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Sunday, 23 October 2011
Vegan pad see ew - with tofu omelette
Eats Well With Others. Joanne had removed the meat. I wanted to veganise her recipe completely. I considered leaving out the egg. Then I wondered about making a tofu omelette instead.
I had a few other hiccups. The tofu didn't get crispy as I expected. It was rather tasty though. I forgot to add garlic. I used umeboshi vinegar to add a bit of fish-sauce-like piquancy (so I have been told) to the soy sauce. At one point I accidentally found myself shaking a few drops of worcestershire sauce rather than umeboshi vinegar. When you are in a hurry the bottles all look the same.
Other Asian-style noodle dishes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Avocado, pickled ginger and tofu soba noodle salad
Fried ginger rice noodles
Mee Goreng
Miso soup with tofu, vegetables and noodles
Pumpkin and Tofu Laksa
Tamarind Tempeh with Noodles
Thai Style Salad with Noodles
Pad Thai
Vegan Pad See Ew
Adapted from Eats Well With Others
Serves 4
320g packet of firm tofu, pressed and cut into large dice
3 tsp soy sauce (tamari for gluten free)
1 tsp umeboshi vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp canola oil
200g (1 packet) flat rice noodles
1 tsp canola oil
1 tbsp soy sauce (tamari for gluten free)
splash of umeboshi vinegar
450g (about 1 lb) broccoli, chopped
1-2 capsicums, sliced (I used a mix of red, green and yellow)
2 spring onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp canola oil
To bring together:
1 serving of vegan omelette (see below), chopped
2-3 tbsp kecap manis (or soy sauce and brown sugar)
2-3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
Firstly prepare tofu. I used a firm tofu that didn't need pressing but if you need to press it for about 30 minutes, do this first. Then mix soy sauce, umeboshi vinegar and sesame oil and marinate the tofu in this mixture for about 15 minutes. When the tofu is ready, fry in canola oil over high heat until the tofu is darkened and slightly charred around the edges. This will take a bit of time but mine never got crispy as I expected. Set tofu aside. [You could prepare the omelette while the tofu is pressing and marinating.]
Next turn your attention to the noodles: Soak dried noodles for about 20 minutes in hot water. (Or follow instructions on your packet - I soaked mine about 15 minutes and had to add a bit of water to soften the noodles while frying.) Heat oil over medium high to high heat. Add noodles and toss to coat with oil. Add soy sauce and vinegar. Fry noodles until crisp around the edges. Mine were really clumpy - maybe because they were still a bit dry so I added a little water which loosened them up. Set aside.
Meanwhile lightly steam or microwave broccoli and capsicums separately.
Heat oil in frypan. Add steamed vegetables, spring onion, garlic, tofu, noodles and chopped omelette. Splash in 1-2 tbsp each of soy sauce and kecap manis or soy sauce and 1 tsp brown sugar. Stirfry the whole lot briefly until warmed through and some of the sauce is absorbed. Some of the tofu omelette will break down a little. Check seasoning and add more as required. Serve hot.
* Note: instead of noodles you could cook rice and add to the pan (or wok) when you add cooked tofu, vegies and seasoning. Of course then it would not be pad see ew which means "soy sauce fried noodles" in Thailand.
Vegan omelette
Adapted from Fat Free Vegan
equivalent of 2 eggs
150g silken tofu
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon arrowroot (or potato starch or cornflour)
1 teaspoon almond butter (or tahini)
1/4 teaspoon onion granules
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 shake of smoked paprika (optional)
about 1 tsp olive oil
I blended it all together in a small blender attachment to my hand held blender and poured it into large frypan that had been sprayed with oil and heated over high heat. I covered and fried for 2-4 minutes So far so good. If all you want is an omelette. Then I folded it and it looked good but too soft so I just tried to flip it over to fry on the other side and that is where the trouble began. I added oil. I pushed it around with the eggflip (spatula) which just got covered in more and more goo. Finally I just let it cool in a bowl. It dried a bit as it cooled, which made it easier to carefully cut it into dice size chunks.
On the Stereo:
Peter and Sophia: Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren
Vegan Month of Food October 2011. Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more Vegan MoFo posts.
10 comments:
You can't think of anything else? Try being served my dad's kidney omelette as an eight year old. THAT'S worse.ReplyDelete
Wish I could go back in time and eat this instead!
I've had this recipe bookmarked from Joanne's blog, so I am super excited that you veganized it!! I was already planning on fixing a version without fish sauce... but you went all the way! Yay! :-) Your tofu omelet is fantastic!!ReplyDelete
Yum! Authentic or not, it looks delicious.ReplyDelete
YUM YUM YUM! Pad see ew is one of my favourites!ReplyDelete
I think the noodles look perfect Johanna!ReplyDelete
Looks like a great result even if you had hiccups along the way! I have had problems with tofu omlette recipes too, the ones that have worked out the best for me have used some chickpea flour.ReplyDelete
Not a bad effort at all! Sometimes I think non-traditional dishes are the best sort, and this would fall into that category in my mind.ReplyDelete
It's great that you're giving these a go and I can imagine it's quite a challenge veganising a recipe and then some! It looks good!ReplyDelete
Thanks Hannah - kidney omelette sounds like my worst nightmare (apologies to your dad)ReplyDelete
Thanks Astra - that made me laugh when you said I went all the way - sounds like extreme cooking :-) hope you enjoy it
Thanks Cakelaw - give me taste over authenticity
Thanks Lisa - I'd never heard of it before but I now understand why you love it
Thanks Anh - they tasted good
Thanks Mel - after trying chickpea flour in fritatta I can imagine it would work better in an omelette - but for a change I had more silken tofu than chickpea flour
Thanks Kari - I love non-traditional - esp as so many tradition don't fit my diet
Thanks Lorraine - it was a challenge but the outcome was worth it
Your version of pad see ew sounds delicious to me! I've never thought to use umeboshi vinegar in place of fish sauce - that's a great idea. My friend bought me some vegetarian fish sauce but I haven't used it yet.ReplyDelete
Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)


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Story highlights
"Finding Nemo" is about a clownfish's quest to rescue his son
In real life, one clownfish changes sex when they pair up
Biologist wonders would it be so bad if kids learned that in a fun cartoon
There is a movie sequel planned for 2015
Leave it to a scientist to spoil the fun about a cartoon fish.
"Finding Nemo" was the Oscar-winning, box office animated smash about a clownfish who goes after his young son, who's been plucked from the sea and ends up in a fish tank in a dentist's office.
Rare is the child who hasn't seen the movie. So wouldn't it be something if the film or its upcoming sequel accurately depicted the life of a clownfish, writes Patrick Cooney of The Fisheries Blog.
Cooney knows his stuff. He's a fish biologist at North Carolina State University with 15 years of experience. His blog post Monday wondered if it would be so bad if Disney showed how clownfish often change sex.
Yes, in real life, Nemo might become a woman.
Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, which helps keeps the species going by keeping the number of adult females and males fairly equal.
All young clownfish become male. And after they pair off, the dominant dude becomes a female.
(Spoiler alert)
This means that if Nemo's mom is killed (as are most of the clownfish) and Nemo hangs out with his dad after they are reunited, then one of them is going to become a woman (likely dad). Or if dad gets fished, then Nemo might become a girl when he pairs off with another male.
"Although a much different storyline, it still sounds like a crazy adventure!" Cooney writes below the headline "Finding Nemo lied to your kids."
Actually it sounds like he was just trying to use "Finding Nemo" for a little fish education.
"We are just having some fun here pointing out the crazy life cycle of clownfish while associating it with something people are familiar with…Finding Nemo," the blog says in the comments (which correctly point out that fish don't actually talk).
Perhaps there's still time the to work the lesson into the sequel, "Finding Dory," which is due in 2015.

subset: commoncrawl


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Christmas is a season to reflect on the past and hope in the future. Wish your dear Dad a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with this thoughtful Christmas greeting card. Send a Christmas card full of holiday blessings and wishes for peace and love and joy. A special Christmas message may be just what your Dad needs about now.


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I've been wanting to do this post for a while since I talk a lot about disability in books on my blog and have the list of sci-fi/fantasy books with disability and everything, but let me tell you, there are NOT a lot of book covers out there that show any sort of visible disability on them. Especially sci-fi/fantasy books, which is what I like to focus on. A lot of disabilities are invisible, and half the time, even when they aren't, the covers don't show them.
But I did manage to find some! Credit goes to this post at Disability in KidLit about disability on book covers for helping me find a few I hadn't found on my own. (It's also just a great post that you should check out.) I haven't read all these books though, so I make no claims as to how accurate or good the portrayal of disability in the story is. This post is solely about sharing some great covers that show disability 🙂
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
All of these are pretty (especially the Italian Edition which is the first one) and so fantasy-esque. Plus they all show the character's walking stick!
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
I saw this cover a million times and never even noticed the prosthetic arm until it was pointed out. And the cover has unique, colorful artwork!
The Ledberg Runestone by Patrick Donovan
This one has a character with a cane, plus that pretty, glowy, magical urban fantasy look. The bright colors really attract the eye!
The Least by Michael John Grist
A man in a wheelchair facing down zombies, you don't see that very often in books! I like the silhouette look and the whole post-apoc feel.
Left Alive #2 by Jeremy Laszlo
I like the artwork, not to mention the post-apoc-style homemade hand replacement.
The Antagonists Series by Burgandi Rakoska
These are so pretty!
Life as a Teenage Vampire by Amanda Meuwissen
I like the artwork on this one too, and there's so much detail in the prosthetic.
Synthesis: Weave by Deane Saunders-Stowe
To be honest, I didn't even notice the guy climbing the side of the mountain with his wheelchair until I looked at a large version of the cover, but I love that! And the whole cover looks great and crisp and has an awesome sci-fi vibe, even the text.
My Favorite #1:
Night Sky by Suzanne Brockmann
I love the faded look and the use of silhouettes.
My Favorite #2:
The Ables by Jeremy Scott
Again, I love the use of silhouettes, but I also love the stark color contrast in this one, the font, and the placement of the text!
Talk to me!
Which book cover featuring disability is YOUR favorite?
Your Thoughts
51 thoughts on "Cover Characteristics: Book Covers featuring Disability"
I'd love if you'd share your thoughts, too!
I think Synthesis Weave is my favorite, it has that photorealistic yet otherwordly vibe that I'm drawn to. And I like the third Odd and the Frost Giants cover too, where the giant almost seems like part of the landscape. Night Sky is awesome too, I do like that kind of weathered look. Plus the silhouettes and greenish tint.
Nice idea. I backed the Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Anthology on Kickstarter last year. Their goal was to reach $22,000. They smashed it and raised $57,000! I can't wait to read it. I think it drops in September. Keep an eye out for it.
Now that you mention it, there really are few covers that show a disability. The only cover I can think of from the top of my head is one of the Amanda Lester books that show side character Ivy with dark glasses and her guide dog on it. Which is still pretty subtle. And I have read a few books with a prosthetic or cyborg part on the cover, like Erin Hayes' sci-fi books. Although I am sure there are more books I've read with disability on the cover that I can't think of right now.
I've seen that Nimano cover quite often, but never realized there was a prosthetic on it. And now that I know it seems so obvious. The cover for The Ledberg Runestone is great, and I like how it's such a clear urban fantasy cover with all the colors and also show the disability. The covers for the Antagonists books are great too! They really catch the eye and they seem so romantic somehow. The Night Sky cover is well done with those silhouettes and that somehow makes the wheelchair even more obvious.
I think you've nailed it Kristen with your particular choice which is lovely. I was going to suggest the cover for 'Among Others' by Jo Walton which features a protagonist with a heavy limp, but only the Polish cover has the girl leaning on a stick… And also the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold features the hero as being suffering congenital birth defects, those don't make it onto any of the covers…
These are so great! Because you're right, book covers don't portray characters with disability often. I'm definitely going to check out The Ledberg Runestone because I LOVE urban fantasy!
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy
Great post, Kristen! I think it's tough to portray disability without making it too obvious, especially when the story is fantasy or sci-fi. My favorite series with a disability is Mishell Baker's Borderline, which features a double amputee protagonist. But the covers do not illustrate this, unfortunately.
Rebeccah @ The Pixie Chronicles
Wow, what a wonderful idea for a post! I admit, there were some covers that I didn't even notice the disability rep until you pointed them out. But either way, I still think the concept of sharing these kinds of covers is amazing and really fresh since I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that before.
Olivia Roach
I remember when I first ever saw the book Night Sky in a review, it struck me because it had a person with a disability on the cover! Having them as silhouettes was very effective. It has left its impression on me since and I fully intend to read it. I'm always looking for more books with characters with physical disabilities as well.
Let's Get Beyond Tolerance
You're right – these things aren't usually shown on actual book covers, and I hate that. I've seen The Ables and Nimona, but I never realized there was a prosthetic arm on the latter either! Love it!
Tizzy Brown
This is great! I couldn't even think of one cover featuring someone with a disability, but I'm glad there are some out there. We definitely need a wider variety of disabilities to be represented in fiction.
Lilyn G
I've actually read The Ables (the only one on this list) and really liked it. Unfortunately, I liked it a lot more until someone pointed out that their disabilities were all effectively overcome within pages, making the whole point of having them be disabled kind of pointless.
"Oh look, we have disabled characters —- chapter later — but that has absolutely no effect because look how they've overcome it!"
Still, was an entertaining story.
Bookworm Brandee
Wow! These are great covers and I would've never thought about how difficult it would be to find covers that display disabilities. :/ I didn't see the guy hanging from the side of the mountain in the cover for Synthesis: Weave either. I'm glad you pointed it out. 🙂 I really like the cover for The Ledberg Runestone – that guy is rocking his cane. But I think I'll have to agree with you on The Ables. Not only is the cover cool but I really like the title. 😉
I haven't read any of these books but I've seen Nimona and didn't even notice that! Wow! These covers are so cool…I especially like The Least 😮
The Orangutan Librarian
This is such an interesting topic- and all these covers are stunning. I've really wanted to read Nimona for a while and I really love the cover for Ables!
This is a wonderful collection of covers, Kristin — I am liking the Antagonists the best I think.
Stephanie Jane
In a random coincidence my LitFlits featured book today, Necessities by Boyd Taylor, shows disability on its cover and I love the image too.
But I'm struggling to think of any other books I've read that do the same. This is one of those 'now that you mention it' thoughtful posts
I'm so happy about covers these days. It seems like they are finally catching up with reality (and the content of the story). and readers are buying them!
If you hadn't pointed out that these all showed people with disabilities, I would never have noticed!!!!
Some really good covers here.
These are great covers! I don't think I've ever seen any of them, before except the Nimona one. I never noticed the prosthetic in it either! But that's awesome. 😀
Daniela Ark
you are right! I had not seen ANY covers that showed disability until now! Or at least that I can remember. My favorite is The Least. I didn't know about that book by Gaiman. And you are reading HP?? first time or re-read???
Evelina @ AvalinahsBooks
Oh yeah… I guess it's similar with covers as it is with movies or clothes displays. Like how they'll have a healthy person play someone disabled, instead of actually hiring a disabled actor. Infuriating :/
LOL yes, I also had to look long and hard to find the disability on the Nimona cover 😀 it's so natural though. Takes a while to notice.
This is a really cool post you've made 🙂
Amanda Meuwissen
I have been scrambling for time to comment on this and share it, as I love the topic and these other books to check out, and am honored to be counted among them with Life as a Teenage Vampire.
It was very important to me to make sure Connor's prosthetic was visible on the cover, as it's an integral part of the story. While sort of fantastical in its design and use, I love the way the art turned out, and I have really appreciated the comments from readers with prosthetics who enjoyed that touch.
It's fascinating for me to research the progress actual prosthetics have been undergoing the past few years, especially as someone who has known both amputees and people born without full limbs. It's great to see a blog post putting disabilities in fiction at the forefront like this, especially using the covers.
Thanks again!
OH MY GOSH! I never noticed the prosthetic arm on the Nimona cover either until right now!! I LOVE that book. I can't wait to re-read it. 🙂
I didn't notice the prosthetic arm either, and I have seen that cover a bunch of times. I am really impressed by this list, because I cannot recall any SFF books off the top of my head with covers featuring disabilities.
This is such a great collection of covers. I wouldn't have even noticed some if you hadn't pointed them out. Cinder is also a bit disabled since she has some mechanical parts. That's the only one I would have been able to come up with. I think The Ables is my favorite one. Thanks for sharing these!
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The Two Ra`Kahs After Witr
From: Silsilah al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah (1993) by Shaykh al-Albaanee
- The Messenger of Allaah (صلى الله علیه وسلم) said,
Make the last of your prayer at night odd (witr).
Related by Bukhaari & Muslim.[/quote]
- Abu Salamah asked `Aa'ishah about the prayer of the Messenger of Allaah (صلى الله علیه وسلم). She said,
"He performed thirteen rak`ahs (in the night prayer): he observed eight rak`ahs and would then observe Witr and then observe two rak`ahs sitting, and when he wanted to bow, he stood up and then bowed down, and then observed two rak`ahs in between the adhaan and iqaamah of the Dawn Prayer."
Related by Muslim.[/quote]
- Thawbaan said, "We were on a journey with the Messenger of Allaah (صلى الله علیه وسلم), when he said,
Truly, this journey is an exertion and a burden, so when each of you has prayed Witr, he should perform two rak`ahs; if he wakes up (then well and good), otherwise these two will be (the night prayer) for him.
Related by Daarimi (1/374), Ibn Khuzaimah in his Saheeh (2/159/1103) & Ibn Hibbaan (683) from various routes going back to: Ibn Wahb, who said: Mu`aawiyah ibn Saalih narrated to me from Shuraih ibn `Ubaid from `Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn Jubair ibn Nufair from his father from Thawbaan, who said ...[/quote]
Ibn Wahb has been backed up by `Abdullaah ibn Saalih, who said: Mu`aawiyah ibn Saalih narrated to us ... etc., related by Daaraqutni (p. 177) & Tabaraani in al-Mu`jam al-Kabeer (1410). `Abdullaah ibn Saalih is a shaykh of Bukhaari, so he can be used as evidence in supporting others' narrations.
This hadeeth is used as evidence by Imaam Ibn Khuzaimah,"Prayer after Witr is allowed to whoever wants to pray after it, and that the two rak`ahs which the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) used to pray after Witr were not exclusively for him over his Ummah, for he has ordered us to pray two rak`ahs after Witr, an order of recommendation and preference, not one of obligation and compulsion."
Hence, it is clear to us from this hadeeth (because of his general order to his Ummah) that the two rak`ahs after Witr were not exclusively for him; it seems that the purpose of his command to make the last prayer at night odd was to prevent neglect of the one odd rak`ah, so this objective is not contradicted by the two rak`ahs after it, as established in his practice and his command. Allaah knows best.


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There's been much said in the Reading the Maps blog about this when it was in the "coming soon" stage. I was delighted to receive a notice of the launch (happened tonight), listen to the readings, and hear how enthusiastic folk are about one of this country's poets. That it was held in Old Government House added to the event.
Now, I'm not a poetry reader or aficionado by definition or usual passtime. I do have my favourites though (one is W H Auden), and I have written the odd piece (quite odd, some of them) at times in my life when the need to paint word pictures and express feelings required it. Some may still be floating around online.
And this is Timespanner. Yes, I do detour down mural alley from time to time, but this isn't a poetry appreciation corner.
Still, I think folks should take a look at Private Bestiary. (Of course, even better for Titus Books and for Scott Hamilton who shows his ardency for Kendrick Smithyman's works clearly -- buy a copy. I did.) It merits mention here because I got hooked on many of Smithyman's descriptions of events, people and influences which, were they instead in essay form, would be considered historical writing without hesitation. He writes of wartime experiences, the 1943 crash at Whenuapai, even Jacky Marmon. (Local tie-in: Marmon was one of the early owners of Avondale land, in absentia, as I recall).
There is always history to be found in recollection, and in art. The cover, by the way, is a 1917 "comic photo montage", as the Auckland War Memorial Museum Library's database puts it, by George Bourne (1875-1924), called Dragonfly over Rangitoto. Bourne was also a pioneer of aerial photography here in New Zealand, working with the Walsh Brothers.


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|Area (sq mi)
|233 sq mi
|Population density (/sq mi)
|54,000/sq mi
Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the financial capital of India. With a population of 13,662,885, it is the second most populous city proper in the world.[1] Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms, at 19 million, the world's fifth most populous metropolitan area. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbor. Mumbai's port handles over half of India's maritime cargo.[2]
Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment centre of India, generating 5% of India's GDP[3] and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 40% of maritime trade, and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy.[4] Mumbai is one of the world's top ten centres of commerce by global financial flow,[5] home to important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India and the corporate headquarters of many Indian companies and numerous multinational corporations. The city also houses India's Hindi film and television industry, known as Bollywood. Mumbai's business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a better standard of living, attract migrants from all over India and, in turn, make the city a potpourri of many communities and cultures.
In 1534, the Portuguese appropriated the islands from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. They were ceded to Charles II of England in 1661, as dowry[6] for Catherine de Braganza. These islands, were in turn leased to the British East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The company found the deep harbour on the east coast of the islands to be ideal for setting up their first port in the sub-continent. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675; In 1687, the British East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Mumbai. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency.
From 1817 onwards, the city was reshaped with large civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the islands in the archipelago into a single amalgamated mass. This project, known as the Hornby Vellard, was completed by 1845, and resulted in the total area swelling to 438 km². In 1853, India's first passenger railway line was established, connecting Mumbai to the town of Thane. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city became the world's chief cotton trading market, resulting in a boom in the economy and subsequently enhancing the city's stature.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 transformed Bombay into one of the largest seaports on the Arabian Sea.[7] Over the next thirty years, the city grew into a major urban centre, spurred by an improvement in infrastructure and the construction of many of the city's institutions. The population of the city swelled to one million by 1906, making it the second largest in India after Calcutta. As capital of the Bombay Presidency, it was a major base for the Indian independence movement, with the Quit India Movement called by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942 being its most rubric event. After India's independence in 1947, it became the capital of Bombay State. In the 1950 the city expanded to its present limits by incorporating parts of Salsette island which lay to the north.
After 1955, when the State of Bombay was being re-organised along linguistic lines into the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, there was a demand that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. Bombay Citizens' commitee, an advocacy group comprising of leading Gujarati industrialists lobbied for Mumbai's independent status. However, the Samyukta Maharashtra movement opposed this, and insisted that Mumbai be declared the capital of Maharashtra. Following protests in which 105 people were killed by police firing, Maharashtra state was formed with Mumbai as its capital on May 1, 1960.
The city's secular fabric was torn apart in the riots of 1992–93, after large scale sectarian violence caused extensive loss of life and property. A few months later, on March 12, a series of co-ordinated bombings at several city landmarks by Islamic groups and the Bombay underworld killed around three hundred people.
In 1996, the city was renamed Mumbai[8] by the Shiv Sena government of Maharashtra, in keeping with their policy of renaming colonial institutions after historic local names. There have also been armed attacks, sponsored by Islamic groups, on public transport buses in past years. In 2006, Mumbai was also the site of a 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings in which over two hundred people were killed when several bombs exploded almost simultaneously on the Mumbai Suburban Railway.[9] Recently the city has seen a series of politically motivated assaults on the North Indian population by the members of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, a party headed by Raj Thackeray.[10]
On the evening of 26 November 2008, a group of armed men launched attacks in the southern part of Mumbai, killing over 160 people, injuring hundreds and taking hostages in multiple locations.[11] Amongst those killed was Hemant Karkare, the chief of the Mumbai police's anti-terror squad.[12]
- ↑ m/wg.php?x=&men=gcis&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=abcdefghinoq&msz=1500&pt=c&va=&srt=pnan World Gazetteer estimate for 2008-01-01
- ↑ (2006) Manorama Yearbook 2006. Kottayam, India: Malayala Manorama. ISBN 8189004077.
- ↑ Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Retrieved on 2008-07-18.
- ↑ Navi Mumbai International Airport (JPG). City & Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited. Retrieved on 2008-07-18.
- ↑ Mumbai among world's top 10 financial flow hubs. Rediff News (2007-06-18).
- ↑ UK Government Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2007-06-28). Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
- ↑ Dossal, Mariam (1991). Imperial Designs and Indian Realities. The Planning of Bombay City 1845–1875. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
- ↑ http://geography.about.com/b/2008/11/26/mumbai-was-bombay.htm
- ↑ "Special Report: Mumbai Train Attacks", BBC, 2006-09-30. Retrieved on 2008-08-13.
- ↑ http://www.gulfnews.com/world/India/10255505.html
- ↑ http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p_esnE-3Z3p-HehX1YOZIaw
- ↑ "Live Breaking News: Mumbai toll climbs as hotel standoffs remain", CNN, 2008-11-27. Retrieved on 2008-11-27.


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It's been a difficult month for Mindy McCready, and unfortunately, E! News has learned that the country singer's life has come to end far too soon.
A source close to the 37-year-old tells us her body was found in Heber Springs, Ark.
A source tells E! News that Mindy's father, Tim McCready had been staying with her until this morning when he returned to Florida. When her father left, "she was in good spirits and seemed to be fine," our source tells us.
Neighbors heard gunshots at her house and called the police. "She shot herself and the dog," our source says.
"Things have been hectic. But I'm still here..," the star tweeted in January.
Just a little over a month ago, McCready's boyfriend, David Wilson, died at the age of 34 with no cause of death or details surrounding his passing being revealed, however continues to be under investigation.
Shortly afterward, the star's life began going on a downward spiral.
After denying any involvement with Wilson's death, McCready's two children, Zander, 6, and Zayne, 9-months-old, were taken from the singer's Heber Springs, Ark., home by authorities. "Mindy needs to get help and we all care and love her and we want her to get the right help so she can move on. She is in a bad state right now, depressed and unhappy. It is not good," a source told E! News when the children were removed.
That was the point when McCready was ordered to enter an in-patient facility for treatment. "Since boyfriend (David Wilson) shot himself she has been in bed for 3 wks," her father said in court documents. "Sleeps all day. Drinks all night and is taking Rx drugs. Not bathing or even helping take care of her 2 children."
In agreeing to McCready's "involuntary admission" to an appropriate facility, the judge wrote that "there is cause to find there is clear and convincing evidence that Respondent is in imminent danger of harm to herself or others, suicidal or gravely disabled."
However, just a day after being ordered by a judge to enter a treatment facility for a mental-health and alcohol-abuse evaluation, the troubled celeb was released to undergo outpatient treatment instead.
"Being involuntarily committed and having her children taken away from her was eye-opening. It helped her realize she needs to focus on putting her family back together and moving forward from this tragedy," a source told E! News. "She is in a better state of mind."
McCready set off family-service alarm bells in November 2011 after violating a court order when she didn't bring her then 5-year-old son, Zander, back home to Florida after a visit. The singer was allowed to visit her son, whose father is McCready's ex Billy McKnight, but her mother had custody of the child. She claimed she was simply protecting her child. Zander was subsequently placed in foster care in the state while the custody dispute was dealt with.
McCready was given full custody of Zander in late 2012.
In her last interview before she died with NBC's Andrea Canning, the singer spoke about the effect Wilson's death had on her. "I have never gone through anything this painful," she said. "He didn't just touch my heart, he touched my soul. He was my soulmate."


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I confess I'm a registered Republican. However, I consider myself a Pragmatist first. I lean towards whatever makes sense and works. In my opinion Obamacare doesn't, but at least I understand the rationale for it.
I have been in favor of a single payer medical plan for at least five years now. That's because I'm on one and I like it. Yes, it is Medicare. Ask almost anyone 65 or older if they prefer Obamacare to Medicare? I'm sure (no research here), most would say they want to keep their Medicare.
I have two big concerns about Medicare ? continued funding as the population ages and finding Doctors willing to accept the lower payments. There are solutions for both of these.
Private insurance is available for the difference between what Medicare pays and what Doctors and other services charge. It's called Medigap insurance. I buy Medigap insurance from Humana now, which I like better than the AARP policy mentioned in my 2009 blog.
The other problem is that the aging population on Medicare requires ever-increasing medical coverage, which could be offset by adding all those younger people who don't need as much medical care. That's the purpose of requiring everyone to buy medical insurance under Obamacare, to spread the costs around.
That's the way insurance works. Those who don't use it pay for those who do. I paid for auto insurance for 50 years and never used it, but when I needed it after my accident last year (which was not my fault) I was glad I had it.
That's why Obamacare forces everyone to buy medical insurance, but this isn't something that can be forced on people. The Federal mandate, "Thou shalt buy medical insurance or else," leaves the "or else," which is to pay the fine, as a viable option for many Obamacare opponents.
Clearly I don't like Obamacare and I don't believe it will work to solve our accelerating medical costs. Obama tried to use a Republican plan to appeal to Republicans in Congress but they wouldn't cooperate. So he had to push this plan down Democrats' throats to get it passed. Why do you think it was so difficult to get Obamacare passed when he had a majority of Democrats in the Congress at that time?
Rather than forcing the Democrat majority in Congress to vote for a plan most of them didn't like, Obama had a perfect opportunity to expanded Medicare for all. This would have saved Medicare for everyone 65 and up like me and extended coverage to everyone under 65.
No one would have to go out of his or her way to sign up for Medicare either. Medicare is tied to your Social Security number; so anyone from age 1 and up could be put onto Medicare almost immediately with no need for state-run Insurance Exchanges.
Medicare isn't free. About $105 is deducted from my Social Security each month as my Medicare premium. Combine that with $49 for Humana and $22 for my dental coverage, my total "premium" costs me $176 a month for excellent local and regional care. Medicaid would be available, like now, for people who cannot afford even this small monthly expense.
There's already a payroll tax deduction for Medicare. If everyone was on Medicare, the payroll tax could be increased to an amount similar to what is deducted from my monthly Social Security. Medigap and Supplemental plans are helpful but are not required. Employers who already offer health insurance as a benefit could save a bundle by offering the Supplemental insurance instead of the higher cost plans they have to under Obamacare.
For the poster who asked if Kaiser is available under Obamacare, I don't know. But I do know Kaiser is available as a Supplemental plan with Medicare. I'm happy with Humana and don't want to change my Doctor or Dentist and start over again with Kaiser, but if you've got it you could keep it under Medicare and that's no lie.
I can see no downside to Medicare for all. The only complaint, and there's always someone who will complain, is it is the dreaded "Socialist Medicine." Oh GROW UP!


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There are many different ways to explore the past at the Congregational Library. We invite you to browse our collection, access our digital resources online, or plan an extended research project. You are also welcome to come in for a brown bag lunch and chat with a historian, attend a class, or help us with our Hidden Histories transcription project.
Or better yet, join our growing group of members and donors, who help make the Congregational Library a lively place where "history matters."


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Topic: Karen Traviss...
doesn't it **** you off that Traviss can write about Boba like she does? Let me explain myself:
MANY books and comics state that Jango wanted Boba to be a bounty hunter. Traviss says Jango wanted him to be a father and a Mandalore.
Boba doesn't have a soft side, although he has a respectful, intelligent side. Why does traviss state otherwise? He has no soft side. Also, for those of you who have read Bloodlines, Boba didn't kill Jacen for killing Boba's own daughter? I think he would have. And Traviss has no right to write about Boba as she does. She doesn't ask any of us fans for our say. I hate how she can just write about him and bend him into a charactar she wants him to be. It's WRONG.


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Ohio's Simon Kenton Trail
Trail of the Month: October 2017
"Springfield is beginning to define itself with great outdoor opportunities."
Western Ohio's Simon Kenton Trail, named for an 18th-century frontiersman (and friend of Daniel Boone), offers the perfect opportunity for today's travelers to do their own exploring of the state's scenic woodlands and rural landscapes on a 35-mile adventure stretching from Springfield to Bellefontaine. For an even more epic experience, the trail is seamlessly integrated into the expansive Miami Valley trails network, which offers 340 miles of paved trails coalescing in and around the Dayton metro area.
"Springfield is a Midwest town—an urban area in the middle of a rural county," says Louis Agresta, a bicycle/pedestrian planner with the Clark County-Springfield Transportation Coordinating Committee. "It's very dynamic to have downtown Springfield only 10 miles away from farming and agriculture. It's an old manufacturing place trying to find its way with a wonderful parks and trail system. Springfield is really beginning to define itself with great outdoor opportunities."
To dig into the region's rich history and culture, there's no better place to begin your journey than the Heritage Center at the trail's southern end in downtown Springfield. Spanning a city block, the beautiful brick and stone building was constructed in 1890 and once housed a city hall and marketplace. Inside, you'll find a charming café and exhibits from the Clark County Historical Society. It's also worth noting that you can pick up the Little Miami Scenic Trail from here and go all the way to Cincinnati's doorstep, a distance of 78 miles, all on paved trail.
From the Heritage Center, it's only a half-mile before you reach an opportunity to diverge a few blocks off the trail to tour another of the city's historical treasures, the unique Westcott House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1906 and the only Prairie Style home in the state. A mile farther north, the trail's railroad history is on display with a refurbished 1916 bridge over Buck Creek. Another trail meets the Simon Kenton here and follows the creek eastward to Buck Creek State Park, which offers camping and lots of recreational activities in and around the massive lake at its center. Agresta notes that this is a key juncture as the Simon Kenton is an important north-south thoroughfare in the region, while the Buck Creek goes east-west.
"There's wildlife all along Buck Creek," notes Leann Castillo, director of the National Trail Parks & Recreation District, which maintains the Simon Kenton Trail within Clark County and is headquartered at this trail intersection. "You'll see lots of deer, foxes, snakes, turtles, owls and great blue herons flying up and down the trail. There are even bald eagles nesting here."
As the trail heads north out of Clark County and into Champaign County, it becomes more open, passing through farm fields and meadows of wildflowers. Agresta adds that as you approach Urbana, the old rail corridor is elevated, so it's like a "sky ride through town; you're way above the surface roads." In Urbana, travelers will have another connection to the trail's railroad past, coming upon a restored 1850s Pennsylvania Railroad depot.
"Right in Urbana, there's an old train depot that has a coffee shop and café inside it, plus a fix-it station outside," says Eric Oberg, RTC's trail development director for the Midwest Regional Office. "It makes for a killer trailhead and is a real focal point for the trail. It's such an awesome reuse of a cool old building in the center of town."
From Urbana northward to its end in Bellefontaine, the trail parallels still-active though infrequently used tracks in a configuration known as rail-with-trail. Along the way, the trail skirts West Liberty, which, though small in population, is not short on charm. The village just celebrated its bicentennial this summer and offers several unique attractions within a short distance of the pathway, including the Ohio Caverns, marketed as "America's Most Colorful Caverns," and Marie's Candies, a chocolate factory housed in a historical train depot.
But this part of the trail almost didn't open. In a fiscally tight, rural county, it took the fundraising might of the Simon Kenton Pathfinders—a volunteer-run organization headed by founding member Nancy Lokai-Baldwin, whom Oberg calls, "a force of nature"—to make the trail a reality. All the funds for the project were provided through grants and private donations raised by these dedicated citizens.
"The Pathfinders didn't stop at the initial trail connecting Springfield to Urbana," says Oberg. "The first stretch of the trail was opened 15 years before. Building a trail is so much work, and they could have just stopped there with the first phase and said, 'job well done.' It still would have been fabulous if that's all they ever did, but they went all in to do more, and the year before last, they opened the Urbana to Bellefontaine stretch."
Unlike the southern half of the trail, which is paved, these final 16 miles have a crushed-stone surface. The decision about the surface was not an easy one to make.
"The Springfield to Urbana section is paved, but with this new extension they couldn't afford to pave it," says Oberg. "They had to make a choice whether or not to construct the trail and open it with a natural surface or wait until they had enough money to pave it. They heard some negative feedback because people out here are used to pavement, but they did the best they could with what they had."
The Pathfinders are listening to the trail community and have raised enough money to surface a test section spanning a couple of miles with chip seal, which, while not as firm as pavement, is closer to that experience than the current stone surface. "They're an organization that does a lot with a little," says Agresta of the Pathfinders group, which celebrated their 20th anniversary this year.
The trail has been a catalyst for other groups as well, like the Trail Riders and the Trail Walkers, which meet weekly for outings on the trail, and the Trail Ambassadors, which patrol the trail in distinctive shirts to answer visitor questions, provide directions and distribute trail literature. All three groups are supported by the National Trail Parks and Recreation District. Connecting several schools, and kid-friendly attractions like Springfield's Splash Zone Aquatic Center and a soccer complex, the Simon Kenton Trail is truly a well loved and well used community asset.


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What do you get when you combine deep-sea diving and sculptures? Answer: an enormous underwater museum. Sculptor Jason de Caires Taylor has turned a part of the National Marine Park of Cancun in Mexico into a beautiful sea attraction. His creation is said to be the largest underwater sculpture museum in the world with about 400 cement sculptures.
Home » cancun


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Problem: Let P be a d-dimensional polytope with n facets. Is it always true that P can be covered by n sets of smaller diameter?
Background and motivation
The Borsuk conjecture (disproved in 1993) asserted that every set of diameter 1 in $R^d$ can be covered by $d+1$ sets of smaller diameter. Since every $d$-polyope has at least $d+1$ facets our proposal is indeed a weaker statement.
My motivation for this question comes from the paper Semidefinite Extended Formulations: Exponential Separation and Strong Lower Bounds by Samuel Fiorini, Serge Massar, Sebastian Pokutta, Hans Raj Tiwary and Ronald de Wolf. The paper solves an old conjecture of Yannakakis about projections of polytopes and shows, in particular, that the $n$-dimensional cut polytope cannot be described as a projection of a polytope with only a polynomial number (in $n$) of facets.
Another proof of this result of Fioroni et als. (regarding cuts polytopes) will follow from an affirmative answer of a slight strengthening of the proposed problem:
Problem: If $P$ is a $d$-polytope of diameter 1 with $n$ facets then $P$ can be covered by $n$ sets of diameter $1-\epsilon$ wher $\epsilon$ may depend on $n$ (but not on $P$.)


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People across the United States are finding out what it means for their life when the government shuts down. From this, a new hashtag on Twitter has started: #IfIShutDown. Dentists are tweeting empty dentist chairs, newspaper editors blank sheets of paper, and moms and dads messy kitchens and unsupervised children.
But what if churches shut down?
It might be the most "felt" shutdown of all.
Because if churches shut down,
…food pantries would run empty
…residents in nursing homes would go unvisited, and many would be forced to close
…large numbers of preschools, after-school programs, daycares, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and even colleges and universities would have to close
...untold numbers of AIDS orphans in Africa would lose their monthly support
…marriages facing crisis would have to fend for themselves
…homes being built for the homeless would have to be dramatically scaled back
…countless orphanages would be forced to close
…parents with wayward children would be left without support
…the arts would lose one of its greatest patrons, and one of its biggest venues
…arguably the single largest values training program for young children would end
…recovery groups of all kinds would find themselves without places to meet, staff to serve, or support to continue
…one of the last stands of living, breathing bookstores would end
…vast numbers of funerals would go unofficiated and weddings put on hold
…leaders and constituents in the vanguard of ending human slavery and sex trafficking would be sidelined
…teens dealing with drugs and drinking, cutting and bullying, would be adrift without focused support
…people in hospitals would be unvisited, and hospice support would be devastated
…and hundreds of millions of dollars going into aid and benevolence for the poorest of the poor would end.
Oh, and there's one more little thing: the one message that can alter the entire trajectory of someone's eternity would lose its most powerful voice.
So what happens if the government shuts down? Arguably, some good things end. But much still goes on, such as the recent purchase of a mechanical bull for $47,000. So at least the important things are cared for.
But with the church?
That's one shutdown no one would want to face.
James Emery White
"Twitter users share what would happen #IfIShutDown," TheToday Show, Wednesday, October 9, 2013, read online.
"A Week Into the Shutdown, Government Buys $47,174 Mechanical Bull," Lacey Donohue, Gawker.com, October 8, 2013, read online.
Editor's Note
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, N.C., and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president. His newly released book is The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity (Baker Press). To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, log on to www.churchandculture.org, where you can post your comments on this blog, view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world. Follow Dr. White on Twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.


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The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has released customer satisfaction scores for a number of consumer product sectors including personal computers. While Apple still ranks well above its competitors, its rating slipped a point compared to a year ago.
The ACSI rates different industries each calendar quarter, and for the second calendar quarter of the year, it ranks personal computer satisfaction. The ratings rank Apple and several other personal computer manufacturers including Dell, Compaq, Gateway/Acer, and HP.
Apple ranked number one, with a rating of 84 (based on a scale of 0 to 100). Dell came in second at 75, while the others included on the poll came in at 74. Apple's rating dropped 1.2 percent from 2008, from 85 to 84, while Dell remained steady at 75. Other companies improved, 5.7 percent for Compaq, 2.8 percent for Gateway/Acer and 1.4 percent for HP.
Commenting on the numbers, Professor Claes Fornell explained that despite the slip, Apple's customer satisfaction lead is the second largest of any industry the ACSI tracks (Southwest Airlines has a larger advantage than Apple over its closest rival).
"Apple's success has been a result of innovation, integration of products, customer service and good marketing," wrote Fornell.
ACSI scores are produced from on a complex set of equations that link customer expectations, perceived quality, and perceived value. Randomly chosen adults are polled by telephone with questions about their use of specific products.


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3D Printer Filament 1Kg 1.75mm ABS/PLA/PETG 41 Color For Creality Ender 3/3 RL. V8.5 EXP GDC Laptop External PCIE Graphics Card Fit for Dock Mini PCI-E RL. 800W Portable Electric Heater Mini Space Ceramic Heating Fan Home Office Warm RL. Archery Stabilizer Quick Disconnect Adapter Detach Balance Bar Rod Bow Joint MRL.
1x Helmet Tactical Motorcycle Race Headset PTT For Yaesu YAESU VX-7R VX-6R RL. Usdx+ HF Shortwave Transceiver QRP SSB/CW Transceiver 3W-5W All Mode 8 Band Upgraded Version of usdx. This product has no built-in battery and no power source. It needs to be equipped by the user.
The power interface is 5.5mm, the power supply voltage is 12.6V, 1A 2A can be used. The battery specification is 11.1V/12.6V 4000mAh lithium battery. This is a shortwave QRP SSB/CW transceiver. The ultra-small size is easy to carry for outdoor use, using 1602N LCD screen, built-in speaker, support to connect to PC, use digital mode software control such as FT8, JS8, FT4, etc.
Excellent PCB layout design in line with high frequency circuit design principles to ensure excellent performance. Whether using internal battery or external 13.8v power supply, it can achieve 3-5w power in 8 ranges, and reserve SOT-223 and TO-220 pack pads needed to upgrade. High emission efficiency, 80m/60m/40m/30m/20m efficiency is greater than 80%, 17m efficiency is greater than 70%, 15m/10m efficiency is greater than 60%.High accuracy KDS brand TCXO, frequency accuracy is better than 1ppm, frequency stability is better than 0.5ppm. Ultra small size: 8338124mm (excluding protruding parts). Abundant interfaces (cat, ptt out, mic/key, k-head mic). All LPF parts use 100v c0g/np0 capacitors.
Use genuine Omron original magnetic latching relays. Use op amp chip with lower noise than LM4562. The usdx+ update is as follows.
Moved the headphone and power key/microphone jacks to the front panel for easy access to the headphone and power button. Move the keys to the bottom of the LCD screen for a larger touch area and a more comfortable keystroke experience. Upgraded built-in speaker effects, double the sound! PCB reserved pads for various upgrades, out of the box, can be used as a template for DIY upgrade learning. Quickly change qrp cw frequency.
Support cw sidetone volume adjustment. Filter dsp filter: 4000, 2500, 1700, 500, 200, 100, 50hz passband. Function DSP functions: automatic gain control (AGC), noise reduction (NR), Xmit voice trigger (VOX), RX attenuator (ATT), TX noise gate, tx unit control, volume control, dbm/s meter.
Sidebar/Carrier Suppression SSSSB transmit: better than -45dbc, imd3 (dual tone) -33dbc, receive: better than -50dbc. Support multi-band support, continuously adjustable 10m within 80m frequency range from 20khz.. Open source firmware, built with arduino ide; allows experimentation, new features can be added, contributions can be shared via github, software complexity: 2000 lines of software-based Vovox code available for fast full control (qsk and half-qsk operations) or rx/ Auxiliary switch tx for external control of ptt/pa output using fully digital tx-delay stage and software based ssb stage transmitter in digital mode (no cat or ptt interface required): controls the phase of the sill si5351 (by switching at 800kbits/s Small frequency changes under i2c) and magnitude of pa (via pwm pa key shaping circuit).
Software-based all-digital SDR receiver stage (optional): The I/Q (complex) signal is sampled from a quadrature sampling detector digital mixer and a 90 degree phase shift is performed mathematically in software (Hilbert transform) and three independently switchable analog faders (0db, -13db, -20db, -33db, -53db, -60db, -73db) from the pre-receiver by adding Atten sidebands. Receiver noise floor mds: -135dbm at 28mhz (200hz bw). Receiver receiver front-end selectivity: +/-2khz steep 45db/decade tuning frequency rolling. Blocking blocking dynamic range: 20khz offset 123db, 2khz offset 78db.
Vvfo a/b + rit and split, and the corresponding relay through i2c. Cat supports cat with filter switch (using kenwood TS-480 protocol).Type: hf qrp sdr transceiver. RF output: 10w max at 13.8v dc output at. 4 x Machine Foot Pads.
My goal is to make sure you are a happy customer and pleasant shopping with us. Sometimes shiping time may has a little delay, such as Bad wether, Holidays.We stand behind everything that we sell and will do everything possible to assure you are satisfied. Buyers are responsible for the postal cost of returning the items. We must be notified of the intent to return your item within 30 days of receiving the item.
1, Please ask us for return address. We strive to answer all questions and resolve any problems as quickly as possible.
This item is in the category "Consumer Electronics\Radio Communication\Ham, Amateur Radio\Ham Radio Transceivers". The seller is "reachmall-10" and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States.


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U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb refused to issue a stay on Monday against her recent ruling to allow same-sex marriages in Wisconsin.
On Friday, Crabb struck down the state's ban on gay marriage, calling it "unconstitutional." It was the 14th federal ruling against state marriage bans since last June, when the Supreme Court ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional.
Below, more from the AP:
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Gay couples in Wisconsin convinced some county clerks to give them licenses Monday so they could wed before an expected hold on a judge's decision declaring the state's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.
Other clerks, however, refused to act without an order from the court or state, which is appealing the judge's decision.
Hundreds of couples married over the weekend in Milwaukee and Madison after county clerks in the state's two largest cities extended office hours following the federal judge's ruling Friday. Couples living elsewhere had to wait until Monday to get licenses because Wisconsin requires residents to apply in the counties where they live.
Dozens of couples were initially refused licenses in Appleton, Green Bay and elsewhere while county clerks in those communities weighed what to do and sought advice from the Wisconsin Vital Records Office, which keeps marriage records. Nearly 100 people at the Outagamie County Clerk's office in Appleton objected when told they could not apply for licenses.
"We gathered in hopes of getting a license. We were told that would not be happening. We did tell them we weren't leaving until licenses were issued," said Kathy Flores, 47, of Appleton, who sought a license to marry her partner, Ann Kendzierski.
Soon after, Outagamie County attorney Joe Guidote told couples that he had advised Clerk Lori O'Bright to accept applications for licenses, although she would not waive Wisconsin's five-day waiting period, as clerks in Milwaukee and Madison did. Flores said later that she knew one couple who received a waiver because a parent was very ill.
Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno said she decided to go ahead and issue licenses to about 10 couples at her Green Bay office after failing to reach anyone in the Wisconsin Vital Records Office. She said she explained to couples the work would stop as soon as a court put the judge's decision on hold.
"My staff will be missing their lunch hour to provide as much service as we can to get couples processed," Juno said.
Jennifer Miller, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services, which oversees vital statistics, said the agency would not issue any guidance until it received directions from Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb's decision has created some confusion among clerks because she declared the ban unconstitutional but also said she wanted the American Civil Liberties Union to tell her exactly what it wanted her to block in the gay marriage law. The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the ban in January on behalf of eight gay couples.
Crabb said Monday that she would not act on Van Hollen's request for an emergency stay until after the ACLU responds. Van Hollen also has appealed Crabb's decision to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked it for a stay.
La Crosse County Clerk Ginny Dankmeyer said "phones have been ringing off the hook," but that she had been told by a county attorney not to issue licenses until after Crabb's June 16 deadline for the ACLU to respond. St. Croix County deputy clerk Cheryl Harmon said her office in Hudson had been told the same thing by its attorney and also was waiting.
Other counties joined Milwaukee and Dane counties, which issued 283 marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Friday and Saturday. The Rock County clerk's office in Janesville said it issued two licenses before noon on Monday. Kenosha County Clerk Mary T. Schuch-Krebs said she gave a license to one couple who told her they planned to marry that night.
Schuch-Krebs said she considered Crabb's ruling enough guidance.
"I don't see anything that tells me otherwise. What law would I cite to tell them they couldn't marry?" she said.
Waukesha County Clerk Kathleen Novack said her office west of Milwaukee began accepting applications for licenses about 9:30 a.m. Monday after she talked to a county attorney, saw what other counties were doing and spoke with waiting couples.
"We want to make sure they're cautioned to a certain degree that they may have some legal issues ahead of them, but we decided that, well, let's just say that we have a lot of happy people here," said Novack, who issued about a half-dozen licenses in the first half-hour and expected to reach "the 20s or 30s" by the end of the day.
University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said Saturday that he expected Van Hollen to receive a stay, which could throw the marriages taking place into question. But, he said, he believes courts will eventually recognize them.
He noted that more than 1,000 couples married in Utah before a stay was issued there, and a judge recently said those marriages were valid. That decision, like others related to gay marriage, has been appealed.
Given events around the nation, Tobias said he expects the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue next year.
"I'm cautiously optimistic that everything will be fine for those couples, but we just don't know right now," Tobias said. "It's a terrible thing to have to say that, but it's where we are."


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by Andrew Korybko
The common perception of the TPP among informed individuals is that it's an American-dominated 'trade' organization, a framework designed to secure the US' top position vis-à-vis all of the signatory states. While that's certainly true and isn't to be disputed at all, there are also deeper, more subtle geopolitical goals that are being pursued at the same time, which if fulfilled, would greatly increase the viability of American power over this integrated sphere. It's thus worthwhile to examine these finer intricacies that are often overlooked by many TPP analysts and introduce them into the larger conversation that's being held about the topic. Upon closer scrutiny, it becomes evident that the TPP is designed to unify three distinct and expanding blocs, and that the US applies an economic version of its "Lead From Behind" stratagem in order to control the other two and thus secure its unipolar stranglehold over their Asia-Pacific and Latin American areas of 'responsibility'.
The Three Blocs
On the surface of things, TPP seems to simply be about tying Pacific economies closer to the US, but there's really a bit more detail to it. To get the full picture, let's first list all of the participating countries:
Australia/Brunei/Canada/Chile/Japan/Malaysia/Mexico/New Zealand/Peru/ Singapore/US/Vietnam/
Now it's time to organize the countries by their preexisting free trade agreement (FTA) bloc affiliations:
Core – US
TPP-Participating Members – US, Canada, Mexico
Japan-ASEAN/Japan-Pacific Alliance (Partial):
Core – Japan
TPP-Participating Members (Japan-ASEAN) – Japan, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam
TPP-Participating Members (Japan-Pacific Alliance [Partial]) – Japan, Chile, Mexico, Peru
Pacific Alliance (Partial)-NAFTA/Pacific Alliance (Partial)-Japan:
Core – Mexico
TPP-Participating Members (Pacific Alliance [Partial])-NAFTA) – Mexico, Canada, Chile, Peru, US
TPP-Participating Members (Pacific Alliance [Partial])-Japan) – Mexico, Chile, Japan, Peru
Who Wins What?
As one can observe from above, most of the TPP countries are already in FTAs with one another, and actually, the arrangement is more like a union of the three blocs (partial in the case of the Pacific Alliance, as Colombia and Costa Rica are not involved) than a randomly scattered trading scheme. It thus becomes important to understand exactly what each bloc/core gains from the TPP in terms of new FTAs. One can refer to these official links for a comprehensive listing of all the FTAs that the US, Japan, and Mexico are currently in, but to simplify for the reader, here's what each of them acquires:
Everything new that the US gains from the TPP can be found in Asia, specifically in FTAs with Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Vietnam. Looked at another way, this is Japan, New Zealand (to complement the US-Australian FTA), and part of ASEAN.
The only thing that Tokyo wins from TPP is a FTA with Canada, New Zealand, and the US. To put it differently, it clinches a FTA with the rest of NAFTA, and as with the US, it broadens its original FTA with Australia to include its ally and close economic partner New Zealand.
Mexico and its TPP-participating Pacific Alliance members of Chile and Peru already have FTAs with the US, Canada (or one can say NAFTA), and Japan, so the only things added for them are the new partnerships with Australia (except for Chile, which already has one with Canberra), Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam (partial ASEAN + Oceania).
Corporatist Cartels
Considering the cited research in terms of existing FTAs and the new multilateral ones that will emerge from TPP, it's questionable what differentiating factor TPP has other than tying them all more formally together. What one should never forget, however, is that the TPP has clauses that hand de-facto political rights to corporations, thus making it the world's first formalized system of post-modern "government" or "economic governance". To put it bluntly, transnational economic actors begin exercising political rights over populations and their elected governments, while neither of these two subjects is able do the same to the corporations, thus creating a top-down vertical of power.
The "revolutionary rules" laid out in the TPP have the very real risk of essentially nullifying the FTAs that partner states have already struck with non-TPP members, such as Vietnam's FTA with the Eurasian Union, or at least making them effectively unworkable for fear that the host government could be sued by a fellow TPP-member transnational corporation (TNC) for violating 'unfair competition' clauses. Other FTAs more preferable to unipolarity such as the one between Japan and India wouldn't be affected by the TPP's "economic governance" provisions, thus showing that the new rule regime could be politically selective in choosing and enforcing who gets discriminated against and which actors are ignored and allowed to prosper.
Geopolitically speaking, it's easy to predict how the dynamics of this will unfold. The US and Japan are the two TPP members with the strongest and most active TNCs, and they're distantly trailed by Singapore, Mexico, Canada, and Australia. The Six, if one can call them that, will certainly enter into some kind of TNC-related disagreements and controversies amongst themselves, but most likely, they'll probably be much too busy divvying up their weaker Southeast Asian and Latin American counterparts to care too much.
Each of these six aforementioned countries, and especially the US and Japan, have TNCs that are very experienced in their operations, while states like Peru and Vietnam have the opposite type of experience, which is being on the receiving end of the TNCs' activity. This established relationship is only expected to deepen with the TPP, and the target economies will thus inevitably come to be politically linked to their 'parasites', be they the TNCs themselves or the formal governments that they represent. New Zealand is a bit unusual of a case because it doesn't have much TNC experience in either direction (exploiting or being exploited), but it could be projected to work together with its traditional Australian ally in conducting joint ventures in Southeast Asia, specifically Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
The US and Japan, as the two largest economies in the TPP, will just about have free reign to exert their influence throughout all of the members, especially the Southeast Asian and Latin American ones, although they'll probably commit more attention to the ASEAN states owing to the "Pivot to Asia" and the perceived 'urgency' in 'containing China'. Mexico will probably move along a different vector, and it can be expected to consolidate its influence over the TPP's Pacific Alliance members. Part of the reason for this forecast is that Mexico already has institutionalized links with these countries through the Pacific Alliance, and the linguistic similarities and cultural ease of doing business there can streamline the country's effectiveness in "economically governing" these states (Peru more so than Chile, which is way more developed and 'wise' to what's going on).
Tightening The Chokehold
Thus far, it's been argued that the TPP can be interpreted as an intertwined nexus of NAFTA, Japan, and the Pacific Alliance (partially). Considering that these three and their respective cores in Washington, Tokyo, and Mexico City will be coordinating even closer as a result (especially in the case of Southeast Asia and Latin America [more so mineral-rich, strategically positioned, and weakly governed Peru than Chile]), it's topical to forecast the direction that their multilateral "leadership" cooperation may take. Generally speaking, its primary trajectory will be in strengthening their economic chokeholds over each of their respective regions, with ASEAN for Japan (with which it already has a FTA) and Mexico for Latin America, and both Tokyo and Mexico City will be fulfilling their "Lead From Behind" 'obligation' to the US as a result.
Looking at the first theater of TPP expansion, ASEAN, it's predictable that more of the bloc's countries would end up joining until the agreement includes the entire entity. Indonesia's surprise announcement in late October that it would like to join the framework is a major step in this direction, and all of the other regional economies may now feel pressured to follow the largest one's lead. It'll take some time for Jakarta to join, but once it does, observers can expect most of the other ASEAN states to race into it as well, and if Thailand and Laos decide to participate, then this could seriously complicate their evolving strategic partnerships with China and inhibit Beijing's pragmatic influence in the region. Of course, this is precisely what the US wants, so it and Japan will try to capitalize on Indonesia's interest in the TPP to try to lure the rest of the bloc in with time.
Concerning Latin America, things are a bit 'easier' for the US and Mexico, as both of them already have FTAs with practically all of Central America and the western coast of South America (excluding Ecuador). The only two countries in Pacific Latin America that Mexico has yet to sign a FTA with are Panama and Ecuador, while for the US, it's only Ecuador. If the TPP can be expanded to include the 'hold out' economies that both cores have FTAs with but aren't yet part of the "economic governance" framework (such as Guatemala for example), then they can solidly enact a "legal" means of controlling these states and subverting them to proxy status for decades to come. More than likely, the 'quickest' path this could take would be in the Pacific Alliance expanding its membership all along the coast, likely absorbing all of the smaller economies with the exception of multipolar-oriented Ecuador and Nicaragua, and then pushing for the bloc's new members to be admitted into the TPP.
In essence, what is being recreated is both the World War II-era Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and the Western Hemispheric version of the Spanish Empire, but modified for contemporary geopolitical conditions. To explain, Japan's planned hegemonic status over ASEAN is exactly the same as what it had attempted to achieve in World War II, albeit this time without violence, and Mexico is economically trying to unite most of Latin America under its institutional influence just as Spain had done centuries prior (but with much more bloodshed). Other than the utilization of soft power and economic means as opposed to purely militaristic ones, the primary difference that today's paradigm has when compared to the past is that each neo-imperial core, while motivated by their own self-interest, is indirectly fulfilling the grand strategy of the US through their 'localized' "Lead From Behind" proxy rule over their respective geopolitical spaces. In this 'outsourced' manner, the US is able to exercise its supreme hegemony over these spheres a lot more optimally than if it had sought to do so directly and through 'outdated' 20th-century means.
Concluding Thoughts
In the long-term, if the US' grand strategy is advanced through the TPP, then East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific coast of Latin America will be part of the same trading structure controlled by Washington, which as just explained, will use it and its Japanese and Mexican cores' TNCs to "economically govern" each of the vassal states. Concurrently with this, the US would also ideally like to conclude the TTIP with the EU, thus allowing it to economically strangle its trans-Atlantic "partners" with the same force that it's already doing militarily with NATO.
In the fantasies of American policy makers, the US connects trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trade while also dominating everything in the Western Hemisphere outside of Mercosur (and if Brazil has a Color Revolution or 'constitutional coup', then it too might get dragged into the net), using of course the revolutionary "governance" mechanisms rolled out in the TPP that are anticipated to become the 'new normal' in unipolar trading agreements. Stretching things a bit further, if India joins the US in its "Chinese Containment Coalition" and the Cold War between it and Beijing heats up to unprecedented proportions, then New Delhi might find a way to figure into this global Ponzi scheme.
None of these predictions are set in stone, and international politics always finds a way to surprise observers in some way or another, but for the most part, if left unhindered and to its own designs, the economic plans of a combined and coordinated TPP, TTIP, and an expanding Pacific Alliance amount to nothing more than a global economic coup d'état, and if allowed to succeed, then it could herald in a roaring return of repressive unipolarity right in the middle of what many had hoped would be the multipolar century.


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(visited by Joe Casselberry)
19-Dec-2006 -- Big Bend Adventure, located in Apalachee Bay. The depth in this area is 1 to 11 feet measured at mean low water.
Attempted to rent a motorboat at St Marks, but the outfitter limited its use to within the St Marks River channel which would still leave me 10 miles from the target.
So I had to go with plan B . . . canoe rental from Econfina on the Gulf . . . a fishcamp resort on the Econfina River in Taylor County. I stayed the night before at Econfina State Park where there are two cabin rooms rented by a state parks consessionaire and located at the end of Taylor County Road 14. From this point the confluence is 7 miles each way.
The first 2.2 miles is on the Econfina River to access the Gulf of Mexico and then 4.9 miles from the river/gulf channel marker to the confluence. Boat rental at 7:30am. On the river at 8:30am. At the gulf/river channel marker at 9:30am . . . passing one boat with it's 2-man crew high-and-dry awaiting the next high tide . . . a result of no river channel markers. The next three hours paddling out, going in circles to zero in on the confluence, the documentation, and eating lunch. Back to gulf/river channel marker at 3pm. Take out at start point at 4pm.
I was very lucky to have weather conditions this good in December. The weather was nothing but blue sky and calm waters. Both water and air temperatures in the low 70s. The gulf waters are clear and composed mostly of sand and grass. Being able to see the sea floor helped in zeroing in on the confluence. The area is a fisherman's paradise so if you go bring your fishing pole. Wildlife observed: loons, jellyfish, biting flies in the late afternoon around the salt marshes of the river.