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December 29, 2013
Free Motion Practice
I finally had some time to play with it this weekend, trying out different threads and practicing free-motion quilting without a stitch regulator. It's like learning to ride a bike without training wheels all over again, but with a little practice, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I won't go into detail about the machine's features since there are lots of reviews already, but if you have any questions or need to be pointed in the direction of the reviews I've read, just let me know. I will say that I LOVE this machine. The tension is wonderful, and it handles any brand and weight of thread I've tried so far.
I had an issue with the quilting feet that was easily resolved. I love that the free-motion quilting feet are heavy and sturdy, but they rest a little low and don't "float" over the quilt. I was having to work too hard to push and pull the quilt sandwich through the machine. Leah Day is a courageous woman who fearlessly modifies her free-motion feet. It makes perfect sense, but I'm afraid I would mutilate them and have to buy more. Then I found this post by Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. I wedged in a few tiny pieces of cardboard and they work perfectly.
Here are photos of my practice doodling. Yeah, I got a little impatient and didn't press the fabric or baste the layers. I'm thrilled that there are no knots and tension issues. I think I'll be very happy with this machine.
Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you have a fabulous 2014!
20 comments:
- December 29, 2013
- Karen said...
You could do this with your eyes closed :)!! It looks wonderful. Glad to see you playing again.
- December 29, 2013
- Cathy said...
Your quilting looks wonderful! The stitches are so even. I'll hve to remember the Juki!
- December 29, 2013
- Carol said...
Your quilting is amazing! I get so frustrated with my Janome, it has feed dog issues. I was thinking of a Viking but now I'm thinking the Juki 2010Q might be just what I need.
- December 29, 2013
- Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...
OMGosh! Your quilting is gorgeous!! I don't think you need practice. LOL Have a wonderful new year!
- December 29, 2013
- Thimbleanna said...
Holy Cow Kim -- what on earth would you need a stitch regulator for? Your quilting is amazing. WOW!!!
- December 29, 2013
- QuiltSue said...
Woww!!!! Kim your "practice" pieces look perfect to me. I am totally in awe of your skill.
- December 30, 2013
- suemac said...
When I tried out the Juki that was my main complaint with the hopping foot. It was a struggle to get the fabric to move under the foot. This seems to be a less destructive way to modify the foot.
- December 30, 2013
- Stephanie said...
Holy Smokes -- that's practice! It's amazing. Your feathers are so pretty. Have fun -- obviously you already are. Happy New Year!
- December 30, 2013
- a good yarn said...
Kim, I have a couple of quilt tops for you to practice on if this is the quality of your practice pieces. When would you like to me to send them over?
- December 30, 2013
- FlourishingPalms said...
Your quilting is absolutely gorgeous, Kim! It's apparent you've been quilting for quite a while, and I'm sure that the extra throat space in your Juki is making it easier to do too. Keep up the marvelous work! You're inspiring me to keep plugging on my Riley Blake Challenge quilt which needs to see a finish by next week to meet our MQG chapter deadline. Keep having fun with your Juki, and have a blessed 2014!
- December 30, 2013
- Jeanna said...
Beautiful practice work Kim. Congratulations on your new Juki. Happy New Year!
- December 30, 2013
- Becky said...
Your quilting looks great! The Juki sounds like a good machine. I think it's interesting that I have a Bernina 440QE that I LOVE for machine quilting. I haven't had any problems w/tension on mine, but I do know it is a bit of a thread snob--the best quality threads only. Happy new year!
- December 31, 2013
- Karmen Sunshine said...
Wow; just wow. Juki huh. Wow.
- December 31, 2013
- Michele said...
You quilting is amazing! I also have a 440 that I love and I have another machine that I'm having an argument with right now. It's in the shop. So I'm very interested in how your new machine works out. Congratulations on taking the plunge :-) Is there somewhere near you where you can get it serviced? We don't have a juki dealer in this area and I've been wondering about that.
- January 01, 2014
- "laugh yourself into Stitches" said...
looks beautiful!!
- January 02, 2014
- Lori said...
Great tip by Amanda! Thanks for the heads up.
Your quilting is lovely!!
- January 02, 2014
- Linda Christianson said...
Beautiful work. I need to practice more.
- January 10, 2014
- KatB said...
Love your quilting! This may be my next machine.
- January 13, 2014
- Maxine said...
Your quilting is amazing. And the stiches are so even. I may have to look this machine up
- January 13, 2014


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As I was blogging this post and wanting to put up this recipe, I looked at the picture above and realise. Oh gosh, seriously no one can quite tell what it really consists of except me, the picture taker and obviously, the eater of my curry chicken. Yes I definitely need to study more on the kind of pictures, angles etc. But for now, this just have to do because I want to share this with you.
Recipe adapted from Kampung Curry by Patsie Cheong (this is my version)
- chicken wings or thighs or whichever chicken parts you like (about 1 kg)
- about 5-6 potatoes (cut into quarters)
- 120g shallots
- 60g garlic
- tumeric powder
- cooking oil
- 4 tbsp buah keras powder or 2 buah keras (candlenut)
- 3 tbsp chilli powder (or more if you wish)
- 3 tbsp curry meat powder
- 2 stalks lemongrass (only use the white portion and bruise it with your knife before you thinly slice it)
- 2 stalks curry leaves
- some low fat milk
- 1-2 chicken stock cubes
- After cleaning the chicken, marinate the chicken with turmeric powder (You may wish to use disposable gloves to marinate the chicken to avoid your hands from 'turning yellow'). Marinate it for at least 1-2 hours (I usually marinate mine overnight in the fridge).
- Pound shallots and garlic till you can see rough bits.
- Heat about 3 tbsp oil** in the pot (remember to add sufficient oil to avoid burning of the spices).
- Add pounded shallots and garlic together with buah keras powder, chilli powder, curry meat powder, lemongrass, curry leaves to the pot and stir fry till fragrant.
- Add in chicken, potatoes and stir fry evenly.
- Add water to cover chicken parts and cover the lid to let the chicken slowly cook.
- Once the chicken is cooked, you may add chicken stock cubes and taste once the stock cubes are dissolved in the curry.
- Add milk to the curry chicken and serve.

subset: commoncrawl


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Rock n Roll is the original G.I. Joe Machine Gunner.
I wanted to portray Rock n Roll as more of his surfer, body builder persona. To me, Marvel Comics made him look more like a blonde Grizzly Adams. I think the Thor head sculpt makes a pretty cool Rock n Roll.
The torso is a Ret. Roadblock. Swapped out the legs and arms for Bench Press - had to have that cool tattoo! I think the blend of parts gives Rock n Roll a nice body builder look without being too "juiced up" like the Rock.
The web gear is a custom from blending parts from the Night Fox vest with a Ret. Flint web gear. The mini-gun (ole "Painless" - Blain from Predator) is from a Spy Troops Roadblock. I acquired a different mini-gun (same sculpt) that has a silver barrel. I'll be swapping it out and updating the strap later on.
Comments & critiques welcomed and encouraged! Thanks.


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Been listening to the book "The Start up of You", by Reid Hoffman the co-founder of LinkedIn.
It is a good listen, or a good read.
There was comment he made that made grab a pen and paper. Of course I was driving so I had to wait until I stopped, re-wind and then make the notes.
The quote was 'when the naysayers get loud, turn up the volume'. When you are surrounded by negative people who can't say anything good about the idea, stay true to your idea. This not to say you ignore the wisdom of people who have best interest and can give insight which might also be concern. However we all know of people who are negative for the sake of being negative.
So now the challenge is to discern the difference and keep true to the vision.
Turn up the Volume
Monday, January 14, 2013
Deal with the Noise
Posted by Paul Gilbert at 8:51 pm
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I have made some hills from insulating foam offcuts.
Taking pictures of scenery is a challenge - I tried these outdoors in the sunshine - not sure it worked.
They look very pale in these pictures, they're a more creamy brown colour in r/l. Intended to be rocky mountainous stuff for Pathans to sweep down from on unsuspecting plucky Brits.


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J.D. Salinger Dies; Reclusive 'Catcher' Author
The news flashed across the wire in an appropriately enigmatic style: "Catcher in the Rye" author J.D. Salinger has died at age 91 in New Hampshire. No date of death, no cause of death, and it all came from a statement from the author's literary representative, quoting a surviving son.
Former staff writer Bart Barnes wrote our obit, which starts this way:
J.D. Salinger, 91, a celebrated author and enigmatic recluse whose 1951 novel, "The Catcher in the Rye," became an enduring anthem of adolescent angst and youthful rebellion and a classic of 20th-century American literature, has died.
To generations of men and women in the years after World War II, "The Catcher in the Rye," was the singular, tell-it-like-it-is story about the mind-set of a sensitive youth, cynical yet romantic; disdainful of hypocrisy, social convention and conformity; self-conscious, and uncomfortable in his own skin; confused and pathetic but also loveable.
The novel is about the adventures and misadventures of a disillusioned 16-year old who knows he is about to be expelled from his boarding school, Pencey Prep, and decides to run away instead. Over three-days in New York City, he has a run of weird encounters with taxi drivers, nuns, an elevator man, three girls from Seattle, a prostitute and a former teacher. In his eyes, the world is controlled and dominated by "phonies," whom he cannot abide, and he struggles with limited success to come to terms with love, sex and, ultimately, himself. In an encounter with his kid sister, Phoebe, he finds affection and salvation.
In the more than half-century since the novel's publication, its protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has joined the ranks of such literary legends as F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby and Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn as a folk hero of American fiction, with near-universal name recognition.
It also could have made Mr. Salinger a national celebrity, but he detested the public spotlight and not long after the book appeared, withdrew to the hills of rural New Hampshire, where he lived in seclusion. He shunned contact with the media and the public, and filed lawsuits to block publication or quotes from his personal letters. He continued writing, but not since a short story appeared in the New Yorker in 1965, has any new writing of Mr. Salinger's been published. Earlier, the New Yorker had published J.D. Salinger short stories, but to the majority of the reading public he was known only as the author of "The Catcher in the Rye."
Throughout the 1950s and into the new millenium, "The Catcher in the Rye" had annual sales figures in the hundreds of thousands. Holden Caulfield became a teenage Everyman whose wry and caustic observations seemed to be outrageous, clever and on-the-mark. From the beginning, in its cadence and language, his speech gave the youthful protagonist air of authenticity and timelessness.
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."
Sociologist David Riesman assigned the book at Harvard in his course on character and social structure in the United States, perhaps, said Time magazine in a 1961 cover story, "because every campus has its lonely crowd of imitation Holdens -- doomed wearers of raincoats-in-December, who rehearse faithfully their Caulfield hyperbole ('It was the last game of the year, and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn't win.')"
When "The Catcher in the Rye" appeared in summer 1951, William Maxwell, the author's friend and editor, reported in Book-of-the-Month-Club News that Mr. Salinger had worked on the novel for 10 years and at one point had withdrawn a 90-page version that had been accepted for publication because he felt the work was flawed.
The title is based on a line from the Scottish poet Robert Burns. In the story, a mistaken rendering of the line causes Holden Caulfield to imagine himself as a "catcher in the rye," responsible for keeping the children of the world from falling off "some crazy cliff."
Although he wrote for more than six decades, Mr. Salinger published no other full-length novel. His shorter fiction included "Nine Stories" (1953); "Franny and Zooey" (1961), which combined two stories; and "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction" (1963), which essentially combined two novellas. Much of this work was published initially in the New Yorker magazine, as was his last story to be published, "Hapworth 16, 1924," which appeared in the New Yorker in 1965.
In 1953 Mr. Salinger moved to Cornish, N.H. where he lived in a hilltop cottage overlooking the Connecticut River, jealously guarding his privacy. "There is a marvelous peace in not publishing," he told the New York Times in a rare 1974 telephone interview. "Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure."
Our full obituary will appear online presently, but tell us your thoughts on Salinger's life and work.
Adam Bernstein
January 28, 2010; 1:35 PM ET
Categories: Adam Bernstein
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Holden spoke to an enormous population of people who didnt like the way things were but were incapable of changing them to the way they wanted---the girl whose tear fell on the checkerboard was downstairs and Holden was not brave enough to go talk to her...he was a terribly insecure boy who lost a little brother he loved...and never felt whole...it's a quick read, a book you can fly through in a couple of hours or so...many people who have read it talk about the book, and one thing we speak about is "Whatever happened to Holden?" A sequel was recently published in the UK because the writer knew people wanted the answer to that question....sadly that question was answered today...What happened to Holden Caufield when he got older? He lived as a recluse and today, 1/28/10...he died.
Posted by: scottakruh | January 28, 2010 2:21 PM | Report abuse
i am sad, but curious. Is there any another great book among his private papers since the 60's???
I adore Holden and Catcher. I fell in love as a teeager who stumbled across the book by herself. Alas, no teacher or instructor or professor assigned me to "study" this work. Perhps that is why I love it so.
Posted by: rcallahan1 | January 28, 2010 3:03 PM | Report abuse
This is from a wikipedia page on the cultural effect of Catcher In The Rye.
The most well-known event associated with The Catcher in the Rye is arguably Mark David Chapman's shooting of John Lennon.[14] Chapman identified with the novel's narrator to the extent that he wanted to change his name to Holden Caulfield. On the night he shot Lennon, Chapman was found with a copy of the book in which he had written "This is my statement" and signed Holden's name.[15] Later, he read a passage from the novel to address the court during his sentencing.[16] Daniel Stashower speculated that Chapman had wanted Lennon's innocence to be preserved by death, inspired by Holden's wish to preserve children's innocence despite Holden's later realization that children should be left alone.[16]
After John Hinckley, Jr.'s assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981, police found The Catcher in the Rye among half a dozen other books in his hotel room.[17]
Robert John Bardo, who murdered Rebecca Schaeffer, was carrying the book when he visited Schaeffer's apartment in Hollywood on July 18, 1989.[18]
As numerous murders have been speculated to be connected to the novel, the film Conspiracy Theory depicts assassins brainwashed with an urge to purchase it."
I think the book Catcher in The Rye can be a dangerous book in the wrong hands.
It is full of hate and anger and Holden says several times he would like to shoot people. The book is not the innocent adolescent book many think it is. It is extremely full of anger. Taken seriously the book can lead emotionally disturbed people to act out.
Posted by: joebstewart | January 28, 2010 3:28 PM | Report abuse
joebstewart is right on...Catcher is sophomoric and full of anger; Holden is in a mental institution at the end of the book and that is where he belongs, as he shows no capacity to grow and develop. Unfortunately, that is not clear to many who read the book; he is their hero.
Richard Bradford's 'Red Sky at Morning' is a vastly superior coming-of-age novel, especially as the main character comes of age, unlike the one-dimensional Holden, who forever remains a dysfunctional adolescent.
Read Red Sky; don't watch the movie until you've read the book. You will laugh as the tears run down your cheeks...I guarantee it!
Posted by: LearnedHand3 | January 28, 2010 6:32 PM | Report abuse
Catcher in the Rye is a classic, as are Franny and Zooey and Nine Stories. I loved all of these growing up and am grateful to Mr. Salinger for sharing his gifts with the world. I completely disagree that Catcher provokes violence. There are many great coming of age books but nothing touches Catcher or even comes close.
If you really want something tame for your teens, check out Fires of Spring by James Michener, another great writer that lived into his nineties.
Posted by: johnk1000 | January 28, 2010 6:44 PM | Report abuse
Catcher in the Rye is perhaps the most vastly over-rated novel in American Literature. It is important in one particular way in that it is a harbinger of a youth culture that is evident in televsion and movies in particular that nothing that adults say or do has any value and that all adults are phonies, morons or perverts. Most of the students I have taught it to over the years begin with enormous excitement at the narrative voice and the situation--as I did myself--only to be worn down by the narrator's conspicuous lack of growth and whiny voice. What first is charming becomes tedious. There are numberless other better coming-of-age novels and stories that one might teach.
Posted by: dmcmahon1 | January 28, 2010 7:31 PM | Report abuse
An overrated book, got a lot of recent decade spotlight from Chapman's promo, who was a CIA contracter provided with Japanese concubines in Pacific Fleet Hawaii to snuff out a major proponent for peace, WHERE'S THE OBIT FOR HOWARD ZINN??? who also died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, like George Carlin, connect subsets of contacts, EMS,docs, etc...chloral hydrate for most popular human for five metric blocks, who can trust..
Posted by: frak | January 28, 2010 9:28 PM | Report abuse
fr dmcmahon1:
>Catcher in the Rye is perhaps the most vastly over-rated novel in American Literature...
So don't READ it. Simple as that. Millions obviously read AND enjoy it, as it is very well-written.
Posted by: Alex511 | January 28, 2010 9:33 PM | Report abuse
Catcher Is From Rober Burns Poem of Near Same Name. the Rose by Bette Midler Is amoung Classics' of Same Christmas Rose renewal. Burns died at 37, living twice Age of Men at Time & Reflection of Courage & Pain of Facing Falsely Governed Society Brings, Those Times Again, being 1940s':
Signed:PHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART von DRASHEK M.D.
Posted by: ThomasStewart1 | January 28, 2010 11:24 PM | Report abuse
It's about being a sensitive male in an insensitive, alienated modern urban existence. The other stories by Salinger are along the same lines. The twentieth century alienated man from his planet - we devolved into some kind of stereotype no matter what we do or did. Caulfield, and other Salinger characters, were the voices in the darkness calling out the nonsense, much like the iconic rebels from every age. He spoke for us and we loved him for it.
Posted by: steven7753 | January 29, 2010 10:22 AM | Report abuse
glad to see from the comments that i'm not alone in thinking 'catcher' is, to coin a phrase, a 'crumby' novel.
if you re-read it after high school, the predominant reaction is a strong desire to slap some sense into holden caulfield.
your pal,
Posted by: blakem | January 29, 2010 10:49 AM | Report abuse
I read "Catcher" and "Nine Stories" and "Franny and Zooey" so many years ago I have forgotten most of the details - but will never forget how much Salinger affected me. I found "Catcher" on my own, and sought out all the others.
Caulfield mentioned how bad one could wish, after reading a wonderful book, that one was friends with the author and could call him up whenever he wished - that doesn't happen very often, though. I felt the same way about Salinger. I yearned to meet him; I hungered for more of his stories or books. There was no internet - that was all I could find. Apparently, that was very nearly all that there was. Apparently there were no more of his stories to read and love. Sadness.
WIthout a book to be accurate, I am afraid to quote him exactly. But I still remember some lines, without their full context, almost exactly. They have never left me; they're a part of me.
As far as feeling the same way about Salinger himself, I yearned to meet him, too, but could find nothing on him - now I know why - until a newspaper article that quoted a woman who had lived with him, probably Joyce Maynard. He sounded inconsiderate and abusive. What I have read today does nothing to dispel that impression; it reinforces it. Sometimes a dream dies. My dream of meeting him did. And all the yearnings and feelings that went with it died too. More sadness.
Posted by: alakshak | January 29, 2010 11:09 AM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.


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Hola women,
Yes I am back with being masi again… I HAD to 🙂 My 4 year old (grown up) niece made sure that I don't forget her despite the overseas distance between us. To all those who are wondering what is this blog about it's a sequel of 'Being Masi' which was released last year which defines my journey from being non biological mother to being the maa-si of my super cute, model in making niece.
Where do I start from!!! It's been wonderful year with her around , every weekend was more than a joy ride. I have never had any such close relationship in my life with a child like her. I guess that's the reason being mother must be the wonderful feeling to all the women. Women to me are naturally emotional and sensitive…. I am. We are blessed with the super power to love, nurture and protect our near and dear ones. So when it comes to my only niece I immediately turn in to an over emotional human 😛
The bond I share with her reflects in every picture of us.
I can describe spending time with kids in just one word – Sheer Happiness). We have shared the whole year with many such amazing moments like showering together with cute fights of foam lather, applying nail paint to each other and most memorable of them all – she is crazyyyy for lipsticks . Logic and age plays zero role when it comes to spending time with her as you never know what's next on her mind then be it becoming the horse which she rides with joy or dancing nonstop on the craziest songs.
Today's generation is way too smarter than we were at their age. They are tech savvy and that is the biggest toss on your cell phones , 'Siri' on my iPhone had become her pass time buddy to sending random messages to whats app contacts 😀 The amount of selfies deletion at the end of the day used to be another task 🙂 But as they say everything is fair and forgiven when it comes to love. Every weekend used to be a recharge session longing me for the next one.
Everything is beautiful when we are together , could be because our love is eternal. I wonder how the relationship would have been had I been her mother ? And then a thought struck my mind – It could have been wonderful?? or tiring may be?? Yes it sounds selfish but handling a kid full time is definitely not an easy job. I see my friends struggling and managing kids , home and work but the smile on their faces at the end of the day with those tiny hands around the neck must be so rejuvenating .
When I got the news of her shifting to London, which though wasn't unexpected, but was still heartbreaking. Again I am sure to be sounding selfish but 'Love' is helpless. I never wanted her to leave , I tried hard last whole month of her stay not to cry , not to make her or her mother feel sad but something was killing me inside , the separation was unbearable. The day finally arrived and I waved her from the airport glass window with a promise to see her soon . Every weekend now is incomplete without her around but again life moves on..
Today my Poo (That's what I call my niece) has turned 4 years and celebrating her birthday with her parents in London. These pictures were clicked a day before she left and I tried all my best to make it memorable for me, for US . I love dressing up in similar outfits with her. So what if she is not born through my body, she has all the genes & characteristics of me. I am not sure if I would have had a baby like me but She is ME. She is the one who will keep me alive in her forever.
To all those non biological mothers – Life is never perfect nor it will ever be. You have to find your happiness your way. Some might find it in IVF/Surrogacy or adoption but trust me there is absolutely nothing wrong in not being a mother. Don't underestimate yourself or feel incomplete. If you have a caring heart and you know how to love, that is more than enough.
I never tried finding my happiness in any of these methods because I found my child in my Poo and I don't need to prove it to the world. I love being the coolest version of mom, yes I am MaaaaSi 🙂
You can also follow my blogs on the Facebook page Renee the Reborn and Instagram for all the sneak peeks and latest updates Reneethereborn.
Untill next blog,
Lots of
PC – Impressions_kugraphy


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Jan Molby has argued that Liverpool must keep hold of Iago Aspas in the January transfer window if the striker is to find his form for the Merseyside club.
Aspas made the move from La Liga strugglers Celta to the Reds in the summer for a fee of nearly £8m, but the forward has been utilised by Brendan Rodgers just 10 times so far this season.
The 26 year old has since been linked with a possible loan move away from Liverpool as he looks for more game time but Aspas insisted in December that he is happy to continue fighting for game time under Rodgers for the rest of the season.
And former Red Molby believes that keeping Aspas will be very important to his development in England after Rodgers showed faith in him at the start of the season.
"We have to be fair to foreign players," he told the Echo. "And we have to allow them time to settle.
"But in the case of Iago Aspas, what we've seen of him so far does not suggest he will blossom any time soon. It has been suggested that Aspas should go out on loan but I'm not sure what that proves.
"Being sent out of loan is usually the second to last move before a player is sold so I'm not sure there is any benefit in doing that. And Brendan Rodgers is not in a position at the moment where he can afford to let players leave the club.
"Liverpool are struggling with injuries so I cannot see Aspas being let go. It is also important to remember that Rodgers and his coaching staff have a proven record of improving players."
Molby also argued that Rodgers should take a look at the situation surrounding Aspas only after he has played a full season with Liverpool, explaining: "Only in the summer should the club assess whether his future is with them – or somewhere else."


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Sunil Kumar
Sunil Kumar studied Electronics & Communication Engineering at the Institution of Engineering in Calcutta, India. He also holds a Postgraduate Degree in Business Management from the University of Jammu in India. Sunil Kumar has been professionally involved in all aspects of process improvement since 1997. After having worked in India, Japan and China, particularly in the automotive industry, Sunil Kumar joined Method Park as an Expert Consultant for the Asian market in 2015. He is especially interested in process models such as Automotive SPICE® and CMMI. For this reason, he is a member of the intacs "Standard Course Materials" working group where he contributes to the improvement of training documentation. Sunil Kumar supports his clients by providing consultancy and training services and conducting assessments. Sunil Kumar is an intacs Certified Principal Assessor for Automotive SPICE & ISO/IEC 15504 and an intacs Certified Instructor for the Automotive SPICE & ISO/IEC 15504 Competent & Provisional Assessor course.


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The finish coat is where you have to be a real artist. You don't want to leave any grooves or streaks after you're done.
Before starting, scrape a wide knife over all the joints to smooth them out a little. This removes the ridges and tool marks. You want the base to be as smooth as possible for this final coat.
Finish Coat on Walls
When the joints are still dry, check to see if you have any large humps. Do this by holding the edge of a knife against them and rocking it back and forth. If you've got a large hump, you'll have to feather the joint more.
You can use the joint compound straight out of the can. Some professionals like to thin the mud out a little for the first coat and this last one. It's really a matter of personal preference.
If you do thin your mud, do it with only a cup of water at a time. And don't get it so runny that it falls off the knife. And keep in mind that thinning the mud too much will weaken it.
For this coat you should be using wide knives, about 8" for the screw and nail heads, and up to 12" for the joints. Use the same techniques as the last coat, only here you want to feather the joints as smoothly as possible.
Textured Ceilings
Ceilings tend to be the most exposed part of a drywall job. Light thrown across it by ceiling fixtures really bring out any irregularities in the surface. Walls are usually broken up by furniture, windows, door or wall hangings, so their flaws are a lot less noticeable.
The most common way to treat a ceiling is with a texture to help hide any mistakes.
One treatment we've used is sometimes referred to as "knockdown." For this you need to rent a sprayer and use it to "splatter" thinned joint compound onto the ceiling. There are also special texturing compounds made just for this purpose. After the mud sets up a few minutes, you flattened it with a broad taping knife.
Some people like a more "pebble-like" appearance to the ceilings. For this type of effect, you mix part mud, part paint, and part aggregate, which are small vermiculite-like particles.
This type of texture doesn't get flattened out. But, as with the other texture, it'll still be necessary to scrape the over spray off the walls.
You can also get different ceiling effects by rolling the texture on instead of spraying it. You can even swirl, or "stipple" it with a stiff brush.
Ceiling Skim Coat
The moisture and heat in bathrooms and kitchens are more likely to cause dirt and stains on the ceilings. For these areas many people choose to go with a flat surface on the ceilings which is easier to clean.
This is called a "skim coat", and it's applied instead of a third coat as a smooth, thin layer of mud over the entire ceiling. Be aware that this is a challenging job for a novice taper.
First sand down the mudded areas of the ceiling. Apply this coat with a 10 or 12 inch wide trowel.
Work in as large of an area as you're comfortable with. Load up some mud and then spread it out over the area. Then go back and smooth it out. You actually end up taking off almost all the mud that you put on.


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Call Of Duty Film Trademark Filed By Activision
If you had a chance to catch the most recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 trailer, then you noticed the game has more in common with a blockbuster Hollywood movie than a triple-A video game. Activision seems to have noticed the property's potential for cinema adaptation as well, since the company filed to protect the Call of Duty movie trademark in late September.
The media which falls under the blanket of the trademark include "pre-recorded movies featuring comedy, drama, action, adventure, music, theatrical performances and/or animation." This news follows murmurings in May that Call of Duty's big-screen debut was being discussed. The evidence continues to point towards a CoD-flavored trip down the warpath, with only the questions of "when" and "who" being left unanswered.
If a Call of Duty movie does indeed come to fruition, what era would you like to see it take place in? World War II or modern times? I don't care either way, as long as we don't hear Mark Wahlberg shout "UAV is standing by." Ever.


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N.S. NAGARAJA writes about sleep, dreams, cartoon heroes, near death experiences, twisting space and possibilities. What can our senses really tell us about the world around us and inside us?
Yes, I should have just slept that night. I was half asleep and ready to rest. The inseparable, my phone, caught my attention, and so I checked one last time for the day. There was a message from an old school mate, and it said a thing or two, ending with, "On matters of God, I am undecided." I stared at it for some time not knowing how or what to say.
This spiritual field of feelings is not easy to explain to the intellectual mind. I felt, "Intellect of this kind could be considered as a state of ignorance for the other kind!" In the same half asleep, I happened to read a short article on Near Death Experiences, which said that NDE research is only records of the experiences of people who went through it, and that is not scientific enough. It said that NDE could simply be a neurobiological condition produced under low oxygen levels in the brain, leading to hallucination. How convincing (not)!
I thought, "Less oxygen leads one to biological death, is it not?" But this particular article was trying to convince us that one day science will be able to show that NDE is a creation of the brain and there will be methods to simulate that condition in the brain. Long ago, when I started meditation, I used to think that meditation could just be triggering a chemical change in the brain. Subsequently, my brain allowed for many possibilities and helped me transcend the trap of theories so that I could explore reality with an open mind. The same questions, time and again, cross many minds. Now it was surely time to sleep.
I slipped into sleep with some sort of awareness. Of course it was not a NDE for sure! Now I was in a dreamy state in which there was an idea: what if, now, at this moment, the physical space around me has another dimension? …


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Celine Blacow and husband, Malcolm
I have written about Celine and her wonderful soaps before and, honestly, it is a treat to use her soaps.You can see my review here if you'd like. It is always a big treat when I get to use her soap. I don't know what I love more, the actual soap, design or the fact that her small batches are clearly time intensive and she puts her heart into every batch. Perhaps all of those put her in a category by herself. The ingredients she chooses are all the ingredients my skin loves, so as long as she makes soap, I shall get my hands on it. If you haven't watched her videos, you absolutely should. You can see all the time and thought she puts into every loaf of soap she creates. You should find a few minutes to watch at least one video from the Soaperstar video arsenal: You Tube Soaperstar.
Today, I am reviewing Orange Pippin Nectar, beer soap with amazing other ingredients. First let's talk about the scent. Totally not what I expected. I thought it would be orangey, but I don't smell it as a strong participant. Pippin is a type of apple called a Cox's Orange Pippin. Apple? A tad. Beer? Not a wee bit. So what is this crazy good smell? On the wrapper, the description of the scent is this: Fragranced with a smooth blend of pure Irish ale, crisp red apples and zesty orange in a base of warm golden ginger with a dash of cinnamon. But, to me, it is almost floral with hints of fruit....definitely nectar of a flower, but it isn't in the ingredients. The essence is gentle, pure and understated and yet I sit here sniffing it trying to figure out where it is taking me. On a journey to my childhood. I can close my eyes and be lifted away for a few seconds. Thank you, Celine, for that.
Celine's packaging is very beautiful. The soap is wrapped in soft natural fibrous paper, then banded with colored ribbon and then a card holds it all together. Not a simple task to get that baby unwrapped, I'll tell ya!
I have had this bar for months and months, so when I stripped it down to nothing a few tiny fibers from the wrap stuck to the soap top - it's not dust and the fibers come right off in the water.
|Body swirl
I have tried a bunch of soaps with silk added to the mix, but Celine's soap is so smooth and slippery, it makes me wonder if there is some mystical magic she adds at trace. ;) Could be a combination of the clay, silk and cocoa butter. Yum, all of which makes for a smooth skin experience and makes it fun and easy to swirl the soap in my hands to create bubbly lather.
|Silky smooth soap with tight creamy bubbles
The soap produced wonderful lather. Not the super big fat bubbles I half-expected, but between the additives of clay, the white clay and Australian Red Reef clay for the red color, they are sure to shrink bubbles, but, to me, create a creamier and skin-loving lather that my skin prefers. You will notice that the bubbles are a pale pink. Obviously it comes from the red clay, but it is of no consequence. The bubbles washed right off in the water and the bonus of red clay is far superior over the big bubbles. Australian Red Reef clay has a high iron content and essential minerals that are great for your skin.
Not only does Celine rock in her design techniques, but she makes a high quality soap, yet each one is different. This beer soap is different than her others, but I'm not sure how it differs. I do know, that it is smooth, hard, nourishing and smells divine. What more can you ask for in soap??
Check her company website out: I Am Handmade - and the current soaps that are available. Sadly, the Orange Pippen Nectar is not available, but every one of Celine's soaps is a treasure.
iamhandmade in Ireland. Way to go, baby!
|Bubbles bubbles bubbles!


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Mark Dapin
author of Spirit House and King of the Cross
Ten Terrifying Questions
1. To begin with why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born in Leeds, England. I went to state schools in Leeds and Aldershot, Hampshire. Dad was a greetings card salesman, Mum was a nurse. When I was 10, Mum left Dad for our 20-year-old lodger, and my brother and I went with her. Mum and the lodger are still together.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
I never wanted to be anything much apart from a writer, although when I was 10 I briefly thought about being a bus driver. I still don't have a driving licence, bus or otherwise.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?
That I wouldn't live past 30.
4. What were three works of art – book or painting or piece of music, etc – you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler; Complete Control by the Clash; the war poetry of Siegfried Sassoon.
5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?
There are no other artistic avenues open to me. I can't sing, play an instrument, paint, sculpt, dance or draw.
6. Please tell us about your latest novel…
Spirit House is about a 70 year-old-veteran of the Thailand-Burma Railway who tells his life story to his grandson. In an effort to exorcise the ghosts of dead POWs, he builds a Thai-style spirit house in front of his Fibro home in Bondi.
(BBGuru: Here is the publisher's synopsis –
David is thirteen and confused. His mum has gone off with her lover and sent David to his grandparents in Bondi to give her new relationship some 'space'. Sometimes it breaks your heart to understand.
David's grandfather, Jimmy, a Jewish war veteran and survivor of the Thai-Burma railway, is seventy. Haunted by the ghosts of long-dead comrades, the only person he can confide in is a thirteen-year-old from a different world. Sometimes it breaks your heart to be understood.
Spirit House is a story of Changi and the Thai-Burma railway, of old men living with the horrors of their past, and a bot making sense of the daunting business of growing up.)
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
The desire to buy my next book. And my last one.
8. Whom do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?
Until The Information, Martin Amis used to write some of the best sentences in the English language. Ian McEwan is a fine novelist. The lifetime achievements of Nabokov are unsurpassed.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
To write books that people love, and books that will stand the test of time.
10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?
Do not use clichés (such as "will stand the test of time").
Mark, thank you for playing.
About the Contributor
John Purcell
While still in his twenties, John Purcell opened a second-hand bookshop in Mosman, Sydney, in which he sat for ten years reading, ranting and writing. Since then he has written, under a pseudonym, a series of very successful novels, interviewed hundreds of writers about their work, appeared at writers' festivals, on TV (most bizarrely in comedian Luke McGregor's documentary Luke Warm Sex) and has been featured in prominent newspapers and magazines. Now, as the Director of Books at booktopia.com.au, Australia's largest online bookseller, he supports Australian writing in all its forms. He lives in Sydney with his wife, two children, three dogs, five cats, unnumbered gold fish and his overlarge book collection. His novel, The Girl on the Page, will be published by HarperCollins Australia in October, 2018.


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Tug Ghum GalleryLocated in the Historic Lund Hotel is the Tug Ghum Gallery. Strong Coastal imagery is the theme of this gallery, with over 40 local artist's represented and stone carvings created on site by wildlife artist and gallery owner, Debra Bevaart.
A self taught artist, Debra Bevaart, has painted and sculpted since she was very young. Some of her earliest memories are sketching and drawing British Columbia's landscapes even as a child. Upon entering high school, she began to explore three dimensional art by sculpting in clay and then carving in a variety of mediums.
Pure pleasure is to take a rough stones, realize the form within and then allow that form to emerge. Through years of experimentation and creation, Debra has honed her artistic skills and earned great respect for her ability to capture the essence of her subjects. Her keen eye allows her to recreate not only the form and look of the wildlife in their natural habitat, but Debra Bevaart sculptures go one step further and capture the spirit of her subjects.
Working with hand tools, Debra carves most of her sculptures from a single block of stone. This is a difficult and time consuming procedure, but one which she has perfected. email@example.com


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Palit Introduces Fanless GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX GPU
Subject: Graphics Cards | February 6, 2017 - 11:43 AM | Sebastian Peak
Tagged: video card, silent, Passive, palit, nvidia, KalmX, GTX 1050 Ti, graphics card, gpu, geforce
Palit is offering a passively-cooled GTX 1050 Ti option with their new KalmX card, which features a large heatsink and (of course) zero fan noise.
"With passive cooler and the advanced powerful Pascal architecture, Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX - pursue the silent 0dB gaming environment. Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti gives you the gaming horsepower to take on today's most demanding titles in full 1080p HD @ 60 FPS."
The specs are identical to a reference GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5 @ 7 Gb/s, Base 1290/Boost 1392 MHz, etc.), so expect the full performance of this GPU - with some moderate case airflow, no doubt.
We don't have specifics on pricing or availablity just yet.
Palit's triple wide GTX 1080 GameRock Premium
Subject: Graphics Cards | July 11, 2016 - 01:59 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: GTX 1080, GameRock Premium, palit, factory overclocked
Palit's card is certainly unique looking in the GTX 1080 market, that blue, white and silver is not a colour palette used by other manufacturers. That is not the only difference between this card and a stock GTX 1080, it is also overclocked with a core of 1746 MHz and VRAM at 1315 MHz, along with a cooler that covers the entire card and takes up three slots. That extra cooling ability translates into a card that runs at 30dBA under load, and TechPowerUp did not see temperatures exceeding 72°C. It is a little on the expensive side but if you have space in your case this is a worth contender for your hard earned cash.
"Palit's GTX 1080 GameRock uses a mighty triple-slot dual-fan design, which provides excellent temperatures and noise levels better than any GTX 1080 we tested so far. The fans also turn off in idle, and thanks to the large overclock out the box, the card is the fastest GTX 1080 we ever tested, too."
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SuperClocked 8 GB @ techPowerUp
- ASUS STRIX GAMING GTX 1080 @ eTeknix
- ASUS GTX 950-2G "Unplugged" @ Kitguru
- PNY GTX 950 2GB and GTX 960 4GB XLR8 OC Gaming @ Kitguru
- Radeon Software 16.7.1 Performance Comparison @ Tech ARP
Palit Releases GTX 780 Super JetStream Graphics Card With Triple Fan JetStream Cooler
Subject: Graphics Cards | June 24, 2013 - 11:57 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: palit, gtx 780, gaming, super jetstream, jetstream
AIB partner Palit has announced a speedy GTX 780 of its own with the GTX 780 Super JetStream graphics card. This card has a triple fan cooler and is one of the fastest GTX 780's announced so far (matching the GPU clocks of the Gainward Phantom GLH).
The Palit GTX 780 Super JetStream clocks the GPU's 2,304 CUDA cores to 980 MHz base and 1033 MHz boost. Palit has also slightly overclocked the 3GB GDDR5 memory at 6200 MHz. For comparison, NVIDIA clocks the reference card at 863 MHz base, 900 MHz boost, and 6008 MHz memory. Palit is also producing a non-Super JetStream card clocked at 902 MHz base and 954 MHz boost.
The differentiating factor here beyond the factory overclock is Palit's own JetStream cooler. This cooler, well, cools an aluminum fin stack (copper base) using two 80mm fans on either side of a single center-mounted 90mm fan. The fans sit beneath a black and gold colored shroud. According to Palit, the JetStream cooler is rated at 6 dB quieter and 10-degrees Celsius cooler than the reference NVIDIA cooler.
Additionally, the GTX 780 Super JetStream comes with an 8-phase PWM with DrMOS technology.
Palit has not yet released details on where and when the GPU will be available, or how much it will cost.


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Property: Hollister Building 106 W. Allegan St Lansing
This corner building, which is often identified as the first in Lansing constructed specifically for use as offices, was designed by Saginaw-based architect Frederick W. Hollister. Hollister served in the Michigan House of Representatives in the decade following the construction of this building. At the time of his death in 1923, he had designed numerous schools and several court houses, including the Saginaw County Courthouse.
The exterior of this Romanesque Revival structure consists of two types of red brick, a rough sample on the area immediately above the storefront and just below the pressed metal cornice, with a markedly smoother version on the floors between. Rounded window openings are treated with traditionally detailed brick arches. At the projecting central bay along Allegan Street, the decorative details are particularly notable, including column clusters and paired arches, highlighted in white.
The main block of the building was constructed in 1896, with an addition (shown to the left in the above photo) in 1901. Additionally, although the building now has six stories, historic photos show the five levels constructed above a partially sunken basement. The same photos show a rougher stone base at the street, typical of the similar Richardsonian Romanesque style.
"Eye candy of the Week" is our weekly look at some of the nicer properties in Lansing. It rotates each with Eyesore of the Week. If you have a suggestion, please e-mail email@example.com or call Berl Schwartz at 999-5061.


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Nicole Kidman infamously urinates on Zac Efron in "The Paperboy," but there's one thing she flat-out refused to do.
Speaking at a press conference at the New York Film Festival, director Lee Daniels revealed that Kidman would not call a black cast member the N-word. Kidman, who the Los Angeles Times describes as "looking slightly annoyed," explained that she felt as though the slur didn't "feel right for the character."
"I have a son who's African-American and I just didn't feel it was right," the actress added. "It wasn't right."
Kidman's turn as Charlotte Bless has earned rave reviews from critics, many of whom were simply shocked by her daringness in the film. In addition to urinating on Efron (his character has an unfortunate encounter with a jellyfish), she also participates in a couple of wild sex scenes, including one in which she pantomimes performing oral sex on an inmate (played by John Cusack).
The urination scene, though, has emerged as the biggest story to come out of the movie. Daniels explained the shooting to GQ: "First of all, it was really hard to shoot. It was the third day. The first scene we shot was the sex scene with John [Cusack and Kidman]. I like to get that right out of the way. The second day was the telepathic sex scene in the prison. And the third day of shooting was the piss scene."
He also said he thought it was too much to keep in the film, but Kidman insisted. Kidman -- who recently appeared topless on the cover of V Magazine --
apparently didn't want the work to go to waste.
Daniels told HuffPost Entertainment that he thinks audiences will be surprised by the film, especially given that it's his follow-up to "Precious," the 2009 movie which garnered six Academy Award nominations.


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If an important number happens to be busy, this application will recheck that number repeatedly for availability, for up to a user-set number of minutes. You simply press the dial button and provide the telephone number you want to call. If the line becomes free, you'll hear the ring signal. Just pick up your phone and start talking.
You may also set the program to redial on ring signals too. This feature can be used for radio contests and call-in television voting. A good example is the very popular FOX television show American Idol. Every successful call made is counted as a vote. Once the call is completed, the call will be disconnected and the number will be redialed again.
This program will also work on other popular Reality TV shows like I'm a Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here!, Married by America and other future reality television shows. The Repeat Dialer can make about 500 calls per hour. You can add a second modem to double the amount of calls. Up to 16 modems can be used.
COPYRIGHT (C) 2005 - 2015 , Gdosoft Associates . ALL RIGHT RESERVED


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"The Circles Curriculum was fantastic! I saw real improvements in the students I worked with learning how to interact appropriately with others." –Karina Cartwright, Supported Employment Program
National Best-Seller! Teach your students the Circles rules of intimacy, social boundaries and interpersonal skills.
The Circles® VideoModeling® Curriculum teaches social and relationship boundaries, interpersonal skills, and relationship-specific social skills using a simple multi-layer circle diagram to demonstrate the different relationship levels students will encounter in daily life. Circles is a concrete, organizational paradigm for students with special educational needs that helps them learn to act and interact in self-enhancing ways. This curriculum uses principles of behavior psychology and proven techniques in special education that help students to generalize their learning across many settings: school, home, social and vocational.
What is the Circles Curriculum
The Circles Program teaches social distance and levels of intimacy through the use of six color-coded concentric circles. Starting from the center circle, which represents the self, each new colored circle represents behaviors, feelings, and actions appropriate to the distance from the center of self. For example, a person may hug and kiss members of the family, people in the Blue Hug Circle, but only wave to the mailman, who would be in the distant orange wave circle.
The Circles method has been used successfully to teach students with learning disabilities, mild to severe mental disabilities, emotional handicaps, autism, sensory impairments and affective disorders. The programs are flexible, meaning that each individual teacher can personalize each lesson to address the specific needs of his or her own class. The more familiar the teacher becomes with the Circles concept, the more applications she or he will find.
The Circles Curriculum utilizes the Special Education teaching and pedagogical strategies below. These strategies are considered to be Best Practices in Special Education and social skills training and have been well documented in the literature that prepares Special Education teacher candidates for educating students with unique learning styles:
What are the different Levels of the Circles Programs
Circles Level 1: Intimacy & Relationships — Divided into two parts, "Social Boundaries" and "Relationships Building," this program is an ideal introduction to the Circles Paradigm, especially for students with mild to moderate cognitive impairment.
Circles Level 2: Intimacy & Relationships — With its "reality show" format, this new expanded version of Circles is ideal for illustration the more subtle application of the Circles Paradigm. This makes the perfect "Second Step" for students with mild to moderate cognitive challenged and can also be used as a stand-alone introduction for higher functioning and regular students.
1. Role-modeling
2. Color-coding
3. Pairing
4. Expressive non-verbal communication
5. Rehearsal Strategies
6. Repetition
7. Experiential Social Skills Activities
8. Group Problem Solving
9. Role-playing practice
10. Opportunities to generalize into real life
11. Developmental models that address many levels of learning and cantilevers learning experiences
12. Self-efficacy training
13. Non-language based instructional materials
14. Multi-modal learning opportunities
Circles Curriculum is composed of (3) Programs:


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The highlight of the day was the 18-mile bike ride I took in training for my next big ride, the Tour de Fuzz in Sonoma on September 8. Some of my route today retraced the lovely guided tour Sally blogged of her ride from Tam Valley to Sausalito a couple of days ago. In fact, today's photo of Mt. Tam is nearly identical to the one Sally captured along that same path from Sausalito to Mill Valley.
This was new territory for me, as far as exploring it on a bike is concerned. Once I rolled into downtown Sausalito, I became a little frazzled from all traffic with which I had to share the road and meandering tourists, some of them meandering bewildered on rented bikes. I can't imagine (well, maybe I can) what a delight it must be for them to explore this part of the world on a bike. Maybe they expected their ride to be a sunny breeze in the high noon of August, not realizing that in these parts, the fog has its own agenda, regardless of the season's plans. True to form, the fog kept rolling itself over the ridge and down the slopes in a rush toward the bay, whipping up a few strong gusts of wind in its playful slides, so at times biking even on the flats was a lot like pedaling uphill.
Once I returned to Mill Valley, I felt a bit like a tourist myself; turns out I am not that familiar with the bike routes in these environs. Most bicyclists are a very friendly lot, so it wasn't long before a very fit older dude on a very fancy bike took enough time out of his speedy routine to explain to me how to get from Mill Valley to Tiburon without braving the crazy traffic over US 101.
While I pedaled like crazy along Tiburon Boulevard, I kept thinking how lovely it would be to have a bunch more bike lanes, or even more bike friendly streets, connecting all the towns in Marin. Not that we don't already have tons of those … but the more I bike, the more I want to do it, not just for pleasure and sport, but also for commuting. It's a very different world when you are in it, rather than hurtling through it in a car.


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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Vintage Steampunk Fairy
10 comments:
- Kylie said...
This is just stunning Ang. Love the strong, bold colours you've used for her. Gorgeous.
Hugs, xoox
- January 22, 2012 at 6:30 PM
- Chrissy said...
Beautiful rich, deep colours and such a gorgeous image Angela, this is just gorgeous...love the papers and flowers, amazing colouring.
Luv CHRISSYxx
- January 22, 2012 at 6:50 PM
- Rosa Witten said...
Seriously you blow my mind! That coloring job is unbelievable, STUNNING!!! You are such an inspiration.
- January 22, 2012 at 10:44 PM
- Dona said...
This card is BEAUTIFUL! Your colouring talent is amazing. Please, please, please do a colouring tutorial. The colours in the paper and the image are so perfectly matched and blended. Wow, You are amazing!!! Thanks for sharing.
- January 22, 2012 at 10:53 PM
- Rebekah said...
Gosh Angela this is truly stunning sweetie! I am amazed at your skin shading around her elbows and wrists just perfect and the colour theme is beautiful! Hugs rebekah xx
- January 23, 2012 at 4:19 AM
- KarinsArtScrap said...
this is stunning angela, love the choise of colors.
greetings karin
- January 23, 2012 at 1:01 PM
- Alessandra said...
samshing card, I adore the colours and every detail!
Hugs, Alessandra
- January 23, 2012 at 3:36 PM
- gina g said...
WOW Angela this is awesome as my little grandson Caid would say, beautiful work. luv gina xx
- January 23, 2012 at 5:54 PM
- Linda said...
Such a beautiful card.. As always very lovely work.. Hugs, Linda
- January 23, 2012 at 6:33 PM
- Regan said...
Gorgeous! Ok, so I just decided I want to be like you when I grow up! lol How does it feel to be so insanely talented?! :) Love the color scheme on this one, your coloring (of course,) and all the fab embellies!
- January 23, 2012 at 8:51 PM


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I believe it was in the opening monologue of the hilarious sixth-season episode 'The Big Salad' that Jerry Seinfeld said that "the finger" is too easy a gesture to make to be really insulting. The idea is that an insult should require some additional work. He went on to suggest that "the toe" be the really insulting gesture, particularly if you are in traffic.
Now that messages are being sent much more cheaply with the advent of the Internet and of other great advances in information technology, it seems that the cost of insulting someone should have declined. Online message boards and other discussion fora provide simple ways of informing fellow human beings of their perceived shortcomings. I wonder if this has led people to take insults "on the chin" with much more gusto than before these developments.
An analogy is the case of presents. These are like insults, but with swapped signs. Many people are not impressed with cheap gifts, wanting lots of thought and money to have gone into them, so if cheap presents are no significant cause for happiness, why should similarly cheap insults cause them any discomfort? A few possibilities:
1. People are high-strung. Possible, but unappealing since one ought to be responsive to price changes and so be less sensitive to calumny when one knows that (everybody knows that) it is made so much more easily. However, this seems to be consistent with my observations of people's feeling wronged.
2. People have become more tolerant of (cheap) insults, I just have not seen it. This is more likely, because there is a tonne of things of which I am completely oblivious, and because, according to this explanation, people do respond to price changes.
3. There is a "publicity aspect" when many cheap messages can reach just about anyone, not just the person to whom the message is intended (akin to what may have triggered the recent Dawkins abortion controversy). So even though the insult is cheaply made, its greater reach compensates. Perhaps others will think the insult good and proper for some reason. However, this does not apply to e-mails or PM's and other private messages. This still requires that the audience not infer that the insult may just be thoughtless slander. Jerry Seinfeld made the inference and of course everyone is capable of logical reasoning, so I am not sure this is a good explanation either. But if there is some probability that they believe in the calumny, this can work well in expectation, which relates to the fourth possibility.
It seems clear that one should bear in mind the fact that it is a lot easier now than it used to be to thoughtlessly attack someone else, and attach some positive probability that one is indeed in that situation. But there remains a possibility, consistent with explanations (3) and (4), that one is in a different situation. Perhaps cheaper information transmission comes with the disadvantage of a greater propensity for insults after all?
(PS. The title of this blog post is a play on an old book by the great H. L. Mencken.)


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Denmark's Battery is back two years after their debut album with another release. "Martial Law" features 10 high-speed thrashing tunes that are in line with what the band presented the first time around. The cover art has improved substantially, but the music itself is fairly similar in quality. Seasoned thrash fans will know what to expect, as Battery plays to the subgenres strengths, with crushing riffs abound, plenty of gang vocals, and impressively quick tempos. There really aren't any surprises on this album, as it falls in line with nearly every other release from Punishment 18 Records.
The one somewhat frustrating element from the band's debut remains on this record: an insanely high-pitched, cracking snare drum. Newer thrash bands are no secret to this sound, but Battery takes it to new levels. If you can put that aside, you'll be rewarded with track after track of speedy riffwork. This style of thrashing isn't particularly prone to catchy songwriting, but there are certainly parts of the record that will stick with you. The closing syncopated screams of "The Rapture" come to mind immediately, making it clear why this song was made the opener.
If there is a slight advantage to "Martial Law" over "Armed With Rage", it would be the brevity of this newer release. Clocking in at under 33 minutes, this is a quick affair, and it means that even though every song sounds similar, it doesn't wear thin. Battery also stands out slightly because of their marginally louder bass playing that cuts through the mix sufficiently. There are more than a few moments on this record with an interesting bass fill. Ultimately, however, Battery continues to be one of the crowd. In order to reign supreme in the modern thrash scene, they need considerably stronger songwriting. For something to throw on and headbang to, "Martial Law" gets the job done, but it is unlikely to be a release in constant rotation.
Be sure to check out and like Battery on Facebook!
"The Rapture"
"Proxy Warfare"
"Battery By Authority"
Final Rating
3.7/5 or 74%.
Written by Scott


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We're going to use the excuse that Paris Hilton usually has the hottest new gadgets/cell phones as our tie-in to why we should post this. But to be honest, this really doesn't have much to do with anything…we just thought this was hilarious:
GAUHATI, India (AP) – In a November story, The Associated Press incorrectly reported that Paris Hilton was praised by conservationists for highlighting the problem of binge-drinking elephants in northeastern India. Lori Berk, a publicist for Hilton, said she never made any comments about helping drunken elephants in India.


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Australia Awards builds capacity in clinical research to help fight tuberclosis
(By Kristina Gubic)
Francis (centre) working as a consultant epidemiologist in Swaziland for the assessment of paediatric TB, HIV and Malaria services. (right) a fellow consultant and (left) a physician at one of the health facilities visited.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains the world's second biggest killer after HIV/ AIDS, and although there has been a 45% decline in the global death rate since 1990, Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind in meeting the targets associated with the Millennium Development Goals.
While the continued roll out of treatment is critical to reversing the spread of TB, building the capacity of clinical researchers that will advance knowledge of new treatment is paramount to winning the fight. Nobody understands this better than Dr Francis Mhimbira who completed a Master of Epidemiology at the University of Melbourne in 2010 with the help of a full scholarship from the Australian government.
Epidemiology is seen as the basic science behind public health, providing the tools to find the cause of diseases and track treatment responses in population health.
Before completing his Master degree, Francis had already worked in primary health care for six years, serving at the frontlines of TB testing and treatment at a national hospital in Tanzania. Frustrated by the lack of an integrated regional response to this highly infectious disease and the rise in co-infected patients and multi-drug resistant strains, he was motivated to advance his career in clinical research.
Upon his return to Tanzania, Francis joined the Ifakara Health Institute where his newly acquired skills have enabled him to make several valuable contributions to TB research. He has worked on the harmonisation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional response to TB policy assessment and developed diagnostic studies that have improved the detection of TB in adults and children, while conducting clinical trials in TB vaccines and drugs.
"The skills I earned in my Australian studies on designing research projects, analysing data and proposal writing have all provided a solid foundation for me to advance my career in TB research," explains Francis.
These contributions have not gone unnoticed and Francis is now a PhD candidate with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. The framework of his doctoral thesis will help develop new vaccines as well as new diagnostic markers for TB. "I would not have been able to advance my career to this level without the training from the University of Melbourne, which built my academic and proposal writing skills," says Francis.
"My studies in Australia have opened doors to endless opportunities for me to contribute towards TB research and help make a difference in my home country and worldwide," he adds.


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Ranch Management
Production Agriculture
Identification of marketable crop opportunities and livestock management.
Natural Resource Management
Soil, water, and vegetation management promote healthy, sustainable ranches, alongside wildlife and fishery management.
Integrated Weed Management
Integrated Weed Management (IWM) is the combination of multiple tools to reduce a weed population to a more acceptable level while preserving the quality of the existing habitat.
Comprehensive Ranch Planning
Comprehensive planning to help promote good ranch stewardship through identification of resources and establishment of goals.
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Comprehensive analytics interpretation through gathering, management, and interpretation of data pertaining to all aspects of your ranch.
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Our administrative specialists will help you keep everything in order.
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Whether you are an absentee landowner, or live on your ranch year round, we can connect you to your property 24/7 by setting up live feed video cameras.
Habitat Enhancement and Revegetation
Enhancement of rare plant communities and restoration of degraded habitats.
Naturalist Guide
Created through flora and fauna surveys surveys, determining species and distributions.
The Pollinator Project
Over the past several years we have made efforts to restore native plant communities to one of our client's properties and we had some success with establishing grass communities and a large native cottonwood grove.
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Treasure Island in Outer Space (1987)
Treasure Island in Outer Space (original: Il Pianeta Del Tesoro - Treasure Planet) is a 1987 science fiction Italian and German television miniseries directed by Antonio Margheriti. It is based on the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, setting the story in space on the year 2300. The series was produced by RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana in co-production with West Germany and France, and directed by Anthony M. Dawson (Antonio Margheriti). It is the biggest sci-fi production of Italian television. The miniseries of 5 episodes of 100 min was originally aired in Italy from November 19, 1987 on RAI Due channel. It was also adapted as a 120 min film. The miniseries is also known as Space Island (UK and Norway, USA on VHS) and Der Schatz im All (Germany).
- Renato Castellani
- Lucio De Caro
- Release Date: 1987-11-19
- Views: 147
- Country: IT
- Language: En
- Runtime: 50
Ernest Borgnine
Klaus Löwitsch
David Warbeck
Philippe Leroy
Anthony Quinn
Andy Luotto
Biagio Pelligra
Haruhiko Yamanouchi
Robert Spafford
Giovanni Lombardo Radice
Ida Di Benedetto
Enzo Cerusico
Bobby Rhodes
Bruno Zanin
Salvatore Borghese
Carlo Monni
Salvatore Borgese
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Every financial institution needs to generate a steady stream of new customers, yet one of the easiest and most steady sources of new businesses and related revenue is to reach out to current customers for additional business.
With the cost of acquiring new retail, small business or commercial customers being five to ten times the cost of retaining an existing one, and with the average spend of a repeat customer being 50- 100 percent more than a new one, bank marketers need to remember that the most efficient investment of marketing funds is to market to customers that already bank with you.
Here are 7 relatively easy techniques to do just that:
- Start With the Lowest Hanging Fruit: The easiest sales that can be made to current customers are engagement services that help a customer use an account they already own. These 'sticky services' include a debit card, online banking, direct deposit, bill pay, automatic savings transfer, personal line of credit and security solutions such as privacy protection. These services help to ensure the customer will use the products they own more frequently, will significantly improve retention and will help to improve the overall customer experience.
- Stay Connected: About a year ago I was talking to a friend who said, "I was very impressed with how much love my bank gave me when I opened some new accounts, but amazed that I never really heard from them again except to tell me about new fees". While some banks have very successful onboarding programs to help stay connected with new customers, a surprising number of banks still rely on the customer to onboard themselves. And unless the customer expands their relationship, their bank may never include them in a model-driven cross-sell program.
- Continually Evaluate Upsell Opportunities: Rather than using product-driven programs that are done seasonally, consider funding more customer-focused programs that evaluate each customer's propensity to open one or more of the products and services you offer. With some of my clients, we evaluate each customer's transactional, product ownership and even behavioral characteristics to determine what would be the most likely next purchase and whether the propensity to purchase is high enough to make an offer. In some of most successful programs, this evaluation of opportunities is done monthly, with smaller mailing universes, but much higher response rates.
- Empower Your Customer Contact Teams: For most customer facing employees of your bank, their primary responsibility revolves around efficient processing of transactions and/or customer service. To leverage the thousands of customer engagements these employees have each year, you need to provide easy ways for them to extend their conversations to include relationship expansion opportunities. Many banks provide prompts on their employee's computer screen around recent sales communications received by the customer, most likely products that may interest the customer and even special offers that can be made as part of their transaction or service conversation. The best programs don't stop there, but include tools for the customer to take advantage of the offer. This may be an immediately generated custom printed sales document, a follow-up email or sales call or a referral form.
- Ask for Referrals: One of the easiest ways to generate new business and increase loyalty of current retail or business customers is to ask (and possibly incent) for referrals. If a customer is happy with the way they are treated at your organization, they usually want others to know. This is especially true with satisfied small businesses, private banking customers and with retail customers that are part of a bank-at-work program. And it doesn't hurt if you provide an incentive to your current customer. At a time when new customer acquisition offers often exceed $100 and when the overall cost of acquisition is more than $250, offering a 'bounty' of $50 would be less expensive and would most likely generate a more loyal customer.
- Leverage All Channels: Never assume that customers understand all that your organization offers or absorb communication the same through all channels. Remind your customers continuously that you know who they are, understand their needs, are looking out for them and that you are willing to reward them for their loyalty. And use as many direct channels as possible to reach out to your current customer base, including direct mail, email, statement inserts, banner ads on your website, ATM messaging, outbound calling efforts, etc.
- Measure and Reward What You Want Done: By providing ongoing measurement of the cross-selling objectives you want to achieve and paying for this achievement of these objectives, you have a much better chance of reaching your goals. This continuous reinforcement of your cross-sell mission allows your team to be focused on what's important. You can also turbocharge your results by communicating how you are assisting in their efforts. Provide Opportunity Reports of the customers where they may have the greatest opportunity for success. As part of these reports, it is also helpful to provide background as to why the customer is being selected for a specific offer.
I would love to know other ways you are improving cross-sales within your bank, credit union or investment firm. I know I have missed some great ideas and I would love to hear from you.


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B.E.T.R. Research Projects
Below you will find a description of current B.E.T.R. Lab projects as well as links to photos and news reports. To the right you will find a description of equipment and facilities used by the B.E.T.R. Lab.
GEOG4650 Field Studies in Biogeography and Biodiversity
Tired of your typical BORING summer? Want to earn college credits while EXPLORING the Colorado backcountry? A NEW and EXCITING course offered by the Department of Geosciences can make that happen! Enrollment is limited, so be one of the first students to inquire about GEOG4650 Field Studies in Biogeography and Biodiversity. All associated travel expenses are covered; all you pay for is summer tuition! Click the link above for more information...
Growth Response of Ponderosa Pine stands in South Dakota
Mount Rushmore National Monument, in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, is a national icon and internationally recognized symbol. While the monument is a lasting legacy of our country, the Pinus ponderosa(ponderosa pine) forests that surround the monument contain an environmental history that needs preserved. This study is examining the response of ponderosa pine to the current management practices used by the National Park Service to mimic the historical fire regimes.
Hurricanes in Texas
This research examines the effect that hurricane derived precipitation has on latewood production and the overall response to climate and disturbance in Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) stands of the Big Thicket National Preserve and Angelina National Forest.
Cedar Glades
Along with the Center of Excellence for Field Biology, the B.E.T.R. Lab is examining the persistence of Juniperus virginiana (eastern red cedar) on limestone and dolomite glades throughout the southeastern United States. This research will study the life cycle as well as how the climate and disturbances have helped to shape these unique ecosystems.
Urban Forestry
In conjunction with the City of Clarksville and the Austin Peay GIS Center, the B.E.T.R. Lab will assist in the delineation of forested plots within the City of Clarksville, TN using aerial photographs and GIS. With this information and the program CITYGreen the Clarksville City Forester will develop an inter-departmental process to ensure optimum tree planting within the city, promote conservation of community tree resources through a comprehensive canopy analysis program for establishing criteria for future development, preservation, and allocation of resources within the city, develop and implement a public education program on the urban community forest, and provide information and analysis to update the Forest Management Plan to guide long term city tree planting and maintenance activities.
Cemetery Mapping
Using ground penetrating radar, surveying equipment, and handheld GPS units the Department of Geosciences and the B.E.T.R. Lab are searching for unmarked gravesites within the Baggett Family Cemetery in middle Tennessee. Once the field work is complete, the B.E.T.R. Lab will develop a web-based application for the historic preservation of this family plot.
Port Royal State Historic Park
This project will search for dendrochronological evidence of the past usage of road beds inside and surround Port Royal State Historic Park. This data will look to determine whether the usage is concurrent with know periods of migrating fauna, Native Americans, or European settlers
If you have an interest in any of the projects above or have ideas of projects you
would like to collaborate on please contact me at your earliest convenience:
Contact Me!


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Product Description
Healthy Hounds Scottish salmon oil is of the highest quality and gently extracted so as not to damage any of the Omega 3 fatty acids. As it is for ourselves, a fish oil supplement is fantastic for our dogs and cats, whether to help with certain problems such as itching, dull coat or stiff joints, or just as an everyday supplement to keep them in tip top condition. Salmon oil is the Rolls Royce of fish oil supplements, as it is only produced from salmon, which has one of the highest Omega 3 contents of any fish. As well as being a tasty addition to your pet's dinner, it is great for
- Glossy healthy coat
- Alleviating dry/itchy skin
- Joint mobility
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Suitable for dogs and cats from very young to very old, and great for fussy eaters.
Sustainably sourced from the finest world famous fresh Scottish salmon, and produced within 24 hours of the fish being taken from the water. Unlike some other brands out there, Healthy Hounds salmon oil adheres strictly to EU laws and regulations so you can be sure that you are giving your pet the very best!
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Inner Wolf Loyalty Points - What Are They?
Loyalty points are earned when you buy anything from us with an account based on the total value of that order. Every £1 you spend earns you 1 point. 25 points will earn you £1 off you next order.. For example if you were to spend £25 that would get you 25 points - equal to £1 of credit which can optionally be deducted from a future order. The next time you went to order, on the "view basket" screen it will show you that you have outstanding points and you can optionally click to use them against that order, or save them up for later use.
We tried to make the process as simple as possible for you to use, and you will notice that we have not adjusted our prices to compensate for giving away points so they really are a discount! The more you spend the more points you earn.
They never expire, if you come back after placing an order now in 2 years time your points will still be here! ( subject to terms and conditions at the bottom of this page ).
Loyalty points are issued only when the order has been placed, and only for orders made with an account, which is of course free and easy to sign up for.
How do I use them?
In order to earn and then later use the points you must have an account with us ( so that we can store the points ) - so just log in before checking out or fill in the password fields to create one during checkout. Simple! Once logged in you can see the current status of your points by checking your account home screen.
Loyalty points terms & conditions
In order to use the loyalty points in any way you must agree to following ( standard legal stuff! ):


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More than four million U.S. residences along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts are at risk of hurricane-driven storm-surge damage, totaling $710 billion in property exposure, says the 2012 CoreLogic Storm Surge Report.
Meanwhile, research by Princeton University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has reported that due to climate change-related sea level rise, "100-year floods" or those rising 5.7 feet above tide level, may occur every three to 20 years. Floods reaching more than nine feet deep, now occurring every five centuries, could occur every 25 to 250 years.
The five metro areas with the greatest value of storm-surge exposed property are New York City with 455,255 properties possibly affected, totaling $168 billion; Virginia Beach, Va. with a total of 290,522 potentially affected properties valued at $46 billion; Miami with 229,413 properties potentially affected at a cost of $42 billion; New Orleans with 276,930 properties potentially affected for $38 billion; and Tampa, Fla. with 283,603 properties and $28 billion at stake.
This article was originally posted on PropertyCasualty360.com, a sister site of Credit Union Times.


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How to Get the iPhone 7 — Without Breaking Your Bank Account
Hard as it is to admit, my iPhone is on its last legs.
Every time I try to take a photo, it tells me I'm out of storage space. I'm constantly deleting apps just to make room for the bare necessities.
The battery life is also pathetic. I don't know how many times it's powered off right as I'm about to take a (really awesome) Snapchat.
So, it's probably not surprising I've been eyeing the new iPhone 7. But, as a good Penny Hoarder, I don't want to buy a new phone before selling my old one.
If you're nodding your head in empathy, listen up: I just discovered an absurdly easy way to sell your old phone (along with the rest of the stuff hiding on your shelf or in your junk drawer).
Is This the Easiest Way to Sell Your Old Phone?
Want to sell your phone — and clean out your junk drawer — in one quick swoop?
Then you might be interested in a website called Decluttr.
It used to only buy CDs, DVDs, video games and books, but it's moved into the tech space and now buys used smartphones.
A lot of phones: It pays out an average of $145,000 per day on tech products in the U.K. and U.S.
The company has a 5-star customer rating on TrustPilot and offers some pretty stellar prices for used smartphones.
For example, in "Good" condition, Decluttr pays $134 for the 64GB iPhone 5s, $225 for the 128GB iPhone 6 and a whopping $325 for the 128GB iPhone 6s Plus.
Have an Android phone in "Good" condition? Decluttr pays $85 for the 32GB Samsung Galaxy S5, $145 for the 32GB HTC One (M9), $196 for the 128GB Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and $250 for the 128GB Samsung Note 5.
It also makes the selling process a breeze. You don't need to take photos or create a listing — Decluttr gives you an instant online quote.
Then, just throw all your unwanted stuff into a single box and slap one of Decluttr's provided (and free) shipping labels on it. You'll get paid the day after your items are received and accepted.
The company also has a price guarantee for tech items: If it can't give you the price it initially quoted for some reason, and you no longer want to sell your item, it'll mail it back free of charge.
Ready to get rid of clutter — and get paid? Here's what to do.
How to Sell Your Old Phones (and Everything Else)
- Surf over to Decluttr and type in an item you want to sell. I'd recommend giving the Decluttr app a try, too, so you can scan barcodes with your phone's camera — which is much quicker.
- After you select your phone's condition, Decluttr's price automatically pops up. If you're satisfied with the offer, click "Add to Basket." (As a point of reference: For my good, unlocked 16GB iPhone 5S, it offered me $107.)
- Keep adding products until your junk drawer and shelves are empty! Then click "Complete Order."
- Once you accept the terms and conditions, you'll be prompted to create an account with your name and basic information.
- Select your method of payment: bank transfer or check, or charitable donation.
- Print a prepaid shipping label (if you don't have a printer, Decluttr can mail it to you).
- Pack all of your items into a single box, slap your prepaid label on it and drop it off at your nearest UPS box.
That's it.
Within a day of receiving your package, Decluttr will pay you, so you can buy that new iPhone 7 — guilt free!
Your Turn: Are you eyeing the new iPhone 7?
Sponsorship Disclosure: A huge thanks to Decluttr for working with us to bring you this content. It's rare that we have the opportunity to share something so awesome and get paid for it!
The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here's why you can trust us and how we make money.


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Stage Presence
The MCLA Quartet (l-r), Meghan Gleason '12, Jessica Jean-Charles '13, Laura Gibson '10, and Megan Tainter '10, opened the evening for Donna McKechnie at the College's 115th anniversary celebration.
A group of vocal students had the experience of a lifetime being coached by Tony Award-winning singer and Broadway star Donna McKechnie. At MCLA to perform at the College's 115th anniversary celebration last month, the former star of A Chorus Line took some time out to work individually with these students, helping them to discover the emotions and feelings they need to improve their performances.
According to their voice instructor, Kathleen Carbone, the experience was transformative.
Kat Sanford '10 sang "On My Own" from Les Miserables. "She had an epiphany," says Carbone. "She really started to cry because Donna asked what she thought the song was about. Kat started singing this song and started to sob and cry because she was absolutely feeling the lyrics and feeling the character that she was singing for. When she performed in our December 1st recital, Kat sang the song exactly like she did in the master class. Her peers and the audience said that they had never seen such emotion from a young woman. It was incredible. You actually felt what she was singing."
Jessica Jean-Charles '13 of Pawtucket, RI, found the master class to be extremely helpful.
"I'd been taking voice lessons for a while but it was mostly technique. McKechnie focused on how to put emotions across and make the notes change to express what the character was feeling," she explains.
Like Jean-Charles, Conor Moroney '10 of Wilmington, MA, wants a professional singing career and to be on the stage.
"He has a beautiful, huge bass voice," says Carbone. "When my students introduced themselves to Donna, she said to him, 'I can't wait to hear you sing.' He got up and sang 'If I Were a Rich Man.' He already is a wonderful actor and, with her guidance, he was so funny. You could just picture him on the stage in New York City in a solo performance. He had her laughing."
Meghan Gleason '12 of Shirley, MA, says she was thrilled to have the Broadway star work with her.
"She had us do an acting exercise before we all performed our songs. We looked into the meaning of the songs, and what they mean to us personally," Gleason says. "We took emotion from our own lives and put it into the song. I had put emotion into songs before, but she had us pull real emotion and it really affected how we performed. I didn't know how much it would impact the performance, but it really did."
Later, Gleason, Jean-Charles, Laura Gibson '10 of Hampstead, NH, and Megan Tainter '10 of Billerica, MA, opened the evening for McKechnie at her MCLA performance.
"They were fantastic. You could hear a pin drop. The students were so good that some people had their mouths open," says Carbone. "They acted and sang professionally. They were right on top of their craft that night. I think a bit of what they learned in that master class transferred into the evening. I have never been so proud in my entire life. They put 150% into this and it showed."
For information on upcoming performances at MCLA, visit presents.


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"Secret Millionaire" is a one-hour alternative TV series that follows some of America's most successful business people as they spend a week in the country's poorest areas and ultimately gift deserving members of those communities with hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money.
In the Season Premiere episode, millionaire and world-renowned artist Scott Jacobs and his sheltered 18-year-old daughter, Alexa, leave behind their family and lavish lifestyle in San Diego to spend six days in Newark, New Jersey – an American city in need – to search for those most in need of financial help. While there, father and daughter will attempt to survive on less than $75 during their week-long visit, while volunteering their time to worthy charitable organizations and searching their hearts to determine how much of their own fortune to gift the community heroes they meet. "Secret Millionaire" premieres SUNDAY, JUNE 3 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
Scott Jacobs came from humble beginnings and learned early on that success is undeniably linked to hard work and perseverance. In high school his creative side was jumpstarted when he was persuaded to become the artist for the school newspaper, an area in which he showed great talent that would re-emerge later in life. Scott understood that to follow his dreams he had to control his own destiny, so at the age of 19 he became one of the youngest ever owners of an art gallery. This sweat equity would translate into a successful business and enable him to take major leaps in a career that continues to the present day.
Later in life, when Scott's wife, Sharon, gave him a paint set as a gift, the creative juices began to flow again and, as in high school, he began to draw and paint some of the things that interested him, like motorcycles and cars. At an art show in New York, he came a step closer to becoming a recognized artist with a couple of Harley-Davidson paintings that garnered a lot of public attention, as well as the attention of Harley-Davidson, which in 1993 made him their first-ever officially licensed artist. His art now hangs in museums, galleries and private collections in more than 60 countries.
Based on the hit UK series of the same name, each episode of "Secret Millionaire" follows one of America's most successful business people for one week as they leave behind their lavish lifestyles and go to live and volunteer in some of the most impoverished and dangerous neighborhoods in the country. Their mission is to discover deserving individuals who continually sacrifice everything to help those in need, and ultimately encourage others to do the same. Throughout this incredible, life-changing experience, the Secret Millionaires attempt to remain undiscovered, coming face to face with extraordinary people battling the odds every day of their lives. On the final day, in an emotional and dramatic climax, they reveal their true identities. Ultimately, the millionaires each give away a great deal of their own money, changing lives forever and encouraging others to keep giving back. "Secret Millionaire" on ABC premieres Sunday June 3, 2012


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This is the first of what I'm thinking of making an occasional series.
With the end of my Christmas job at Royal Mail, I had to reclaim JSA. After completing the online process, I was summoned to Hanley Job Centre to complete the claim, and that had to return the following day to sign on. Why this could not have been done at the same time is beyond me, but it meant I had to pay out two lots of bus fares.
Unusually, a bus pulled up within seconds of my reaching the stop.
Potteries Day Ticket Please, I said. The machine flashed £5.00 and spat out a FirstDay.
No, the four quid one, I said
That's the Potteries Day Ticket, said the driver.
Er yeah, that is kind of what I asked for… I know I sometimes speak quickly, but "Potteries Day Ticket" and "FirstDay" don't sound remotely similar.
But I digress. After negotiating the building site that the city centre has become, a ten minute walk brought me to the Job Centre. I had previously signed at Longton, which seemed a much more efficient place. The same cannot be said of Hanley. First, you have to run the gauntlet of more security guards than you'd find in a dodgy nightclub, then you queue for the so-called "Welcome Desk". They sent me upstairs, to another welcome desk, this one empty. After several minutes, someone ambled over, and I got a terse "wait over there". "There" was a small area with only about five chairs, the last of which I took. The signing time was 10:10 and I had arrived a few minutes early – "you must not be late," the officer yesterday had said. That stricture seems only to apply to me: I wasn't seen until after 10:30, with no apology. By the time I was called, there were at least fifteen people waiting to sign, most having to stand. Is this inefficiency deliberate, I wondered, part of the government's plan to make us all feel like undeserving scroungers? Well, fuck that, it won't work with me. I have worked and paid into the system for years, so I intend to get whatever I can back out of it. And I won't apologise for it.
I was glad to escape. I wonder how long it will take before I get the first payment this time. It took them four weeks first time round. I wonder if they can beat that?