text:
Top Items:
Google Investor Relations:
GOOGLE ANNOUNCES THIRD QUARTER 2008 RESULTS — Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. — "We had a good third quarter with strong traffic and revenue growth across all of our major geographies thanks to the underlying strength of our core search and ads business.
Arnold Zafra / Search Engine Journal: Google Says: We're Ok and We're Definitely Fine
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land: Google Earnings Beat Expectations, Shares Climb
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent.org: Earnings: Google Comes In Higher Than Expected After All; Revenue, Income Up
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily: Google: What Economic Crisis?
Virginia Nussey / Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog: What Google's Q3 Earnings Could Mean for the Search Industry
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch: Liveblogging Google Third Quarter Conference Call
Kenneth Musante / CNNMoney.com: Google's profit rises 26%
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google (GOOG) Strong Q3, Amazing Cash Flow — Initial Analysis: Revenue was in line with estimates, which is a modest upside surprise (Wall Street was expecting a miss). EPS was solidly ahead of estimates, so a strong upside surprise. The upside came from better G&A expenses …
Discussion: Techland, CNET News, eWeek, Epicenter, Tech Check with Jim Goldman, Ars Technica, HipMojo.com, Data Center Knowledge and Googling Google
Yi-Wyn Yen / Techland: Google gets frugal and profits soar
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News: Wall Street slices eBay earnings estimates, targets
Clint Boulton / eWeek: Google's Q3 Profit Jumps 26% Amid Recession Fears
Betsy Schiffman / Epicenter: Google Handily Beats Wall Street Expectations
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Q3 2008 - Google's Last Hurrah?
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge: Google Capex Eases to $452M in 3Q
Sam Diaz / Between the Lines:
Google beats for Q3, Wall Street looks ahead — updated: In after-hours trading, shares of Google shot up more than 11 percent within 20 minutes after the company reported strong quarterly earnings. In regular trading, shares initially declined early in the day but rallied late in the day to close up more than 4 percent at $353.02.
Discussion: L.A. Times Tech Blog, Wall Street Journal, Valleywag, Tech Ticker and Silicon Alley Insider
Shara Tibken / Wall Street Journal: Google's Profit Climbs With Ad Strength
Owen Thomas / Valleywag: Google bores economy into submission
Henry Blodget / Tech Ticker: Google Q3 Preview: Another Pie in the Face?
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider: Google Q3 (GOOG) Preview: Another Pie In The Face?
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Ballmer: It's ok to wait until Windows 7; Yahoo still 'makes sense'; Google Apps 'primitive' — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday defended Vista's honor-again-but at least gave a nod to enterprise buyers that planned to skip it and upgrade when Windows 7 launches.
Discussion: All about Microsoft, Reuters, Maximum PC all, CNET News, Electronista, Gizmodo and Computerworld Blogs
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft: Ballmer: 'Windows 7 will be Vista, but a lot better'
Pulkit Chandna / Maximum PC all: Ballmer Ardently Defends Vista, Lampoons Google Apps
Mike Ricciuti / CNET News: Ballmer: It's OK to wait for Windows 7
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo: Ballmer: It's Okay to Wait for Windows 7, Which "Will Be Vista, But a Lot Better"
Preston Gralla / Computerworld Blogs: Ballmer: You can skip Vista
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Still Makes Sense, Ballmer Says — Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said a deal with Yahoo! Inc. may still make economic sense for shareholders of both companies, prompting Yahoo shares to jump as much as 12 percent.
Discussion: Digital Daily, Macworld, Microsoft, Tech Trader Daily, Valleywag, InformationWeek, Neowin.net and Epicenter
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily: Yahoo Share Price Microsoft CEO's Newest Cat Toy
John Fontana / Macworld: Ballmer's tongue again causes trouble for Microsoft
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily: Yahoo Shrs Jump; Did Ballmer Hint On New Bid?
Owen Thomas / Valleywag: Oh, I dunno, maybe we might buy Yahoo after all, or not
Thomas Claburn / InformationWeek: Yahoo Stock Bolstered By Microsoft CEO's Comments
Michael Stanclift / Neowin.net: Microsoft: 'No interest' in Yahoo! merger
John C Abell / Epicenter: Microsoft Has 'No Interest' in Acquiring Yahoo
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Wake Up, People: Ballmer Just Said He'd Still Buy Yahoo*
Wake Up, People: Ballmer Just Said He'd Still Buy Yahoo*
Discussion: The Register, Microsoft Pri0, Techland, Valleywag and GMSV
Gavin Clarke / The Register: Ballmer stirs excitement with Yahoo! comments
Benjamin J. Romano / Microsoft Pri0: Ballmer's full Yahoo quote, in context
Mlevram / Techland: Yahoo consultant: Cut 3,000 jobs
Owen Thomas / Valleywag: Fortune unpublishes report of 3,000 job cuts at Yahoo
Rex Crum / MarketWatch:
Ballmer says Yahoo deal would "make sense economically"
Ballmer says Yahoo deal would "make sense economically"
Discussion: CNET News, Silicon Alley Insider, Profy, VentureBeat, Portfolio, Microsoft Pri0 and Tech Confidential
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News: Ballmer comments juice Yahoo shares
Joe Weisenthal / Silicon Alley Insider: Yahoo Flies As Microsoft's Ballmer Teases: "Deal May Still Make Sense"
Svetlana Gladkova / Profy: Breaking: Yahoo Stock Jumps 9% on Renewed Microsoft Rumors
Laura Rich / Portfolio: Steve Ballmer Jump-Starts Microsoft/Yahoo Chatter
Benjamin J. Romano / Microsoft Pri0: Microsoft's Ballmer revives Yahoo deal possibility
David Shabelman / Tech Confidential: Ballmer: Yahoo deal still makes sense
Twitter Blog:
Meet Our CEO and Chairman, Again — Three years ago during my time as CEO of Odeo, I was lucky to be working with a software engineer Jack Dorsey who wasn't afraid to bring up an idea he'd been thinking about for a long time. What if a simple status message was the format for a social communication service?
Discussion: TechCrunch, Valleywag, Tech Confidential, Webware.com, VentureBeat, Bits, Silicon Alley Insider and paidContent.org
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch: CEO Change At Twitter: Ev Williams Back At The Helm
Mary Kathleen Flynn / Tech Confidential: Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey swap roles at Twitter
Caroline McCarthy / Webware.com: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey steps down
MG Siegler / VentureBeat: A swap atop Twitter for the "new phase"
Claire Miller / Bits: Twitter Ousts C.E.O. With Nary a Tweet
Joe Weisenthal / Silicon Alley Insider: Twitter CEO And Chairman Trade Jobs, Site Still Works
Matt Gundersen / The Official Google Blog:
What's new with iGoogle? — I'm an iGoogle addict. I check my news, email, stocks, feeds and weather there and sometimes even manage to squeeze in a game or two during the day. Having everything in one place is super convenient, but I often wish I could deal with all my stuff without having to leave my iGoogle page.
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat: Canvas View makes me an iGoogle convert
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System: The New iGoogle, Publicly Launched
Dan Holevoet / iGoogle Developer Blog: Big canvas, big opportunity
Mihai Parparita / Google Reader: iGoogle launches Reader integration
Thomas Claburn / InformationWeek: Google's iGoogle Goes From Portal To Platform
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land: iGoogle Now Supports Full Canvas Views
Chris Crum / WebProNews: The New and Improved iGoogle
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
iGoogle Goes Wide, Introduces Canvas Pages.
iGoogle Goes Wide, Introduces Canvas Pages.
Discussion: louisgray.com
Rafe Needleman / Webware.com:
iGoogle attacked by giant widgets
iGoogle attacked by giant widgets
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb: Google Updates iGoogle: Better Integration with Google Reader …
ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC Offer Incredible Lineup of Programming in Stunning HD on the iTunes Store — iTunes Tops 200 Million TV Episodes Sold, Including Over One Million HD Episodes — Apple® today announced that all four of the major networks are offering primetime programs …
Discussion: Digital Daily, VentureBeat, The Digital Home, The Apple Blog, CrunchGear, InformationWeek, MacUser, bub.blicio.us, Macsimum News, MacDailyNews and AppleInsider
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily: And Finally, We'd Like to Thank the Academy, Whose Total Lack …
Don Reisinger / The Digital Home: Why iTunes makes Blu-ray useless
David Appleyard / The Apple Blog: FOX in HD: iTunes Offering Complete Range of HD TV Shows
Nicholas Deleon / CrunchGear: HD TV shows from all four major networks on iTunes
Antone Gonsalves / InformationWeek: Apple Ups Number Of Prime-Time HD TV Shows On iTunes
Dennis Sellers / Macsimum News: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC offer HD line-up on iTunes Store
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple's Gift To Hollywood: $280 Million In iTunes TV Sales (AAPL)
Apple's Gift To Hollywood: $280 Million In iTunes TV Sales (AAPL)
Discussion: CNET News
Greg Sandoval / CNET News: Apple sells 200 million TV shows, but is that a big deal?
Nancy Gohring / Computerworld:
The Android fine print: kill switch and other tidbits — An uproar erupted when iPhone users discovered a so-called remote kill switch on their phones — will it spur the same reaction in users of the G1, the first Android phone? — In the Android Market terms of service …
Joe Wilcox / Microsoft Watch: Windows Mobile is an Also-ran
Olga Kharif / Tech Beat: Handango: The First Third-Party Android Store
Suzanne Choney / MSNBC: Android phone good iPhone alternative
Lonnie Lazar / Cult of Mac: Android is a Playa, Not a Killa
John Murrell / GMSV: Reviewers greet new T-Mobile G1 with a rousing "Not bad"
Andrew Garcia / eWeek: T-Mobile Android Smart Phone a Solid Device
Christina Warren / Download Squad: Android Marketplace gets a 'kill switch'
Charlie Sorrel / Gadget Lab: Android Market Terms of Service Confirm Googlephone Kill Switch
Scott Campbell / ChannelWeb Complete Feed: Google See, Google Do: T-Mobile G1 Has Kill Switch Similar To Apple iPhone
Rene Ritchie / The iPhone Blog: Google Android iClones iPhone App Store Kill Switch!
Michael Krigsman / IT Project Failures: Android kill switch: Is Google evil?
Matthew Miller / Smartphones and Cell Phones:
Review: Over 260 images and 5 videos of the T-Mobile G1 Google Android device
Review: Over 260 images and 5 videos of the T-Mobile G1 Google Android device
Discussion: Wap Review, Boy Genius Report, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Open Source and mocoNews.net
Dennis Bournique / Wap Review: A Flood of Android G1 Full Reviews
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report: T-Mobile G1 review
Jordan McCollum / Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim: G1 Gphone Reviews Are In: As Good As the iPhone, Or Not Quite Ready?
Dana Blankenhorn / Open Source: Android must become more than a warmed-over iPhone
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Go Get Yer Shiny New Yahoo Profile...And Make Some Connections! — Yahoo begins the rollout of its new user profile today, which marks the first tangible product release for the social part of the Yahoo Open Strategy, or YOS. The profile is one of the anchors (mail is the other) …
Discussion: Webware.com, Valleywag and Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life
Jim Stoneham / Yodel Anecdotal:
Your social control panel
Your social control panel
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Yahoo! Developer Network Blog and RotorBlog.com
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb: Having Conquered Flickr and the New Yahoo! Profiles, "The Newsfeed" …
Arnold Zafra / RotorBlog.com: Yahoo Profile Becomes More Sociable
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Adbrite Lays Off 40% Of Staff, Including Two Execs — It's not a happy day at San Francisco-based Adbrite this morning. The company is laying off 40 employees, which is 40% of total staff. Among those that are leaving are VP Marketing Paul Levine and VP Finance Bob Feller.
Discussion: Webware.com, paidContent.org and Epicenter
Don Reisinger / Webware.com: AdBrite CEO: 'Layoffs are not a statement about performance'
Meghan Keane / Epicenter: AdBrite Lays Off 40 Percent Of Staff
Trevor Claiborne / Inside AdWords:
Build your own display ads in minutes — Today we released the AdWords display ad builder, which lets you create professional-looking display ads in AdWords without needing to hire a designer or start from scratch. If you've wanted to expand beyond your text ad campaigns …
Discussion: InformationWeek, MarketingVOX, WebProNews and Epicenter
Thomas Claburn / InformationWeek: Google Launches Display Ad Design Tool
Chris Crum / WebProNews: Google Kicks it Old School with AdWords
Meghan Keane / Epicenter: Google Launches Do It Yourself Display
Miguel Helft / Bits:
Google Appoints DoubleClick Boss to Oversee Display Ads
Google Appoints DoubleClick Boss to Oversee Display Ads
Discussion: paidContent.org
Joe Strupp / Editor and Publisher:
Shocker: Tribune Co. Gives Notice To Drop AP — NEW YORK Tribune Company has given a two-year notice to the Associated Press that its daily newspapers plan to drop the news service, becoming the first major newspaper chain to do so since the recent controversy over new rates began.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Joe Weisenthal / Silicon Alley Insider: Tribune Gives Initial Walking Papers To AP
Justin Scheck / Wall Street Journal:
H-P Making Touch Screen Laptop — PC Giant Aims to Spur Demand With Line of Products Using Touch Technology — Hewlett-Packard Co., aiming to boost its personal computer sales amid a deteriorating economy and soft holiday season, is increasingly turning to touch-screen technology.
Discussion: DailyTech, SlashGear, Gadget Lab, Maximum PC all, Electronista, Liliputing, MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer, TechSpot and Gizmodo
Shane McGlaun / DailyTech: HP Readying Complete Line of Touchscreen Devices
Brian X. Chen / Gadget Lab: HP Whispers Plans for Touchscreen Notebooks
Brad Linder / Liliputing: HP to launch netbook with 10-inch screen this year
Shelly Palmer / MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer: Secretary of Treasury Paulson Ducks the Big Questions: MediaBytes …
Jose Vilches / TechSpot: HP readies touch screen laptops, cell phones
C.K. Sample III / Obsessable:
Warhammer Online on a MacBook 2008 running XP — One of the questions that has been on everyone's minds since Apple announced their new laptops on Tuesday has been whether the improved NVIDIA graphics cards that Steve Jobs spent so much time discussing on stage would mean that Apple's newer laptops would make good gaming machines.
Discussion: TUAW
Mike Schramm / TUAW: Putting the MacBook through the paces with Warhammer Online
Matt Asay / The Open Road:
Microsoft starts distributing open-source Drupal — The single biggest distributor of Drupal just might be Microsoft. As I discovered from Dries Buytaert's blog on Wednesday, Microsoft's Web Application Installer comes with out-of-the-box support for Drupal, OScommerce, and other popular open-source Web applications.
Discussion: Open Sources, TechCrunch, Dries Buytaert, channel8.msdn.com and SitePoint Blogs
Savio Rodrigues / Open Sources: Microsoft is NOT distributing open source Drupal, osCommerce, phpBB, Gallery, etc.
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch: Microsoft Puts Weight Behind Open Source Projects With Web Platform Installer
Josh Catone / SitePoint Blogs: Microsoft Launches Open Source Web App Installer
Matt Burns / CrunchGear:
The MacBook and MacBook Pro splayed-out revealing intimate details — It's just tradition that when a new, hot gadget launches, someone has to tear the sucker apart thus producing what is affectionately called circuit board pr0n. Besides the pretty pictures though, sometimes hidden details …
Discussion: Roughly Drafted, AppleInsider, Boy Genius Report and 9 to 5 Mac
Prince McLean / AppleInsider: High-quality unboxing photos: late 2008 13" MacBook
Michael Bettiol / Boy Genius Report: Geek Porn: New MacBook and MacBook Pro's gets naked
ISPs pressed to become child porn cops — New law, new monitoring technology raise concerns about privacy — New technologies and changes in U.S. law are adding to pressures to turn Internet service providers into cops examining all Internet traffic for child pornography.
Discussion: GigaOM, CircleID and DSLreports
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM: The Government Wants to Spy on Your Packets
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
No Hi5's Today. No. 3 Social Network Lays Off 10 to 15 Percent Of Staff — The layoffs keep rolling in. The latest startup to cut back is Hi5, the third largest social network. But you wouldn't know it from reading the company's blog, which touts some positive press coverage today:
Discussion: Hi5 Blog, Epicenter and The Social Times
Adriana Gascoigne / Hi5 Blog: hi5 Feature in Fortune Magazine
Chris Snyder / Epicenter: Hi5 Cuts 10 to 15 Percent of Staff
Nick O'Neill / The Social Times: Social Networks Not So Recession Proof
Christy Hoppe / Dallas Morning News:
Debate buzz clogs Web site of Joe Francis, plumber from Amarillo — firstname.lastname@example.com — AUSTIN - Joe Francis of Amarillo - aka the other Joe the Plumber - is king of his domain name. At least through Thursday. — "Joe the Plumber" was relentlessly discussed in Wednesday night's …
Discussion: Search Engine Land
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land: Joe The Plumber, The Presidential Debates & Search
Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook Blog:
Hello from Madrid — I've been in Europe traveling around for the last ten days. It's an exciting time for me to visit because Facebook is at a really interesting point here. Millions of people are already using the site on a daily basis, but it's also just the beginning.
Discussion: Webware.com and Valleywag
Caroline McCarthy / Webware.com: Now on Facebook: The Zuckerblog?
Owen Thomas / Valleywag: Mark Zuckerberg learns a political lesson


text:
FREE SHIPPING! "Free Spirit Wild Heart" Women's T-shirt
Express your signature personality with our grey women's T-shirt "Free Spirit Wild Heart" in black print featured on a red and yellow watercolor blot.
Style: Women's Basic T-Shirt
This basic t-shirt features a relaxed fit for the female shape. Made from 100% cotton, this t-shirt is both durable and soft - a great combination if you're looking for that casual wardrobe staple.
Size & Fit
Model is 5'7" and is wearing a small
Standard fit
Fits true to size
Fabric & Care
100% cotton
Tagless label for comfort
Double-needle hemmed sleeves and bottom
Machine wash cold
*Please allow 3-5 production days
*Refunds/returns within 30 days
Fit: Standard
Adult S
Adult M
Adult L
Adult XL
Adult 2X
Adult 3X
Chest Waist Width Length
33-34 25-26 18 25
35-36 27-28 20 26
37-39 29-31 22 27.5
40-41.5 32-34.5 24 29
42-44 35-38 26 30
45-46 39-42 28 31
Measure under your arms around the fullest part of your chest
Measure around your natural waistline at the narrowest point
Measure garment from arm hole to arm hole
Measure garment from the seam at the neck to the bottom of the garmen
Just contact me within: 14 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 30 days of delivery
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
Because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, I can't accept returns for:

subset: commoncrawl


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1 Radio Stations from Atoka
Atoka, OK, United States
Listen to radio stations from Atoka OK, from a wide variety of genres like Country. Enjoy stations such as KHKC-FM and more. Come find the top new songs, playlists, and music! Listen on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Blackberry, and other app-enabled mobile phones.


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So much for the lessons of Fukushima. Never mind oil spills -- the Russian Federation is preparing an energy initiative that, if it has problems, will inject nuclear material into the maritime environment.
Speaking to reporters at the 6th International Naval Show in St. Petersburg, Baltiskii Zavod shipyard general director Aleksandr Voznesenskii said that the Russian Federation's first floating nuclear power plant "should be operational by 2016."
Baltiysky Zavod is Russia's biggest shipbuilding complex. According to Voznesenskii, the "Academician Lomonosov" FNPP will be the first vessel belonging to the new line of floating nuclear power plants that can provide energy, heat and water to remote and arid areas of the country, with mass production scheduled for the near future.
The "Academician Lomonosov's" technology is based on the USSR's construction of nuclear-powered icebreakers. The Russian media is speculating that the FNPPS will first be used in remote areas of the northeastern Arctic Russia and the Far East, as these regions currently suffer from a lack of energy, slowing their development. Each 21,000-ton vessel will have two "modified KLT-40 naval propulsion reactors" that will provide up to 70 megawatts of electricity or 300 megawatts of heat, sufficient for a city with a population of 200,000 people. Additionally, the floating NPPs can provide water desalination services capable of supplying up to 240,000 cubic meters of fresh water per day.
Perhaps referring to Soviet-era nuclear icebreakers is not such a hot idea, at least for those with historical memories.
Launched in 1957, the Lenin, the USSR's first nuclear powered icebreaker, was powered by three OK-150 reactors. In February 1965, there was a loss of coolant incident, and some of the fuel elements melted or deformed inside reactor number two. The debris was removed and stored for two years, and subsequently dumped in Tsivolki Bay near Novaia Zemlia two years later. The second accident was a cooling system leak, which occurred in 1967, shortly after refueling.
Not a reassuring development for the Soviet Arctic environment.
"Academician Lomonosov's" keel was laid in April 2007 at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on the White Sea, but the project was subsequently transferred to the Baltiskii Zavod. The "Academician Lomonosov's" 21,500-ton hull was subsequently launched in 2010, although construction work was frozen in mid-2011because of bankruptcy proceedings against the shipyard. The company was subsequently acquired by state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation and Rosenergoatom signed a new contract with the Baltiskii Zavod for the "Academician Lomonosov's" completion. The "Academician Lomonosov" has 69 crew and specialists. Ominously, the "Academician Lomonosov" has no engines, so it needs to be towed. The vessel is equipped with two modified KLT-40 reactors.
But, not to worry.
The Baltiskii Zavod shipyard stressed that The "Academician Lomonosov" and its successors are all designed with a safety margin exceeding all possible threats which makes its nuclear reactors invulnerable to tsunamis and other natural disasters and the ships meet all the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and do not pose a threat to the environment. The factory further states that 15 nations, including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria, Namibia and Argentina have already expressed interest in buying floating nuclear power plant.
The "Academician Lomonosov"will be sent to Vilyuchinsk, Kamchatka for operational testing. Rosatom then aims to construct seven more FNPPs by 2015, with four of them likely to be located on the northern coast of Siberia's Yakutia. Other Arctic areas provisionally scheduled to receive FNPPs include port cities along the Russian Federation's arctic coastal Northern Sea Route and Pevek in Chukotka. An added benefit of the FNPP as envisaged in Moscow is that the provision of nuclear power to the Arctic and Far East will free up more oil and natural gas for foreign export, allowing the Russian federation to generate additional hard currency.
Tow cables snap, Arctic conditions can be unpredictable, ships sink. As the ocean is the common heritage of humanity, perhaps the international community might evince a tad more interest in this project.
Cross posted with Oilprice.com
John C.K Daly is the chief analyst at the energy news site Oilprice.com. Dr. Daly received his Ph.D. in 1986 from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London.
Follow Oilprice.com on Twitter @OilandEnergy and join us on Facebook.
To stay on top of important articles and research with our free private members service, sign up to the Oilprice.com Intelligence Report here.


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A sci-fi card game. Defeat your opponents with creatures and spells, test strategies, and build your own decks.Want to help design the sequel? Come add your ideas at our forums: http://www.diffusiongames.com/forums, or sign up for the mailing list at http://www.diffusiongames.com/mytheria Click, click and click again. In-game tutorial.
(Visited 19 times, 1 visits today)


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Katherine Dacey is an Assistant Professor of Liberal Arts at Berklee College of Music.
On her faculty page she writes:
"Though I'm a musicologist, I also have a background in American history and American studies. When I teach a course, I draw on all of those disciplines so that students can appreciate the music we're studying as a product of a particular place, time, and technology."
"Right now, for example, I'm teaching a Topics in History class called The American Music Industry. The course provides an overview of music business practices here in the United States, beginning with sheet music publishing and piano manufacturing in the 19th century. We then explore the birth of the recording industry in the 1880s and 1890s, the impact of film and radio on the music industry of the 1920s and 1930s, and the emergence of new recording techniques and new marketing practices in the post-World War II era. By focusing on these major paradigm shifts, students leave the class with a better sense of what's happening right now in the music industry, as digital distribution is changing the way we consume music. Students also develop a clearer sense of how popular music reflects the time period in which it's written, whether we're talking about pro-Union Civil War songs or early Delta blues recordings.
Career Highlights:
- B.A., history, Columbia University
- M.A., American studies, College of William and Mary
- M.Phil., musicology, Columbia University
- Former editor-in-chief at Current Musicology
- Published in Critical Voicings of Black Liberation: Resistence and Representations in the Americas, and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart


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Fresh off a disappointing Super Bowl performance with Denver, Eric Decker is optimistic about his new team's future.
Speaking at his youth football camp on Saturday, Decker was asked if the New York Jets have enough weapons to make the playoffs.
"I really do," Decker told the New York Post. "Obviously, we're younger in spots. We lack some experience. But [with] young players you see a tenacity, you see the want-to. I think with the great coaching staff we have, they're going to put them in the right position. They just have to make plays."
"That's what I really learned the last couple of years being around Peyton Manning, being around Champ Bailey, some of the leaders in the Broncos locker room," Decker said. "If we find our identity as players, if we chip and work ... that's all you've got to do really is give yourself a chance to win in any game and you have a chance to make a playoff run."
It's hard to find the Manning and Bailey clones on the Jets but they should suit up a competitive team on Sundays. A playoff appearance still looks like an uphill battle.


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Promised Land is making a serious run at that title. It is an anti-fracking film that stars Matt Damon, and was written by Damon and John Krasinski of The Office, who unfortunately appears to be a bonehead. In the original script, heroic anti-fracking activists exposed the hazards of extracting natural gas. But the writers apparently realized that fracking has an excellent track record, so they revised the script so that the anti-fracking activists became stooges paid by oil companies to make the environmental movement look bad. You really can't make this stuff up.
Who would want to make such a dumb movie? (To be fair, that is a question I invariably ask myself when I watch previews, on the rare occasions when I go to movies.) In this case, the United Arab Emirates, for one. Yup–Promised Land is funded in part by the Emirates, a member of OPEC. Hmm…what interest might the Emirates have in discouraging the U.S. from developing its own energy reserves? Talk about stooges! The goofs who made this movie know whereof they speak.


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Sunday, June 28, 2009
Porcini Mushrooms over Garlic Polenta, Broiled Tomatoes, and Smoked Mozzarella
Please, please, please go buy a few fresh porcini mushrooms that are now available at Whole Foods. At 40 bucks a pound, they are not cheap, but you will not often have the chance to get your hands on these rare gems. They can't be cultivated, so like truffles, they must be found in the wild. The Wife says they taste like bacon. I'll have to take her at her word. All you have to do is get them to the plate without messing them up. This entails sautéeing them in a little bit of butter, seasoning them with salt and pepper, and serving them over pasta or polenta. It is that simple, and it is money well spent.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 10:21 PM 6 comments:
Perfect BBQ Tofu
Does your BBQ tofu look like this? I wish you could taste it. This tofu has it all: smokey, spicy, tangy and sweet. Come to my vegetarian grilling class and I'll show you exactly how to make this veggie classic. Register HERE.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 2:47 PM 2 comments:
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Fig Salad with Spinach, Beets, and Blue Cheese
The first figs of the season are in, so we picked up a box at Whole Foods. Looking at the price tag on them made me long for the upcoming mid-summer days when local figs are abundant. We track the daily progress of the few green fruits on the two fig trees we planted last year, and cannot wait for the fruit to ripen on a huge tree that hangs over into my older brother's yard.
This simple salad is a celebration of the fig. The other ingredients are designed to coax out the sweetness inherent in the fruit and then balance it out.
Makes two large salads.
For the dressing:
1 small shallot (finely diced)
a few glugs of olive oil
a tablespoon or two of honey
1 tablespoon of golden balsamic vinegar
s & p
Whisk all ingredients in a large bowl.
For the salad:
1 small bag of spinach
4 large black figs
6 small beets (or 1 large one)
4 ounces of danish blue cheese
salt & pepper
olive oil
2 thick slices of rustic bread
Cut peeled beets into bite-sized pieces and sauté in olive oil until tender. Remove beets and set aside. Place slices of bread into the pan to soak up the remaining olive oil. Allow the bread to brown in the pan. Add the spinach to the dressing and toss until evenly coated. Arrange spinach on a plate; top with sliced figs, beets, and crumbled blue cheese. Serve with grilled toast.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 3:07 PM 4 comments:
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Duck Egg Scramble, Mexican-Style
This meal, in all if its variations, is by far my favorite breakfast. It's fast to make, portable, and you get your veggies and your protein all in one delicious rolled-up package. This incarnation is particularly special as it is made with leftover grilled portobello mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and fire-roasted poblanos. Additionally, it is made with a combo of both duck and chicken eggs. The duck eggs have a much larger yolk (as you can see in the photo) and a far creamier texture than conventional eggs do. If you ever get the chance to get your hands on a few, you should. They are wonderful.
Makes two servings:
2 chicken eggs (scrambled)
2 duck eggs (scrambled)
1/2 onion (sliced)
1 portobello (sliced)
1/2 green pepper (sliced)
1/2 fire-roasted poblano (chopped)
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1 oz grated oaxaca cheese
hot sauce
s & p
olive oil
2 large wheat tortillas
The veggie, chile powder, and a few tablespoons of olive oil go into a pan over medium-high heat. Sauté until the veggies are cooked through. Remove veggies from the pan and add eggs. Move eggs around until almost cooked through. Top tortillas with eggs, then add veggies. Add a bit of grated cheese and hot sauce. Roll it up and take a bite.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 10:12 AM 2 comments:
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Chubby Vegetarian: The Helmsman Interview
I cut my photography teeth at The Daily Helmsman, the student newspaper at the University of Memphis, over a decade ago. Recently I had a nice chat with my new friend Beth Spencer who is the chief reporter, webmaster, and sole employee of the paper this summer semester. She turned our conversation into a story about my upcoming class on the vegetarian grill complete with quotes from some nice folks who took my last class in March. I was glad to see the kind words of my former students in print, and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to teach again. Click HERE to view the story in The Helmsman.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 10:45 PM No comments:
Monday, June 22, 2009
Smoky & Sweet Grilled Pizza
That's right, I said grilled pizza...right on the fire. Wanna learn how to make it? Then sign up for my Vegetarian Grill Class to be held on the 12th of July. Click HERE to register. There are only a few spots left. We will also try some BBQ tofu sandwiches, harissa-marinated seitan skewers, a surprise dessert, and much more.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 10:34 PM 2 comments:
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The power's back on, it is 100 degrees outside, and this means we're all about popsicles around here. We dusted off a little ten-section popsicle mold from way back and ordered two more this week. Now even our daydreams are popsicle-colored.
Flavors so far:
cucumber lemonade + ancho pepper
blueberry + lime
cherry + peach + nectarine
dark chocolate + sweet curry
peach + pink peppercorn
sweet and salty watermelon + lime
raspberry + strawberry + blueberry vanilla lemon
green tea + lemon cream
coconut + banana + clove
watermelon + mint
meyer lemon + red grapes
2 cups yogurt (nonfat, lowfat, Greek yogurt, or even whipping cream is okay)
1 cup fruit pureé
1/2 cup chopped fruit
2/3 cup raw sugar
1 tbsp. honey
squeeze of citrus (optional)
spice (optional)
2 cups pureéd fruit, strained
2/3 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup yogurt (optional)
1 tiny pinch of salt
squeeze of citrus
Mix ingredients and use a funnel to pour into popsicle mold. Using metal or plastic top, place sticks in center and freeze for at least four hours. Run warm water on the outside of mold for a few second to help pops emerge. Freeze immediately for 30 minutes. Then you can eat them or pack them up to share.
I wasn't sure that packing them up would work, but it was fine -- nothing melted at all. We wrapped them individually in waxed paper, stuffed them in a little cooler with ice, and put them in a bigger cooler. They transported well.
TCV's dad suggested trying ginger or jalapeno. We will add those ideas to our list of 100 flavors. Any other ideas?
The popsicle molds we use can be found HERE.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 9:06 PM 3 comments:
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Help Needed in Holly Springs
Farmer Van Cheeseman needs some summer help in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He is a great guy who has beautiful produce and gardens plus cold frames. Post a comment or email email@example.com directly if you or someone you know would like to work with him, even if it's for a day before market or a weeklong stint.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 9:25 AM No comments:
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Fire-Roasted Spaghetti on the Grill
We were about to lose our minds up in here (up in here). After a fierce summer storm with high winds, we were without power for four long days. We lost everything in the fridge and in the freezer as we waited for MLG&W to get the power back up and running. Among the casualties were some of my sauces that I make in large batches and freeze: smoky BBQ sauce, spicy enchilada sauce, and a roasted vegetable & tomato sauce. A few of my friends are STILL without electricity. If you know people in that situation, please be nice and offer them a cold drink. They are not having a good time.
By Monday night we longed for a home-cooked meal. Something as simple as spaghetti with tomato sauce would do. So I fired up my outdoor grill and got to work. With a pot of water on the side burner starting to come to a boil, I placed all of the tomatoes I could round up straight onto the grill grates. I diced an onion and three cloves of garlic and threw them into a pan with a good bit of olive oil. I set the pan on the grill next to the tomatoes to allow the onion to sweat. Lantern in hand, I made my way to the garden to cut handfuls of fresh herbs to add to the pan: thyme, basil, rosemary, sage, and oregano. A handful of pasta was tossed into the boiling water, and the charred tomatoes were added to the pan and smashed along with a can of diced tomatoes. Once the pasta was cooked, I tossed the pasta with the sauce, topped it with bits of shaved parmesan, and served it right in the pan.
Because we were starved for a home-cooked meal, I was ready to dub it the best pasta I have ever tasted. It was good, but I'm not sure about all that. But I am sure that a little bit of innovation and thinking outside of the kitchen may have saved our sanity.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 4:51 PM 3 comments:
Monday, June 15, 2009
This is day 4 without any power.
Everything in the fridge and freezer is ruined.
I'm annoyed and hot.
I did make a great grilled zucchini sandwich with roasted red peppers and feta.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 1:55 PM 5 comments:
Friday, June 12, 2009
Watermelon & Feta Salad with Meyer Lemon & Honey Vinaigrette
This salad is so simple to make, but it is the presentation that makes it special. This crunchy, refreshing, sweet-meets-sour treat is the perfect salad for the summer.
Makes 4 small salads or two large.
Meyer lemon dressing:
1 shallot (minced)
a few glugs of olive oil
a nice squeeze of honey
the juice from 1 meyer lemon
Whisk all ingredients in a large bowl.
For the salad:
1/2 seedless watermelon (scooped into balls with a melon baller)
4 slices of feta cheese
8 ribs of romaine
Toss romaine with the dressing and place onto a small plate. Fill one rib with melon balls and place feta over the other. Drizzle with some of the dressing that is left in the bottom of the bowl. Season with sea salt and black pepper.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 11:26 AM No comments:
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Vanilla Ice Milk
We always wait to the last minute to make ice cream, and then it's never hardened off enough in time to serve it. This time, we did better. We let the ice cream maker run forever. We froze it early. And we ended up getting the prettiest scoops of ice milk that we served with lots of extra options: raspberries, blueberries, strawberries sprinkled with raw sugar, white chocolate syrup, all of it in cute little waffle cone cups. The recipe could not be easier:
Vanilla Ice Milk Whisk 3 cups milk, 1/2 cup whipping cream, one cup raw sugar, and one tbsp. vanilla. Pour into ice cream maker, let it go, freeze at least an hour.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 10:28 AM No comments:
Monday, June 8, 2009
From the Unsolicited Advice Department
Fellow vegetarian food enthusiast and blogger Vegan Dad graciously accepted some unsolicited advice from yours truly. Commenting on his BBQ tofu post I wrote:
"Living in memphis I have learned a lot from my meat loving city mates. Try a dry rub with paprika, sage, garlic powder, black pepper, and nutmeg. Put that on the tofu to marinate. Grill the tofu over high heat to get the grill marks, place over indirect heat, and then sauce it. This method will keep the sugar in the sauce from burning and you have a double wall of flavor."
He calls the updated BBQ recipe Memphis BBQ Tofu. If you have not visited his blog please take the time to do so. He recipes are creative and concise and his photographs are great (that is his tofu photo).
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 10:35 AM 4 comments:
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Panko-Crusted Squash Blossoms Stuffed with Goat Cheese on Truffled Risotto
On Saturday, The Wife and I returned home from the farmers' market with an incredible bounty. This was the first week squash blossoms were available, and they were the first thing I bought at the market. Then I carried them around with me in a brown paper bag and showed them off to everyone I met. They were $3.50 for 10 flowers, and they had little baby squash attached to them. We also got eggs, beets, nectarines, bread, carrots, and onions.
So what do you do with these beautiful flowers? You fry them! I threw together an earthy, sweet filling of one ear of roasted corn, 2 boiled carrots, 3 ounces of goat cheese, 1 clove of garlic, a touch of cream, and a little panko.
All the ingredients except the panko went into the food processor and were blended until smooth. Then I used the panko stiffen the consistency. I placed the mixture into a pastry bag and piped the filling into the center of each flower. Next, I lightly breaded the flowers by dipping them in an egg wash and rolling them in a mixture of all purpose flour and panko. The squash blossoms were then lightly fried in canola oil until golden brown. I served them over risotto made with "Not Chicken" broth and finished with a tablespoon of black truffle butter. What more could you want from a Saturday lunch?
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 11:07 AM 2 comments:
Radish, Orange, and Mint Salad
We got pretty bored with thinly sliced English breakfast radishes on buttered bread, but had no idea what else there was to do with radishes. I typed in 'radishes' on recipezaar.com and was surprised to see a whole bunch of new options. I wasn't sure about this cold salad at first, but it ended up being really interesting. I added honey to the dressing, and it balanced it out nicely. Do y'all have any other ideas for what we should do with radishes next?
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 7:00 AM 3 comments:
Friday, June 5, 2009
Registration Now Open for "The Vegetarian Grill"
I'm teaching another continuing education class. On July 12th I will be talking about how vegetarians can make use of the outdoor grill. We'll do pizza & BBq tofu & seitan skewers & even dessert. It is going to be a blast. Go HERE to register. Don't wait! My last class sold out.
I'm teaching another continuing education class. On July 12th I will be talking about how vegetarians can make use of the outdoor grill. We'll do pizza & BBq tofu & seitan skewers & even dessert. It is going to be a blast. Go HERE to register. Don't wait! My last class sold out.
There are only a few spots left.
*Thanks for the pics Budd!
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 7:00 AM 4 comments:
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Beet Salad + Swiss Chard Pasta
We are loving beets right now, and we got our hands on some from Downing Hollow Farm yesterday at the Botanic Gardens Wednesday farmer's market. Many were nice striped beets, too! The Wife made a salad with bits of honeycomb, thyme, pink peppercorns, and local goat cheese. Boil and peel the beets and sauté them in some olive oil, and then add the rest of the ingredients above -- that's all there is to it. TCV also made summer pasta with Whitton Farms swiss chard, Van Cheesman's garlic, and some broken-apart grape tomatoes. Andria's Summer of Magical Eating potlucks have us trying out our ideas for what to do with local produce all week long now; we'll keep you posted on what we try next.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 12:40 PM No comments:
Monday, June 1, 2009
Snow Peas with Kosher Salt & Olive oil
I know many of you are wondering what to do with all of the snow peas that keep showing up at the market and in your CSA boxes. I have a bold suggestion for you. Eat 'em raw. Seriously, they are delicious. If you like edamame, then you will love this healthy snack. Wash your snow peas and dry them. Then toss them with a tablespoon or so of good-quality olive oil and top with a pinch of nice flaky kosher salt. The taste is sweet, clean and grasssy. Try it.
Posted by The Chubby Vegetarian at 1:49 PM 2 comments:
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text:
Adventure travel on a recession budget. What's not to love?
Image Gallery
High Tatra Trekking in Poland and Slovakia
Provider: KE Adventure Travel
Length: Eight days
Price: $995
While the Alps may be the most popular trekking destination in Europe, Eastern Europe boasts its fair share of snow-capped peaks and high alpine meadowlands, too—many of them linked by way-marked trails and mountain huts like those in France, Switzerland, and Italy. Unlike many central European routes, however, the Eastern treks are more remote and less developed, meaning you're not as likely to encounter lots of other hikers and you may even have the chance to spot wild animals like bear, wolves, and lynx. On top of that, guided tours are significantly cheaper, sometimes costing 40 percent less than similar trips in the central Alps.
KE Adventure Travel, which ranked as National Geographic Adventure's top trekking outfitter for 2007, leads an eight-day trek through Poland and Slovakia's Tatra Mountains. You'll traverse over rugged ridges and past glacial lakes, summit Poland's highest peak (Rysy, 8,199 feet), and ramble through farms and pastureland, traditional mountain villages, and thick pine forests inhabited by wild animals long since hunted out in Western Europe. You'll stop for meals and evening stays in mountain huts, so there's no need to carry food or camping supplies. At the end of the trip, there's time to explore Krakow, also known as "Florence of the North."
Departures are scheduled for July 18 and September 19. Rates include airport transfers, hotel and mountain hut accommodations, most meals, ground transportation, and guides. Some meals and airfare to Krakow are extra.
(Photo: KE Adventure Travel)
High Tatra Trekking in Poland and Slovakia
Provider: KE Adventure Travel
Length: Eight days
Price: $995
While the Alps may be the most popular trekking destination in Europe, Eastern Europe boasts its fair share of snow-capped peaks and high alpine meadowlands, too—many of them linked by way-marked trails and mountain huts like those in France, Switzerland, and Italy. Unlike many central European routes, however, the Eastern treks are more remote and less developed, meaning you're not as likely to encounter lots of other hikers and you may even have the chance to spot wild animals like bear, wolves, and lynx. On top of that, guided tours are significantly cheaper, sometimes costing 40 percent less than similar trips in the central Alps.
KE Adventure Travel, which ranked as National Geographic Adventure's top trekking outfitter for 2007, leads an eight-day trek through Poland and Slovakia's Tatra Mountains. You'll traverse over rugged ridges and past glacial lakes, summit Poland's highest peak (Rysy, 8,199 feet), and ramble through farms and pastureland, traditional mountain villages, and thick pine forests inhabited by wild animals long since hunted out in Western Europe. You'll stop for meals and evening stays in mountain huts, so there's no need to carry food or camping supplies. At the end of the trip, there's time to explore Krakow, also known as "Florence of the North."
Departures are scheduled for July 18 and September 19. Rates include airport transfers, hotel and mountain hut accommodations, most meals, ground transportation, and guides. Some meals and airfare to Krakow are extra.
(Photo: KE Adventure Travel)
Gorilla Trekking and Culture Tours in Rwanda
Provider: Amahoro Tours
Length: Four days
Price: $1,000
Imagine coming face-to-face with wild gorillas—no fences, no glass, no zoo keepers—just a few feet of leafy vegetation separating you and the majestic primates. There's no need for alarm: You're a guest in their home, the Virunga Mountains in northern Rwanda, and as long you mind your manners, you're welcome to stay for awhile.
It feels a bit like attending a family reunion, except the relatives are bigger and hairier. Mothers cradle infants while toddlers bounce on their father's stomach and aunts and uncles and cousins mill about, nibbling on wild vegetables. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and well worth the trip to this tiny country that's made remarkable progress toward becoming one of Africa's safest and most fascinating destinations.
Gorilla trekking is the country's biggest tourist draw by far, but you should take an extra few days for further exploration. Ruhengeri-based Amahoro Tours can arrange packages that mix gorilla trekking with village tours or sight-seeing in the capital city of Kigali. On one of the company's four-day trips, you can go gorilla trekking, meet with genocide survivors who now make their living weaving colorful baskets, learn traditional banana beer brewing techniques, and visit an orphanage. Your trip ends with a Kigali city tour, including stops at the Gisozi Genocide Memorial, the city center and Muslim quarters, and a craft market.
This tour can be arranged at any time. Rates include airport transfers and all ground transportation, accommodations, gorilla trekking and the required $500 permit, village activities and sightseeing, and guides. Meals and airfare to Kigali are extra.
(Photo: iStockphoto/Andy Diamond)
Rafting the Yampa Through Dinosaur National Monument
Provider: O.A.R.S.
Length: Four or five days
Price: $702 to $990
A rafting trip down the Yampa River through Utah and Colorado's Dinosaur National Monument promises exhilarating whitewater and wilderness, and a chance to travel through time. The river slices deep through layers of sedimentary rock, revealing evidence both from the age of the dinosaurs and from human settlements dating back 10,000 years. History unfolds as you pass by 1,000-foot-tall canyon walls and side gorges containing fossils, ancient rock art, and Native American ruins.
O.A.R.S., the premier rafting company in the West, runs four- and five-day Yampa trips in May, June and July, when the river swells with whitewater from snowmelt that's made its way down from the Rockies. On the trip, you'll traverse the park from East to West, rafting from Deerlodge Park in Colorado to Split Mountain Canyon in Utah. This includes Class III and IV rapids; breaks for swimming and hiking to see hidden waterfalls, ruins, and fossils; and camping on sandy river beaches.
Trip costs include all meals, rafting equipment, guides, and transportation from Vernal, Utah. Five-day trips accompanied by a professional geologist cost $990 (May 13 and 23, June 6) while regular five-day trips cost $835 (June 29 and July 6 and 11). One four-day trip departs June 25 and costs $702. You must provide your own transportation to and from Vernal, as well as your tent and sleeping bag (or rent them from O.A.R.S. for an additional cost).
(Photo: O.A.R.S.)
Hiking, Biking, and Surfing in Costa Rica
Provider: G.A.P Adventures
Length: Nine days
Price: $949
Central America's undisputed adventure mecca, Costa Rica offers so many quality options, from zip lining and volcano hiking to wildlife watching and surfing. It can be hard to choose which activities to make the focus of your trip. G.A.P Adventures attempts to solve this dilemma with its new Volcanoes & Surf tour, which packs a wide range of activities into one affordable nine-day journey.
After meeting your group in San Jose, you'll start with a hike around the active Arenal Volcano, which is surrounded by lush rainforest. "If travelers are lucky they may see the top [of Arenal] glowing an eerie red, set to a soundtrack of monkeys and the rumblings of the volcano," says G.A.P Adventures' Kira Zack.
Then, you'll take a boat across Lake Arenal and go mountain biking along its shores and over gently rolling hills. Later, venture into the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, where you can see 320 different species of birds and 100 types of mammals. The trip is capped off with two days at the Zopilote Surf Camp on Playa Hermosa de Cobano, a laidback beach town on the Pacific Coast with great year-round surfing conditions. No experience is necessary: Beginners get a two-hour lesson each day and free use of boards throughout their stay.
This trip departs monthly through 2010. The price includes accommodations, two breakfasts and two dinners, activities, ground transportation, and guides. Most meals, optional activities, and airfare to San Jose are extra.
(Photo: G.A.P Adventures)
Cycling the Maine Coast
Provider: Summer Feet…Maine Coast Cycling Adventures
Length: Three days
Price: $725
While many adventure tours in coastal Maine focus on water sports like kayaking and sailing, trips with Portland-based Summer Feet explore the state's famously fissured shores by bike. "Maine's dramatic coastline provides lots of variety in terrain, so there's something for everyone," says Sheila Reiser of Summer Feet. "Most routes have rolling terrain with a few long, slow climbs and a few shorter, steeper climbs. The road winds through fields, woods, and quaint villages. You [may] come around a corner and [be] presented with a stunning panorama, complete with rocky cliffs, fishing boats bobbing at their moorings, and colorful lobster buoys scattered across a clear blue bay with the sparkling sea stretching to the horizon."
On the company's three-day Sailboats and Summer Folk trip, you'll cycle along what are arguably the prettiest routes in the state, starting on the first day with a six-mile jaunt from Camden to the village of Rockport. The next day, you'll travel by ferry to Islesboro island, home to a classic old-fashioned New England resort community and mostly car-free cycling. On the final day, choose between a short 10- or 20-mile route so you have time for some shopping, or head out on a more ambitious 40- or 50-mile trek to the end of St. George Peninsula. If you think you're missing out on water time, no worries—one evening you'll have the chance to sail the Penobscot Bay in a classic wooden schooner.
Departures are scheduled for June 26, July 24, August 14, September 18, and October 2 and 16. Rates include accommodations, some meals and snacks, cycling with van support, route maps and notes, sailing, and guides. You may bring your own bike or rent one from Summer Feet. You must provide your own transportation to Camden, Maine, the trip start point.
(Photo: Summer Feet)
Tracking Wolves and Bears in Yellowstone
Provider: Wildlife Expeditions of Teton Science Schools
Length: Three days
Price: $950
There's no need to fly to Africa to go on a safari in search of big game predators. You can safely observe majestic wild animals like wolves, black bears, and grizzlies in Yellowstone National Park on a trip with Wildlife Expeditions of Teton Science Schools of Jackson.
Sure, you could drive along the park roads yourself and hope to spot the animals, but your chances of finding these elusive predators in Yellowstone's 14-million acre ecosystem get a lot better when you go with one of the Wildlife Expeditions' biologists, who know the best locations and times of day to observe wolves and bears.
Wildlife Expeditions runs three-day bear and wolf tours in the spring, a time of year when baby animals and wildflowers are plentiful, but tourists are not. On the trip, you'll venture to spots like Lamar Valley, dubbed "America's Serengeti," where you might witness a wolf hunt, and Hayden Valley, a popular grizzly bear hangout. Your sharp-eyed biologist guide will be on constant lookout for wolves and bears and will offer insight into the animal behavior you see. Along the way, you'll make stops to view other species like bison, elk, and coyotes, as well as to visit some of Yellowstone's famous geological and geothermal sites.
Program start dates include April 26; May 1, 6, 10, 13, 17, 22, 26, and 29; and June 2. Fall programs run September 10, 17, 20, and 24 and October 1 and 8. Rates cover round-trip transportation from Jackson, accommodations, meals, entrance fees, and biologist-accompanied wildlife viewing excursions. Transportation to Jackson is extra.
(Photo: Wildlife Expeditions of Teton Science Schools)
Learning to Whitewater Kayak
Provider: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Length: Five days
Price: $999
Combining the rapid running of whitewater rafting with solo paddling, whitewater kayaking is an ideal sport for independent-minded thrill seekers. This demanding activity requires more skill than some other water sports, so it's a very good idea to take a course with a safety-minded outfitter before trying it on your own. The Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina, which has been recognized as one of the best whitewater kayaking schools in the country, runs five-day courses suitable for beginners that promise to prepare you to handle Class I and II rapids on your own.
Novices start out practicing basic skills like kayak rolls in the calm Fontana Lake before moving on to easy sections of moving water in the Nantahala, Little Tennessee, or Tuckaseegee rivers. Each evening you'll have the chance to review your progress with instructors and analyze video shot during the day. By the end of the week, most students are ready to navigate Class II and III rapids on the Nantahala.
Courses start every Sunday between April 6 and September 14. The price includes accommodations, meals, transportation to and from the river, and whitewater kayaking gear and instruction. You must provide your own transportation to Bryson City, North Carolina, and the closest airport is in Asheville.
(Photo: Nantahala Outdoor Center)
Riding Whistler's Mountain Trails
Provider: Whistler Bike Guide Adventures
Length: Six days
Price: $720
The site of the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics, Whistler, British Columbia, is not only one of North America's top snow sport destinations, it's also home to some of the best mountain biking on the planet. "If there's [another] place that combines legendary free riding, cross country trails, family routes, and the world's leading lift serviced downhill, we haven't seen it," says Chris Ford, co-owner of Whistler Bike Guide Adventures.
On Whistler Bike Guide's six-day "Full Pull" tour, bikers of all abilities can experience a wide range of Whistler's most scenic and challenging routes. After your guides—all long-time local bikers—determine your experience level and outfit you with a top-of-the-line Santa Cruz bike, you'll dig right in with two full days of riding. Beginners might start on gently rolling terrain while experts can venture in remote mountain areas with steep climbs and technical descents. The next two days you'll mix it up with a half day of riding followed by zip-lining and then a day of whitewater rafting on the Class II and III Green River. The trip ends with another half-day ride, but you can add more full days if you like.
Tours depart each Saturday May through mid-October. Prices cover lodging, ground transportation within Whistler, some meals and snacks, use of a mountain bike rental and other cycling gear, activities, and guides. Airfare to Whistler is extra.
(Photo: Whistler Bike Guide Adventures)
Volunteering With Elephants in India
Provider: i-to-i
Length: 14 days
Price: $790
Because of the nature of voluntourism—extended stays in one location, hands-on involvement with local people and projects, and home stays or local accommodations—volunteer travelers often return home having had richer and more fulfilling travel experiences than those who went on more traditional package tours. You can try to set up overseas volunteering on your own, but you may find it easier (and ultimately more affordable) to work with an organization that can offer you training and support and place you with a project that has been thoroughly vetted.
U.K.-based i-to-i is one of the leading volunteer travel organizations around, sending thousands of volunteers each year to work on dozens of projects in 23 different countries. Projects can range from sea turtle conservation in Costa Rica to teaching English to Buddhist monks in Nepal.
On one popular program in India, you can help take care of the personable Asian elephants who work carrying tourists at the royal Amber Fort in Jaipur. Each morning, while the elephants are away working, you'll clean their quarters and prepare their food, and in the afternoon, you can help the elephants unwind from their day by giving them massages and affection. You'll also get to learn about elephant behavior by interacting with mahouts, the elephant owners who live and work with the elephants on a daily basis. During your assignment you'll live with a local Indian family.
This program has two to three start dates each month. The price covers accommodations, all meals, in-country training, and elephant activities. Ground transportation between your accommodations and the project and airfare to Jaipur are extra.
(Photo: i-to-i)
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text:
|<< Ledon
|Lelei >>
Star: N/A
Origin: Gate Rune Village
Events: Massacre of the Gate Rune Clan, Island Liberation War, Sun Rune War, Gate Rune Wars, Dunan Unificati
Position: Seer
Born: N/A
Death: N/A
Leknaat is the keeper of the Gate Rune and the overseer of balance. She came into possession of the Gate Rune when the village of the Gate Rune Clan was attacked by Harmonia (she lost her sight during that attack). The Gate Rune was separated into two parts--Front and Back--and given to Leknaat and her sister Windy.
Leknaat stayed hidden but appeared throughout history to advise, guide, and assist Stars of Destiny--she appeared to help Lazlo transition his Rune of Punishment to its Forgiveness phase during the Island Liberation War and helped Ted escape from the Fog Ship, and during the Sun Rune War she summoned Zerase to aid the Prince of Falena.
After the formation of the [Scarlet Moon Empire] she became their Seer to provide them with monthly astrological forecasts. For many years she shielded herself within the Magician's Island to protect herself from her sister, Windy, who wished to gain power by obtaining the other half of her rune.
During the Gate Rune Wars, she often appeared in front of Tir and aided the Toran Liberation Army in times of need, such when she sent back Windy's monster army back to the netherworld with the help of Joshua Levenheit. After the Gate Rune Wars, she gave her position as Seer to Hellion; later appearing in front of Riou of the Dunan Unification Army and Jowy Atreides during the Unification War. Soon after, accompanied by Luc, she went to Crystal Valley's Circle Palace; there they found Sarah, who they then freed. After Luc rebelled against her and starts to wage war against the True Runes in the Grasslands, she was helpless to stop him. However, after he lost, she welcomed his soul back and forgave him in the end. - Blue Moon


text:
The brain and the banjo
Bluegrass legend Eddie Adcock had brain surgery last month to correct an essential tremor — an uncontrollable shaking that left him unable to play the banjo. During the surgery, he stayed awake to give feedback while surgeons prodded his brain, looking for the exact spot to stimulate to control the tremor. His method of feedback […]Continue reading


text:
Hello all,
I'm sorry that i have not posted for a while; I was forced to move, and so have been busy. Today I would like to talk about the costumes of the region around the Dunajec river and Pieniny mountains on the Polish-Slovak border. The impetus for researching this region came from seeing images of vests such as the one above. This one, unusually, is black; most are blue. These can be found in Ukrainian books, of which the above image is one example, in Polish sources, such as this example;
And also Slovak sources, like this image. By the way, this is a man's vest, and is NOT part of any women's costume.
I found that this vest is part of a somewhat complicated series of costumes in the region between the points where the rivers Bialka and Poprad cross the Polish-Slovak border. This is the edge of the westernmost extension of Lemkovyna, the land inhabited by the Lemkos or Rusyns. The Slovaks and Polish in this area are Gorals, and while they identify as Polish or Slovak, speak dialects which are much closer to each other than to either of the two Literary standards.
In this article I will give an overview of the costumes of this region; I will cover Lemko, Rusyn, Polish and Slovak villages. . Please consult Google Maps as you read this, as I have so far been unable to find a good map of the area which I wish to cover.
Shliakhtova - Шляхтова - Szlachtowa: Lemko / Rusyn
Szczawnica: Polish.
As far as I have been able to determine, these two groups, while differing in ethnicity and language, shared the same costume. The Polish villages continue to wear the costume on festive occasions today, while the inhabitants of the Lemko villages were deported in 1947 to other parts of Poland. The Lemkos inhabited the communites of Shliakhtova [Szlachtowa], Yavirky [Jaworki], Bila Voda [Biala Woda], and Chorna Voda [Czarna Woda].
The Polish inhabit the villages of Szczawnica, Krościenko, Grywald, Tylka and Haluszowa. These two communities lie on neighboring tributaries of the Dunajec.
Here is the costume as it existed at the end of the 19th cent.
The signature vest became more elaborately embroidered in the early 20th cent.
This Lemko / Rusyn enclave appears to be an island on the Polish side, however it is contiguous with Rusyn territory on the Slovak side, which connects directly with the rest of Lemkovyna.
The costume is shared, in part, with other villages in the area.
Just over the Slovak border from Shliakhtova - Шляхтова - Szlachtowa are the Rusyn villages of Velykyj Lypnyk - Великый Липник - Veľký Lipník, and its satellite, Fil'varok -Фільварок - Folvark, which is now called Stranjany - Страняны - Stráňany. These lie on a neighboring tributary of the Dunajec. The women's costume is basically identical; given the normal variation of aprons and skirts, the only notable difference is the lack of embroidery on the women's bodice.
The men's costume, however, is significantly different.
Just to the east, the three Rusyn villages of Kamiunka -Камюнка - Kamienka; Litmanova - Літманова - Litmanová; and Oriabyna - Орябина - Jarabina share a similar costume.
The men's costume from these villages is also different.
I have been able to find very little from the Slovak villages just to the west, but here is an image from Haligovce showing what seems to be the same costume.
On the Polish side, the Pieniny region proper lies between the Szczawnica region and the Dunajec river. This consists of the two villages of upper and lower Sromowce. The men's costume is the same as that of Szczawnica and Shliakhtova, but the women currently wear the Podhale costume, which is found over a fairly large area north and west of the Szczawnica region.
This exhibit in the church at Lower Sromowce seems to hint that the women once wore a similar costume as in Szczawnica.
Further west in Poland, the Podhale costume is prevalent north of the Dunajec, and the Kacwin costume south of it.
On the Slovak side, we find the little village of Červený Kláštor, right on the banks of the Dunajec.
Nearby is the Slovak community of Spišská Stará Ves. The men wear a costume identical to that of Szczawnica - Shliakhtova, but the women wear what appears to be a completely different costume.
But compare with this photo from Krościenko in the Szczawnica area from before WWI.
The boatmen on the Dunajec river, from both sides, often wear this costume as a kind of uniform while working.
Generally, at the very least they wear the round Podhale hat and the embroidered vest.
South of this are the two Slovak villages of Matiašovce and Spišské Hanušovce.
The men are wearing reconstructed costumes that resemble those of the Polish Spisz Kacwin area. These girls from Matiašovce are wearing what appears to be a very generic costume created for their dance group.
Here are a couple of images from Hanušovce.
If we look at the Polish version of the costume, over the border in the area from Kacwin to Trybsz, we see that the women's is very reminiscent of the Szczawnica Shliakhtova costume. The blouse is very similar, and Reinfuss mentions there being a point on the front of the Spisz chepets.
Even in the Jurgow area we see that the women originally wore a similar blouse.
However in the Jurgow region the woven ornament in the blouse has mostly been replaced by embroidery, or is omitted altogether.
Thank you for reading,
I hope that you found it interesting to see how the various costume elements are distributed in this region, and how the various ethnic groups share costumes and also distinguish themselves. I will use the next article to give an in-depth analysis of the Shliakhtova -Szczawnica costume and its embroidery.
Roman K.
email: email@example.com
Source Material:
Much of this material was taken from various village websites of the area.
Stanislav Prochotský et al. 'Ľudový odev na Spiši', Spišská Nová Ves, 1990
Edyta Starek, 'Stroj Spiski', Poznan, 1954Roman Reinfuss, 'Stroje Gorali Szczawnickich', Lublin, 1949
Stanislaw Gadomski, 'Stroj Ludowy w Polsce', Warsaw
Jadwiga Turska, 'Polish Folk Embroidery', Warsaw, 1997
Viera Nosál'ová, 'Slovenský ľudový odev', 1983
Lesia Danchenko, 'Urainian Folk Art', Leningrad, 1982
Tamara Nikolajevna, 'Ukrajinskyj Kostium', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2005


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Sep 28, 2023
Sep 28, 2023
Continued from: Arab Revolts: A Symptom of Decline of US Hegemony
Just recall the 'Revolutions' of 1989 in Eastern Europe leading to the collapse of Communism. The revolts began in Poland and then spread to Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and finally Romania. Only in Romania, the Communist regime was overthrown violently and Nikolai Ceausescu and his wife were shot dead in cold blood after a Kangaroo trial.
Even earlier East Europeans had tried to overthrow the totalitarian regimes in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and elsewhere but were brutally suppressed.
By end 1980s it was clear that the Soviet Union itself was ready and on the brink for a makeover with resurgent Orthodox Slav nationalism with what many Russians felt unhappily carrying the heavy baggage of Turkic and other Soviet Socialist republics. US led West Human Rights and democracy promotion organizations (to suit western objectives) had been encouraging overtly and covertly groups in Communist states for change and freedom, by using civil resistance methods of Mahatma Gandhi adopted by Martin Luther King and others. In any case, an overall popular opposition had emerged against the one-party rule in East Europe enforced since WWII when Communism rolled in on the backs of Soviet tanks after the defeat of Nazi Germany, which was accomplished basically by the Soviet resistance and very heavy sacrifice in men and treasure.
By 1989, the Soviet Union had repealed the Brezhnev Doctrine in favor of non-intervention in the internal affairs of its Warsaw Pact allies.
While the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 failed to change or even dent Communist regime in China, the powerful images of courage and defiance sparked many and thus began the series of changes in East Europe and elsewhere in Russian Soviet republics. (Based on events in Cairo and elsewhere attempts to organize a 'Jasmine revolution' in China seem to have fizzled out so far.)
Seeds of Soviet collapse were sown by the policies of perestroika and glasnost by a naïve Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, an agriculture engineer by training, who apparently did not comprehend fully either Communism or Capitalism. Western media flattered him by hailing him as a great democratizer. Gorbachev was followed by a Boris Yeltsin, remembered for being mostly drunk or drugged. They destroyed the Soviet state, undermined its ideology and the concept of scientific socialism. The break up and dissolution of USSR was achieved by the end of 1991.
Russian federation and 14 new nations emerged with little local fight or desire for independence in most of the new states except in the Baltics, who then declared independence.
Albania and Yugoslavia discarded the Communist ideology between 1990 and 1992. USA and Europe soon encouraged dissensions in Yugoslavia, with US led NATO troops bombing Yugoslavia illegally and helped break up the state in place since WWI. By 1992 five successor states emerged i.e. Slovenia, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. But Russia friendly Orthodox Slav Yugoslavia was too much for the triumphal and hubris laden New Rome in Washington. Coastal Montenegro was detached from Serbia completely isolating Moscow's ally in the Balkans.
The Soviet Union's collapse was ruthlessly exploited by US led West while its capitalist controlled media sang praises and promoted economic reforms and so called democratization bringing economic disintegration and ruination to Russia and former communist states leading to the worst kind of depression in modern history with economic losses more than twice those suffered by USSR in World War II. Russian GDP was trimmed to half and capital investment fell by 80 percent. People were reduced to penury and misery, death rates soared and the population shrank. And in August 1998, the Russian financial system collapsed.
Wealth running into a trillion US dollar and more was transferred to the West from the former Soviet Union and socialist states in East Europe and Balkans under the charade of ushering in democracy, free market capitalism and globalization. In Moscow Vladimir Putin has stabilized the situation from rampant exploitation by the West. He remains very popular with his people unlike leaders in the West. In most of the East European states, groups aligned and in league with Washington and Brussels have captured power along with mafia groups, local and from neighboring countries. (Three years ago, in a poll Romanians voted West demonized Ceausescu as the most important leader in its history). Yes , elections are held, as they have been in Iraq and for that matter in 2000 in USA and with the banksters gifting nearly $ 500 million to Barack Obama for his election fund. No wonder, there is little of, "yes, we can" in a country ruled by financiers , bankers, military-industry, energy and other corporate interests.
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we are seeing the beginnings of the collapse of the other Wall (Street), financial nerve center of till recently described the New Rome. The decline and coming fall of the US led Western hegemony was brought home by the 2008 September collapse of Lehman brothers, Merrill Lynch and other venerable US and Western financial institutions, thus beginning an era of power shift, perhaps, for the passing of the baton from the West to the East. Washington's debt amounts to almost $ 10 trillion while its GDP is around 14 trillion. The creditors have discussed replacing US dollar as the reserve currency with a basket of currencies. US led West is deeply mired in the Iraqi quagmire and enmeshed into a non-winnable war in Afghanistan, the graveyard of many empires in history. In North Africa and Middle East, five/ten years ago US might have threatened sending an aircraft career to evacuate its citizens as it did against India in 1971.
With the loss of dominance in the Middle East and north Africa and if Saudi Arabia gets embroiled in serious turmoil what will happen to US dollar as the reserve currency.
The confrontation and the wars for hegemony began with Indo-European chariot riders from East Central Asia and later horse riding tribes; the Turks, the Mongols, the Tatars and others galloping west and southwards in their victorious march. A safari by Alexander and his Macedonian hordes to Middle East, Central Asia and North India has little to show in Buddhist records in Asia. It only shows how Western propaganda exaggerates its achievements and misinforms, as is evident from its media exaggerations and misinformation now-a-days.
The world is now poised for paradigm change. US led Western attempts to enter and install NATO forces into central Asia and around the Caspian were stalled. US and Israeli puppet Georgia's attempts to take south Ossetia were rebuffed with Moscow inflicting heavy losses. Azerbaijan with its strategic location and energy resources firmly in the Western camp is having second thoughts about the tight Western embrace after the Georgian outcome. US installed puppet in Ukraine. Victor Yushchenko's was defeated last year. US is just about hanging on in Kyrgyzstan with Moscow watching Washington's discomfiture in Afghanistan and now in the Middle East. The shoe is on the other feet now.
End of History
The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Communist ideology, regimes and economics in Eurasia was described as the 'End of History' and a victory for US style liberal capitalism (since1978, China is more an authoritarian Communist state with capitalist methods of production).
It is Prof Francis Fukuyama who wrote "The End of History and the Last Man" in 1992, argued that the progression of human history as a struggle between ideologies was largely at an end, with the world settling on liberal democracy at the end of the Cold War and the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989. Fukuyama predicted the eventual global triumph of political and economic liberalism:
"What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history but the end of history as such... That is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."
Soon he revised his thesis after the rampant capitalism and its excesses in Enron and elsewhere suggesting some kind of centralized direction.
Opposed to 'Operation Iraqi Freedom', Fukuyama in an essay in the New York Times Magazine in 2006 identified neo-conservatism with Leninism. He wrote that "neo-conservatives believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practiced by the United States. Neo-conservatism, as both a political symbol and a body of thought, has evolved into something I can no longer support."
So much for thinkers in USA and their instant philosophies, the other being Samuel Huntington, who wrote about the 'Clash of Civilizations.' What is happening is the struggle for power and hegemony by use of the Gods by followers of three revealed religions in the Middle East.
With the collapse of the liberal capitalism because of human nature i.e. rampant corporate culture of reckless greed in USA along with over spending on defense and imperial over-reach, there are clear symptoms similar to those which brought about the down fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago.
Ironically, it is the public money, used as stimulus, amounting to nearly $ two trillion and 600 billion which is temporarily keeping private sector afloat in USA. (This money exists on computer screens only and is lent at little interest, sloshing around the world's stock exchanges making them behave like casinos. It is also used to hoard up commodities which raise their prices.) Public shareholders ought to run the now effectively 'nationalized' banks and other institutions in USA. So much for the final triumph of the US neo-liberal model; defeat of Socialism and the 'End of history'.
Is it the beginning of the end of the 'End of History'
Economist Hyman Minsky had predicted that "Keynes's collective work amounted to a powerful argument that Capitalism was by its very nature unstable and prone to collapse. Far from trending toward some magical state of equilibrium, capitalism would inevitably do the opposite. It would lurch over a cliff".
Whatever be the outcome , the turmoil in north Africa and west Asia is like the historic shifting of sands in what can be called Washington's 'near abroad ',
In history, centuries of Roman-Byzantine and Persian confrontation and wars led to their exhaustion. Soon their territories were overrun by bands of Bedouins from the deserts of Arabia.
More by : K. Gajendra Singh


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We find more than half of Woody Allen?s movies are subpar, like watching the scene in Being John Malcovich where John Malcovich playing himself can say nothing but ?Malcovich, Malcovich? in various intonations. And yet in spite of duds like Melinda and Melinda we remain excited every year when a new movie comes out.
I?ve often wondered if Allen asks his actors to channel him, or if he?s so distinctive they just can?t help but channel him when given certain lines. A break-up scene in Blue Jasmine is particularly funny in this regard?both Blanchett and her significant other do Woody Allen impressions. It?s Woody Allen breaking up with himself.
Blue Jasmine is extremely entertaining, a joky Streetcar Named Desire set in New York and San Francisco. The story revolves around the crack-up of an extremely wealthy New Yorker, Jasmine (Cate Blanchett), after her husband Hal (Alec Baldwin) commits suicide in prison.
Jasmine comes to San Francisco to stay with her adoptive sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins), a working class woman forever going out with modern-day incarnations of Streetcar?s Stanley Kowalski. Jasmine claims to be broke, but flies first class and arrives carrying Louis Vuitton bags. Ginger?s boyfriend Augie sees Jasmine for what she is: a heartless phony. A series of flashbacks explain how Jasmine lost her money.
Left in another actress?s hands, Jasmine would be another of Woody Allen?s many wooden female characters as seen through the eyes of some neurotic male. But Cate Blanchett?s genius is to leave us constantly guessing and engaged in her internal struggle. She plays Jasmine as a particularly complex Blanche du Bois, fighting off the advances of her boss one moment, washing down Xanax with vodka the next.
The movie is set in San Francisco?I was expecting some of the magic of Midnight in Paris applied to yet another of the world?s most remarkable cities. Instead Woody Allen chose to manufacture his own alternate San Francisco, made recognizable only by a standard shot of the Golden Gate Bridge, a Chinatown intersection, and a scene at a cold beach.
A San Francisco in which schlubby guys played by Louis C.K. and Andrew Dice Clay wear ill-fitting, mismatched outfits and talk like they?re construction workers from New York City. It?s as if Allen has never really visited San Francisco, nor even watched another movie set there.
In spite of these directorial choices, Blue Jasmine is well worth watching if only to see Blanchett?s Jasmine, one of the most remarkable performances on screen in recent history.
Have you seen Blue Jasmine yet? Is this a San Francisco you recognize?


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Too often we don't learn about our brothers and sisters in Christ until their funeral or memorial service. What better time to hear them speak about their life and what they learned than the present?
The Dorothy C. Blakely Memoir Project was first put into place at The Academy for Academic Excellence (AAE) in Apple Valley and involved over one-hundred volunteers. What began as a High Desert California Writers Club project recently moved to the Jess Ranch Community Church in Apple Valley, with some variations, when Mr. Don Allen was interviewed at their monthly Family Night on January 16, 2019.
Too often we don't learn about our brothers and sisters in Christ until their funeral or memorial service.
AAE teacher, Charlotte Wilmuth-Street assigned her twelfth graders thirty-five-hundred-word maximum memoirs of people age fifty and over, the "Memoir Stars." Writers club members taught students that a memoir is different from an autobiography. A memoir is a window on a life, a recounting of important, defining moments, whereas an autobiography covers an entire life, usually in chronological order.
Interviewing, story structure, editing, and even grammar lessons were taught so students could write a rough draft. Then members worked one-on-three with students to polish their drafts. The club, with the help of student photographers, published the students' work, resulting in Let It Be Recorded: A Collection of Memoirs, year one, and All Our Yesterdays: A Collection of Memoirs, year two. In year three, the project was conducted in a Victorville school, University Preparatory High School, when the principal, Valerie Hatcher, and 11th grade teacher, Anna Lovato, became interested. Year three produced Footprints from Around the World: A Collection of Memoirs. All three books are available on Amazon.com.
So, could the program be modified to focus on one individual and be presented orally? As a church and writers club member who was also director for the project year two and three, I was approached to interview Mr. Don Allen, a community member of long standing. We met together and I used the initial exercise about "turning points," that was lesson one for students. I asked Don to identify the turning points in his life with a list of common ones to jog his memory, such as "school," "military," and "accidents." As Don talked about his defining moments, I took notes and came up with questions to ask him on Family Night in front of an audience such as, "Many of us attended your wedding. Tell us how you and your wife met and fell in love." Don looked over the questions before his public interview, so he knew what I would be asking.
A poignant part of the interview was when Don talked about his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Although he plans to fight this disease with the help of prayer, The City of Hope and nutrition, Don ended by reading his obituary. I surmised that only a Christian could have his positive attitude. Don's philosophy is "Life is good. Love is better."
Attendees concluded that Don's discussion of his life was inspirational and allowed them to know him better and appreciate a life well-lived. There is a request to have more "Memoir Stars" from the congregation featured in the future.
I encourage church leaders or school program coordinators to make a member a "Memoir Star."
Here are eight tips for making your program a success:
- Allow for forty to sixty minutes for your program. Set up microphones. Videotape, if desired.
Interviewer and Interviewee should meet ahead of time for an hour or so in the Memoir Star's home or a restaurant, depending on the Star's age and health.
- Begin with a handout with categories to retrieve the most important moments of a life: "An illness;" "A move," "Loss of a Loved One," "A Natural Disaster," "Encountering Danger," "An Accident," "A Birth," "Falling in Love," "Military Service," "Career/School Choice," "Discovery of a Talent," and "Personal Experience During an Historic Event, like Pearl Harbor, 9/11."
- Give the person five or ten minutes to look over the handout and think until they settle on the category they want to talk about first. This will lead from one topic to another. Resist the temptation to compare your life or insert anecdotes about you.
- The interviewer does not have to take copious, detailed notes. He or she needs to come up with questions to allow the person to tell an audience the most important and interesting parts.
- The interviewer should go home and write questions and arrange them in an interesting, maybe even dramatic order. For example, Don wanted to end by reading his obituary. Not everyone will want to do that.
- Let your Star look over the questions before you go "on stage." Make sure the beginnings are varied: "We talked about . . ." "You said your time in the Navy was . . ." "Would you like to end by telling us . . ."
- You might want to have someone introduce the two of you and close the program.
Best wishes for introducing a program that is sure to be a hit with listeners. You may even get a waiting list of people who want to be Memoir Stars.
Article first published on Southern California Christian Voice


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DEMO: This is a sample video of this course.
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Course Length: 00 Hours 42 Minutes 03 Seconds The paid version of this course contains videos of following topics:
Create a BOM and BOM version in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3
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text: A device built by legendary hacker Samy Kamkar calls into question the security of payment cards as the U.S. continues to grapples with card fraud.Kamkar's device, nicknamed MagSpoof, is about the size of a U.S. quarter, and it's safe to say it would be a fraudster's dream.MagSpoof can predict what a new American Express card number will be based on a canceled card's number. The new expiration date can also be predicted based on when the replacement card was requested.It can also trick point-of-sale readers into accepting payment from cards that are supposed to have a\u00a0microchip with advanced cryptographic capabilities designed to deter fraud, a system known as chip-and-PIN, but do not.He noticed that the replacement card's number appeared to have a relationship with other Amex cards he'd had in the past. Kamkar worked out a formula for how the number was calculated, which matched up to 40 cards and replacement cards shared with him by his friends for his research."One hundred percent of them followed my predictions," Kamkar said in a phone interview Tuesday. The card generation algorithm "is not very random."To do the calculation, Kamkar said he just needs the old card number and the expiration date.\u00a0The danger, of course, is that cybercriminals with access to the old card's details could figure out the new card number before the victim has even received it. Once the card is active, the fraudster can go shopping.American Express officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday. Kamkar says he notified them in August, but the company told him they didn't think it was a major issue.Kamkar said American Express clearly has other anti-fraud measures that could potentially stop abuse, but it's not guaranteed those would stop every fraudulent purchase.The American Express number prediction capability isn't the only interesting feature built into MagSpoof. Kamkar did an intensive study of the magnetic stripe on the back of payment cards.He found the stripe contains a service code that is used to transmit information such as whether a card can be used overseas, if it can be used by an ATM or if it's a chip-and-PIN card.U.S. retailers have been upgrading their systems to accommodate chip-and-PIN as card companies are now holding them more accountable for fraud if systems are not upgraded.Chip-and-PIN, also known as EMV, has been used in areas such as Europe for more than a decade. The payment cards have security features that make them difficult to clone, and transactions are authorized in part by a cryptographic microchip.If someone with a chip-enabled card goes to Target these days and swipes their card's magnetic stripe, the point-of-sale system will see the service code and know that it's a chip card and ask for it to be inserted into a reader, Kamkar said."But I discovered that if I can modify the service code, or create a new card with a different magstripe with the same data but just flip that bit, I can essentially disable that requirement for the chip," he said.Kamkar modified the service code and was able to buy something by swiping a card when it should have been a chip-and-PIN transaction.\u00a0"I was flabbergasted," he said.When asked if it was Target, Kamkar laughed and said it "was a major retailer."Kamkar has released the schematics and software for MagSpoof. He is not, however, releasing the information that would allow the generation of American Express card numbers. He's also not releasing the code that would allow the disabling of chip-and-PIN.MagSpoof is an interesting little piece of hardware. It can store many credit card numbers. It emulates the magnetic field that is generated by a card's magnetic stripe and can project a payment card's details from up to two inches away from a magnetic stripe reader.On his blog, Kamkar wrote that MagSpoof is intended for research purposes and should only be used with payment cards someone is authorized to use.


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X22003 Action/Adventure | Suspense/Thriller | SciFi/Fantasy
Mutants continue their struggle against a society that fears and distrusts them. Their cause becomes even more desperate following an incredible attack by an undetermined assailant possessing extraordinary abilities. The shocking attack renews the political and public outcry for both a Mutant Registration Act, and an anti-mutant movement, now led by William Stryker. A vocal, wealthy, former commander for the Army, Stryker, is rumored to have experimented on mutants. Stryker's dubious mutant "work" is somehow tied to Logan's/Wolverine's mysterious and forgotten past. As Logan/Wolverine searches for clues to his origin, Stryker puts into motion his anti-mutant program--launching a severe attack on Professor Xavier's mansion. Magneto, newly escaped from his plastic prison, proposes a partnership with Professor Xavier and the X-Men to combat their common and formidable enemy: Stryker. With the fates of Xavier, mankind, and mutantkind, in their hands, the X-Men face their most dangerous mission yet.


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Category Main Page
Articles & Reviews
Main Nibbles
Main Page
Articles & Reviews Of Foods From A To Z
ELIZABET TRAVIS is an Editorial Intern.
December 2007
Updated July 2008
CAPSULE REPORT: Of the thousands of products we have reviewed, perhaps this is the first sold by a not-for-profit organization that was established specifically for the purpose of generating money for education. Hence the name, School House Kitchen. Fortunately, this school house had a good cooking program, because the vinaigrette, chutney and mustard are excellent. This is Page 1 of a two-page article. To read Page 2, click on the black links below.
Just a two generations back, chutneys were commonly made at home. Just one generation ago, everyone made salad dressing—and traded recipes. But times change, and these days, few people don't have the time to make them. And why should they, with so many fine specialty products just a reach way. In a crowded field, School House Kitchen has managed to distinguish itself, and move to the head of the class.
Founded in 2004 by Patsy Smith, this family-operated business (Patsy's daughter, Wendy, became the company president in 2007 and her son, Christopher, is the design director) began in Patsy's kitchen in upstate New York more than 30 years ago with her award-winning Sweet Smooth Hot Mustard. The recipe was passed down to her with the agreement that she only use it for gifts or charitable purposes. Patsy has kept her promise while also creating a chutney and a vinaigrette. Since the beginning, all of the profits from School House Kitchen have gone to nonprofit organizations, mostly schools.
All three School House Kitchen products are available individually, or in one neat box that is reasonably priced, compact for gift-giving and delicious.
Balsamic Vinaigrette Basico
Balsamic Vinaigrette Basico is a sweet, rich dressing with peppery undertones that is perfect over mixed greens or vegetables or as a marinade. If you like bottled vinaigrettes, you'll find this so tasty that there won't be much left for marinating. But when you get to the end of the bottle, shake it with some olive oil, soy sauce or other component of your regular marinade, to drain every last drop.
As part of the lesson of the School House, you should learn the difference between "lush" and "luscious," the words in the yellow banner on the label of the dressing. The answer isn't on the label, but it is in our caption at the right.
Continue To Page 2: Chutney & Mustard
Go To Article Index Above


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Tags Incarcerated Lives Matter Protest/Rally Holman Prison
Tag: Incarcerated Lives Matter Protest/Rally Holman Prison
UPDATE: Uprising at Holman Prison in Alabama
Friday night, March 11, prisoners took over Holman Prison in Alabama. A fight between inmates escalated to include guards and even the warden. Staff fled, and the prisoners took over, lighting guard towers on fire and barricading the doors. Prisoners say the officer had used excessive force to break up a minor fight. "He went in swinging his stick and throwing inmates around. People get tired of seeing their fellow convicts get treated that way (and) are getting more and more aggravated every day when their rights are being taken away, even the rights we're supposed to have as human beings." A rally at Holman is set for Saturday, March 19, 9-11 a.m.


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Public-benefit programs should ensure that families headed by grandparents and other caregiver relatives receive sufficient support for economic security and well-being.
Federal and state governments should maintain the entitlement nature of Medicaid funding so all who qualify will be covered.
States and federal governments must ensure that all Medicaid beneficiaries have meaningful opportunities to exercise their statutory grievance and appeal r
Federal and state governments should conduct annual reviews to ensure that Medicaid's rules for paying providers and managed care organizations do not unde
The federal government should require states to have procedures ensuring continuity of coverage for beneficiaries transitioning to Medicare.
Federal and state governments should:
All states should elect the option to expand Medicaid to cover uninsured populations with low incomes.