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In September and October, it's hard to miss the roadside stands filled with vegetables from the autumn harvest. The stands seem particularly festive in the Southwestern United States, adorned as they are with ristras, bunches of fresh red peppers drying in the crisp air. While ristras have become a popular decoration to hang on a front porch anywhere, their beauty shouldn't overshadow the health benefits contained in their individual fruits.
A pepper by any name
Peppers are known by the botanical name Capsicum.
The Capsicum genus contains many familiar species, including
cayenne, chili, aji, hot pepper, jalapeno, anaheim, piquin, ancho,
red bell, green bell, pimento, cherry, and paprika, all of which
belong to C. annuum; tabasco, which belongs to C.
frutescens; and habanero, to C. chinense. The familiar
spice we call black pepper (Piper nigrum) belongs to a d
ifferent family of plants altogether.
The ripe, dried fruits of pungent capsicums have been used medicinally for centuries, and many folk uses have been borne out by modern scientific research. Eating hot peppers regularly can improve circulation, ease flatulence, relieve indigestion, strengthen the heart and nervous system, increase appetite, and promote sweating. Because hot peppers stimulate the circulatory system, digestive secretions, and perspiration, many herbalists recommend them to treat a cold or the flu, usually as a dried powder of the fruit in capsule form.
Externally, capsicums are used in ointments to treat sore joints, stiff muscles, and chilblains. Some people even put small quantities of dried, powdered cayenne into a plastic or cloth bag, seal it tightly, and place it next to cold feet to warm them.
How peppers help
Capsicums' nutritional value comes from their high content of vitamins C and E and carotenes, antioxidants that help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease and defend against toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, among other benefits.
Their medicinal value comes from the alkaloid capsaicin, which gives hot peppers their pungency (the hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin it contains). Capsaicin is believed to deplete the body's pain messenger, called substance P, a protein that transmits pain impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain. In clinical trials, topical creams containing .025 to .075 percent capsaicin have eased pain associated with shingles, postmastectomy and postamputation pain syndrome, diabetic neuropathy, and cluster headaches. However, it takes several days of applying the cream before the pain-reducing effect begins.
Internally, capsaicin has been proven to help ease a variety of gastrointestinal conditions by stimulating the flow of digestive juices to help the stomach break down carbohydrates; promoting sweating (which some advocate as a way to help rid the body of impurities such as those associated with a cold or the flu); and containing antibacterial properties that correct diarrhea.
Peppered past
Capsicums were eaten by the Indians of South and Central
America as early as 7000 B.C. After Columbus returned from his
explorations, they were introduced to Europe and other parts of
the world, and cultivation of the plant began in Spain and Portugal
in the early sixteenth century. Peppers were popularized in North America by self-styled physician Samuel Thomson (1769 – 1843), who followed Native American practices and used cayenne as a key ingredient in his materia medica. The eclectic physicians of the nineteenth century used capsicums to treat arthritis, muscular aches, colds, and diarrhea. Today, about 2.5 million acres of red peppers are grown annually, and one-quarter of the world population uses it daily, primarily for culinary purposes.
Large quantities of hot peppers can severely irritate the esophagus, stomach, and perhaps the kidneys, so anyone with gastrointestinal or kidney disorders should avoid overeating peppers or taking high doses of capsicum powder. Pregnant women should avoid powder made from the stems and leaves of red peppers, as they are known to cause uterine contractions. Reports a few years ago linking capsaicin to stomach cancer or ulcers have since been discounted. Traces of capsaicin on your hands can burn if it gets in your eyes or touches other sensitive areas, so wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling peppers or the powder; a vinegar rinse is often recommended to wash away pepper residue.
In Canada and Great Britain, hot pepper products are approved as over-the-counter drugs. Hot pepper and hot pepper products are generally recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which recently approved an over-the-counter cream containing .075 capsaicin in a cream base. The cream's desensitizing action is limited to the area of application.
Taking capsicums
If you want to boost your capsicum intake but don't like
hot peppers, dried powders and capsules are available in health-food
stores. Follow the manufacturer's instructions. If you are seeking
relief from a cold, some herbalists recommend taking one capsule containing the dried powder four times a day. Talk with your health-care provider about whether capsaicin is right for you and your particular condition.


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The various Vratas that are observed in Hinduism is based on a story. The general idea of the story remains the same but the characters and incidents change from region to region. This Sravana Mangala Gowri Vrata Katha is from Karnataka known as Mangala Gowri Haadu or Haddu. The shloka or song (prayer) narrated during the puja is also referred as Mangala Gowri Haadu.
Long long ago a boy who was studying under a guru went from house to house seeking alms. This was a tradition then and the Guru and shishya only took what was needed for the day. But strangely this boy refused alms given by the queen of the land and took alms from other women. The king and the queen of the land were staunch Shiva devotees but did not have any children.
The queen and the king discussed this strange incident and the next day, the queen again offered rice to the young boy. But the boy did not accept it.
The king came and asked why he was not taking the rice from the queen.
The boy said that the king and queen did not have children and it would not be wise to take alms from a couple who is unlucky.
The king got angry and said only Lord Shiva can decide who should be lucky and unlucky. The king who was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva soon realized that the boy was Shiva in disguise. He then prayed to forgive his arrogance and asked to be blessed with a child.
Shiva blessed the couple but said their child will only live for sixteen years.
A boy, Chandrasekhar, was born to the couple and soon time passed by and the boy became a teenager. The king and the queen remembered the words of Shiva and decided to send young Chandrasekhar, who was fifteen, to Kashi. It is believed that those who die at Kashi will never be born again.
Young Chandrasekhar was informed about his fate and without any other option he followed his uncle to Kashi. On the way, the young boy saw several new things. In a garden, they met a lovely princess. The boy and the uncle heard the princess discussing the glory of Mangala Gowri Puja. It was the Shravan month and the girls were performing the Mangala Gowri Vratha. The princess was saying that whoever she marries will live a long life because she performs the Mangala Gowri Puja with pure heart and devotion.
The boy and the uncle moved forward and they met a prince who was sick. He explained to them that he was to marry the princess of the kingdom tomorrow but he was ashamed to go in front of people as he has fallen sick. The prince asked Chandrasekhar to help him out by appearing in the marriage function. Chandrasekhar agreed.
Young Chandrasekhar appeared as the groom and the first day of the marriage function passed away smoothly. That night Chandrasekhar was to turn sixteen. He explained about his fate and about the real prince to the princess and decided to leave next morning to Kashi.
But that night the princess saw a snake approaching Chandrasekhar; she grabbed a handful of unbroken grains used to perform Mangala Gowri Puja and threw it on the snake. The snake fell dead. She took the snake and hid it in the Kalash used to perform the Mangala Gowri Puja.
Chandrasekhar left the next morning and he left his wedding ring there. The other prince took the place for the day's wedding ceremony but the princess was not ready to marry him. She said firmly that Chandrasekhar was her husband and she will only sit next to him.
Chandrasekhar reached Kashi and a year passed. He did not die. The strength and devotion with which the young princess performed the Mangala Gowri Puja saved him. While returning back to his kingdom, Chandrasekhar again reached the same spot. He longed to see the young princess even though he believed that she was happily married to the prince.
Chandrasekhar heard that the princess was in the habit of feeding all the people who passed by her kingdom. He went and sat among the people who was partaking the food offered by the princess. Soon the princess appeared. She was closely examining all the people who were eating. She has been doing this from the day Chandrasekhar left; she was sure that one day he will pass by her kingdom.
In no time, the young princess recognized Chandrasekhar. She showed him the wedding ring. The young Chandrasekhar could not control his tears. He said he did not die. The princess said she knew it and explained what happened on the night when he turned sixteen.
Soon they got married and lived happily there after.
How to observe Mangala Gowri Puja

subset: commoncrawl


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Pantone : The 20th century in color
Pantone, the worldwide color authority, invites you on a rich visual tour of 100 transformative years. From the Pale Gold (15-0927 TPX) and Almost Mauve (12-2103 TPX) of the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris to the Rust (18-1248 TPX) and Midnight Navy (19-4110 TPX) of the countdown to the Millennium, the 20th century brimmed with color. Longtime Pantone collaborators and color gurus Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker identify more than 200 touchstone works of art, products, decor, and fashion, and carefully match them with 80 different official PANTONE color palettes to reveal the trends, radical shifts, and resurgences of various hues. This vibrant volume takes the social temperature of our recent history with the panache that is uniquely Pantone. (Résumé, Archambault)


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Heartland Appliances and their wood burning range
Is anyone familiar with Heartland appliances? They have a very old fashioned retro look and are made by AGA. Any thoughts from an owner or past owner would be appreciated.
Also, they make a wood burning stove. California doesn't allow them as far as I know, but it sure looks fun!


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Zynga Earnings: An Early Look
With hundreds of companies having already reported quarterly results, we're now in the heart of earnings season. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarter reports is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed kneejerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.
Let's turn to Zynga . The social-gaming company has taken the industry by storm, changing the expectations that players have about how much they should have to pay and how often they play. But its shares have tanked since its IPO. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Zynga over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report Tuesday.
Stats on Zynga
Analyst EPS Estimate
Year-Ago EPS
Revenue Estimate
$212 million
Change from Year-Ago Revenue
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
Can Zynga finally win?
Analysts don't have much hope for Zynga either this quarter or in the long run. Although a modest quarterly loss wouldn't wipe out Zynga's earnings for the year, analysts expect only breakeven results for full-year 2013 on a further 6% drop in revenue. Shares are still at depressed levels, although the stock has managed to gain almost 20% since early November's even more depressed levels.
When Zynga first went public, its connection to Facebook seemed like an unqualified positive, with the success of the social-media giant opening up huge potential for social gaming. Indeed, for a while, Zynga's influence on the industry was extensive, as its freemium model threatened Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts and their reliance on high-priced console games to drive revenue. In a tough economic environment, Zynga's offerings were both novel and inexpensive, two appealing characteristics to cash-strapped players, and both EA and Activision have had trouble driving demand beyond their highest-demand blockbusters.
But Zynga hasn't been able to innovate to a great-enough extent to take full advantage of its promising start. In fact, the company has had to shut down many of its less popular games, with Mafia Wars 2among the latest batch of games that Zynga has cut recently. Moreover, Facebook has moved away from its early symbiotic relationship with Zynga, branching out to gain other sources of revenue.
The key to Zynga's report will be the extent to which its move into mobile gaming bears fruit. Having gone through extensive brain-drain within the company and with up-and-coming rivals trying to cash in on its business model, Zynga needs to come out with a coherent forward-looking strategy quickly if it wants to see its shares rebound.
Learn more
Before Zynga reports, let me suggest doing some more in-depth research on the company to guide your investing decisions going forward. Our premium research report is a great place to start, as our analysts share their views about whether it's "game over" for Zynga. Don't even think about picking up shares before you read this report. Click here to grab your copy right now.
Click here to add Zynga to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.
The article Zynga Earnings: An Early Look originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter: @DanCaplinger. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Activision Blizzard and Facebook. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Microsoft yesterday added G. Mason Morfit, president of ValueAct Capital, to its board of directors, making good on its part of the deal it struck with the activist shareholder last year.
"We've had the opportunity to work with Mason over the past six months, and we look forward to working with him more closely as a member of the board," said John Thompson, Microsoft's chairman, in a statement Tuesday. "Mason brings valuable insights given his financial background, his extensive experience as a public company director and his perspective as a significant Microsoft shareholder."
What Thompson did not say was that Microsoft's hand was forced. To keep San Francisco-based ValueAct from launching a proxy fight last year, Microsoft offered a board seat to the investment firm and said that Morfit could regularly meet with "selected Microsoft directors and management to discuss a range of significant business issues" before he took his place at the table.
In return, ValueAct promised not to acquire more than 4.9% of Microsoft's outstanding shares, not to launch a proxy battle, and not to "make any statement or announcement that constitutes an ad hominem attack on, or otherwise disparages or causes to be disparaged the Company or its affiliates or any of its current or former officers or directors," according to a late August filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Morfit was the first Microsoft director appointed under duress, not by the Redmond, Wash., company's choice. As of February, ValueAct owned less than 1% of Microsoft. At today's current share price, ValueAct's holdings were worth about $2.5 billion, far less than any of the top 10 institutional investors, such as Vanguard ($14.2 billion) and State Street ($13.1 billion).
ValueAct got onto the Microsoft board by being the proverbial squeaky wheel. ValueAct's CEO, Jeffrey Ubben, who was linked to calls for former CEO Steve Ballmer's ouster, had agitated for a seat on the board. Like many shareholders, ValueAct had expressed concern over several major mistakes by Microsoft, including falling behind in smartphones and tablets. At an investor conference last year, Ubben also called on Microsoft to make its lucrative Office software franchise more widely available on non-Windows platforms, including Apple's iPad and Google's Android mobile operating system.
Some observers expect Microsoft to launch an iPad Office suite this year, perhaps as early as the first half of 2014. For its part, Microsoft has said next to nothing publicly, although last month, Tami Reller, the company's marketing chief -- who is now on her way out the door -- seemed to hedge on a previous promise to bring Office to the iPad.
Ballmer stepped aside, announcing his retirement just days before ValueAct and Microsoft came to an agreement, and was replaced in February by insider Satya Nadella. At the same time, co-founder Bill Gates left his chairmanship to focus on helping Nadella with product and technology choices. Thompson, a former IBM and Symantec executive, was named in Gates' place.
With the addition of Morfit, Microsoft's board now numbers 11, and includes Ballmer, Gates and Nadella.
"Microsoft is an iconic global company with tremendous long-term potential," Morfit said in a statement yesterday. "I am honored to be joining the board, and I look forward to working ... to help continue to drive growth and value for all shareholders."
ValueAct, while considered an activist investor, is more low-key and behind-the-scenes than Carl Icahn, the billionaire agitator who unsuccessfully took on Apple and Dell last year, and has aimed his latest broadsides at eBay.
ValueAct manages $14 billion in assets that also include holdings in Adobe ($1.5 billion), Motorola Solutions ($1.9 billion) and Valeant Pharmaceuticals ($2.2 billion). ValueAct has seats on all three companies' boards.
Microsoft has not yet updated its board of directors website with a photograph or biographic sketch of Morfit.
This article, Activist investor who wants Office on iPad joins Microsoft board, was originally published at Computerworld.com.
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is email@example.com.
See more by Gregg Keizer on Computerworld.com.


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Business Skills
Demonstrate knowledge of business skills necessary to function as a scientist working in industry.
Be able to explain how corporate politics can affect your career.
Project Management
Learn the basics of project management and understand why this is important to business success
Effective Communication
Learn how to present concepts and ideas in a clear and effective manner in both oral and written form.
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Learn how to read and understand a business financial accounting statement (both internal and external)
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Understand the different levels of technology readiness and the process of moving a project through these levels to completion
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Learn to read and understand corporate accounting statements and data and understand the basic ideas of project and portfolio management.
Learn the steps to moving an idea from concept to completion in a business setting.
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Learn the basics of effective business presentations and writing


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Conventional wisdom says teenagers do crazy things because they think they're invincible. But a new study finds that while many teens think they'll live forever, a sizable minority is downright fatalistic about their future.
Some 15 percent of adolescents aren't sure they'll live past 35, and these teens are more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as doing drugs and having unsafe sex, according to a study by University of Minnesota researchers appearing in today's Pediatrics.
The figures are even more startling among minorities and teens living in poverty. Among whites, some 10 percent said they thought they might die young. Meanwhile, that figure was 26 percent for blacks, 21 percent for Latinos, 15 percent for Asians and a staggering 29 percent for Native Americans, the study found. Among black youth on public assistance, 1 in 3 youth shared these negative views.
There's no doubt that adolescence is a crazy, confusing time. But even researchers were troubled and surprised at the magnitude of the findings.
"Adolescence is such a time of opportunity," said Dr. Iris Borowsky, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. "It's very disturbing to me that there is this sizable minority of youth who do not think they have a long life in front of them."
Researchers aimed to test the "I'm going to live forever" theory, looking at about 20,000 teens grades 7 to 12 over three years -- 1995, 1996 and 2001 -- and asked them if they had a 50/50 chance or less of living to 35.
Some of the views are driven by reality, particularly for youth in poor neighborhoods, said Freya Sonenstein, director of the Center for Adolescent Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"Kids are smart, they can see there are realistic barriers to obtaining some of these objectives," she said. But parents, teachers and doctors need to encourage children to realize their lives hold promise, she said.
In fact, some youth eventually become more optimistic. More than half of teens with negative views became more positive over time, researchers found.
That nugget of encouraging news should be a sign to pediatricians to screen their patients about their outlook on the future, Borowsky.
It can be as simple as asking "What do you want to do when you grow up? Do you want to go to college?" and using the answers to alert others if the child is doing something risky that could endanger their health, she said.
Meanwhile, parents, teachers and anyone close to a teen should work to drive home a sense of hope, she said.


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light fixture found here and I promise I have a great lightbulb in it now!
We started on a three-part project three weeks ago, for different reasons we couldn't have it worked on every day, we took a little break before we started the master bedroom ceilings, just to catch our breath and have normal for a few days and it's still not done because the worst part is, now I'm responsible for painting all of it.
So in this, the longest post ever, I'll do my best to explain the how and why we removed the popcorn ceiling of our home (built in 1987) adding fake planks to the ceiling and adding simple, fresh trim everywhere.
We focused on the first floor of our house–not including our mudroom/backporch/laundry area or the master bath or closet (these two rooms need gut jobs one day so we'll be patient). The area we've been working on (family room, dining area, kitchen, hall, stairwell and master bedroom) is right at about 1000 square feet.
Here's our story…
Home projects can literally take over your home for a long time. It's the ugly part that no one talks about on HGTV.
But I'd still choose it again 1000 times because the result is going to be so worth it. I've been saving up for this project and wanting it done since we first entered this house–it's money well spent. I'll tell you how much we spent at the end of this post, once I share all that we did/are doing.
So, we had a house full of popcorn ceilings…
…except for in the kitchen that we remodeled two years ago. We tore out the original ceilings in there since we were moving walls and forever it's been drywall with a thin coat of primer on that ceiling.
I am what my friend Kendra calls a Lazy Genius. I consider that a high compliment.
So one of the ways I try to be smart is to know when I need help. The ceiling was one of these times. I'm not technical, detail oriented or a perfectionist. These traits are simultaneously good and bad. So we hired help.
First, a little backstory:
We bought this house two years ago. Long enough for it to talk to me and long enough for me to listen.
My favorite room in the house as far as looks, is the little back porch/mudroom/weird room. Why? All the crazy paneling–which is mostly the same 12 inch pine that's on our floors inside the house–we had to remove some of it from the walls in the porch to replace the wood floor in the kitchen, but once we added in more wood and painted it all white, it had such a nice feel and felt like it was the most true room of the entire house. Insert lots of emojis with heart eyes.
So when it came time to do the boy's bathroom, I knew I wanted that same feeling. We hired out for both the bathroom and ceiling projects (Emily explains perfectly why here). And I love how the bathroom turned out.
Sean, our brilliant contractor-type friend (the same genius who helped us remake over our barn) had the idea to simply use luan to fake the plank look. Luan is a thin, pinkish, wood-like product and is lightweight. It's also SO much less expensive than real tongue and grove planks–which in a perfect world, I'd prefer.
I did some research and saw other people have used luan (and even read their disclaimers about how it can look warped) and we dove in. First we practiced on the upstairs bathroom.
In the bathroom we (every time I say 'we' I mean Sean) had the luan cut into 8 inch strips (it comes in 4 x 8′ sheets) Sean used those strips on the ceiling and the walls of the bathroom.
For the downstairs ceiling, I wanted it to look like our ceiling was planked with the same wood as our floors–so we went with 12 inch strips. Sean used loctite construction adhesive and lots of nails to keep the boards up.
Sean also has connections and was able to have our local store pre-cut all the millions of sheets of luan to our desired width for free or a super minimal cost. That's a TON of cuts when you think about planking a ceiling of our entire downstairs.
This process has worked great for us so far. But beware, it's not for the faint of heart or perfectionists. First, gluing something to your ceiling is pretty permanent, it can be removed but there will be damage to the ceiling. Second, you are at the mercy of both how perfectly level your ceilings are, and how perfectly straight the people who make 1 million of your 12 inch wide cuts are willing to cut your boards.
Things will be out of your control and you will have to handle it.
There are places where our ceiling looks wavy, but if you put a level against it, it's perfectly level. Here's the thing, if your boards are cut just slightly off perfection, it gives the illusion that your ceiling is slightly wavy. After the first day I didn't really notice but if you are super picky, you'll either want to use actual tongue and grove planks, or cut all of your boards yourself to perfection. (costs time or money you pick)
Also, because of the imperfection of our walls and boards we ended up with some gaps. Which of course is my favorite part! Hashtag Imperfectionist Diva.
I love the look mostly because it mimics our wood floors and adds to the rustic farmhouse feel. It literally looks like our backporch/laundry room ceiling–where our floors line most of the walls and ceiling but are painted white–my dream come true.
Just a note about style–as a Cozy Minimalist who values opposites, adding all this rustic charm allows me to move in a little more modern arena for a few pieces in my house because it will be balanced out. Fun!
our 12″ pine floors–milled here at the old sawmill on our property 28 years ago
We have all sorts of big gaps that don't match up and cracks in our floors which are a pain when I sweep, but they give our floor that 100-year-old house look. The floors were the SINGLE redeeming quality in this house when we bought it. Easily my favorite part.
And now, our ceilings look exactly the same as the floors–just painted. I absolutely love it. But I'm high on perfection and quirks and low on uniformity. If you need to not see weird gaps this project might not be for you.
I have noticed in the boys bathroom with the smaller 8 inch width boards the weird gap issue is hardly noticeable, so it might have to do with the fact that our boards are a full 12 inches wide, but that plays so nicely with our 12 inch floors that it was 100% worth it to me.
Above: one night we got crazy and primed all the luan that was on the ceiling thus far–the next day, Sean came and finished the kitchen, which is why half of it has a coat of primer and half still sits untouched. Even today two weeks later.
Removing the popcorn ceiling: I am writing this post out-of-order, so sorry!
First of all let it be said that I BEGGED Sean to do this project without removing that popcorn. I had all sorts of arguments why the planks could be just glued and nailed right over the existing ceiling.
But Sean wouldn't go for it. He wasn't comfortable gluing something onto the popcorn, even if he was using nails too. Plus, I think he wanted to double-check what kind of shape our ceilings were truly in. And, because the boards are SO thin, he was worried it could be uneven. I still think it could probably be done successfully if you test an area first, but it's nice to do things the better way too.
Sean put plastic EVERYWHERE, even down the walls (1 or 2 mil thick for the floors/ .3 mil (thinner) for the walls & to cover the furniture), and sprayed a section of ceiling with warm water, waited a few minutes, and with a long scraper, scraped off the popcorn. It came off all globby and since it was wet, it was messy on the plastic on the floor, but didn't create all the dust I expected. Invest in plastic and you'll not have to clean up as much.
We had furniture on the porch and the rest we moved into whatever room he wasn't currently working on and covered it in plastic.
This is SUCH an intrusive project. But worth it to me. Since we are also redoing all of our trim around the floorboard, windows and doors and painting everything, we know our home will be in chaos for a while.
"simply white" paint on the left above the window//designer white on the right
My boys took turns every day helping Sean put the planks up.
And they helped prime and paint (Ace Hardware's Clark & Kensington's Designer White paint plus primer if you are wondering–I'm using it EVERYWHERE because I'm obsessed with the brightest white I can have, I'm using it for the trim, walls & ceiling–ceiling paint & eggshell finish).
But then school started and now our painting has slowed waaay down.
I just realized there's a random toe in this photo. My apologies. That's so gross.
What can you do?
This is our life for the next little while. So I'm focusing on creating one sane space at a time. And I already love the changes so much, it's worth all the trouble.
As far as cost–because I ALWAYS wonder about these things…
Sean has been here on and off for 3 weeks:
He removed about 1000 square feet of popcorn ceiling (plus our stairwell) and cleaned it all up (glory!) fake planked all of that same ceiling, removed all of our old baseboards and installed 6 inch baseboards around the entire downstairs, removed all the window and door casings on the first floor and installed 4 inch boards around everything, installed "crown molding" just a simple 3 inch board around the top of all the walls (including the stairwell and framing it out) plus he framed the end of our kitchen cabinets (he's doing that today!) and he also repaired two overhead lighting electrical issues, plus an outlet or two.
The cost for his labor and material (I think he's finishing today so I'm just guestimating this weeks work) looks like it's going to be about $3,500 give or take. We do have some supplies he'll return, and we also paid our boys some to work with him on days when he had to lift up those 8 foot long boards to the ceiling.
Plus, we save money by painting everything our selves. Which I have to remind myself we can take our time. EVERYTHING needs to be painted, walls, ceilings, trims. So add the cost of paint in there too.
This is a project that you could do completely on your own. But we've learned over the past two years, that Chad & I and our marriage are all happier when he gets to go out and do the kind of work he'd prefer and is better at, when I get to do the kind of work I prefer and am better at, and we hire someone to do the work we'd prefer not to do and they are better at.
This was a huge investment for us, one we've hoped to do since we purchased this house two years ago, and even without being painted it changed the entire personality of our home–she just grew into what she always hoped to be. Everything feels cleaner and fresh and like a wonderful blank slate.
I've waited 20 years and 14 houses for this. It was worth it, I promise.
Finished, glamour shots forthcoming.
How we paid off $150,000 of debt in 5 years
Because sharing the imperfect is worth the risk


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The WMO Regional Training Centre (CIMH/WMO-RTC) in Barbados organized a group training course on Instrument Maintenance and Calibration at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) from 15 August...
WMO and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) have launched the Global Hydrometry Support Facility and Innovation Hub (GHSF). It brings together the World Hydrological Cycle Observing System...


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VALKENBURG, Netherlands – The chief of cycling's governing body on Saturday questioned why American anti-doping authorities have not yet sent him the file of evidence that prompted them to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and ban him for life.
International Cycling Union President Pat McQuaid said the United States Anti-Doping Agency had not given the UCI a date to expect the details, and he sounded impatient to receive them.
"UCI assumes that USADA have the file, the full file, as they've already made a decision based on it and therefore it's difficult to understand why it hasn't arrived yet," McQuaid said from the Road Cycling World Championships in the southern Netherlands.
Armstrong has long denied doping but chose last month not to fight drug charges by USADA, which wiped out 14 years of his results. USADA believes Armstrong used banned substances as far back as 1996, including EPO, steroids and blood transfusions.
McQuaid conceded that the allegations of doping against Armstrong, a cancer survivor-turned champion who has long been the sport's biggest name, had damaged the image of cycling, But he defended his organization, saying it was at the forefront of moves to stamp out the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport.
"It's obvious any anti-doping case, whether it's a big case or a small case, is not good for cycling," McQuaid said.
"The UCI has nothing to be apologetic about," he added. "UCI has always been the international federation that does the most in the fight against doping."
In a lengthy news conference, McQuaid also confirmed that the UCI is hoping to have at one more men's and women's track cycling event added to the program at the 2016 Rio Olympics after the success of the velodrome racing at the London Games.
He also said that the Spanish city of Ponferrada has been given 30 days to come up with a guarantee it can finance the 2014 Road World Championships or risk losing the event.


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Reference News Release: Trans Energy Inc. to Restore Streams and Wetland Damaged By Natural Gas Extraction Activities in West Virginia
Release Date: 09/02/2014
Contact Information: Jennifer Colaizzi, email@example.com, (202) 564-7776
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced a settlement with Trans Energy Inc., requiring the oil and gas company to restore portions of streams and wetlands at 15 sites in West Virginia polluted by the company's unauthorized discharge of dredge or fill material.
Trans Energy will pay a penalty of $3 million to be divided equally between the federal government and WVDEP. The Clean Water Act requires a company to obtain a permit from EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prior to discharging dredge or fill material into wetlands, rivers, streams, and other waters of the United States.
"As part of our commitment to safe development of domestic energy supplies, EPA is working to protect wetlands and local water supplies on which communities depend," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "By enforcing environmental laws, we're helping to ensure a level playing field for responsible businesses."
"Today's agreement requires that Trans Energy take important steps to comply with state and federal laws that are critical to protecting our nation's waters, wetlands and streams," said Sam Hirsch, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "We will continue to ensure that the development of our nation's domestic energy resources, including through the use of hydraulic fracturing techniques, complies with the Clean Water Act and other applicable federal laws."
In addition to the penalty, the company will reconstruct impacted aquatic resources or address impacts at 15 sites, provide appropriate compensatory mitigation for impacts to streams and wetlands, and implement a comprehensive program to ensure future compliance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and applicable state law. Among other requirements, the company will work to ensure that all aquatic resources are identified prior to starting work on future projects in West Virginia, and that appropriate consideration is given at the design stage to avoid and minimize impacts to aquatic resources. It is estimated that Trans Energy will spend more than $13 million to complete the restoration and mitigation work required by the consent decree.
The federal government and WVDEP allege that the company impounded streams and discharged sand, dirt, rocks and other materials into streams and wetlands without a federal permit to construct well pads, impoundments, road crossings and other facilities related to natural gas extraction. The government alleges the violations impacted approximately 13,000 linear feet of stream and more than an acre of wetlands.
Filling wetlands illegally and damming streams can result in serious environmental consequences. Streams, rivers, and wetlands benefit the environment by reducing flood risks, filtering pollutants, recharging groundwater and drinking water supplies, and providing food and habitat for aquatic species.
EPA discovered the violations in 2011 and 2012 through information provided by WVDEP and the public, and through routine field inspections. In summer 2014, the company conducted an internal audit and ultimately disclosed to EPA alleged violations at eight additional locations, which are also being resolved through this Consent Decree.


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Wonderfool - Joel Newlon
It was a weekend with my daughter. We had just spent the morning over at Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, MA. While searching for a place to grab lunch we passed by Stage Fort Park where the New England Pirate Faire was being held. My daughter expressed an interest in checking it out and am I glad she did! One of the performers towards the end of the day was a witty, funny, articulate and highly skilled comedian/jester by the stage name of "Wonderfool" (a.k.a. Joel Newlon). He engaged the audience with funny quips and demonstrations of balance, hand-eye coordination and sideshow-reminiscent daring acts. I pulled out my Nikon and started capturing his performance. These are the results.
If you ever get the opportunity to see "Wonderfool" live, take it!


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Using Bootstrap, HTML5 & CSS3, JUX Galiana template is friendly with social networks and compatible with all mobile devices. Also powered by fully integrated K2, Mega Menu built-in, Real Responsive Menu (save you $18), clean and simple Gallery, it is the right choice for restaurant websites. Take a quick look at the stellar features to see various features of Galiana:


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The river is flowing at 72 Cfs, is clear, and is 58F. Tricos are still present in the flats from Falls Rd through Bunkerhill most mornings. Caddis in the #16 range have been peeling off by afternoon and are a sure bet in the riffles. Small streamers along undercut banks will produce fish. Be on the lookout for Wild Turkeys and Blue Winged Olives in the upper catch and release section of the Gunpowder River on cloudy, warm days. If you need a few we have some dynamite Hi-Vi Biot-Bodied, BWO Para-Spinners tied in Calicoon, NY by Mike Bachkosky that are worth a look–especially if you're headed out West this time of year.You won't find a beauty like this at Ocean City this weekend, so try your luck on the Gunpowder River…
Labor Day weekend hours:
Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 AM till 4:00 PM.
The shop will be open Labor Day from 10AM till 4PM


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Free forum : {JWA} Jedi With Attitude
Legacy Junkers Space Pirates are Junkers with attitude, we are the necessary evil in the House Corporations Systems.
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Free forum : Fortune Favours The Brave. Free forum : Trogs With Attitude
The most important attitude in our clan is 'have fun'!
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Their bride did that at some attitude their safety is prestigious to pool a evening privately they did a commodity.
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Free forum : The Cafe is a place to unwind and connect with others that share your interests. This is a drama free zone, so check your attitude at the door.
Free forum : Fun filled with humour and laid back attitude. With a little bit of the more serious side of life thrown in.
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Un forum pour les passionnés et possesseurs du zoomer honda
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For Ladies with attitude.
KS - Soldiers with Attitude
Next Level Gaming. We are a unified bunch of blokes with the right attitude, we ask that everyone take part in this clan and live with us.
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Welcome to the official Broccoli With Attitude Games forums.
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Got the indigo attitude? Discuss what's on your mind here.
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More...Where to Start? In this post, Chaitanya Sareen, a senior program manager on the Core User Experience team, sets the engineering context for the most frequently used user-interface elements in Windows the Windows Taskbar. -- Steven
It should come as no surprise that we receive lots of feedback about the taskbar and its functionality in general. It should also come as no surprise that we are constantly trying to raise the bar and improve the taskbar experience for our customers, while making sure we bring forward the familiarity and benefits (and compatibility) of the existing implementation and design. In this post, the we would like to provide some insight into that unassuming bar most likely at the bottom of your Windows desktop. Lets take a closer look at its various parts, data weve collected and how this learning will inform the engineering of Windows 7.
Taskbar Basics
Our taskbar made its debut way back in Windows 95 and its core functionality remains the same to this day. In short, it provides launching, switching and whispering functionality. Figure 1 shows the Vista taskbar and calls out its basic anatomy. Notable pieces are the taskband, Quick Launch, the Start Menu, Desktop Toolbars (aka Deskbands) and the Notification Area. Collectively, these components afford some of the most fundamental controls for customers to start, manage and monitor their tasks.
Fig. 1: Windows Taskbar Anatomy
Taskband: The faithful window switcher
The taskband is one of the most important parts of the taskbar. It hosts buttons which represent most of the windows open on the desktop. Think of the taskband as a remote control for your computeryou can switch windows just like switching channels on a TV. The idea of switching windows is the most fundamental aspect of the Windows taskbar. Other operating systems also have bars at the bottom of their screen, although theirs may have different goals. For example, Mac OS X has a Dock which is primarily a program launcher and a program switcher. Clicking on an icon on the Dock usually brings up all the windows of a running program. In 2003 Apple introduced a window switcher known as Exposé which provides a different visual approach to our long-standing Alt-tab interface (Vistas Flip 3D is yet another visual approach). These dedicated window switchers all aim to provide customers with a broad view of their open windows, but they each require the customer to first invoke them. The taskband on the other hand, is designed to always be visible so that windows remain within quick access of the mouse. This makes the taskbar the most prominent window switcher of the Windows operating system.
Two noteworthy taskbar changes were introduced in the last eight years. Windows XP ushered in grouping which allows taskbar buttons to collapse into a single button to save space and organize windows by their process. Vista presented taskbar thumbnails. These visual representations give customers more information about the window they are looking for. While valuable, interfaces like the taskbar, Alt-tab and even Apples own Exposé reveal that thumbnails are not always large enough to guarantee recognition of a window. Their value further degrades when they have to shrink to accommodate many open windows, which is feedback we receive from those that often have lots of running programs x lots of open windows.
The Start Menu: the Windows launch pad
The Start Menu has always been anchored off the taskbar as a starting point for the customers key tasks such as launching or accessing system functionality. Microsoft of course used term Start and prominently labeled the Start Menus button as such. You may even recall the huge marketing campaign for Windows 95 which featured the Rolling Stones Start Me Up. In all seriousness though, our research showed that many customers didnt always know where to go on their computer to start a task. When a customer was placed in front of a Windows 95 machine she now had a clearly labeled place to start. And yes, weve heard the joke that you click start to shutdown your machine. Speaking of shutdown, we did encounter some challenges with the power options in Vistas Start Menu. The goal was to bubble-up and advertise the sleep option so that customers enjoy a faster resume. However, we now know despite our good intentions, customers are opening that fly-out menu and selecting other options. Were looking into improving this experience.
The Start Menu has undergone many changes over the years. One notable change was the appearance of a MFU (most frequently used) section in Windows XP that suggests commonly (well frequently) used programs. The goal here was to save the customer time by not having to always go to All Programs. Since these items appear automatically based on usage, no manual customization was even required. All Programs itself has undergone several iterations. Customer feedback revealed that people encountered difficulty in traversing the original All Programs fly-out menu. It wasnt uncommon to have your mouse fall off the menu and then youd have your restart the task all over again. This was particularly the case for laptop customers using a trackpad. It also didnt help that expanding this menu suddenly filled the entire desktop which looked visually noisy and it also required lots of mouse movement. And of course, for machines with large number of items and/or groups it was especially complex, and even more so on small screens. Vista introduced a single menu that requires less mouse acrobatics.
Search was another important addition to the Start Menu that makes launching even easier. This new feature in Vista provides fast access to programs and files without the need to use a mouse at all. Typing in a phrase quickly surfaces programs, files and even e-mails. Weve received many positive comments from enthusiasts who feel this is a key performance win in terms of time to launch. It may be interesting to note that Start Menus search is optimized to first return program results as this was viewed as the most common scenario among our customers (using some of the Desktop Search technology). Search even permits customers to use parameters to further scope their queries. For instance, one can use to:john or from:jane to find a specific mail directly from the Start Menu. Our advanced customers also enjoy the benefit of using the Start Menus search as a replacement of the Run Dialog. Just as they would type the name of an executable along with some switches in the dialog, they can now just type this directly into the search field. We could (and will) dedicate an entire blog post to search alone, but hopefully you get a sense of how search certainly provides a powerful launch alternative to mouse navigation.
Quick Launch: Launching at your fingertips
Quick Launch provides a way for customers to launch commonly used programs, files, folders and websites directly off the taskbar. It was introduced to Windows 95 by Internet Explorer 4.0 with the Windows Desktop Update. Customizing Quick Launch is as simple as dragging shortcuts into to this area. It saves you a trip to the Start Menu, the desktop or a folder when you want to launch something. An interesting feature of Quick Launch that you may not be aware of is that it has always supported large icons (unlock the taskbar, right-click on Quick Launch and click on large icons under View) as seen in figure 2. Of course growing the icons begins to intrude on the real-estate of the taskband which is one of the reasons we have not enabled this configuration by default. As an aside, Windows XP had Quick Launch turned off by default in an attempt to reduce the number of different launching surfaces throughout Windows. Based on your feedback, we quickly rectified this faux pas and Quick Launch was turned on by default again. Dont mess with quick access to things people use every day! We heard you loud and clear.
Fig. 2: Large Icons in Quick Launch. Large icons on the taskbar have been supported since Windows 95 with IE 4
Desktop Toolbars (aka Deskbands): Gadgets for your taskbar
Desktop Toolbars offer extensible and specialized functionality at the top-level of the taskbar. This functionality also came to the taskbar via Internet Explorer 4.0 back in the 90s. You can access toolbars by right-clicking on your taskbar and expanding Toolbars. Personally, I like to think of Desktop Toolbars as an early type of gadgets for the Windows platform. Over the years developers have written various toolbars including controls for background music (e.g. Windows Media Players mini-mode shown in figure 1), search fields, richer views of laptop batteries, weather forecasts and many more.
One of the original scenarios of Desktop Toolbars was to allow customers to launch items directly off the taskbar. In fact, Quick Launch itself is a special type of toolbar that surfaces shortcuts in the Quick Launch folder. Did you know you can even create your own toolbar for any folder on your computer so that you have quick access to its contents (from the Toolbar menu, select New Toolbar and just choose the folder youd like to access)? Apples latest OS introduced similar functionality to the Dock called Stacks. While I think their implementation of this feature is generally more visually appealing, it is interesting to note they recently released a new list representation that matches our original functionality. Seems like we both agree a simple list is usually the most efficient way to parse and navigate lots of items.
After extolling all the greatness of Desktop Toolbars, we must also admit they introduce several challenges. For starters, they arent the easiest thing to discover. They also take up valuable space on an already busy taskbar. Most importantly though, they dont always solve the customer goal. Sure you can have a folders contents accessible off your taskbar, but what if the files you want quick access to arent located in a single place? These are design challenges we intend to tackle.
Notification Area: The whisperer
The Notification Area is pretty much what you expectan area for notifications. It was an original part of the taskbar and it was designed to whisper information to the customer. Here you can easily monitor the system, be alerted to the state of a program or even check the time. Icons were the predominant way to convey information until later versions of Windows introduced notification balloons that provide descriptive alerts with text. Also added was a collapsible UI that hid inactive icons so the taskbar would appear cleaner.
With more developers leveraging its functionality, the Notification Area has grown in popularity over the years. Some may observe that it has changed from a subtle whisperer to something louder. Based upon the feedback weve collected from customers, we recognize the Notification Area could benefit from being less noisy and something more controllable by the end-user.
Show Me the Data
Earlier posts to this blog discussed how customers can voluntarily and anonymously send us data on how they use our features. We use these findings to help guide our designs. Please note that data do not design features for us, but they certainly help us prioritize our investments as well as validate our approach. All to often were all guilty of saying something like we know everyone does or all users do . Given the reliability and statistical accuracy of this data, we can speak with more real-world accuracy about how things are in used in practice. Lets look at some interesting information we have collected about how our customers use the taskbar.
Figure 3 provides some of the most important data about the taskbarwindow count. On average, we know that a vast majority of our customers encounter up to 6-9 simultaneous windows during a session (a session is defined as a log in / log out or 24 hourswhichever occurs first). It goes without saying that the taskbar should work for the entire distribution of this graph, but identifying the sweet spot helps focus our efforts on the area that matters most to the most amount of customers. So, we know that if we nail the 6-9 case and we work well for the 0-5 as well as the 10-14 scenarios, weve addressed almost 90% of typical sessions.
Fig. 3: Whats the maximum number of windows opened at a time?
Figures 4 and 5 help us understand how customers customize their taskbars. We could probably spend an entire post focused solely on how we determine the options we expose. Perhaps another time well tackle the paradox of choice and how options stress our engineering process yet also make the product more fun for a set of customers. Until then, lets see what conclusions we can draw from these findings. The most obvious takeaway is that most customers do not change the default settings, which are a simple right-click Properties away. For example, it may be interesting to note how often end-users relocate the taskbar to other regions of the screenless than 2% of sessions have a taskbar thats not at the bottom of the screen. We also know that some small percentage of machines accidently relocate the taskbar and more often than not end-users have difficulty undoing such a statethough our data does not differentiate this situation. This data does not necessarily mean we would remove relocation functionality, but rather we could prioritize investments in a default horizontal taskbar over other configurations.
Fig. 4: How do people customize their taskbar? The red number indicates percentage of sessions in which the corresponding checkbox is enabled.
Bottom (default)
Fig. 5: Where do people put their taskbar?
Figure 6 provides some insight into the Windows Media Player Desktop Toolbar. The Windows UX Guidelines prescribe that to create a toolbar on the customers taskbar, you must call a Windows Shell API that asks the customer for permission. Looking at the Windows Media Player usage we found that only 10% sessions show that the customer consented. Even more surprising is that only 3% of sessions see the toolbar at all (you still need to minimize Media Player to see the controls). In other words, 97% of sessions arent even enjoying this functionality at all! Since we do believe the scenario has value, we know to look into alternative designs. Wed like to surface this functionality to a larger set of customers while making sure the customer remains in control of her experience.
Toolbar enabled
Toolbar enabled and visible
Fig. 6: How many people use the Windows Media toolbar? Enabled means user consented to the toolbar, visible means the toolbar actually appeared on the taskbar.
Evolving the Taskbar
Before the team even sat down to brainstorm ideas about improving the taskbar, we all took time to first respect the UI. The taskbar is almost 15 years old, everyone uses it, people are used to it and many consider it good enough. We also recognized that if we were to improve it, we could not afford to introduce usability failures where none existed. This automatically sets a very high bar. We proceeded carefully by first looking into areas for improvement.
Heres a small sample of some things weve learned from our data, heard from our customers and what weve observed ourselves. One of favorite ways of gaining verbatim comments in a lab setting where we can validate the instrumented data but also gain in-depth context via interviews and questionnaires. In engineering Windows 7 we have hundreds of hours of studies like these. Please remember this is just a glimpse of some feedbackthis is not an exhaustive list nor it is implied that we will, or should, act upon all of these concepts.
In the abstract, we can summarize this feedback with a few principles:
- Please let me rearrange taskbar buttons! Pretty please?
- I sometimes accidently click on the wrong taskbar button and get the wrong window.
- It would be great if the taskbar spanned multiple monitors so theres more room to show windows I want to switch to.
- There isnt always enough text on the taskbar to identify the window Im looking for.
- Theres too much text on the taskbar. (Yes, this is the exact opposite of the previous itemweve seen this quite a bit in the blog comments as well.)
- It may take several clicks to get to some programs or files that I use regularly.
- Icons of pinned files sometimes look too much alikeI wish I could tell them apart better.
- The bottom right side of my screen is too noisy sometimes. There are lots of little icons and balloons competing for my attention.
- How do I add/remove X from the taskbar?
- I would like Windows to tuck away its features cleverly and simplify its interface.
We hope this post provides a little more insight into the taskbar as well as our process of collecting and reacting to customer feedback. Stay tuned for more details in the future.
- Customers can switch windows with increased confidence and ease.
- Commonly used items and tasks should be at the customers fingertips.
- Customers should always feel in control.
- The taskbar should have a cleaner look and feel.
- Chaitanya


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Mix & Match 16 500mg Craft Cartridges for $142.39 + Tax ($180 OTD). High Potency up to 90%+ THC. 12+ Strains to choose From Daily.
Deals are offered and administered by participating retailers, and not by Weedmaps. Weedmaps is not responsible for the content or administration of deals displayed on the platform. Deals are valid for a limited time only, and may be modified or canceled at any time without notice.
The above deal: (a) applies only to qualifying items displaying the deal offer, and exclusions, restrictions, and limitations may apply; (b) will not be valid until it is applied to the qualifying item(s) by the retailer; and (c) is limited to one use per customer, unless otherwise specified by the retailer. Offer good while supplies last. If you return any of the items ordered with a deal, the deal discount or value may be subtracted from the return credit. Weedmaps has no obligation for payment of any tax in conjunction with the distribution or use of any deal. You are required to pay any applicable sales tax related to the use of the deal. Deals are void if restricted or prohibited by law. You must be 21 or over (or the applicable legal age based on your state), or a qualified registered patient (as applicable) in order to be eligible to receive this deal.


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A Roundup Of Edible Flowers
Not just for decoration, flowers are also for eating. And probably more flowers have shown up in your food than you realized. Edible flowers are available in specialty food stores, at farmer's markets, and right in your own garden. Be sure to pick flowers that you know for certain have not been sprayed with pesticides, and only flowers you can positively identify, as some are poisonous. Keep reading to see a helpful chart of some common edible flowers and their uses.
Edible flowers range in taste from sweet, delicate, fruity, nutty, spicy, peppery, and pungent.
Edible flowers should be consumed quickly, but can be stored in plastic containers in the refrigerator or with their stems immersed in water for a few days. Some people may develop upset stomachs or allergies to edible flowers, particularly people with pollen allergies. New flowers should be introduced to your diet in small amounts to see how your body reacts to them. Remove the stems, pistils, and anthers as they may have a bitter taste. The petals are fine to eat.
You can purchase edible flowers online via Marx Foods. Harley Farms makes pretty goat cheese rounds with edible flowers pressed into them.
|Tastes like celery. Cooked with fish and candied.
|Can cause skin irritation in some people.
Eaten as a vegetable. Steam, braise, roast, grill, marinate. Distilled into liqueur.
|Arugula Blossoms
|Eaten raw in salads, also good cooked in soups, egg dishes, and pizzas.
|Bachelor Buttons (aka cornflower)
|Eaten raw in salads.
|Banana Blossom
|Eaten raw, steamed and served with dips, cooked in soups, stews, and curries.
|Used in Pimm's Cup.
|Known as "poor man's saffron." Adds a spicy and colorful note to food.
|Pickled flower buds; used in pastas, fried, fish dishes, meat dishes, sauces, and salads.
|Eaten raw in salads and candied.
|Remove the pistils and stamens.
|Used commonly in tea.
|Cherry Blossoms
|Salted and used in tea and soups in Japan.
|Chive Flowers
|Eaten raw in salads.
|Cilantro Flowers
|Eaten raw with salads, cooked in soups and with vegetable dishes.
|Dandelion Flowers
|Eaten raw in salads (along with the greens.) Can also be fried in butter, baked in breads, canned in jelly, and made into wine.
|Fried as fritters and made into liqueur.
|Very sweet. Brewed as tea and used to make agua fresca. The flowers are also preserved in syrup and used as a cocktail addition or dessert topping.
|Used in teas.
|Only the species Jasminum sambac is edible; all other jasmine species are poisonous.
|Kudzu Flowers
|Eaten raw in salads, cooked in jellies, made into wine
|Used in desserts and teas, also lavender lemonade. Good when candied.
|Lavender essential oil may be poisonous. Make sure to buy "food-grade" lavender buds.
|Eaten raw in salads.
|Calendula officinalis and Tagetes tenuifolia are edible; Tagetes patula is not.
|Eaten raw in salads, can also be added to burritos.
|Eaten raw in salads and candied.
|Eaten raw in salads, cooked in soups, creamy sauces, desserts, and added to cocktails. Very good when candied.
|Used as a spice in baked dishes, paella, soups, stews. A great addition to sauces and ice creams. Infused in vodka.
|Squash Blossoms
|Batter-fried, stuffed, baked, cooked in soups, quesadillas, burritos.
|Petals can be eaten raw in salads, sunflower heads can be steamed like artichokes.
|Szechuan Buttons
|Salads, sauces, soups, and cocktail garnishes.
|Give off a tingling, electric-like sensation on the tongue. Start slowly and with small amounts.
|Eaten raw in salads, candied, and made into wine and syrup. Made into jellies.
|Yucca Flowers
|Eaten raw in salads, cooked in soups and egg dishes, used in beverages and desserts.
|Only the petals are edible. Eat in small amounts.
See also: a list of non-edible, poisonous flowers. Avoid!
Get started growing your own edible flowers!
• AeroGarden Incredible Edibles Flowers Seed Kit
• Edible Flowers Seed Kit by Seedballz
A Roundup of Wild and Foraged Foods
Seasonal Spotlight: Edible Flowers
(Images: Kathryn Hill, Burpee,com, watertonwildflowers.com, profumo.it, wikipedia.user.Strobilomyces, Emily Ho, Faith Durand, Sunrise Seeds, Marx Foods)
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Basic Twelve Duo pendant lampLA-BA-S24 €230,00
100% handmade in Italy, Basic TWELVE DUO is a modular pendant lamp made of 2 geometric elements that can be combined in several ways thanks to the magnetized sides.
You can choose the shape you prefer and make your BASIC TWELVE DUO pendant lamp unique. It is perfect for being suspended on a dining table or in the meeting room. Materials used are essential and contrasting at the same time: only solid wood and natural concrete. The small brass details make the lamp precious.
Each module of the pendant lamp has three magnetized sides. Thanks to the magnets two or more modules can be connected together. Once attached, the lamps can rotate in different position to direct light when one wishes. The pendant lamp is fixed to the ceiling thanks to a circular rosette which keeps the two cables together.
Each lamp is handmade in Italy. We meticulously check the quality of materials to offer a reliable and durable product. It is composed of two parts: the lampshade and the cable.
- MATERIALS: concrete / beech wood / walnut wood / oak wood, gold neodymium magnets, brass, metal ceiling rose
- SIZE: variable, each module is 15x15x15 cm / 6"x6"x6"
- USE: for indoor use only
- BULBS: 2 x E14 max 8W LED / E12 available for US and Canada
- CABLE LENGTH: 2 x 150 cm
Light bulbs not included. We recommend to use LED filament bulbs.
The product might vary slightly from the picture due to the nature of being 100% handmade.
For further information read our FAQ or contact us


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Published April 28, 1986 "How long have you been a Mets fan?" Man to woman who is wearing "Let's Go Mets" T-shirt & baseball cap. For original art inquiries, please call 212-286-7133 or email email@example.com. Photo licensed from the Cond? Nast Collection, home of The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair and other popular brands. Find this and other artwork at the Cond? Nast Collection.
Publication Art
Would you rather see fall colors all year long or spring landscapes? No matter what season you prefer, make it everlasting with our seasons' art collection. Explore from winter scenery to summery fruits and so much more! This collection will make you and your loved ones smile!
Make your favorite season art more vivid with our professionally hand-stretched canvas! Hyunah Kim, Vincent Van Gogh, Duy Hunh, Agnes Cecile have created some of our best-selling seasons' art.


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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The relentless booing of the Yankees' Robinson Cano by Kansas City fans during the Home Run Derby on Monday night drew national attention, and in some places scorn.
Fans were upset after the captain of the American League squad said he would choose a hometown player for his four-man team, but instead bypassed Royals star Billy Butler and went with Prince Fielder of the Tigers, Mark Trumbo of the Angels and Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays.
Fielder won the competition, and the AL routed the National League.
Cano wound up going 0 for 10, though, and each failure was met by cheers. Cano brushed off the cold reception, but others weren't so kind to Kansas City. Several national TV broadcasters, radio hosts and columnists called the fans everything from "jerks" to "classless."
"Robinson Cano certainly picked people he thought should be on there," Commissioner Bud Selig told the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Tuesday. "While I understand Kansas City and I understand the whole Billy Butler thing, I really felt very badly last night."
Union head Michael Weiner thought the level of jeering was not justified.
"It struck me that it moved a little bit past traditional, good-natured booing, particularly for an event like that, and got into another area," Weiner said. "But Robinson Cano grew up in the Dominican Republic, plays in the Bronx, plays for the Yankees. He's going to be fine."
Cano said that he was prepared for a frigid reception, even though it appeared to rattle him every time his father, Jose, delivered a pitch that he popped up, fouled off or grounded out.
Yankees teammates Curtis Granderson and CC Sabathia even interrupted the proceedings to give father and son and a pep talk, but it didn't do a whole lot of good.
"It was interesting," Granderson said. "It was one of those things where once it started, everyone else caught on, and the performance that Robbie was able to do just added to it. But it's like Robinson said, we're the Yankees, we get booed all the time."
Yankees star Alex Rodriguez sent Cano a text message of encouragement — "He said, you know, he's a guy that's looking out for me," Cano said — while several others came to his defense.
"I'm sure it happens in every ballpark, where there's the hometown guy didn't make it, and in Robbie's defense, it's hard to pick three guys," White Sox slugger Adam Dunn said. "It would be hard, man, and it's kind of a tough spot to be put in."
Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun questioned the practice of having players pick the teams.
"I understand why they have a captain, but I also feel like it puts guys in uncomfortable positions," he said, adding that he's certain David Wright of the Mets will be chosen next year, when the All-Star game is played at Citi Field in New York.
"You don't want to deal with what Robinson dealt with," Braun said.
The passionate reaction by Royals fans created plenty of drama, though, particularly in an event that often becomes stale by the time the first round grinds to a conclusion.
Viewership for ESPN was up 3 percent over last year, and in New York, there was a 10 percent increase as hometown fans tuned in to see Cano flame out. There were more than 800,000 Twitter and Facebook comments throughout the night, twice the volume of last year, and Twitter's top 10 trends worldwide were related to the derby when the final round began.
"Kansas City fans are better than that, but I don't get on them," said Chris Berman, who called the derby for ESPN. "I get it, but the three guys he picked were the three top guys."
Butler, who made his first All-Star team this season, did his best to deflect questions about the relentless booing. He said that he appreciated Kansas City fans for their support, and that he spoke to Cano after the derby to make sure everything was fine.
"There are no hard feelings. There never was," Butler said. "Me and Robbie are great friends, we're great competitors, and love playing each other."


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Egyptian designer runs afoul of Saudi princess, gets 500 lashes
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
CAIRO — Human-rights activists are demanding the release of Nagla Wafa, an Egyptian wedding planner and designer sentenced to 500 lashes and five years in prison in Saudi Arabia following a business dispute with a princess.
Wafa ran afoul of a royal in the Saudi kingdom over the finances of a joint business venture, according to her family. She was reportedly accused of cashing a check from the princess but not following through on their deal to start a restaurant.
"As of May of 2012, Ms. Wafa has been subjected, on a weekly basis, to 50 floggings per week within the 'Al-Malz' Prison. She currently faces 200 more floggings ... despite her suffering from distortions to her spine," the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights said in an online statement.
Accusing Saudi Arabian authorities of unlawfully detaining the 39-year-old mother of teenage twins, the organization said the case was a "blatant violation" of human rights and filed a complaint with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Nashwa Ismael, Wafa's mother, who lives in Cairo, said her daughter wasn't accused of fraud charges until about 20 months after she was arrested in 2009. Ismael said the family wasn't able to find a Saudi Arabian lawyer to take Wafa's case until June, when they first went public with the issue.
"Nagla's case should have appeared before a business court and she should have been notified of her accusations right away," Ismael told The Times.
Ismael added that since the family decided to go public, Saudi Arabian authorities have kept Wafa from outside contact. She was previously allowed one phone call a month.
"Last time I spoke with her was about a month ago. She was utterly devastated and tired because she lost everything, her sons, her livelihood," Ismael said.
Egypt's National Council for Women has also sent a letter to the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Cairo demanding Wafa's release for "lack of conviction." The council urged Saudi Arabian authorities to halt Wafa's flogging sentence.
About 2 million Egyptian expatriates currently live and work in Saudi Arabia. Over the years, Egyptian human-rights activists and protesters have repeatedly accused Saudi Arabian officials of mistreating Egyptian nationals, who travel to there seeking better job opportunities.
In April, the two Arab countries had a falling out when hundreds of Egyptians protested outside the kingdom's embassy in Cairo for the release of Egyptian lawyer Ahmed al-Gizawi, who was arrested on drug charges while traveling to Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage.
The protests forced the kingdom to recall its ambassador and shut down the embassy. At the time, analysts said Egypt-Saudi relations hadn't witnessed such a strain since Egypt signed the Camp David Peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
As Egyptian human-rights advocates continue to demand Wafa's release, Saudi Arabian and Egyptian officials have not commented on the case.
Essam Al-Arian, vice chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, has become one of the few Egyptian politicians to push for her freedom.
"The [Egyptian] foreign ministry is still silent about Nagla Wafa, who is imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. Why doesn't the kingdom announce the truths of the case so that such regretful mishaps do not recur? We need clarity," he said on his official Twitter account.
Wafa's mother said Egyptian officials have failed to reach out to the family to learn more about Nagla's case.
"The Egyptian ambassador in Saudi Arabia is more worried about his prestige and salary, rather than doing his job by helping the Egyptian people residing in Saudi Arabia. These kinds of problems have affected many Egyptians abroad, not just us," she said.
U.S. drone strikes kill 18 in Pakistan near Afghanistan border
Afghanistan 'insider' attacks pose threat to West's exit strategy
Afghanistan, U.S. disagree on culprits behind 'insider' shootings
— Reem Abdellatif


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At VMWorld this week the virtualization giant is announcing a new integrated system for building private clouds made up of the company's virtualized compute, network and storage products packaged together with new management software.
VMware calls its new VMware Cloud Foundation product a hyperconverged infrastructure offering. It's also meant to be the basis for VMware's software defined data center (SDDC). Cloud Foundation will be available to run on customers' premises or in the public cloud, making it the basis for a hybrid cloud too.
Cloud Foundation is a packaging of the company's traditional compute virtualization software vSphere with its NSX network virtualization product and its VSAN software-defined storage area network product. Cloud Foundation also includes a new software management product named SDDC Manager which controls the virtualized compute, network and storage resources. Combined, VMware envisions this system as the basis for building private clouds, running virtual desktops and hosting newly-built applications.
"In many respects, people say - boy, cloud is easy," VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a pre-VMWorld interview with Network World describing Cloud Foundation. "Well, cloud is easy if you do easy things; but if you want to now start setting up complex networks, security domains, connect old apps to new apps, those are not easy. What VMware Cloud Foundation is doing is bringing together all those pieces to make it easy for day one as well as for day two."
VMware is offering Cloud Foundation in multiple flavors: Customers can buy it from VMware partner VCE as an integrated, pre-loaded system complete with hardware and software. Another option is to buy hardware from partners including Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco and Arista, and the Cloud Foundation software from VMware. Third, VMware is offering Cloud Foundation as a hosted public cloud platform available from the IBM Cloud. More than 4,000 VMware service provider partners will also have an opportunity to host Cloud Foundation too.
Earlier this year IBM and VMware announced a strategic engineering and go to market partnership; this announcement is one of the fruits of that deal. By partnering with IBM's public cloud and its cloud partners, VMware is attempting to offer its users a common management platform that could span an on-premises private cloud with a hosted public cloud.
The move by VMware to bring a hybrid cloud computing platform to market comes as Microsoft is preparing to offer a similar product on to the market. Microsoft's Azure Stack is marketed as being an on-premises version of its Azure public cloud that will provide hybrid cloud compatibility between the two.
Industry analyst Kurt Marko with Marko Insights says Cloud Foundation is the natural evolution of VMware's software products coming together into a single product. One advantage Microsoft could have over Cloud Foundation is that Microsoft's Azure Stack is compatible with its Azure public cloud; VMware will be linking Cloud Foundation with IBM's public cloud. "It will depend on how tight that integration is," Marko says.
The moves by VMware and Microsoft are important in the cloud market because IaaS cloud leader Amazon Web Services does not offer an AWS on-premises private cloud option. VMware and Microsoft are looking to capitalize on that opportunity.