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- Play the Man: Becoming the Man God Created You to Be
By: Batterson, Mark
Release Date: May 1, 2018
Format: Paperback$12.79Reg. $15.99
Somewhere along the way, our culture lost its definition of manhood, leaving gen... more$12.79Reg. $15.99Online Stock: 453
- The Five Marks of a Man: Finding Your Path to Courageous Manhood
By: Tome, Brian
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Format: Paperback$11.19Reg. $13.99
A boy doesn't automatically become a man at age 18. What differentiates a man fr... more$11.19Reg. $13.99Online Stock: 269
- The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are
By: Leman, Kevin
Release Date: February 3, 2015
Format: Paperback$7.99Reg. $15.99
Dr. Kevin Leman's ever-popular book on birth order is getting a new look and upd... more$7.99Reg. $15.99Online Stock: 246
- Heaven: Biblical Answers to Common Questions
By: Alcorn, Randy
Release Date: June 1, 2004
Format: Paperback$2.09
What will heaven be like? In his book Heaven, Randy Alcorn presents a thoroughly... more$2.09Online Stock: 1364
- Raising Kingdom Kids
By: Evans, Tony
Release Date: September 1, 2014
Format: Hard Cover$15.99Reg. $19.99
From the bestselling author of "Kingdom Man" and "Kingdom Woman," "Raising Kingd... more$15.99Reg. $19.99Online Stock: 1019
- Kingdom Marriage: Connecting God's Purpose with Your Pleasure
By: Evans, Tony
Release Date: January 9, 2018
Format: Paperback$14.95Reg. $16.99
What happens when a kingdom man marries a kingdom woman? Kingdom Marriage: Conne... more$14.95Reg. $16.99Online Stock: 979
- I Don't Want a Divorce: A 90 Day Guide to Saving Your Marriage
By: Clarke, Dr David, Clarke, William G.
Release Date: October 18, 2016
Format: Paperback$12.99Reg. $15.99
What could be good about a bad marriage? The good news is that couples can get b... more$12.99Reg. $15.99Online Stock: 1025
- Crushed: Why Guys Don't Have to Make or Break You
Release Date: June 1, 2014
Format: Paperback$12.31Reg. $13.99
What is it about girls that makes us want to be with a guy so badly we can't sta... more$12.31Reg. $13.99Online Stock: 190
- Ready to Wed: 12 Ways to Start a Marriage You'll Love
By: Smalley, Erin, Smalley, Greg
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Format: Paperback$14.07Reg. $15.99
Rings. Dress. Cake.You're engaged, and the checklist for the day of your dreams ... more$14.07Reg. $15.99Online Stock: 98
- The DNA of Relationships for Couples
By: Smalley, Greg, Paul, Robert S.
Release Date: January 1, 2006
Format: Paperback$14.07Reg. $15.99
This book shows readers who are struggling in their marriage the steps to take t... more$14.07Reg. $15.99Online Stock: 185
- Talking with Your Kids about God: 30 Conversations Every Christian Parent Must Have
By: Crain, Natasha
Release Date: October 17, 2017$14.07Reg. $15.99
Christian parenting is hard work--and it's getting harder. Parents have a deep d... more$14.07Reg. $15.99Online Stock: 188
- Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line
By: Johnson, Abby, Lambert, Cindy
Release Date: March 5, 2019$14.95Reg. $16.99New Release
Retailers Choice Award winner 2012, Abby Johnson quit her job in October 2009. T... more$14.95Reg. $16.99Online Stock: 767
- The Manual to Manhood: How to Cook the Perfect Steak, Change a Tire, Impress a Girl & 97 Other Skills You Need to Survive
By: Catherman, Jonathan
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Format: Paperback$11.99Reg. $14.99
There's a lot a guy needs to know as he grows up and makes his way in the world.... more$11.99Reg. $14.99Online Stock: 332
- Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough
By: Warren, Kay
Release Date: May 1, 2013
Format: Paperback$13.19Reg. $14.99
Ever wonder why some people seem to experience joy in their daily lives--even in... more$13.19Reg. $14.99Online Stock: 222
- More Than a Carpenter
By: McDowell, Josh D., McDowell, Sean
Release Date: June 1, 2009
Format: Paperback$6.15Reg. $6.99
The inspirational classic, "More than a Carpenter, " is now updated for a new ge... more$6.15Reg. $6.99Online Stock: 692
- Encountering Our Wild God: Ways to Experience His Untamable Presence Every Day
By: Meeder, Kim
Release Date: June 19, 2018
Format: Paperback$13.19Reg. $14.99
Invites Readers into a Deeper Supernatural Relationship with the Holy SpiritWho ... more$13.19Reg. $14.99Online Stock: 238
- Unbound: A Practical Guide to Deliverance
By: Lozano, Neal
Release Date: August 1, 2010
Format: Paperback$14.07Reg. $15.99
As a pastor and teacher on deliverance, Neal Lozano knows that many believers st... more$14.07Reg. $15.99Online Stock: 4124
- Enjoy!: The Gift of Sexual Pleasure for Women
By: Penner, Joyce J., Penner, Clifford L.
Release Date: September 5, 2017
Format: Paperback$13.19Reg. $14.99
Do you want a stronger, more exciting sex life with your husband? As a married w... more$13.19Reg. $14.99Online Stock: 224
- From Anger to Intimacy: How Forgiveness Can Transform Your Marriage
By: Smalley, Dr Gary, Cunningham, Ted
Release Date: June 16, 2015
Format: Paperback$13.19Reg. $14.99
All couples deal with anger. How they respond to it makes all the difference in ... more$13.19Reg. $14.99Online Stock: 345
- The Married Guy's Guide to Great Sex
By: Penner, Clifford L., Penner, Joyce J.
Release Date: September 5, 2017
Format: Paperback$13.19Reg. $14.99
Keep the sizzle in your marriage.
Sex matters in a marriage--a lot Yet many... more$13.19Reg. $14.99Online Stock: 170
- Growing in Christ: A 13-Week Follow-Up Course for New and Growing Christians
By: Navipress, Navigators
Release Date: September 21, 2007
Format: Paperback$8.79Reg. $9.99
YOU CAN LIVE VICTORIOUSLY Growing in Christ has been developed to help new and ... more$8.79Reg. $9.99Online Stock: 970
- Rescuing the Gospel: The Story and Significance of the Reformation
By: Lutzer, Erwin W.
Release Date: May 30, 2017
Format: Paperback$14.95Reg. $16.99
The Riveting Story of the Reformation and Its Significance TodayThe Reformation ... more$14.95Reg. $16.99Online Stock: 0
- Grieving with Hope: Finding Comfort as You Journey Through Loss
By: Leonard, Kathy, Hodges, Sam
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Format: Paperback$11.43Reg. $12.99
Practical and straightforward, yet warm and compassionate, "Grieving with Hope" ... more$11.43Reg. $12.99Online Stock: 8652
- Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours
By: Leman, Dr Kevin
Release Date: August 1, 2017
Format: Paperback$13.19Reg. $14.99
We've seen the enemy, and they're small . . . and unionized. If anyone understan... more$13.19Reg. $14.99Online Stock: 254
- The Wholehearted Wife: 10 Keys to a More Loving Relationship
By: Smalley, Erin, Smalley, Gary
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Format: Paperback$14.07Reg. $15.99
Although it takes two to have a great marriage, an important truth for any marri... more$14.07Reg. $15.99Online Stock: 146


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Structure fire destroys home at Whispering Pines Senior Park
At 10:55 a.m. Tuesday, July 29 a structural fire broke out inside the Whispering Pines Senior Mobile Park located at 41941 Road 222 in Oakhurst.
No one was injured during the fire but more than eight fire units, including several out of district units, were dispatched to the scene of the fire which threatened several homes in the area.
According to authorities, due to the quick response and combined effort of several crews the fire was contained almost immediately and the damages were limited to the single 2,000 square-foot home located at the south west corner of the park.
The home was fully engulfed in flames when firefighting personnel arrived. The owners of the home were not present at the time of the blaze nor was their elderly mother who was at the Oakhurst Senior Center when the fire started.
According to witnesses, neighbors and Farrell gas company workers first noticed the flames and tried to stop the fire from spreading by dosing the home with water from a garden hose.A type-3 Wild Fire engine, E-520 from the Rio Rico Fire District in Arizona was first on scene followed by Bass Lake engine 4254.
The engines from the Rio Rico District have recently been dispatched to the Mountain Area in an effort to redistribute resources while local fire units continue to help with the ongoing French Incident.
The on-scene incident commander, Cal Fire Division Chief Don Stein, said he was extremely impressed and pleased to see such a smooth and effective collaboration among joining districts and Cal Fire.
"Once those guys got in and got to work they knocked it down pretty quickly," Stein said.
Stein says it is clearly evident their presence is needed with several strike teams from the local areas covering the french incident.
Engine E-520 remained at the front of the fire with Cal Fire water engines replenished their water supply from their trucks using a technique called shuttling resources.
Neighbors said the home's owners have lived in the park for more than 20 years and said they were very aware of the potential fire hazards and took all necessary precautions to protect themselves from this type of incident.
For the time being, and while insurance companies assess the damage, the homes owners said they plan to stay at a friends apartment while insurance companies decide what to do.Other crews called to the scene included several Cal Fire engines 4254, 3564 and 3569, and reserve engines which have been called in for support from New Mexico and Arizona.

subset: commoncrawl


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Grab your girlfriends and head to Downtown Henderson Thursday, October 20th for the first ever girls night out. We have 14 retailers who will be keeping their doors open until 8:00 pm. Learn how to wear a scarf, dress for a holiday party or just enjoy a little retail therapy after a long day of work.
Julie and Jessica at Classic Cut will also be staying open until 8 for you to come see their new Shellac Nail System for natural nails or you can experience the beach in October with a spray tan by "Vani – T"!
After you are done shopping enjoy drink specials and live music at Rookies Sports Bar and Restaurant.
This event is also a fundraiser for the local elementary and middle schools weekend backpack club. The weekend backpack program is a program provided through the Family Resources Center to provide nutritious snacks to students whose families are struggling to meet their needs. FRC will identify students in need of assistance by consulting with teachers, staff and the Homeless program. The FRC will then make contact with the family and gain consent for services. Every Friday a backpack will be filled with nutritious snack items to help many children make it through the weekend without going hungry. A percentage of the sales on the day of October 20th will go the backpack club.
Please come out and support our local businesses and the FRC weekend backpack program.
Visit the following shops, open until 8pm:
Abba's Music – 119 N. Main Street
Alles Brothers- 219 First Street
Balfour Rings & Things – 121 N. Main Street
Campbell's Jewelers – 122 N. Main Street
J'Petals Florist & Gifts – 131 First Street
Just Plus Consignment – 213 First Street
Klassy Kids – 320 N. Elm Street
Memories Past & Present – 324 N. Elm Street
Simon's Shoes – 100 N. Main Street
Tea Cafe & Gift Shop – 325 Third Street
The Gold Mine – 111 N.Main St.
The Planet Interior Consignment & Beyond – 316 First Street
Third Street House – 307 Third Street
Victoria's Boutique – 321 Third Street


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Ms. Sticks creates beautiful, handmade walking sticks, talking sticks, canes and keychains by hand. She's been a long-time part of our festival and we're excited to have her back this year!
The company began when Ms. Sticks herself lived in Cashiers, North Carolina. On her frequent hikes, she would pick up sticks from the ground and bring them home to play with. Her life changed forever once she was introduced to a wood burner. Overtime, better tools were used to speed up the design process – but it could never catch up to the creative thoughts in her mind!
She continues to find ways to make her sticks more interesting by adding recycled items such as recycled leather coats for the hand grips, compasses in the tops, crystals or bubbles, even door knobs. Sticks are made out of many types of wood, especially Aspen.
One of Ms. Sticks' favorite items to create is Life History Sticks. These are designed based on a person's information, such as their birthday, memorable dates, names or nicknames, favorite sport teams or hobbies, and more. Life History Sticks are priceless pieces of work that are also functional – and they make great gifts for someone that is difficult to shop for!
Ms. Sticks also creates Eagle Scout Sticks for boys about to earn their Eagle Scout rank. She has been licensed with Boy Scouts of America for almost 10 years now.
From unique, simple designs for any age, to intricate projects that can take up to 10 hours to create, Ms. Sticks' artwork teaches her to listen more to others. She enjoys speaking with customers to create a one of a kind, functional work of art with their ideas on it. Ms. Sticks can be found at art shows, online or on Facebook.


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Establish care:
General questions:
At St. Luke's Endocrinology Associates, our focus is you. We bring
a team approach to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and disorders
of the endocrine or hormone-secreting glands. Our expert team of physicians
and educators uses the latest technology to work together with patients
and their support network to achieve a happy and healthy life for those
with long-term endocrine disorders.
View the Services & Specialties links below to find out more about
the specialty care services offered at our clinic.
Discover what's new at St. Luke's.
St. Luke's News
St. Luke's physicians offer friendly, knowledgeable medical care
in locations convenient for you.
Director, Clinic Operations, Terri Ruberg,
Clinic Supervisor, Mitch Gifford, 218.249.7890
If you need immediate care for a condition that is not life-threatening,
go to the nearest
Urgent Care.
If you or a family member is experiencing a life-threatening injury or
illness, call 911.
If you need a prescription refilled, contact your pharmacy. They will work
with your St. Luke's doctor to coordinate your refill.
St. Luke's medical clinics accept Medicare, Medical Assistance and
most commercial insurance and health plans. If you have questions about
insurance coverage at our clinic, please call your insurance or health plan.
Co-pays or minimum cash payments are collected at the time of your office
visit. We will bill your primary and secondary insurance claims for you.
After payment is received from your insurance provider, you will be billed
for deductibles, additional co-pays and services not covered by your insurance.
A finance charge of 1 percent per month may be applied to patient balances
that are more than 90 days past due.
For elective procedures not covered by insurance, please talk to the business
office about payment arrangements before you have the procedure.
St. Luke's accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover. If you need help
with payment arrangements, please talk to a patient account representative
at your clinic.
218.249.5555 | 800.321.3790
St. Luke's, 915 East First Street, Duluth, MN 55805
© 2019 St. Luke's. All Rights Reserved.
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915 East First Street
Duluth, MN 55805


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WASHINGTON -- Better safeguards against glitches and hacking are needed to avoid a high-tech version of the messy Florida recount battle in the 2000 presidential election, the top US elections official said yesterday.
"We're recommending that every voting jurisdiction that uses electronic voting do something about security that they have not done before," US Elections Assistance Commission Chairman DeForest Soaries said in an interview.
It could be a printer that creates a paper trail of votes, more advanced technologies like voice identification and cryptography, or a simple random check of the machines on Election Day, he said.
Soaries declined to endorse a specific remedy like the printers, which some advocates say could create a reliable paper trail to guard against malfunctioning machines.
With less than five months to go to the November elections, he cautioned that a rushed installation of unproven printers could create more problems than it solves.
"If our commission invests in that as a solution, then we set ourselves up for the printer version of the hanging chad," he said.
Roughly one in three US voters is expected to cast their ballot on electronic machines like
A government-run reference library could also help officials determine if software on a particular machine has been altered since it was certified.
Soaries said he would submit his proposals to the Elections Assistance Commission for approval within the next few days.
The new commission was created to help states upgrade their voting equipment from the creaky punch-card systems that figured so prominently in Florida's election debacle, though it does not have the power to dictate standards to states.
Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins computer-science professor who has uncovered security flaws in a Diebold system, said Soaries was constrained by limited resources and a need to avoid alienating local officials who will oversee the elections.
"He knows he can't take giant steps right now, but he took some baby steps and they were in the right direction," Rubin said.


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Welcoming United's Boeing 787 Dreamliner Back Into Service
On Sunday, I set out on a journey spanning one hotel, two days, three cities, four flights and 787 reasons why it was amazing.
On Monday, May 20 — coincidentally the same day that Charles Lindbergh also took flight nearly 100 years prior — United Airlines became the first US airline to bring the Boeing 787 Dreamliner back into the skies, and I was determined to be on that flight.
With one call to US Airways, I used 50,000 Dividend Miles to book my business-class trip from Houston to Chicago and back on the same day. While definitely not the best use of my miles, it guaranteed me a spot in Business/First Class, whereas I'd have to buy a prohibitively expensive ticket to have that guarantee. That, and if I had bought a coach ticket, I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be upgraded since my complimentary upgrades as a Premier 1K haven't always been reliable lately. But the 787 Dreamliner is a magnificent plane, and I wanted to experience it "the right way", and also to be able to compare it to my business class experience on Japan Airlines back in December.
The last few weeks up to the flight, fares in Economy were at an unusual high round-trip price of around $800. Too expensive for my blood (considering I still had to get to Houston from San Diego — $300), I bit the bullet and booked it. Ultimately, that prices out to 1.6 cents per mile — not really a good deal — but other than taxes and fees, it was better than paying full price for that flight.
Ultimately, Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner is a highly-advanced wide body aircraft that, until recently, was grounded for four months following a series of emergency events that led to the battery system on the aircraft being redesigned.
Leaving San Diego on Sunday, I flew out to Houston to spend the night to catch this momentous flight the next morning. Luckily, this meant I was able to visit some Houston-based friends and enjoy some truly Texas food — queso dip for lunch, and crawfish for dinner.
But the magic really all began early on Monday. After checking out of the Sheraton North Houston at George Bush Intercontinental — an updated, yet distinctly still a very 1980s airport hotel — I set out for Houston's Terminal E. (Starwood has a double-points special going on right now, so I wanted to take advantage of that.)
After clearing security (no TSA PreCheck for me- it's in the other terminal), I can see there's a stage set up for a press event. By this time, I'm there around 8:30am for our 11:00am flight — but I didn't want to miss any of the festivities, especially since this really was a big deal for United.
Not long after, I spot Jeff Smisek, United's CEO and Chairman. It's definitely going to be a big event!
Reporters come and go throughout the next few hours, and there are cameras all over. I catch the eye of a reporter for Associated Press, and had the opportunity to give an interview about the 787.
Fast forward to 10:45 or so, and you can tell there's a storm brewing — a storm of people, that is. On a big stage, several members of the crew stand behind United and Boeing executives, where, during a speech, the Boeing CEO apologies to United for the problems with the aircraft, causing United to lose millions of dollars (when an airplane — or a bunch of them! — sit on the ground not flying for months, it costs money).
Then we board — and you can tell there's a lot of excitement. Granted, there are probably a bunch of people who have no idea what they're in for — they just booked a flight to Chicago from Houston, and didn't know (or care) about the Dreamliner. But if those people weren't excited, they became excited — with exception of the guy behind me in line who thought it was "just a damn plane."
But it's really not "just a damn plane", it's a marked enhancement in the passenger experience. Pressurized to a higher (lower) level, passengers step off the aircraft not feeling like one often does after spending hours at 40,000 feet. It's got neat mood lighting, it's quieter, the windows have electronic shades (push a button, the window dims), it's more energy efficient, and it's got that "new plane smell".
Compared to my long-haul business-class flight from San Diego to Tokyo Narita back in December (100,000 points and around $100 in fees), this flight was very similar (although much shorter). The cabin is more or less than same (United's gray colors on bulkheads is less attractive than JAL's very white colors), minus the impressive walk-up bar that the JAL version has — as well as the more Japanese-style lavatories with, um, squirting water.
The one big difference: it's all in the seats. The JAL flight has angled lie-flat seats, while United's BusinessFirst product has a true lie-flat. Imagine trying to go to bed at night at an angle, with your head a few degrees above your feet! I realize that many who fly on this aircraft won't experience United or JAL's premium product, so I won't go too much into it. But if you could take United's seats and put them in JAL's aircraft, it would be one heck of an airplane.
Eventually, we finish boarding. As usual, I was offered a pre-flight beverage — and while my rowmate didn't hesitate to order a Jack and Coke, I stuck with a double water on the rocks.
Door's closed. We push back. And then the safety video comes on, which always starts with a short segment featuring CEO Jeff Smisek talking about United Cargo, United's catering, United's multilingual staff, or United's pet handling services. It's odd, because Mr. Smisek is only half a dozen rows behind me.
The Dreamliner's huge, magnificent GEnx engines spin up, and the ever-slight roar of the engine is a great sign that everything is going to be great. We taxi out to the runway for a while — and for several minutes, we just sat there on the taxiway, but soon enough we hear "flight attendants, prepare for takeoff" from the flight deck. It's time.
The engines roar as they likely reach towards their maximum, and we start rolling. Not long after, we rotate — meaning we begin to leave the ground (think wheels up, not rotating clockwise). And we're off.
There's an eruption of applause from behind me. Clearly, the flight deck isn't going to be able to hear that, but for a few minutes there, everyone on the plane begins to realize just how neat it is to have this aircraft back in the skies again (though the "just a damn plane" guy was probably still thinking that).
We quickly head towards our cruising altitude of 40,000 feet, as there's a god deal of weather and turbulence at lower altitudes, but eventually, the flight crew begin to prep for lunch — and those moments are the last moments that the flight crew has the galleys, aisles, lavatories, exits, exit rows and the airplane itself to themselves to move freely; not long after, the scores of media outlets with cameras, tripods, microphones, reporters and what have you start to gather wherever they can find space to film and interview the plane and United executives.
A few minutes later, Mr. Smisek gets on the intercom and begins to thank customers for flying United, and talks about how excited he and the team is for having the Dreamliner back in the air. While he's doing that, media start to converge on him in the galley in front of me, but are quickly told to sit back down — there's turbulence ahead.
Eventually, lunch is served in the First Class cabin — the choice is either a chicken calzone, or a shrimp salad. I opt for the former, again, with a water on the rocks, and enjoy the red pepper bisque that comes with it.
A little while after the trays were picked up, media began rushing all over the place again — cameras were rolling and interviews were given from aft to stern. I finish up some work, and begin processing some of my photos taken throughout the day.
A little later, I had a camera crew wanting my seat to peer out the window next to me.
(a quick example of the windows in operation on the 787 — it's pretty neat)
I happily obliged, and stood around in the galley for a few minutes, where Mr. Smisek appeared. Not one to miss a photo opportunity, he was gracious to allow me to get a few photos with him.
Although he's often seen as a controversial figure in the commercial aviation world (read: frequent fliers), I didn't care — it was a pleasure to meet him and shake his hand.
But all this was towards the end of the flight, and the camera crew was still in my seat. At this point, we were already starting our descent into Chicago — and the flight crew were starting to get anxious for me to return to my seat. Eventually, one of the flight attendants shoo them away, allowing me to take my seat and to pack everything for landing.
We quickly descend to a mere few thousand feet before long and stay there for a while — for what reason, I'm not sure — but get a close-up view of some beautiful homes along our flight path. At one point, I could easily see our shadow on the ground — and the three news helicopters watching us land.
Then, after we do our extended tour of the Chicago area, we land — and just like when we rotated earlier, applause erupts. We're on the ground in Chicago!
As we taxied towards the gate, it's clear that the 787 returning is a big deal for Chicago, too: there are easily a dozen employees on the staircase outside the terminal, awaiting our arrival. They were visibly excited to be there, as were the news crews that were awaiting our arrival, waiting for passengers to deplane for interviews.
After about an hour, I turned around and began my journey back home on the Dreamliner, stopping in Houston before getting on an ancient, disappointing 737-800 with none of the luxuries that the Dreamliner offers. Barcaloungers for seats. Ugly-colored walls. No entertainment. No superior pressurization. No power outlets.
And from now on — remembering this journey — it's going to be hard flying on anything else. While I can't speak for the fixes that Boeing and United made to this aircraft to resolve the battery woes on this aircraft, I have faith that the FAA and Boeing have done their due diligence in devising a workaround — and certainly, before we landed back on the ground, I'm sure my Mom was hoping they'd done their jobs too.
I can't wait until the next time I get to fly this magnificent beauty again.
Also check out Matthew T. Hall's article about the adventure in U-T San Diego


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Akke Vest
Regular fit
Style: N0YHU8
notify me when available
Please enter your email so we can alert you when the Akke Vest in is back in stock. We promise not to spam you. You will only be notified once.
Akke sleeveless jacket is one of The Tribe's most versatile pieces. Designed to bring warmth to late autumn and early winter days, its trendy cut and colours will help to perfectly translate it into an excellent accessory to be layered with coats and jackets as the cold gets more intense.
- Sleeveless jacket
- Super light taffeta
- Button fastening
- Flap pockets
- Down-free Thermo-Fibre™ insulation
- Fall/Winter 18


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You are here: Entertainment Options » Children's Workshops » Wax Hand Craft Stand for Hire
Children's Wax Hand Workshops - London
Our Children's Wax Hand Workshops for hire are a vibrant addition to any kid's party or event. These easy to make items are something that your children can take away with them and treasure forever. This fun-filled activity can also teach children a little bit about science through how the liquid changes to a solid.
Your children will be delighted when they make their very own colourful masterpiece. Our arts and crafts stand has a wide selection of colours and accessories that can be added to the Wax Hand. These includes fake spiders, stars, glitter and more. The fun will never end with this charming arts and crafts stand.
Our Children's Wax Hand Workshops are a brilliant way to keep the children entertained at any kind of event. Children and adults alike will be amazed when they get to keep a memory from their childhood. The Children's Wax Hand Workshops are the perfect entertainment option to hire for a wide range of events including; children's parties, family fun days or shopping centre events in London and the UK.
They can also be hired for corporate events such as product launches as they can feature your brand logos and products.
Wax Hand Workshops - Watch it Here!
Take a look at our fun-filled Children's Wax Hand Workshops for hire. This exciting activity will delight and captivate your children and will leave them with a special memory to take home with them. This interactive arts and crafts stand will deliver an unlimited amount of fun for your children. Witness the magic for yourself.


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Fair warning: this is one of those posts. I'm about to rant and rave about social media like a septuagenarian exhorting those youngsters to get off my virtual lawn. If this doesn't interest you, feel free to close the window and go back to your streams and timelines.
I don't hate social media. Hell, I run this blog, I tweet, I'm on Facebook (although I check in about once every other month, to the chagrin of my "friends.") What I loathe is this idea that every activity throughout the day needs to become part of this single, unwieldy meta-narrative about myself that gets disseminated throughout the world. It's not that I'm trying to hide anything; I just don't see the benefit — to me — of dumping every possible scrap of data about myself into someone else's virtual landfill. (This is not about privacy concerns, though as it turns out, they are legion.)
Oh, I see the benefit to Google and Apple and Facebook readily enough. Targeted advertising alone is worth more than most countries' GNPs combined, and that merely scratches the surface. What I take issue with is that these companies are insisting that it's all for my benefit, not theirs. Look how fulfilling my life will be once everything I say or do is connected online! And the latest of the latest? Now all the social networks insist that things will be so much better if you use your real name for everything. Follow on, Interweb lemmings!
I scan through image search on Google a fair amount while doing research for my work. Recently they've taken to popping up these annoying modal windows at random, framing their marketing chores as questions. Do I know that I can share what I've found with my online pals? Do I want to? No? Well, how about converting all my accounts to use my real name? No? Am I sure? Here, they'll show me what my real name would look like in print. Still not convinced? (All with no close button, of course. If I'm lucky a condescending button that amounts to: "No thanks, I'm a wet blanket. Give me a few sessions before you hound me again.")
Sony's recent PS4 presser insisted that we should all get excited about how their next console will scrape all your social networks and connect all your gaming experiences to everyone you know. Even better, it uses your real name rather than all those pesky, outdated internet handles. Am I pumped yet? Yeah, not so much.
Here's the thing. I have a large family. I have many friends and acquaintances worldwide, some of whom I haven't seen or spoken to in years. I have a day job. And I'm also cultivating a presence as a neo-professional writer. Do I really benefit by sending my tech co-workers updates on my niece's drunken bachelorette party? (Theoretical, mind you!) Do people who enjoy my writing and want to find out about my recent projects need to weed out vacation photos and company milestones? And whose life is enriched by seeing that I just watched an episode of Jersey Shore online? (I didn't! Honest!) Again, this is not about hiding anything. No doubt it's all out there if someone truly wants to find any of it. But why would I connect all those dots for them, just to ease their algorithm crunching? And at what benefit to myself?
I have many lives. We all do. And the idea that only one of them is the true me is BS. I don't begrudge the latest social start-up their revenue stream; what irks me is the dishonesty of the claim that this is all for the benefit of the individual. These companies are building valuable, marketable databases of information. And more power to them. All the same, I'd like to manage my own presence online. But thanks.


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Moscow open to Putin visit to Washington, says Russian ambassador
Confusion remains over exactly what the US and Russian presidents discussed at their private meeting in Helsinki this week.
Russia's ambassador the the US said Moscow is ready to discuss a possible visit by President Vladimir Putin to Washington after a surprise invitation from US leader Donald Trump.
With confusion still swirling around what the two men discussed behind closed doors in Helsinki earlier this week, ambassador Anatoly Antonov said it is important to "deal with the results" of their first summit before jumping into a new one.
He said he had not seen Mr Trump's invitation himself, but added: "Russia was always open to such proposals. We are ready for discussions on this subject."
The Kremlin has the final say, but has not yet responded to the proposal Mr Trump made on Thursday.
News of the invite caught many in Washington off-guard.
"Say that again?" national intelligence director Dan Coats responded, when informed of the invitation during an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
"OK," he continued, pausing for a deep breath. "That's going to be special."
Mr Antonov gave a few more details of what the two leaders talked about in Helsinki, but insisted that diplomatic discussions should remain discreet in order to be effective.
He also acknowledged that the two men had discussed a possible referendum in eastern Ukraine.
"This issue was discussed," the ambassador said, adding that Mr Putin made "concrete proposals" to his US conterpart on solutions for the Ukraine conflict.
The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear……..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018
Mr Trump tweeted that the two men discussed Ukraine but has not mentioned a referendum or revealed specifics of the Ukraine discussions.
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The US and Russia have been on opposing sides of the conflict in Ukraine, unleashed after a popular uprising against a pro-Russian president and Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine and European powers are unlikely to support a referendum in the Donbass region, where pro-Russian separatists hold sway.
The Russian ambassador to Washington also denounced "anti-Russian anger" in the United States and reiterated denials of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election — interrupting a questioner to declaire: "We didn't interfere."
He also reiterated denials of Russian involvement in the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK.
Mr Antonov called Monday's summit in Helsinki a "key event" in international politics and laughed off suggestions that the two men made any "secret deals".
The ambassador gave details of their discussions on arms control, but said the US has been reluctant to back Russia's proposals so far. He said the summit had made progress on US-Russian co-operation on Syria's future.
Meanwhile, Mr Antonov also pushed for the release of a gun rights activist accused of being a covert agent in the US, calling her arrest a "farce".
US federal prosecutors accused Maria Butina this week of being a covert Russian agent and working to infiltrate US political organisations, including the National Rifle Association, before and after Donald Trump's election as president.
Butina, 29, denies wrongdoing, and the Russian foreign ministry has started an online campaign for her release.
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These 11 everyday occurrences might astound a person living just a century ago
By Emily Chudy, Press Association In this era of rapidly-improving technology, a lot of everyday occurrences would absolutely blow the mind of anyone living a century ago.
Boy (3) seriously injured following suspected acid attack in UK shop
Rachael Burnett Police are appealing for information after a three-year-old boy was seriously injured in a suspected acid attack.
In Video: Meet the mascots for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo
By Press Association reporters The official mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics have been unveiled.


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Wellingborough School is extremely proud of the achievements of its Upper Sixth, members of which received their A-level results today.
Figures show 23 of the 79 pupils, nearly 30 per cent, gained at least one A*.
50 per cent or more of all entries at A-level in art, photography, chemistry, English literature, mathematics, further mathematics and physics were A or A* graded showing the breadth of the success across the curriculum areas.
Congratulations must go to a significant number of students who gained entry to leading universities.
Saim Saeed deserves the highest praise on his successful entry to Cambridge to study economics, having gained three A* grades and one A grade.
Hugh Baxter (A*A*AA ) will study physics with astronomy at Nottingham, Shaan Patel (A*A*AA) has gained his place to study economics at UCL, Ben Minter (A*A*A) will study mathematics at Warwick, Luc Elsby (A*A*A) economics at Nottingham and Maddie Kunkler (A*A*A) liberal arts at Bristol.
Alex Harker (A*AA), Sheriff Rizkallah (A*AA) and Molly Timlin (A*AA) have all achieved entry requirements to study medicine.
Tom Murdoch (A*AA) is going to UCL to study modern languages and Ella Saxby (A*AA) to Leeds to study management with marketing.
Other pupils, many of whom have secured their first choice university option, are following courses in areas such as digital media, agricultural business management with industrial training, sports technology, acting and fine art with history of art as well of those studying subjects which are a continuation of the school curriculum.
Garry Bowe, headmaster of Wellingborough School, praised the performance of the pupils, and said: "Today is a proud day for students and staff at Wellingborough School, as we see the many success stories of pupils who have turned their hard work into good grades.
"Their parents will be rejoicing too, having supported their sons and daughters throughout the challenging two year A-level course.
"We wish all of our pupils every success on their chosen paths and look forward to hearing about their future successes, whether at university or in the world of work."
Here are just a few of the school's success stories:
- Maddy Kunkler, 18, from Earls Barton, achieved A*s in History and English, and an A in Latin.
She will now go on to study liberal arts at Bristol University.
She said: "I am so relieved to have got into Bristol and am beyond happy with my results."
- Luc Elsby, 18, from Earls Barton, achieved A*s in Maths and Economics, and an A in Spanish.
He will now go to Nottingham University to study economics.
He said: "I had hoped to do well in my exams, but didn't think I would do so well. I worked hard throughout the two years and revised a lot, so I'm very happy with my results today."
- Hugh Baxter, 18, from Kettering, achieved an A* in chemistry, A* in physics, A in maths and A in biology.
He will now study physics and astro-physics at Nottingham.
He said: "I was worked hard throughout the two years and was pleased with how the exams went, so felt quite confident. But I'm still very happy to get these results today."
- Alex Harker, 18, from Kettering, received an A* in biology, A in maths and A in chemistry.
He will now study medicine at Nottingham University.
He said: "I didn't expect to get an A*, especially in biology, but I needed three As to study medicine, so I'm really happy with my results."
- Ella Saxby, 18, from Great Harrowden, achieved an A* in art, A in history and A in business studies.
She will now progress to study management with marketing at University of Leeds.
She said: "I worked really hard and pushed myself, but am still pleasantly surprised with my results. I've studied at Wellingborough School for 15 years and will miss it, but am ready to move onto university."
- Tom Murdoch, 18, from Northampton, received an A* in politics, A in French and A in Latin.
He now looks forward to studying French and Russian at UCL.
He said: "I had always hoped to, but never expected to do so well. I'm shocked really. I put in a lot of work over the last two years and am glad it has all paid off. I'm now looking forward to my university course, where I will be picking up Russian from scratch."


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Plantation period
Plantation period
The plantation period covers different aspects of the industrial history of the island.
It started with the first Dutch arriving on the island in 1624. When they landed here to repair their ship they soon discovered the great Salt Pond and that the island had no habitants. These two facts led to the interest of other Europeans nations.
With the result that the island frequently changed hands during the following centuries. In 1735 John Philips, born in Arbroth Scotland, was appointed by W.I.C
(Dutch West India Company) as commander of St. Maarten.
He revived and increased the agriculture and salt industry, rebuilt the fort and named it Fort Amsterdam in 1737 and invited more investors (mostly English) to settle on the island. The increase of industry required more labour thus more enslaved Africans were brought in. In 1790 the island reached its peak of prosperity, with 92 small estates. In 1848 slavery was abolished (officially by the Dutch 1863). During this period most of the estates were in a state of decline with only a few remaining active around 1950. Some descendents of enslaved Africans bought/"inherited" the estates of their former "owners". A few own this property up to this day.


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Former New Zealand captain Chris Cairns appeared before a London court yesterday accused of lying during a match-fixing libel action.
The 45-year-old faces charges of perjury and perverting the course of justice, which he denies, regarding a libel case he brought against Lalit Modi, the founder of the Indian Premier League in March 2012.
Cairns successfully sued Modi for 90,000 pounds after being accused of match-fixing on Twitter in January 2010, but now faces allegations that he lied during the case.
Southwark Crown Court heard that former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, current New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and former Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori will be called to give evidence during the trial.


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Shenzhen Yuanshan Textile Co., Ltd., founded in 1976, is affiliated to Yuan Shan Lace Buttons Co., Ltd. located in Taichung City, Taiwan. Our company has been serving customers in the business tenet and business philosophy of "high quality and excellent sales service", winning unanimous praise and recognition of peers. Yuanshan lace products are exported to Europe, America, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, etc.
Shenzhen Yuanshan Textile Co., Ltd. moved into Longgang District, Shenzhen in the 1980s, is a leading enterprise in lace industry, actively expands business, becomes the partner of many customers from garment industry, luxury and bridal lingerie industry and makes a contribution to the textile trade in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China.
In the 21st century, Shenzhen Yuanshan Textile Co., Ltd. will uphold the excellent business tradition and business philosophy, cooperate with customers and create brilliance together.
The major products include voile lace, nylon allover lace, torchon lace, chemical lace and cotton embroidery lace, mesh lace and mesh barcode embroidery. Our company develops new products and welcomes production according to the patterns provided by customers.


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Here are my latest offerings! I used images from the Turtle-y Amazing download and papers from the Big Dots collection (both Pink Petticoat). I coloured the images with chalks and pencil; inked the edges in black; used my nesties to mount the images onto silver card; and added a metal star charm. Hope you like them!
Louise x


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LTNY16: What's In It For You?
If you're going to LegalTech New York, chances are you're looking to achieve a goal – whether that's getting ethics CLE credits, expanding your professional network, or transitioning to a different career. With sessions, meetings, after-hours events, and the exhibit hall on your to-do list, it may start to look overwhelming. But there are ways
Read More


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Whether you refer to them as descending sets, strip sets, the stripping method, triple drops, down the rack, or running the rack, you're talking about drop sets. Use of these will sculpt your body and build strength.
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from CrossFit Unbreakable.


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Digital Start Up Monthly Meeting
Cafe Click
Matt Web Company
Saturday, 20. December 2014 - 11:00 to 12:30
Seamlessly orchestrate vertical architectures rather than intermandated applications. Monotonectally innovate flexible relationships before an expanded array of communities.
Where and When
Quickly evolve high standards in methods of empowerment through best-of-breed methodologies. Continually foster stand-alone best practices without cross functional communities. Completely myocardinate multidisciplinary imperatives before real-time convergence.
Enthusiastically parallel task interoperable infomediaries through reliable platforms. Monotonectally engage extensive web services via collaborative internal or "organic" sources. Assertively repurpose exceptional experiences and functional services.
Credibly monetize B2C portals whereas intuitive markets. Efficiently aggregate frictionless action items with low-risk high-yield "outside the box" thinking. Competently administrate tactical potentialities with high standards in infomediaries.
Compellingly whiteboard empowered customer service through adaptive value. Rapidiously optimize user friendly collaboration and idea-sharing with mission-critical e-commerce. Interactively seize quality leadership and user friendly data.
Dynamically promote
Cross-platform value with low-risk high-yield process improvements. Globally develop cutting-edge web-readiness and timely e-business. Authoritatively maintain enterprise opportunities before long-term high-impact leadership skills.
Globally evolve customized human capital before functional growth strategies. Collaboratively foster visionary scenarios after parallel catalysts for change. Quickly implement performance based schemas vis-a-vis high standards in e-markets.
- Assertively redefine top-line manufactured products after error-free data.
- Rapidiously benchmark inexpensive deliverables via world-class potentialities.
- Proactively develop turnkey growth strategies rather than cross-platform e-services.
Rapidiously fashion high-payoff customer service and bleeding-edge schemas. Collaboratively implement standards compliant metrics rather than bleeding-edge collaboration and idea-sharing. Progressively reconceptualize functionalized services without clicks-and-mortar total linkage.
Enthusiastically facilitate competitive materials with top-line results. Continually e-enable high-quality internal or "organic" sources vis-a-vis state of the art experiences. Interactively drive dynamic leadership skills with one-to-one systems. Enthusiastically foster technically sound functionalities vis-a-vis stand-alone quality vectors. Conveniently morph standardized potentialities without premier sources. Collaboratively visualize multimedia based communities whereas interdependent benefits.
Conveniently procrastinate empowered niches without alternative action items. Phosfluorescently drive open-source methodologies and fully tested paradigms. Seamlessly leverage other's focused portals before 2.0 functionalities.
Phosfluorescently optimize
Premier resources and unique information. Energistically grow go forward testing procedures via distributed content. Interactively optimize open-source outsourcing rather than functionalized action items.


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From PescaderoGrown.org, "Fresh, Local and Delicious: Pescadero Grown! Opening Day a Success" 4 May 2012. PESCADERO – Luscious strawberries. Enormous onions. Baskets of kale. Goat cheese and grass-fed beef. On May 3, these mouth-watering delights drew local shoppers to the seasonal debut of Pescadero Grown!, Puente's popular local farmers' market. Nearly 200 locals, young and … Continue reading
From AACHC.org, 8 May 2012. Do you work at a Migrant Health Center or work in a profession that serves migrant or seasonal farmworkers? If so, plan on attending the Arizona Interagency Farmworkers Coalition annual educational conference in lovely Prescott, Arizona May 15-17, 2012. "Preserving Our Past, While Defining Our Future", a conference where those that … Continue reading
From Forbes.com, Danielle Gould, 8 May 2012. While consumer demand for information about where our food comes from and how it's grown is increasing, thus far there has been relatively little interest in the people that actually harvest it. Commonly used labels such as "natural," "free range," "genetically engineered," "heirloom," "organic" and "local," indicate nothing about … Continue reading
From SantaCruzSentinel.com, 27 April 2012. It's a sad irony that for years growing a healthy strawberry conventionally has required methyl bromide, a chemical so harmful it has been banned by international treaty because it is destroying the Earth's ozone layer. Another dose of irony: The soil fumigant at first favored to replace methyl bromide, methyl … Continue reading
From HispanicBusiness.com, Rachel Cook, 27 Apr 2012. For Dolores Huerta, receiving a medal from the U.S. President is more than a nod to a lifetime dedicated to a multitude of social movements. It's a hearty recognition of community organizing's role in a democracy. "Not only is (organizing) important, but it's the only thing we can … Continue reading
From HuffingtonPost.com, Kerry TruemanCo-founder, EatingLiberally.org, 29 Feb 2012. Tracie McMillan's The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table takes us on a vivid and poignant tour of a place we don't really want to go: the mostly hidden, sometimes horrible world of the workers who form the backbone … Continue reading
From PulitzerCenter.org, Kate Furgurson, 25 Feb 2012. After the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed to agree upon a framework for the 2012 Farm Bill, farmers, corporations, laborers and consumers alike are anxiously waiting to see how the bill will impact their businesses and their lives. The Farm Bill allocates hundreds of billions of … Continue reading
From SpinningSpoons.com, Michelle Venetucci Harvey, 16 Feb 2012. We hear a lot about immigration and agriculture, and how immigrants are taking Americans' jobs, but it's never that easy, is it? In an EcoFarm Conference session panel titled "The Farmworkers' Journey," Dr. Ann López spoke about her research, work with farmers and farmworkers, and introduced us to two California … Continue reading
From SFBG.com, Dick Meister, 20 Feb 2012. Dick Meister, former Labor Editor of SF Chronicle and KQED-TV Newsroom, has covered labor and politics for more than a half-century. He's co-author of "A Long Time Coming: The Struggle To Unionize America's Farm Workers." Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com, which includes more than 350 of his columns. … Continue reading
From HSLOrgs.com, Harvard Immigration Project, 16 Feb 2012. The Farmworker Rights Division of Georgia Legal Services seeks law students to join our advocacy on behalf of migrant farmworkers. The Farmworker Rights Division provides free legal representation and community outreach and education to the workers who hand-harvest Georgia crops. Typical cases involve growers failing to pay … Continue reading


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Confidence intervals (CIs) are useful statistical calculations to help get a level of certainty around an estimated effect size. Whenever possible, I advocate to include a CI when reporting an estimated effect size. Sometimes, however, it is of interest to back calculate a p-value from a confidence interval if the p-value is not reported in the manuscript. To do so, we need to remember the basic equations for the confidence interval and the calculation of a p-value. Assuming we are dealing with a 95% CI, we would take the effect size and subtract/add 1.96 times the standard error of the effect size to get our lower and upper bounds of the confidence interval. For the p-value, we just take the effect estimate and divide it by the standard error of the effect estimate to get a z score from which we can calculate the p-value. Therefore, if we are given an effect size and confidence interval all we need to do is back calculate the standard error and combine that with the effect size to get the z score used to calculate the p-value. Below are two examples to illustrate how to do this.
Suppose we have an estimate of a risk difference and a respective 95 percent confidence interval of 3.60 (0.70, 6.50). Here are the steps to follow:
(1) Subtract the lower limit from the upper limit to get the difference and divide by 2: (6.50-0.70)/2=2.9
(2) Divide the difference by 1.96 (for a 95% CI) to get the standard error estimate: 2.9/1.96=1.48
(3) Divide the risk difference estimate by the standard error estimate to get a z score: 3.60/1.48=2.43
(4) Look up the z score using Python, R (ex: 2*pnorm(-abs(z))), Excel (ex: 2*1-normsdist(z score)), or an online calculator to get the p-value. Usually the two-sided p-value is reported: p=0.015 (two-sided)
For an odds ratio, things are a bit trickier because we need to first take the natural log of the estimate and 95% confidence interval before we can carry out the back calculation of the standard error for calculating the p-value. Suppose we have an odds ratio and 95 percent confidence interval of 1.28 (1.05, 1.57). Here are the steps to follow:
(1) Take the natural log (ln) of each value in the 95% CI: 0.25 (0.05, 0.45)
(2) Subtract the lower limit from the upper limit and divide by 2: (0.45-0.05)/2=0.2
(3) Divide the difference by 1.96 (for a 95% CI) to get the standard error estimate: 0.2/1.96=0.10
(4) Divide the log odds ratio by the standard error estimate to get a z score: 0.25/0.10=2.50
(5) Look up the z score using Python, R (ex: 2*pnorm(-abs(z))), Excel (ex: 2*1-normsdist(z score)), or an online calculator to get the p-value. Usually the two-sided p-value is reported: p=0.012 (two-sided)
Hopefully these are good examples to get you started. As you can imagine you can also go from a p-value to a 95% confidence interval by extending these methods in the opposite direction, but in practice it is somewhat unlikely an author would report an effect size and p-value while leaving out the 95% confidence interval.
A repository of programs, scripts, and tips essential to
genetic epidemiology, statistical genetics, and bioinformatics
Welcome to the Genome Toolbox! I am glad you navigated to the blog and hope you find the contents useful and insightful for your genomic needs. If you find any of the entries particularly helpful, be sure to click the +1 button on the bottom of the post and share with your colleagues. Your input is encouraged, so if you have comments or are aware of more efficient tools not included in a post, I would love to hear from you. Enjoy your time browsing through the Toolbox.
Friday, November 8, 2013
How to Estimate a P-value from a Confidence Interval
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I've been a fan of Zooey Deschanel's for a while now. She's gorgeous, talented and quirky, but all without seeming unapproachable. When I heard that she was going to be on a new show this fall, I was immediately intrigued. 5 episodes later and I'm totally smitten. New Girl is definitely my favorite new show of the 2011 fall season.
I mean, how can you not love a show about a dorky—yet adorable—girl who makes Lord of the Rings references? Plus—the humor is right up my alley. Half the things said on this show remind me of something I (or one of my friends) would say.
Here's a preview clip from tonight's Thanksgiving episode:
8 p.m. Central time, 9 p.m. everywhere else. You're welcome.


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Positive Thinking
Our state of mind is engineered by our thoughts, writes Dr. Dan Collins, an ordained minister and licensed psychologist. To improve your state of mind, start thinking of yourself as a thought engineer.
Negative thinking is a big source of anxiety. To reduce your anxiety, it's important to reduce your negative thinking. We can't get rid of every negative element in our lives, but the more negatives we can turn into neutrals or positives, the better we can feel about our day.
Dr. Collins lists three steps to being a thought engineer:
- Realize that your emotions are created by your thoughts. You may have heard of cognitive therapy, which discovered that depressed and anxious people have a distorted view of their worlds. When you learn to correct what some call "stinking thinking," you're often able to master your depression.
- Untwist your negative thoughts. It's hard work, but we can challenge the thoughts that bring us down. When we face a challenge, we can think of our areas of weakness as a personal roadmap to improvement. We can use weakness as a springboard to healing and growth by being brave enough to ask for help and follow through with it.
- Choose your thoughts. Since we know that thoughts are the engines that drive our feelings, we can pause and reflect on how we want to feel. We can choose how we view our lives, and we can decide how we view our problems. Instead of holding onto a negative viewpoint and expecting the worst from ourselves and others, we can expect the best. We can look at our challenges and say, "Why not?" We can say, "Today, I will put myself on the path to reaching my dreams."
Negative thoughts are the most wasteful part of your day. All they do is to make your world a negative place. Try spending tomorrow saying positive things, without saying anything negative. Not only will you feel better about yourself, others will react more positively to you.
- Learn to control needless negative thoughts.
- Untwist negative thoughts.
- Beware of "all or nothing" thinking.
- Give compliments.
- Find a positive element in even the worst situation.
- Believe in yourself.
If you need a guide to help you down the pathway, or if you feel that you need immediate assistance, call the Front Porch at 901.762.8558.


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Comic book space adventurers were a dime-a-dozen in the 1950s...
...but none had better art than Captain Science!
Wow, a story where Arabs are actually good guys!Wally Wood and Joe Orlando did the art for this tale from Youthful's Captain Science #5 (1951), and you can tell they were having the time of their lives, as they cut loose with some of the wildest stuff ever to grace sci-fi comic books.
Unlike the earlier Captain Science stories, which have never been reprinted, these Orlando/Wood stories have been re-published all over the place, but they're still well-worth seeing again!


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Terese Lahann is an attorney with over 22 years of experience. She started her career as a prosecutor in the Seventh Judicial District working in Truth or Consequences, Socorro, and Estancia. During this time, Ms. Lahann handled all manner of cases, from misdemeanor DWI's to high level felonies. After living in Estancia, Ms. Lahann decided that, while the scenery was lovely, the town was a little too small for her at the time, and she moved to Albuquerque to join a small firm with a varied practice. In 1996, she joined the public defender office in Alamogordo, gaining valuable practice and experience in criminal defense work. Following that, she returned to Truth or Consequences for a year as a partner in a law firm there focusing on criminal cases.
In 1998, an opportunity arose to join the Third Judicial District Attorney's Office in Las Cruces. Ms. Lahann, a native of El Paso, Texas, and frequent visitor to Las Cruces as a child where her grandmother and other relatives were long-time residents, decided it was time to move closer to home and made the move to Las Cruces. While working with the District Attorney's Office, Ms. Lahann served in the domestic violence, juvenile, general felony, and drug units.
From 2007 – 2016, Ms. Lahann had her own practice focusing on Children's Court CYFD cases while continuing to consult and, at times, act as co-counsel in criminal cases. As of August 2016, Ms. Lahann joined The Lahann Law Firm in a desire to return to the primary practice of criminal defense. Ms. Lahann has long had a strong commitment to defending constitutional rights and will fight hard to protect those rights for each and every client. She will look at every aspect of your case, be a skilled advocate for you in court, and work to get you the best possible outcome.


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The Slotfather 3D Slot Review
The world of organized crime never felt so real as when you take The Slotfather 3D slot machine game out for a spin. This 30 payline and 5 reel game is a thrilling slot that's packed with huge winning chances, amazing 3D graphics, exciting sound effects, bonus round games and much more.
The symbols that appear on the 5 reels are the Mafioso with the gun, the car, the briefcase full of cash, the wine, the machine gun, the newspaper, a map of Italy, a plate of spaghetti, a cigar and the crime bosses hand. The Slotfather is actually a tribute to the Italian mafia – think of the classic Godfather films. And it's your chance to be a part of this new episode in the history of the new slots mafia.
Trigger the Sneaky Instant win feature is when you land the Sammy "Quickfingers" symbol on either side of the suitcase symbol. When this happens you'll get a hefty payout as soon as Sammy quickly grabs the cash from the suitcase.
The Mob Free Spins game is activated when the Frankie symbol makes an appearance on either side of the 'Tommy Gun' on reels 1, 2, 3 and 4. Bullets will then fly all over the main screen triggered by Frankie da Fixer. To reveal the amount of free spins and multiplier you have won you must click on one of the bullet holes. The amount of free spins awarded go from 3 to 10 in combination with a multiplier 1x to 3x.
Land three of the "Underboss" (Fat Tony) scatter symbols and you'll claim 250 credits. Landing 4 or 5 and you'll be claiming up to 1500 credits.
Time to enter the world of 3D online slot mafia and start living life as the richest player in town!
Best online casino games at SuperiorCasino.com!
Tags: 3D Slot Review, casino game slots, casino slot games, casino slots, free casino games, free slots online, online casino, slot online, The Slotfather


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1 Hour Blokart Lesson
Voucher for a 1 hour blokart lesson.
Voucher for a 1 hour blokart lesson.
Order online and you will recieve your voucher by post with full instructions of how to book your lesson.
NOTE: Blokart world vouchers can currently only be redemed in Ireland. If you have any questions please contact us prior to purchase.


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Please Go To; http://www.janiservu.com/ for related postings!!!
Advantage Cleaning Services Does Bio Hazard Clean-Up In Canisteo, N.Y. 14823!!
[Monday, February 02, 2009]
I remember when all you needed to neutralize a floor with salt on it was to add a little vinegar to your water. Today's products leave floors looking smeared and blotchy. I've tried all kinds of neutralizers and rinses to no avail. Hot water, cold water, nothing seems to remove the salt anymore. Could someone recommend a product that works?
Hard & Resilient Floor Care - frank daddario
Part of the problem, as you note, may be that common rock salt is no longer the only ice melt product used. Often calcium chloride, with its affinity for moisture, is put down. And there are other compounds and combinations of compounds on the market.
I recommend you first mop with a neutral cleaner to capture the bulk of the mess and then do a separate rinse mopping with vinegar or whatever commercial neutralizer you select. Ask your Jan-San supplier for some suggestions or do an on-line search.
Don't mix the neutralizer with the detergent solution since they have different purposes and need to be used in sequence.
Keep all mops clean, and be certain the rinse water allows for cleaning the mop head and not just supplying dirty solution to spread around the floor. All too often insufficient solution is in the bucket to adequately flush residues from the mop heads and that will lead to smears and blotches as well. You can't clean a mop head in a gallon of mop water; fill the bucket.
Lynn E Krafft, ICAN/ATEX Associate email@example.com


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In the summer make a point to visit the famous "Big Tomato", Leamington's Tourist Information Booth, located at 72 Talbot St. W next to the Arts Centre. The booth is staffed with knowledgeable volunteers and is managed by the Leamington District Chamber of Commerce.
Another web creation by JAZ Marketing & Design


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Clear Braces in Doha
Not everyone is born with completely perfect teeth. While some people are not at all bothered with the way that their smile looks, others can feel sensitive about their smiles, even if they have minor cosmetic issues. Luckily, we here at Doha Dental can provide you with a variety of different treatments no matter what your concerns happen to be. If you wish to have straighter teeth, we can offer you clear braces or invisible braces, also known as Invisalign. If you want to learn more about clear braces or Invisalign in Doha, call us here at Doha Dental today.
When it comes to straightening teeth and correcting bites, orthodontic treatment is often considered and implemented by an orthodontist. There are several different kinds of braces out there, and here at Doha Dental we can provide you with several of these types depending on your needs and preferences. Clear braces are a lot like traditional braces, the only difference being that the brackets are made out of clear plastic instead of metal. This is a great option for people who want a subtler appearance but still need significant orthodontic work. Because the brackets are clear, they are not nearly as noticeable as traditional metal braces. The wire is still visible, however, but the resulting appearance is much more subtle. If the look of clear braces is still too much for you, then you may want to consider Invisalign in Doha. Invisalign aims to correct bites and straighten teeth with the use of clear aligner trays instead of wires and brackets. There is an aligner tray for the op row of teeth and the bottom row, and each aligner is specifically designed to fit into your mouth. You will be fitted with a new pair of trays about every two weeks or so in order to facilitate the movement of your teeth.
If you want to get straighter teeth but would like to see if clear braces or Invisalign in Doha are right for you, then we here at Doha Dental can help you. Call us today to schedule an appointment with our orthodontist who will then determine which methods you are eligible for.


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Located in the heart of Sydney's northern beaches, Dee Why Grand Shopping Centre is the perfect spot for your all your shopping convenience.
Ideally situated between the foreshore and Pittwater Road, Dee Why Grand Shopping Centre offers a great array of retailers from everyday groceries and produce, eateries, specialty retail, entertainment and services.
Get everything you need at Coles and Aldi . Along with Craig Cook's Prime Quality Meats and Costi's Famous Fish Cafe. Dee Why Grand Shopping Centre is the Centre of Fresh Food on the Northern Beaches. You will also find Westpac, St George, Priceline Pharmacy, Bakers Delight, EB Games a fabulous food court, fashion, health and beauty, homewares, giftware, and a great selection of cafes.
With longer trading hours to suit your lifestyle and over 400 undercover carspaces, Dee Why Grand Shopping Centre is designed for your comfort and convenience.
Grand Playland offers a free-to-play area for kids under five and is conveniently located near the food court where parents can enjoy a cup of coffee and bite to eat while watching their kids play and be entertained at no expense. Along with the Parents Room, Dee Why Grand Shopping Centre caters for young families.
|9:00am to 5:30pm
|9:00am to 8:00pm
|9:00am to 5:30pm
|9:00am to 5:00pm
|10:00am to 4:00pm
Please contact Centre Management for all community bookings.
15 – 19 Pacific Parade,
Dee Why NSW 2099


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Acquiring funding for my Google Expeditions project was the biggest hurdle! I spent hours writing several grant applications to get the devices and the other components needed to execute my vision. I learned a lot in the process of writing these grants. It made me really think and develop my vision. I had to examine all aspects of what I needed and what was the best way to accomplish it. My project was fully funded through two local organizations grant programs, BGV Gives and The Summit Education Foundation. I feel grateful to be supported by the community I live in! The grants funded the purchase of 2 iPads, 25 iPods, viewers, cases, and charging stations to travel the world with Google Expeditions. Honestly, without receiving those two grants it would have been impossible to implement Google Expeditions on a full scale.
My 5th graders and building staff have had the opportunity to use the Google Expeditions set. When I wrote these grants, I wrote them with the intention to have all grade levels be able to access them. I think this is a powerful way to learn and therefore should not be limited to a set of students. If you have a project in mind, think about the impact you can have not only on your students, but your school or even district. In education, money is always an issue, but where there's a will there's a way! Find opportunities to fund you passion. Dream big because you never know what is possible!
Check out my interview about my Google Expeditions project with The Summit Education Foundation!
Leave a Reply.


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Seven out of ten firefighters and emergency responders are volunteers. If you have the heart to serve your community, you have everything we need.
What It Takes to Volunteer
Being a volunteer firefighter is not about what you look like, what degree you have, or where you come from. It is about one thing: heart. Do you have what it takes to serve your community?Find Out More
Experience Volunteer Firefighting
Being a volunteer firefighter is about a lot more than just putting out fires. It's an opportunity to learn cutting edge skills that prepare you to help members of your community when they need it most.Find Out More
Stay Informed
If you want to serve your community in ways few can, we have opportunities for you. SIgn up for our email list to learn more about volunteer firefighting opportunities.


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From Hochul.House.gov, 28 Nov 2011. After Earlier Meeting, Labor Department Plans to Accept Paperwork Online BATAVIA, N.Y. – Today, after meeting with representatives of the Upstate Niagara Dairy Cooperative, Congresswoman Kathy Hochul sent a letter to United States Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, urging her to swiftly modernize the H-2A visa program to allow farmers to submit … Continue reading
From Daily.Sightline.org, Jennifer Langston, 30 Nov 2011. A new incubator mixes Latino farmworkers and foodie entrepreneurs. In the Northwest, small-scale farmers are the new rock stars. The New York Times writes about them glowingly. Filmmakers follow them around. Lots of people dream of becoming one—from unfulfilled tax accountants to newly minted public policy graduates to carpenters whose jobs … Continue reading
From ThePacker.com, Tom Karst, 30 Nov 2011. I had the chance to chat Nov. 21 with Dan Fazio, owner of the Washington Farm Labor Association, Lacey, Wash. Fazio helps manage H-2A programs for growers in Washington state. 1:00 p.m. Tom Karst: How did the last couple weeks of apple harvest go in Washington state? Were … Continue reading
From GainesvilleIguana.org, Kimberly Hunter, 30 Nov 2011. If we hope to change corporate policies to benefit rather than exploit the 99 percent, we should study the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' history and organizing model: Consciousness + Commitment = Change. They have discovered how to challenge giant corporations in the 21st century – and win! Together … Continue reading
From PANAP.net, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific, 26 Nov 2011. Sixty-one year old Geraldean Matthew, a former Lake Apopka farmworker , spends most of her days in ill health. Suffering from congestive heart failure, Lupus, and kidney failure, she believes that exposure to highly toxic pesticides that were sprayed several decades ago is … Continue reading
From Blogs.KQED.org, Patricia Carrillo, 29 Nov 2011. "They applied a pesticide in the field the other day at work and the supervisor told us to let him know if our toes or feet start feeling numb. They said the pesticide is strong and if this happens or if we start to feel dizzy we need … Continue reading
From BlueRidgeNow.com, Larry Wooten, 29 Nov 2011. There are always two sides to every issue, and when it comes to immigration reform there has been plenty of rhetoric for public discourse. But the issue remains a constant sore spot for the state's agribusiness community. There has yet to be any meaningful reform. The federal government … Continue reading
From SacBee.com, The Sacramento Bee, 29 Nov 2011. FRESNO, Calif. — A central California almond and grape grower will pay nearly $1 million in a settlement with farmworkers for unfair labor practices. The settlement announced Tuesday requires H&R Gunlund Ranches, Inc. of Caruthers, Calif. to pay $915,000 to 82 migratory farmworkers and their attorneys. The settlement is … Continue reading
From RapidCityJournal.com, Andrea J. Cook, Journal staff, 29 Nov 2011. Proposed changes in federal child labor rules threaten the very core of South Dakota family farm and ranch operations by limiting employing and training the next generation of producers, according to producers and others involved in agriculture. South Dakota Secretary of Labor Pamela S. Roberts … Continue reading
From DJCOregon.com, Angela Webber, 28 Nov 2011. In Washington County, people in approximately 750 farmworker families are employed by agricultural businesses, nurseries and wineries. But these workers are paid low wages, and their housing options are limited. The Hillsboro-based Bienestar organization, which owns and manages housing for farmworker families in Washington County, is seeking to expand … Continue reading


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Managing overhead is increasingly important for firms in today's climate. Professional Remodeler's Tom Swartz talked to remodelers George Cleary and Bob DuBree about the challenges of cutting overhead but still delivering quality to employees and clients. Highlights of that conversation appear here. To listen to the full discussion, click here.
TOM SWARTZ: Bob, let's start with you. Define overhead. What would you consider to be overhead?
BOB DUBREE: At Creative Contracting, we view overhead as anything that is not directly attributable to a job. Just to put things in perspective, in 2008, our overhead — January through November — was about $450,000. In 2009, for the same time period, our overhead is about $150,000. Nothing is considered overhead that can be related back to the project.
SWARTZ: Including labor burden?
DUBREE: We burden labor, obviously all the taxes and the benefits. We burden fuels, we burden truck expense. It's all job costs and not overhead.
SWARTZ: George, how do you define overhead?
GEORGE CLEARY: Any labor burden that is directly related to a job would go to that job. Obviously company meetings, where we might be talking at a team meeting or taking about marketing or company growth, policies or procedures — anything of that nature would be overhead. Anything that has the guy's time or fuel time for a vehicle going to a job is allocated to that particular job and therefore is not overhead.
SWARTZ: George, do you know approximately the percentage of labor burden that you charge to a job?
CLEARY: I would say we're more along the lines of 40 percent.
SWARTZ: Bob, do you have a percentage of labor burden that is charged to each job?
DUBREE: I don't know it off the top of my head. I guesstimate that it's in the 30 percent range.
SWARTZ: What overhead is necessary and what decides what overhead can be eliminated or cut?
CLEARY: I guess it depends on the time of where we're at. In the current situation, we're really trying to dissect and look at where the monies are going, what overhead is needed and not. We go through the actual budget looking at anything obvious that would be easily taken out of it. Those would be simple things such as revising our cell phone usage charges; looking at deferring expenses on new trucks, tools and equipment; analyzing insurance and getting into revising our marketing; trying to do things that are more belly-to-belly and less promotional advertising; and things of that nature to try and reduce the general overhead.
SWARTZ: Bob, you took the overhead from $450,000 in the first eight or nine months to $150,000. How did you decide what was necessary in that and how did you determine what got eliminated?
DUBREE: We just went back to basics. I had a full-time office manager and an almost-full-time marketing person. We had two full-time designers; I had a production manager and a production coordinator. We had a part-time receptionist and a part-time selections person, plus myself. We just knew that there was no way that we could sustain all of that given the volume we were looking at doing. I mean, the phones for us just kind of shut off last October. We looked at the facilities. We had a really nice selection center. We had a really nice presentation room. We just felt that those were all things that were great and when times were great. But now people are in the bargain-hunting mode and we couldn't afford to maintain those kinds of things. A lot of our reductions came from salaries, staff salaries. In marketing, we were probably in the 5 percent range. We dropped it down to 2 to 3 percent. We moved out of the big, nice office that we had into something small and cozy.
SWARTZ: Bob, is managing and controlling overhead just up to the owners?
DUBREE: It's got to be up to everybody. It's got to start with the owner who sets the example and sets the tone. You've got to get everyone to see why. We've been an open-book management company for at least 10 years. Our numbers have always been open; we share where the money goes all the time. Not as much as we used to, because we don't have the same resources to do it, but we still talk about it. We ask people to look for ways to save money, whether it's on the production side of things or the office overhead side of things.
SWARTZ: George, how do you feel about that?
CLEARY: It's definitely more of a team acceptance. It can't be all on the owner's shoulders. I agree with Bob that the leadership has to come from the owners. What we try to do is to give each department some kind of idea of where they're going so they can dissect their area. They're not going to think like the company owner; they can't wear all those hats. They can at least dissect their division or their department and try and figure out ways that they can see more cost effective ways to cut their overhead or become more productive.
SWARTZ: George, you haven't been hit as hard, but you have re-evaluated a few things in your expenses. Where did you start?
CLEARY: Again, the budget and what's in there that's slush? Is there entertainment in there that we could take out and things of that nature? Copiers, new computer systems, hard costs that we could just defer and deal with at a later time? Buying a new vehicle and analyzing the insurance? Are we over-paying for something? Are we over-paying monthly for insurance because we're still set on our previous budget that might not be met? Analyzing things a little bit more monthly or quarterly rather than waiting until the end of the year to settle up things? We did have a health savings account, just to try and reduce some of our exposure. We wanted to be able to provide health insurance, but couldn't afford some of the rates that our policies had gotten up into. I chose not to get rid of our non-producing person, which was our office manager, to take the time to try and grow the business and to use her expertise to figure out how we could fine tune the business and keep from getting caught in an upside-down situation. We looked at what we could do to further enhance our marketing and to use our fewer marketing dollars more wisely. How can we better define and get back to the basics? How can we better define our job descriptions to make everyone just that much more productive and responsible?
SWARTZ: Do you assign the overhead to the whole company? How do you manage it?
DUBREE: We have a department setup. We'll look at the income for each department and put an equal percentage of the overhead to each department based on its income. It all gets lumped in together. Then we go back and look at the end of the year or midway through and re-evaluate.
SWARTZ: You're specifically saying that where you were at $2.4 million and you had a slightly negative percentage of profit. This year you've slashed expenses, albeit that you did cut your salary, but you cut the whole expenses by perhaps 1/3 for this eight month period we're talking about. And you're showing a percentage of profit. How do you explain that?
DUBREE: Just paying tighter attention to the numbers, paying attention to the job costing. Just being aware of everything is the most important thing I can say. When you get busy, you get fat. You get fat on the overhead side. One of the things that has been hard, though, is it gets hard to offer the same level of service that we offered before. It's hard to have all of the ducks lined up and ready to go when you start that project so it's almost seamless.
SWARTZ: Has that hurt you?
DUBREE: It's psychological more than anything. I'm a non-confrontational type of person, so I try to go out of my way to make sure that we've got everything tight and squared away. We just don't have the same resources that we used to have to do that. I'll go out and I'll get frustrated when something's not going the way I'd like, but when I step back and think about it, I know that the people that are still here are doing the best that they can with the resources they have, and I'm providing the best that I can with the resources I have. Frankly, what it costs to do a project today ... it would have cost more yesterday and a lot more last year. The consumer is getting what they pay for. They may not realize it, and you may not realize it when you're estimating it, but it is a fact.
SWARTZ: George, if you had any advice to give to a remodeling contractor out there when it comes to overhead and managing it and what to do about it and how to control it and how you decide what to do with it, what would you tell him?
CLEARY: I would say just start with your team of people. Make sure you've got the right people on there. What I tried to do forever was to do it all myself. You just can't do it and wear all those hats. When you hire people, rather than hire them basically on their skills or their experience, hire them and train them to be the person for the position that you want. We've always hired people with remodeling experience versus trying to hire someone with a pretty resume. We want someone who has hands-on experience with the type of work we're going to ask them to do. Having somebody with the right attitude that has the owner's type of mentality. That's my first and foremost advice — just make sure you have the right people so that you're not trying to do it yourself and everyone thinking along the same lines with the same goals in mind.
SWARTZ: Bob, what would be your advice to a remodeling owner and company and manager out there who is struggling with what to do with expenses and overheard?
DUBREE: Just get back to basics: Do you really need it? Is it critical to the mission? And pay attention! It's easy to hang on to people far longer than you should. You need to watch that pipeline. We all know that once you go on that first sales call chances are it's at least two months before you're starting that work. What tends to happen is you keep people around longer than you should and that gets expensive. It's the hardest thing for a lot of people. It's really hard. In 21 years, last year was the first time I ever laid anybody off and I don't ever want to do it again.


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Novelist Zoë Heller isn't interested in watching the marriage of Prince Harry to actress Meghan Markle. "The most interesting stuff about weddings for me is always the anthropological detail, the chance to watch how people are behaving at the reception afterward," says Heller, author of books that include "The Believers" and "Notes on a Scandal." "But you're not going to get any of that." Of more interest to Heller: how a worldly woman like Markle will cope with the "drear" of royal life.
Heller spoke to Katherine Zoepf about the fantasy of marrying a prince – and why Markle will be useful to Britain's monarchy.
(Advisory: Strong language in paragraph 6 may be offensive to some readers.)
What do you think it is about the idea of marrying a prince, and about royal weddings in general, that remains so compelling?
It's never been a fantasy of mine, but I suspect that if you're somebody who thinks of your wedding day as being the apotheosis of your career as a woman – the ultimate affirmation of your femininity – then the royal version is the ultimate. It's not just being queen for a day, it's becoming queen – or something near to it – forever. It's as Walter Bagehot said, a royal wedding is a brilliant edition of a universal fact.
Some veteran royal reporters have claimed – and even President Obama once suggested – that the British royal family is more popular in the United States than it is at home in the UK. Whether or not that's strictly true, why do you think Americans are so obsessed with the royal family? Is the royal family covered differently in American and British media?
The American view is rosier, hazier, I think. They know less of the baroque detail about the characters involved and the internecine family feuds. It's the difference between my knowledge of the Kardashians and my children's. I am infinitely less attuned to the nuances of the family relationships than they are.
The British attitude towards the royal family is an odd combination of old-school grovel and tabloid cruelty. On one hand they're given exorbitant praise for common or garden acts of decency, or the very palest glimmers of wit. You know, a princess bends down to say something to someone in a wheelchair and they're a marvel of compassion and humanity. And at the same time, they're subject to the same kind of vehement nastiness that is meted out to any other celebrity written up in the Daily Mail.
Meghan Markle has yet to fully experience the shitty end of that. But there's already been tabloid commentary suggesting that she's a little too slick and actress-y. In that first engagement interview, everyone was delighted by how poised and bright and articulate she was, at least by royal standards. The royals set a pretty low bar when it comes to social skills. But I think her poise has already begun to give rise to a certain amount of skepticism, a suspicion that she's a girl on the make. People expect a commoner coming into the royal family to have a certain amount of star-struck gaucheness and humbleness. So her self-possession is regarded as a bit suspect.
Do you think that, as a former actress, Meghan Markle may be better prepared for this role than, say, Kate Middleton was when she married Prince William?
[Meghan] can probably make a better speech. She can certainly speak extemporaneously better than any of the other royals. But I think the fact that she's been in the world, that she's pursued a career, that she's had a full life and is accustomed to doing as she pleases, will make the business of adapting to the royal family and to all of the attendant restrictions much more difficult.
Is Markle, in some sense, the modern-day equivalent of one of Edith Wharton's "buccaneers," giving a titled Old World family an infusion of showbiz cool (instead of cash from a New World industrial fortune)?
I don't think it's the showbiz part that she brings that's useful to them as a corporation. It's the patina of modernity and progressive politics. The old Walter Bagehot thing about not letting daylight in upon the magic, the idea that the royal family had to portion out access to itself in order to preserve their mystique has changed quite drastically over the last 40 years. They've suffered various PR debacles – the toe-sucking incident [photos of Prince Andrew's former wife Sarah Ferguson with the financial adviser], messy divorces, Harry's naked cavortings in Las Vegas – and I think what they've discovered in the process of all that is that not only can the monarchy survive quite a lot of toe-sucking, but that it has to give a lot more "we're just like you" entertainment in order to survive. Hence you have Brian May playing electric guitar on top of Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Golden Jubilee. You have the younger royals out talking about mental health, showing that they're groovy, in-touch young British people. As part of that, Meghan's fantastically useful. I've been taken aback at how many of my thoughtful, anti-monarchy, republican-with-a-small-"r" friends have been charmed by [her], have welcomed her as a sign of the royal family changing. It's the equivalent of, I don't know, Gucci using an African-American model. A power structure is able to co-opt all kinds of ideas and people, but it doesn't mean that anything's changing in any significant sense. It's the cosmetic application of identity politics to an ancient social hierarchy. And if one objects to the ancient social hierarchy, one oughtn't to be placated by the fact that somebody with a different complexion has been recently imported. I'm sure you saw the Times piece about the little girl somewhere in south London, how it's the summer of Meghan for her. She's happy to see herself represented. I get that. But it's a folly to imagine that the royal family is now the vanguard of social progress.
Based on your observations of the folkways of the English upper class, could you give us some sense of what Markle may have gotten herself into?
She is a 21st century Californian going into a fusty old aristocratic family. Germaine Greer, I'm very amused to see, has set herself up as somewhere between the town gossip and Cassandra, and has been all over the papers saying, "It'll never last! She's a girl on the make. She's going to bolt when she discovers how dull it is." I wouldn't hazard that kind of prediction, but she has a point. Whatever that girlhood fantasy about marrying a prince is, I think the reality is a combination of great luxe – they're bloody rich – and an enormous amount of drear. It's a lot of opening the municipal swimming baths in Folkestone, and taking a train to Blackpool to meet people in an old age home. It's hard to imagine that someone who has led the kind of life that Meghan Markle has led – i.e. an interesting one, a liberated one – would continue to be stimulated by this for any length of time.
The crucial thing is that the royal family has to stay politically neutral. It's fine for them to give interviews about mental health, or to talk about how one ought not to be nasty to gay people, but they have to be apolitical. Meghan can head up philanthropic efforts and so on, as long as they're innocuous, we-are-the-world type endeavors, but she won't be allowed to say anything remotely controversial or interesting.
Katherine Zoepf is a Commentary editor at Reuters, an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University and the author of "Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of Young Women Who are Transforming the Arab World." @katherinezoepf
The views expressed in this article are not those of Reuters News.


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Friend's Email:
Subject: I have found a DVD that I think you would enjoy
|Apollo 11 The Eagle Has Landed
Actors: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin Aldrin Jr
Director: Robert Garofalo
Genres: Documentary
NR 2005 1hr 30min
On July 16th 1969, Apollo 11 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The purpose of the Apollo 11 mission was to land men on the lunar surface and to return them safely to Earth. On board were astronauts Neil A.... more »
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Problematic, but has value from some angles
Farffleblex Plaffington | Parnybarnel, Mississippi | 11/07/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"The first thing to note about this documentary, which was produced with the participation of NASA, is that the title is very misleading. Not much of this film is about the Apollo 11 mission. The title is just there for marketing purposes--Apollo 11 is the famous moon-landing mission, so that will help sales. Unfortunately, it basically amounts to a bait-and-switch tactic. I can especially understand people being upset who might buy this at a NASA or science museum gift shop, say, as they usually outrageously overcharge for videos.
Even more unfortunately, this isn't a horrible film for what it is--a 90-minute history of rocketry, going all the way back to 9th Century China, briefly moving to an extended section on rocketry developments in modern warfare, then tracing the earliest attempts to put rockets in orbit, the space race, and ending with the Apollo 11 mission.
As an educational tool, Apollo 11: The Eagle has Landed, deserves a slightly higher rating. It's packed full of historical information, and even as a lifelong astronomy and space sciences buff, I learned a couple things (or at least was reminded of things that I've long forgotten). On the other hand, as has been pointed out elsewhere, there are a couple factual errors in the script . . . but no documentary (or non-fiction in general) should be taken as gospel.
However, it's weaker as a documentary, especially when considered aesthetically. As much as I love Tom Baker as an actor--he's England's answer to William Shatner, after all--he's not a very exciting narrator here. Too much of the beginning is essentially a slide show, and too many images seem a bit blurry and overexposed. The historical space program footage has not been spiffed up, so it tends to look a bit washed-out. And as a documentary covering such a wide swathe of important history, 90 minutes just can't do the material justice--you'd need a 10-part series to do a really good job."
Excellent, but not primarily about Apollo 11
William Haugen | Dallas, TX United States | 07/17/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Good to excellent 90 minute history of man looking and venturing into space up to and including most of the flight of Apollo 11. However only the final 20 minutes of this documentary is devoted to Apollo 11 and the return to earth portion of the Apollo 11 mission is not covered. The rest is history of space including excellent history of Robert Goddard, Wernher von Braun, President Kennedy's Go to the Moon Speech and highlights of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs and much more. This DVD also contains a Special Feature talk titled "Remembering Apollo 11" by Michael Collins who was the Command Module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission. Did get the sense from this Apollo 11 DVD that Wernher von Braun more than any other person was responsible for man getting to the moon and really lighting the fire of the world's imagination that this dream could become a reality. The Apollo 11 name does not really fit the majority of the material in the DVD. To place yourself into the world of 1969 and get the image of the mission people living on earth at that time had would recommend as a supplement or alternative the DVDs "Nova To The Moon" which has as much coverage about Apollo 11 as this DVD does and or "Above and Beyond" which is a 10 hour series on space that has two episodes (16 & 19, about 45 minutes total) devoted to Apollo 11 that really capture much more of the Apollo 11 mission and what was going on in the world at the time."