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KONG Tugga Wubba Dog Toy
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KONG Wubba Dog Toy
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Kong Water Wubba
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KONG Wubba Weave Dog Toy
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Product Summary:
The Kong Tugger Knots are fun, interactive multi-purpose dog toys that your dogs will adore. These toys come with rope handles for tugging and plush bodies for shaking and snuggling. The ropes of the toy are looped together to absorb tugging stress, leaving the soft, plush toy intact even after the most strenuous tug sessions.
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13" Long
20" Long
Multipet Look Who's Talking Dog Toy
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KONG Wubba Ballistic Dog Toy
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Skinneeez Stuffing Free Dog Toy
Cuz Dog Toy
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Skinneeez Big Bite Water Bottle Dog Toy
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KONG Snugga Wubba Dog Toy
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Kwik Klip Adjustable Dog Collar
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Nylabone Dura Chew Original Dog Chew
KONG Squeezz Ball Dog Toy
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KONG Wubba Friend Dog Toy
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By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
August 11, 2012
When students head back to school this fall, most will be offered a smorgasbord of healthier foods in lunch lines.
The reason: New government nutrition standards for school meals go into effect this year, raising the bar for the first time in more than 15 years. Schools must meet the standards to get federal meal reimbursements.
Many school districts are doing major overhauls. But some have already made significant improvements in nutritional quality of meals over the last few years, and this year they're upping their game.
- Hillsborough County Schools in Tampa will be serving new entrees, including a spicy black-bean vegetarian wrap and sweet-potato-encrusted fish topped with pineapple salsa. These are being added to the district's already progressive menu, which includes mac and cheese made with pureed butternut squash, roasted broccoli and vegetarian lasagna.
- Knox County (Tenn.) Schools will be offering whole-grain biscuits, pizza made with whole-grain crust and a tomato sauce that contains sweet potato puree, and a spring mix lettuce salad with smoked turkey, strawberries, feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.
- The Wake County (N.C.) Public School System, which has year-round school, is offering larger servings of fruits and vegetables, including sprite melon, which is similar to honeydew.
Standards call for dramatic changes, including adding more variety and larger portions of fruits and vegetables, requiring at least half the grains served be whole grains and limiting sodium.
"It's going to take some work to get kids used to a new way of eating," says Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group. "It means schools have to serve not only healthy foods but good-tasting, appealing foods."
The quality of school meals has been hotly debated for years because one-third of U.S. kids are overweight or obese. A 2010 law directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to set new nutrition standards for all food served in schools. The standards are designed to improve the health of about 32 million children who eat lunch at school every day and about 12 million who eat breakfast there as well. Kids consume about 30% to 50% of their daily calories while at school.
Hey, kids: Grab some fruit
A key element to the success of these changes is marketing and selling the foods to students, says Sandra Ford, president of the School Nutrition Association and food service director at Manatee County School District in Bradenton, Fla.
Much of the acceptance hinges on offering a variety of fruits and vegetables at each meal, including favorites such as grapes, peaches, pears and applesauce, she says. "We are focused on providing students with a lot of choices."
The biggest challenge: "re-educating students that they have to take a half cup of fruit or half cup of vegetable at lunch," she says.
School food service personnel have been scrambling this summer to create new recipes and order foods that meet the new standards while operating on tight budgets and attempting to please their young customers.
So that students don't just throw away the new foods, many districts host taste tests so kids get a voice in the offerings.
In a new survey of 579 school food service directors by the School Nutrition Association, 95% said they encourage students to try new menu items, often by taste testing, cited by 87.2%.
Mary Kate Harrison, general manager of Student Nutrition Services of Hillsborough County Schools, says every year her district has a "fresh flavors food show" that 250 students from grades three to 11 attend as representatives of the student body. They sample and rate different menu concepts such as fish tacos, sweet potato salad and spinach lasagna.
This year at the show the students "hated the sweet potato salad, but they liked a spicy black-bean vegetarian wrap."
Not every food is a winner. "We tried whole-grain biscuits last year. It was horrible, and I said, 'We've gone too far,' " Harrison says. Students don't like anything "too edgy. They are kids."
Taste tests help determine what will sell and what will be a bust, agrees Marilyn Moody, senior director of Child Nutrition Services in the Wake County (N.C.) Public School System. Foods that flopped: collard greens, pinto beans, vegetarian pizza and blood oranges.
But students took to yogurt parfaits with granola and pluots, similar to plums, Moody says.
This year she's trying whole-wheat hot dog buns, which will be served with the popular all-turkey, reduced-fat, reduced-sodium frankfurter.
Students know there is a push for foods to be healthier, she says. "Little kids are quick to ask, 'Is this healthy?' They want to be perceived as eating healthy choices. They know that is the right thing to do."
Moody says it has been challenging to create 750- to 850-calorie menus for high school students because there are now maximum limits on the amount of proteins and grains that can be served each week. So the cafeteria staff is loading the trays with fruits and vegetables.
She says the staff has to meet a range of needs — kids who are overweight or obese and "those who are food insecure because they don't know where their evening meals will come from. They need the calories."
Restaurant-worthy menus
Students are tough customers. "Our students are so savvy we have got to produce products they like," says Jon Dickl, director of nutrition for Knox County Schools in Knoxville. "The high school students are definitely the most savvy. They will vote with their dollars." (Students pay $2.75 for lunch.)
"Elementary schools have the highest levels of participation in the lunch program. In middle school, they can be a little more finicky," he says.
Students, especially the older ones, expect sophisticated menu choices similar to what they are used to ordering at restaurants, Dickl says. "That's why we do a lot of things that mimic what they find in restaurants." Examples: Southwest chicken fajita salad with fire-roasted corn and black bean salsa, and low-sodium teriyaki chicken strips served with Asian vegetables and a mix of brown and white rice.
Dickl says sometimes cafeteria employees try to sneak in healthier ingredients. So the pizza is made with sweet potato puree blended into the tomato sauce. "You don't taste the puree, but it boosts the vitamin A content of the pizza." It's also made with a whole-grain crust and low-fat mozzarella cheese.
Olivia Fomby, 14, a high school sophomore in Dickl's Knoxville district, says the key to getting kids to eat school lunch is to make sure it looks and tastes "fresh, not like they just put it in the microwave and heated it up for five minutes."
Her brother, Ben, 16, a junior, says the lunchroom food is really "fantastic" and can hold its own compared with restaurant fare.
Dickl says improvements will continue. "I don't think we are ever going to get to the place where we'll say we are done."

subset: commoncrawl


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Between February 18 and March 11, Portland State University students in Broadway, Ondine, and Stephen Epler residence halls competed to reduce electricity and water use as part of Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN). The students collectively wound up saving 23,906 kilowatt hours of electricity (equal to 10,900 pounds of carbon dioxide) and 56,018 gallons of water during the three weeks of competition. This was PSU's first time entering the three-year-old contest—the nation's largest electricity and water reduction competition on college and university campuses.
PSU's bid in the competition was coordinated by Jennie Sharp, residence life sustainability liaison , and the EcoReps, a student volunteer program in the Sustainability Leadership Center. Noel Mingo, PSU's utility manager, supported the competition by collecting and analyzing data. Baseline water and electricity usage data were submitted for a 2-week period preceding the competition window, and then weekly electricity and water meter readings were put into an online dashboard provided by CCN for each of the three competition weeks.
EcoReps hosted events for student residents such as a candlelight dinner in Victor's dining hall, Blackout Game Night, a Conservation Conversation with tea and snacks, and many others. Partnerships with other student organizations, like Tea with TED and Take Back the Tap, were formed and strengthened as a few of the events were co-hosted with other organizations.
"CCN was a fabulous opportunity for the EcoReps to get out and encourage their community members to reduce their environmental impact, while strengthening their social networks," said Jennie Sharp. "We all felt like the competition was a huge success and we are excited to join again next year."
Oregon State University and University of Portland also participated in CCN this year, with reductions in electricity use of 39,209 and 7,000 kwh, respectively. PSU's reduction of 23,906 kwh in three buildings stands up well against OSU's 13 buildings in the competition.
Each campus selects its own three-week period to compete and the nationwide Campus Conservation Nationals wraps up April 26. With several weeks still left in the competition, participating schools have saved a total of more than 1.5 million kilowatt hours.
The three PSU residence halls were also competing against each other, with Broadway coming in first in the electricity-conservation competition with an 11% reduction. Epler won the water competition with an 18.9% reduction — a result that got a boost when a leak within the building was detected and fixed.
Want more details? Check out PSU's dashboard and see the energy-savings results delivered by hardworking EcoReps and their fellow students.


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maximumzero wrote: »Do yourself a favor and do three things.
1) Buy a new DVD player. If you're not even getting progressive scan out of your DVD player there's no point. You should be able to get a decent upscaling player for $60-80. No point in having a nice TV if you're not even remotely making use of it.
2) Also buy a HDMI cable to go with said DVD Player, so upscaling can be done.
3) Finally, buy a Component cable for your Wii. It only does 480p, but again, get the most out of the system & your TV.
You should be looking at roughly $100 for all three items .


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Survivor's Story: Natasha
We thank and honor Natasha for her courage in sharing what she has experienced.
"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand: there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend; some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold."
–Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
J. R. R. Tolkien has a knack for putting thoughts into words that I, alas, do not. How could I possibly put into words my journey and all the events that brought me to where I am today?
In 1993 I was violently raped, sodomized and robbed at gunpoint by an unknown assailant. When I escaped and thankfully found myself in my apartment, my roommate insisted that I go to the hospital. I agreed to wait for an ambulance, even though my first instinct was to take a shower. I am so very grateful today that I made that choice.
In the early 1990s, DNA profiling was in its infancy. Still, my medical examiners were aware of the fact that my body was a crime scene. Great care was taken into collecting the evidence necessary to find my perpetrator. If we only knew back then that 16 years later we would find him, perhaps it would have been easier for us all. It was clear to me that the "evidence collection" was a difficult process for them as well as for me. Medical professionals are there to heal–-how do they process a sexual assault?
Following the sexual assault and after all leads were exhausted by the New York City Police Department, life for me went on, as it has a habit of doing. We didn't find him. Did I find me and go on? Yes, I did. I healed, as did my family and friends who embraced and loved me when I struggled with the events that nearly took my life.
Ten years later, in 2003, I received a call from the New York City District Attorney's office. My rape kit, which had been sitting on a shelf, had at last been processed. I was asked to testify before a Grand Jury in an attempt to "stop the clock" on the 10 year statute of limitations (New York has since overturned its statute of limitations in 2007 but many states continue to have a statute). I had long since reconciled with the fact that my perpetrator would never be held accountable for his actions. But now there was hope.
The Grand Jury indicted the DNA from my kit in 2003. What that meant was that despite the fact that at the time the statute of limitations was 10 years, we could charge my rapist with the crime even if we found him 50 years into the future. For the first time in many years, I felt hopeful. Although I had healed (as much as one can heal) from my assault, the fact that a person who could commit such violent crimes was walking around the streets potentially harming others plagued me.
In 2007 they found my rapist through his DNA profile. After a cathartic trial, Victor Rondon was tried before a jury of his peers and in 2008, was found guilty on all 8 counts of his violent assault against me. He is in jail now, and for a very long time. The best part for me is that he can never hurt anyone ever again.
My rape kit sat on a shelf for many years. My rape kit was not just a number in a police department. My rape kit was me-–a human being. Every rape kit that sits on the shelf is a human being. Every rape kit that sits on a shelf has the potential to solve a crime. The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) found my perpetrator through DNA profiling and I am living, breathing proof of the fact that we can find these criminals. I am not, and should not be, an anomaly.
Natasha has recently started a non-profit foundation, Natasha's Justice Project, with the aim of resolving the rape kit backlog. You can be in touch with her and her new organization at email@example.com.


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The Fourth Hand
A NovelBook - 2001
From the critics
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This isn't a real story about anything but lots and lots of sex. A man slut decides to settle down. The twists in the story are minor compared to all the sex and the chapters just keep repeating the same point with little or no humor. In fact Ms Clausen is quite dry and humorless. Just because in the first couple pages this guy gets his hand bit off most of the book has to do with nothing but romance. Sorry I am not romantic, in fact from what I've seen of the world it's a cold and lonely place to be and I don't know anyone male or female 'beautiful', or 'attractive'. A book about people with careers, wives, pets, and newborns. Total crap. Thank for your effort Mr. Irving. They can't all be home runs.
I put this book down once, then picked it up again after reading some positive reviews. In the end, I returned the book to the library with the last 50 pages unread because it wasn't going anywhere. It felt like sleeze with no purpose. I loved "A Prayer for Owen Meaney" and "The World According to Garp." John Irving's writing style is fresh and readable. This one, however, didn't do it for me.
Irving's 10th novel (and one his shorter ones) is what he calls his "post-screenplay novel." He adapted "The Cider House Rules" for the screen, which won him an Oscar. I found it a vastly overrated film, but I'm glad he won the award. Irving is a realist, but he's never shied away from coincidences, improbabilities, and the slightly bizarre. The main event of "The Fourth Hand" is the protagonist, a news anchor, losing his hand in a freak lion attack in India. He then gets a hand transplant from a Wisconsin man who accidentally shot himself. The man's widow demands visitation rights with the hand. There's also the ultra healthy and competent, if eccentric, hand doctor. Out of this somewhat improbable material, Irving writes a novel that is funny, touching, and deeply empathetic. It's a smaller, more modest work than many of his other novels, but with no less depth and insight.
I like this novel and John Irving for what I hope are all the right reasons.
However, it's good that Wallingford is presented as somewhat stupid because this is another novel where we're left with the impression that males are attracted to bossy, game-playing females.
At the end, I was really hoping Wallingford would tell her,"Darling, I love you but if you don't cut the crap with the games and learn some manners I'm going to put on some weight, become less attractive, DUMP you then LOSE the weight!" but he never did.
We really need more media that explains to women the reasons men dump them so they'll finally have a clue.
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The perfect size for your favorite morning beverage or late night brew. Large, easy-grip handle. Treat yourself or give as a gift to someone special.
- Measures 4.5"(H) X 4.5"(W) X 3.4"(D)
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Return Policy: Unfortunately you can't return this product
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Processing Time: Allow 3 business days processing time for your order to ship.
Great News
Katie was raised by an overly involved mom who always told her she was destined for greatness. But now at 30 and feeling stuck in her career, Katie is starting to have some doubts. Meanwhile her mother, Carol (Andrea Martin, "SCTV," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Hairspray Live!"), is also looking for a change. After 30 years of being a stay-at-home mom, Carol decides that it's never too late to follow your dreams and lands an internship at her daughter's news show. This is Katie's worst nightmare, until she comes to realize that with her biggest cheerleader at her side, she and her mom both might just make it after all. .
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Hi, Nefertiti!
I believe turn, turn, turn in this song means things never remain constant. There is always change in the universe. The turning that takes place in this song represents a gradual, rather than a speedy, change from one event/time to the next event/time. In this regard, yes, turn means to change into something.
No, we do not say 'turn a season'. The gradual change I mentioned above would be summer turning into fall, winter turning into spring, etc. "Summer will turn into fall."
A time to be born, a time to die... once, again, the gradual change that takes place from birth to death.
A time to gain, a time to lose... the cycle continues as we gain something for awhile only to gradually lose it over a period of time.
Under heaven could be interpreted as God's will... but I think it means on earth. The meaning of this expression could be based upon your spiritual belief or it could be taken literally as being located below the sky.
Yes, in this song dance means to be happy and to mourn means to be sad. Yes, to dance and to mourn are common usage.
This song is one of my favorites! I hope you enjoy listening to it, also.
Student or Learner


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text: Reflecting a brand for change, Kronstadt is a Danish menswear brand known for its early funky shirts with wide collars, broad cuffs and cool materials. Now the brand focuses on close fits, discrete detail and stylized collars with quality still being a key element. Established in 1999, Kronstadt have now grown into a successful recognized brand staying true to its origins of cool designs, great materials and characterful details. From bold colourfull prints to subtle tonal patterns, there is something for everyone.


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David Bowie (born on 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth and eclecticism of his work. (Wikipedia Notes) . I hope you enjoy this tutorial, "How to Draw David Bowie." Please fav, show your love, and comment. Thank you all. Peace and love to you.
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France narrowly avoided falling into recession in the third quarter, official figures showed Thursday, but analysts warn the rebound may be short-lived. The French economy, Europe's second-largest, hasn't recorded growth since the third quarter of last year and had been widely expected to start its slide into recession in the third quarter. Instead, Insee, the national statistics agency, said GDP rose 0.2 percent in the July to September period from the previous quarter. If the quarterly rate had been negative, then France would be in recession as the agency revised down figures for the second quarter to show a 0.1 percent contraction. It had previously said growth was stagnant, as it had been for the two preceding quarters. A recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of falling output. Fixing France's economy amid a Europe-wide crisis is President Francois Hollande's biggest challenge. He has promised to rein in massive government spending and reduce the deficit, largely by raising taxes. But those measures have weighed on growth, and the country has watched unemployment tick steadily up as a raft of companies announced layoffs in recent months. The jobless rate now stands at 10.8 percent, according to European statistics. France's third-quarter bounce rested heavily on an increase in household spending, but economists warn that consumption is unlikely to hold up with such high unemployment. "As confidence surveys continue to fall, Q4 should be much more difficult," analysts at BNP Paribas said. The government was also cautious in assessing the numbers. "These figures are promising but not sufficient: The battle to fix the economy, the battle for growth is under way and we absolutely cannot flag, exactly the opposite," said Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault from Berlin, according to the Sipa news agency. Hollande has promised to restore the country's competitiveness by offering a tax break to companies that kicks in next year, but many are still waiting to see how he will reform the country's stringent labor rules. Those rules make firing difficult and thus make employers reluctant to hire, even once the economy starts growing. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121115/eu-france-economy/
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The violent world of Dominic Badaracco
SHERMAN -- Dominic Badaracco Sr. is not taken by surprise.
He's standing in the foyer by the time the unexpected visitor has driven up the winding, asphalt driveway through the woods to his hilltop home and walked up to the front door.
Badaracco is wearing slacks and a white, short-sleeved T-shirt with a pocket. In his right hand is a small casserole dish from which he's been eating, and with his left he dabs at his chin with a paper napkin.
His face is craggy and weathered. His voice betrays no sign of impatience at the intrusion, nor any indication of age or infirmity even though he marked his 77th birthday a month earlier.
"Can I help you?" he asks.
As the visitor introduces himself, Badaracco's hooded eyes flash with recognition.
"From Danbury," he says, a statement rather than a question.
Badaracco is soft-spoken and pleasant, more a grandfatherly figure than the intimidating, volcanic personality described by some who've crossed him.
Almost apologetically, he says he can't talk about his upcoming trial. "If my lawyer says it's OK, I'll talk to you," he says.
Hovering at Badaracco's shoulder is his wife, Joan. Before the door closes she has something to say:
"Just tell people not to believe everything they've read."
What they've read is this: For years, Badaracco's name has been virtually synonymous with investigations aimed at finding out what happened to his second wife, Mary, who vanished from their Wakeman Hill Road home in August 1984.
Numerous times since her daughters reported the 38-year-old former barmaid missing, state police -- using dogs and ground-penetrating radar -- have searched the house, outbuildings and the heavily wooded tract around them, looking for her body or some evidence that would indicate her fate. They have found none.
What prosecutors do say they've found is evidence that Badaracco sought to bribe a Superior Court judge to influence a grand jury investigation into Mary's murder.
On June 10, jury selection will begin in his trial in state Superior Court in Bridgeport. Badaracco has pleaded not guilty.
The murder investigation and bribery charge are just the most sensational elements of a no-holds-barred life laced with violence and menace.
Badaracco's oldest son, Dominic Jr., was gunned down in a Danbury bar on Super Bowl Sunday in 1997. Another son, Joe, is a former Hells Angel who went to prison in 1990 for hiring two men to firebomb a bar in New Fairfield that competed with one his father owned nearby.
The police investigative files on Badaracco are thick with reports about how he beat up Mary, how he threatened business rivals that he'd leave them in a "pool of blood."
Testifying during the 2009 trial of a man who was found not guilty on charges of interfering with the state police investigation of Mary Badaracco's disappearance, Major Crime Squad Detective Joe Bukowski pointed the finger directly at him.
"My main suspect at this time is Dominic Badaracco Sr., who is the last person to see the victim alive, had a history of extramarital affairs and domestic violence," Bukowski said.
`They always stayed together'
Dominic Badaracco was born in Danbury. When he was 3, his mother died, followed by his 12-year-old brother a year later. Both had cancer.
As he grew up, Badaracco found work as a landscaper and a laborer before getting a job as a truck driver in the city's Public Works Department in the early 1960s.
An older brother, Louis, who had been a popular stock car driver before losing a hand in a wreck at the old Danbury Racearena in 1960, was already working for the city.
Badaracco and his first wife, Charlotte, had four children, including Joe and Dominic Jr., before divorcing in 1968.
By then, he had gone into the contracting business, becoming vice president of Tri-State Home Improvement Co., doing roofing, siding and painting.
The contracting business is not for the faint of heart. As his business grew, Badaracco became known as a hard-nosed contractor good at getting his way.
"He would be the nicest guy in the world if things were going his way. But he could turn in a second," said a former employe who didn't want to be identified for fear of retribution.
"He had five or six crews he would subcontract to, the advantage being that many small contractors couldn't afford to pay workers compensation insurance," the former employee said.
"But you worked for him and him only. If you took another job, you were done, you were out of the clique. And he was cheap. When the job was done, he'd always cut a couple hundred dollars off your bill and say you were overcharging him," the man said.
He also had an interest in several bars, including Fat Badaracco, later Three Kings, on Tamarack Avenue, where he met Mary Passaro, a divorced mother with two young daughters.
They married in 1970. The blended families lived together at his house on Hayestown Heights. The marriage was far from idyllic, Mary's daughters, Sherrie Passaro and Beth Profeta, recalled.
"We were always `her kids,'" Profeta said.
Domestic violence was a fact of life in the Badaracco household, the daughters said, but their mother tried her best to shield them from it.
"When she knew (a beating) was coming, she would shuffle us off to other people's houses to protect us," Passaro said. "But we would see the aftermath when we came home. The house would be trashed and she would be bruised."
At least one such incident in June 1973 sent Mary Badaracco to Danbury Hospital, where she was treated for multiple bruises of both cheeks and blurry vision. She apparently told hospital personnel she fell, but the hospital records include the handwritten notation "battering incident."
The beatings were also apparent to the couple's friends, who related them to state police during interviews while Mary was still considered a missing person.
"Over the years that Dom and Mary went together and when they were married, they had numerous fights, and many a time Dom knocked out Mary's false teeth. But they always stayed together and worked things out," Badaracco's former brother-in-law, the late Joseph "Gi Gie" Dinho, told Trooper T.K. Brown in February 1987.
A tough business
In the early 1980s, Dominic Badaracco joined another Danbury resident, Ronald "Rocky" Richter, to form Richter and Badaracco Siding Co., doing business in Danbury and surrounding communities.
On three occasions between 1998 and 2000, either Dominic or Joe Badaracco, who worked for his father, allegedly threatened or assaulted other contractors and former employees who had apparently angered them, according to police records. But no charges were brought against the Badaraccos, according to available court records.
In December 1998, an ex-employee named Wendell Miller, who'd filed a workers compensation claim after a job-related accident several months earlier, told police Joe Badaracco attacked him with a sledge hammer in the parking lot of a North Main Street liquor store, breaking his arm.
When police contacted Joe Badaracco, he told a different story.
Badaracco said he only used his hand to strike Miller, a version backed up by both his father and the friend, who said the younger Badaracco acted in self-defense after Miller stuck a "shiny object," possibly a gun or a pipe, out the window of his own truck.
A prosecutor concluded that neither the "victim" (Miller) nor the "accused" (Badaracco) were credible and there was no independent evidence to support either of their stories.
In July 1999, according to another report on file with Danbury police, two former Badaracco employees, Thomas Farrington and Gary Goslee, claimed Dominic Badaracco threatened to kill them when he saw them talking to an employee in the parking lot of the Padanaram Road cafe where the siding company had a basement office.
Referring to the trial of the man accused of killing Dominic Badaracco Jr., then in progress in Danbury Superior Court, Badaracco allegedly shouted, "When my son's trial is over, it's going to be a pool of blood, and it's going to be yours," gesturing at both men as he spoke, according to the report.
Farrington told police the incident may have occurred because "he is also in the siding business and is in direct competition with Badaracco."
There's no evidence Badaracco was ever charged. Farrington refused to discuss the matter when contacted by The News-Times.
Police also investigated another complaint in which Farrington claimed to have been threatened by Joe Badaracco in January 2000.
Police dropped the case after Farrington told them he'd made peace with the senior Badaracco and didn't want to pursue his complaint any further.
`I don't know what happened'
For nearly 25 years, Rocky Richter worked alongside Dominic Badaracco. The two met while working at the contracting business owned by Badaracco's late brother-in-law and decided to team up after he died.
Richter said he hasn't spoken to Badaracco in a year and a half.
"I can't talk to him. He can't talk to me. Judge's orders," Richter said simply.
It was through Richter that Badaracco met Robert Brunetti, the Danbury attorney who represented their business. Brunetti is now a Superior Court judge -- the judge to whom Badaracco is accused of offering $100,000 to influence the grand jury investigating his wife's murder.
Richter and Brunetti go way back.
"I grew up with Bobby and we used to caddy together at Ridgewood (Country Club, a private golf course in Danbury) as kids," Richter said.
Grand jury investigators allege that Richter helped facilitate the attempted bribe, calling the judge in the fall of 2010 seeking information on the grand jury, which was sitting in the New Britain Judicial District, where Brunetti was assigned.
Richter then let Badaracco use his cell phone to offer the money, prosecutors charge.
In an interview, Richter said he didn't really know Badaracco personally very well. "All we did was work. He liked to hunt and fish. I liked to golf and have a few cocktails."
The partnership dissolved in 2007, the same year Superior Court records show the company was ordered to pay a $231,000 judgment to Hartford Underwriters Insurance Co. for underpaying its premium by not listing subcontractors as employees on its workers compensation policy.
Richter, who has not been charged in the alleged bribery conspiracy, said he couldn't discuss the pending case. He said he has never spoken with Badaracco about what may have happened to Mary Badaracco.
"I don't know what happened," Richter said. "The week after she disappeared, I was working on a house next door to where the state police investigator lived, and they never asked me about it. Then 25 years later, they drag me before a grand jury."
When Mary disappeared
Nearly three decades after Mary Badaracco was last seen, this is what is known about her disappearance:
Dominic Badaracco ordered Mary's daughters not to report their mother's disappearance to state police and to let his lawyer handle it.
He told police he'd last seen his wife when he left for work on the morning of Aug. 20, 1984, and that she and all her belongings were missing when he returned that evening, along with between $100,000 and $200,000 in cash and valuables he'd stashed around the house.
"It is assumed Mr. Badaracco did not report her missing due to his fear of questions concerning large amounts of cash he claimed was gone," an early state police report said.
Badaracco's girlfriend, Joan -- later his wife -- and her two children moved into his Sherman residence within weeks after Mary Badaracco vanished. He divorced Mary a year later.
State police interviewed a former Hells Angel who was in the federal witness protection program in 1986 who said Joe Badaracco and another gang member "whacked" Joe's stepmother at his father's behest after she threatened to tell police about his activities.
Mary Badaracco's daughters and then-state Rep. Lynn Taborsak, D-Danbury, pressured state police to reclassify Mary's case as a homicide in 1990.
Taborsak said she received a threat warning her to mind her own business and had a brick thrown through her window for her efforts.
Finally, a one-man grand jury spent the better part of 18 months investigating the case but failed to get enough evidence to charge anyone with murder.
Joe Badaracco, who now operates a horse farm in New York state, said he's tired of talking about his stepmother's disappearance.
"I could care less about it. I had nothing to do with that story," he said.
Joe Badaracco said he also is weary of the efforts of state police to get to the bottom of the mystery, attempts he claims have crossed the line from legitimate inquiry to outright harassment.
Joe Badaracco said he may resort to legal action to stop what he considers to be police persecution.
`He's retired ...
not much else to say'
Usually dressed in black, Dominic Badaracco has sat quietly in the gallery during most of his pre-trial appearances, accompanied by bondsman Frank Giannone, who posted Badaracco's $150,000 bail and drives him to court.
"He's a pretty nice guy, and he's very protective of his wife," said Giannone, who declined to say anything more about Badaracco.
Even his attorney, Richard Meehan of Bridgeport, wouldn't offer any personal insights about his client.
"He's retired and he's 76 years old. There's not much else to say about him," Meehan said.
Having represented former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim, one-time Danbury Hospital executive William Roe, and former state corrections officer David Moffa (a key figure in the campaign finance scandal that ended the congressional campaign of former Speaker of the House Chris Donovan), Meehan is no stranger to high-profile cases.
And last week he made clear he had no intention of allowing Badaracco to talk to the media before the trial begins.
"He's not being interviewed," Meehan said. "After the trial, you can talk to him whenever you want."
Meehan has already won some preliminary victories in the case, getting the prosecution to drop charges of conspiracy and offering an illegal gift to a public official, leaving only the bribery count remaining.
"Our position is that Dominic Badaracco did not offer a bribe to Judge Brunetti," Meehan said. "This has been a tremendous burden, not only on Dominic but also on his wife and his extended family.
"Fortunately, not having been accused of the loss of Mary Badaracco was a great relief to him, but this continues the stress."
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The Indiana Department of Environmental Management's (IDEM) Office of Air Quality (OAQ) is dedicated to ensuring that all Hoosiers breathe the healthiest air possible while still maintaining Indiana's economic competitiveness. The bulk of effort is focused on what the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has designated as the criteria pollutants (carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, ozone). However air toxics are also an important, if less easily understood, aspect of air quality.
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Learn more about attractions, guided tours, parks, and more.
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EAGLE BEAR LODGE is located in beautiful British Columbia, just in between Williams Lake and Bella Coola. Private traditional log cabins with waterfront views of Eagle Lake and spectacular views of the snow peaked Niut Mountain Range. Enjoy over 22 acres of nature trails. Consider Eagle Bear Lodge your "Wildlife Nature Escape". Wonderful BC cabin rentals. Activities include Hiking, Canoeing, Birding, Photography, Wildlife Viewing including American Pelicans, Moose, White Tailed Deer, and more…
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The Winery For centuries, not every one lived near vineyards or had to go far to enjoy a sensational craft. People made wine in their home cellars and invited their neighbours to celebrate the true poetry in the bottle over flames of candles and flavours of delectable bites. This ancient legacy shapes the true vision for inception of City Side Winery in the heart of Vancouver. City Side Winery is the story of old traditions blending with the new world. It unfolds centuries-old history of winemaking infused with deep-rooted culture of hospitality in Vancouver and welcomes wine lovers to the latest Canada's West Coast wine destination. Whether it brings vineyards to the urban core or urban core to the vineyards, the fruit of bringing this idea to life is a unique progress in the British Columbia wine industry; a path to the future led by this pioneer. As Vancouver's sole commercial winery founded by a family thrived with decades of international experience in winemaking and hospitality, its sophisticated concept breaks away from the elitist reputation of wine and shares passion for quality in an intimate and elegant space that bears no sign of commercial design. Its ambiance embodies the owner's vision of joie de vivre and sensational delights. While cellar brings to life the best of BC vineyards, kitchen creates top quality and flavour with fresh and vibrant ingredients of BC's earth, farms and ocean. The lounge, tasting room, wine shop, bar and meeting rooms are artfully blended together to create what resembles an extension of guests' very own living room. Sommeliers and wine-passionate staff guide wine tasting and food pairings, educate and recommend allowing guests to discover the delightful complexity of their palate. The Winemaker Homan brings to City Side Winery an innovative and uncompromising view to winemaking and hospitality along with an inspirational leadership, a charismatic character and down-to-earth personality with a contagious sense of humour. Although an incredible opportunity to work along one of the world-famous Masters of Wine, Markus Del Monego, introduced Homan to new horizons in the art of winemaking, it was his unconventional love of wine and exceptional dedication that inspired him to enrich his scientific backbone. Between working for wine merchants of Hamburg and training in spectacular luscious green valleys of Mosel and Baden-Baden, Homan complemented his âHospitality and Hotel Managementâ degree in Germany with a âSommelierâ certificate and later moved to UK in pursuit of a degree in âViticulture and Oenology.â From opulent British lounges and luxury German hotels to business management and vintage work in world-class wineries in UK, Greece, Germany, Canada and USA amongst others, Homan's international award winning experience shaped his vision and defined a meticulous framework for his style of winemaking. In 2016, Homan along with his wife, Mina, founded City Side Winery in Mount Pleasant, one of the most promising neighborhoods near downtown Vancouver, where they passionately follow their dream of making signature wines defined by the quality benchmarks of world icon wineries. Haftbaradaran's family is proud to join the community of entrepreneurs in Vancouver and be part of the delightful journey of discovery for wine lovers. YOUR IDEAL EVENT DESTINATION With a unique and sophisticated setting located in the heart of the city, near downtown Vancouver, we offer one of the hottest new venues in town with competitive packages and impressive rates. We are proud to host a wide range of private functions, corporate events, board meetings, demo & presentations, product launch or promotion, client & investor appreciation events, team building sessions, luncheons and much more. Impress your guests with an elegant and versatile venue for a âone of a kind experience." Planning to celebrate what is worth raising a glass about? enjoy the captivating ambiance of our unique lounge for all kinds of events. Capacity: 50 seats Complementary Wi-Fi Onsite Kitchen catering a wine-inspired menu and bar (wine, cocktail, beer,etc.) within walking distance from downtown Vancouver and sky train, near seawall and downtown attractions Special offers for event coordinators Hosting private & semi-private events
Let's go Wine Tours, located in Kelowna, offers you the chance to discover all the beauty the Okanagan has to offer. Our wine tours have been specially designed for those seeking to explore the Okanagan sceneries and abundant amount of wineries. Our knowledgeable guides will take care of everything while you sit back and enjoy the exciting day ahead.
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WINNERS OF THE 2014, 2015 and 2016 FAVORITE OUTDOOR GUIDE Brad Knowles. There's a lot to see in Pemberton and area, in order of ranking, the top person to reveal the region's secrets: Brad Knowles of Pemberton Fish Finder. Pemberton Fish Finder is a year-round fishing guide service for Pemberton BC, Whistler BC, Squamish and Lillooet. Our professional guides welcome all forms of fishing during summer and winter. We have guides that specialize in fly fishing, spin fishing, Salmon fishing, sturgeon, trolling, river fishing and ice fishing. No experience necessary – we welcome all levels of fishing, families and kids. Visit our website to see what our clients are catching.
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OTB Charters offers one of a kind boat tours and trips for small groups looking to explore BC's Sunshine Coast. OTB's expert knowledge of the region allows them to offer incredible fishing tours, overnight camping trips, and marine adventures on some of the most incredible untouched areas of the coastline.
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Combining the appeal of sleeping in the outdoors with the creature comforts of a fine hotel stay, the lodging at Skeena Meadows re-defines the notion of "camping." Each of our four 864 sq. ft. "tents" are insulated, smoke-free, and feature hardwood floors, leather furniture, fine linens, propane heaters, remote start generators, showers and full kitchen facilities.
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Join us of for your very own, customized outdoor adventure! We provide the guides, transportation, meals, camping gear and the local knowledge to create the ultimate outdoor adventure in British Columbia. Whether you are looking to camp for the first time or are an experienced outdoor enthusiast, we can help design the perfect trip for you! We do everything from 1-4 days.
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Welcome to Vancouver Island's premier RV resort and Marina located just 40 minutes from downtown Victoria. Enjoy the breath-taking natural beauty of the area against a backdrop of the Olympic Mountain Range and the Race Rocks Marine Reserve. Pedder Bay offers full service marina facilities including a fuel dock, three-lane boat launch ramp, boat rentals and guided fishing charters, gear rental, a tackle shop and lots more!
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The Prince Rupert Visitor Centre is located in the Port Interpretive Centre on the ground floor of the Atlin Terminal in the historic Cow Bay district of Prince Rupert. If you're planning a trip anywhere in BC, or are in Prince Rupert visiting yourself, our informative and friendly staff are available to help you discover our nature or help you plan your next destination. The Port Interpretive Centre tells the story of the Port of Prince Rupert. It is a story that stretches from 10,000 years ago — when the area served as a vital trading hub for the Ts'msyen First Nation — to the present, with the rapid growth of the port's commerce in containers, coal, and grain. A highlight for visitors of all ages is the Interactive Trade Route Simulator, a sensory feature that allows visitors to select a commodity and âlaunch' a ship to visualize the supply chain of imports and exports flowing through the Port of Prince Rupert.
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Foggy Mountain Ranch was named in 1904. It's home to over a dozen horses. We are located in one of the warmest, sunniest areas in Canada! Everyone is welcome, including the family pet and horses. We offer trail rides for all skill levels from first-timer to seasoned horseman.
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We welcome all for a quiet peaceful overnight retreat, breakfast included. Add: delicious vegetarian meals*, Pure Meditative Peace, Pure Spiritual Healing, Counselling~Coaching, Silent Retreat. We are happy to give guidance. Near Lansing, East Lansing & Okemos, 1hr to Ann Arbor & Grand Rapids, 1.5hr to Detroit, 4hr to Chicago – the Centre's large house is in the woods with: 4 bedrooms with 2 single beds + a Suite with 3 beds; 3 shared bathrooms + the Suite one; Living/Dining room with tea kettle, teas & water + a collection of spiritual books; front porch overlooking the garden, fish & frog pond, birdfeeder with swing chair & lounge chairs. Everyone of all faiths, practices & traditions is welcome to use the Meditation room for silent prayer & meditation. Known as Self Realization Meditation Healing Centre 2003-2018. *We need to inform you that: Our home cooked meals are prepared with Love in our family kitchen, which is not regulated and inspected by the Clinton County Health Dept.
Halfmoon Bay
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Established in 1999, Harmonie Spa & Hair , as the first full service spa on Robson st, Vancouver downtown has been providing massages, facial treatments, nail & waxing cares, eyelash extentions and hair services in a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere . We are in West End, close to Coal Harbour. As a relaxing and affordable escape in Vancouver downtown, Harmonie Spa & Hair also offers Korean Kyungrac body massages and facials treatments.
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I have mentioned before the numerous emails/newsletters that I receive which brings me a large array of information, and so this next article comes from the site LearnVest.com and written by Colleen Oakley.
The tips given are very much common sense type ones, but it is always good to see and read these again, doing so reinforces their message in our minds and by the same token stores it in our memory banks to access and apply in our daily and future lives.
5 Strategies That Can Make You Happy About Saving
When we have our eyes set on the financial prize—that trip abroad, that 300-person wedding, even that robust retirement account—it can be easy to place all of our expectations on that goal.
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But what about being happy today? While your goals shine in the distance, the day-to-day path toward them is often a lot less glamorous. Feeling like you're on a short spending leash, turning down trips with friends and passing up dinners out can be really, really hard. In fact, feeling too constricted can make us more likely to itch for freedom and veer off course.
The question, of course, is how you can be happy with the journey as well as the destination. The answer? Savoring.
Dr. Fred B. Bryant, co-author of "Savoring: A New Model of Positive Experience," and David Blaylock, CFP® with LearnVest Planning Services, explain how you can utilize this key psychological concept to help you achieve your biggest financial goals.
How Does Savoring Work?
According to the dictionary, savoring means to "appreciate fully; enjoy or relish." It means to stop and smell the roses—and delight in their scent, color and beauty. And positive psychology experts have long theorized that the more you can prolong a positive emotional experience, the happier you'll be.
"Happiness isn't in the acquisition of things—no matter what consumer advertising would have us believe," says Bryant. "If that were the case, the wealthiest people would be the happiest. Happiness is all about how we react to the positive things and events in our lives."
Sounds easy, right? Well, a few factors complicate the issue. For starters, Americans live life at a relatively breakneck pace. "Most of us are constantly multitasking or thinking about several things at once," says Bryant, "which means we have trouble slowing down and staying in the moment." Furthermore, we're spoiled. "We have so much wealth and luxury in this country that we tend to take the little things for granted," he adds. How are we supposed to savor a cold glass of water when there's an Xbox on the other side of the table?
And that wealth simply doesn't make us happier. Psychologists at the University of British Columbia found that wealthier individuals were less likely to savor the little joys in life (like sunny days, cold beers and pieces of chocolate) compared to people with less money. Even more surprising? Just thinking about money can lessen your ability to savor. Participants in the study who were shown pictures of money before eating a piece of chocolate spent significantly less time eating the chocolate—and reported less enjoyment while eating it.
And in a recent study co-authored by Bryant, it was found that in a 30-day period, people who savored experiences reported more boosts in their daily mood and overall happiness.
That's not to say the rose you smelled last spring will make you happy in the depths of winter—you have to make savoring a habit in order to reap its effects. "It's counterintuitive, but researchers have found that happiness is more strongly predicted by the frequency of positive events, not by the intensity," Bryant says. In other words, you're just as likely—if not more—to find true satisfaction in that weekly $4 mojito with friends than the one $4,000 trip to Mexico.
How to Help Make Savoring Work for You
Of course, appreciating the joys of your daily life is easier said than done. Use these five strategies to help make savoring part of your daily routine:
1. Take Money Off Your Mind
"Most of us spend a great deal of time thinking about money," says CFP® Blaylock. "And that diminishes our ability to savor." But when you have big dreams, it can be hard to take your mind off them. How do you do it? "Make a plan and a budget, setting out your priorities and goals," he says. And then take it off your mind bywriting it down. "It's just like with my to-do list: If I don't write it down, I'm constantly thinking about it," he says. "But once you have a formalized plan, you typically won't worry about it so much."
You can also put your savings and debt repayments on autopilot so you don't have to think about them, but make sure your bases are covered and you're making progress on your goals.
2. Think Quality Over Quantity
Blaylock encourages us to take a hard look at our spending and to consider which of our purchases bring us joy. "Are you paying $20 a month in subscriptions to magazines that you never get around to reading?" he asks. "Get rid of those, and use that money for a yoga lesson or something else you could enjoy and savor."
LearnVest C.E.O. and founder Alexa von Tobel has a handy tip to measure her satisfaction: the "cost per happy." It's just the cost of your purchase divided by how many hours of happiness it brought you. There's one caveat, however—if you would rate how happy the purchase made you less than five on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 meaning "It made me the happiest person in the world!"), you should consider eliminating the expense without further ado. It's probably not worth it, whatever you're paying.
3. Focus on What You Already Have
In the United States especially, we're indoctrinated from a young age to buy, buy, buy. "We believe that if we got the right car, the right clothes, the fancier vacation, we would somehow find happiness," says Bryant. "Imagine what would happen if everyone spent more time appreciating the things they had, than pursuing the things they wanted," he says. "If you don't enjoy what you have, it's foolhardy to think you'll enjoy what you want."
Unsure how to be reflective during the daily grind? Try cultivating the habit of appreciation by using a gratitude journal—a running list of the people, events and things, big and small, that make you feel grateful every day.
"If you don't enjoy what you have, it's foolhardy to think you'll enjoy what you want."
RELATED: 130 Things That Make Us Happy
4. Dial Down the Multitasking
We're often on autopilot, checking off our to-do list, moving onto the next thing. "Savoring is about being mindfully aware—which is impossible if you're thinking about a million other things," says Bryant. Every once in a while, try putting your brain on pause and really be present in the moment, even if that moment is just a casual dinner. "Next time you eat a piece of pizza, really taste the sauce, experience the crunch of the crust, notice the colors and the smells," he recommends
5. Let Yourself Get Lost in the Experience
Have you ever noticed the joy that kids derive out of the simplest things? "Children are savoring experts. They're so good at turning little things into magical moments," says Bryant. "Take a small thing like finger painting—they get lost in the moment, smearing the paint all over the paper. Somehow we lose that ability as we get older."
The adult equivalent of a 5-year-old's immersion in finger painting might very well be what positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi calls the state of "flow," where you're so intently focused on the task at hand that you lose all sense of time. The next time you find yourself enjoying an activity—whether that's going for a jog, completing a D.I.Y. project, or even cleaning out a cluttered cabinet—try not to get carried away by thoughts of other things. Instead, let yourself savor the moment.
Chase Blueprint® is a free set of features on Chase credit cards that helps customers avoid interest and pay down balances faster. Chase Blueprint® is committed to providing mindful spending research and information to help consumers take steps toward a better financial future.
LearnVest Planning Services is a registered investment adviser and subsidiary of LearnVest, Inc. that provides financial plans for its clients. Information shown is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended as investment, legal or tax planning advice. Please consult a financial adviser, attorney or tax specialist for advice specific to your financial situation. Unless specifically identified as such, the people interviewed in this piece are neither clients, employees nor affiliates of LearnVest Planning Services. LearnVest Planning Services and any third parties listed in this message are separate and unaffiliated and are not responsible for each other's products, services or policies.
Alright KNOWSY Readers remember to keep those tips in mind when you are out and about shopping or at home sitting at your desk (or the kitchen table) preparing to figure out which bills you have to pay first. And lastly, when or if you feel disheartened (or stressed) by these money matters - try saying the title of this post yourself (it's a real tongue twister) several times really fast, that sould be good for a laugh as well as a smile, thereby lightening your mood, even if only for a moment.


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Custom blends from LaFrieda Meats are the secret behind many restaurants' Best Burger award. For our exclusive Ultimate blend, LaFrieda's master butchers combined chuck, brisket and short-rib cuts of grass-fed, grain-finished American Black Angus beef is free from anitibiotics, hormones and growth-promoting drugs. The result is ground beef with exceptional texture and the perfect amount of fat for flavor, which means a juicy, delicious burger every time.
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At Williams Sonoma, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction are our priority. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement.
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Rated 2 out of 5 by TheHappyCooker from Why did you change how this is processed? I have purchased this beef mixture several times. It looked just like it had been ground to order. What did you do! The texture is all wrong! Now it;s just like a brick. Very disappointing. Won't purchase this again.Date published: 2016-09-21Rated 1 out of 5 by LMVDW from If you love grissel and pink slime... Shameful that this is sold by such a great company. Had a ton of red/pink slime and couldn't take a bite without grissel. SICK Smells great while cooking though, too bad we couldn't eat it. Williams-Sonoma...you are better than this.Date published: 2014-12-04Rated 5 out of 5 by Foodie63 from Build a better burger This is an amazing blend of ground meats.I figured, how much better can it be than the ground beef I get in the grocery store? As it turns out soooo much better! So much flavor. Makes the best grilled burger I've ever had! I prefer my hamburgers well done and with this blend they still come out moist and juicy! This is a definite keeper! Can't wait to try making a meatloaf with this mixture!Date published: 2014-11-09Rated 5 out of 5 by WandafromAlabama from This burger blend is fabulous After using this meat, I don't think I will be able to go back to the yucky stuff they sell at the grocery store. There really is a world of difference!Date published: 2014-07-13Rated 5 out of 5 by onthegrill from Best burgers EVER! Last night I used the William Sonoma hamburger meat to make cheese burgers on the grill. They were delicious! After dinner my wife walked my kids up to the school for their winter dance. When my wife arrived, the head of the PTA said, "I just walked my girls up to the school in front of your house and we could smell the best smelling burgers ever! Were you grilling?!" She laughed and said , "Sure was!" I cleaned up after dinner and walked up to catch the tail end of the dance. Three Dad's I know were talking by the front doors and when they saw me they said,"Hey, where's the burgers, Man?!" I was like, "Huh?". They said, "Come on Man, we could smell those burgers all the way up here!" "You're kidding!", I said. "We're not foolin'! Hand over a burger or you can't come inside!" LOL! No fooling! Use this meat and you'll have neighbors banging on your door!Date published: 2014-02-22Rated 5 out of 5 by DALEX from The perfect burger We hosted a burger party when this arrived and everyone agreed its like a burger at a really great joint. Yum!Date published: 2013-07-26Rated 5 out of 5 by WestCoastMom from FIVE STAR Burgers at home!! I don't understand how there could be any negative reviews on this. I live in the greater Los Angeles area with many grocery options but I have not been able to find a burger blend this delicious. I finally made a five star restaurant burger at home! Yes, it costs more than regular ground beef but there is absolutely no comparison because this is not "regular"! I made seven large hamburgers (you could make more if you make them thinner), so the cost actually came out very reasonable per serving. Everyone was raving - they were SOOO good! I will definitely buy again!Date published: 2013-04-30Rated 2 out of 5 by Ronniedawg01 from Also Disappointed I, as did all others, had such high expectations for this mix - especially after reading all the high reviews. All I can say is I now have a new appreciation for my local butcher shop. This mix was no better than any other. Those reviewers who wrote good reviews need to try my hometown butcher's mix. Sorry, I cannot at all recommend spending over $10.00/lb. for this. I truly feel I've been had :(Date published: 2012-08-18


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Sparks fly in short campaign in Venezuela
Mar 29, 2013, 8:04 PM EDT
(AP Photo/Miraflores Presidential Office)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — It's Holy Week in Venezuela, a time when millions traditionally take a welcome pause from work and politics to go on vacation. Yet that hasn't stopped Venezuela's time-pressed presidential candidates from sprinting through the holidays toward an April 14 election to replace the late Hugo Chavez, as they try to define both themselves and each other within weeks.
Both Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's chosen successor, and opposition Gov. Henrique Capriles face the challenge of spelling out a vision for a future without Chavez, who dominated this 28 million-person country like few other leaders have during his 14 years in power.
That's produced a race sometimes jarring in its aggressiveness and exhausting in its tempo. Both candidates have led multiple rallies each day and used deeply personal language against each other. Maduro has even threatened to have Capriles imprisoned for questioning whether Chavez really died on March 5, as the government had announced.
Shannon O'Neil, a Latin American studies fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said emotion over Chavez's death will dominate this election.
Maduro has used the government's enormous bureaucracy and its media to tie himself closely to Chavez, with the late president's image often hung on podiums in front of the candidate or serving as a backdrop. Maduro also has the support of the socialist party's governors in 20 of Venezuela's 23 states, O'Neil noted.
"They are going to use a full court press to ensure that Maduro is elected," she said.
Maduro's challenge has been keeping that public sympathy for Chavez alive, a task he's tackled through sheer repetition and unending eulogy. He pays homage to the late president day in and day out, while warning that Chavez's populist programs benefiting Venezuela's poor majority are at risk. One website has even been counting the times Maduro mentions Chavez's name: nearly 5,000 instances from March 5 to 27.
"Maduro is not Chavez," said Andres Izarra, a former Chavez information minister who's on Maduro's campaign team. "Maduro is his son. Maduro is the one that Chavez said will carry his flag, carry on his legacy. ... That's how he'll win."
The 50-year-old Maduro has also adopted Chavez's confrontational language, echoing the attacks on what Chavez used to call his "historical enemies" — the "imperialists" in the U.S. government and the "oligarchs" of Venezuela's opposition. Critics said Chavez used the rhetoric to keep the country polarized and his supporters agitated while diverting attention from problems at home.
"I alert all the people about the oligarchy and its obsession to destroy the Bolivarian revolution that our comandante Chavez built, to destroy democracy," Maduro told a March 16 rally. "They have already begun with dollars financed by the imperialist elites."
Working in Maduro's advantage also is the date of the vote, just three days after the anniversary of a 2002 coup that briefly dislodged Chavez from power.
"That event is sort of Chavismo's most important, most symbolic moment because it shows them as heroic and shows the opposition as anti-democratic," said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America think tank who has closely studied Venezuela. "The symbolism is really perfect."
Capriles, for his part, has barely had time to rest after losing a hard-fought race to Chavez in October, when he received 45 percent of the vote, and then campaigning in December for re-election as governor of Miranda state. He hasn't let up this month, traveling from city to city and even inviting reporters to join him in a traditional Nazarene procession in the Caracas slum of Petare.
At passionate rallies that take on the feel of rock concerts, Capriles has shouted that "Maduro is not Chavez" while calling attention to Venezuela's high crime rate, its overvalued currency, its overreliance on food imports and its 22 percent inflation rate, the highest in Latin America. He's also tried to assure Chavez supporters that he will not touch their many social programs.
Yet the 40-year-old candidate is short of funding, time and, maybe, votes. A recent survey by the independent polling firm Datanalisis showed Capriles trailed Maduro 49 percent to 35 percent in a sampling of 800 voters from March 11-13. The poll had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
That may explain why the opposition candidate has shed last fall's turn-the-cheek approach for a more confrontational style. He's accused Maduro of shamelessly capitalizing on Chavez's legacy and ridiculed his opponent, a tall and physically imposing former union leader, as an "oaf" incapable of fixing the country.
Mariana Bacalao, a political analyst at the Central University of Venezuela, said the abbreviated campaign has pushed both candidates to turn up the rhetoric for maximum effect with each appearance.
"Capriles has to make a quick impression," Bacalao said
Capriles also has to strike the delicate balance of attacking Chavez's record — but not Chavez.
The Datanalisis poll found that 79 percent of Venezuelans had a positive image of Chavez, while only 55 percent thought positively of Maduro. At the same time, 56 percent had a positive image of the country's situation, but only 47 percent felt the same about the economy.
Campaign adviser Oswaldo Ramirez acknowledged that Capriles must "confront those responsible for public policy and those responsible for 14 years of bad management without touching Hugo Chavez with so much as a feather."
"Hugo Chavez is now the opposition's sword of Damocles. You cannot attack him," Ramirez said.
He conceded that Capriles will have difficulty reaching the millions of Venezuelans who now believe it's the government's responsibility to provide their basic needs — and who are fed a steady diet of Maduro's broadsides on state-controlled media.
Izarra said Capriles' strategy will backfire.
"Capriles is disrespecting the people. They are accusing him of being disrespectful, and he made a big mistake with that," Izarra said. "People are very sensitive to what you say about Chavez now. People are looking for sympathy."
Government officials, meanwhile, preach unity — and optimism — at least for their side of this country's gaping political divide, which appears to have grown wider with the populist leader's death, said Information Minister Ernesto Villegas.
"It turns out the Chavez movement without Chavez is even more Chavista," Villegas said.
Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez and Jack Chang contributed to this report.
Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.


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Is it freedom of speech or lack of respect?
That's the question after Thursday's graduation ceremony at John Liechty Middle School.
Angry parents crowded the school's lobby demanding a meeting with Principal Jeanette Stevens to discuss the issue, but were turned away Monday morning.
It comes after 15 students chose to protest their graduation speaker, LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia. The students and their parents said they chose to do so to protest teacher layoffs and increased class sizes.
"We didn't stand up," said Ender Perez, who continues to refuse to apologize for Thursday's events, "we just sat in our seats and turned our backs to her."
Some parents said they backed their students for the idea. Olga Ochoa said the issue of respect goes both ways.
"They don't do nothing good for the students," she said, "because they cut the teachers and put a lot of students in the same room."
As the 15 students made their way across the stage and shook hands with the principal, they said they did not get their certificates and instead got a message.
"She squeezed my hand and said I wouldn't get my diploma."
The school district issued a statement saying, "The LAUSD's John Liechty Middle School works to provide students with an appropriate learning environment that includes being safe, being responsible and being respectful. During any school event, Liechty Middle School expects students to demonstrate respectful behavior. We have postponed distribution of approximately 15 eighth grade certificates until we are able to discuss the culmination events with those students and parents. Today, Monday, June 22, 2009, we are continuing to issue diplomas to all parents that come to school and meet with school officials. More than 500 culmination certificates were distributed at Friday's event and this morning."


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Car Stereo Installation - Do It Yourself
With the right adapter, you can use your steering wheel controls with a new stereo
Q: If I install a new stereo, can I still use my steering wheel controls?
A: You sure can — if you install a special adapter. And when you buy any stereo from us, you'll get a deep discount on the steering wheel control adapter for your car. See our article about Steering Wheel Audio Control Adapters for more information.
iPod and iPhone Connection
Q: How can I connect my iPod®? And what's the difference between using an aux cable and a USB connector?
A: When you want to play your iPod in the car, the two most common options are running a cable from the iPod's headphone jack to your stereo's aux input, or using your iPod's cable and plugging into a USB input.
Aux connections tend to transmit background noise, plus you have to control the tunes from the iPod itself — not the safest thing when you're driving alone. The USB connection, on the other hand, transmits no background noise, gives you receiver-based control, and also charges your player. In many cases the receiver also processes the sound, something it's designed to do better than your iPod in an amplified system. Check out our article about the benefits of a USB input for more details.
Q: I can't see the display when the sun shines on it. Are there displays that are easier to read in direct sunlight?
A: We've found that displays that let you tilt the face, often found on DVD and navigation receivers, are the best solution. These receivers also give you large touchscreens, let you play movies while you're parked, and give you a slew of other fantastic features. If your receiver can do it, try changing the color of the display or adjusting the brightness and contrast to help cut through the glare. To see these suggestions in action, watch our video about avoiding glare on the display.
Another solution is a receiver with simple, well-thought-out controls. That way, you'll be able to make simple adjustments without even looking at the receiver.
A Bluetooth connection is a bridge between your smartphone and your stereo
Q: Can I use Bluetooth® to stream music and make phone calls?
A: Absolutely! And you can often do even more, like running and controlling Internet apps. Basically, a Bluetooth connection works as a bridge between your phone and your dash. Even if your receiver doesn't offer control over apps, you can stream the audio from your phone and play it in your car. Our video about Bluetooth in the car will give you all the details.
Q: Can my factory speakers handle a high-powered CD receiver?
A: Your factory speakers should be able to handle the output from an aftermarket CD receiver, but there are limits to their performance. Turn up your new radio with the car sitting still, make a note of the volume level at which your factory speakers start to distort, and avoid cranking the radio up past that point.
Speaker performance is critical to listening enjoyment, so we recommend adding quality,aftermarket speakers as soon as you can. A new set of speakers will let you take full advantage of the big, rich sound your new receiver has to offer.
Q: How much power does my factory system have?
A: While we don't have exact power ratings for the systems in specific vehicles, we can tell you that factory systems usually have less power than aftermarket units.
But bear in mind that, for example, the 100-watt factory system described by your car dealer probably consists of 4 channels of 25 watts peak power. This translates to roughly 10 watts RMS (continuous) x 4 — not bad, but a far cry from most current aftermarket receivers.
Even if your factory system seems relatively powerful, there are still benefits to going with an aftermarket receiver. These advantages typically include better specs, built-in Bluetooth® connectivity and iPod® controls, MP3/WMA/AAC file playback, USB input for media players and thumb drives, more extensive tone controls, easier (and less expensive) integration with other equipment, like amplifiers, and the enhanced reliability you can expect from a recognized audio brand name.
Q: How much power do I need to get optimum performance from my car's sound system?
A: Since every car stereo is different, there's no magic "wattage formula." As long as you stay within the recommended power range of your speakers, increasing power will always add richness and depth to your music. Compare a spinet piano to a concert grand. The small piano is good enough to play music clearly, but move up to a grand and you'll gain better tone, greater harmonic detail, and more volume. The larger instrument is simply more powerful.
Here are a couple things to consider, though:
How efficient are your speakers? Your speakers have a direct influence on the overall "power" of your system. If you're planning on powering your speakers with your in-dash receiver, efficient speakers (sensitivity of 90 dB or higher) will give you more bang for the buck. If you're installing high-performance component speakers, an outboard amp will generate maximum performance.
Are you adding a subwoofer? Subs need substantial amounts of power to reproduce the lowest tones, so it's essential to use an outboard amplifier with them. You should count on using more power for bass than you use to power all of your full-range speakers. If your receiver puts out 20 watts RMS x 4 channels (80 watts total), send at least 80 watts to your sub. Using a 50 watt x 4 amp to drive your components? Dedicate at least 200 watts for bass.
How good is your wiring? Your system's chain of components is only as strong as its weakest link, so don't cheat your amps and speakers with substandard power cable and speaker wire.
Before you buy, think about your vehicle and how you use it. If you drive a quiet sedan with the windows up, you'll need much less power than someone who goes off-roading in a pickup. Speaker location, extraneous road/car noise, noise damping material, and personal taste are factors that may affect how much power you'll need in your ride.
Will It Fit?
Q: How can I be sure the radio I want will fit into my dash?
A: You can count on Auto Sounds to have stereo fit information for just about every car, truck and van on the road today. Our Vehicle Research team has gathered data on thousands of vehicles, and your car or truck is probably one of them.
When you call to place an order, we check our one-of-a-kind installation database to make sure what you want will fit. When you're visiting SbAutoSounds.com, you even get to check this info yourself (that's why we ask for your vehicle info). And for most vehicles, we offer the installation parts and accessories you'll need at a deep discount when you buy any stereo from us. You can see the specifics about this gear, and which stereos and speakers will fit your vehicle by entering your vehicle details into our Vehicle Selector.
This Ford radio looks like a double-DIN, but it's not quite that big
Q: My car has an oversized factory radio. Why can't I replace it with an oversized aftermarket receiver?
A: "Oversized" receivers come in two different sizes:
the 3" tall (or DIN-and-a-half) slot found in many GM/Chrysler vehicles.
the 4" tall (or double-DIN) opening in many other vehicles.
If the dimensions of your car's dash opening differ by even a fraction of an inch from these standard oversized openings, you won't be able to install an oversized aftermarket radio without modifying your dash. Many Fords, for instance, look like they can handle a double-DIN radio with ease, but in reality, the opening is a little too small. In some other vehicles, the bracket system that holds the factory radio in place won't work with an oversized aftermarket receiver. In either case, we recommend installing a standard DIN-sized radio with a mounting kit.
New Receiver
Q: How difficult is it to install a new receiver?
A: Helping you install your own gear is our specialty. We have helped hundreds of thousands of first-time installers put a new receiver in their dash, and get the job done right. With most new receivers, you'll receive our exclusive, free step-by-step instructions for your vehicle. For most vehicles, we also offer mounting kits that let you install your new stereo in your dash with a professional look, wiring harnesses that plug right into your factory wiring, and, in some cases, specialty adapters that let you retain certain factory features. If we have these parts for your vehicle, you'll get a deep discount on them when you buy any stereo.
Plus, you're able to take advantage of our friendly, comprehensive tech support, seven days a week. It's like having a pro looking over your shoulder while you work! For additional installation information, read our Car Stereo Installation Guide.
Once you've attached the stereo wiring harness to your new receiver, simply plug it in to your car's harness
Q: What's the best way to connect the stereo wiring harness to my new CD receiver's harness?
A: The most important factor here is getting a tight connection that won't come loose over time. Simply twisting the wires together and taping them with electrical tape won't give you a strong connection.
Soldering used to be the go-to method, but these days most people find crimping the wires to be much easier. Our favorite method is using Posi-Twist™ connectors. They're even easier than crimping and provide a strong, secure connection. You'll find more Posi-Products, crimp tools, connectors and more in the car stereo installation tools section of our website. And when you buy any stereo from us, you'll get a deep discount on these tools and connectors.
Q: Will a CD receiver play MP3, WMA, or AAC files burned onto a CD-R or CD-RW?
A: Most CD receivers will play at least MP3 and WMA files, but be sure to check the receiver's "Details" tab to find out for sure.
Q: What if I want to listen to my iPod® or other MP3 player with a new CD receiver?
A: Most new CD receivers have built-in iPod controls, tied to a USB input on the front or rear of the receiver. Just plug in your iPod and you're ready to go. These USB inputs also let you play music stored on thumb drives or other USB devices. If your receiver is not iPod-ready, you can add an iPod adapter.
A majority of receivers also offer auxiliary inputs. You can plug almost any audio device into these receivers with a simple patch cord. Remember, with an "aux in" connection, you won't have control of your iPod or other player from the receiver, but it's a simple, easy way to enjoy your music library when you're on the road.
A growing number of CD receivers and digital media receivers are designed with smartphones in mind. If you have a recent iPhone, for example, some receivers work with Siri to give you eyes-free control over your iPhone's functions.
Q: I still have a lot of old cassettes. Is there any point in buying a new cassette receiver?
A: That depends. New cassette receivers are still available, but they're increasingly hard to find. Look for a cassette receiver that has either an auxiliary input or changer controls. That way, you'll have the ability to add other listening sources — SiriusXM satellite radio, an iPod, or an MP3 player, for example.
If you can't find a new cassette deck that suits your needs, there are still ways to enjoy your cassette-based music on the road. If your home stereo includes a good cassette deck, you can connect the deck to your computer and digitize your music. Once that's done, you can copy the files onto a USB thumb drive. It takes a bit of work, but you'll be able to enjoy your music without worrying about jams, snags, and broken tapes.


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A lone fawn curled up amid tall grass in early spring can be an endearing sight, but it also can make an attractive target for more than just predators. Every year well-intentioned people attempt to "rescue" these presumably-abandoned young, often with deadly consequences. In almost all cases of young fawns found alone in the wild, the mother is typically feeding nearby, keeping a distant eye on her offspring. When concerned individuals decide to retrieve these young animals, they are unintentionally giving the fawn a death sentence.
The notion that a young animal found in the wild will die if not given care is wrong. Not only are most young found in the wild not abandoned, picking them up is against the law. Both the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment have regulations against such activity that can result in a fine up to $1,000 or more. In addition to legal repercussions, wild animals can pose a number of health risks, including diseases such as distemper, rabies,
Additionally, if a "rescued" animal were to bite someone, it must be put to death and tested for diseases. Even if they don't bite, the young usually fail to survive in captivity because most people are not equipped to handle wild animals, especially as the they mature. On the off chance the animal does survive in captivity, it typically loses instincts that allow it to survive in the wild.
It is important to remember that although young wildlife may be cute, they belong in the wild. Wild animals cannot legally be inoculated by veterinarians, and few people really know how to care for them.
If you should see a young animal in the wild this spring or summer, observe at a distance and consider yourself lucky. But remember, just because they are temporarily alone, that doesn't mean they are abandoned.
If you really want to help, leave young in the wild where they were born and belong.
If you find an injured animal, a list of licensed rehabilitators can be found on the KDWPT website, ksoutdoors.com, by clicking "Services/Rehabilitation."


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Rep. Joe Wilson said he will not apologize on the House floor for shouting "You lie!" during President Obama's health care address to Congress last week despite calls to discipline him if he does not.
"I've apologized one time. The apology was accepted by the president, the vice president. ... I am not apologizing again," Wilson told Fox News Sunday.
The South Carolina Republican said Democrats are "playing politics" by trying to pressure him into issuing a second apology for accusing Obama of lying about his reform plan during a joint session of Congress last Wednesday during an outburst that triggered a political firestorm.
Wilson's said in the interview aired Sunday that he felt "provoked" during the speech and said his outburst was akin to a "town hall moment." "I believe in the truth. What I heard was not true. I believe (the president) was misstating the facts," Wilson said.
Get more: Fox News


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SOMERSET, Pa. — Henrietta the chicken was living inconspicuously for 18 months among 36,000 other chickens at Brendle Farms — until a farm foreman discovered she had four legs.
Farm-owner Mike Brendle was amazed by the discovery among his standard two-legged, egg-laying hens.
"It's as healthy as the rest," he said.
Brendle's 13-year-old daughter, Ashley, named the bird Henrietta after the discovery. It has two normal front legs and, behind those, two more feet. They are of a similar size to the chicken's front legs, but do not function. The chicken drags her extra feet behind her.
Brendle said he has never seen a chicken with four legs before. He moves 36,000 chickens through his farm three times a year and has been farming for 30 years.
There is no definitive reason behind such deformities, said Cliff Thompson, a retired professor of genetics at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. He said it could be an accident of development, akin to a sixth toe on a cat.
Brendle said he jokingly suggested to his family they sell Henrietta in an Internet auction, but Ashley objected.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.