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Congressional Campaign opened in Hancock.
September 4, 1863
Congressional Campaign opened in Hancock.
Editors Intelligencer:
To-day quite a crowd of citizens were out at the Court-house in Hancock to witness the inauguration of the Court under Judge Caldwell in this Circuit. His charge to the Grand Jury was clear and full, and gave assurance of an honest intention that so far as he was concerned the laws of the land should be fully executed.
At 1 o'clock P. M., the Court having given way, the citizens were addressed by Messrs. Jacob B. Blair and E. M. Norton, candidates for the suffrages of the people in the approaching Congressional election.
Mr. Blair led the way in a speech of considerable length. He is a pleasant speaker and of fine address. Having represented the people of the 11th Congressional District of Virginia in the last Congress, he has made a record to which he appealed, and desired a re-election at this time as an endorsement of his former course. He was one of the five members from the border States who brought in a minority report endorsing the President's plan of gradual emancipation in the border slave states, with remuneration from the general government to loyal men, as a measure calculated to detach the border states from the Southern Confederacy, and save them from the vortex of secession.
He had voted against the abolishment of slavery in the District of Columbia, believing it to be injudicious at this time.
On the great question of emancipation by the proclamation of January 1st, 1862, he was opposed to the policy of the Chief Magistrate, believing it to be inexpedient impolitic and tending to still further exasperate the border slave states already trembling in the balance. As commander-in-chief of our armies, he admitted that the President had full power to issue that proclamation and that every slave in the states included was this day a free man, with no power on earth having rightful authority to again remand him him to servitude. He believed the proclamation to be constitutional, and although opposed to the policy at the time of its issue events have proven the wisdom of the President, and he now rejoiced that the same had been made.
He fully endorsed everything that had been done by the Government to put down this rebellion, military arrests, emancipation proclamation, confiscation and all, and pledged himself that if returned to the next Congress he should be found standing side by side with the friends of the Administration in the election of a Speaker for the House of Representatives and in the passage of every measure having for its object the safety of the Union. He passed a high encomium upon the President as one of the best of men, whose great and good heart beat only for his country, and who deserved the sympathy and confidence of every man who loved the Union cause, and who was determined to maintain it.
Mr. Blair, whatever has been his record heretofore, now certainly endorses fully the administration in its policy, and has got home about as safely to "Abraham's bosom" as the most ardent admirers of our worthy President could desire.
Mr. Norton followed in an able speech of about equal length, not, probably quite so polished in delivery as his competitor, but in that earnest pointed style which never fails to impress the audience with the views of the speaker.
In every pulsation of his heart he was with the President, as the Executive of this Government in putting down this rebellion. He had even stood forth as the champion and the friend of the man who had to labor. Opposed to slavery from principle, while he had always adhered to the doctrine of non-intervention by Congress with the institutions of any State, because he believed our fathers had so made the contract. But now when these rebels had cast aside that Constitution, and absolved him from further obligation to uphold their peculiar institution, every emotion of his heart was in favor of freedom, and no condition of things could induce him to sanction any arrangement that would send back a single one of these four million freedmen into the hands of southern traitors, reeking as they are with the blood of our best citizens - our brothers and our sons.
He hailed with joy the consummation of our new State triumph. The shackles of Old Virginia could no more bind our active energies. Henceforth our course was onward and upward, and he reasoned that as the President had cut the Gordian knot as to our admission as a State by the sententious decision that "he must protect his friends," so now the administration might justly expect that we should send representatives whose every sympathy would be in unison with those who had done so much for us in the hour of need.
With that good humored sincerity which attaches to friendly competitors for office before the people, Mr. Norton referred to some of the votes of Mr. Blair in the last Congress, dwelling at length upon his vote against the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, where to our shame, for years slaves had been manacled, bought and sold beneath the very shadow of our national Capitol. He read the yeas and nays taken upon sundry resolutions and references in which Mr. Blair's name was repeatedly placed in such unpopular company as Vallandigham, Voorhees, Wickliffe, &c.
The speaker were frequently applauded, but at no time more heartily than when they uttered sentiments of devotion to the Union or when they pledged unqualified adhesion to the course of our chief magistrate.
Much as our people may be opposed to the employment of conventions as a general rule, I think a large majority feel that we have too much in jeopardy to leave a possible chance for the election of a butternut. In the hands of any one of the candidates now before us I doubt not our cause would be safe enough, but at the eleventh hour a disloyal man, concentrating all the votes of that class, might obtain a plurality over our scattered forces, though in the aggregate we might be largely in the majority.
In union there is strength.
New Manchester, Sept. 2, 1863.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: September 1863


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I did some research hoping to find a way to dissolve the logo and stripe on the Krups coffee grinder in prep for converting it to a Mr Fusion. I didn't really come up with anything I liked. So here are some thoughts from my experience:
- I did not find anything that dissolved it easily or quickly
- Test things you want to try on the bottom or some location where it does not matter if it damages the plastic.
- DO NOT USE ACETONE... it melts the plastic
- Magic Eraser did not work for me. But I did not try it a lot since it will dull the plastic surface via abrasion. BTW ... Best I can tell, Magic Erasers are nothing more than a foam pad. No cleaner/solvent.
- I tried various things (WD40, oils, turpentine, denatured alcohol, brake cleaner, MAF cleaner, citrus cleaner, CA kicker, an eraser), many of which were suggested on the web, with no luck. Why is it that the labels on the remote come off so easy?
- It may be that I did not try hard enough.
- I did not try gasoline or diesel fuel but it is too late to try now since all my printing is gone.
- I've heard that headlight polishing kits work but not having one I did not try.
- I've read that Turtle Wax Polishing Compound works to get the printing off. Then you need to use a finer polishing compound to return the gloss. I did not try and it seems like too much work. BUT ... if you have a yellowed (not to be confused with a yellow one), the process can be used to bring back the white. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdgvfkhCOdc
I then tried DOT4 brake fluid and it worked. It does not "dissolve" the print quickly but it does work at removing the printing without damaging the plastic (at least there is no noticeable damage at this point. Fingers crossed) It seems that once the top barrier on the printing is breached it goes easier. I put some on a rag and rubbed it repeatedly and rubbing across the stripe, medium to hard pressure, seems to work the best. At first it does not appear to work but keep working it. Go back over it until all the printing is gone. You can get it all off. It takes time but It took less than an hour (maybe a half hour?) to remove the printing.
Best of all, the plastic does not need further polishing.
Remember, you mileage may vary so test first.
Post any other working solutions herein.

subset: commoncrawl


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What to think about INK, Professor Green's funky, kitsch new late-bar/ club? I reckon it would have been right up the 19 year-old me's street. In fact, I'd recommend it to all ages. I'd argue you're never to old to take your hip hop replacement out for a spin on the floor - in this case overseen by a light-up plastic Madonna. That's as in Jesus's old lady, not the put-it-away-love-we've-seen-it-a-million-times-and-we-ain't-interested po-faced pop star, still shaking her auld hoop like her life depends on it. Word up, laydeez! If you're not flush, spend the £20 cover charge you'll save by rocking up before 10pm on drinks, then tap some obliging geezer for your next ten. Cocktails are by co-owner Gerry Calabrese of Hoxton Pony renown whose love it/hate it coconut and lemon Hoxton gin appears in a Collins. Otherwise, try Good Times, Doctor Bird and West End Cooler at a party room that's set to pull a cooler crowd than the West End's glamma girl/ tea bag tan TOWIE wannabe haunts. If you're peckish, there's a hit'n'miss pick'n'mix selection of 'British tapas' to dribble down the front of your expensive silk frock. Ham hock topped by poached duck egg (£9.50), cod - battered in Professor G's own-brew ale, Remedy - with chips, and foraged mushroom tortellini are fair. Tarted-up baked beans on toast, steep at £8.50, and over-salted braised beef and gloopy garlic potato puree in a 'pie and mash' assembly what I'd expect on an economy class airline tray, only here presented in a tricksy mini copper pot. Music, I'm utterly amazed to say, sounded 75% familiar to my lugholes. Old Heaven/ Hacienda boys can and will still live it large on Leicester Square
image metro.co.uk


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by L. Scott Kellum
B&H Academic (April 1, 2014)
|Digital List Price:
|Print List Price:
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Save $29.00 (97%)
Through the lens of John the Apostle's Farewell Discourse found in John 13:31 – 17:26, seminary professor L. Scott Kellum provides a step-by-step illustration of how to produce an expository sermon series in Preaching the Farewell Discourse.
Kellum begins with foundational tools that will aid the journey from text to exposition and then describes how to employ discourse analysis to a hortatory document (like the Farewell Discourse) or an expository document.
The latter part of the book finds Kellum implementing the theory on the Farewell Discourse of John's Gospel, examining the process in three sections: analyzing the text, interpreting the text, and preaching the text.


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Asda are dropping food prices
Asda have been suffering from a fall in customers, thanks in part to the increasing sway of Aldi and Lidl, and of course, because Asda have large supermarkets that are out of town, which people rely on less-and-less.
To try and woo people back through their doors, the supermarket is slashing the price on thousands of every day groceries.
This is all part of their new 'That's Better' campaign, which you'll be seeing on TV adverts and the like.
Basically, we're looking at cheaper prices on staples like sausages, chicken, and beef, which Asda reckon will be (on average) 15% cheaper. They've also said that the quality of their products will be better too.
New Asda boss, Sean Clarke, says: "We will continue to listen to our customers and take action, with better prices for products they buy week in, week out."
It has to work for the Walmart-owned company, as they've been showing a poor performance over the last couple of years.
In August, Asda reported their worst worst quarterly performance ever, with a 7.5% fall in like-for-like sales.
With Amazon selling groceries now, it is a rather precarious time for supermarkets in the UK.


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The Beer
The craft beer landscape is changing rapidly. Trends are becoming styles and long accepted ideas of tradition and flavor are blurring. We embrace the idea that beers should be brewed to be enjoyed. And we enjoy bold and distinctive beers. Our beers will not necessarily follow standards and more importantly our beer will not be standard.
We brew on a simple and efficient 15BBL steam jacketed brewhouse built in 2012 by Global Stainless Systems out of Portland, OR. We test and tweak our recipes on a 2BBL Stout Tanks Pilot brewery. Our recipes and ideas are mashed into reality by our head brewery Colin Vent.


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By Lisa Wirthman
A growing number of people are turning to financial advisors to help them manage their wealth.
More than 36 million people are currently using the services of a federally registered investment advisor — a 22 percent increase over 2015, reports the Investment Adviser Association (IAA).
There's a lot to consider when choosing an advisor, including your financial goals, tolerance for risk, communication style, personality and what charges you will incur. But it's just as important to understand how advisors get paid — and how their payment structures can affect your bottom line.
"Knowing how financial advisors are compensated is a key question to ask," said Damon White, chief operating officer and co-founder of Evermay Wealth Management, an independent Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm in Arlington, Virginia. "What the financial advisor earns is part of the fees that you pay."
Financial advisors typically earn their income in different ways. Some charge you a flat fee for their services, based on different factors. Others receive commissions for recommending specific investment products or when a stock is bought or sold. Some advisors use a mixed model, incorporating both commissions and fees.
Here are some factors to weigh when hiring a financial advisor:
- Hidden Charges
Start by asking how your advisor structures compensation and for a full disclosure of fees, said White.
Even if your advisor doesn't charge commissions, for example, the custodian of your funds may impose trading fees. In addition, you may be required to pay management fees or transaction fees for opening and closing an account.
To ensure cost transparency, make sure you review brokerage statements that clearly define the costs associated with your accounts, he said. Also be sure to ask advisors to walk you through the prospectuses of the mutual funds in which you're invested and explain what charges may be passed on to you.


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The Street rewards growth. And Jim Cramer likes a stock that the Street rewards.
Although the "Mad Money" host often identifies companies with significant growth potential, on Friday he turned attention to Cornerstone OnDemand as a spec growth play.
"It's a cloud based software maker," Cramer explained.
Cramer has been quite vocal about his enthusiasm for companies that leverage cloud computing because he feels they have the potential to grow quickly and significantly. Cornerstone OnDemand appears to be no exception.


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Thursday, January 19, 2012
A Joyful Day and Bookmarks
4 comments:
oh my gosh!!!! soooo cute! where did you find that paper clip thingies?? the dollar store? so fun! we need to do a craft today. badly!ReplyDelete
ps: i've been in a bit of a funk too. i need some joy today :)
Yucky funks and I are good friends. :) I love God and his timing! I am so glad he answered your prayer and so quickly too!ReplyDelete
I just luuurrrve this quote I read on Ann Voskamp's blog last week....
"There's only one address anyone lives at and it's always a duplex: Joy and pain always co-habit every season of life.
Accept them both and keep company with the joy while the pain does it's necessary renovations. ~~~Ann Voskamp
So good.
Oh and I also love that craft! Now I am on the lookout for big paper clips. My older 2 would love that!
Have a great day!
this is so sweet!ReplyDelete
great job on the book marks.
i think we have all the supplies to make those and my girls are crafting right now!
i'll definitely show them.
i have been begging the Lord to give me joy
so that i am not a crabby, yelling mom and you are right!
He answers every time! :)
have a fun day!
- AnonymousJanuary 19, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Nice to meet you, Amy! I'm one of Alicia's friends, and I read her post about you yesterday! I love your blog. She rubbed off on me and I started my own blog!ReplyDelete


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Or, I could go it's raining it's pouring. Well, it is tonight. As it has for the majority of nights lately. This means, larger veggies. In fact, I got to pick a hot pepper today. It was so ready, I had to use the slightest pressure for it to release. I've also had a salad with the fresh lettuce that is growing. I really do like this garden. I think more needs to be grown next year.
Also, we have tomatoes growing and more tomato flowers blooming. Along with that will be a bunch of cucumbers and more zucchini than we'll ever eat. I didn't pick on the cucumbers or the zucchini, so that's why we have so much of that. And there aren't too many of a single variety of tomato, so it's just the variety that makes there be so much. Mayhem likes tomatoes, I think I already mentioned. We joke that she won't have any for her project because she'll be lazing under the plants eating them off the stem. I find myself going out every day just ot see how they are growing and if there is any ripening.
I have Molly watching me type. I wish I had a good camera to get the picture of her. She's shrouded in the shadows, so all you really see is the white on her face. It almost has an eerie look. But, she just sits there and I talk over to her. She likes to hide and relax, so I don't try to disturb her. But when she wants attention, she really lets you know. Every year I consider growing catnip for her, but nobody at the house wants the neighborhood barn cats coming over for their fix.


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Why is this post worthy? I fall for new cosmetic lines all of the time. So what's the big deal? First, a little back ground info on my favorite Israeli sister-in-law.
Aya, my sis-in-law, was born and raised in Israel. In fact she lived in this lovely land (her home looked like a resort) until recently, when she went from the seaside Mediterranean lifestyle to the harsh, cold winters of Chicago & Michigan.
Aya is the antithesis of me. She loves the outdoors, she doesn't own a television and she has never worn makeup on a regular basis. She likes the water, she knows Krav Maga and she can back down the side of a mountain in a giant rental car without breaking a sweat. (I was there. It was terrifying.) I love her no matter what, but I am sure you can imagine how excited I was when she asked me for makeup advice on applying eye shadow on our "glamping trip".
Aya recently found herself far away from her home, where many women opt for a natural, no makeup look. That is certainly not to say that all Israeli women don't wear makeup, I am sure many do. But not my Aya. She just didn't feel it looked right on her. She loves to wear sunscreen to protect her fair skin and get out and enjoy the outdoors. She doesn't want to bother with runny mascara or lipstick as it interferes with her kayaking in Alaska. Aya had only worn makeup twice in her life. Once at my wedding and once at hers.
Then one day, Aya landed a nice job and started working with all kinds of women. Wanting to look more professional and polished, she bought some stuff at a drugstore, but didn't know how to apply it on or even how to make it stay on her face. So she did what any brave, self respecting girl would do.
She marched into her neighborhood Barney's and asked for help.
A makeup artist from Sue Devitt Beauty was happy to help. Aya told the artist she wanted to achieve a look similar to her friend, who swore by Sue Devitt. Aya wasn't interested in getting the same colors, but wanted to have the same beautiful, natural, easy, glowing look.
The makeup artist spent quite a bit of time showing Aya how to re-create a similar beautiful natural face and she ended up leaving with Foundation, Lip & Cheek Gel, Mascara, Under eye Corrector, 2 Eyeshadows, 2 Eye intensifier Pencils and a Sharpener. Considering she had barely ever purchased any makeup, I was shocked!
Aya couldn't stop telling me how much she loved the Eye Intensifier Pencils. She loved how smoothly and easily they glided onto her eye, giving her eyes some oomph. It's no wonder she loved them so much - they are a seriously technologically advanced eyeliner! These liners are smudge-proof and water resistant. They are formulated not to move, crease or smear, thanks to special ingredient Nylon-12, which expands and contracts with each facial movement.
The foundation evened out her skin and was a snap to apply. Aya actually enjoys putting makeup on now and loves how she looks. I thought she was gorgeous before, but I am sure she is now more polished, professional and sanguine.
What is the lesson of this story? Makeup doesn't have to be complicated, trendy or hard to apply. It can make you feel better about your appearance and more confident in your daily life. Just march into Barney's or Ulta and ask someone behind a Sue Devitt counter for some help. If Aya can try it, so can you!
Sue Devitt Beauty does not test on animals.
Subscribe and never miss a thing! Copyright 2009, Gouldylox Reviews. All rights reserved.


text: Effectiveness Over Efficiency: Underestimating the Primary Care Physician ShortagePhillips, Robert L. Jr MD, MSPH*; Bazemore, Andrew M. MD, MPH†; Peterson, Lars E. MD, PhD‡Medical Care: February 2014 - Volume 52 - Issue 2 - p 97–98 doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000047 Point-Counterpoint Abstract Author InformationAuthors Article MetricsMetrics Interest in improving health care outcomes requires increasing the effectiveness of primary care. Focus on effectiveness is leading many innovative health systems to shrink primary care patient panels to strengthen relationships, and to enhance primary care teams to increase comprehensiveness. Such strategies would make primary care shortages worse than predicted, and are compounded by substantial declines in clinicians of all types choosing primary care careers. Severe primary care shortages beg for efficiency, but emphasizing efficiency at the expense of effectiveness threatens achieving the Triple Aim for health care. We cannot avoid the hard work of repairing our clinician training pipeline for primary care. *American Board of Family Medicine †Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC ‡American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY R.L.P. and A.M.B. have previously been supported by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and are currently supported by the Josiah Macy Jr Foundation to do health workforce research. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Reprints: Robert L. Phillips, Jr, MD, MSPH, American Board of Family Medicine; 1133 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20036. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. © 2014 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.


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Moving away from Christianity
4/27/2010 | Share this article: View CommentsBy Missy --
I feel that I am moving away from Christianity.
Image by ~FreeBirD®~ via FlickrIt's hard for me to believe there is a god that cares so much about me because my life has always been one of intense problems. It has not stopped.
Just recently I tried to go back to Christianity and get a deliverance prayer done on me which I did, and I didn't feel any difference. I actually felt worse. I felt like I wanted to sin more and I didn't feel it working inside of me.
I have this rage for god and this rage for myself because I don't know if it is me not believing or it's just not working on me.
After being upset from the deliverance not working, I would rather leave Christianity for good. For the last 6 years I have been back and forth leaving Christianity and coming back to it. But I think that I am tired of going back and forth. I think that I am just going to stay agnostic.
The only time I really know that god helped me was when I almost died 4 times in my life. Thats the only time I think he was really there.
I don't understand. He knows I'm suffering down here. Why don't he just let me be killed and not protect me anymore. Its like he wants me to suffer on this earth and not die.
I had enough of Christianity. I will no longer go back.
Filed Under: Testimonials


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I spent Memorial day weekend celebrating my lil sis getting married. She had a beautiful backyard spring wedding. I have hardly any pictures to share as I was busy with bridesmaid duties instead of behind the lens. She had a photo booth though so you can see a smidgen of our family's craziness! And my husband at least got a couple of shots of our boys ruining their sweet wedding outfits with giant lollipops! :)
|Here is a shot of the three sisters and one of our cousins. We were trying to be "sexy" (I'm on the left... isn't my husband a
lucky fellow??;))
|While the wedding was beautiful, it was an unseasonably cold day so I spend the majority of the reception in my husbands suit jacket.
|Here is the whole combined crazy family!
|LOVE that face!!
|And here is my little sweetie!!!
I have a couple of projects to finish up and share but this is what I have been up to all this last week! Congratulations Sis and new Bro in law!! I wish you both a life full of love and blessings!


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I hope to write more about southern Chinese burial culture and the role feng shui plays in future posts.
This post is my participation in today's Taphophile Tragics meme.
This is a rather big burial mound, especially considering how valuable land must be for these fast growing cities.
I've missed ya.
I'm afraid I seldom look at Julie's Taphophile Tragics, although I try to keep up with everything else she posts.
But this Chinese grave is fascinating, and the little church in your January 16 post below is wonderful.
Great to be seeing your photos again (pun intended).
Francisca you're back!! I was getting worried, you were gone so long!
I am impressed with this idea of descendants wanting to honour their ancestors. And to include the servants - well that would never happen in our society.
What immediately came to mind is how big the space is. I remember my ancestors grave in Malaysia - they are rather big too... but not THIS big and grand!
Good to read you again! And what a fascinating post this is. So interesting how other cultures view death and the importance of remembering those who have past. Even the servents....
Hope all is well and happy for you:)
Hello Francisca, very happy to see your post again! You're out of circulation for 2 months and i hope everything is fine with you.
I was so amazed the first time i saw the Omega-shaped Chinese grave in Fujian, so wide and normally on high elevation. We visited it complete with the traditional fireworks-belt they also use on weddings. The longer the belt, the longer will be the sounds. They said it is for good luck to drive away the negative! Whenever i hear those sounds i know there's either a wedding or a funeral. Here, we hear those only on New Year, both the traditional and the Chinese New Year!
I wish more people in this country would bury on family land....I feel we should die where we lived! Feng shui for burials...never figured that!!
Happy to see your post pop up on my Reader. Welcome back -- glad you brought back some great pix and good information as always.
Finally, you've found access to the net. It's been a long dry spell since we've heard from you. How fortunate to have a translator with you. I'm not totally clear. Is this mound a memorial to the clan members who have died or are some of the clan actually buried here? Also what did the farmer say about the effect of the power lines on the feng shui? Hope you and Honey are well.
Very interesting to see and to read. Thanks for showing.
Thanks for the warm welcomes back, everyone! I've missed blogging!
@Hamilton - You're so right, this land is gaining value! Right now it's still controlled by the clan, but as the town grows, they may be forced to give up this farm land (and yes, expropriation is all too common).
@Andrea - the shape of this grave is common throughout southern China, and locating a grave on a hill provides auspicious feng shui (wind water). Fire crackers to ward off evil spirits are getting less common since many urban cities have banned them, but you are right, they are still popped for weddings, funerals, births, store openings, new year's, and any other event that needs good luck. :-)
@Sondra... in traditional Chinese culture the departed are believed to still have influence over the living, and so they are buried in places that give the dead spirits comforts, including those afforded by harmonious placement (feng shui). I'll write more about this in future.
@Oakland - your questions are hard to answer. In Chinese this is called a grave and in theory it is where the dead spirits reside; but since this is for ancestors who died many decades and even centuries ago, it is unlikely that there were any real remains to disinter and rebury, so we would probably call it a memorial. Nonetheless, not too far from this spot there were some smaller graves in the same style for more recent burials, so this is most likely the area where this clan was always buried. Am I making any sense? LOL! As for the farmer's reaction, he called my honey a master (although he is not) and was quite disturbed. But both men then shrugged it off as the price of development.
So interesting, Francisca. I know only a little about feng shui so would be interested in learning more. Interesting that the power lines might make them uncomfortable!
This is, indeed, fascinating, Francisca. There are many questions which arise, and I wait with breath bated for your follows-up.
I appreciate that Chinese culture venerates elders and ancestors. But the Chinese are a wiley race, as well. To afford the departed such a fortuitous spot, should rain benefits upon the living, if I read what you have written correctly. So, self-interest plays its part. As for the assistance to servants, it was not so much appreciation, as servitude post-death.
I do like your photograph of the farmer's hand. It deserves another run in a subsequent post, or a spotlight in some way. It is quite a delight. Less delightful, however, is the rake that he has slung over his shoulder. I have not seen one with such lengthy prongs before. Is this because the topsoil is so deep, and he needs to till it very thoroughly?
Wonderful post. Good that you have come out from behind the bamboo curtain.
Welcome back, Francisca, I missed you!
It's interesting that nowadays the Chinese started to observe again their traditions.
I am eager to see other posts about your time spent there.
The design with the walls reminds me of the newest section in the local Mountain View Cemetery, "Golden Lotus Mountain", which they designed with feng shui in mind. I haven't checked it out yet, in part because there's so much to explore at Mt. View.
Fascinating! And very good to have you back :)
What a touching and wonderful tradition. Such a special way to remember and never forget a group of people who were the loved ones of the living. The site is impressive and very poignant. A lovely post. Happy St. Patty's Day.genie
I think it's the first time I see this kind of grave in China. Love the man's portrait and the details too.
VERY interesting. Your photos of the farmer and first rate, especially his hand on the handle of his tool. I once read that many times, there are no remains at all in many Chinese graves. Do you know if this is true?
Pat, my honey says that it depends on how good the feng shui is. When it is very good (read: well buried in good soil conditions) then the remains can last over a century. In Guangdong, the custom is to bury the body in a wood crate; the wood and meat disintegrate and the after some years, the bones are dug up, cleaned, placed in an urn, and reinterred. Needless to say, not many people are buried in ideal fend shui conditions.


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BACS (Bacs Payment Schemes Limited) is a protocol for bank-to-bank transactions used in the United Kingdom. The scheme allows for payments to be sent within the United Kingdom easily. Some online casinos based in the UK allow British players to use BACS to send deposits or receive withdrawals. A list of BACS online casinos is available on this page.
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Once you have sent your BACS transfer to a casino, you may need to wait up to 3 days for the casino to receive it. However, most major banks in the UK feature 24-hour BACS transfers. Your casino balance will be credited manually once the casino gets receipt of your payment.
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Please note that some online casinos may charge a fee for a BACS transfer. Make sure you understand your casino's particular rules regarding BACS transfers before submitting for a BACS withdrawal.
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Players in the United Kingdom who want to get money to and from a casino may find BACS to be a good choice. Since it works directly between banks, BACS eliminates the need for a middle man and typically reduces transaction costs.
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Unfortunately, BACS is not an instant service. If you decide to use BACS for depositing or withdrawing, you will need to wait for the transaction to be conducted manually. In most cases, a BACS transfer will complete within 24 hours. However, you also need to consider the confirmation time that is required by the casino to verify payment.
BACS is only available to players in the United Kingdom who play at an online casino based in the UK. If either you or the casino is not located within the UK, you will need to use an international bank transfer instead. These are generally more expensive, although they usually do not take any longer than a BACS transfer.


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I've been processing food from my garden over the past month. We've had an abundance of yummy food. I finally figured out that boiling green beans on the stove-top is always superior to cooking them in the microwave (as demonstrated by my husband). We've also been enjoying a bumper crop of cucumbers which I've served almost every night for dinner. They are particularly good when chilled.
I tried an experiment this year. We've had so many peaches. So I tried juicing some in my steam juicer. I followed the same process that I use when I juice grapes (link here: http://iprepared.blogspot.com/2010/10/canning-grape-juice.html). The picture above shows the result. I was so surprised to see the jars fill up with this candy-red colored juice. It is NOT what I expected.
Peach juice is interesting. It has a rich peach smell mixed with a little bit of stinky feet. I haven't tasted any out of these bottles, but after pulling all the juice I could, I did stir the peaches at the end and was able to pull one last quart. It was pink and full of debris instead of red and clear like these jars. I drank some and just couldn't get past the stinky-feet smell/taste. As I discussed it with my husband, we realized that you don't often find peach juice on its own. Usually it's in a blend or is spiced like a cider. So we tried it with a little cinnamon and it made all the difference. I think we're going to have some yummy spiced peach cider this fall!
Have you ever juiced peaches? Did you drink it straight or blend it with another juice? Have you tried a peach cider?


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Heather Hopkins – Hitwise UK: What are 18 to 34 Year Olds Doing Online? Managing Content to Your Target Market
Interesting blog posting on the Hitwise weblog as Heather Hopkins mulls the proliferation of free papers targeting this age group. Turning to data (which Hitwise has a-plenty) Heather has looked at their behaviour and suggests the dainties with which one would bait the trap:
in order to attract the 18-34 year old audience, websites such as This is London and The London Paper should consider not just entertainment news and celebrity gossip, but a social aspect or links to social networks such as MySpace, content on wedding planning, reviews of videos and games, and a job board.
That rings true.
Check out the posting for the analysis and data.


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After replacing almost every component on my old mountain bike to set it up for commuting I found the brakes to be lacking. The rear u-brake and front cantilevers did not provide much stopping power but after replacing the levers with these I found they worked much better. I eventually changed out the front cantilevers for a v-brake and now have incredible stopping power! The levers are good quality and definitely an upgrade to most of the cheaper levers that come stock on even mid range bikes. Although I've only used them for commuting and cruising with the kids I'm sure they would be suitable for more demanding riding. The lever is on the shorter side, fine for trigger shifters but may be an issue for other styles that offset them farther from the grips.


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Terrell Starr has published a new article aspiring to explain How Bernie Sanders lost black voters. As he explains elsewhere, what's "new" about this piece "is that [Sanders'] own former black staff is critiquing his campaign." Specifically, the article is built around quotes from two staffers who are willing to go on record: deputy director for African-American outreach Roy Tatum and National HBCU Outreach Director Danny Glover.
Read through Starr's article, however, and you'll notice how little of its critique actually comes from Team Sanders. Tatum insists that Sanders was "sincere to the core" in his outreach to black voters, and that campaign leaders simply "didn't have confidence" he could win them from Clinton - but this was always conventional wisdom during the primaries, and reads like pessimism rather than criticism.
The rest is just Tatum and Glover explaining how that assessment predictably dictated spending priorities. Tatum says "his department was underfunded" and that they had to go through "hoops to get resources"; Glover, meanwhile, says there "wasn't enough money" to continue their HBCU tour after February, and adds that "they didn't put as many people behind it as they should have."
That's it. That last "should have" is as close as Starr ever gets in this article to what's ostensibly new about it: black staffers going on-record to criticize the campaign. And among black campaign staffers he can't even find consensus on that modest critique; later in the article, national press secretary Symone Sanders insists that "as a person who was there on the ground, I can tell you that the campaign had a staunch commitment to reaching out to communities of color."
What they didn't say
It's easy to miss how trivial Starr's "scoop" actually is, because most of his article makes a much different argument than the Sanders staffers do - one that's far more ambitious and sensational. Sanders, Starr argues,
failed to win the hearts of black progressives. It didn't have to be that way. But his campaign never explained how black people fit into his vision of a radically changed America.Note that none of this actually follows from the on-record information Starr gets from the campaign. Neither Tatum nor Glover make "it didn't have to be that way" claims, and neither draw the conclusions about Sanders' actual message that Starr does. All of that comes from the author's own editorializing, or from third parties with no connection the campaign, or from ambiguous paraphrases, or from staffers who speak "only on condition of anonymity". Every time Starr needs to make a claim that advances this argument, he relies on one of those four sources - never on on-record quotes from black campaign staffers.
Starr does not, for example, get a Sander staffer to say that the campaign's problems came from "white privilege, or simple cultural ignorance of black people" - that's all Starr. He doesn't get a staffer to complain that Sanders has a "colorblind approach to economics" - that's Clinton media surrogate Tara Dowdell. He doesn't quote Glover saying that "the campaign had no real interest in converting young black progressives into a powerful voting bloc"* - that's just a paraphrase. He doesn't quote a staffer saying that "the Sanders campaign had no real interest in engaging black voters" - that's just a paraphrase of an anonymous staffer.
Time and time again, when Starr has the opportunity to substantiate the article's critique with an on-record quote from a black Sander staffer - EG, what he seems to be promising - we get something else. Or he does get a quote, from a black Sanders staffer like Symone Sanders, but it directly contradicts his argument. Or he tries to talk to other Sanders staffers, like African-American outreach director Marcus Ferrell and campaign manager Jeff Weaver - and they refuse to play ball.
The same old smear
Perhaps there's a reason for that. Elsewhere in the piece, Starr drops an interesting point of trivia:
[An anonymous Sanders] staffer said that the campaign even tried to block me from covering a visit by Sanders to Atlanta for Fusion because I had reported critically on the senator in the past.This is not particularly surprising, if true. For starters, Starr was one of the earliest figures to promote the ridiculous Bernie Bro smear. Even before that, however, he was pushing a related narrative: in an article that I noted at the time had little actually substantive reporting, Starr asked Why Aren't More Black Voters Feeling the Bern? There, he argued,
Sanders can gain the trust of more black voters...though many question his personal resolve to do so...The concern is that there is a belief that his campaign is operating on the assumption that its candidate doesn't have to do the work of connecting emotionally with black voters and earning their trust.If this analysis sounds familiar, it's because it's the exact same one that Starr tries to advance in this latest piece. And yet despite ten months of reporting, he's never once been able to substantiate it. Instead, all we get are claims about how "many question" this or how "there is a belief that", or all of the dubious sourcing mentioned above. I've challenged him before on these basic reporting problems (as did Matt Bruenig in his classic Nobody Is On Twitter piece), but he's never been able to address them.
So while others may be more inclined to give Starr the benefit of a doubt when he comes up with all of these convenient paraphrases and anonymous sources, I am not. Certainly the Sanders campaign made a strategic decision early on to focus on young voters, including young voters of color*, which necessarily came at the expense of everyone else. This was obvious long before Starr got staffers to say this on record.
Does it follow that the Sanders campaign had "no real interest in engaging black voters"? Nope. Starr has tried to argue this for nearly a year, but no black Sanders staffer is actually going on-record to say this, for obvious reasons.
* The theory that the Sanders campaign "had no real interest in converting young black progressives into a powerful voting bloc" is particularly odd since Sanders won 54.6% of young black voters, versus Clinton's 33.5%.


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Greetings internet. Is anybody out there?
I just wanted to pop in and say hello. When I gave up my old job I also gave up my laptop. It belonged to work and they kindly let me use it for personal stuff as well. I miss it terribly! So until I save up for one of my own this little old blog might be a bit quiet. I'm currently on Ben's computer which is quite literally a MACHINE.
We have a long weekend coming up and Ben and are I joining our parents at the Central Coast for a few nights. We'll be camping by the beach and I'm super keen for some lazy days in the sun. I hope you're well wherever you might be!


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>This week we have been reading one of my favorite stories, "Flowers for Algernon." Charlie Gordon, a 37 year old man, with an IQ of 68, undergoes an experimental brain surgery that is designed to triple his intelligence.
In the story, Charlie continuously competes with a mouse named Algernon, to complete a set of maze races. Throughout the story, there are numerous pictures and detailed descriptions of said mouse as well as the various mazes they race through.
As I read the story aloud, the kids follow along in their books stopping at various places to summarize the main ideas and answer questions. I am constantly surprised at how kids can go through the motions of learning, but clearly miss… well… you'll see.
Me: At this point in the story, Charlie is frustrated because he doesn't feel like he's getting any smarter. Think about what we read yesterday, take a look at your notes, and list three examples that show Charlie's intelligence is actually increasing.
Student 1: "Oh, he beat that moose in some race."
Student 2: "It wasn't a moose, it was a monkey."
Student 1: "Right. He beat that monkey in a race. Monkeys aren't even that smart or else they wouldn't sit around all day holding their poop." (He then proceeds to do a very poor pantomime of, what I assumed to be a monkey juggling his poop.) "Look at me playing with my poop. I'm so smart, just try to beat me."
I hold my hand up in the air to get everyone's attention.
Me: "This is an activity that does not require talking. Please be sure you are using your notes, and for some of you, it might be a good idea to look through the book to help you out."
I begin to weave up and down the rows as students begin writing.
Student 3: With a look of deep thought on her face, and her pencil moving frantically across her paper, she mumbles to herself, "A monkey, especially a gorilla, better think twice about fighting me because man, it would be so on."


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According to WebMD, antihistamines are the first medications that should be used to treat allergies in kids. This type of allergy medicine works by blocking the effects of histamine, a chemical that an allergic child's body releases in response to exposure to an allergen.
WebMD recommends giving antihistamines to a child before bed, as allergy symptoms are often most severe during the early hours of the morning. This source also recommends that children with pollen allergies take antihistamines at the beginning of pollen season, before symptoms start to appear. Some children may need to take this type of allergy medicine all year to prevent allergy symptoms.


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The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund saw a spike in holdings of the metal this week, on the heels of a more than 4% weekly climb in prices for the precious metal.
The SPDR Gold Trust shows an increase to 25.925 million ounces as of Thursday, up 0.9% from Wednesday and at its highest total level since Dec. 20.
In the last month, there have been no sales from the SPDR Gold ETF, and 15 metric tons (529,109 ounces) of purchases said Julian Phillips, South Africa-based founder of and contributor to GoldForecaster.com.
"This is tremendously significant because sales of physical gold from these U.S. gold ETFs and from the leading U.S. banks totaled 1,300 metric tons in 2013," he said. "This formed a key source of supply for gold. All of it went east to Asia never to return again."
"The reduction in supply from the U.S., as these sales have now halted, is the prime reason the gold price is now rising," said Phillips, adding that it has nothing to do with U.S. economic factors.
On Friday afternoon, April gold traded at $1,316.30 an ounce on Comex, up $16.20, or 1.3%. It was poised for a weekly gain of about 4.2%.
Shares of the SPDR Gold Trust climbed 1.1%, trading around 3.8% higher for the week.
Mitul Kotecha, head of global FX strategy at Credit Agricole, said in a note Friday that gold ETF demand appears to have "stabilized" over recent weeks. The poor performance of equities markets since the start of the year has made gold look "more attractive as an investment, while lower yields mean that the opportunity cost of holding gold has lessened."
Over in China, "demand continues at a rising pace at a level between 2,400 and 2,800 metric tons including local supply, per annum," said Phillips.
"After the Lunar New Year, demand has jumped again [and] as the Chinese middle classes rise in numbers and in wealth, they will continue to buy more and more," he said. "As you know, such buying is generational for financial security, not for profits. So it won't return to the market with high prices."
So if the U.S. are buyers of gold, it will now have to "pay up for it to shake out weak holders," he said.
—Myra Saefong
Follow Myra @MktwSaefong
Follow The Tell on Twitter @thetellblog
More must-read blogs on The Tell:
Consensus on \'scary\' 1929 chart: Enough already, it\'s not happening
Gold\'s looking good, but it\'s not record-high worth this year


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Artosphere's signature event, Trail Mix Concert Tour is back!
Walton Arts Center announces the return of the Artosphere Festival's signature event, the Trail Mix Concert Tour on Sunday, June 1. Tail Mix combines music, hiking and biking for a one-of-a-kind, free outdoor experience which starts along the beautifully sculpted Art Trail near Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville (1-3pm) and continues along the Frisco Trail in downtown Fayetteville (5-7pm). Rocky Grove Sun Company will provide solar-power for energy-efficient music for Trail Mix. No tickets or registration are required; this event is free and open to the public.
The fifth annual Artosphere spans May and June and features free and low-cost kids and family events, live music, visual arts and more throughout the region. Artosphere's mission is to celebrate artists, influenced by nature, who inspire us to live more sustainable lives.
Trail Mix Concert routes:
Crystal Bridges Trails: Artists/musicians will be located at the following stops from 1-3pm:
- Artosphere Percussion near the Compton Gardens
- Carter Sampson at James Turrell's The Way of Color
- Candy Lee & the Sweets at Dan Ostermiller's Shore Lunch
- Artosphere Mixed Ensemble at the Twin Bridges area
- Artosphere Brass at the Tulip Tree Shelter off of the Tulip Tree Trail
- Street Drums Corps near the Champion Eastern White Pine
- Martha Redbone Trio at the Museum Store plaza
- Cry You One at Walker Landing
- Smokey & the Mirror at Celeste Roberge's Chaise Gaibon
- Artosphere Strings at the Rock Ledge Shelter
In collaboration with Artosphere and Trail Mix, Family Sunday at Crystal Bridges will include hands-on fun in the museum, a trail scavenger hunt until 5pm and a family concert at3pm in the Great Hall featuring Time for Three.
Frisco Trail: Artists/musicians will be located at the following stops from 5-7pm:
- Artosphere Brass at Prairie Street
- Artosphere Mixed Ensemble between Prairie Street and Mountain Street
- Candy Lee & the Sweets between Center Street and Mountain Street
- Carter Sampson at Meadow Street
- Street Drum Corps on Maser's art installation, Under the Stars at Nadine Baum Studios
- Artosphere Strings near Powerhouse
- Martha Redbone Trio at Arsaga's at the Depot
- Smokey & the Mirror at Maple Street
- Cry You One between W. Prospect and W. Douglas
- Artosphere Percussion at W. Prospect and N. Frisco
In collaboration with Artosphere and Trail Mix, UpStream Art will be leading a walking tour of the storm drain murals in the downtown area from 3-5pm, beginning at the Fayetteville Underground.
About the featured performers:
Candy Lee is an award-winning singer/songwriter who combines folk, jazz and indie music to create her own unique style. She, along with her band, Candy Lee & The Sweets, create a funky sound and beautiful, three-part female vocal harmonies.
Cry You One comes from the southeast Louisiana river delta, and their musical stylings are a blend of vocals and fiddle tunes. The band's music is inspired by the crisis of coastal land loss that is currently taking place in Louisiana.
Fayetteville resident Carter Sampson has gained acclaim across the country, both opening for artists such as Patrice Pike and Christine Kane as well as headlining her own shows at the songwriter's Mecca, The Blue Door. She was the 2012 winner of the "Best Female Singer-Songwriter" award at the NW Arkansas Music Awards and has three studio albums.
Smokey & The Mirror is a band comprised of Bernice and Bryan Hembree—two former members of the local folk trio, 3 Penny Acre. The duo has been touring for close to a year and performs at venues and events throughout Northwest Arkansas, including the Fayetteville Roots Festival.
Martha Redbone is an indie soul pioneer and a woman noted for her rhythm & blues feel. Her style is an award-winning blend of Native American elements with fund and soul and her deep roots in Appalachian folk.
Three-piece, high-energy percussion group, Street Drum Corps, takes ordinary objects and turns them into an interactive music performance for all ages to enjoy. The group formed in Los Angeles and was named Drum Ensemble of the Year by Drum Magazine in 2012.
In case of rain, a change in location for will be announced closer to the date of the event. For more information about these performance or others, visit waltonartscenter.org.


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So my mother came over to the house today and we did a little cookin' in the kitchen. Not the old fashioned kind. Well, maybe this is the old fashioned kind nobody remembered to pass it down! We'd found some 'recipes' online for some sleepy cream, and some pain relief cream among other things. When mother called to ask how to make them, it's just easier to show her. So she brought her everyday oil kit, a jug of coconut oil and, now…..she never leaves home without her water bottle either.
So we looked up the recipe for the sleepy cream first. Mother has been overwhelmed by the power of peace and calming in her diffuer at night for bed and has been sleeping better than she has in YEARS. So why she felt the need to add this sleep cream to her nightly routine I have no idea. We made such a mess and rubbed it all over our bodies to clean up that I'm just glad she wasn't dozing off on her drive home. lol
So here's a helpful little chart with a few good recipes. Most of which can be made using the essential oils from the Everyday Oils that can be purchased as a part of the Premium Starter Kit.
So the sleepy cream was a breeze to make. My only substitution is adding a bit of mango butter to the mix. You see, where I live coconut oil doesn't stay solid except in the winter. 😉 So I always use a double boiler and add a more stiff carrier to my goodies. Melt down the coconut oil and mango in a double boiler just to the point it's liquid. Then I transfer it to a room temp glass bowl and put it in the fridge just long enough for it to start to set up again. Like when you start to see a solid edge around the bowl. Take it out, stir just a bit to make it like jelly, then I add my necessary essential oils and take my electric hand mixer with the whisk attachment and whip it up until it's nice and creamy. If you've ever made meringue it's sorta' the same principle. Then we put her creams into metal tins and put labels on the lids.
We made the pain cream on this recipe chart too, just like above adding some mango butter and preparing the same way. Only lemongrass doesn't come in the premium kit and that's what my mother has been working with. So we substituted Thieves oil. Which I'm sure works GREAT too!! 🙂
She was so happy when she went home I wonder how long it took her to get them out at home and lather my dad up! Young Living therapeutic grade essential oils aren't cheap (nothing that's good for you ever is!), so it's nice to be a bit stingy (for lack of a better word) with them at times. Just administering a drop or two neat on your skin is definitely awesome and gets right down to business. But if you have something chronic or just a daily habit you've gotten into then making things like these creams makes your oils go a long way! Remember a little dab'll do ya so when you are making a 1/4 to 1/2 cup mixture you're going to get a lot more mileage out of your precious drops of oil than you realize.
I hope you take the time to make some of the things on this sheet and let me know how they worked for you! Even if you just use the one carrier oil of coconut rather than a combination it's still gonna work out great for you!
Oh! I almost forgot! She told me she had been studying what to use for my dad's blood sugar too and apparently she's been applying Thieves oil to his feet at night too. So we took an empty oil bottle and added a carrier oil (olive oil) to the bottle and put in some thieves so she already has a bottle of mixed to use like a massage oil. He's still getting the benefit of the thieves and it's going to last a lot longer for her this way.
There's seriously soooo many ways to use essential oils that this is just the tip of the iceberg. (please note that I'm watching Deadliest Catch while updating my blog so I'm literally seeing icebergs. lol Yeah, I'm a dork like that.) Please comment below if you have made any of these or if you have recipes of your own you'd like to share!
What are you waiting for?


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IU aims to support a seamless student experience that includes all student activities from recruiting and admission to registration, orientation, and initial advising throughout students' IU careers. As detailed in the Moving Forward 2.0: IU Online Implementation Plan, campuses will first incorporate common and shared resources to support online education (e-learning design and services, technology support, student services), then build beyond those services as necessary.
Campus Services
IU Online provides an excellent and full-service program experience, not a bundling of courses.
Seamless student services will include university-level support within the following areas:
- Accessibility
- Academic and online readiness
- Orientation
- First year experience
- Career and academic advising
- Additional areas as identified
Have a question about IU Online? Email email@example.com. We will respond to you within 24 hours.
Resources for all students
Although each campus has its own tools and services, your students have access to a variety of online tools. Here are just a few.


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Short bio
Blue Light Bandits is an independent groove rock band from Worcester, MA and was recently voted Worcester's "Best Live Act" at the 2018 Worcester Music Awards. BLB released their debut self-titled LP in October of 2017 and hit the NACC 200 national college radio charts. "It's a smooth piece of work, rife with some spectacular guitar work and a low-key sort of funk" - T&G.
OTHER Local Shows
-- mostly as a cover band featuring 90's R&B and hip hop throwbacks plus pop, rock, reggae, funk, & blues --
1/27 Michael's Cigar Bar // Worcester, MA // 9pm - 12am [21+] Duo Loop Show
2/16 Medusa Brewing // Hudson, Ma // 7pm -10pm [21+] Duo Loop Show
2/17 Michael's Cigar Bar // Worcester, MA // 9pm - 12am [21+] Duo Loop Show
2/24 Lucky's Lounge // Boston, Ma // 8pm - 11pm [21+] Duo Loop Show
3/2 Medusa Brewing // Hudson, Ma // 4:00pm [21+] Opening for Organically Good Trio
Blue Light Bandits perform at Cove Music Hall
Blue Light Bandits just recently won a Worcester Music Award for "Best Live Act," and (perhaps ironically) listening to their eponymous 2017 album makes it clear why: The band is a great mix of indie rock and R&B soulfulness, creating a sound that's both smooth and playful. Songs such as "Mess You Make," "Back in Town" "A Little Love" and "Sea & The Moon" simmer with feeling. Indeed, the entire album reverberates with a sort of ineffable honesty, and it's terribly engaging.
'I'd love to see that magic raw'
The Blue Light Bandits (also local — they're from Worcester) are similarly powerful. The instrumental bits in their pieces are friendly, like city lights; the vocals, often chorus-like, always rise up at the perfect moment. The members of Blue Light Bandits are stellar lyricists; I was pleasantly surprised at the intricacies of their tracks. Their song "Homegrown / 'Til The Day I Die," for example, is less about the personality of a town than the character of a person, and contains satisfyingly rhythmic observations on humanity, like the lines "Nobody wants to die / but everybody's gotta go.
- The Tech
Blue Light Bandits set for Feb. 3 at Wachusett Brewing Co.
Blue Light Bandits' eponymous album released last October goes down easy. It's a smooth piece of work, rife with some spectacular guitar work and a low-key sort of funk. Songs such as "Call of the Sirens," "Mess You Make" and "Back in Town" have a gentle melodic quality that buoy the album's clear, pop-ready vocals. All told, it's a pleasant, expertly crafted album that shows off just what the band is capable of accomplishing.
There is a real treat coming out of Worcester, and it can be heard on the Blue Light Bandits' self-titled debut album. The 10-song effort is something of a rarity these days: an LP that has barely any filler and begs to be listened to over and over again. It's a perfect start for a promising young band...
Who are The Blue Light Bandits?
How did you go about deciding what kind of music you'd put out? We have always combined what we know and love with what feels fresh and funky...
Performance Review: Blue Light Bandits
As I ate my delicious raspberry toast, I heard the duo perform equally delicious covers, and a few impressive originals. The band was clearly versatile and incredibly skilled...
Only thing they'll steal is the show
The Blue Light Bandits, a pop, rock and jazzy R&B band deemed Best Up & Coming Act at the 2016 Worcester Music Awards...
Based out of Douglas, Blue Light Bandits is a young band on the verge of breaking big. They are arguably unmatched in momentum right now in the New England music scene....
All green lights so far for R.I. band Blue Light Bandits
Winner of R.I.'s Last Band Standing competition is nominee for Best New Act at Saturday's New England Music Awards...


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The Liverpool Maritime Museum has an exhibition on at the moment called 'In Safe Hands' which charts the service from those days of sail to today's high speed launches.
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
Pilot Boat
The Liverpool Maritime Museum has an exhibition on at the moment called 'In Safe Hands' which charts the service from those days of sail to today's high speed launches.
9 comments:
- Leslie: said...
I recognize that harbour view that I admired when departing for the Isle of Man in 2012. Also, I stayed at the Holiday Inn right down from there in both 2012 and 2016. Love Liverpool and not just because my grandfather was born there. Such an exciting city full of history.
abcw team
- 25 April 2017 at 22:18
- carol l mckenna said...
Wonderful photo of that fantastic pilot boat ~ lovely shells ~ Great post for P ~
Wishing you a lovely week ~ ^_^
- 25 April 2017 at 23:12
i like how the still life was arranged
- 26 April 2017 at 02:09
- Hildred said...
Imagine the changes over a period of 250 years!
- 26 April 2017 at 03:27
- Indrani said...
That is a good variety of pictures for P :)
Happy ABCW!
- 26 April 2017 at 12:12
- Melody Steenkamp said...
nice choice.... living in the country, far away from water, I rarely see boats like these
- 26 April 2017 at 13:20
- Trubes said...
One of my favourite views of my beloved hometown Joy,
so there's no guessing that I would love this piece.
I worked with a girl in Lloyds Bank Liverpool who married
a river pilot, he could tell some amazing tales about his
job.Once he would contact her via his office in Liverpool
to say that he was aboard a ship in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean, first stop America.
It seemed, that after he had safely
piloted the ship out of The Mersey, a terrific storm blew up and it was
too dangerous to climb back down to the pilot boat.
The storm raged all around the British Isles right into the Atlantic so onward to the States they went.
He was flown home several days later!
Best regards,
ABCW team.
- 26 April 2017 at 18:18
- Ann said...
I really think it's neat they are all named after birds.We live inland so I don't see river boats only lakes with speedboats.
- 28 April 2017 at 22:07
- Roger Owen Green said...
a bit of Liverpool! love it
- 29 April 2017 at 11:57


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The past month has been defined by the gradual onset of spring. Winter is slowly fading, and although it hasn't given up easily, the warmer weather and longer days are slowly winning out. This has led to an increase in the amount of time spent outdoors, which in turn has led to more opportunities to shoot. Still, I'm far from having the kind of time I used to have to get out and shoot; perhaps this is the new normal? As much as I'd prefer it not to be, I think it may be.
I have been meaning to do a write-up of a camera I have been loving lately, the Ricoh GR. It has come to be my go-to camera every day, everywhere, for virtually every situation. The focal length was a bit of a problem at first, and it's still not my favorite, but I'm learning to work around it and challenge myself; other than that, the camera is essentially perfect. If Ricoh made more of these, in different focal lengths–say, 21-28-40, or something–they'd sell a boatload. It's awesome.
But that leads me to another point I've been pondering: gear. I've come to despise talking about gear. I spent the better part of 5 years obsessing in varying amounts about the type of gear I was using. I was fetishizing the equipment rather than what I was doing with it, and in the process spent a lot of money buying and selling various types of gear. I was a digital convert, a film purist, and Leicaphile…in short, I've covered the gamut of gearhead obsession and self-identification.
Over the past few months I've given myself some distance from gear-based forums. I've stopped following many on various social media outlets that only talk about gear. And amazingly, it all came about naturally. I just…stopped caring. I no longer care to debate the optical qualities of a certain lens, the megapixel count of a given sensor, sharpness, resolution, etc etc. I just don't care. Because I don't care does not mean I am on some high and mighty, holier-than-thou moralistic crusade; if that's what interests you, then knock yourself out.
There are camera collectors, and there are photographers. I believe that due to the technical side of the art form, those two necessarily converge at some point in all those who take photographs, but how much varies. I used to be equal parts collector and user, and in some instances was more collector than user. If you take photographs of your cameras, or choose your camera as an accessory you'd like people to see, you're in that territory as well. Like any recovering cameraholic, it has taken distance and time to be able to see that about myself.
What I've come to understand, only more recently, and with the benefit of space to reflect on this, is that my priorities were skewed. Yes, the addition of a new camera is always a thrill, but it's a cheap thrill. Before long, you're stuck in a never-ending cycle of adding yet another piece of gear to achieve the same rush again. Eventually you don't even use the equipment you have assembled, despite your reasoning to yourself that you're only acquiring the gear to use, and that it will help you somehow. It won't. The ever-shorter window that you own the gear before swapping it for something else means you can't. You don't get to know it; rather than becoming a trusted old friend, the article in question is never more than a passing acquaintance, something you only know superficially before bidding it adieu and welcoming another.
Increasingly, I have spent more time shooting for myself. And if I'm honest, I can barely tell the difference in varying optical qualities of lenses and sensors most of the time unless I'm looking at them side-by-side at the pixel level. When it comes to photographs that mean something to me, more important is that I have the photos, not that they are technically perfect. When someone looks at the photos of my life, will they care if I used the Summilux or the Summicron? When I look at them in ten years, will I care? Will I even notice?
So the GR may not get a review, as I have done with previous cameras. I have to say that consistently, it is the camera reviews I have done that garner the most page views. I get more traffic from them than from anything else I have posted over the years. I guess that says a lot about others as well, and how the prioritization of gear has consumed photography for a lot of folks.
Expect to see less about gear going forward.


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Haven't listened to Roger Stone much but it's refreshing to hear someone destroy obvious propaganda.
The interviewer is just shocked and outraged that someone would question the "establishment" or the intelligence community's "authority."
I'm shocked that after setting up so many foreign wars, puppet dictatorships and rigged market crashes, that anyone would be asking us to trust the intelligence community.
And we know that the intelligence community's mouthpiece is the mainstream media, the same ones who've actually been dividing Americans and driving people to derangement.


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You might remember me mentioning that we played Mansions of Madness from FFG back in March. Well, since then we've managed a couple more plays and I thought it was time to type out some of my thoughts on the game.
Arkham Horror. I like AH but I thought something more true to Lovecraft that maybe took place on a smaller scale as opposed to an entire city would be cool. Something RPG-ish perhaps. And then they announded Mansions of Madness. "Blimey" I thought, "they read my mind!"
The first time we tried it I messed up a little bit as the Keeper, I switched two stacks of cards around during setup, which resulted in a slightly off-kilter game that didn't flow very well as a story. It was still fairly entertaining but nothing really spectacular.
When we next had a chance to play it I decided to try the same scenario again, but making different scenario choices, to see how well it would stand up to repeat plays. The story aspect worked better this time around as all the cards were in their right places, but although we had a good time I had hoped for more when it came to Mansions of Madness. It felt like there was a lot of cool concepts there, but as the basic game stands right now you don't really get that Arkham Horror-but-more-intimate-story-driven-pseudo-rpg-experience that I think a lot of people expected. I know I did at least.
Then again, it might simply have been the particular scenario we tried. After having played it twice I felt that the it was a bit... well, boring. It's a cool idea to have this crazy maniac keep showing up, hacking his way towards you just to chop off your ear and run away with it(!), but from a pure game play perspective it gets a little repetative in the long run. So when we managed to get the old Arkham Horror crew (me, Anders, Micke and Claes) back together a couple of days ago we gave Mansions of Madness another whirl, this time trying the second scenario: The Inner Sanctum.
Now... there might be some SPOILERS below, so if you want to avoid that skip ahead.
The story was that the Investigators are going to an old monastary in Dunwich to investigate (didn't expect that did you?!) some cult activity. As always in MoM they didn't know what their final objective would be, but started to simply wander around the house, trying to find clues. All during setup there was quite a bit of talk about sticking together and presenting a unified front, but when we actually started playing the stupid sods split up in three different directions! I guess the lure of being the first to pilfer a shotgun was too great.
My objective as the Keeper was to get four cultists into the Ceremony Room where they would sacrifice themselves to summon a Cthonian. If I then could keep the Cthonian alive for four turns I would win the game. So I started summoning cultists by the two altars in the basement and the crypt and then used them to collect some nasty Mythos and Trauma cards for later use against the Investigators. I kind of forgot that I was supposed to march them towards the Ceremony Room and had some fun turning two of them into a Hound of Tindalos and attacking the poor bumbling humans instead!
Two of the three investigators simply ran into locked doors and dead ends, while the third (who actually followed the clue from the intro text!) ran into some stiff resistance. After some close calls and some debilitating injuries they teamed back up and started to make some headway. By this time I had remembered my objective and had a bunch of cultists make a beeline for the Ceremony Room. Not knowing exactly what they were up to, but certain that it was probably nothing good, the Investigators tried to stop the cultists and a fierce battle ensued! It looked like I would have succeded in getting them all in there when Gloria Goldberg cast a Shrivelling spell that set the room on fire! That pretty much dashed my hopes of achieving my objective before the time limit was up, so I decided to simply hinder the Investigators in achieving theirs.
At the beginning of the game I pretty much dominated and the Investigators were at my mercy, however after grouping up and having found an axe and learned the Shrivelling spell (as well as Michael McGlenn's tommygun) they proved a much more formidable threat. By this time McGlenn's sanity was down to zero while the other two had only one or two points left. This left them much more susceptible to mental trauma cards and I thought I would have a field day! Having one of the Investigators being insane sounds like play time at the zoo, but it turned out that it didn't do much of a difference. Now and then I could move one of them a few steps or some similar little trick, but I didn't really feel that I had a chance of stopping them. Then I drew the really nasty Trauma cards...
So this is how it all ended: the cultists had summoned a Shoggoth that blocked the investigators way! McGlenn and Aschan Pete did what they could against the protoplasmic horror but it was far from enough, and Pete even lost his trusty axe to one of its' slimy pseudopods! They needed Gloria's spell. When she saw the monstrosity she simply turned and ran however and in the following round of combat it almost killed Ashcan Pete! Gloria did manage to find her courage again and put an end to the beast with a Shrivelling spell (again setting the room on fire!). She and McGlen advanced forward in the cave system and were about to enter that last forboding door when McGlen suddenly shouted "I see your slimy tail!" and opened fire on Gloria! She fell dead to the ground as McGlen turned the gun on himself, splattering the wall behind him with his brains. Pete stared at the scene in horror, barely noticing the cultists who were surrounding him...
In the end neither side won but I think we all agreed that it was a true Lovecraftian ending! Some hightlights was the early fight with the Hound of Tindalos, me forgetting about the Cult Leader and Anders' and Micke's bad dice rolling when trying to kill him, and then how Claes set the entire Ceremony Room on fire foiling my plans! Then of course the battle with the Shoggoth and the dark ending.
In any case, this time Mansions of Madness played out a lot more like I had envisioned it. It still isn't quite the game I had in mind (it never is, is it?) but we had a lot more fun with it. What I think we're still struggling with is that it's actually very linear in nature; you have to follow the clues to make progress. And while you can go around and explore you will most likely only end up finding locked doors and waste time that could have been better spent following the leads together as a group. Given the open layout of the map, having to follow a set path can feel counter-intuitive.
Wow, this is starting to get a bit long. And here I thougth I would have room to make a combined post on both Mansions of Madness and Lord of the Rings: the Card Game. Forget that!
So in conclusion I think Mansions of Madness has great potential but that it needs to be cracked open a bit, allowing a little bit more freedom into it while still managing to tell a compelling story. This is a tall order I know, as it's a thin line to tread. Arkam Horror is the polar opposite where you have a complete freedom to do whatever you want, but no semblence of a coherent story. I do think there is a middle ground though but I fear Mansions of Madness will need the inevitable expansion to really get it there.
It's still a fun game, don't get me wrong, but as it stands right now it depends a fair bit on your players and even more on what scenario you play. The first one was mediocre while the second one was fun so I'm hoping the third one will be great (and the upcoming print on demand scenario sounds neat!). I remain hopeful however as I think there's definitely room for this kind of game on the market. FFG just need to refine it a bit more.


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Typing of the dead: Overkill fuses the horror and comedy of the legendary House of the Dead series with unique typing mechanics in order to deliver a truly original gaming experience!
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This Week in Kpop girl groups came back with a vengeance! But what captured our attention wasn't the releases and comebacks, but the leaks and the rumors surrounding some of our favorite idols. We're thinking about Sulli. We're talking about Jessica. But let's stop stalling and get started already!
Goodbye, Sulli?
Say it isn't so, Sulli! Oh, never mind, it has probably been so for a while now. Rumors have circulated that Sulli will leave f(x) but remain with SM and focus on her acting. While normally we wouldn't give much credence to Kpop's whirlwind rumors, SM's stock reply feigning ignorance (instead of giving a firm denial) makes us believe this could very well be true or will be true soon, at least. There are shades of Jessica here and everyone that has left Exo. We're ready for the firestorm unleashed by angry netizens, and have already seen a lot of "good riddance" and "Sulli ruined f(x)'s last comeback." And you know what? f(x)'s comeback really was a missed opportunity and we will be eternally bummed that they didn't continue promotions. Did you hear "Rainbow?" Or: "Milk?"
But if this does happen to be true, we hope that we'll be seeing some grace from our fellow Kpop lovers. f(x) has been around since 2009. That's six years, friends. You add in four-five years of training, and that's at least a decade in this grueling industry, and that's not even considering how your life is placed under a microscope and a single cup of coffee with a friend could land you in Dispatch or some other "news" entity. That has to age someone, and quick. Would it be so hard to believe that an idol could be burnt out? Isn't six years long enough to entertain you? And when it comes down to it, f(x) will be fine without Sulli (we still think they can be SM's future). When it comes down to it, with six years under her belt, Sulli doesn't owe fans anything.
BTS' "Dope"
In a week of massive girl group overload, it may just be BTS that gets the nod for release of the week. Not that we have a chart system in place or anything (Wait: should we have a chart system in place???!). "Dope" is just dope, and is the energetic song we need after our hearts were ripped out after "I Need U." There's some amazing choreography and costumes here, and these boys have developed, or maybe have always had, their own unique charisma. They've become one of the more multi-faceted Kpop groups, and we're impressed by the fact that they can transition from a more serious concept to this without missing a beat or losing their core ethos. Hopefully, they won't release some type of "Original Version" for "Dope" that ends up with the group getting electrocuted in a lake of fire! Our hearts can't take it!
Teen Top's "ah-ah"
Teen Top may have released the song of the summer here, and the great thing with this summer release is that its charms don't hinge on this being (simply) a summer song - it's so much more! The boys get a chance to let loose here, and although we're a bit worn down by the boys-harassing/flirting-with-girls affectation (because really, this isn't real life), their talents and collective energy bursts through the tired setup. "ah-ah" has a Motown flavor that grooves and keeps on grooving, and the choreography is just gold. If anything, this release is probably better than BTS' new release, and certainly a more rounded summer song than we've seen in a while. But what do you think, friends? BTS vs. Teen Top? Who wins this round? Or maybe we all win here?
Playback's "Playback"
We're still waiting for that stellar girl group debut for 2015. Some have come close, most have turned out to be pretty generic and cutesy thus far. Where's this year's Mamamoo? Maybe 2014 just spoiled us too much. Playback's "Playback" isn't the sleeper hit we are looking for, but it is a solid, fun song that has a catchy hook (which may or may not include Playback in the lyrics). The girls seem charismatic, and talented, and while the video is mostly forgettable, there are some strange images and cute choreography to keep you coming back.
JuB and Ji Dam Yuk's "My Sympathy"
Hey, it's JuB from Sunny Hill and a rapper from Unpretty Rapstar (Ji Dam Yuk)! And it's a good song and it probably won't get a lot of attention, but you never know! We're a little meh on this overall, but maybe on further listen we'll be slayed. A lot of new releases means a lot of opportunities for a release like this to get lost in the shuffle, which is a shame. We'll give it another listen. Right now.
Chaeyeon's "Obvious"
After, what? Four years? Five years? Chaeyeon is back with a fun, ridiculous video! It seems to be the flavor for female idols! What do you think, friends? Worth the wait?
AOA vs. Alternate Universe SNSD vs. Mamamoo vs. Sistar
There were so many girl group releases this week that we decided to bring them together in one climactic face-off! In this corner, we have the spectacular AOA, in this other corner, the slapstick Mamamoo, in yet another corner there's Sistar and they're just shaking it over there! And what's this? We have one more corner, and it features surprise entrants: Alternate Universe SNSD! FACE-OFF BEGINS NOW. Which of these girl groups slay with their new releases? Find out here!
S.O.S. - Save Our Sister!
"Save our Sistar?" you may ask yourself. But they seem so happy! Why would they need saving?! Well, first of all, calm down already. They're not in peril, really. Some of you are even okay with them being trapped in perpetual summer. But there's more to Sistar's problems, and we'll tell you about them right here.
June 21-27, 2015
And that was This Week in Kpop! The girl groups came roaring back, but somehow, we feel that they've been a bit overshadowed by releases from the likes of BTS and Teen Top. Maybe we're way off-base here! Next week may be just as spectacular as this week, but hopefully with far less drama! Until then, have fun and be safe!


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You probably know him from "Restaurant: Impossible," where he takes a failing one and works a miracle with both the eating establishment and the owners and employees, or his new show, Restaurant Express, where chefs face off for the chance at their dream eatery. Now Robert Irvine is a "Man on a Mission" in Metro New York to let foodservice operators know the benefits of an innovative ice-making subscription program.
But Food Network chef Robert Irvine has a long and star-studded history; from serving as head chef at Academy Awards celebrations to being part of the Naval Mess at the West Wing of The White House to becoming executive chef aboard numerous cruise ships, culminating with the five-star MS Crystal Harmony.
How did you get involved in the industry?
I was in the U.S. Navy for 10 years as a cook with the Marines, in field and on field, and I worked for a couple of admirals and generals. When I came out of the Navy, I worked as the executive chef at the Renaissance Jamaica Grand. Then I was the executive chef in charge of operations at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. And then I went from there to one of Caesar's hotels and casino, with over 1,000 employees. And finally, I started my own business, with two restaurants, Robert Irvine's Eat!, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Robert Irvine's Nosh, Bluffton, South Carolina.
Tell me what it's like to work in something as intense and high volume as cruise ships. What did you take out of that? What did you move forward with as you built your career?
These places serve thousands and thousands of meals a day and snacks with a variety of crew members from all over the world. What I took away was buying food in local areas and sourcing food. One of my biggest concerns was and is, how do we make food safe? How do we make the environment safe? Not only for the guests but also the people handling the food. Do we give them the tools they need to do their jobs? Or do we leave them hanging and expect them to do their jobs? That's very important. Sanitation and cleanliness are key.
It may seem trivial but how does the proper handling of ice enter into this issue of food safety?
By going into these places and actually seeing the state of what the ice machines look like, I can tell you how clean and safe the whole operation is. I've seen everything that could possibly happen to an ice machine, cockroaches in it, bacteria in it, even mold growing in the ice cubes. And it's something that nobody ever thinks about, but we put it into drinks. We feed children, old people, young people with it.
Sickness has no boundaries. And what I've seen is that ice machines are very dangerous if they're not handled correctly. Because it only takes one person to ingest mold and tragically die. And if they're 80 years old or 12 years old and they get sick, they could die. I use that all the time on my show, Restaurant: Impossible. Ice is very, very dangerous.
So what's the solution for a restaurant?
I knew that I would clean my ice machine once a month. Maybe twice a month if I was lucky. But if I'm not there, I couldn't trust my employees to do it. So why would I trust a restaurant that I go to when they're busy and they're short-staffed to really do it? I don't. That's why I use Easy Ice, you can get a subscription and know it's clean and safe every time. I try to get the word out that, hey, listen, why worry about these things that you don't need to worry about? Like ice and ice machines and cleaning when you have somebody to do that? Ice may seem trivial but it's really not.
How did the idea for Restaurant: Impossible come about?
About four years before it started, I went to the network. At the time we were doing Dinner: Impossible. And they were not interested in doing a fix-it with a restaurant because of the liability. You know, letting an English guy go in with a sledgehammer! To fix a restaurant is not without potential disasters. So we tabled it. But after finishing 100-plus episodes of Dinner: Impossible, I suggested we go back and visit Restaurant: Impossible.
They said, let's greenlight it, six episodes and see how you do. It was crazy. The people loved it. And here we are. We just finished our 98th restaurant, 76 of which have been successful. and we're in the process of doing another 26 right now.
What are the common characteristics of the 76 that have been successful?
That's easy. To account and record what they do and what they spend. And acquire knowledge that they never had before through creating systems to achieve the common goal of hey, let's not lose money. Bring in an accounting company to make sure the books are straight. There's all these things that go on but not everyone is the same. Sometimes it's family members who are the problem and we get rid of some of them because we can't work together. You know how a business runs.
Where did this tough love come from?
We trek back and see why it isn't being successful and we take it piece by piece. Is it financial? Is it staffing? Is it food? Is it service? Is it the hard physical plant itself ? Is it a color? We break it down and that way I can figure out, ok, when I leave here in 36 hours, who is going to be responsible for the running of this restaurant and are they going to be able to do it the same as me.
We change the attitude of the cooks and we revamp the place and we show them how to buy fish the way it's supposed to be bought, how to use and handle it, and obviously, we teach them how critical a part ice plays because the fish has to sit on fresh ice.
So I put systems in place to be able to make sure that when I do leave, it doesn't change. Those who listen, thrive, and we've proved that. We've had restaurants go from half a million dollars in debt to a million five in revenue. One restaurant owner texted me just last night that now you can't even get in the doors, after I was there a year ago.
Why is it so important to get the right distributor, the right specialty house?
I'm the spokesperson for Sysco, which has the largest farm of people on the planet. Or at least it seems that way! It goes from the seed all the way through its growing period to the end of the table, with its products. And at any one point, we can tell you what is in that herb, what is on that lettuce. And where it comes from. Same with their fish.
Sysco actually teaches growers how to farm in a different way. Not to teach them to farm, but teach them to farm so they make more money on their product, sustainability and everything. It's so important.
Can a restaurant serve healthy food and be successful?
Restaurants can offer healthy food and it doesn't have to be filled with butter and cream and eggs. It has to be available, if that's what you want. But also there has to be a variety. We talk about gluten-free; we talk about all these nutrition fads. Some are health-related, some are just fads but we as chefs have to adapt to that to keep our business going. Fresh food simply with the least amount done to it using fresh fruit and herbs, low sodium, soy sauces and honeys instead of refined sugars, that's the key. We can do the same thing, we just have to cut the butter and eggs and sugar back, and yes, my restaurants do it and they thrive.
What makes a restaurant fail?
There are four things that can be wrong. It's outdated, the decor is dirty, the staff doesn't know what they're doing, the menu is old and redundant. As a business owner, I change my menu every five weeks. If I have people coming in five days a week, I don't want them seeing the same menu.
I as a business owner better be on the ball as well when the guests are telling our server something isn't right, make sure they pass that on to the manager to ensure we make the changes to keep them coming back. There's no excuse why you can't change your business, and I do it every week with $10,000 in two days.
What about the popularity of all the cooking shows on TV? What has that done to our industry?
Nobody wants to be in our business now – they want to be TV stars, they want to be on television, they want to make money. Or somebody sees that their wife is good at cooking and they can do really nice things with people so they deserve to have a restaurant. Come on. Before I got on TV I was working for 30-something years in the industry from hotels to cruise ships to restaurants. And in the military to get to where I am. And people think it's easy to run a restaurant. I'm the one who stands there and says, if you don't like vacations, if you don't like boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever the case may be, and you want to go work for somebody in the industry for two years for free and don't get paid, go ahead and do it. Sure, it's fun to be a star. But it's also incredibly hard work.


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So, I am supposed to be writing a talk for tomorrow. (for the non-Mormons among us: I am speaking in church, and I need to write my own mini-sermon, about fifteen minutes long).
Don't judge me, you all write your talks on Saturday, too.
We are staying at my mother in law's this weekend, just hanging out and visiting.
In order to write my talk, I had my laptop open on the couch.
But, to my two year old, this was apparently an invitation for him to climb all over me. And since I have no will power when it comes to that squishy little face, I had a very hard time prying him off of my face.
Yes. My face. That's his favorite part to cling to.
It's awesome.
So I went into the other room, which is the guest room where hubby and I sleep.
But that room is kinda cold.
So I got under the blankets, with my laptop in front of me.
And that position is just not conducive to focused writing.
So here I am, blogging when I should be focusing on other stuff.
I honestly don't know how this keeps happening.