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Best Of
"I think it's a great matchup. He's coming in with a lot of hype behind him, which is great for me. I just think I'm technically more sound than him, I think that I'm a more seasoned veteran than he is and I'm really excited for this fight."
A veteran of over 13 years in the fight game, Ryan Jensen's last fight at UFC 114 in May saw him matched against a younger, faster, maybe even stronger opponent in Jesse Forbes. Yet it was during the first round of the bout in Las Vegas that he was able to turn a dicey situation into his favor thanks to a handy little weapon called experience.
"I didn't really have a game plan (with Forbes); he was a lefty so we were just trying to make sure that I stayed on the outside of his foot, and shoot left," said Jensen. "I hit him pretty easy in the beginning, caught him a little bit, and then I kind of pulled a rookie mistake and went straight in on him and he ended up catching me. When you get popped like that you're just kind of fighting off of instinct and all your training comes into place. With all the hard training we did at Jackson's and all the hard training I did back home at that camp, instinct took over and I wound up getting on top and catching him."
Instinct is a trait inherent to fighters with Jensen's level of experience and one that made way for a first round submission over Forbes at UFC 114. It is also this experience that he believes will take him over the top against his next opponent, TUF 11 winner Court McGee. This fight will be McGee's first since winning the Spike TV reality show, and Jensen is primed for the next challenge.
"I think it's a great matchup. He's coming in with a lot of hype behind him, which is great for me," said Jensen. "I just think I'm technically more sound than him, I think that I'm a more seasoned veteran than he is and I'm really excited for this fight. I trained really hard - we had a great training camp down at Jackson's and then out at Premier Combat Center in Omaha and I'm just ready to get in there and fight. I don't think he has anything that I should be worried about that I haven't seen anyway."
Having started his career in 1997, Jensen has run the gamut of all types of opponents throughout his career. His professional beginning in the game was favorable with a four-fight win streak consisting mostly of submissions with a little striking thrown in.
"In the beginning it was just kind of a hobby, as there wasn't really a lot of money to be made," Jensen remembers. "Back in the day in my area we didn't even have amateur fights; they just kind of threw you in there and said, 'hey, time to go fight and you're going to get paid pennies. Now let's go fight.' It was a cool experience and it's been neat to watch the evolution of the martial arts go from certain styles fighting certain styles all the way to some of the top guys that we have out there now."
Jensen's first loss was to UFC veteran Brock Larson in 2005 before going on a six-fight win streak over competitors like UFC veteran Rob Kimmons. Jensen rode this hot spell straight into the UFC, where he faced two Brazilian jiu-jitsu aces, Thales Leites and Demian Maia. What resulted were two first round submission losses and a temporary exit from the organization. After two consecutive wins, Jensen returned, continuing a pattern of tumultuous Octagon performances with a loss to Wilson Gouveia, a win against Steve Steinbeiss, a loss to Mark Munoz and his last fight, a win over Forbes. Still, the veteran is uber confident in his ability to take out the latest TUF winner, and although McGee is 2-0 as a professional boxer, Jensen sees his standup as his gaping hole.
"I just don't (see any strengths); he has a lot of hype and he won The Ultimate Fighter and stuff but he's pretty decent at everything but he's not outstanding at anything," said Jensen. "I don't think his standup's that good, and he doesn't use a lot of movement; he's a big strong dude, he's a rock, he's a grinder and that's his benefit, but I've been in this game a lot longer than most of the guys around and I've trained with some of the best guys in the world, so nothing really surprises me about him at all."
Training for Jensen has been with the same usual suspects as his last couple of fights. His home base is still his childhood home of Omaha, Nebraska and home gym at Premier Combat Center, in addition to his adoption of Jackson's gym down in New Mexico.
"Keith Jardine, Joey Villasenor, Rich Chavez helped me and Diego (Sanchez) was getting ready for his fight on the same card so we just had a great camp back at Jackson's," said Jensen. "A lot of good dudes out there and guys coming in and out all the time. Carlos Condit was a great one too; me and Carlos had a lot of fun training for this fight and I helped him train for Dan Hardy earlier. I was supposed to fight Steve Steinbeiss way before and that fight ended up getting cancelled but it was during that fight that I started with Jackson's. I went out there for about a month and now I've been training there for most of my fights."
As the veteran gets ready to take on his next challenge, his thoughts stay on the fans who he fights for every time.
"I'm just out to push the pace, to be exciting and I'm not just going to sit there and lay and pray; I'm looking for the win every time and hopefully it's exciting for everybody," said Jensen. "I lay it all out on the line so in my heart I know I did the best. I'll show up to fight anytime, anywhere. I'm a fighter and I hope they like me for it. I'm a good dude, a hard worker and I'm out there to just keep getting better and better."


text: the most recent dvd i bought was the chris benoit dvd called hard knocks. its very kool and i definitely recommend it to any wrestling fan. the next one ill prob get is the eddie guerero dvd which if im not mistaken oughta be released soon. down the line im hoping they releaes the next volume of the batman animated series dvd set.

subset: commoncrawl


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$3M in Broken Promises to Small Business
The following is an op-ed written by House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves, (R-MO).
In his 2013 State of the Union, President Barack Obama said, "[o]ur government shouldn't make promises we cannot keep." When it comes to small business policies, the lofty promises have faded to pretensions.
The House Small Business Committee has made it a priority to afford small businesses every opportunity to compete for federal contracts. On the campaign trail, the President made a similar promise, only to preside over an administration that – the Committee recently discovered – disregarded the contracts that small businesses had won. The General Services Administration (GSA) failed to pay more than 1,200 small businesses what they were owed, and has admitted this extensive error. This is the same administration that is faulted for falling short of the yearly goal to award 23 percent of federal contracts to small businesses – now for six years in a row.
The value of small business contracting is indisputable. These firms bring healthy competition to the federal market to drive down prices. They are our nation's innovators and job creators, and securing a federal contract helps them grow and offers more benefit to the economy. Each year, the federal government spends over $500 billion on goods and services, contracting with a variety of entities, both large and small. It makes sense to ensure opportunities for small businesses in this federal marketplace. Adding these players to federal contracting means lower prices for American taxpayers. Small businesses win as they get more contracts; workers win as small businesses create jobs; and taxpayers win as prices are driven down.
Approximately $50 billion, or roughly one in every ten federal contract dollars, is spent through the GSA's Multiple Award Schedule (MAS). Last year, when GSA announced potential changes to MAS which would result in nearly 9,500 small vendors losing their contracts, the Small Business Committee noticed a discrepancy in GSA's math. Under GSA's proposed change, they would be terminating thousands of small business contracts for not making enough sales, since these low performing contracts were not generating enough fees for GSA. This is within GSA's right, as their contracts require that each business make at least $25,000 a year in sales. However, GSA also promises those small businesses, which spend between $6,000 and $40,000 to get their contracts in the first place, that each contract will receive at least $2,500 in sales.
We can all agree with the goal of finding ways to reduce spending, but this one didn't pass the test. How could terminating so many contracts save money when GSA is required to pay a minimum guaranteed payment of $2,500? The Committee asked, and the answer kept changing. One day GSA expected to save $24 million, another day the answer was $6 million. It didn't add up.
Finally, the answer came. The savings that GSA was claiming did not account for paying some of these firms the $2,500. More astonishingly, since 2008, there were 3,300 of these canceled federal contracts – but only 27 of them had been paid. Of the remainder, at least 1,334 had submitted the necessary paperwork to be paid, and 1,281 of the eligible firms were small businesses. This is the same agency that inexcusably found the money to pay for conferences with hot tubs, magicians and conga lines, but it hadn't found the money to honor its contractual obligations to these small businesses.
The good news is that the GSA has agreed to do right by these small companies and will pay the $3,108,888. That's a small victory for small businesses, but it is troubling that an agency which is responsible for so many federal contracts failed to live up to its end of the bargain for so long. The U.S. government's promise must be a guarantee.
Competition is a powerful and essential part of this nation's economy, and vital to cutting government costs. At every turn, small businesses should be encouraged to compete. When they do, we all win.


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Maggie Nystrom: A Homemade Holiday With Craft Help From The Arcata Library – November 18, 2010
November is a fascinating month with a couple of interesting holidays. This is important partly because the Humboldt County Library will be closed those days, including the Arcata Library. This year they are both on Thursdays.
First is Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010. The library will be closed all day in memory of all the veterans who have served this country.
Then in two weeks we will observe the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with turkey, football and shopping. The library will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 25 and Friday, Nov. 26, to celebrate all that we are thankful for. We will be open Saturday, Nov. 27, our regular Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Between the two Thursdays when the library is closed we will have one Thursday when we will be open and full of monkey business. This will be the third Thursday of the month, Nov. 18, when we will have Share-A-Story Monkey Shines at 6:30 p.m. There will a short video from KEET-TV, some funny monkey stories and silly monkey crafts. Each participating family will also receive a free book, What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile, where a bunch of monkeys cause no end of trouble for a crocodile. This program is co-sponsored by KEET-TV's Ready to Learn Service and First 5 Humboldt.
With Thanksgiving coming up soon, we know that the big gift-giving holidays are coming along just as fast. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or the Solstice, December is a time for giving.
Are you thinking about making presents this year? It is not too late to start, as long as you are realistic in your planning.
Quilters know that to make a quilt big enough for a bed takes a long time. Fortunately, we have several books with quicker projects using quilting techniques. My favorite is Quilted Bags In a Weekend with some wonderful ideas for purses and totes. Whether you want to make someone an elegant bag for evening wear or a tote bag big enough to use at the Farmer's Market, you will find ideas and instructions here.
Anyone who enjoys working with wood can find lots of ideas for presents in our woodworking books. A fun desk for a child's room or elegant bookshelves for a study can be easy to build and gratefully accepted. We also have books on how to make fun toys, such as Ron Fuller's The Art & Craft of Wooden Toys. From a pecking hen to a wiggling water monster, from a pull-along giraffe to an underwater jigsaw puzzle, this book is full of colorful ideas. The step-by-step guides will help you make handcrafted toys that will last.
Knitters and crocheters can find many projects for gifts in our selection. I like the bright colors and bold designs found in Jenny Kee WinterKnits. This is a great collection of sweaters from Australia's leading knitwear designer. Whether based on animals from Down Under or the scattered colors of opals, the designs are fascinating. I am not a knitter, so I do not know how hard these sweaters would be to reproduce, but I would love to see one done.
If, like me, you are not a "handy" person in doing handicrafts, you may find that baking or fixing up food gifts is for you.
Susan Costner has a lovely book, Gifts of Food, with the recipes divided up by season. In the "gifts of winter" section you can find a recipes for Sugar Plums for the kids, doggie biscuits for the family pooch and pomander balls to scent the house. The recipes are easy to follow and her ideas for wrapping are good ones.
Kids really enjoy making gifts for family and friends. We have many good books on crafts just for children. Some of the ideas need a little help from parents, but all of them are fun. A number of the books are by age level, while others are themed around ethnic groups or parts of the world.
One of my favorite children's crafts books is Holiday Crafts Kids Can Make. Many of the projects for different holidays, such as the candy hearts for Valentine's Day or the leaf print decorated clay pots, would make good presents all year long. Then there are the Christmas crafts, such as making cinnamon ornaments that are long lasting and smell good. One thing that makes this book special is the number of pattern portfolios available. You can photocopy and enlarge the patterns for use in a number of cards, gifts and ornaments.
Remember, the library will be closed Thursday, November 11, for Veteran's Day. We will also be closed Thursday, Nov. 25 and Friday, Nov. 26, for the Thanksgiving holidays, while we will be open on Saturday, November 27, 2010.
Come in for a family fun evening on Thursday, Nov. 18 for Share-A-Story Monkey Shines. The fun starts at 6:30 p.m.
Maggie Nystrom is the Branch Librarian at the Arcata Library, 500 Seventh Street. (707) 822-5954.


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We all know Jawbone best for their small things that make sound—Bluetooth headsets and speakers. But their newest concoction doesn't make any noise at all—it's a bracelet. The Up band will keep tabs on your body, 24/7.
Jawbone's claims about the Up are pretty ambitious: they expect the embedded accelerometer to not only monitor your movements and sleeping habits (though remain vague on the details of what kind), but to actually make you healthier. Used in conjunction with a smartphone app (expect iOS and Android) with browser access, you'll be able to chart your physical habits and correct the bad ones. This means knowing which meals you eat correspond to feeling like shit (or wonderful!) during the day, whether you're getting enough exercise, or when exactly you get rest at night. How much this will actually matter (or work at all) will depend largely on how well they pull off things on the software side.
Unfortunately, it won't have any wireless chatter with your phone—rather, it'll plug-in via headphone jack. This is a drag in terms of usability, and sort of surprising given the company's Bluetooth pedigree. But we're hoping the compromise will keep it on the cheaper, lighter side, with good battery life (a must for anything you're expected to wear around the clock). We'll report back when we get a chance to slap it on ourselves later this year. [Jawbone]


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Small business owners often have more important things to do than manage multiple different spreadsheets, repeatedly checking to make sure that data is consistent between customer accounts, inventory, and sales. However, these tasks are essential, so luckily some cloud-based solutions have popped up in recent years to help businesses simplify these tasks and avoid manually updating multiple spreadsheets over and over again.
Now, small businesses have another option to consider. TradeGecko is a cloud-based application that aims to help small businesses manage inventory and sales, along with customer accounts and data.
The application first launched to the public back in October. And now, thanks to a $650,000 seed funding round, the application is integrating with other SaaS applications for businesses, such as Xero and Shopify.
These integrations will allow TradeGecko users to connect their online storefronts, accounting software, and other applications directly to their TradeGecko account, so that relevant data is updated automatically and in real-time. The Shopify integration is currently available to TradeGecko users, and integration with Xero is coming soon.
TradeGecko was created to help small business owners with various tasks such as managing customer accounts and data, keeping track of stock levels and inventory, and keeping all sales channels synchronized and up-to-date in one central system. These new integrations simply eliminate a step in the process of keeping information up-to-date, since many of TradeGecko's users already use these types of applications and services.
The photo above shows many of the different features of the TradeGecko dashboard, from tracking the value of inventory to updating user information and even tracking sales throughout the month.
The application offers plans ranging from $49 a month to $499 a month. Plans vary based on how many orders and products need to be tracked and managed and how many user logins are needed to manage the account. A 21-day free trial is also available.
TradeGecko is based in Singapore and was founded in January by three entrepreneurs from New Zealand – Carl Thompson and Cameron and Bradley Priest. Since its launch, over 200 trial accounts have been opened in 26 different countries.


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Backwoods Herb Grinders - 1Box/6Pcs
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NEW YORK (AP) – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar likes experienced players, part of the reason he picked San Antonio to knock off Golden State.And it's one reason he thinks John Wooden wouldn't have the same enjoyment or success if he were coaching today. His coach at UCLA would have disliked how the one-and-done era has changed the college basketball game that the Bruins ruled under Wooden.
"He wouldn't have been able to do it now," Abdul-Jabbar said Monday in an interview at The Associated Press headquarters. "It's a totally different circumstance now. Kids aren't going to college to get an education and play ball. It's one or the other."
The NBA's draft lottery is Tuesday and the team that gets the No. 1 pick will likely use it on a freshman, such as point guards Markelle Fultz or Lonzo Ball. They might become All-Stars but they won't arrive in the NBA with anywhere near the resume of Abdul-Jabbar, who won three championships in three seasons from 1967-69 – freshman were ineligible at the time – and was the Final Four Most Outstanding Player each time.
"They're there less than six months. It's not even six months and they're gone," Abdul-Jabbar said. "It's a travesty, I think. They're just using the college system as a stepping stone to the NBA and that's really unfortunate. I think an education is vital to having a good life and these guys aren't getting that opportunity. It's sad."
Dressed in a dark blazer, blue tie and khaki slacks, the goateed Abdul-Jabbar spoke in a studio about his relationship with Wooden in his new book "Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court." The book details Wooden's influence on his life as a player in college and years later as they became closer when Abdul-Jabbar returned to Los Angeles to play for the Lakers.
Wooden won 10 national championships, most by a men's coach, but Abdul-Jabbar hopes readers will see that many of Wooden's best lessons weren't about sports.
"I hope that they get an understanding of the man, what he was all about and what he gave us in terms of an understanding of how to be good citizens, good husbands, good fathers," Abdul-Jabbar said. "That was really what he was all about. He used basketball just as a metaphor to teach us about life and he did a great job."
Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's career scoring leader, is now 70 and does some work for ESPN. He picked the Spurs to beat the top-seeded Warriors in the Western Conference finals.
"I went with the Spurs because they have a more veteran team and the way that they play the game will work because they can play an inside game and an outside game," he said. "Golden State is more of an outside shooting team and they're very good at it. So that's why they play the games. We get to go see them and find out if our speculation was accurate or way off base."
It appeared it was going to be right on, at least for Game 1, when the Spurs built a 25-point lead. But they lost Kawhi Leonard to an ankle injury in the third quarter and Golden State rallied for a 113-111 victory.
"I think San Antonio can challenge them but they're going to need Leonard if they're going to take it all the way," Abdul-Jabbar said.
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This season's show from Junya Watanabe was dizzying and magical. Unexpected touches saw the label surprise, whilst other aspects possibly call for a further evolution. Op art patterned black and white pieces saw swirls and African geometries on cove dresses, skirts and tops. The collection also featured nine of Marimekko's interior prints. Paintbrushes, toadstools, pot plants and flowers were just some of the motifs featured within these prints. Hand drawn, home spun and retro, the illustrations from this Finnish textiles house also became a popular fashion print in the the late fifties. The most famous customer of Marimekko's fashion prints was Jacqueline Kennedy who bought eight of their dresses in the sixties. The show notes talked about the collection being 'an homage to curious natural forms of nature' and that the use of Marimekko's patterns had been about adding 'another dimension of interpreting nature.' The second dress seemed to have the heart of a rose at its centre. Flat packed and almost like 2D origami in its dimensions, a circular construction was like the layered petals of a flower. The works of a grid patterned dress, ditto. But this time the dress draped in linear sections around the body. Later on in the collection, the front of jackets opened like huge circular petals - and tunic tops had drawstring piping that wound around the form.
This enquiry into nature - and Marimekko's kitsch depiction of the subject - was hardened via the world of punk. Archetypal punkish spikes leapt from the neck and the wrists, attached to thick leather dog collars. The girls' hair was styled in an African hybrid mohawk. Hair was twisted and fastened tight with metal screws and bolts. The cutest look, when the hair was styled into pin curls and fastened with metal clips, was almost twenties flapper meets death metal rock chick. The Left Bank Breton stripe also arrived, and gave a rebellious nod to the beatnik movement - and added another note of kitsch classicism. Polka dots - a favourite of both Junya Watanabe and Rei Kawakubo - naturally also came forth. One of the most interesting prints was a pixilated camouflage. ?
With much of the styling being a very literal take on punk, and not for the first time in recent seasons, a more updated take on this attitude is possibly now needed. Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe were - and still are - greatly inspired by this historical era. The spirit of punk still exists today but it looks different. It's more global - and its more inclusive. It's not about a British white kid wearing a spiky dog collar but a young Mexican feminist performing spoken word on YouTube. The exoticism of white models - as well as the worshipping of British sub culture - feels dated. Things have moved on. Nina Simone's Feelin' Good was this show's finale tune. As I sat there, I recalled that infamous 'No Fear' interview with Simone, where she talks about wanting to 'go into the nightclubs full of all those elegant people - and really shake them up, you know?' A Nina Simone shake up? Fashion wouldn't know what had hit it.


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How to make your own "GlueMotor"
Here is a schematics of "GlueMotor Cable":
Note: C1 and C2 are not necessary for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), but to avoid the risk of damaging your iOS device (most likely not, but), you should put them.
Q: What servo motor do you use at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012?
A: Futaba S3003. I bought from TowerHobbies.com Futaba S3003 Standard Servo Motor ($10.99). Also I use Parallax (Futaba) Standard Servo ($12.99).
Q: I built my own GlueMotor Cable, it works but only control +-45 degrees (total 90degrees). Why?
A: Current version 1.1.0 of GlueMotor app only generate 50Hz 1.5ms+-0.5ms PWM pulse because this is a standard specification (I guess, I could not find any official specs but several web site mention that) of the servo control signal, and I do not want GlueMotor to damage your servos with out-of-specs PWM (some miniature servos are very easily damaged in angle limiter, and causing potentiometer gets damaged). I am going to add a feature to adjust the pulse range (minimum & maximum width) so you can adjust it per servo.
Q: Did you say GlueMotor Cable works with any analog servo motors?
A: Ah, did I say that? Actually, It works with any analog servo motors that I have so far. I will put a list of servo motors that I have tried with GlueMotor cable soon.
Q: Hey! You are lier! I made a GlueMotor Cable exactly same as your schematics, but does not work with my Android Phone!
A: It is possible. Unfortunately some Android device cannot generate enough signal level to control the servos. In that case, you need to bias the input after C1 & C2. I will put modified schematics soon.
Q: I am using Android phone. How come there is a delay between swiping gesture and rotation of the servo? Are you intensionally make Android version slower than iOS version??
A: No no! I was trying to reduce the delay on Android, but so far no luck. If you know how, please let me know!
Q: Why do you hide your source code in your hard drive? I don't believe any "Not Open Source" apps.
A: I will publish the source code once I clean up the code :-)


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Early 50 percent of black men and 40 percent of white men are arrested at least once on non-traffic-related crimes by the time they turn 23, according to a new study.
One of the authors of the study published this month in the journal "Crime & Delinquency" said the statistics could be useful in shaping policy so that people aren't haunted by arrests when they apply for jobs, schools or public housing.
"Many, many people are involved with the criminal justice system at this level," said Shawn Bushway, a University at Albany criminologist. "And treating them all as if they're hardened criminals is a serious mistake."
The peer-reviewed estimates didn't rely on arrest records but instead on an annual federal Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of about 7,000 young people who answered questions each year from 1997 to 2008 on a range of issues — including if they had ever been taken into custody for something other than a traffic offense. Self-reported crimes ranged from underage drinking to violent assaults.
The authors found that by age 18, 30 percent of black men, 26 percent of Hispanic men and 22 percent of white men have been arrested. By 23, those numbers climb to 49 percent for black men, 44 percent for Hispanic men and 38 percent for white men.
Among women, 20 percent of blacks, 18 percent of whites and 16 percent of Hispanics were arrested at least once by age 23.
Further research on the arrests themselves, convictions and recidivism rates are in the works, said the study's co-author, University of South Carolina criminology professor Robert Brame.
"Among criminologists, I don't think they're that surprised or alarmed by the findings," Brame said. "The alarm and concern is among people not as familiar with the patterns."
The last time a similar estimate was made was in 1967, when researchers using statistics reported to the FBI found that by age 23, 34 percent of all men would have been arrested at least once. Brame and Bushway's estimate for all men is 40 percent.
Overall, the 1967 estimate said 22 percent of all people were arrested at least once for a non-traffic offense by age 23; the new study's overall finding is 30 percent.
Jim Pasco, the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Fraternal Order of Police, wasn't familiar with the study but said officers are focused on stopping crime as it happens — regardless of race or age.
Kai Smith, 44, who heads a New York City gang diversion group, said he was first arrested at age 12 or 13 for jumping a subway turnstile. He later went on to serve 16 years in state prison for drug possession.
"It's really damaging … putting handcuffs on a child at 12, 13 or 14 years old," he said. "Even for something like jumping a turnstile, those acts have ripple effects that can be catastrophic."
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed raising the age when criminal suspects go to adult court from 16 to 18, saying he'll establish a commission to plan it and propose steps to protect the public from "a small number of young violent offenders."
Only one other state, North Carolina, treats juveniles this way. Advocates in both states want the age of criminal responsibility raised to 18, with younger teens sent to family court, where they can avoid the dangers of adult jails and prisons and have criminal records sealed.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Waterman, a pastor at Antioch Baptist Church in Brooklyn, said the high arrests rates for young black men create a troubling cycle, where criminal records lead to difficulties gaining lawful employment, which then results in criminal behavior and more arrests.
"It really takes a toll on them and their futures," he said. "Even the process of getting carried down to the police station — it becomes a custom or pattern that becomes part of their lives."


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Dengue on the rise: global burden is three times WHO estimate
Study shows India contributed more than one-third of burden in 2010
Conflicts are no less around national parks, sanctuaries
First-of-its-kind study in India carried out in Karnataka finds number of villages affected by human-elephant conflict and the compensation paid …
Thirty one per cent of world's cacti facing threat of extinction: IUCN
Unscrupulous collection of live plants and seeds for trade and private ornamental collection affects 47 per cent of the threatened species
Africa's vultures dwindling, says study
Raptors diminishing across continent due to a number of reasons
More than 1,300 rhinos fell to poaching in Africa in 2015: IUCN
Poaching of rhinos is fuelled by the demand for their horns in Southeast Asia
Malta allows recreational hunting of 5,000 turtle doves
The birds were recently added to the IUCN's 'red list' of species at risk of being wiped out
Global tiger population up by 22 per cent
India is the largest contributor to the increase in tiger population
New atlas shows how oceans benefit people, economy
Oceans are an important resource as they cover 70 per cent of the Earth and support and sustain life on our planet
Spanish longliner detained in São Tomé for hunting sharks
Inspections revealed that fish holds of the liner contained blue sharks classified as "near-threatened" by the International Union …
Ocean warming leading to loss of fish stocks, crop yields: IUCN
The report, compiled by 80 scientists across 12 countries, highlights evidence of impacts on marine life, from microorganisms to mammals
Will IUCN ban on domestic ivory trade spark a global battle on conservation?
Two blocs of countries seem headed for a confrontation over the issue of ban on ivory trade
Bucking extinction
Even as the number of species nearing extinction increases each year, here's a look at the conservation strategies that have helped revive four …
Sounds of silence: a forest that survived 'development'
A trip to the Silent Valley National Park is a valuable lesson in the history of environmental movements and biodiversity conservation
Fading family tree
Environmental protection is inherently embedded in the lives of the Kodava people. Kodira A Kushalapa, a Kodava himself, and a former regional …
Worst yellow fever outbreak in decades kills hundreds of rare monkeys in Brazil
Over 600 monkeys have died in rainforest region with no provision for vaccinating them
How a UN platform to stop biodiversity loss could up its game
Biodiversity keeps declining despite lots of accumulated knowledge and numerous international and national commitments to act
Under the Sal Tree—theatre of nature
Under the Sal Tree theatre festival is a unique concept where plays are organised inside a Sal forest in Assam's Goalpara district. This is an eco-…
Should we confer legal right upon nature?
French philosopher Michel Seres had long ago proposed the idea of agency for the natural environment as a whole so that its rights can be protected
Globally, over 15 per cent of all tree species face extinction threat
More than 300 species are critically endangered, with just 50 or fewer individual trees for each species left in the wild
Voluntary commitments can protect the ocean
Since the time taken to negotiate environmental commitments is not always worth the outcome, the UN Ocean Conference is doing away with this time lag
Microplastic pollution could push whale, shark towards extinction: study
These species are getting exposed to toxic chemicals through breakdown of microplastics in their digestive system
"Environmental amnesia is constricting our intellect"
Though we are living in a highly degraded environment, we have failed to spot behavioural fallouts. Increasingly, children living in polluted …
10 Most Critically Endangered Animals in the world
These 10 species are the most likely to go extinct in the next few years
4 species added to recovery programme by Wildlife Board
Northern River Terrapin, Clouded Leopard, Arabian Sea Humpback Whale, and the Red Panda were added to a recovery programme for critically …
Red sanders not endangered anymore
This is the first time since 1997 that red sanders has been placed under the 'near threatened' category by International Union for …


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Kansas teenager Brendan Moore was arrested and charged last week for planning a school shooting at Topeka West High School. A crew from local news station WIBW wanted a fellow student to interview for a reaction, and they found Nate Magers. They should have kept looking.
How running an NFL team is like running a restaurant | Chef Emeril Lagasse
Magers impressively provides nothing of value in a full minute. The bar's low for interviewing kids in high school, but this dude doesn't even manage that. Here's a portion:
Reporter: Does that make you scared to come to school?
Nate Magers: No.
Reporter: It doesn't?
Magers: No.
Reporter: Why?
Magers: 'Cause they're not plotting to kill me.
He's later asked how he felt when he heard about the plot. "Wow, man, like, killing people is heavy." That it is, Nate.
[Warming Glow | Reddit]


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Hot eruption sites scattered across Jupiter's moon Io stand out dramatically in an infrared image taken Oct. 13, 2001, by NASA's Galileo spacecraft as it sped past this most volcanically active of all known worlds.
The infrared image (right) serves as a thermal map to nearly a full hemisphere of Io. An image from Galileo's camera showing the same face of Io (left) is included for correlating the heat-sensing infrared data with geological features apparent in visible wavelengths. When Galileo snapped the infrared shot, the left half of the hemisphere was actually in darkness and the right half in daylight.
The infrared image uses false color to portray the intensity with which the surface glows at the invisible wavelength of 5 microns, as observed by Galileo's near infrared mapping spectrometer instrument. White, reds and yellows indicate hotter regions; blues are cold. The resolution varies from 83 to 93 kilometers (52 to 58 miles) per picture element.
Four previously unknown volcanoes have been discovered from this image, including one also detected in another infrared image taken the same day. Those new-found hot spots are faint. Among the more easily identified brighter volcanoes in the image are the pair Pillan and Pele located near the left-hand edge at about 8 o'clock if the circular image is taken as a clock face. Marduk is located a little farther from the edge at 7 o'clock. The bright spot at about 2 o'clock is the site where a plume was seen erupting about 500 kilometers (320 miles) high 10 weeks before this image was taken.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Additional information about Galileo and its discoveries is available on the Galileo mission home page at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/.


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5 States Where GOP Extremists Are Pushing Repugnant Anti-Women Laws
The 2012 election was meant to be a referendum on, among other things, the tide of Republican extremism that swept reproductive rights to the edge of existence in many states between 2010 and 2012. Although the Tea Party was allegedly given votes in the midterms to address financial issues, abortion restriction and defunding Planned Parenthood immediately rose to the top of the new Republican priority list.
That was all supposed to end with this election--but did it?
This absurd period of legislative history that became dubbed the "war on women" (though it affected people of all genders) culminated in this year's notorious spate of comments from Tea Party-approved candidates about rape -- legitimate, god-willed or otherwise -- and resulted in the biggest anti-misogynist backlash at the ballot box we've seen in a long time.
Women handily voted for Obama, vetoed extreme anti-choicers and listed abortion as an important issue in exit polls. But in several states, GOPers seemed not to get the message. At all. Some of them are continuing to fight the same battles, in some cases putting women's access at risk.
Could it be because they have no ideas besides digging back into the "dump on women's rights" bag of tricks?
1. Ohio. Right away during Ohio's lame duck session, members of the state GOP decided that it might be a good idea to revive some battles they lost, like the dangerous and restrictive "heartbeat ban," which would ban abortion while a fetal heartbeat was detected (and whose potential effects many have compared to the situation in Ireland that led to Savita Halappanavar's death). They also made efforts to defund their state's Planned Parenthood--again.
This led to State Senator Nina Turner creating a T-shirt that said "Get Out of My Panties" and calling the GOP in her state "insane."
At last this week, these Ohio GOP efforts to curtail reproductive freedom came to an end, but not after they wasted a lot of time and energy on all ends trying to remind women of their desire to legislate in the womb.
2. Arizona is worthy of a double prize, and not only because the state is continuing to fight an appeal in court to keep funding away from Planned Parenthood--even though they've lost in lower courts.
Even worse, there's a new shame tactic from the state, which has already instituted a highly constitutionally questionable 20-week ban: a Web site which tries to manipulate women out of having abortions. At Jezebel, Katie JM Baker offers an analysis of the site's true intentions:
Make no mistake: the website is biased, ...The title itself — "A Women's Right to Know" — is incredibly patronizing. The first paragraph on the home page doesn't define abortion or even explain why a woman might choose to terminate a pregnancy; instead, it states that "... If your doctor performs an abortion on you without obtaining your voluntary consent or without allowing a private medical consultation they may be liable to you for claims in a civil action." Because it's that easy for women to get abortions, you guys! Those wily doctors will give you an abortion even if you don't want one! Lock your windows!Rather than offering women medically accurate information, the site offers half-truths and shame.
3. Arkansas GOPers, finding themselves in charge of both legislative chambers, are wasting no time trying to do what they do best: get all up in Arkansas uteri. They are introducing measures to ban abortion by "telemedicine" as well as a controversial 20-week ban:
Mayberry said he plans to reintroduce legislation next year that would ban abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy, based on the disputed claim that a fetus can feel pain after that point. Mayberry's bill was one of 10 anti-abortion measures that failed to clear the House Public Health Committee during last year's session, and it's one of three measures that Arkansas Right to Life says it plans to push for in the legislative session that begins Jan. 14.
...The Arkansas attorney general's office last year opposed the measure, telling the panel that it was in conflict with established law and would likely be struck down as unconstitutional.
4. Wisconsin. Despite their state's hearty endorsement of President Barack Obama's re-election, Wisconsin Republicans are also gearing up for more anti-choice measures along the same lines as other states, eager to take advantage of a GOP-dominated state goverment:
5. Mississippi's only abortion clinic is embattled by a law designed to shut it down and is in danger of closing. A press release from the Center for Reproductive Rights notes that ideology trumps medical sense in this fight:
The state's largest anti-abortion group sees opportunities to place further regulations on abortion, including requiring women seeking the procedure to view an ultrasound of her fetus.Wisconsin Right to Life is also proposing banning abortions that would cause pain to the fetus, barring abortions that are sought based on the sex of the fetus and prohibiting the ability of state employees to use their state healthcare plans to access abortions.
Although all the doctors currently providing abortions to women at the Mississippi clinic are board-certified ob-gyns, the physicians responsible for the lion's share of the clinic's patients have not been granted privileges by any of the hospitals in the area. In fact, several of the hospitals refused to even process the physicians' applications, citing their biased policies and practices towards abortion care.
CRR has filed suit to prevent the law from going into effect, while anti-choice protesters targeting the clinic continue to "harass and terrify" patients.
All these states show that the misguided crusade against women's rights is not over, despite the overwhelming "out of our exam rooms, out of our bedrooms" message sent by the 2012 election. In 2013, keep your eye on the states to see whether the "war" on reproductive health services comes to an end, continues, or as some activists wish, goes the other way.
Wouldn't it be amazing if, instead of fighting retrograde bills, we focused on expanding access, coverage and information about abortion and sexual health? Activists on the #proactiveprochoice hashtag made their own wishlist this week:
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In July this year I went to Egypt with my girlfriend. I took lots of pictures on my digital camera. They were all inspiring photos of the pyramids etc, but to my surprise i noticed a strange orb above the sphinx in one of the shots? I dont know whether it is a UFO or just a fault in the camera. What do you think?
(Jan, from England, UK)
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Congratulations to shoist, the winner of this week's book giveaway! Shoist's
comment on our gundigest.com website won him a free copy of "Massad Ayoob's
Greatest Handguns of the World."
A nice variety of guns were represented in the poll. To no one's surprise,
the 1911 weighed in with the most votes for greatest handgun.
Massad Ayoob agrees that the 1911 is a great gun, and features a nice
article about it in the book.
Most of the other guns mentioned in the comments got a thumbs-up from
Ayoob. "Massad Ayoob's Greatest Handguns of the World" also offers in-depth
coverage of 21 of the greatest handguns of our era, along with personal
opinions, anecdotes and relevant tales told as only Mas can.
To find out if your favorite made the book, and see what Massad has to say
about it, you can get a copy at the Gun Digest bookstore.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to weigh in, and remember to check
the Gun Digest blog pages often – we'll be giving away more books soon. You,
too, can be a winner — just by telling us what you think!
Recommended gun books for those who carry concealed handguns:
The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry
The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery
Effective Handgun Defense, A Comprehensive Guide to Concealed Carry
Find more resources at gundigeststore.com


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OTTAWA, May 10, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A number of American pro-life leaders traveled north of the border for Canada's March for Life on Thursday, where they addressed the crowd and encouraged them in their fight to protect the unborn.
"The beautiful thing about fighting for human dignity is that it knows no geographic boundaries," said Ryan Bomberger of Virginia Beach, founder of the Radiance Foundation. "We can be united all across this globe for a fight to protect human life from conception to natural death."
Bomberger showed his familiarity with Canadian history by referencing Dr. Henry Morgentaler, the godfather of legalized abortion in that nation, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday. The doctor's illegal abortion activism resulted in the Supreme Court decision 25 years ago that struck down all restrictions on abortion in Canada.
"Dr. Morgentaler, the Jewish Holocaust survivor, is celebrated by some here in Canada," Bomberger said. "How does one go from being crushed by inhuman oppression to crushing humans and being the oppressor? This is something I can't wrap my mind around."
"Every life is precious," he said. "Black, white, brown, young, old, disabled, 'differently abled,' Down [Syndrome], quadrapalegic, deaf, girls, boys, born, and – thank God – the unborn."
The international focus of the 2013 march naturally complemented this year's theme, "End Female Gendercide: 'It's a Girl' Should Not be a Death Sentence."
Reggie Littlejohn, one of the foremost experts on China's one-child policy, keynoted the event on Parliament Hill.
Her Women's Rights Without Frontiers (WRWF) opposes "forced abortion and sex-selective abortion in China," she told the crowd of 25,000.
Her years of tireless work to end sex-selective abortion has seemed to garner little media attention, but suddenly "ending female gendercide is the theme of this march."
"Thank you," she said. "You inspire me."
Click "like" if you want to end abortion!
Last July, Chinese Communist officials announced that their one-child policy had prevented 400 million lives, more than 300 million by abortion, at the rate of 1,500 abortions an hour. The nation's traditional downgrading of young girls has created a massive sex imbalance, leading to human trafficking.
Janet Morana of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, spoke alongside the founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign in Canada, Angelina Steenstra. The Canadian group is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
Morana brought greetings from Fr. Frank Pavone and led the very young crowd in a chant of "Recall abortion!"
This year's march had an even greater international impact, as Catholic television station EWTN beamed the event to its worldwide viewing audience. Fr. Mark Mary of EWTN participated in all the events, beginning with the vigil Mass at St. Teresa's Catholic Church on Wednesday night, and conducted numerous interviews.
David Bereit of 40 Days for Life offered two workshops at the March for Life Youth Conference on Friday. Bombarger and Littlejohn addressed the March for Life Youth Conference on Friday afternoon, as well.


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Image-based readers surpass laser scanner in code-reading ability, said Cognex
1D and 2D codes can be obscured and difficult to read in many applications, because of size, quality, printing method, or environment. Because of higher accuracy, image-based readers are rapidly replacing laser scanners in a wide range of manufacturing and logistics applications, Cognex said.
A technology shift is taking place in 1D and 2D code-reading hardware and software, according to Cognex. Codes can be obscured and difficult to read in many applications, because of size, quality, printing method, or because surface the codes are marred. Accuracy advantages have allowed image-based readers to rapidly replace laser scanners in a wide range of manufacturing and logistics applications, Cognex said. Cognex images show the wide variability of 1D barcode and 2D code readings.
One dimensional (1D) code symbologies include UPC, PDF, and postal codes, and 2D code symbologies include data matrix and QR Barcodes and 2D codes can be used simultaneously.
2D codes come on labels and packaging, while direct part marks (DPM) can be made on chips, plastic, ceramics, metal, and glass. Proper lighting helps. Cognex UltraLight illumination technologies enable "direct marked 2D codes to be applied to a wide range of products that previously were difficult to identify and track through their manufacturing and usage lifecycle," the company said.
The manufacturer of machine vision and bar-code reading systems, said it "offers the most advanced technology available for 1D barcode and for 2D Data Matrix code reading." Using knowledge gathered, in part, with machine vision systems and related software, the company patented Cognex IDMax technology and two algorithms, Cognex 1DMax and Cognex 2DMax for reading "virtually every type of code, every time, with unsurpassed read rates," the company said. Combined with handheld and fixed-mount reader formats, Cognex can "successfully read codes that other readers cannot."
Manufacturers and others can more help on 1D and 2D code reading; videos, datasheets, product and software information are available from Cognex.
Barcode reader said to exceed laser scanner performance
10 Considerations for Direct Part Mark Identification (DPMI) – Fast, accurate, and reliable DPMI is a challenge because codes can be difficult to read because of low contrast, variations in part surfaces, and other considerations.
Learn about various machine control applications and see tutorials at www.controleng.com/machinevision.
– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, CFE Media, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com.
Do you have experience and expertise with the topics mentioned in this content? You should consider contributing to our CFE Media editorial team and getting the recognition you and your company deserve. Click here to start this process.


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Spoiler Alert: We have a winner! The answer and winner are listed at the bottom of this post.* Thanks to all for your guesses.
We woke up this morning to a beautiful snowfall.
At one point, the flakes were nearly as large as a Mammoth boat.
Nathan bundled up and headed out to take some snow photos. (Actually, I think he preferred the chill to the racket here in our office – we have some construction going on today.)
To celebrate the beauty (and our gratefulness that this isn't turning into a blizzard), let's have a quick photo contest.
All we need is for you to identify, via email (we provide the address below) the name of the coaster and the portion of the ride that we show. (Hint: the answer is not "the track"; we want you to identify where on the circuit this photo was taken.)
The prize? Two one-day tickets for this season.
… when it's warm and the snow is long gone.
A few rules:
1. Must be 13 or older to enter.
2. Must not be an employee or immediate family member of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari.
3. Just one entry per email address, please.
4. First person to email us with the correct answer wins. If no one guesses exactly, we'll go with whoever came closest. This one's pretty easy, though (not like that last contest!).
How to enter? Must be by email and to this address: firstname.lastname@example.com. (If you win, we'll contact you via email, so please be sure to use an address you check frequently.)
Good luck. And stay warm!
*Congrats to Don K. from Kirksville, Missouri, who knew this photo is of the last curve on Raven, just before the train hits the brakes outside of the station.


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Novell ZENworks Personality Migration is part of the Novell ZENworks Configuration Management product line.
A personality is a collection of applications and system settings that a user commonly uses on a device. Typical settings can be desktop wallpaper, e-mail account settings, browser proxy settings, files and folders, archived e-mails, Microsoft office templates, Microsoft Office macros, etc.
ZENworks Personality Migration provides a way to automate this process, both on a standalone device or from a centrally managed console. The process significantly reduces the time and effort required in setting up or reconfiguring a desktop for users. This is particularly useful while provisioning new desktops and applications.
ZENworks Personality Migration allows you to store the personality of a Windows user and migrate the personality to another Windows user. For enterprise-scale migrations, you can use ZENworks Configuration Management to distribute Directive bundles to store and apply personality settings to the users.
The Personality Migration utility is provided with ZENworks Configuration Management. For more information on installing the utility, see Section 2.0, Installing ZENworks Personality Migration.
The utility allows you to:
Store the personality of one or more users on a Windows device to a compressed and password- protected personality file.
Apply the personality settings from a personality file to a Windows desktop.
Directly migrate the personality data from the desktops of one or more users on a Windows device to the users on another Windows device without any intermediate file, if the two devices are interconnected.
Review the following sections:


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In this animated short, a young girl and her father move from China to Canada, bringing only their Chinese violin along for the journey. As they face the challenge of starting fresh in a new place, the music of the violin connects them to the life they left behind and guides the girl towards a musical future.
Part of the Talespinners collection, which uses vibrant animation to bring popular children's stories from a wide range of cultural communities to the screen.
Pedagogical evaluations and study guides are only available to CAMPUS subscribers.
Features designed specifically for teachers. Learn more
Already subscribed? Sign in


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How many newton metre in 1 tonne meter? The answer is 9806.65. We assume you are converting between newton-metre and tonne-meter. You can view more details on each measurement unit: newton metre or tonne meter The SI derived unit for torque is the newton meter. 1 newton meter is equal to 1 newton metre, or 0.00010197162129779 tonne meter. Note that rounding errors may occur, so always check the results. Use this page to learn how to convert between newton metres and tonne meters. Type in your own numbers in the form to convert the units!
You can do the reverse unit conversion from tonne meter to newton metre, or enter any two units below:
Newton metre is the unit of moment in the SI system. Its symbol is N m or N·m. It is a compound unit of torque corresponding to the torque from a force of 1 newton applied over a distance arm of 1 metre.
ConvertUnits.com provides an online conversion calculator for all types of measurement units. You can find metric conversion tables for SI units, as well as English units, currency, and other data. Type in unit symbols, abbreviations, or full names for units of length, area, mass, pressure, and other types. Examples include mm, inch, 70 kg, 150 lbs, US fluid ounce, 6'3", 10 stone 4, cubic cm, metres squared, grams, moles, feet per second, and many more!


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Conférence "Ethical and Epistemic Entanglements of Person-Centred Epidemiological Measures"
14 March 2018 • 12h30 14h00
McGill University, Institute for Health and Social Policy, Charles Meredith building, 1130 Pine Ave West
Abstract Since the 1970s epidemiological measures focusing on "quality of life" have figured increasingly as endpoints in clinical trials. In this talk I begin by examining the history of these measures, which were later relabeled "patient-reported outcome measures" or PROMs. The ability of these measures to faithfully report patient concerns and/or quality of life has […] Read more


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For Rent
4 Weeks Available at $1,600 Each
The exquisite Mediterranean style Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort offers modern convenience for the traditional family theme-park escape. It is an entertainment complex featuring many recreational amenities, such as five outdoor pools, nine hot tubs and a refreshing 250-ft Lazy River. Try La Cantina Grille and Escudos Bar & Grille, or any of the eateries, for the perfect meal. Let the on-site experts from the Disney Planning Center plan your activities.


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Seers offer their predictions for 2014
ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- A possible cure for cancer. Another baby boy for Prince William and Duchess Kate. More space travel, with an end goal of vacations on Mars.
All are predictions of what could happen in the world in 2014, according to psychic Barbara Mackey of Toms River, who has done psychic readings and paranormal investigations for 25 years.
But it's not just psychics who are expecting exciting changes in 2014. Much is on the horizon for the new year, according to outlooks from economists and futurists.
Flo Higgins, an astrologer in Eatontown, said those born under the signs of Aries, Capricorn, Cancer and Libra are going to feel tremendous changes in their lives through the middle of July.
Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio and Taurus people have been undergoing plenty of trials and tribulations, Higgins said, but are due for a big payoff. Their long roads will calm down toward the end of 2014's summer.
Gemini, Pisces, Sagittarius and Virgo people need to be careful, Higgins cautioned.
"They've got to use disciplines," Higgins said. "They seem to get into a lot of trouble."
Stars expected to have a big 2014 include Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling and Miley Cyrus — with a quickie wedding and divorce and a possible spread in Playboy magazine for Cyrus, Mackey predicts.
"I think it's gonna be a continuation of what we've been going through; our moral standards are going to continue to drop … we're going to have more Miley Cyrus-type things," Higgins said.
Comedy could take entertainment by the reins this year, Mackey said.
"People want to laugh ... it seems that they're thirsty to laugh and have fun, so people that can (act) in comedy are at the top of the list (this year)," Mackey said.
Mixed views on economy
Joel Naroff, an economist based in Holland, Pa., expects the nation's economy to bounce back in the second half of the year.
"The remaining missing link in this recovery … we're just not getting a lot of wage and salary gain," Naroff said. "Who's had a good salary increase lately? You have to get the unemployment down at a level where companies need to start bidding for workers. Some of that will happen in 2014."
The year will end with an unemployment rate of 6.2 to 6.3 percent, he predicts.
But Michael Zey of Morristown, a Montclair State University business professor and member of the World Future Society, a nonprofit educational and scientific organization, is not as positive.
"It's very disturbing that 80 percent of the new jobs were part-time (this year)," Zey said. "I see no indication from employers that they're willing to increase their hiring — they're making their profits through cost-cutting, investing in new technologies and few hirings."
Technology will continue to grow at a rapid rate, Zey said, and 3-D printers will become more common in households.
"Now they have bio-printing where they're using medical tissues to create organs, from an ear to a pancreas … this is part of the medical discovery process. And as people hear about these, they don't want to hear their insurance company isn't going to pay for this. That's part of the clash, the conflict that's going to be taking place between all these breakthroughs at the medical level," Zey said.
Mackey, meanwhile, says she has a strong inkling that discoveries for a cancer vaccine will be made, and a cause for what creates the disease will be targeted.
"It's going to be a trial; they're trying it right now, I believe," Mackey said. "I think it might start out in Canada. I'm hopeful with this."
Higgins predicts more options to protect one's privacy on Facebook and Twitter will be created.
"We'll have more advances in communication; they're not stopping as far as Internet and the telephones," Higgins said.
Look forward to more space travel, too, according to Mackey, with a focus on Mars. The end goal is to eventually have resorts and vacation spots on the planet, she predicts.
Political changes
Mackey's psychic predictions say local governments will be dismissed by citizens, who will eventually take matters into their own hands.
"I believe there's going to be a collective consciousness that's going to affect us on a worldwide, global level," Mackey said. "We're looking at ourselves and saying, 'we do have the power to change things on a lower level.' We can't count on the government; they used to be our role models, but no longer."
President Barack Obama will be in jeopardy, Mackey said, when a scandal surrounding him arises.
What about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a possible presidential candidate?
"His discipline in getting his weight off … if he's able to do that, he will run," Higgins said. "He's already running. He's a Virgo, he's very detail-oriented and he's got it all mapped out."
Democrats could lose their majority in the U.S. Senate after the 2014 midterm elections.
"I think (politicians) will be more bipartisan," Mackey said. "I think they will play nice for the sake of the country. I'm not saying this is going to be overnight; it's a process."
Zey sees Republicans will pick up 10 Senate seats.
"A lot of the Senate seats are up for grabs in red states," Zey said. "You could have a year from now a Republican Senate and House with a Democrat president ... that's the way it looks politically right now, (but) things can change dramatically in 10 months."


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WASHINGTON, DC – Senator John McCain wants the US to take a more aggressive stance with North Korea, preferably using a ship that bears his name.
McCain urged the Obama administration on Meet the Press this Sunday to forcibly board a ship sailing from North Korea to Myanmar believed to carry UN contraband missile parts. He said that the USS John McCain is nearby and ready for the job.
"If the ship needs to be forcibly boarded," he went on to say, "naval officers can wear masks of my face. This would have the dual effect of protecting the sailors' identities and striking fear into the hearts of their enemies."
He continued saying that the elevated tension between North Korea and the rest of the world was highly unfortunate. John McCain offered to settle the dispute once and for all by challenging Kim Jong Il to a one-on-one Kumate style duel to the death. To keep the fight fair and the results clear, he said it would be preferable if the duel was broadcast live on pay-per-view.
No official response has come from Pyonyang regarding McCain's challenge to a duel. However inside sources confirm that McCain did receive a signed copy of Kim Jong Il's album "Lonely Mount Piktu Rambler."
The Obama administration has insisted that it will remain vigilant of the North Korean ship, but hostile boarding will not be necessary. John McCain maintains that he, ships bearing his name, and soldiers bearing his likeness, should be used to protect the country.
McCAIN FOR BOARDING NORTH KOREAN SHIP
WASHINGTON, DC – Senator John McCain wants the US to take a more aggressive stance with North Korea, preferably using a ship that bears his name.


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Ethical and Sustainable
Handmade with Love
Vintage-Inspired Bohemian
Timeless Forever Pieces
Designed in Venice, California
This leather shoulder bag was made from a hand-woven, vintage Guatemalan huipil (a traditional Guatemalan blouse worn by the indigenous women of Mexico and Guatemala). It was completely handmade by Mayan artisans using re-purposed, sustainable textiles. Because it was made with vintage pieces, it may have slight imperfections which is part of its uniqueness. It is one-of-a-kind. No other bag exists exactly like it.
The colors, weaving style, patterns, and symbols in the huipiles all reflect the history and traditions of the village where the weaver who made it comes from and carry spiritual and social significance.
*Full grain leather
*Vintage cotton huipil blouse
*Interior zippered pocket
*Two interior open pockets which are perfect for a cell phone, wallet or sunglasses
*Exterior zippered pocket
*Two exterior leather side-pockets with magnet closure large enough to hold a water bottle
*Top zipper closure
*Tan leather adjustable strap
*Dangling pom-pom included
Approximately 16 x 16 x 11 inches
Our weavers are part of a co-op made up mostly of women from all corners of Guatemala. All products are fair trade and the prices are set by the artisans. Women and men receive equal pay. There is absolutely NO child labor.
Full-priced items can be returned for a refund or store credit within 14 days of receipt. Shipping is non-refundable. You will be responsible for all related shipping charges.
Sale and discounted items are FINAL SALE.
To return your product, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com to make arrangements.
All clothing must be returned nicely folded, as received, or a 10% restocking fee will be applied.


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Outrage over Taliban flogging of Pakistani girl could threaten peace deal
A video of a girl being lashed 34 times for allegedly being seen with a man who was not her husband has prompted a chorus of condemnations led by President Asif Ali Zardari.
| Mingora, Pakistan
The public flogging of a 17-year-old girl in Pakistan's Swat Valley sparked a wave of protests across the country this weekend, but local residents fear the backlash may jeopardize a precarious peace deal between the Pakistani government and militants in the troubled region.
A grainy video depicting a girl being pinned down by three men and lashed 34 times – Islamic law punishment for allegedly being seen with a man who was not her husband – was released on private Pakistani television channels on Friday night prompting a chorus of condemnations led by President Asif Ali Zardari, who has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
"[We] have a responsibility to stand for our people if they are being subjected to atrocities by elements that are not recognized by the state as legitimate actors. Ignoring such acts of violence amounts to sanctioning impunity," says Sherry Rehman, a member of parliament from the ruling Pakistan People's Party, who was information Minister at the time the Swat Valley peace deal allowing Islamic law was signed in February. She adds that the government may be forced to review its position with regard to the peace deal in the face of growing condemnation.
In Swat's main town of Mingora, however, anger is overridden by a practical desire to maintain good relations with the Taliban whom residents say are in de- facto control of the region. The consensus is that the video, which was shot with a cellphone camera, took place in January – before the peace accord – and that the Taliban has done nothing as controversial since that time.
"There are no words strong enough to condemn the incident," says Ahmad Shah, principal of a local private school. "But the question is why now? Where was the outcry from [nongovernmental organizations] and the media when hundreds of people were being executed before the peace deal? Where were the countrywide strikes then? The situation is now on the right track. Let's give an opportunity to the peace process."
The government lacks the ability to arrest Taliban militants, even if it wished to, he adds.
"Killers are no longer roaming the streets, there are no longer public hangings," adds Sardar Ali, a clothing shop owner. "During the fighting there was chaos, now things are much better."
The February peace deal
On Feb. 16, a cease-fire was declared between the Pakistan Army and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), led by Maulana Fazlullah. It came after three years of sporadic fighting that left 1,200 people killed, at least 250,000 displaced, and saw the destruction of more than 200 (mainly girls') schools. As part of the deal, the government agreed to allow the region to be governed by Islamic law, or "Nizam-i-adl," which was a key demand voiced by Mr. Fazlullah's father-in-law, Sufi Mohammed, who leads the movement's political wing.
Almost two months later, the streets and bazaars of Mingora have returned to some semblance of normalcy. Shopkeepers say business is back up again, gaggles of school girls covered from head-to-toe in black burqas can be seen making their way through town, and a few dozen police constables direct traffic in the former tourist hot spot. Taliban fighters are instantly recognizable, too, by the Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders and their fresh white sneakers with socks tucked over their baggy pants.
The district coordination officer, Khushal Khan, points to a relatively low crime-rate – "one-odd murder here, one abduction there" in the district since peace was restored – as evidence of a return to order. He adds that the government has now undertaken a number of steps to restore public confidence.
Debris from schools is being collected while makeshift tent schools have been erected for children from 13 of the more than 200 schools that were destroyed by militants before the peace deal. Hospitals have been reopened, and applicants are being invited to take part in a crash course to become police constables. Nearly all the local police had quit the force in the face of killings and threats over the past three years.
Permission from 'good Taliban'
Mr. Khan, who was kidnapped by Taliban fighters on his entrance to Mingora prior to his first day of work in the district, now terms the incident a "misunderstanding." He says that, in the absence of adequate state machinery, he has to work under the permission of certain "good Taliban" in order to get things accomplished.
Though mid-level Taliban commanders routinely attempt to "out-Islam" each other by forbidding, for example, female high school students from taking their exams, or prohibiting an eye doctor from carrying out his work, appeals to the Taliban leadership are usually able to resolve the issues, he says.
The much-vaunted Islamic courts are partly operational, hearing mainly financial or land disputes that are settled through a quick verdict by Qazis (religious scholars, who were already in place and working as magistrates before the peace-deal). Opposing parties describe their disputes, which could center around a bounced check or a defaulted loan, to the Qazi who in turn makes a swift decision and orders the families to come together and shake hands. There are few documents involved and no lawyers. One hundred and fifteen new cases have been heard since the peace deal, of which 50 have been resolved. "People seem to prefer it this way," says court clerk Zafar Ali. "Things are done a lot sooner."
Even Aftab Alam, who, as the district bar association president is the elected leader of the more than 300 lawyers who have remained out of work since regular courts stopped working, sees working with Taliban as the only way forward.
"The restoration of regular courts can only follow a permanent peace," he says, adding that the government must make good on his promise to officially sign the Islamic regulations so their jurisdiction is formalized and criminal cases can be heard. Last week, cleric Sufi Mohammed threatened to step away from the peace deal if the document was not signed by Pakistan's secular government.
"If President Zardari fails to sign the draft of the sharia [Islamic law] regulation 2009, it shows he is willing to hand over the region to hands of extremists," says Mr. Alam. "What has been shown or [broadcast] is the tip of the iceberg. A lot more criminal acts have been done but no one was there to help us."
Though trained as a secular lawyer, Alam says that implementing Islamic law regulations "to the letter and spirit" may prevent the worst forms of punishments carried out by Taliban during what effectively was a period of war.
"It is not ideal but we are making it work," adds Mr. Shah, the school principal.
For now, however, national momentum appears to moving in the opposite direction.
Pakistan's popular Chief Justice Ifthikar Chaudhry on Friday scheduled a hearing into the flogging incident and ordered the victim to be produced before the court on Monday, while thousands of rights activists took to the streets of Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, and Karachi on Saturday to protest.
A slew of high-profile religious scholars branded the flogging of a woman in public as "unIslamic," while women's rights activists in Lahore vowed to continue to voice their anger over the next three days.
"The government has gone too far in issuing concessions to religious extremists but has gotten nothing in return. This incident is an indication of the type of society [the Taliban] have in mind for the rest of the country," says Dr. Mehdi Hassan, a Lahore-based senior member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan who took part in a street demonstration on Saturday.


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Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to Shaun Partridge. He is a musician and co-founder of The Partridge Family Temple. He blogs at shaunpartridge.com and runs Shaun TV on Youtube.
Intro Song: B Magic
The background story of The Partridge Family Temple
The Partridge Family Show and it's inspiration for the Temple
Troll culture; Boyd Rice wearing a rape shirt in front of a giant troll poster for Answer Me! in the 90's
Shaun's article "Rape is Love" for Answer Me!'s "Rape Edition," Boyd Rice's piece "Revolt against Penis Envy," and Peter Sotos's article and books
Shaun's music for BOYD RICE'S HATESVILLE
Adam Parfrey's Apocalypse Culture and the Temple's work for Adam's art show "Occult Rapture"
Vice's review of Shaun's work; The unpop sound
Monty Python's The Rutles
The power of dreams and Carl Jung as an artist
Shaun's comedic dreams, including a Seinfeld episode, and Pilleater's dream sequence in his Novella "Trip"
Surreal humour; Tim and Eric and Sam Hyde's Million Dollar Extreme
Occult Mysticism in the Wizard of Oz, Alice and Wonderland, Better Call Saul, and Mad Men
Josh Simmons introduces The White Rhinoceros
The power of Psychedelic drugs; out of body and other worldly experiences
Pop Art inspired by Corporate logos by Whale Song Partridge
The Temple Doctrine; "Fun is the Law"
David Cassidy's reaction to the Partridge Family Temple
Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark's Paintings!


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MILLINOCKET, Maine – Instead of renovating Schenck High School for several million dollars, East Millinocket residents should send their students to Millinocket schools in September for $1.5 million, Millinocket school Superintendent Kenneth Smith said Friday.
The proposal comes with free bus transportation and would include East Millinocket students at Northern Penobscot Tech-Region III of Lincoln. It was mailed Wednesday, Smith said.
Smith said he hopes officials from AOS 66, which serves East Millinocket, Medway and Woodville, respond favorably. Medway School Committee Vice-Chairman Greg Stanley received a similar tuition proposal upon requesting it in June, but never responded to the offer, Smith said.
East Millinocket residents "are going through some difficult financial times and I think the feeling is that [both towns' residents] could both be better off if we did this," Smith said Friday. "It is not essential on our part, but it gives them something to think about and hopefully they would consider it."
"In their case, it is a financial issue," he added.
East Millinocket School Committee Chairman Daniel Byron did not return a message left Friday. AOS 66 Superintendent Quenten Clark said he has not yet reviewed the one-page proposal, but expects that East Millinocket committee members will discuss it Tuesday.
Schenck High School and Opal Myrick School, which is in a wing of the East Millinocket building, need several million dollars of repairs over the next few years, AOS 66 officials have said.
Repairing the building's roof is slated to cost $1.8 million. School leaders called a joint meeting Jan. 8 to determine what residents wanted to do with the 56-year-old building, which needs several million dollars in repairs in addition to the roof. The meeting allowed Clark to discuss the hard math involved if the issue goes to referendum as expected.
East Millinocket taxes could rise four to eight mills if taxpayers pay the several million dollars required, said Clark. State aid could shave about $700,000 of that cost, but state officials have said aid is unlikely, given the fiscal crunch state government faces.
About 75 residents who attended the meeting said they wanted to explore repairing Schenck rather than tuitioning town students elsewhere, though some town leaders later expressed doubts that those residents represented a fair sampling of town wishes.
The local or town education appropriation of taxes set aside to operate town schools this year is $4.17 million, according to the tax assessment warrant town leaders approved in November.
Relations between Millinocket and AOS 66 leaders have been contentious at times. Since the state's new school consolidation law went into effect, attempts to turn the four towns to a single school system or administration have twice failed since 2009. AOS 66 was formed in 2011.
The four towns' school administrations were consolidated under Superintendent Sara Alberts from 2004 until she retired in 2009. Since then, East Millinocket, Medway and Woodville leaders have combined some arts programs and some administrative functions with Millinocket, but no longer offer combined sports programs or academics, Smith said.
An offer Millinocket made to allow Schenck High School students to participate in football at Stearns in exchange for allowing Millinocket students to play on the soccer team at Schenck was rejected, Smith said.
Stearns has about 540 middle and high school students and a capacity for 800. Smith didn't have handy enrollment figures for Granite Street School, which houses elementary school students, but said it had "plenty of room." AOS 66's fifth- to eighth-grade students attend Medway Middle School.
Smith said he hopes that any contentiousness among the towns' leaders has faded.
"My feeling is, times have changed. People are facing some very difficult financial times. They haven't been nearly as serious as they are now," Smith said, "so it would seem to be a golden opportunity to do something, but I am aware of history too."
"I am very positive about the proposal we made. I think it is an excellent financial offer," he added. "If they analyze it carefully, they will think it is a very positive proposal, but we will wait and see what happens."


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Mitt Romney may have won the straw poll but Sarah Palin won CPAC's heart--electrifying the Conservative Political Action Conference with one of the most rousing and effective political speeches of recent years. Both winners managed to advance the cause of conservative unity and raised the prospects for a competitive and formidable Republican challenge to Barack Obama's re-election.
Romney's win among conservative activists, especially combined with his simultaneous victory in the Maine caucuses completed on Saturday, will help to change the over-stated and misleading media narrative about Mitt's supposed inability to connect with his party's conservative base.
After spending three days at CPAC with a mob of 10,000 engaged activists, I can report with first-hand assurance that there's scant accuracy to all the reports of the right wing feeling dispirited or lackadaisical about the upcoming campaign. On my radio show (which I broadcast live from the site of the conference) I described the occasion as a "conservative Woodstock--without the drugs and without the nudity." Most certainly, a festive atmosphere prevailed, with hordes of well-scrubbed, eager-eyed, college-age volunteers and the vast majority of participants falling below the age of 55. All three of the presidential candidates who spoke got rousing receptions, as did any speaker (virtually all of them) who pronounced the words "most important election of our lifetime" and identified victory in November as an essential for national salvation. Ron Paul declined to participate this year for reasons that remain unclear (he won the straw poll the last year two years) but his son, Senator Rand Paul, represented the libertarian family business with a good-natured but low-voltage pitch in his papa's behalf.
Gingrich in his Friday afternoon address exploded with energy and ideas, trying to live up to his reputation for unlikely political revivals as the GOP version of The Round Mound of Rebound. He used the word "establishment" so frequently that anyone who was playing a drinking game at home, toasting every invocation of these arrogant elites, would have plastered himself into insensibility. His acolytes cheered and shrieked but he underperformed in the straw poll with 15 percent--less than half the support of either Santorum or Romney. His supporters at CPAC seemed for the most part dejected and resentful and outnumbered, even before the announcement of the poll results late Saturday afternoon. Their only real contribution to the proceedings involved a snarky handout where they (falsely) announced the topic of Romney-supporter Ann Coulter's speech as "Why I Love Obamaneycare." I spoke to Ann after her ecstatically received address and she was less than amused.
There was also nothing amusing or energizing about Rick Santorum's appearance mid-day on Friday. He made the terrible mistake of asking his wife, Karen, and six of his kids to stand behind him as he spoke, where they looked like a particularly wholesome and youthful police lineup, squirming uncomfortably and wearing blank or sour expressions as their pater familias delivered a lengthy address. Anyone familiar with political advance work knows that it's great to introduce your family on stage, but please allow the poor, put-upon props to take a seat and relax before you launch into a half hour campaign speech.
Santorum's talk also projected a whining, sanctimonious air that seemed out of sync with the spirit of the occasion. He had just won miraculous upset victories in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado but his speech (delivered without notes or teleprompter, and with no organization or destination) sounded a tinny, funereal note of negativity and martyrdom. He chastised conservatives who had "lost heart" and "abandoned their principles" in the past, without specifying when or how. He implied that Republicans had somehow violated core values by nominating McCain last time (over Romney, the candidate that Santorum enthusiastically supported) without acknowledging that on abortion, marriage, national defense, balancing the budget, lowering corporate taxes, and other issues of importance to the former Pennsylvania senator, there was no change or compromise in the party platform. He also ignored the obvious question about how the Republicans would again "abandon principles" if this time they nominated Massachusetts Mitt, the same guy Santorum promoted last time.
The biggest problem with his talk wasn't substance, but style and tone. He actually frowned and even seemed to sneer during most of his address. Politicians aspire to the title "Happy Warrior," but the image of a morose warrior just doesn't work.
Romney's solid, self-confident speech served him much better--getting a particularly warm response when he specifically outlined what he meant to achieve in his first weeks as president. He'd presented most of this material before, but in a tight, unequivocal, concentrated form, it reassured the crowd of his conservative bona fides. Romney stickers and buttons competed with Santorum swag (including a special sale of sweater vests) as the most common signs of support at the conference, with Gingrich gear and Paul paraphernalia far less visible.
Mitt's straw poll victory therefore hardly counted as a shock, and the crowd reaction to its announcement must have reassured team Romney. Only a tiny smattering of boos rippled through the hall, overwhelmed by happy cheers and wide-spread polite applause. This reflected the general sentiments expressed in conversations everywhere—that Romney may not be the ideal candidate, or the first choice of many of the most eager activists, but he's conservative enough to run a good campaign and clearly preferable to Obama. At CPAC, it was hard to find any declarations of defection or desertion should Romney win selection as GOP general-in-chief.
But Sarah Palin's speech (the concluding, climactic event in the conference) showed the difference between respectful partnership (with Romney) and hopeless infatuation (with the former Alaska governor).
With her memorable acceptance speech at the Saint Paul convention in 2008, she showed she can project likeability, sincerity, and folksiness, but the CPAC address highlighted just how far she's come in the craft of public speaking. Looking radiant and joyous (yes, it helps) she spoke quickly, forcefully, masterfully--relishing her clever attack lines against the Obama administration and all its works. The populist tropes that wowed the audience offered a credible, conservative version of the 99 percent striking back, with pitchforks and torches, against the hated 1 percent—but in Sarah's saga, the 1 percent at fault are the "government rich" who have enjoyed boom times in D.C. while the rest of the nation suffered.
Her talk will no doubt work well on TV, but no media record can replicate the magical, rapturous atmosphere in the room--if CPAC could have written in Sarah's name, she could have won the straw poll in a walk (even with the towering, sex-in-the-city style high- heels she wore for the occasion).
The experience of hearing and seeing all these right wing icons on the same stage brought home the most important rule of effective political oratory: if you're loving the process of speaking to a crowd, you can't lose but if you treat your talks as some sort of chore you can't win. Sarah Palin not only provided pleasurable thrills to her adoring crowd, but seemed to receive her own ecstasy and energy from their delirious reaction. Few politicians can operate on this level of visceral connection: Reagan and Teddy Kennedy (I know they're and odd couple) did so regularly, an Bill Clinton occasionally.
While Rick Santorum demonstrated the opposite extreme (looking as if he viewed his address to a sympathetic crowd as a necessary ordeal), Newt Gingrich clearly enjoyed himself, but the edge of anger, resentment, and grouchiness that has crept into his recent addresses still marred his hyper-kinetic performance art.
As for Romney, many of his stump speeches have seemed dutiful and dull. He doesn't resent the necessary political rituals, exactly, but seems to treat them as a benign necessity—like a tough, strenuous workout at the gym, he knows it's good for him, but it doesn't exactly provide pleasure. At CPAC, at least, he not only rose to the occasion with his address but notably warmed to the occasion--and to the crowd as he sensed their sympathy. Because he had a reasonably good time with this gathering, so did we.
Moving forward, conservatives may not feel ready to pledge eternal troth to the increasingly likely GOP nominee but the spirit of CPAC suggests that they're willing to begin settling in with Mitt for an important and increasingly inevitable partnership.


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Ghetto Gospel
Quelle: Spotify
Hit them with a lil' ghetto gospel
[Chorus - Elton John:]
Those who wish to follow me (My ghetto gospel)
I welcome with my hands
And the red sun sinks at last into the hills of gold
And peace to this young warrior without the sound of guns
If I could recollect before my hood days
I'd sit and reminisce, think of the bliss on the good days
I stop and stare at the younger, my heart goes to 'em
They tested, it was stressed that they under
In nowadays, things changed
Everyone's ashamed to the youth cause the truth looks strange
And for me it's reversed, we left them a world that's cursed, and it hurts
cause any day they'll push the button
and all good men like Malcolm X and Bobby Hunton, died for nothing
Don't them let me get teary, the world looks dreary
but when you wipe your eyes, see it clearly
there's no need for you to fear me
if you take your time to hear me, maybe you can learn to cheer me
it ain't about black or white, cause we're human
I hope we see the light before its ruined.
My ghetto gospel.
[Chorus - Elton John]
Tell me do you see that old lady ain't it sad
Living out a bag, but she's glad for the little things she has
And over there there's a lady, crack got her crazy
Guess she's given birth to a baby
I don't trip and let it fade me, from outta the frying pan
We jump into another form of slavery
Even now I get discouraged
Wonder if they take it all back while I still keep the courage
I refuse to be a role model
I set goals, take control, drink out my own bottles
I make mistakes, but learn from everyone
And when its said and done
I bet this Brotha be a better one
If I'm upset, you don't stress
Never forget, that God hasn't finished with me yet
I feel his hand on my brain
When I write rhymes, I go blind, and let the Lord do his thang
But am I less holy
Cause I choose to puff a blunt and drink a beer with my homies
Before we find world peace
We gotta find peace and end the war on the streets
My ghetto gospel.
[Chorus - Elton John]
Lord can you hear me speak!
To pay the price of being hell bound...---Lyrics submitted by A.
Zeige deinen Freunden, dass dir Ghetto Gospel von 2Pac gefällt:


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Velvet trees (set of 3) in Winter White
$ 40.00
**last set ready to ship**
This is a beautifully hand made set of 3 Winter White Velvet trees in various sizes. Trees are available in a wide variety of colors, so combine two or more sets to achieve the perfect color pop for your holiday decor.
Add this holiday decor to your mantle, your table, a shelf, or wherever you want to add a luxurious touch to your home, in the rich look of velvet. They are sturdy, and easy to store. Purchase several sets or additional trees to make a stunning display!
This listing is a SET of 3 velvet trees, one in each of the following measurements:
Large tree is 5" diameter at the base by 13" tall
Medium tree is 4" diameter at the base by 10" tall
Small tree is 3" diameter at the base by 6 1/2 " tall
Color: Winter White Velvet
is back-ordered. We will ship it separately in 10 to 15 days.


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Why you need us
Business Man receives 45 unjust tickets from a Red Light Camera
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) -- If you're a commuter or someone who drives into the District from time to time, you'll be interested in this.
Did you realize that in the last fiscal year alone, the city of Washington issued more than 147,000 mobile speed camera tickets?
And that's just the total at THREE locations.
Entering D.C. can be an unfriendly welcome.
"It's like entrapment to me, of some sort," said one motorist.
"I was mad. I was very, very angry," said another.
They're mobile speed cameras that yank out the welcome mat from beneath drivers who venture into the District.
"With the picture of the car, you can't argue it," said a woman on Macarthur Boulevard, notorious for its speed cameras.
9NEWS NOW used the Freedom of Information Act to find out which mobile speed cameras in D.C. caught the most speeders in the last fiscal year. Here are the top three:
On the Southeast-Southwest Freeway at 9th Street in Southeast, a speed camera caught more than 71,000 violators in just one year. And about six car lengths away, a second camera snapped another 49,000 speeders.
Outside the Department of Motor Vehicles, where violators were paying their tickets, there was a flurry of angry comments.
"It makes me mad."
"It's ridiculous."
"That's crazy. That's outrageous, really."
I-295 at Eastern Avenue in Northeast is where the third busiest camera sits. In one year alone, this camera nabbed more than 26,000 speeders.
One motorist asked, "What are they doing with the money? It's just so much money being made."
We crunched the numbers for three busiest cameras. Of course, not everyone pays the fine, but even if they paid the minimum -- a $75 ticket -- DC would be raking in $11,053,800 in one year.
It wasn't easy to find residents who appreciate the cameras, but we did.
"These speed cameras do something fantastic. They make you aware," said Dr. Inge Guen, who runs a shop along Macarthur Boulevard.
"Actually I love them very much. These speed cameras tell people they have to be more disciplined when they're coming here because so many times, women come with their children and they go across the street and suddenly they might get hit," she said.
But most residents have other ideas.
"Throw the cameras in the trash!" said a disgruntled woman outside the DMV.
Below is a breakdown of the top three mobile speed cameras for FY 2010 (October 2009-September 2010)
--Southeast Southwest Freeway @9th Street entrance SE: 71,591 tickets
--Southeast Southwest Freeway @9th Street entrance ramp: 49,483
--I-295 @ Eastern Avenue, NE: 26,310
These are the top three for FY 2011 (October 2010 through April 2011)
--I-295 SW, 7/10 mile south of Exit 1: 20,548
--Southeast Southwest Freeway @9th Street entrance ramp: 17,330
--I-295 @ Eastern Avenue, NE: 12, 485


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I realized that I never posted over here that the twins did arrive! I had a c-section on November 21, there were no complications, and both babies looked great: Emmett (Baby A) on the left, and Malcolm (Baby B) on the right:
Today they're two weeks old and doing well. They are super cute and we love to snuggle them. They sleep pretty well so far, so we'll keep them. :)