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Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Pretty In Purple - My Love For Lilacs TableJacqueline May 24, 2011
Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.
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42 comments:
Beautiful table! The lilacs are just stunning -- I can almost smell them through my computer screen! Putting purple and black together -- WOW! Love it!!ReplyDelete
I love lilacs too:) they were in bloom on our wedding day~ReplyDelete
Your photos and tablescape..are just so pretty.
I love lilacs. Just reading this brought the smell in here. Spiegel! I love that store! They used to have one in Birch Run, but it closed down long ago. I miss it. I am off now to see what they have online! Thanks for the reminder!ReplyDelete
Beautiful, just beautiful. A lovely homage to one of my favorite flowers! xo,ReplyDelete
This is just a stunning table, Jacqueline! The lilacs are beautiful and all the different shades of purple work so well together. I love it!ReplyDelete
Gorgeous! I love this color of purple in the spring time..your table is just lovely and I always love a big bouquet of lilacs in the house..a must have! :DReplyDelete
Gorgeous lilacs and beautiful table. I am so glad to see a picture of you on your sidebar too.ReplyDelete
Congratulations on your anniversary.
Purple is my favorite color! Thanks so much for sharing these gorgeous pictures from the last two posts!ReplyDelete
My goodness not only is the color stunning but your PHOTOS!!!! Dearest, I am looking forward to your post on Saturday on PARIS!!!! AnitaReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 24, 2011 at 5:29 PM
ILOVE lilacs and purple--my bedroom as a child had lilac wallpaper, you would have loved it! anneReplyDelete
looks fabulous and rich, and smells good too :)ReplyDelete
I love this tables cape. It is breathtaking and just screams you! Thanks for sharing this and all you've doom for RachelReplyDelete
Gorgeous! Love those plates, Jacqueline. I can see why they followed you home. That vase is stunning. ~ SarahReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 24, 2011 at 8:09 PM
Hi...I love purple also and really, really enjoy the way you set this table with purples and blacks. You are always such an inspiration and a total pleasure to visit.ReplyDelete
You must have been thrilled to find those plates!ReplyDelete
Your table is beautiful. I love lilacs too - we have a large bush outside the dining room window, and when it finally blooms I love to open the window wide so that the room fills with their perfume.
No wonder purple is your favorite color! All the details come together so beautifully, but the lilacs are my favorite:)ReplyDelete
Happy Anniversary to you and your husband!
I am in love with Lilacs!!ReplyDelete
Mimi's blog is mimicuteblog.blogspot.com
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I've died and gone to lilac heaven and inhaling their delicious fragrance now! What a perfectly, purpley gorgeous table! I so love the refection of your table cloth in your goblet and your plates are ideal...ReplyDelete
We can't grow lilacs here, it's too hot but I found some bundles for sale at my Trader Joe's and danced a happy dance in the aisle! Sighs of happiness for me, thanks to a fragrant start to my day :-)
Beautiful table Jacqueline! The purple and black plates look like they were made for that tablecloth! Also like the two different lilacs, I know they don't last long-enjoy:@)ReplyDelete
Absolutely Heavenly! Your table is To Die For. Every detail AND the I can smell those lilacs all the way over to MY Coast...LOVE,LOVE,LOVE it!!!ReplyDelete
I used to shop in the Speigel Catalog ALL THE TIME years ago. It was like a little condensed HOME GOODS...with clothes...
Thank you so much for sharing.
Big Hugs,
This is just gorgeous - love the HG plates - thanks for sharing!!!ReplyDelete
I do remember all the lilacs at your wedding reception. Could it really be 32 years ago? This is such a beautiful table and the purple is so stunning. Lilacs are my favorite and I remember the big row at our home and the scent they put off. I will be on the look out for those plates when I head south. I am so excited because I was able to post a comment -- haven't been able to all day. JoniReplyDelete
Love this tablescape! A childhood favorite of mine is also Lilacs, they remind me of walks with my Mother to my Grandmothers house. I always get so excited when they are in bloom. Those plates are truly to die for, and so are the goblets. I love your taste!ReplyDelete
Lilacs are an absolute favorite of mine. We can't grow them here. My mom carried some from her home 1000 miles when she moved. She did grow them, but they were never the lush bushes that I had growing up. They didn't survive our recent drought.ReplyDelete
I just love your table. There is not a single part of it that is less than stunning to me, from the flowers to the plates to the goblets. It's a favorite.
Hi Jacqueline, we will celebrate our 31st this summer. I saw those BEAUTIFUL purple and black dishes in HGs and tried to justify adding them to my collection. You did a fabulous job mixing them with other pieces and the scent must be heavenly. Our lilacs in the front yard just started blooming and I could stand there all day. I would love to see photos of your wedding. I'm sure it was glorious. LindaReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 25, 2011 at 6:26 PM
This is a gorgeous tablesetting. The color combinations are so rich and elegant. I absolutely love the napkins and those fabulous beaded napkin holders.ReplyDelete
Congratulations on your anniversary!
Such a beautifully rich and dramatic tablescape. Love your new plates from HomeGoods. they lend to the drama of your tablescape. Just beautiful.ReplyDelete
- The Tablescaper
Very beautiful tablescape. Lilacs were my mother's favorite flower. She was born in my grandparent's home and the room was filled with lilacs. My mom always received lilacs for her birthday throughout her life. Your beautiful post reminded me of how much she loved them.ReplyDelete
Hi Jacqueline,ReplyDelete
I love the colours of this table. I must agree with you that if I had seen those plates I would have had to have them to. The flatware is very pretty.
Your purple goblets are very similar to a vase that I bought from a thrift store and in the same colour aswell. I think mine was from the 60's.
I'm going to have a good look at your blog, as I'm following it now.
Beautiful table and gorgeous lilacs! Stunning shots!ReplyDelete
Hope to see you on my blog:)
RAINBOW-The Colours of India
- AnonymousMay 26, 2011 at 3:52 AM
Jacqueline, your table is absolutely beautiful. I love lilacs too! However, I believe the celebration here is in 32 years of marriage. We are celebrating 26 this summer, and people have actually said to us, "Do you realize what an exception you are?" In this day and age, many years of marriage is becoming rare. How sad! CONGRATULATIONS to you both, and best wishes for many more years of love together!ReplyDelete
I think I would fly all the way out to Utah (it's Utah, right?) to sit at one of your tables like this stunning purple one. And CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! HOW WONDERFUL!ReplyDelete
I'm in love with the deep jewel toned purple goblets in this post!!!! The swirl on the bottom...oooh...I bet it feels divine in the hand!
Lana In Italy
Love your beautiful table, Jacqueline! While I'm happy that my allergies seem to be FINALLY clearing up, I can now say how much I appreciate my senses of sight and smell. I love to go on walks these days, and after a LONG cold NY winter, I absolutely LOVE the smell of fresh cut grass, and lilacs!! What a beautiful bouquet you have for your table today!... Sorry this comes so late, but a very Happy Anniversary and Best Wishes to both you and your husband! Have a great weekend! ~tinaReplyDelete
Just gorgeous, J! I love all your purples too! What a wonderful scape, the dishes and glassware are fabulous!ReplyDelete
What a heavenly table, Jacqueline! Happy anniversary! I love all the spring purples together -- stunning!ReplyDelete
very pretty table- those plates are fabulous. Love your blog!ReplyDelete
Breathtaking...beautiful from the table linens, to the dishes, to the crystal, to the gorgeous lilacs.ReplyDelete
So beautiful!!! I especially love the tablecloth and I can smell those lilacs right now!!ReplyDelete
I'm guessing that your guests could smell the colors of your table before they ever stepped through the door. Absolutely luscious in every way! Thank you for sharing your gorgeous design. Cherry KayReplyDelete
What a beautiful tablescape. I love lilacs too. We had white, mauve, pink and dark purple lilacs in our yard in Toronto when I was little.ReplyDelete
This is a spectacular table. Happy belated anniversary. Your tablecloth, the new plates, the lilacs.. all very special and so pretty. I am so glad you share your beautiful talent with all of us.ReplyDelete
xo marlis
Bonjour Jacqueline,ReplyDelete
Superbe! I love the colours on this table. Warm and full of convivialyty.
Thanks for sharing
Have a wondreful time Jacqueline
Your comments are the highlight of my day! Leave a comment and then I can come and visit your blog. Have a wonderful day! Unfortunately I have had to block anonymous comments, hope you understand.
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variety of horseback riding experiences for beginning, intermediate and advanced riders. Choose a horseback riding adventure that fits your style!
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Team Effort Montana Grizzlies 19" x 41" Microfiber Golf Towel
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McMURDO STATION, Antarctica — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry didn't comment on Donald Trump's election victory while visiting Antarctica, but did say that citizens who care about limiting emissions might have to march in the streets to push for more aggressive action.
Kerry became the highest-ranking American official to visit Antarctica when he landed for a two-day trip on Friday. He's been hearing from scientists about the impact of climate change on the frozen continent.
Trump has called climate change a hoax and said he would "cancel" U.S. involvement in the landmark Paris Agreement on global warming.
"We need to get more of a movement going," Kerry said when addressing several hundred scientists and staff at an evening event at McMurdo Station, the large base which is the hub for U.S. operations. "We need to get more people to engage."
Kerry said there was a risk that much of Antarctica's ice will eventually flow into the ocean, raising sea levels worldwide.
Despite the Paris agreement to cut the fossil-fuel emissions causing the planet to warm, "we haven't won the battle yet," Kerry said to the audience that included many young people involved in climate research.
Earlier, a planned visit to the South Pole was scrapped because of bad weather. Instead, Kerry and members of his entourage were taken on a helicopter tour of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the few parts of Antarctica that are largely free of ice year-round.
Kerry left from New Zealand early Friday aboard a C-17 Globemaster military cargo plane after being held up for about a day by bad weather. An experienced pilot, Kerry spent much of the flight in the cockpit of the huge jet, chatting with the pilots.
After a smooth trip of about five hours, the group landed on the Pegasus Ice Runway, the strip of ice that serves McMurdo.
Kerry's aides described the trip as a learning opportunity for the secretary of state. He has been receiving briefings from scientists working to understand the effects of climate change on Antarctica.
Kerry has made climate change an intensive focus of American diplomacy during his term, and had previously spent decades working on the issue as a U.S. senator.
He planned to return to New Zealand on Saturday for a meeting with Prime Minister John Key. Kerry plans to fly next week to the Middle East for talks, and then onward to a global climate conference in Morocco, where he will give a major speech.
Associated Press


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Behold, the fast-food job application. One sheet, two sides, filled with questions from top to bottom.
Where did you go to high school? Did you graduate? What was your GPA? Do you have any employment experience? Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Are you willing to work overtime? What are the phone numbers of the last 10 places you worked?
They don't need to know all this stuff. This is a job at a fast food place. They don't reject poor students. They don't reject potheads.
They are probably just going to hire you based on your looks, although technically, they probably want to check if you can read and write, and if you
They know you will search your soul to answer every question, so they just ask everything they can think of on there.
And look! They leave a stack them right out in the open. Where diners can grab an application off of the pad. Or leave a new pad. A fake pad.
In the winter of 2008, I started noticing that all of the fast food places near work had these little acrylic application holders out in the open. So, I got to work designing a new job application, with much more entertaining questions. All I had to do was remove the spaces for "the last ten places you worked" and there was more than enough room for every question I could dream up.
To blend into any setting, I invented the fast-food conglomerate Serv-Joy. With this logo, a better name would be "GoatSe.rv-Joy".
It was an application best described as absurd. My goal was to create questions that were ridiculous, contradictory and just a little seedy.
Next, I needed 500 copies.
500 plain black and white xerox copies are cheap, but I wanted the applications to have two-colors, so that they would look more authentic. Full color copies were out of my price range so I split the print job into two runs, black and red.
Office Max did the black and I used my deskjet to overprint the red titles and graphic.
They looked great! Next, I needed some paperboard sheets for the backing material. Luckily I was able to scrounge suitable sheets (chipboard) from the back of Imperial Diecutting.
I split the pile into 20 stacks, added the brown backs and re-stacked them into one big pile. Next, it was time to pad them up.
There is a special glue which you can use to transform a stack of paper into a pad of paper. It is called "padding compound". I am not sure what particular advantage it has over regular glue, so I haven't ever bought any.
I straightened the pile and added a scrap of wood and a brick to help stop the paper from wrinkling. June helped me squeeze some glue out onto the edge of the pile and to smear it to a uniform thickness.
Please continue reading Page 2 of the
Fast Food Job Application Prank.
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Interest rates are hitting new record lows, but banks what banks do makes it even more difficult. Here's how you can better your chances.
There has never been more appropriate time for trying to refinance your mortgage. Rates are at record lows. The government is devising new programs to help homeowners. The economy and job market are improving, though with a really slow pace.
If we talk about economic theory and predictions, those factors should be resulting in a boom in mortgage refinancing. But locking in a deal is proving to be a challenge these days — even for well-heeled homeowners.
The reason for this is that low appraisals and tight lending standards are making it hard for many borrowers to refinance, even if they have good credit rate and substantial assets. Even those who meet these hurdles can face frustrating waits.
The good news is that borrowers still have something they can do.
By switching assets to your mortgage Borrower, cleaning up your credit and havign a better understanding of how the new government programs work, you can improve your chances of scoring a good refinance deal.
"The reward in the end is substantial, provided you can survive the process," says a vice president at mortgage-data provider our experts.
Powerful Lure
Today's interest rates are a powerful lure even for homeowners who bought or refinanced a home recently. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage is 3.84%, down from 4.22% in mid-March and the hitting a rcord low level in at least 60 years, according to our experts.
Homeowners can save a bit still. At current rates, someone who took out a $400,000 mortgage in May 2011 at 4.75% could shave more than $200 on his monthly payment, according to our experts.
You don't want to have so much money going toward your mortgage every month that you can't enjoy life or take care of your other financial responsibilities. Tom Stoppard
The latest drop in rates has created a big pool of potential borrowers. All in all, about 20.5 million homeowners have agreed to mortgage rates above 5% and are current on their loan payments, according to real-estate data and analytics company CoreLogic, making them good candidates for a refinance. Another 12.9 million have rates between 4% and 5%.
Lance Roberts, a money manager who lives in a Houston suburb, took in a 5.25% rate when he refinanced his mortgage at the end of 2010. Now he is refinancing again, to a loan with a rate of about 4%. "I was great," he says, "but at 4%, I'm doing even better."
As a rule of thumb, anyone who can find a deal that will recapture the closing costs within 18 months should totally go for it, says a local mortgage banker in Boulder, Colo.
Relief, for Some
Many borrowers haven't been able to use this advantegous lower rates situation because off being "under water," meaning they owe more than their homes are worth. But some of these homeowners might soon get relief. Five of the nation's biggest banks — Ally Financial, BAC, -0.68% C, +0.05% JPM, -0.47% and WFC, -0.15% — are required to refinance certain underwater borrowers as part of a $25 billion settlement of the government's investigation of questionable foreclosure practices.
To qualify, borrowers must be up-to-date on their mortgage, have a loan owned and serviced by one of the five banks that was originated before Jan. 1, 2009, and meet other requirements.
Borrowers can expect savings, but the banks aren't required to give them today's rock-bottom rates. Under the settlement, the new rate must be at least 0.25 percentage point lower than the borrower's existing rate, or decrease monthly payments by at least $100, though Ally and Citigroup say they will generally be refinancing borrowers into new loans with market rates under the program.
The current White House's administration also has been trying to simplify it all for borrowers with loans backed by government-controlled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance, even if they don't have any equity in their homes or strong credit. Changes that took effect this year allow borrowers who owe more than 125% of their home's value to refinance under the government's Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP.
Other changes have made the program more attractive to Borrowers by lowering the risk they will have to repurchase loans that go bad.
One financial adviser, in May used the HARP program to refinance the $135,000 mortgage on his three-bedroom Palm Bay, Fla., home, even though the value of the property has fallen. The refinancing allowed Mr. Delzio to drop his mortgage rate to 4.375% from 6.625%, for a monthly savings of $247. Mr. Delzio says he tried to refinance last year, but his Borrower, Wells Fargo, said he needed to get on with about $40,000 in cash because he had no equity. Team basketball uniforms and team lacrosse uniforms.


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Fresno City College's Donna Cooper and Janine Nkosi presented at the Strengthening Student Success Conference: Embracing & Leading Change this October. Presenting in the "Rethinking the Developmental Sequence" strand, Donna and Janine illustrated a different approach to addressing the important concerns of retention, persistence, and success in basic skills courses. Couldn't be in LA at […]
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The Network: FCC's Presentation at SSSC
By Erik on October 12, 2012 in ESL, Learning Network, Math, Networking, Program Development, Reading, Statewide, Writing


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Na na na na na na, YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY.
Na na na na na na, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOO!
Na na na na na na, no, really…it's my birthday. Is it really your birthday? Happy birthday! Even if it isn't your birthday you should say it is because everyone has at least one shitty birthday and you should get a do-over, so it's now your birthday too. EVERYONE WINS. Especially me because I woke up to messages like this one from my sister:
I got a crazy weird miracle birthday present in the form of three used copies of the exact same book but it's way too long to explain and when I paused to say "ISN'T THAT INSANE?" you'd be like, "Um…I guess? Is that the miracle? 'Cause it just sounds like you got too many copies of one book, weirdo" but in my head it's a message from the universe that something good is out there and that's exactly what I needed.
And I thought maybe it's a sign that I should give back books so here's what…the first ten people who leave a comment telling me they really need a copy of Furiously Happy but haven't been able to afford it yet will get one. Not a signed copy (because I'm lazy) but I'll send you a gift card for the book through your email. Just leave me a comment if you're in a bad spot and need to read something to remind you that depression lies and that things will be okay. Because they will be. I promise.
And in lieu of birthday presents what I'd really like is for you to tell me something you're happy about. Something little. Something big. Videos of goats screaming. Anything.
I love you guys.
Bonus birthday photo of me and Hunter S. Thomcat, who was named the king of photobombs last night. CATOUFLAGE! (That'll make sense when you read the book. Probably.)
UPDATED: Those first 10 copies went quickly, but I just got an email from someone who wants to anonymously gift another 10 copies. More emails going out tonight. I love y'all more than cake.


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Scheduling Inspections
When you receive your building permit, you will be given a handout describing the city's basic code and inspection requirements.
You may schedule inspections by calling (847) 931-5920 Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Inspections must be requested at least 24 hours in advance to allow for proper scheduling.
Meeting the Requirements
If an inspector finds that some work does not meet the code requirements, you will be advised to make the corrections and ask for a re-inspection.
Rough and final inspections will assure you that the work has met the city requirements. This is for your protection and for the safety of all residents.


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Suzuki Motor Corp said it was no longer gung-ho about India's auto market, the world's fourth-largest, where it has seen relentless growth in the past seven years. And the parent of the country's biggest car maker is not alone.
The Japanese automaker issued the warning after it reported a slump in quarterly profit this week on tumbling sales at its Indian unit, Maruti Suzuki, which accounts for half the number of cars sold in India.
"We no longer think that growth in India will be an uninterrupted move upwards," Suzuki President Toshihiro Suzuki cautioned. Maruti's sales, which were growing till January, has slipped every month over February-September 2019.
India's auto sector has gone into a tailspin this year as tight liquidity at shadow banks, high taxes and a weak rural economy have sapped consumers' buying power.
Global players like Ford, Volkswagen and Fiat are already re-evaluating their strategy as they struggle to make inroads in a market dominated by small cars.
"Car makers are getting very cautious regarding their future investments in India. Most of them are either deferring or just scrapping their India new model plans," said Puneet Gupta, an autos sector expert at IHS Markit.
Auto executives and analysts point out that some car makers are focusing on their strengths in terms of products instead of chasing volumes with small cars. Some others are taking drastic steps to reduce their exposure.
ALSO READ: Discounts a speed-breaker for Maruti: Q2 profit falls 39% to Rs 1,358 cr
Ford has agreed to sell a majority stake in its India arm to Mahindra & Mahindra, ending its independent operations in the country after two decades and highlighting the challenges automakers face in growing profitably in Asia's third-largest economy.
A cocktail of higher taxes under a new goods and services tax regime, flip-flop over electric-vehicle policy, and a boom of ride-sharing firms such as Uber and Ola have all plagued global automakers in India. Not having the right cars and smaller sales network have also hurt, some executives say.
"When you have policy instability it becomes very hard to convince headquarters to invest more in the country," an executive at a western automaker said.
India is largely a small-car market and that is not a strength for most global automakers, who sell more SUVs and luxury cars elsewhere such as in China and the United States - the world's top two car markets, the executive added.
Western automakers had to design products specifically for India which is an expensive exercise, said V.G. Ramakrishnan, managing partner at consultancy Avanteum Advisors.
"Many chose a mass-market strategy instead of a niche one," and are dialling back to focus on specific segments, he said.
Volkswagen has put its sister company Skoda in charge of India strategy and will focus on SUVs. Fiat too has put SUV-maker Jeep in charge of driving sales in the country.
ALSO READ: Maruti Suzuki 'cautiously optimistic' over sales prospect in coming months
Demand for SUVs in India is growing faster than some small car segments, prompting even the likes of Maruti that dominates the small-car space to look at launching SUVs and crossovers.
Honda is re-evaluating its India plans and may convert one of its two plants into a research centre, local media reported.
Toyota and Suzuki have formed an alliance to share supply chain costs and develop new vehicle technologies together.
"Automakers want to exploit their existing resources, minimize their costs and maximize their returns," Gupta said.


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Your package will be shipped by FedEx, DHL, or UPS. Orders are shipped directly from our factory in plain brown boxes so no one will know what's inside.
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1. After placing an order, you will receive a confirmation email. And will receive another email after shipment, the detailed tracking information details will be included. 2. The Total Delivery time = processing time + shipping time. Processing Time = Period of time between the date an order is placed and when it is shipped. (1-2 days) Shipping Time = Period taken by a shipment to reach its intended destination and delivered to you. (7-12 days) 3. Our deliveries may be delayed as the global Covid situation remains severe. If your order is more than 5 business days late, please contact us at email@example.com
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Free shipping on orders over $39.No one wants to pay for shipping! Take advantage of our special offer today. If your order subtotal exceeds $39, shipping is free. This offer does not exclude any product, even on-sale sex toys, from free shipping!
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We can generally ship to most countries and regions worldwide, but remote charges may apply to individual locations. If the postal code for the area cannot be found on the courier system, we will not be able to ship.
Due to the private nature of the items we sell, we are unable to return or exchange purchased toys and products unless there is a defect. This is for the health, safety, and peace of mind of our customers. Any items intended to come into contact with any body part or bodily fluid are non-returnable and non-resellable. Once these items leave our warehouse, they will be considered used and therefore cannot be returned.
There are no reviews yet.


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IRS News:
The deadline to file Federal Income Tax Returns is midnight today, April 15.
The Internal Revenue Service is reminding taxpayers to review their tax returns for common errors that could delay the processing of their returns. Here are some ways to avoid common mistakes.
File electronically. Filing electronically, whether through e-file or IRS Free File, vastly reduces tax return errors, as the tax software does the calculations, flags common errors and prompts taxpayers for missing information. And best of all, there is a free option for everyone.
Mail a paper return to the right address. Paper filers should check the appropriate address where to file in IRS.gov or their form instructions to avoid processing delays.
Take a close look at the tax tables. When figuring tax using the tax tables, taxpayers should be sure to use the correct column for the filing status claimed.
Fill in all requested information clearly. When entering information on the tax return, including Social Security numbers, take the time to be sure it is correct and easy to read. Also, check only one filing status and the appropriate exemption boxes.
Review all figures. While software catches and prevents many errors on e-file returns, math errors remain common on paper returns.
Get the right routing and account numbers. Requesting direct deposit of a federal refund into one, two or even three accounts is convenient and allows the taxpayer access to his or her money faster. Make sure the financial institution routing and account numbers entered on the return are accurate. Incorrect numbers can cause a refund to be delayed or deposited into the wrong account.
Sign and date the return. If filing a joint return, both spouses must sign and date the return. E-filers can sign using a self-selected personal identification number (PIN).
Attach all required forms. Paper filers need to attach W-2s and other forms that reflect tax withholding, to the front of their returns. If requesting a payment agreement with the IRS, also attach Form 9465 to the front of the return. Attach all other necessary schedules and forms in sequence number order shown in the upper right-hand corner.
Keep a copy of the return. Once ready to be filed, taxpayers should make a copy of their signed return and all schedules for their records.
Request a Filing Extension. For taxpayers who cannot meet the April 15 deadline, requesting a filing extension is easy and will prevent late filing penalties. Either use Free File or Form 4868. But keep in mind that while an extension grants additional time to file, tax payments are still due April 15.
Owe tax? If so, a number of e-payment options are available. Or send a check or money order payable to the "United States Treasury."
Source: irs.gov


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Are you desperate to achieve the perfect butt and perhaps a fan of the occult? For just $8.95, you can achieve your dreams by buying one "Booty Enhancement Spell" from a "Powerful Wiccan Witch" on eBay. Hurry, supplies are limited!
Wondering how it all works? Allow "moonstruck9000" to explain:
Candles, herbs, oils, gemstones, and some other magical crap? There's no way this won't work! Though, just to be sure, you may want to order multiple castings. (It's unclear if this will make your buns bigger, or just more blindingly perfect.)
But don't take moonstruck9000's word for it. Have a look at all these unattributed and suspiciously similar reviews she includes in the ad:
Wait, so this spell will also make our butts pimple-free and help us win back the love of our middle school crushes? Or are those reviews for the other spells she's selling, including "rapid weight loss," "penis enhancement," and "wisdom of the ages"? (Moonstruck9000's "top-rated" status is making us question all eBay sellers.)
If you think this is all just a big joke, don't even bother contacting Moonstruck9000 — "serious inquiries only please." But of course, if her magic fails to give you a life-changing butt, you can always return it:
BOOTY ENHANCEMENT Spell Cast by Powerful Wiccan Witch [eBay]
Moonstruck900 Items [eBay]


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In late 2005, the 1st Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division's fabled 502nd Infantry Regiment deployed to a 330 sq. mi. ribbon of land south of Baghdad that was dubbed the "Triangle of Death." Underequipped and undermanned, the 1-502nd arrived in perhaps the most dangerous part of Iraq at its most dangerous moment.
Suffering from a particularly heavy death toll, a leadership vacuum and rapidly declining morale and discipline, four soldiers from the 1-502nd's 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, would perpetrate one of the worst war crimes known to have been committed by U.S. forces during the Iraq war, or any war for that matter. On March 12, 2006, Specialist Paul Cortez, Specialist James Barker, Private First Class Jesse Spielman and Private First Class Steven Green raped 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamzah Rashid al-Janabi and murdered her, her parents and her 6-year-old sister.
The first excerpt of TIME contributing editor Jim Frederick's new book, Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death, demonstrated Steven Green's downward psychological spiral. The second and final excerpt highlights how Green and his co-conspirators masterminded their crime ...
By the spring of 2006, the psychological isolation that 1st Platoon had been experiencing throughout the deployment was becoming nearly total. "First Platoon had become insane," declared platoon-member Sergeant John Diem flatly. "What does an infantry rifle platoon do? It destroys. That's what it's trained to do. Now turn that 90 degrees to the left, and let slip the leash, and it becomes something monstrous. It's not even aware of what it's doing."
Some of the mental states that the men described are well documented by psychologists studying the effect of combat on soldiers. The men talked about desensitization, how numbed they were to the violence. They passed around short, graphic, computer-video compilations of collected combat kills and corpses found in Iraq. Iraqis were not seen as humans. Many soldiers actively cultivated the dehumanization of locals as a secret to survival. "You can't think of these people as people," opined Sergeant Tony Yribe, another member of 1st Platoon. "If I see this old lady and say, 'Ah, she reminds me of grandmother,' but then she pulls out a f___ing bomb, I'm not going to react right." Children were considered insurgents or future insurgents, and women were little more than insurgent factories.
Specialist James Barker described the paradoxical yet typical swings combat-weary soldiers have between thinking they are doomed and thinking they are invincible. "I knew I was going to die, it was just a matter of time, so I just didn't care. I would run straight at somebody shooting at me instead of taking cover. That was my mentality: I'm already dead so, f___ it, what can anybody do to me? I'd gotten shot at so many times and blown up so many times, and hadn't taken a scratch that it's like, 'Oh, f___, I'm untouchable. I am a badass and nobody can f___ with me.' "


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Introducing the Accessible Computing Foundation
Assistive TechnologyBy
Assistive technologies may be the next major challenge for free software.
Asked why he is organizing the Accessible Computing Foundation (ACF), Jonathan Nadeau has a simple answer: "That's what free software is all about – empowering people who have otherwise been written off."
Nadeau knows first-hand what he is talking about. Blinded in a car accident as he started high school, he has spent the last two decades using assistive technologies – proprietary at first; free and open source for the last six years.
As Nadeau explains, the problem is not just that people with disabilities have trouble using ordinary software. The problem is that proprietary assistive software is predatory in its pricing, with many programs costing more than US$ 1,000 or more, putting them out of reach of many who who would benefit and who are often on a fixed income or unemployed.
"Most people who live on a fixed income don't even see that kind of money in a month. And I mean, 80 percent of blind people in the United States are unemployed. So usually, the only way people who have disabilities can get this software is through government assistance or non-government organizations that will purchase a copy of the software for them. It's really only win-win for the company, because there's limited funding, and only a small percentage of people can actually get the copy of the assistive technology they need to run a computer."
Already frustrated by this situation, Nadeau was inspired by a summer internship at the Free Software Foundation to begin the ACF. "Seeing how it functioned as a non-profit, that pushed me into high gear," he says. "I still talk to a lot of people who work for the FSF, and they've helped me to really get the ACF going."
The foundation has just filed for tax-exempt status in the United States and is in the process of appointing its board of directors. Besides Nadeau, the board so far includes Sina Bahram, who is doing graduate work on how to present information to the sight-impaired, and Bill Cox, a developer and entrepreneur with a long history of involvement in assistive technologies. Like Nadeau, both Bahram and Cox are blind, "which I feel is kind of important," Nadeau says. "I want people dependent on assistive technology steering the foundation. We all understand first hand how important assistive technology is and what kind of difference it can make."
For about a year now, the ACF has been working on the Sonar Project, a Linux distribution to support users with impaired sight and motor skills, dyslexics, and paraplegics. Fundraising and outreach in the free software community are also being planned now that the initial paperwork for the Foundation is complete.
Improving Free Software Accessibility
Asked how free software assistive technology measures up against proprietary solutions, Nadeau replies, "Right now, I would definitely say it's comparable. I came from using the screen reader JAWS when I first switched over to Linux, and, at that time, JAWS definitely had a bit better performance. But now Orca is definitely better than JAWS was when I was using it."
All the same, countless problems remain. For one thing, the state of assistive technology is changing so quickly that Sonar requires the most recent software possible. "You never want to to be behind, because there's always advances being made every six months, enhancements being made, or stability being improved."
That means that Ubuntu is becoming less and less reliable as the basis for Sonar. "Now that it's using Unity, it doesn't have all the latest stuff," Nadeau explains. "Some of the pieces of Gnome are old. I believe that Nautilus the file manager is the Gnome 3.6 version, and the Gnome Control Center is 3.8. The version of Orca is newer – it's 3.9 – but the package versions are all over the place. It's not really good for accessibility. I've been testing it out, and some parts of Orca and eSpeak [a speech synthesizer] aren't really getting along well. The voices are all chopped up and at some point Orca will just talk incoherently fast, and you have to restart it."
Nadeau is considering making the latest Gnome applications available via Launchpad, but Nadeau is seriously considering basing Sonar on Arch Linux, which uses a rolling release system. "There were a few packages that were not in the main Arch repository, and we gave them to the maintainers, and within a day they were in the repo. We're going to be way more flexible and customizable basing [Sonar] off Arch."
Another consideration is that most free software assistive technologies are designed for Gnome, which may require too many resources for the older computers that many people with disabilities are using. The ACF is currently working with the LXDE and Xfce desktops, but while progress is being made, the panel and its applets remain inaccessible. Similarly, in Fluxbox, the problem is its menu. Workarounds like defining keyboard shortcuts or starting applications from the command line are possible, but not ideal for inexperienced users.
An even more basic problem is an installer that people with disabilities can use. Debian offers an accessible installer, but Nadeau judges it "Not for the faint of heart. You have to be connected to the Internet, and you have to know how to partition your hard drive. You also need to know what packages you want and things like that." Even worse, it crashes if Orca is running at the same time. Currently, Sonar is relying on a command-line installer that does not require any selection of packages, but room for improvement is obvious.
Moreover, just because the basic desktop environment is installable does not mean that individual applications are usable. In LibreOffice, for example, Nadeau reports that "when I go to use the spellcheck, it won't actually tell me what word it's trying to correct. I can look at the list of words it gives me, but I don't actually know what word is misspelled. By looking at the list of suggestions, I can usually guess what the misspelled word is, but sometimes I might get it wrong."
Nadeau has talked with LibreOffice developers about making accessibility bugs a priority and of eventually creating an accessibility framework, but much remains to be done.
And so it goes for application after application. "Developers don't do these things on purpose," Nadeau says. "They just don't take these things into consideration. Assistive technology just isn't in the forefront of their thinking. I talk to developers and, 99 percent of the time, they say, 'I never thought of someone using my application that couldn't see [or] only had one good hand.' It's not that they don't care – it's just that it never crosses their minds. If you don't use accessibility software yourself, it's not at the forefront of your thinking. Yet a lot of applications that are inaccessible can be fixed rather quickly if they just put aside half an hour or an hour."
Raising Awareness
Besides making practical improvements, Nadeau is also hoping to be able to raise awareness of such issues. "I want to reach out to some of the assistive application community, saying, 'Hey, which [applications] are we using? Which ones are we having problems with? What can we improve on?' And I guess we can start reaching out to maintainers, and even starting to go to conferences like GUADEC, and possibly giving a talk explaining why accessibility is important. I mean, we're not trying to annoy you and make you spend more time on your software, but you can potentially have more people using your software."
Nadeau continues, "You have to bring awareness because, even in 2013, you get people who are just blown away, asking, 'How do you even use a computer?' When I talk about the number of people in the world who have disabilities, they're just blown away. There's over a billion people in the world with some kind of disability, 350 million with some kind of vision impairment. I mean, that's a whole United States. And if we can bring computing to these people, who knows who's going to write the next great web application? Or the next great mobile operating system? Who knows what potential is locked up in these people who can't even use a computer right now?"
The questions are rhetorical, but the implications as practical as they could be. Accessibility is a little-known but major issue for computing – and if the ACF is right, free software is exactly the community that can tackle it.
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Jade + Raymond engagement
Jade + Raymond are such a stunning couple! What an absolute joy is was to create romantic and beautiful photos to celebrate their engagement. We are so happy for them and their future together! They made our job so easy as it was clear to us they love each other and also have a lot of style! Can't wait to work with you both this August <3 Ken + LauraRead More


text: A critical vulnerability that could allow remote attackers to access sensitive enterprise log-in credentials and other data was fixed last week in Crowd, a single sign-on (SSO) and identity management tool used by large organizations to simplify access to their internal Web applications and services. According to Atlassian, the Sydney-based software company that develops Crowd, the product is used by around 1,000 organizations in 55 countries, including large banks, car manufacturers, government agencies, telecommunication companies, software firms, online services providers, universities and others.Crowd can be used to link identities between Active Directory, LDAP and other directory services; Atlassian's popular bug tracking, collaboration, project management and code repository tools; third party services like Google Apps, Apache or Subversion, and custom in-house developed Web applications.The newly patched vulnerability stems from the way in which Crowd parses external XML entities defined in Document Type Definition (DTD) headers and is a variation of a vulnerability known as CVE-2012-2926 that was reported and patched back in 2012, researchers from security consultancy firm Command Five said Friday in a security advisory.An attacker can exploit the vulnerability by sending requests with specially crafted entity URLs in order to trick the server into returning any file from the internal network that it has access to, including its own configuration files that contain unencrypted credentials, or to initiate a denial-of-service attack that would make the server inaccessible to users.The 2012 vulnerability, for which an exploit module already exists in the Metasploit penetration testing tool, was fixed in Crowd 2.4.1. However, that patch only blocks external entities defined in requests sent to Crowd URLs that end in "\/services," the Command Five researchers said.Versions of Crowd up to and including 2.6.2 continue to process entities defined in DTD headers for requests that are sent to URLs ending in "\/services\/2" or "\/services\/latest," which re-enables the exploit, they said. "With a two character change to the targeted URL the Metasploit module is again 'fully armed and operational'."The new issue has been assigned the CVE-2013-3925 identifier and was fixed in the latest stable version of the product, Crowd 2.6.3, that was released on June 24. According to the corresponding entry in Atlassian's bug tracker, the vulnerability has also been fixed in versions 2.5.4 and 2.7."Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can (but does not necessarily) lead to a hacker taking full control of an organization's single sign-on service, potentially resulting in a catastrophic security event," the Command Five researchers said in their advisory. At the very least, successful exploitation is likely to enable attackers to expand their unauthorized access within the targeted organization, they said.Organizations that expose their Crowd installations to the Internet in order to enable remote authentication for employees or affiliates are at increased risk of suffering a security breach, the researchers said.Aside from this patched vulnerability, Command Five is also aware of at least another critical vulnerability in Atlassian Crowd that hasn't been fixed yet. That vulnerability could be classified as a backdoor and allows unauthenticated attackers to take full control of any Crowd server they can access over the network, the researchers said.Successful exploitation of the yet-to-be-patched vulnerability "invariably results" in the compromise of all active Crowd application credentials, user credentials, accessible data storage, configured directories and dependent secure systems, they said.Atlassian patched the first vulnerability -- identified as CVE-2013-3925 -- in a maintenance release of Crowd in June, but was unable to substantiate the existence of the second alleged vulnerability, designated CVE-2013-3926, Atlassian spokeswoman Catherine Norman said Monday via email. "The author of the report has not contacted Atlassian, making it difficult to validate the claim.""While we've been unable to confirm the existence of the second vulnerability, we take it seriously and have reached out to the author directly for more details," Norman said. "If we can confirm there is a vulnerability, a patch will be issued and all Crowd customers will be emailed details for how to update."


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We're hardwired to play games. We play them for fun. We play them in our social interactions. We play them at work.
That last one is tricky. "Games" and "work" don't seem like a natural pairing. Their coupling in the workplace either implies goofing off (the fun variant) or office politics (the not-so-fun type).
Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo, co-authors of the upcoming book Gamestorming, have a different perspective. They contend that an embrace and understanding of game mechanics can yield benefits in many work environments, particularly those where old hierarchical models are no longer applicable.
In the following Q&A, Gray discusses the collaborative power of games and how they can cut through increasing workplace complexity.
What is Gamestorming?
Dave Gray: Gamestorming is a set of collaboration practices that originated in Silicon Valley in the 1970s and has been evolving ever since. It's an approach that emphasizes quick, ad-hoc organization of teams so they can rapidly co-design and co-develop ideas. As my co-authors and I observed these practices, they seemed to look more like games than any other form of work we were familiar with. Hence the term "gamestorming."
Is each of us playing some sort of game all the time?
DG: In a sense we're always playing games of one sort or another. "Game" is a big word that can have many meanings. For example, "game-playing," "gaming the system," "getting your head in the game," and so on.
In this context, games are simply a way to put structure around the chaos of creative work. The game rules are a way of distributing information into the space you are working in, and distributing power equally among the people in a group. They are a method for flattening hierarchy, increasing engagement, and just generally speeding things up.
Does Gamestorming require specific skills?
DG: Gamestorming is primarily a mindset. It's an approach to work that's about engaging people in collaboratory activities. It's not a game if people are forced to play, so you need to have people and projects that stir people's curiosity and emotion. The Gamestorming skills are synthesizing and social skills, like visualization, improvisation, good listening and language skills.
Can games apply in any organization? Or, are there jobs and industries where it's less effective?
DG: Gamestorming is a great approach when you are entering into unknown territory, when you need to imagine or design for the future, and when you need to tap creative energy. What games are best at is facilitating collaboration and innovation. Where the work is predictable, or where you want consistency, games are not the solution. You don't want people playing too many games in the accounting department.
What is the relationship between complexity and game mechanics?
DG: The world is only getting more complex, and the more complex a system gets the less predictable it is. Games are a way to create simplified systems that mirror the real world. Plus, they're a safe place to try out various scenarios and see what kinds of results are possible. You can tweak one or two variables and see how that affects the system.
How has workplace motivation changed as we've moved into a knowledge economy?
DG: In a traditional industrial setting, say, a factory, it's easy to see what everybody is doing and how what they do fits into the bigger picture. It's easy to see when people are working and when they are slacking off.
But in a knowledge economy, where people are all moving symbols around on screens, and many work from home or the road, it's harder to coordinate the work. Fundamentally, in a knowledge economy, you want people to be creative. That means you need them to be interested, passionate and engaged. The modern cubicle layout and the intangibility of the work makes it difficult. You need to find ways to make it easier for people to share their work and the excitement they have for it. You need to fan the flames.


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YouTube added several new features to its video streaming service including the ability to convert your 2D video to 3D format. I'm not sure why you would want to, but now you can.
Taylor Lorenz Talks "Extremely Online"
YouTube users will also be able to mix it up with two new video editing tools, vlix and Magisto. Vlix lets you add effects and text to the beginning and the end of your videos, while Magisto takes a longer video and breaks it up into smaller, fun clips.
YouTube also opened up the floodgates for long-form video by allowing all verified users to upload videos longer than 15 minutes long. [YouTube via TechCrunch]


text:
|Home Cooking Products Cooking Ranges Freestanding Ranges Gas Ranges Viking Professional 5 Series VGR5366BBK
+ Product Information
Brand: VIKING
Model: VGR5366BBK
+ Appearance
Color: Black
Cooktop: Sealed
+ Microwave Features
Convection: Yes
+ Dimensions
Width: 35.875
Depth: 28.6875
Height: 37.0
+ Oven Features
Hidden Bake Element: No
Proofing: No
Convection: Yes
Self-Cleaning: No
+ Technical Details
Energy Star Rated: No
ADA Compliant: No
Viking vgr5366bbk
In the 70's Fred Carl Jr., a fourth generation building contractor was building kitchens for his clients and saw many of them used commercial ranges in their home. When it was time for him to build his own kitchen, he realized the commercial ranges that were offered were not well suited for the home. His wife wanted a classic looking range like the old Chambers, her mother used to use. His solution was to create a hybrid range that would combine the look and styling of commercial ranges and yet have the safety features and sizes home consumers desired.
Consistency in both performance and design should be a major consideration when building or remodeling a home. With the complete Viking indoor or outdoor kitchen, every single product works together in form and function with the same level of excellence. It's something Viking calls Design Integrity.
Viking offers complete ultra-premium kitchens and truly consistent design, while delivering the quality and performance that make Viking the true market leader. Across all product categories, the knobs, handles, bezels, curves, angles, and lines all follow the same design cues â even the grain of stainless is the same from product to product. This enables the designer to create a perfectly harmonious kitchen in one of three Viking product offerings â Professional Indoor, D3 Indoor, or Professional Outdoor.
You wouldn't install mismatched cabinets and drawers or countertops. Yet design differences are even more dramatic between multiple appliance manufacturers. Traditional or contemporary. Stainless or color finish. No matter the look you're going for, no one can match the Viking kitchen and Viking Design Integrity.
Viking Ranges
CA Residents: Prop 65 WARNING
Vsh Pro Sealed Burner System
Cook like a pro with up to 18,500 BTUs and infinite settings of easy-to-clean high performance sealed burners. Combination of unique patented burner and surface design provides cleanability plus superior performance at any temperature setting
Varisimmer Setting
The VariSimmer Setting on ALL burners provides gentle, even simmering at precisely low cooking temperatures
Porcelainized Cooking Surface
Keep spills in one place with the raised edges of our exclusive one-piece tooled porcelainized cooking surface. Raised edges around perimeter seal top to completely contain spills. Porcelanized for easy cleaning, durability and long lasting finish
Surespark Ignition System
The exclusive SureSpark Ignition System ensures automatic ignition/re-ignition should the burners extinguish any time while cooking
Gourmet-glo Gas Infrared Broiler
Lock in all the savory juices of even the thickest porterhouse with the intense heat of the restaurant-quality Gourmet-Glo Infrared Broiler. Intense heat from broiler sears meats and fish locking in juices
Proflow Convection Baffle
Bake breads and cakes to lofty perfection with the incredibly even heat circulation of the ProFlow Convection Baffle system. Each Pro Flow Baffle has been engineered specifically for each oven cavity to maximize even cooking
Commercial-type Cooking Power
Exclusive! VSH (VariSimmer-to-high) Pro Sealed Burner System
•Front right burner equipped with TruPower Plus 18,500 BTU burner (6B All Burner model only)
•Other burners equipped with 15,000 BTU's
•Exclusive! VariSimmer setting for all burners
•Exclusive! All burners equipped with SureSpark Ignition System for consistent and reliable ignition
•Automatic re-ignition; surface burners light at any position on the knob and re-light if extinguished even on lowest setting
•Exclusive! Combination of single 30,000 BTU U-shaped burner and infrared broiler with SureSpark Ignition System
•GourmetGlo Infrared Broiler provides intense searing heat for broiling applications
•NEW BlackChrome Metal Knobs ship standard
•NEW SoftLit LED lights accent the control panel and illuminate knobs
•NEW Exclusive GentleClose Door allows the door to slowly close
•NEW larger window opening
•Extremely large convection oven
•Overall 29"W. x 16 1/8"H. x 18 3/4";D. – 5.1 cubic feet
•AHAM Standard 29"W. x 16 1/8"H. x 18 3/4";D. – 5.1 cubic feet
•NEW Fits full size commercial baking sheet
•Six functions - natural airflow bake, convection bake, infrared broil, convection infrared broil, convection dehydrate and convection defrost
•All convection functions utilize the ProFlow Convection Air Baffle, which is specifically designed to ensure balanced airflow for even heat distribution
•Convection fan switch conveniently located on control panel
•Two halogen oven lights for excellent visibility throughout the oven cavity
Easy Operation And Cleanup
One piece tooled and porcelainized cooking surface for easy clean up
•Burner caps are easily removable for quick cleaning
•Heavy-duty, porcelainized, cast-iron removable surface grates provide continuous front-to-rear, left-to-right surface for easy movement of large pots
Griddle/simmer Plate (4g Model Only)
Commercial-grade, machined steel construction with Blanchard finish to retain cooking oils for stick-resistant cooking
•Thermostatically controlled for precise temperatures
•Grease trough holds 2 1/2 cups of liquid and can be easily removed from the front of the griddle for cleaning


text:
the night I was going to die
I was sweating on the bed
and I could hear the crickets
and there was a cat fight outside
and I could feel my soul dropping down through the
and just before it hit the floor I jumped up
I was almost too weak to walk
but I walked around and turned on all the lights
and then I went back to bed
and dropped it down again and
I was up
turning on all the lights
I had a 7-year-old daughter
and I felt sure she wouldn't want me dead
otherwise it wouldn't have
but all that night
nobody phoned
nobody came by with a beer
my girlfriend didn't phone
all I could hear were the crickets and it was
and I kept working at it
getting up and down
until the first of the sun came through the window
through the bushes
and then I got on the bed
and the soul stayed
inside at last and
I slept.
now people come by
beating on the doors and windows
the phone rings
the phone rings again and again
I get great letters in the mail
hate letters and love letters.
everything is the same again.


text:
Support the County Theater - See Saint Frances
As you know, due to the global pandemic, the County Theater is currently closed, but that doesn't mean they don't still need your support. This past weekend, they were set to open Saint Frances, a charming, award-winning film which the Washington Post called "a welcome, earnest spin on the coming-of-age tale."
Though Saint Frances will not be available for rental or sale for several months, we wanted to make it accessible to you now, in congress with the County Theater, for home viewing. For the price of one movie ticket, you will receive a link to the film, which is viewable on any internet-connected device, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. (Instructions on how to view it on your television via AppleTV and Chromecast will also be available).


text:
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Frank Thomas choked back tears, Joe Torre apologized for leaving people out of his speech and Tony La Russa said he felt uneasy.
Being enshrined in the Hall of Fame can have those effects, even on the greats.
Thomas, pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, and managers Bobby Cox, Torre and La Russa were inducted into the baseball shrine Sunday, and all paid special tribute to their families before an adoring crowd of nearly 50,000.
"I'm speechless. Thanks for having me in your club," Thomas said, getting emotional as he remembered his late father. "Frank Sr., I know you're watching. Without you, I know 100 percent I wouldn't be here in Cooperstown today. You always preached to me, 'You can be someone special if you really work at it.' I took that to heart, Pop."
"Mom, I thank you for all the motherly love and support. I know it wasn't easy."
The 46-year old Thomas, the first player elected to the Hall who spent more than half of his time as a designated hitter, batted .301 with 521 home runs and 1,704 RBIs in a 19-year career mostly with the Chicago White Sox. He's the only player in major league history to log seven straight seasons with a .300 average, 20 homers, 100 RBIs and 100 walks.
Ever the diplomat as a manager, Torre somehow managed to assuage the most demanding of owners in George Steinbrenner, maintaining his coolness amid all the Bronx craziness while keeping all those egos in check after taking over in 1996. The result: 10 division titles, six AL pennants and four World Series triumphs in 12 years as he helped restore the luster to baseball's most successful franchise and resurrected his own career after three firings.
Torre, the only man to amass more than 2,000 hits (2,342) and win more than 2,000 games as a manager, was last to speak, and in closing delivered a familiar message.
"Baseball is a game of life. It's not perfect, but it feels like it is," said the 74-year-old Torre, who apologized afterward for forgetting to include the Steinbrenner family in his speech. "That's the magic of it. We are responsible for giving it the respect it deserves. Our sport is part of the American soul, and it's ours to borrow -- just for a while."
"If all of us who love baseball and are doing our jobs, then those who get the game from us will be as proud to be a part of it as we were. And we are. This game is a gift, and I am humbled, very humbled, to accept its greatest honor."
The day was a reunion of sorts for the city of Atlanta. Glavine, Maddux and Cox were part of a remarkable run of success by the Braves. They won an unprecedented 14 straight division titles and made 15 playoff appearances, winning the city's lone major professional sports title.
"I'm truly humbled to stand here before you," Cox said. "To Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, and I have to mention the third member of the big three -- John Smoltz -- I can honestly say I would not be standing here if it weren't for you guys."
Smoltz, part of the MLB Network telecast of the event and eligible for induction next year, flashed a smile in return for the compliment.
Glavine was on the mound when the Braves won Game 6 to clinch the 1995 World Series, pitching one-hit ball over eight innings in a 1-0 victory over Cleveland. And the slender lefty was one of those rare athletes, drafted by the Braves and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League.
"I had a difficult choice to make, and as a left-handed pitcher I thought that was the thing that would set me apart and make baseball the smartest decision," Glavine said. "Of course, I always wondered what would have happened had I taken up hockey."
"In my mind, since I was drafted ahead of two Hall of Famers in Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull, that obviously means I would have been a Hall of Famer in hockey, too," Glavine chuckled as the crowd cheered. "But I'm positive I made the right choice."
The 48-year-old Maddux went 355-227 with a career ERA of 3.16 in 23 seasons with the Braves, Cubs, Padres and Dodgers and ranks eighth on the career wins list. He won four straight Cy Young Awards in the 1990s and won 15 or more games for 17 straight seasons with his pinpoint control.
"I spent 12 years in Chicago, 11 in Atlanta, and both places are very special," Maddux said. "Without the experiences in both cities, I would not be standing here today."
La Russa, who ranks third in career victories as a manager with 2,728, behind only Connie Mack and John McGraw, was chosen manager of the year four times and won 12 division titles, six pennants and three World Series titles in stints with the White Sox, Oakland A's and St. Louis Cardinals.
La Russa spoke from the heart. There was no written speech.
"It's uncomfortable because I didn't make it as a player. Not even close," said La Russa, who made his big league debut as a teenage infielder with the 1963 Kansas City Athletics and appeared in just 132 games over six seasons, hitting .199 with no home runs. "Since December, I have not been comfortable with it. There's no way to mention everybody, and that bothers me."
"From managing parts of two years in the minor leagues, after thinking about all the other young managers who paid a lot of dues in the minor leagues and I get a chance and then I go into the big leagues with three organizations," he said. "All that equates to me is I'm very, very fortunate. I've never put my arms around the fact that being really lucky is a Hall of Fame credential."


text:
September 9, 2013
Burial Date
Obituaries » LINDA SPRAGUE
SPRAGUE, PROFESSOR LINDA GREINER, of Cambridge, Mass., a pioneer in the fields of Industrial Management and Executive Education, died September 9 at Belmont Manor in Belmont, Mass. Linda was born in Barre, to Rachel Bilodeau Greiner and Ernst (Dan) Greiner. Even as a young child, she was fascinated by the manufacturing side of her family's granite business. After graduating from Spaulding High School in 1956 as valedictorian, Linda enrolled at MIT as one of a very few women among 7,000 students, and one of even fewer studying Industrial Management. Linda served as Editor-in-Chief of MIT's student paper, managed the student radio station, and won MIT's Karl Taylor Compton Award for service to the Institute, all three "firsts" for a woman. At MIT, she met her future husband, Christopher Sprague. After earning an MBA from Boston University in 1967, she became the third woman ever admitted to Harvard Business School's Doctoral program, at a time when women were still not allowed to teach there. While still at Harvard, Linda was hired at the graduate business school at the University of New Hampshire (formerly the Whittemore School). As a Professor of Operations Management, she would ultimately enrich UNH for three decades with her global perspective. In 1977, Chris suffered a massive stroke that would leave him physically incapacitated and hospitalized for 28 years until his death. Linda personally involved herself in his treatment plan, building on the medical knowledge she gained while doing her dissertation on capacity planning for hospitals. Demonstrating her characteristic resolve, she pressed ahead with her work to provide for her children, and to ensure that Chris would always have the best possible care. Linda's enduring relationship with China began in 1980, when she was invited by the U.S. Commerce Department to join a team of U.S. professors to create China's first formal management training program in Dalian. The year 1980 was an extraordinary time to be in China, not long after the end of the Cultural Revolution. While in Dalian, Linda took every opportunity to learn about China's manufacturing base by getting right onto the factory floor. Linda was never happier than when she donned her hard hat and watched the manufacturing "action" up close. Linda spent most of the next two decades teaching at UNH, while also teaching at and creating partnerships with European universities including IMD in Switzerland, Cranfield in England, and IESE in Barcelona. She also consulted extensively for clients large and small around the world. At UNH she would develop several important programs, including the Executive MBA Program and Manchester Manufacturing Management Center. She would be named Professor Emerita in 2006. In 1997, Linda was invited to join the faculty of the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai (CEIBS). At CEIBS, Linda taught and held key positions which contributed to the school's development: writing CEIBS' Articles of Association, serving as the first Chair of the Accreditation Committee, and writing its Strategic Plan. When Linda left in 2007, she was named the first professor Emerita of CEIBS. Throughout her career, Linda devoted tremendous energy to professional organizations dedicated to developing the implementation and teaching of industrial management best practices, including the Decision Sciences Institute and the International Society for Inventory Research. She was proud to be named a Fellow and serve as President of both bodies. After her retirement, Linda returned to her home in Cambridge, Mass. In 2011, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and moved to an assisted living facility in Cambridge, where she lived comfortably until shortly before her death. Linda's husband Chris died in 2005. She is survived by her son, James Sprague and wife Kim in Massachusetts; daughter Barbara Naeger and husband, John, of New Hampshire; and five grandchildren. Memorial services will be held at a later date.


text:
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The triple-digit temperatures and lack of rain in Kansas this past week came at a critical time in row crop development.
Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service on Monday reported declines in the condition of the state's major spring-planted crops.
Among the hardest hit is the Kansas corn crop with 43 percent of it now rated in poor to very poor condition and just 18 percent in good and 1 percent in excellent condition.
Other crops also are struggling with 12 percent of the state considered to have adequate topsoil moisture.
About 33 percent of soybeans and 37 percent of sorghum crops were rated in poor to very poor condition.
Meanwhile, stock water supplies also are drying up with 51 percent reported short to very short.