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Senate Panel OKs Gun Bill With Background Checks
ST. PAUL (AP) - A Senate panel has passed a bill that would impose background checks on all gun sales, but that measure has many obstacles to tackle before becoming law in Minnesota.
Majority Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday night endorsed the legislation on a 5-3 party-line vote.
Sen. Ron Latz, a St. Louis Park Democrat, says his bill is a compromise with competing legislation. It contains many of the provisions in an alternate gun measure backed by the National Rifle Association.
The NRA-backed bill would not expand background checks. That legislation has many Republican and Democratic co-sponsors in both chambers.
Republican and Democratic party leaders say they doubt a bill with universal background checks could garner enough votes to become law.


text: Black Unisex Sneakers Classic Black Vans Authentic Canvas One of the most recognizable and beloved buildings in the region, the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium is listed on the National Historic Register. The auditorium was constructed in 1926 and opened in February 1927. For over eighty years, with the exception of a ten-year closure from 1986-1996, the Memorial Auditorium has drawn audiences to a variety of events, from Big Bands and violin virtuosos to the Beach Boys and Rolling Stones. Since its reopening in 1996, the auditorium stage has welcomed artists such as Josh Groban, Michael Bublé, Melissa Etheridge, comedians George Lopez, Mike Epps and Ron White and bands from The Doobie Brothers, The Moody Blues, and Duran Duran to Death Cab for Cutie and The Killers. The Memorial Auditorium is a sentimental venue for the many thousands of graduates from regional high schools, colleges and business and professional schools that hold their commencements each May and June in the building. It has lived up to its mission as a multi-purpose venue, as it still serves as the venue of choice for not only entertainment and sporting events but meetings, conferences, banquets, receptions and speaking engagements.

subset: commoncrawl


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This Week in Auto Racing May 17 - 19
Concord, NC – It's a big weekend in auto racing. The stars of NASCAR will shine under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 will take place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Sprint Cup Series
NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race - Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC
With a possible $2 million payday for the winner and some recent changes in the format, this year's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway could be the most thrilling one in the event's 29-year history.
In previous years, at least $1 million went to the winner of the all-star race. The same amount will be awarded to Saturday night's winner. But this year's event has an added incentive. If a driver finishes first in all of the four 20-lap segments and then takes the checkered flag for the final 10-lap shootout, then that person will collect an additional $1 million.
NASCAR has made some format modifications, including a couple of tweaks revealed earlier this week, that will add more excitement to both qualifying and the race.
Friday's qualifying will consist of three laps and a mandatory four-tire pit stop. However, a speed limit will not be enforced when a driver enters or exits pit road during his or her qualifying attempt.
The number of laps in the five segments remains the same as last year. There are a total of 90 laps equaling 135 miles.
One of the changes for this year's race is the running order at the completion of the fourth segment (Lap 80), which will be repositioned based on the average finish for the first four stints. The order will be placed directly behind the caution car prior to the opening of pit road for a mandatory four- tire pit stop. The starting lineup for the fifth segment will be determined by the order of cars returning to the track from the pits.
Then it's a dash for a lot of cash when the green flag waves for the final segment.
"It's just no holds barred," said Kyle Busch, who is one of those drivers already eligible for the all-star race. "Go for everything, go for broke and see what you get. Literally, it's going for broke, because you either come home with a million bucks or you're broke, so it's a great race just for the fans, I think, and for the drivers, because it's a non-points race. You get to go out there and put everything on the line."
The field for the 2013 all-star race will consist of 22 drivers. Nineteen of them have presently locked down a starting position. The top-two finishers in the Sprint Showdown (40-lap preliminary race) will advance into the main event. And the last spot will go to the winner of the fan vote. NASCAR recently noted the fan vote driver has to finish the Showdown and his or her car is in "raceable" condition as determined by Sprint Cup Series director John Darby.
Danica Patrick, in her first full season as a Sprint Cup competitor, is the favorite to win the fan vote, if she does not finish either first or second in the Showdown. The rule change for the fan vote winner not having to finish on the lead lap in the preliminary race could be beneficial for Patrick, since she has finished on the lead lap in just two races this year -- the Daytona 500 and Martinsville. She was not eligible for the preseason event at Daytona (Sprint Unlimited).
"I think about it from a fan's perspective, and I think you want the driver you cheer for to be out there, of course, but you want a good race," Patrick said. "Hopefully, they think of me when they think of those two. We always have the opportunity to race in as well. We've been working really hard over the last month on our mile-and-a-half car, and we need to. Let's hope it all comes together by the all-star race."
Martin Truex Jr. is one of those drivers competing in the Showdown that has won it twice (2007 and '10). Truex, who qualified for last year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, has not won a points-paying race in NASCAR's top series since June '07 at Dover. He has finished second in a race three times within the past 13 months.
"Without a doubt, I feel like we should win that (Sprint Showdown)," Truex said. "Anything less would be a disappointment. We're going there guns loaded, trying to do all we can do, and hopefully, we'll come out on the right side of it this time."
Jimmie Johnson, the current points leader, won the all-star race for the third time last year. Johnson's other victories in this event came in 2003 and '06.
Busch has won the pole for this race the past two years. He finished second in 2011 and fourth in 2012. Busch also has led 14 or more laps in each of the last seven events.
"I've been aggressive, and I've been maybe too aggressive at points and not aggressive enough at other points," he said. "Last year, we just ran a clean race and didn't really do much aggressive driving or anything, and we ended up fourth. Maybe there was a little bit more that needed to be done, but overall it was a good week there for us last year and also our second-place run in 2011."
Camping World Truck Series
North Carolina Education Lottery 200 - Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC
Matt Crafton heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway as the points leader in the Camping World Truck Series and the most recent race winner -- April 20 at Kansas Speedway.
Six days after his Kansas victory, Crafton's wife, Ashley, gave birth to their first child, daughter Elladee.
"I need to get back to racing, so I can get some rest," Crafton jokingly said. "I'm always excited to go to the racetrack. But usually you go to the racetrack and you don't get much sleep, because you're worried about everything the night before the race. You think about everything. This week, I'm excited to get to the racetrack, so I can get some sleep."
Crafton currently holds a 13-point lead over second-place and ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter, who won the first two races this season (Daytona and Martinsville).
Sauter held a 12-point advantage over Crafton after Kansas, but Sauter's No. 98 team was hit with heavy penalties from NASCAR for an unapproved fuel cell discovered in his truck during opening-day inspection at that 1.5-mile racetrack. Sauter and team owner Mike Curb were both docked 25 points. Crew chief Joe Shear was suspended for four races, fined $10,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31.
Rookie Jeb Burton also trails Crafton by 13 points, but Sauter is second in the standings by virtue of his victories.
Charlotte is the fifth event on the series schedule this year.
"I'm super-excited about this Charlotte race, even more than I usually am," Crafton said. "With all the momentum that the team's carrying into this race, I know the guys are still on cloud nine from the Kansas win, and I'm up there with them, from the win and having our child."
Crafton scored his first truck win in May 2008 at Charlotte. Kansas marked his third career victory.
Thirty-eight teams are on the entry list for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski are those Sprint Cup Series regulars entered. Busch won this race in 2010 and '11 but did compete in last year's event.
Indianapolis 500 Qualifying - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Indianapolis, IN
Qualifications for the 2013 Indianapolis 500 take place this weekend, with starting positions 1-24 determined during Saturday's "Pole Day," and the remainder of the 33-car field set during Sunday's "Bump Day."
The first day of qualifying includes a five-hour segment (11 a.m. - 4 p.m. ET) followed by the nine fastest drivers in that segment competing for the pole position during a 90-minute shootout.
Ryan Briscoe won the pole for last year's Indy 500 in the slimmest of margins. Briscoe beat James Hinchcliffe by only 0.0023 seconds, making it the closest 1-2 qualifying finish in race history. He posted a four-lap average of 226.484 mph to earn his first pole for the Indy 500.
Time trials for the 1970 Indy 500 featured a margin of 0.01 seconds between pole winner Al Unser and second-place Johnny Rutherford.
Briscoe lost his ride with Team Penske at the conclusion of the 2012 IndyCar Series season. Last month, Chip Ganassi Racing announced that Briscoe will drive its No. 8 car in this year's Indy 500. He drove for Ganassi during the 2005 season, competing in 14 races.
"I just can't begin to tell you how excited I was when Chip gave me the call," Briscoe said. "It's great for me having this opportunity. Hopefully for next year, we can try to be back here full time. You never know what is around the next corner. You just have to keep with it and stay positive. I feel like I have a place in IndyCar, and I just have to go out and do a good job."
The pole sitter for the Indy 500 has gone on to win the race 20 times, most recently in 2009 with Helio Castroneves. Dario Franchitti won last year's Indy 500 after starting 16th.
Thirty-three drivers are currently on the entry list for the 97th running of this event. Teams have been practicing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway since last Saturday, in preparation for both this weekend's qualifying and the May 26 race.


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Grant is given to support the Save Kentucky's Hemlock Project
GEORGETOWN, KENTUCKY, (July 3, 2008) —Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust (KNLT) to support the Save Kentucky's Hemlock Project. The project is focused on saving hemlock trees that have become the target of the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, an insect that feeds on the needles of the hemlock and can cause death to the trees within three to five years.
"Impacts to this keystone species affect water quality and health downstream and everything in eastern Kentucky is downstream from hemlock groves," stated Hugh Archer, KNLT's executive director. The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid is a non-native species which originated from Asia. It was found in Kentucky in 2006, when it was discovered in hemlocks in Harlan County. It has since been found in Clay, Grayson, Leslie, Letcher, Oldham, Pike, Powell, and Whitley counties. The threat to the hemlocks can be compared to the loss of the American chestnut which devastated eastern forests during the first half of the 20th century.
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust along with a diverse team of foresters, wildlife biologists, entomologists, public officials, and citizens has formed Save Kentucky's Hemlocks. The new group has received strong public support for its efforts to protect and save hemlocks from the adelgid. The group is prioritizing critical areas for treatment and has already treated more than 3,000 trees in the Pine Mountain area of southeastern Kentucky. TMMK's contribution will provide additional funds for the detection and treatment of the adelgid and for materials and resources to educate the public about the project.
The Kentucky Natural Lands Trust was formed in 1995 to protect Kentucky's most ecologically significant natural lands. This organization has actively pursued the preservation of Blanton Forest, the largest old growth forest in Kentucky and other natural areas on Pine Mountain which are ecologically significant.
About TMMK
TMMK is located in Georgetown, Ky., and is Toyota's largest manufacturing facility in North America employing about 7,000 team members. Initially, TMMK hired team members from 116 of Kentucky's 120 counties and continues its philosophy of giving back to the communities where its team members live. TMMK has the capacity to produce 500,000 vehicles and engines annually. Its products include the Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon and Solara as well as V6 and 4-cylinder engines and engine components. Since arriving in Georgetown in 1986, TMMK has distributed more than $32 million in gifts and sponsorships across Kentucky.
Rick Hesterberg
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc.


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Ivan Forbes was in the audience recently when Beth Gates Warren, author of "Artful Lives: Edward Weston, Margrethe Mather and the Bohemians of Los Angeles" spoke at the Glendale Central Library.
Warren's book focuses on what she called Weston's 'lost years,' the years he worked in a small studio at Brand Boulevard and Tropico Avenue (now Los Feliz Road) and lived in Tropico with his wife (the former Flora Chandler).
Weston kept daybooks for his entire career, she said, but later destroyed all those from his Tropico years.
When Warren learned this, she embarked on a hunt for those 'lost years,' which culminated in her book.
During her talk, Warren described Weston's local career and his involvement with the 'Bohemians of Los Angeles.'
Later during the question and answer period, Forbes, who was sitting in the front row, spoke up. When he said that he had grown up on Perlita Avenue, across from the Weston home, and that he had witnessed some Weston events, many in the audience (including me) gasped. Here was someone who actually had memories of the famed Westons. Later I went up and introduced myself and asked if I could contact him for an interview.
In our phone conversation the next week, Forbes said he was born in 1928 in Atwater (formerly Tropico). "We called it Toonerville."
Perlita is a very short, narrow street. Forbes lived in a small house on the portion of Perlita that runs between Los Feliz Boulevard and Chevy Chase, between Glendale's western border and the Los Angeles River. The Westons lived across the street.
Flora Weston gave birth to four sons, Edward in 1910, Theodore Brett in 1911, Lawrence Neil in 1916 and Cole in 1919, and no doubt she was occupied with raising her family. Meanwhile, Weston became increasingly involved in his photography and with other artists, including Mather, and spent less and less time at home.
He left for Mexico in 1923, then returned in 1926, according to the Edward Weston website. In 1929, he and son Brett relocated to Carmel.
The Forbes home was at the top of a slight rise of land; from there, curious young Ivan (born in 1928) had a great view of his neighbors. Two events remain vivid in his mind: one was in the mid-1930s when the Weston boys built a large sailboat in their backyard. "I could see the boys building a boat. I wondered how they were going to get it out of their back yard." One day, he saw a big crane arrive and watched as the boat was lifted onto a truck. "I saw it going away."
His second memory was even more exciting to the young boy. It was the time the Weston house caught on fire. Forbes watched as the firefighters arrived, then saw a man come out to the street and watch the firemen work. Later he learned that the man was the famed Edward Weston. "That's the only time I saw him," he said.
Although Forbes' childhood home still stands on Perlita, nothing is left of the Weston house. Even the lot itself is hidden behind a huge embankment, so the last vestiges of the Weston house are gone.
To the Readers:
Netty Carr and Sandra Caravella were also in the audience at Beth Gates Warren's presentation, which was sponsored by the Glendale Historical Society. Carr and Caravella recently co-wrote "Atwater Village," an Arcadia Publishing book. While researching their book, they discovered Forbes, who later accompanied them on a driving trip around his old neighborhood and showed them exactly where the Westons had lived.
I met the two women while talking to Forbes and they generously offered to give me the same tour that Forbes had given them. A week or so later, we were in a car, driving up and down Perlita and the surrounding streets. They showed me Forbes' old house and the empty lot marking the spot where the Westons lived so long ago. The house was built on land that belonged to Flora's parents. They owned a huge swath of land very near the old Gladding McBean site (later Franciscan Pottery).
If you have questions, comments or memories to share, please write to Verdugo Views, c/o News-Press, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.


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Nominate your choice for Best New Blog. There's a separate category for Best New Political Blog, so please don't nominate those blogs here. The blog must have been established after November 3, 2008 - when last years nominations opened.
Update: Nominations are closed for all categories. Finalist will be announced the last week of December and voting will begins Jan. 4, 2010.
To nominate a blog you need to leave a comment on this entry. Your comment should contain the name of the blog, the main URL for the blog, and (if possible) the URL for a RSS/Atom feed. For example:
Unless you login via one of the supported authentication services (Facebook, Twitter, Google, Typekey, WordPress, OpenID, Yahoo, AIM, etc.) your comment will not be published immediately. Unauthenticated comments are placed in a moderation queue. Due to the volume of comments, it may take up to 24 hours for your comment to be approved. Comments from authenticated users will be published immediately.
Every so often our spam fighting service flags an authenticated comment as spam. If you put more than 5 URL's in a comment it will set off the junk filter. If your comment doesn't immediately appear that's probably what happened. We review and "unjunk" these comments as we are approving unauthenticated comments. We're sorry for the inconvenience.Rules And FAQ's
- You can nominate yourself, don't be shy.
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- Given the two previous items, we reserve the right to remove excessive comments (i.e. nominations) for the same site.
- The nomination period is scheduled to end on Sunday, November 22, 2009, though we reserve the option to close nominations earlier or later.
- Voting for selected finalists is scheduled to begin January 4, 2010. Finalists will be announced the week before voting begins.
- Read The Nomination FAQ
- Get Weblog Award logos to post on your site. Link to the nomination index or your favored category
- Get technical help or ask questions at The Weblog Awards Discussion Forum on Facebook.
- If you are linking to the contest consider using the nomination category archive, as it contains links to all of the nomination posts.
Return to the main Nominations Page


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Here's Gilgamesh, the newest piece of downloadable content for Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII-2.
You might recognize Gilgamesh from his appearances in Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VIII, among other games in the longrunning RPG series. You might also recognize his ridiculous, fourth-wall-breaking sense of humor.
Gilgamesh is out now for 320 Microsoft Points (or $4). Buy him and he'll pop up as an opponent in the game's coliseum.


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Woodland Water Restoration
Water Insurance Restoration Services of Woodland California is locally owned & operated Water damage restoration service specialized in restoring the business or home after you have suffered from Water Damage. Rapid response & Water Restoration is your key to getting life back to normal & avoiding additional damage in your business or home in Woodland. Leaving the property damaged allows the issue to persist and spread to unaffected areas which causes additional damage like mold or exposed weather issues. You might think you have cleaned up most of the issues or but hidden issues will still hidden especially with Water Restoration. Residual compounds unattended after a the issue occurs are in nature causing permanent damage to the property if unmitigated. With Water Restoration Woodland time is of the essence. Failing to efficiently and properly clean up the Water damage may cause additional costs and cause more problems later.
Quickly restoring Water damage will save money, time, and prevent more damage from procrastinating. There isn't a charge for our estimates and we are happy answering any concerns or questions you have. Water Restoration in Woodland is a simple and quick process with the right company assisting you through all of the restoration. Call Woodland's Water Restoration Specialists today (916) 550-4381
Monster Insurance Restoration of Woodland specializes in the quick response in order to reduce the damage with the property. Our telephones are answered by knowledgeable local employees. Your call is answered immediately by our staff and not a call center. Call today for Water damage restoration service questions, emergency service or questions. Monster's Insurance Restoration specialists are trained to help deal with the insurance carrier and assist you when handling the property damage without insurance.
Water Damage Restoration Service In Woodland
Water damage can start very minor and become severe in Woodland. With homes that need to be repaired, it is important to take steps to minimize any additional damage. Such as covering the roof to sealing off the broken windows or doors, our Water insurance restoration contractors in Woodland are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year. We provide emergency services in order to protect your home or business. Regardless of the amount of Water damage Monster is the professional Woodland Water insurance restoration service that specializes in emergency services & restoring your home or business with minor disruption to everyday life.
Disaster always strikes unexpectedly and does it abruptly which interrupts our daily life of anyone involved. This is a traumatic experience and it is, Water Restoration will assist with you each step of the way in order to return to the regular daily routine in a timely and safely manner. Our professional trained Woodland staff is here to assist & guide you while answering any questions you may have.
When a property incurs an Water insurance restoration damages the best solution for a property manager is selecting their qualified Water damage restoration company which eliminates the bidding process. If you request 3 or 2 bids from different contractors, you run the risk of under-projecting the scope of work to which you are entitled. When your contractor knows they are being placed in the situation of bidding, they tend to reduce their scope of work to a minimum in the hopes of lowering their price. The most frequent cause of keeping the scope lean is repairing damage which could be replaced. Your property will look patched, instead of returning the property to a condition reserved prior to the damage.
Call the Woodland California's Water Restoration Experts Today (916) 550-4381
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Who is Monster Contractor?
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Monster Contractor of Woodland is a fully licensed and insured construction company. Whether you need commercial, industrial or residential construction we'll have our best journeymen on the project. We have over 50 years combined experience in the commercial construction and industrial construction industry. Property Maintenance like Electrical, Plumbing, Janitorial, Gutter Cleaning, etc. will keep your facility in Woodland, California running smoothly. Commercial Tenant Improvement in Woodland is easy with us, apartment building and property owners have trusted us for years to improve the lives of their tenants.
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Room Additions, Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel & Partial remodel or complete, we can simplify your remodeling experience Woodland. Call Monsters Concrete for a complete estimate and costs to repair foundations and other concrete products. We even have a Home Maintenance and home cleaning solution, we make ourselves available to the smallest detail. Earthquake Damage Restoration Retrofit and restoration, Fire Damage Restoration mitigation can be expensive if your not familiar with restoration in Woodland. Insurance Restoration and working with insurance companies is difficult, we simplify the process with our experience. Storm Damage Restoration can happen at anytime of the year, we offer services specialty for each season. Water Damage Restoration from leaks will destroy your home, fast comprehensive repair from Monsters Roofing is the best solution.


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Near the end of a dirt road that weaves in and out of the woods outside Farmington, Ga., sits a tasteful Southern farmhouse owned by Elise Lang and Michael Pierce. Its wide hip roof and the deep eaves that cover the wraparound porch echo the era of mint juleps, seersucker suits and the sweet twang of banjos.
But look a little closer and you'll find a house that puts a new twist on tradition — the "truth window," a small 6-by-6-inch hole on the north wall of the foyer, says it all: This house is built with straw bales.
Standing in the home's entryway, with its tall ceilings rising to a 20-foot peak and dramatic arched passageways to the home's interior, you can easily overlook the truth window. At first, the unplastered patch seems like an imperfection in this nearly new home, but it reveals what makes Elise and Michael's house so distinctive: This house is a straw bale structure — the first permitted in Oconee County, Ga., according to officials there, and according to the couple, perhaps the first in the state.
Dixie Meets Determination
Elise, a former U.S. Army captain, stumbled across straw bale building while stationed at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. "I was looking for a place to live, and some people told me about Mary Diamond, who was looking for someone to take care of her straw bale home," Elise says.
Although she couldn't leave her post to be a caretaker, Elise took the opportunity to tour Mary's house. The home's amazing insulative qualities appealed to her environmental sensibilities, but Elise distinctly recalls that it was the feeling of the house — the sense that you were embraced, snug and cozy inside the structure — that captured her heart.
"It was the sense of being connected to nature, and the feeling of peace and harmony that inspired me," Elise says. "It's the same feeling I get when I'm in the woods or the mountains; the Earth connection, except it was inside this amazing home."
Fourteen years ago, at the urging of friends, Elise purchased 50 wooded acres with a 650-square-foot passive-solar cabin outside of Athens, home of her alma mater, the University of Georgia. She visited the property when she could but decided that because she was stationed across the country, she needed a caretaker.
Enter Michael Pierce: artist, world traveler and self-proclaimed Supreme Bean (he started what may have been the first tofu processing plant in Germany in the 1980s). In 1991, after returning to his native Georgia from travels in Europe and India, Michael took the caretaking job, living in the little cabin and maintaining the land for Elise. He finally met his landlord three years later, and sparks flew. They maintained a long-distance relationship for several months, until he joined her in Arizona. But Dixie kept calling the native Southerners home — Elise originally hails from New Orleans; Michael's family lives in Macon, Ga. The next year, Elise resigned her Army commission, and the couple settled into the cabin on the Georgia property.
Although the 1970s earth-sheltered cabin met immediate needs for housing, Elise still dreamed of building a straw bale home and turning the old cabin into an art studio for Michael.
She began to read everything on straw bale building she could find, starting with what she says is "the bible of straw bale building" — The Straw Bale House by Athena and Bill Steen. During a 1995 trip to Europe, she toted along this tome, dog-earing page after page and making notes in the margins. When she and Michael returned to the United States, she says, "I made the dozens of phone calls that I was dying to make [while we were] overseas. I had lots of questions that I wanted answered."
Elise's primary concern was the humid climate of northeastern Georgia. All of her readings described homes built in arid climates, and she doubted that straw bale could stay dry in the sultry South. "I decided to call The Last Straw [a straw bale building periodical] to subscribe," she says. "Joanne De Havillan answered, and we started talking about straw bale building. I told her that I'd really like to do it, but my property was in Georgia. And then she said, "Don't you know about the 68-year-old straw bale mansion in Alabama?" — The home De Havillan referred to was the Burritt Museum in Huntsville, a large two-story straw bale house, built in 1936 and still standing strong after almost seven decades. "From that point on," Elise says, "I was encouraged that a straw bale house was possible in the South."
Blending Beauty & Efficiency
From then on, during her commutes to and from work, Elise took mental notes on the homes she passed en route. She says she always has admired the clean, solid lines of hip roofs and the charm of wraparound porches, typical of the South. So when it came time to design her own home, Elise wanted it to reflect such Southern building traditions. "I wanted the house to appeal to a wide audience — to inspire even conventional families to build with straw bales," she says. "I wanted to impress the typically conservative-minded bankers, home appraisers, insurance agents and building inspectors. I wanted this home to give straw bale a good reputation here in the South, and I wanted to present a house that would balance beauty and efficiency."
But she and Michael needed some help to create the home that existed in Elise's mind's eye. They found it in architect Howard Switzer of Linden, Tenn.
Down to Earth Design
Switzer belies the typical architect. First, there's his appearance: he bears an uncanny resemblance to Jerry Garcia, the late Grateful Dead singer and guitarist. Then, there's his history: Fresh out of high school, Switzer started work as a draftsman in an Illinois architectural firm. He eventually moved to Tennessee, where he took the architectural exams and passed all nine on his first attempt.
For 10 years, he lived at The Farm, a famed intentional community on the outskirts of Summertown, Tenn. Today, he continues to teach courses in natural building there.
"I always feel that I'm not designing buildings," he says. "I'm helping people design their building. I use my expertise to do sensible planning and safety, taking the design cues from my clients to make their sketches work." His specialty is passive-solar home design, and he and his wife, Katey Culver, have been involved with straw bale building since 1994. And like Elise, he was inspired by Joanne De Havillan.
'I called to talk with Joanne about an article I'd read, and by the time we'd finished the conversation, she had hired me to help with a workshop in North Carolina," he says.
As an architect, Switzer immediately recognized the merits of using straw bales as a building material. Since his start with straw bale construction, he and Culver have consulted on and designed two to three straw bale homes each year. Elise and Michael met him at a weekend straw bale workshop at The Farm, and in 1996, hired him to design their home.
'Elise sent me photos of houses in the area she liked," Switzer says, "and we worked up a design that incorporated those traditional elements, like high ceilings and tall doors. The plan was an organic process that came out of Elise and Michael's needs."
Setting The Precedent
After the plans were drawn, changed and drawn again, Elise presented them to the Oconee County, Ga., authorities to obtain a building permit. She also gave them copies of approved straw bale construction codes from other states, as well as the names and phone numbers of code officials who had worked with straw bale construction. In addition, she provided videos of fire tests done on straw bale walls and a page from The Last Straw that addressed common concerns about straw bale construction.
'I wanted to share my knowledge with them, because that's what The Last Straw taught me to do: Be prepared to educate, rather than alienate, building code officials," Elise says.
William White, former Oconee County code enforcement director, approved the couple's building permit — it was the first for a straw bale house in that county. "Under the Southern Building Code, which we followed at the time Elise and Michael's house was being built, there's nothing that said you couldn't build [a nonload-bearing straw bale home]," White says. "The design of the house was structurally sound, and everything other than the straw complied with the codes. And there was nothing that expressly forbade using straw in your walls, either."
Moving From Inspiration to Perspiration
The couple decided to be their own contractor, but Michael was visiting friends in Europe when Elise broke ground in August 1999. "I came home to a huge muddy hole in the ground," Michael says.
Although he recalls having some anxiety about acting as the contractor, Elise says she wasn't worried. "I knew I needed a master carpenter who could say the structural systems, the foundation and the post-and-beams were sound," she says. "I felt we had enough knowledge of straw bale that we could make a good, solid home with the right carpenter." And, true to her persistent nature, Elise found the right person, Bill Perry, a master carpenter who lived just down the road.
Elise and Michael also hired others to help with construction, including Doug Cashman, a friend from Taos, N.M., who helped with the framing and plastering. Masons set the concrete block for the 826-square-foot basement, and Michael followed them, filling all the blocks with rebar and concrete. He originally lugged cement to the blocks in a 5-gallon bucket, but "finally wised-up" and hired a concrete pump truck. "It was the best $300 I ever spent," he says.
Construction progressed quickly. The basement floor was finished in a week, and the framing work got under way the following week. Door and window headers were milled from yellow pine harvested on site.
Massive roof trusses — 45 feet long — were manufactured off site, trucked in and placed by crane. Elise was astonished at the amount of wood they used in their straw bale house. "I couldn't believe it," she says. "Here I was building this straw bale house, thinking that I was saving wood, and then the trusses arrived. In retrospect, I would have designed a simpler roof that required less wood to build.'
The roof sheeting — galvanized metal roofing screwed to purlins — was completed by mid-October.
If You Build It, They Will Come
Elise and Michael found straw bales through their local county extension agent. They timed the cutting to reap the driest harvest, and Michael arranged to temporarily store the bales in a friend's chicken house. "It's crucial to store them properly," Elise says. "People out West don't have to worry about it so much. But that's the secret to straw bale — get the straw dry and keep it dry."
The home's first straw bale wall raising occurred two weeks before Christmas. Switzer and Culver facilitated the raising and Elise, Michael and a slew of their friends provided labor. Elise says she spent much of her time teaching new recruits the finer points of stacking straw bales, tying off half-bales and squaring up corners. Both she and Michael say they enjoyed the community-building aspect of straw bale building, although they also admit that it wasn't as efficient as an organized workshop where everyone is on the same schedule.
'We'd just finish having a mini-lecture on tying bales, and a whole new batch of folks would arrive, and I'd have to start over and orient them to the process," Elise says. "But despite the discontinuity in people, we still managed to get almost all the bales stacked in three days."
For stability and to keep the bale walls plumb, long pieces of bamboo were fastened to both sides of the walls. At regular intervals, a stitch of polypropylene twine runs through the walls, cinching the bamboo to the bales like a corset. Now covered with three coats of plaster, the bamboo is barely perceptible.
Native Red Clay Plaster
Red Georgia clay lends warmth to the home's natural lime plaster walls. After experimenting with different plaster recipes, Elise called Switzer for advice. — 'Remember that recipe I gave you?" he reminded me," Elise says. — "It's 2,000 years old. I think it'll work." — The semipermeable coating sheds water while allowing the straw bale walls to breathe, a crucial component of building with bales.
The clay-lime plaster was mixed on site and applied by hand and trowel; coating the interior and exterior with three layers of plaster was a time-consuming process that took several plastering parties. Michael completed much of the painstaking plastering work himself over several months, finishing the work in mid-March 2002. The sculptor in him craved experimenting with the material, to give the walls an organic feel and texture, and his artist's touch is evident throughout the home. The ripple of curves at the northwest corner of the guest bedroom, the nichos carved out to fit a contemplative clay figure and the long ribs of bamboo that rise subtly from the east living room wall are examples of his work.
Finishing Touches
Michael and Elise are unabashed gleaners; their expert eyes have spotted many treasures at flea markets, estate sales and salvage yards. Their home's glowing hardwood floors were milled from 100-year-old heart of pine beams salvaged from an old Athens, Ga., warehouse. Reclaimed bead board, harvested from a Macon, Ga., warehouse, lends rustic character to the great room's interior walls. The guest bathroom's floors, walls and shower are finished with slate roofing tiles reclaimed from a friend's scrap pile.
The dramatic walnut closet doors that stretch almost to the master bedroom's ceiling once served as pocket doors in a Georgia plantation home. Cleverly concealed behind another set of doors is an Energy Star Frigidaire Gallery series horizontal-axis washer and a Frigidaire high-efficiency dryer.
At 2,400 square feet, the couple's home may be considered large by some green building proponents; even Elise offers some gracious apologies. But, she adds, one of their intentions was to inspire ordinary folks who aren't necessarily concerned about building a home that is gentler to the Earth.
"We wanted to balance beauty and efficiency and show people that you can bring these concepts together in a natural and harmonious way," Elise says.
The home performs exceptionally well during the sweltering Southern summers. A small air conditioner is rarely used, and then only to help wring the humidity out of the living space. The home's high ceilings, ceiling fans, and large doors and windows help keep fresh air circulating throughout the house. The basement, which maintains moderate temperatures year-round, and a fan in the attic to purge hot air, also help the house keep its cool.
The home's thick straw bale walls provide an insulative value about twice as good as a typical wood-framed stud wall insulated with fiberglass batts. Large, south-facing glass doors admit an abundance of sunlight during the winter months to help warm the house, and lighting a fire in the woodstove thwarts the chill. Argon gas-filled, double-pane Anderson doors and windows also contribute to the the home's energy efficiency.
Michael and Elise use propane for their cooking, hot water and backup space heating needs. Their Vestrost Eco-Fridge (also called ConServ) refrigerator requires only 330 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year to operate. (Even Energy Star-rated refrigerators of the same size consume about 10 percent more electricity than this highly efficient model.) An Energy Star Bosch stainless steel dishwasher blends with custom kitchen cabinets.
Natural light washes over almost every room in the house, except for the guest bathroom, which lies within four interior walls. But even there, light seeps in through a small, half-moon sidelight. And all but one room has outdoor access. French doors in the dining room, living room and master bedroom open onto the wraparound deck. The master bath and guest room both access a screened-in porch area on the west side of the house — a haven from gnats and mosquitoes that plague Southern summer evenings.
Setting a Standard
"We set out to build an exemplary straw bale home, one that could set a standard for alternative building in this area," Elise says. Setting an example others could follow meant jumping through some conventional hoops. They received the county's approval and also secured a traditional mortgage on this rather unconventional home. Elise located Aspen Mortgage of Santa Fe, N.M., through a resource article in The Last Straw.
The only stumbling block during the mortgage-approval process was the appraisal — no other local, comparable properties existed for the appraiser to reference in evaluating Elise and Michael's house. Thankfully, Elise says, Stefan Lark, president of Aspen Mortgage, stepped in to save the day. He assisted the local appraiser with the comparables, and after a few consultations, Elise and Michael received their fair market appraisal and mortgage loan.
They then bought homeowners insurance through USAA, a San Antonio-based insurance company that caters to military personnel.
'When I was first interested in straw bale construction," Elise says, "I had contacted USAA about obtaining insurance on a straw bale home, but they had told me 'no'." Several years later, when Michael and I started building our house, I got this phone call out of the blue. It was USAA, calling to go over my insurance policies. They said, "By the way, we have a note in your file that you inquired about straw bale. We're now insuring it." — Once the plaster work was finished, USAA called to tell Elise and Michael they were getting a discount on their insurance — because their home was now considered "fire-resistant."
During the past two years, Elise and Michael have continued to monitor their home's performance — even going so far as to drill a few small holes in the walls to check for moisture. To date, even the east-facing exterior wall that receives the brunt of the stormy weather remains bone dry.
"We wanted to be so exemplary," Elise says, "so other code officials can come out here and touch the walls, feel the plaster, and understand that straw bale buildings can be successful, even in the South."
Straw Bale Resources
The Last Straw (periodical)
The Straw Bale House (book)
by Athena and Bill Steen,
with David Eisenberg and David Bainbridge
Straw Bale Architects and Consultants


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Team Assault: Baptism of Fire v1.2 Update
Posted: 27 JUL 2012
Team Assault Teaser Trailer
Posted: 2 FEB 2012
Teaser Trailer Download
Posted: 2 FEB 2012
Product Info | Screenshots | Forums | News | Downloads | Links | Official Site | Videos | Opponents
Release Date: 29 MAR 2012
Language: English
Genre: Tactical
Turns: Turn-Based WEGO
Complexity: Intermediate
Period: World War II
|Buy Now
Release Date: 21 JUN 2011
Close Combat Last Stand Arnhem is a highly enhanced new release of Close Combat, using the latest Close Combat engine with many additional improvements. Its design is based on the critically acclaimed Close Combat A Bridge Too Far, originally developed by Atomic Games, as well as the more recent Close Combat: The Longest Day. This is the most ambitious and most improved of the new Close Combat releases.


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Accountability instilled in Reds' pitching staff
CINCINNATI -- Late last month, someone sent Reds pitcher Mat Latos an article from The Wall Street Journal, and it had zero to do with a stock tip. The article was a statistical breakdown that quantified how Latos' slider had become the toughest pitch in the Majors to hit a home run against this season.
The first thing Latos did when he got to the Reds' clubhouse that day was find pitching coach Bryan Price and assistant pitching coach Mack Jenkins, and show them the article.
CINCINNATI -- Late last month, someone sent Reds pitcher Mat Latos an article from The Wall Street Journal, and it had zero to do with a stock tip. The article was a statistical breakdown that quantified how Latos' slider had become the toughest pitch in the Majors to hit a home run against this season.
The first thing Latos did when he got to the Reds' clubhouse that day was find pitching coach Bryan Price and assistant pitching coach Mack Jenkins, and show them the article.
"I'm the one that's out there and the one given the talent, but before I came to Cincinnati, my slider was above average but not where it is now. My slider is a lot harder than it was, and I'm able to command it more than when I was in San Diego," Latos said. "I told them, 'A lot of the credit has to go to you guys.' There were countless times we spent out there -- countless pitches, we were out there working on the slider -- adjusting the grip, adjusting the mechanics and throwing it."
Having any added weapon that makes hitting a home run tougher is no small feat when you consider that Latos and the Reds' pitching staff work half of their games at Great American Ball Park -- one of the most homer-friendly parks in the Majors.
Reds pitchers have done a good job the past couple of seasons in turning the negatives of their home into a positive in other areas. The group ranks fourth in the National League this season in ERA at 3.36, with the rotation second at 3.34. The staff has notched 17 shutouts, the club's most since 1973. Their 1,258 strikeouts leads the NL and broke the club record set last season. Latos, Bronson Arroyo and Mike Leake gave the rotation three 14-game winners for the first time since 1975.
In 2012, Cincinnati's rotation had four starters reach 200 innings, five make at least 30 starts and the club only needed a sixth starter once all year (because of a doubleheader). The staff ranked third in ERA, with the bullpen having the NL's lowest ERA.
Reds starter Homer Bailey also credits Price and Jenkins for their part in the staff's success.
"One thing I can say about them that's helped not just the starting rotation but the bullpen is the fact that we are held accountable," Bailey said. "We demand certain things out of everyone here, whether you're the No. 1 starter on the team or the mop-up guy -- it doesn't matter. Our expectations are held so high. Some things are just unacceptable. Our starters are expected to go seven innings. We are expected to keep our team in the game. We are expected to put up quality starts."
Price, 51, replaced Dick Pole as pitching coach after a 2009 season in which the Reds finished 74-88. For the previous 10 seasons, Price was the pitching coach for the Mariners, first under Lou Piniella and then under Bob Melvin. He also was on Melvin's staff for the D-backs from 2006-09, but he resigned in May 2009 to remain loyal to his manager after Melvin was dismissed.
With Cincinnati, Price oversaw the transformation of Johnny Cueto from raw young pitcher to an ace. He helped another raw pitcher, Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, develop quickly into one of baseball's best relievers.
Price -- who bears some resemblance to pro golfer Phil Mickelson, and like Mickelson is left-handed and very personable -- doesn't believe he does things much different from other pitching coaches. But he seemingly changed the culture of a Reds staff that had lacked consistent success since the late 1990s.
"This team hadn't been in the playoffs for 15 years," Price said. "There was room for improvement and room for change. I think for a guy like me, with 16 years of player-development experience as a player and coach, one thing you get when you're in the Minor Leagues is the importance of fundamentals and accountability. I don't have any idea what it was like here before, and I don't imagine it was that much different. I do know that if somebody does something they shouldn't do, we'll call them out on it. Don't cover first base or don't hold runners close, don't back up bases -- when they come back into the dugout, they're going to hear about it."
Price works with a vast array of types of pitchers -- power guys like Bailey and Latos to finesse-type pitchers like Arroyo and Leake. There are pitchers who speak little English, such as Chapman, and much of the rotation skews younger, like rookie lefty Tony Cingrani, who came up to replace an injured Cueto. But Price finds ways to tailor his approach with each pitcher in a way that works for them, not him.
"You stay with the strength of the pitcher, not the strength of the hitter," Price said. "We've got to stay with what these guys do well. The other thing is we have to coax them into believing there is never a bad matchup. You're going to come into every series and there are going to be hitters you've faced that have had some success against some of our pitchers. We have to find a way to create an environment where none of these guys feel like there is a bad matchup with our opponent."
That's where Jenkins comes in. Besides being a second set of eyes for Price and the pitchers, he is often complementing the work of advance scouts in the days leading up series. That requires digesting large volumes of videos and breakdowns about every opposing hitter and giving the pitchers a blueprint to combat them in matchups, especially ones that previously have had success.
"Having two allows them to have a little more time," reliever Manny Parra said. "I think Mack is really able to look at video and nail it down. Bryan is just a great communicator. They both are."
Added to the big league staff before the 2012 season to assist Price, the 49-year-old Jenkins has 24 seasons in the organization, including six from 2006-11 as its Minor League pitching coordinator. Many of the younger pitchers who came up through the system already knew and worked with Jenkins by the time they reached Cincinnati.
"I think that's part of the biggest thing. The guys that did pitch when I was down there trust me," Jenkins said. "It's really a coach's pleasure seeing someone making the most of the abilities that they're given."
Jenkins doesn't just look at other teams on video, but also pores over pitchers on the Reds' staff, looking for mechanical flaws when things are going wrong or the parts of a delivery that are going right and should be repeated.
"The biggest thing that helps all of us is Mack is kind of a guy who does the scouting reports, watches us mechanically and kind of does the same thing Bryan does," Bailey said. "But it's kind of behind the scenes. That behind the scenes is a very big thing."
Signed by the Reds shortly before Spring Training, Parra struggled but made the team out of camp. During video reviews, Jenkins noticed that Parra's curveball lagged behind his other pitches in effectiveness. Near the end of camp, Price told Parra to ditch the curveball and develop a slider.
"Everything was hard, and then I'd try and throw a curveball -- I was going too fast for it," Parra said.
Parra's struggles continued at the start of the regular season. But after a one-month stint on the DL with a pectoral strain, he returned to be a successful primary lefty setup man in place on an injured Sean Marshall. From June 11-July 30, Parra had 19 straight appearances without a run scoring.
"The biggest thing for Manny was going from the curveball to a slider," Jenkins said. "You always think of a left-on-left pitcher, their breaking ball being their main pitch. Maybe that led to Bryan saying, 'Hey, let's try a new breaking ball in Spring Training.' It kind of took off from May, when he came back from a rehab stint."
By the time Price joined the Reds, Bailey had already been up and down between the Majors and Triple-A multiple times since his 2007 debut as a much-heralded prospect. Admittedly standoffish toward his new coach, Bailey also knew he could benefit from a new voice and a new direction.
"He asked me, 'What do you need to improve on?'" Bailey said. "I said, 'I need to learn how to pitch. I know I have great stuff. There's no question. But how do I take my stuff and become really good?' He said, 'I'll get back to you on that.'"
Under Price, Bailey better diversified his repertoire and improved his curveball to go with his mid-90s fastball. The fruits of the relationship didn't come immediately, because Bailey spent time on the disabled list in both 2010 and '11. In 2012, Bailey had career highs with 13 wins, 208 innings and 206 strikeouts.
The crowning moment came near the end of last season, when Bailey threw a no-hitter at Pittsburgh on Sept. 28, a feat he duplicated this season on July 2 vs. the Giants in Cincinnati.
"He knew what I had," Bailey said. "Even going through injury and struggles, we always kept our eye on the prize. That was the last two years of putting up 200 innings, sub 4.00 ERAs. This year, I will hit 200 strikeouts. We've always had the same common goal. I think he's been such a big part of that, because he's very honest and also very logical. We see the exact same things."
Part of losing a bet last season over whether Bailey could throw a no-hitter, Price had to grow a mustache, a look that did not serve him well. Bailey can be a very intense guy, but also can show a lighter side about his coach, whom he referred to kiddingly as "Vanilla Price."
"After Bryan Price gave up his rapping career, he's done an excellent job in the role of being a very successful big league pitching coach," Bailey joked.
As mild-mannered and pleasant as Price usually seems, he can also effectively show that he's all business and deliver a clear message when it's time to criticize. Bailey learned that in a July 26 game at Los Angeles, when he was late covering first base on a Carl Crawford infield single.
"I come back in the dugout, and [he said], 'You were late to first base. That's unacceptable.' I said, 'You're absolutely right. It's my fault; it won't happen again,'" Bailey said. "And it didn't. It's about the little things we all must do right. … We are all held very accountable on certain things, as far as pitching goes. If you can't do that when you come up, you'll be sent out."
During the 2012 NL Division Series vs. the Giants, Latos lost his composure in the fifth inning of Game 5. He was unable to deal with the calls of the home-plate umpire or his own mistakes, and his displeasure was visible to all. San Francisco rallied for all six of its runs, capped by Buster Posey's grand slam, to win the game and advance in the playoffs. Price did not hold back with Latos before everyone departed for the winter.
"We had a talk," Latos said. "He told me, 'I will tell you flat out, you are the only thing that's holding you back from being a No. 1 guy or a plus, plus No. 2 guy.' I thought about it all offseason, especially after that Game 5 against San Francisco.
"It was a rough day, a rough next few days in the offseason. I still thought about it a month or so afterward, and I thought about what Price had said, what Dusty [Baker] said and looked at the film and you could just see it. … I'm making huge strides. I'm 100 percent better, but I still have a long way to go."
This season, Latos has been more composed on the mound. He's also been a huge part of the Reds' success. With Cueto on the DL much of the season, Latos became the No. 1 guy Price told him he could be, going 14-6 with a 3.23 ERA and 180 strikeouts in 203 2/3 innings.
"There are times when you have to be more aggressive with guys, but typically, these are relationships that are built on mutual respect," Price said. "These guys, for the most part, they're all completely invested. You have to respect the fact that these guys are preparing hard to compete. They've competed well. If they miss on something or do something they shouldn't, typically by the time they get to me, they already know that and expect I'm going to be there to remind them they have to do it better the next time."
Time after time, Cincinnati's pitchers have heeded the request.
"Our expectations are not to be good. Our expectations are to be one of the best teams," Bailey said. "We all pull for each other."
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon.


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Jason Aldean's Apology – Readers Poll
Jason Aldean offered a heartfelt apology to fans within hours of pictures showing him kissing a woman (former 'American Idol' singer Brittany Kerr) who was not his wife surfaced on Sunday. The scandal is sure to be the center of his life for the next few weeks or months, even with a new album in stores on Oct. 16. Much of the debate on Facebook and Taste of Country has centered on this question: Does he owe fans an apology or an explanation?
On one side of the argument, readers pointed out that his personal life should stay personal, and fans should only be worried about his music. However others expressed great disappointment in Aldean before later appreciating how quickly he took ownership of the situation. As a public figure he could be considered a role model. Feel free to expand upon your opinion in the comments section below.


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Now that both conventions are over, the new NFL season is starting, and the fall wine grape harvest and crush approaches, I'm going to take a very brief interlude to catch up on a few odds and ends, and unleash my inner Andy Rooney. Like what's up with this confusing signage in the toilet of my airplane today? So can we smoke or not? (For that matter, why do planes still have "No Smoking" signs that can be turned off?) Maybe there's no contradiction here—perhaps the bottom sign means you can smoke so long as you only smoke bent cigarettes?
And would you believe that there is a Churchill connection to what appears to be the origin or first use of the now-ubiquitous indispensible teenage term OMG! Here's the 1917 letter from First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher to Churchill that closes with OMG in its current usage. OMG! WK? (Who knew?)
And this just might be the most imaginative personalized license plate ever:
Next—separated at birth? Is this really Stephen Fry . . . or William F. Buckley?
Oh what the heck, since we're doing photos, I can't resist one more time.


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There is a hidden link on my new site.
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You will then be entered to win this:
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In fact the more people who join the contest,
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The contest will end on Friday at noon Pacific.
Good Luck!!


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This Positive Life: Mondo Guerra of Project Runway Talks About Living With HIV and the Power of Disclosure
October 19, 2010
When Mondo Guerra was chosen to be on the hit reality show Project Runway, his main goal was to live out his dream of being a successful fashion designer, not be a poster boy for HIV. But one emotional challenge compelled him to disclose on air that he had been living with HIV for the past 10 years. In this exclusive interview with TheBody.com, Mondo talks about living with HIV for a decade, overcoming fear and stigma, and the disclosure that was seen around the world.
Mondo Guerra
(Credit: Barbara Nitke/Lifetime)
Can you describe the moment when you tested positive?
Yes, I was living in New York City and I was in a relationship. I went to a private doctor -- this was in 2001. I don't think there was a rapid test back then. So I left and I waited about five days. I was called back into the office and there was no way around it. The doctor just flat out told me that I was positive.
I got into a cab and I think I was probably really emotionally shut down. I wasn't really feeling anything, but when I got home, I called my mentor. She was the first one I called.
I just really spent some time alone for a couple of days, trying to digest and process what I had learned about myself and about my health. Just reflecting on the past and projecting the future.
How old were you when you tested positive?
I was 22.
So you were 22. That's very young. How long had you lived in New York City at that point?
I had lived there for about two years.
And so what did you think?
The funny thing is that I didn't know what to think because I was very uneducated about the whole disease. I did not want to do anything really -- I was just kind of ignorant to the whole thing. I guess I could say that I was in a bit of denial.
How long did it take for you to not be in denial anymore and to kind of be just like, "Wow, I have HIV"?
You know, it's been 10 years and I completely don't know. I know that after the denial, I had to really change my mind about how I was going to wake up every day. I really accepted it as: This is my situation and I have to move forward. I had to give myself a lot of pep talks to remind myself that I don't have any regrets and that I don't feel sorry for myself. So it was definitely a process. I don't think it ever changed. I don't think that you can ever be 100 percent [OK with this].
Who was your support system at that time? I know you said you had been dating someone. Had you disclosed to him and other friends?
Yes, my partner back then was the one who actually took me to the doctor's. So he knew from the very beginning. And [I also had disclosed] to a really small group of friends. For a long time, they have been my support system.
And how beneficial was it to have people to lean on during those first couple of years?
I just feel like maybe having people in my life that supported me and were willing to listen to me ... It doesn't have to be HIV, I think it could be about anything -- if you're going through any hardship in life, if you need people to trust, if you need people to open up to. Because if you try to do it all yourself, it can be very, very scary.
Did you go to any kind of support groups, any social services? I know you said you were in New York City. Did you at all go to Gay Men's Health Crisis or anything?
No, I never went to any support groups or anything like that. I was really just relying on my friends to kind of help me up.
How soon after your diagnosis did you start treatment? And was it something that you were scared to start?
No, I wasn't scared to start, but my doctors had told me that I was pretty healthy and that they wouldn't start meds right away. I didn't really start meds until probably four years after. And the thing is that I was very, very irresponsible about taking my meds. It was just really hard. That was definitely a real lifestyle change for me.
Adhering to the medication?
Yes. Taking it all the time. The problem was that it took a really long time for my doctor to find a plan that worked for me. Things that weren't -- I feel like sometimes it was hurting me more than helping me.
What were some of the side effects you had experienced?
It probably ran the gamut of everything. I had sleep issues, whether I was sleepy all the time or I couldn't sleep. I had crazy, like, mental -- I don't know -- I can't even describe it. Like, weirdness in my head about certain things. Physically, I would wake up and I'd just feel different. I just had never been on something so strong before and [I felt] that my body was probably in some way rejecting the medicine.
More From This Resource Center
Undetectable Viral Load and HIV Prevention: What Do Gay and Bi Men Need to Know?
Do HIV-Negative Gay Men Need Condoms if They're on PrEP? Here's What I Tell My Patients
Reducing HIV Risk Behavior of Men Who Have Sex With Men Through Persuasive Computing: Results of the Men's INTernet Study-II
Internet search results. Be careful when providing personal information! Before
adding your comment, please read TheBody.com's Comment Policy.)


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Varying your knotting technique can easily transform a long/short tie into the perfect length.
People taller than 6 feet 3 inches (190 cm) usually prefer a lengthier tie.
Stick with 58 inch ties and up for the right look.


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Nike has had a great thing on their hands with the new Roshe Run sneakers. These have been flying off of shelves at retail due to their popularity and it's easy to see why. These low tech sneakers have been dropping in great colors and here is another great example of that with this 'Iguana' version. The drab green color is looking really nice here with the black Swoosh and sail sole combination. These are now available at retailers such as Concepts.
Take a further look after the jump.


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By Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich returned to work on Monday after four days of sick leave, issuing a warning about rising "radicalism" after more than two months of unrest on the streets but giving no word on a new prime minister.
Yanukovich, caught in a tug of war between Russia and the West, is seeking a way out of a sometimes violent confrontation with protesters who have occupied city streets and public buildings following his decision in November to spurn a trade deal with the EU and accept financial aid from Moscow.
As he returned to work, looking in fair health, a day before a new session of parliament, the political opposition took heart from fresh expressions of support from Western governments and pressed for more concessions to end protests.
However, the European Union, whose foreign policy chief is due in Kiev late on Tuesday, played down suggestions it was working with the United States on a large-scale aid package aimed at nursing the economy through a political transition.
The president's first urgent task, after an absence that some saw as a tactical gambit to gain time, will be to name a new prime minister to succeed Mykola Azarov, who stepped down on January 28 under pressure from the protest movement.
Russia has suspended its financial support until it sees how a new government will handle relations with Moscow.
But Yanukovich confined himself, in his first public appearance since Wednesday, to warning against the actions of thousands of protesters who have erected barricades around central Kiev and occupied public buildings there and in other cities, as well as militants who have clashed with police.
At least six people were killed in clashes last month.
"We must say no to extremism, radicalism, the fanning of enmity in society, which is the basis of the political fight against the authorities," he said in remarks on video.
On the frontline barricades close to the Kiev parliament building, where riot police and club-wielding, steel-helmeted militants face off across 20 meters of no man's land, his words carry no weight. "We're staying here until Yanukovich is gone," said a 28-year-old masked opposition protester named Dima.
The speaker of parliament, a Yanukovich ally, said the president was still planning to discuss the choice of premier with the opposition and may propose someone this week.
In other concessions, Yanukovich last week approved the repeal of recent anti-protest laws and offered a conditional amnesty to activists who have been detained in the unrest.
But opposition leaders want further concessions, including a broader amnesty for detainees and a return to an earlier constitution, which would curb presidential powers and give parliament greater control over the formation of governments.
EU diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton is to meet Yanukovich and opposition leaders on Wednesday. A report of her describing an EU-U.S. aid package for reforms lifted prices of Ukraine's dollar bonds [ID:nL5N0L82LU] even as political tensions saw the hryvnia currency continue to weaken.
However, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso played down talk of aid on Monday, saying the EU was discussing with allies whether to help Kiev. But in reference to rivalries with Russia, he said: "We are not going to a bidding competition to say who pays more for the signature of Ukraine."
The EU has very limited funds to offer compared to the $15 billion pledge by Russian President Vladimir Putin in November and has previously made support conditional on IMF-prescribed market reforms that would be unpopular and which have found little favor with Yanukovich and his allies in big business.
Having lent Ukraine $3 billion of the package so far, Moscow suspended a further tranche of $2 billion, saying it first wants to see who Yanukovich appoints as prime minister.
In a worrying development for Ukrainians in the grip of an Arctic winter, energy firm Naftogas said it might not be able to pay Gazprom for Russian gas imports on which the former Soviet republic relies.
Easier terms for energy after years of "gas wars" with Kiev were part of Moscow's support package agreed two months ago.
Russia, which had threatened Ukraine with ruinous trade sanctions if it signed up to last year's EU pact, has been concerned to maintain its influence over the country of 45 million. It accused Western-backed opposition leaders on Monday of provoking unrest by calling for "volunteer militias".
"We expect the opposition in Ukraine to avoid threats and ultimatums and join in dialogue with the authorities in order to find a constitutional way out of the country's deep crisis," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
With relations between the West and Putin's Kremlin already strained over a variety of issues, the fate of Ukraine, the biggest state lying between central Europe and Russia, has raised fears of broader instability across the continent if the standoff in Kiev should spiral out of control.
"All our partners both in the East and in the West understand the threat to their countries if the political crisis is not overcome and grows," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said in comments to reporters. "The action of radical groups which are acting openly gives special concern."
Tensions between Ukraine's Russian-speaking east and Ukrainian-speaking west are evident in small groups on either side which draw on historical enmities for emotional appeal.
The anti-government camp in central Kiev is adorned with nationalist heroes who fought tsarist and Soviet control. On the other side, some present themselves as heirs to the Red Army, which drove Nazi occupiers from Ukraine in World War Two.
Mainstream leaders play down the ethnic divide and say they want good relations with both Russia and the West.
On the streets, each side accuses the other of provoking violence. Police on Monday said they had found pistols on two anti-government activists in Kiev - an accusation protest organizers described as defamatory propaganda.
Yanukovich's main opponents, whose leaders won assurances of support from U.S. and EU officials in Germany at the weekend, are pushing for an immediate change in the political system, as well as for a revival of the EU free trade deal.
Arseny Yatsenyuk, parliamentary leader of the biggest opposition party, Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), told a meeting on Monday of parliament's agenda-setting committee that his bloc was ready to vote on a constitutional bill as early as Tuesday.
Party allegiances in the single-chamber legislature have been fluid and it is unclear how far the opposition can rally a majority over Yanukovich's Party of the Regions and its allies.
The bill would restore the constitution to a version enacted in 2004 in Ukraine's post-Soviet "Orange Revolution".
Yatsenyuk, who last week turned down an offer from Yanukovich to become prime minister, said restoring the 2004 constitution would "cancel the dictatorial authority of the president" and give parliament the power to form governments.
(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Alastair Macdonald in Kiev and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Richard Balmforth and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Giles Elgood)


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November 2008 4x4 Truck Whoops!Posted in Whoops on November 1, 2008
Submission Information
Send us your wheeling foul-ups! Letters must be signed by the vehicle's owner. Due to the large volume of mail we receive, we regret that not all submissions can be used and none will be returned. Digital photos must measure no less than 1600 x 1200 pixels (or two megapixels) and be saved as a TIFF, an EPS, or a maximum-quality JPEG file.
Write to:
4-Wheel & Off-Road
6420 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048-5515
fax 323.782.2704
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Mess Of The Month
Global Goop
Got stuck, then winched the wrong way, and ended up in an even deeper mud hole. Only took nine hours to get me out!
Saranga Goonawardena
via 4wheeloffroad.com
Blown Away
Everything was going great until I blew my front spider gears to pieces!
Ryan Martinez
via 4wheeloffroad.com
For The Ladies
My girlfriend said that she just wanted a picture of me going through the water.
James Watson
via 4wheeloffroad.com


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The annual test is here again. I was on the verge of failing one more time as I fought to find a parking place with several hundred other crazed shoppers. Then a song by Amy Grant popped up on the iPod rotation. The song that played is titled "I Need a Silent Night" and the lyrics were most appropriate.
I've made the same mistake before
Too many malls, too many stores
December traffic, Christmas rush
It breaks me till I push and shove
December comes then disappears
Faster and faster every year
Did my own mother keep this pace
Or was the world a different place?
I can relate to that song a lot easier than Holly Jolly Christmas. But it is my fault if I allow the busyness of the season to rob me of the joy and meaning. Amy Grant offers a solution in her song.
I need a silent night, a holy night
To hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise
I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here
To end this crazy day with a silent night
All of us could use a silent night or a silent moment to reflect on the meaning of Christmas. I have been very intentional about slowing down long enough to enjoy and reflect on what the birth of Christ means. On that long ago silent night some very common people were given the great news.
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger."
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, "Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased." (Luke 2, NLT)
All of us get caught up in the rush. But this year I have done a little better job of stopping long enough to meditate on that joyous message proclaimed on that silent night. I hope you will find the time to have a few silent moments to remember that a Savior was born in Bethlehem.
Merry Christmas!


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The Women in the World Foundation is a powerful new initiative dedicated to highlighting and driving proven solutions for advancing women and girls. Building on the expertise and expansive audience of Newsweek & The Daily Beast, the Foundation will serve as a resource to all who seek to learn about and engage on issues of importance to women and girls. To that end, the Foundation will foster much-needed collaboration between organizations and provide strategic grants to select non-profit organizations as well as convene courageous women of impact.
For more information, visit the Women in the World news site.
Leymah at Women in the World Conference 2010


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Friday, January 26, 2007
The Binding Problem
3 comments:
- magic said...
I'm not convinced the binding problem is a problem. I think it's a bit like ADHD and other attempts to force discreetness onto continuousness. Here's how I see it: Binding Problem, or Opportunity?
portal to the multiverse
- Wed May 23, 12:52:00 pm 2007
- Paul said...
Repost of a comment I made on the link provided by magic (previous comment):
I agree completely with your point that reality is what we make it to be (the quantum physics example being a good example). However, I think that this lends even more weight to the study of the binding problem, rather than detracting from it. An example to explain what I mean: you see an apple, and you reach out to pick it up and take a bite. It is incontrovertible that sensors in your fingers detect the object that is apple, that your eyes detect the colour and shape that is apple, and that your taste-buds detect the taste that is apple. As you say, your subjective experience of this will be different from mine (you make your reality, as do I), but the fact remains that we would both experience these physically disparate sensations as being one object. The binding problem as studied by neuroscientists and the like (as inspired by philosophers) is thus in my mind a perfectly valid and important question.
- Wed May 23, 05:03:00 pm 2007
- magic said...
Sorry in advance for very long comment (in response to Paul's comment on my link to mumbo jumbo
To be honest, I don't understand my point correctly, or where I'm going with this. I'm just fumbling in the dark, trying to make connections. So I'm probably revealing my ignorance when I say that I think there are a number of unwarranted assumptions underlying the discussion of this issue, and that there is an element of circularity I'm uncomfortable with. And also that the innate treachery of language may be contributing to the creation of a non-issue.
Consider, for example, the Revonsuo and Newman definition: the binding problem is "…the problem of how the unity of conscious perception is brought about by the distributed activities of the central nervous system."
My understanding is that there is still no good theory of consciousness: what it is, where it lives, whether it is in fact unified, etc. And that there is still no good theory of "personal selfhood": what it is, where it lives, whether it is one or many, where the boundary of the self is, etc
There is no "central meaner" to mangle Daniel Dennett. There is no homunculus in the control room inside your skull behind your eyes. There is no control room, there is no ONE in control. Consciousness emerges when a certain level of complexity is reached--it is not susceptible to reductionist analysis.
There is no unity of conscious perception. So how could there be a problem with it?
I'm not really clear where I'm going with this, to be honest. I may be confusing or confuting the whole with its parts. But that in turn raises more questions about the gestalt, and how fine- or coarse-grained it can be.
The Binding Problem is called a problem because we don't know how the unity of conscious perception happens. So it's a problem for us because we don't understand it. My view is that not only do we not know how "it" happens, but we do not know what "it" is, why it is, or even whether it happens at all.
So the opportunity is to focus less sharply on the "how" and more sharply on the "what", the "why" and the "whether". Less on the parts, and more on the whole. And in so doing, maybe we will discover and come to understand a great deal more than we bargained for, or even suspected was out there to be understood.
For instance, maybe we will discover a quantum theory of consciousness. (And no, I don't think it has anything to do with microtubules or morphic resonance). Maybe we will discover that observers can and do create realities in a much more substantial, divine, really real way than could ever be encompassed in the trivial speculations of new age spirituality. Maybe we will find a truth much bigger than the wildest dreams of the Deepak Chopra's and James Redfields and their like.
- Thu May 24, 01:37:00 pm 2007


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Rotem.sapir necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 71 diseños de 24 diseñadores freelance.
BlueStone Business Development
BlueStone Business Development is offering a comprehensive & organized solution for information management in the trade show industry.
The products of BlueStone offer an innovative, green-tech solution to the inherent challenges facing the trade-show industry, such as massive reliance on papers to transfer information, before, during and after the trade-show. Using state of the art technology, our products offer better efficiency and connectivity amongst the various players in the trade show industry.
Players in the trade show industry - exhibitors, visitors, trade-show organizers and trade-show centres. We are referring to all sectors.
We are relaunching this competition because previous results weren't good enough.
We are looking for a GREAT logo!
Our solution connects people, that exchanges content, that fosters collaboration, that creates value added services.
We would like the logo to be simple, yet modern, clean and professional.
We need to be able to cut an icon out of the logo.
Ability to use the logo with 'Business Development' and without.
Effective with/without colour, looks good in black & white.
The logo should have transparent background.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text: I spent eight months in Spain and my Spanish has undoubtedly improved, but I'm not so sure about my accent .... I can't really tell if my native accent is really strong when I speak Spanish or not, and I don't especially want to record myself and listen back and endure such pain... Plus I've been having issues with the "c" before "i" and "e" pronounced like "th", since my first Spanish teacher taught us more "Latin American" Spanish and didn't have that accent, so I never learned it initially. my main problem is I develop a CONSTANT lisp and say "s" with a lisp and everything too, the worst is when I say my nationality, it comes out "es-co-thay-tha". NOT GOOD!!!! haha. Also, most of the time I can't say the Spanish "rr". This annoys me. It's improved, but I can't maintain the sound. Every time a Spanish news reporter rolls the r in "por" I get a little more bitter. So what's your accent like in the language(s) you're learning? Have people commented on it? What difficulties do you have?


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A majority of Americans want the Bush tax cuts extended for everyone, despite a strong push by President Barack Obama to eliminate them on higher incomes, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.
The poll found 52 percent of registered voters saying they want all the tax cuts extended, including the tax cuts for incomes above $250,000, while 43 percent want the cuts extended just for incomes below that threshhold.
All of the tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush are scheduled to expire on Dec. 31. Republicans want to extend them all. Obama wants to continue only those on income below $250,000 annually, and he vows to veto any move by Congress that would continue the higher-end tax cuts.
"The money we're spending on these tax cuts for the wealthy is a major driver of our deficit," he said last week as he worked to make it a major issue in his re-election campaign.
Yet some of the strongest support for extending all of the tax cuts came from some of Obama's most reliable supporters, such as young voters, minorities and the poor and working class.
Young voters ages 18-29 favored tax cuts for everyone by a margin of 69-29, the largest margin of any age group.
Latinos favored tax cuts for all incomes by 62 percent to 36 percent. Whites supported tax cuts for every income by 50 percent to 44 percent. African-Americans split, 48 percent for limiting the tax cuts to incomes below $250,000 and 47 percent for extending them to all incomes.
And those making less than $50,000 supported tax cuts for all incomes by 53 percent to 41 percent.
"For all three groups, there's a fairly large gap in their support for Obama and how they're reacting to the tax proposal," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College, which conducted the poll. "It may call attention to how connected they are to the proposal itself."
Recent surveys show the presidential race tight, and this latest poll is no different. Obama edged presumed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney by 2 percentage points, 48 percent to 46 percent. He led among African Americans 78 percent to 15 percent, among young people 74 percent to 20 percent, among Latinos 67 percent to 28 percent, and among women 55 percent to 40 percent.
Romney, meanwhile, bests the president among older voters, ages 60 and older, by 57 percent to 36 percent, among whites by 55 percent to 39 percent, and among men by 52 percent to 40 percent.
But the Obama and Romney advantages among certain slices of the electorate belie the fact that on issues, like who would best handle the economy or foreign policy, the divide between them is much closer, with the president only slightly ahead, according to the poll.
They also share similar splits on likability: 49 percent of the voters have a favorable view of president, while 46 percent don't; 46 percent like Romney, but 42 percent don't.
Independent voters are likely to be pivotal in November, and the poll gives Romney a boost. Overall, they favor him, though not by much.
Miringoff said that most telling was that neither candidate so far draws support of 50 percent or more on any of the "fundamental" questions that determine elections.
"The race was close yesterday, it's close today and it probably will be close tomorrow," he said, "and it may even be close on Election Day."


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Tune Ups
Yes, TUNE UP is still a relevant service, whether it includes SPARK PLUGS or not. When your car is properly tuned, the ignition system, fuel system, emission system and computer system are all working together. This results in peak combustion chamber efficiency, saving you money at the gas pump and making sure your car is emitting a minimum amount of pollutants.
How do I tell if my vehicle needs a Tune Up?
Check your owner's manual. Tune up intervals vary by vehicle. Many people assume a tune up will solve a drivability problem. That's not always the case. Our experts perform a tune up verification to confirm that your car will benefit from a tune up. Your problem may be unrelated to a tune up and may need an engine diagnosis.
What does a Tune Up include?
- Tune-up verification
- Replacement of spark plugs
- Analysis of emission levels
- Timing/idle speed adjustment (if adjustable)
- Complete maintenance inspection
All of the parts we install are guaranteed to meet or exceed manufacturer standards, and if you wish, we'll return all of your old parts to you.
This service, like all services performed at The Quiet Zone, is advised based on your manufacturer's recommendations, or as needed as determined by our inspection and based on industry standards.


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You guys, they made my plane! Have you seen this? It's a Hello Kitty airplane. No, scratch that. It's a Hello Kitty Airline Experience. SQUEE! I thought I'd outgrown all the cute little mini pencils and paper pads and sharpeners and ponytail holders and tiny boxes and t-shirts and everything. But I got one look at this new travel concept and I knew: I still heart Hello Kitty.
I know I shouldn't like this. I definitely Should! Not! Like! This! I'm a grown up, for crying out loud. This stuff is for 6-year-old girls. And yet -- I cannot resist. Will you please look at these pink check-in kiosks? And then admire the Hello Kitty pillows? And the food -- my god, the cute, cute food!
Right? Right?!? Are you catching the vision? I would say mrow, but Hello Kitty doesn't have a mouth. This is a collaboration between Eva Airways and Sanrio (the company who gave birth to Hello Kitty) and it's based out of Asia. Looking over my bank account as it currently stands, I can safely say I am absolutely NOT in danger of ever stepping foot on a Hello Kitty plane. So I admire from a distance. A very safe distance.
We interrupt this post to admire these Hello Kitty Airline pictures. Oh look, here are moar Hello Kitty Air pics.
Okay, as I was saying, it's not happening for me. What a relief -- they fly around the other side of the world, not domestically in the U.S. Because if they did fly, say, from New York to Florida, I may actually have to book a trip to whereversville just so I can experience all the pinky plasticky Hello fun.
Oh Hello Kitty, you and your Magic Stars.
Would you ever try out Hello Kitty Air if you had the chance -- or do you think it's just freaky and gross?


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We have broadcast on two streams using ustream producer - free version since 2011. Lots of random "off air" issues lately.
We have plenty of bandwidth and while sometimes our ISP is the problem, lately they do not seem to be the cause. We have a small ISP so there are no long waiting times, if something is wrong we can call the engineer or owner direct. Sometimes, upstream issue, sometimes power cut. Occasionally if they make rule changes we get caught up and have lots of issues. At the moment there are no rules/filtering (on our account) - any time of day I can run a test using speedtest.net and it shows we have 3-4 ms ping time, 35mb upload and 35-40mb download. I uploaded a 250mb file to youtube in about 20 secs last night.
Our main stream has gone off the air at least 10 times today and I'm at a loss as to why. Over the past few weeks I've noticed that Saturday afternoon, Australian Eastern Standard time we tend to go off the air multiple times. Our streaming PC's are not trying to do updates or anything. We run Team Viewer for remote access and AVG (purchased version) for virus control.
With the old ustream player I've tried using the debug option (cntl alt S) which doesn't seem to show any problems. Occasionally there will be a blue circle then disconnect, other times straight off the air. We run on medium bandwidth, even if I switch to low, same thing happens. 9 times out of 10 our main stream will go down and the secondary one will stay up.
While typing this post, we've gone off the air four times. The ustream network test sometimes shows 4mb/sec, recently 2mb/sec. Could this be location related because we're in Australia? Is there a server in this country we can connect to? Any suggestions?
Primary stream is
Secondary stream is


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Gingered Sweet Potato-Apple Salad
Here is a great recipe for sweet potatoes that your guests won't expect.
- Prep Time:15 minutes not including refrigeration
1 15-oz. can sweet potatoes or yams, in light syrup, drained and cubed
1 8-oz.can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 apple, cored and diced
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cashews
1/4 cup honey mustard dressing
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
6 cups mixed salad greens
Combine sweet potatoes, pineapple, apple, celery and cashews in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, combine salad dressing and ginger; pour over sweet potato mixture; toss lightly.
Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
Serve over salad greens.
Each serving provides: An excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C folate and fiber.
Nutritional Information
- Calories: 222
- Carbohydrates: 38g
- Total Fat: 7.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- Saturated Fat: 1.4g
- Dietary Fiber: 5g
- % of Calories from Fat: 29%
- Sodium: 148 mg
- Protein: 4g
- Recipe Credit
Recipe courtesy of Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH). This recipe meets PBH and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nutrition standards that maintain fruits and vegetables as healthy foods.
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