWrt can become a much more involved process, since the user has the freedom to make most any changes they want directly inside OpenWrt. But it also means access to a much broader range of components. By the same token, OpenWrt components tend to be more frequently updated than those for DD-WRT, while its package manager makes it easier for users to take advantage of those updates.
Why use DD-WRT or OpenWrt?
For me, the single biggest reason to go with an open firmware like DD-WRT or OpenWrt is the balance it strikes between convenience and openness. I can go out and buy a router that runs open firmware out of the box -- such as the Buffalo router I currently use -- and either upgrade it at my leisure to other open firmware builds or rely on Buffalo's own official (albeit proprietary) builds. In many respects, using an open firmware is analogous to the use of an alternative Android ROM, like CyanogenMod, where an older phone can be kept current long after the manufacturer decides it's not worth supporting anymore.
In the past I've bought a router, upgraded it faithfully as new revisions to the firmware come out, then ground my teeth in disgust when I discovered, 18 months or two years later, that it's no longer supported. This is dismaying, especially in a post-Heartbleed world where an unpatched embedded device can be bad news. The only thing worse than no protection at all is a false sense of security, so I like the idea of using software that has at least a modicum of third-party oversight.


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Oct. 5, 9 pm
Bebés Geniales Bushwick and Brownsville
Join us for a brain-building program on Zoom for children 0-3 years and their parents or caregivers from Bushwick or Brownsville. Includes storytimes in English and Spanish, early literacy tips, craft ideas, songs with a music therapist, show and tell, and more! Prepare your child for 3-K and toddler for Pre-K. This program has an ASL interpreter.


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For a long time now the Rodney Strong brand has stood for value regularly over delivering in their price category. Whether it's their entry $18 Cabernet or their single-vineyard, allocated Rockaway bottling, when you see Rodney Strong on the label you can be assured you will get some thing interesting in the glass. The house style is to create round and harmonious wines with loads of sweet fruit surrounded by toasty French oak.
Their "Symmetry" Meritage is a Cabernet Sauvignon led wine that could have been labeled as this variety since it makes up 85% of the blend. But the winemaking team is aiming higher here producing a Bordeaux style blend from several vineyard sources in Sonoma's Alexander Valley. The addition of traditional blending grapes Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot adds to the complexity in the aromas and flavors, elevating what would be a very nice Cabernet to another level. My only concern was the rather generous French oak treatment which will likely work itself out with further aging.
Tasting Notes:
Rodney Strong, "Symmetry", Meritage Red Wine, Alexander Valley 2007 ($55/sample) – A blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, 3% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Very deep purple in color with complex aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant, cigar box, sage and black licorice. Bold and rich blackcurrant and blackberry flavors with cassis and black pepper finishing with toasty oak and firm tannins. Decant for 2-3 hours now or put in the cellar for 5-7 years. Delicious, if a bit over-oaked, at this point but I expect this to integrate as it ages.
Natural cork closure
Score: 91