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Gogobot CEO Travis Katz sits down with NBC Bay Area to talk about his company and its integration with Facebook.
How and when did you and FB decide to integrate Gogobot and move things forward?
Travis Katz: Gogobot has been working closely with the team at Facebook for the last nine months, and have been launch partners for several of their recent feature launches. For the relaunch of the profile, we began talking to them about a month and a half ago. We saw the new launch as pretty revolutionary. Gogobot is a place where people come to share their travels with their friends, and with the launch of the new profile, Gogobot users will be able to share their travels directly on their profile through rich visuals, maps and photos.
Can you give your 30,000-foot view of how the changes to FB Platform will change user behavior? User expectations?
Travis Katz: The new platform will make it easier for users to focus on what is most relevant to them and personalize their experience; it transforms your profile into a much more interesting reflection of their identity.
What new features will users see on their profiles in the coming weeks?
Travis Katz: When Facebook launches the new time line in a few weeks, it will be transformative. People will be able to use Gogobot to show off their travels and their favorite places in a cool, visual way. You will be able to add stylish maps showing where you have been, your travel expertise score, you recent trips and collections of your favorite places, all leveraging Gogobot's gorgeous travel photography.
Travel is about memory making. Do you think the other new features will also have an emotional connection with users?
Travis Katz: The story of our lives is told in the places that we have been. Our travels are richly emotional experiences - moments that changed us, memories we will cherish. In the same way today people capture these memories though photos we hang on the walls in our homes, Gogobot lets you capture and share these memories with the people we care most about. With the new Facebook integration, Gogobot lets you share all your favorite memories and experiences directly on your profile, and your friends can use this information to discover new places and get inspired for their own trips.
If you could be vacationing anywhere, right this minute, where would it be?
Travis Katz: I would head to Bora Bora to do a little diving.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians stocked up on firecrackers, handed out sweets and adorned their homes with glowing lanterns and sparklers ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, on Sunday.
The most important festival of the year in India, Diwali celebrates the triumph of good over evil. The biggest — and loudest — celebrations come Sunday, when people set off a near-constant stream of firecrackers that light up the sky before leaving a dark, smoggy cloud that lingers for days.
This year, mindful of the pollution and the dangers of the deafening displays, authorities have made a push to cut down on the number of firecrackers, and some schools sent notices home urging parents not to buy any fireworks.
The country's grim financial straits also may affect this year's celebrations.
At a wholesale market in New Delhi, shopkeeper Mahesh Chand Sagar said the financial downturn is affecting sales.
"Fulfilling one's basic needs has become a problem nowadays," said Sagar, 40, who has been selling candles, garlands and other decorations for the past 10 years. "If people can't afford basic necessities, how will they buy decorative items?"
Typically, people buy gold during Diwali, including jewelry, coins and small statues of the elephant-headed Ganesh. But the government has imposed a steep new tax on gold imports, making the already-high prices far out of reach for many Indians.
Still, it seems unlikely the concerns about pollution and finances will dampen enthusiasm for Diwali too much. In the run-up to the festival, people hand out sweets, give their homes a vigorous cleaning and offer prayers to Ganesh and to the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. Shops have been packed with customers buying new clothes, gifts for friends and co-workers and brightly lit decorations for their homes. Potters ramp up production of popular earthen lamps, known as diyas.
On the night of Diwali, which is a shortened form of the word Deepavali, meaning 'a row of lamps,' families gather for the spectacular fireworks displays held all over the country.
Diwali also is celebrated by Hindus in other parts of the world, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Malaysia.
Asia Travel Guides, Reviews, Diary, News | Travel Wire Asia


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Paul Auster
I'm drinking wine with Paul Auster. I'm drinking wine with Paul Auster. The I've-been-translated-into-thirty-languages Paul Auster. Inducted into the American Academy of Art and Letters. VP of PEN. Finalist for PEN/Faulkner. Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. A Prince of Asturias award winner, an award that this year's Nobel winner for Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, has also received. Paul Auster, the man who has been struck by lightning and lived to tell the tale, seriously. In short: deep, deep water.
Yet despite it all, here we are, both enjoying anonymous by-the-glass wine (he's Sauvignon Blanc, I get Nero d'Avola – he might have me beat in baseball geekiness, but he'll never win in wine) in a cozy Brooklyn cafe populated entirely of mothers and their toddling toddlers, all of whom seem bent on wrecking my attempt to preserve the moment in audio.
SUNSET PARK, Auster's eighteenth work of fiction, never mind his translations, essays, books of prose, screenplays, films, memoirs, autobiographies, and lyrics – is a reader's delight. The reading experience (and I'll leave the book reviews to the professionals) can be likened to when you see something that you take for granted, something that appears common, yet upon further inspection you see that this example (be it a shoe, suit, car, watch, fountain pen) is the product of serious craftsmanship. Read it for yourself when the book is released on November 9th. So without further ado, let's plumb the mind and see what we find…
KC: What was the genesis of SUNSET PARK?
PA: Dispossession. That was the idea that started it. I was walking around for quite a while with an image of a man getting booted out of the place where he lives, just kicked out, thrown onto the street. And that little kernel of an idea grew into the book.
KC: Did the financial situation we find ourselves in today happen before this idea?
PA: Well, I had this idea for awhile, and then suddenly I look around and it's happening to millions of people. Millions of people are losing their homes. Astonishing epidemic. It just seems to get worse and worse… [long pause] So anyway, that's the germ of the book. And then from there, I began to think of the book as I was writing it, as a story of houses and homes.
KC: The house is very much a character.
PA: Houses. Physical houses, the structures that people live in, and then the home as family. So the book is dealing with both simultaneously.
KC: Well you seem to have pulled that off; I got that right off the bat. I've read a few books before that deal with a house. Have you read Danielewski's HOUSE OF LEAVES?
PA: I have that book. I kind of flipped through it. I need to sit down and read it.
KC: Well I only mention it because, like the house in SUNSET PARK, the house is a character, but also the canvas for the entire work…
PA: You want to read the best book about a house ever written, you need to read George Perec's LIFE: A USER'S MANUAL, do you know him?
KC: No, only that I know of him, but haven't read any of his works.
PA: Know him. He was a genius, THE young post-war French genius. He was the one who famously wrote an entire novel without using the letter "e" – you ever heard about this?
KC: I have heard of that. And I can't even wrap my mind around it.
PA: It was an excellent translation - which also faithfully omitted the letter "e" - anyways, he was part of a group called Oulipo, a group of writers who dealt with all kinds of constraints. Like, let's write a book with only the vowel "e" or a book without the use of the vowel "e" – something to that effect. And they had this fantastically funny device they created, called the S+7 method, which would be to take, say a sonnet, and look up every word in the sonnet, and look up every word seven entries ahead in the dictionary for each given word, and Clark Coolidge, you know Clark Coolidge?
KC: Yes.
PA: He's a friend of mine, back when Maya Angelou read the dreadful poem for the Clinton inauguration, called "On the Pulse of Morning" – Clark was so outraged by this poem that he wrote an S+7 method parody of it, which turned out to be "On the Pumice of Morons" – it was hilarious. Anyway, Perec's book, which is an immense book, a masterpiece, takes place in one building in Paris, and the book treats every single person in the building. It's fabulous, it was the last book review I ever did, in 1987 in the New York Times Book Review. I praised this thing to the sky. But you should look into it. And if you like that book, then there is a little book W, OR THE MEMORY OF CHILDHOOD also written by Perec. Anyway, the house. The house that I describe in the book…
KC: Exists?
PA: Exist-ED. In my wanderings around Sunset Park, I walked down this street and stumbled upon this anomalous wooden structure that looked like something from the prairie - Texas or Kansas – like the house from The Wizard of Oz, and I thought, well, this is the very sort of place where a gang of young people could pull this off, because it was on the end of a very remote street in a downtrodden neighborhood. It turns out that the house has since been demolished. A couple of weeks ago I was doing an NPR interview where they like to go to the places, even though you can't see them, being radio after all, but we visited the street and it's a vacant lot now with a little fence in front of it. It's kind of sad. I wish my imaginary people had been real enough to have taken possession of the place.
KC: I really wanted to see that house. [Long pause] Typical. Well, moving on. How do you describe Bing's role in everything?
PA: Bing's role?
KC: Yeah, he's more than just the messenger, the switchboard, right?
PA: Well, a pivot. I think in the book he's the connection to Miles and the family, and he's the connection to Ellen and Alice and all the others. But in the end they all are connected.
KC: I was curious about his role specifically, because it seemed to be more of an awkward situation than all the others.
PA: Well, he's playing the double agent really, with a clear conscience. Though he never tells the parents what Miles has been doing.
KC: I don't know if reflective is the right word, but it seems like there are a lot of passages and situations that were kind of book-matched to one another…
PA: For example…
KC: Like the relation with Miles and Pilar, the forbidden fruit, then you have the confession with Ellen and Ben. Was that by design? To me it really added harmony to the whole thing.
PA: Perhaps, yes, there could be something to what you say. In neither instance do I find the relationship perverse, in any way. I mean Pilar is seventeen years old, and in X amount of days she will be eighteen. A lot of girls at seventeen are really quite mature…
KC: Some at forty can be infantile.
PA: Exactly. She's a very intelligent person, and it's really a matter of how many more ticks on the clock before this is not an issue.
KC: That makes for a nice timing device.
PA: Yeah, it just worked out that way. Everything fell into place. And with Ben, well he's a strong, healthy, athletic, sixteen year old boy, and what else do sixteen year old boys think about? He's the one who makes the move.
KC: And then the onus is on her…
PA: Well, she's brave about it, she keeps her mouth shut. She doesn't tell on him, she doesn't even burden him with it. Fragile and nutty as she is, she has this core of integrity in her that I admire a lot.
KC: I think the fragile and nutty are usually that way.
PA: [laughs] Well…
KC: Unless they're completely unhinged. In addition to that scenario, there was the baseball reference with Herb Score that was reflective, a sort of parallel with the grandfather.
PA: All this stuff is happening, almost as I was writing the book. Many things coalescing simultaneously, Herb Score's death, the financial meltdown, the house of cards – it was out there in the world. Lucky Lohrke's death – now the weird thing is, and you understand how improvisatory writing is, Lucky was still alive when I was writing this, but he died before I finished it. He died in April of '09. I was well into the book by then.
KC: Odd.
PA: Mark Fydrich died while I was writing this book as well.
KC: How did you feel about that?
PA: Horrible, horrible. Because I loved Mark Fydrich, you're too young to remember him.
KC: I really… I loved the reflective nature, how everything seemed pretty complimentary, how the ideas were reinforced in this introverted way. It wasn't – and I mean this in the best possible way – it wasn't like it was tightly woven, it was more like chain-link. Everything was compartmentalized, but in perfect succession.
PA: Each thing is separate, but connected, yes. I like that.
KC: Okay, I'm glad I was on the mark there.
PA: [laughs] No, I don't write "tightly woven" books, I never have.
KC: Was Mary-Lee a play on Meryl?
PA: No, I just liked the sound of the name.
KC: Okay, just checking. All of the stuff about PEN true?
PA: Everything is true.
KC: I haven't had the chance to do any research on that, such as the hacking into their databases and whatnot.
PA: Oh no, it's all true – I've been secretary and vice president of PEN. I know these people, and I give thanks to them in the book, but I'd been working on that program for years. I did go in and talk to them at length, to find out the full picture of what was going on with Xiaobo - now he got the Nobel Prize, but this of course predates all that. No, it's all true. There are a lot of documentary aspects to this book, the baseball references are real, the PEN references, even the film and the house.
KC: That all helps to anchor everything for the reader, right?
PA: Sure. I've never written a book in the present tense – it is really a book about now, the American air, in the minute. Most of my books, in fact most novels, are told in the past tense. But this is the first time I've done this, this is the first time I've written from multiple points of view. So it was a bit of a torture for me, an invigorating one. I wrote it in record time. I was on fire with this one. I finished it in five months. It just all came together. Usually I'm slow, eking out a page a day, but this one came much faster.
KC: Why do you think that is?
PA: I don't know.
KC: Were you enamored with the style, the characters?
PA: I have no idea. Philip Guston, the great American painter once said "A life of suffering for a moment of grace", well maybe this was a moment of grace for me. I didn't have to second guess this book at all. Everything was always there. Each character was always there.
KC: Now were these characters you've had in your mind, and you thought you'd use them when the right story presented itself?
PA: Yeah, Ellen I think about. I've actually been thinking about writing a whole novel about Ellen. Never really got to it, then I brought her to this book…
KC: This brings up a really good question, and I think a lot of writers struggle with this: When you have a really good character, do you sacrifice the character for a book, relegating the character to a supporting role? Do you feel like you left a lot of Ellen out of SUNSET PARK?
PA: Ahhh, I don't know. If I felt a burning need to go back to her I'd do it. I have no compunction about reusing a character. I've done it before, I'll surely do it again.
KC: So you still have a lot more Ellen left?
PA: I think so… Not at the moment, but something might happen.
KC: Still some un-turned corners there.
PA: Yes.
KC: I did have a question about this whole paralysis of Miles. Was it due to the trauma specifically, or was it due to his education of life, as in "this is the way it is" so why bother? Or is it a little from column A, a little from column B?
PA: If you want to really give a deep psychoanalytical reading of Miles, one might say that it happened in his infancy. His mother didn't want him. She was an incompetent mother, she didn't hold him correctly. And then she disappeared. He was brought up by a loving nanny. He was in a sense abandoned. Those first two years she was gone, and that was too late. You're a father, you understand. By two years of age, it's too late. He wasn't smothered with love, I think all healthy children are smothered with love.
KC: He needed to have that assurance that no matter what, he could go to them.
PA: Yes. Life is too hard, you must be absolutely surrounded by love in order to face life.
KC: You have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can go to them no matter what.
PA: Yes. And even though his father raised him, you know, a father isn't a mother. Father's don't have the same role, especially early on, they become supremely important later on, five, six, and beyond. So I think that's the explanation, and then you couple that with the horrible accident that took place, and he shuts down. He feels as if his whole life is a mistake, he shouldn't have been born. And in many ways he's a wonderful person. He's very intelligent.
KC: He's capable of a great amount of love.
PA: The way he attaches himself to this girl, I have this feeling that he's going to get better as life goes on for him. I have hope for Miles.
KC: No question. Even throughout the book there seemed to be a positive upswing, not just because of Pilar, but there was a "time heals all" thing too.
PA: He's just sick of himself, sick of the game he's been playing. As he tells his mother at their dinner, he kept going and he didn't know why he was doing it anymore. And Miles is one of these magnetic people. He walks into a room and everything stops. He's portrayed as being very good looking, but again, that's not enough.
KC: There are a lot of good looking people that are absolute bores.
PA: Right. He's the good-looking silent guy, therefore he becomes a mirror for other people's feelings.
KC: And that's what people love about the Miles' of the world. Everyone loves mirrors.
PA: [laughs] True.
KC: So we're always curious about the process. What is your writing process? Give us an idea of your daily routine as well as your project-length process.
PA: It's pretty dull. But all writers' lives are dull. How can it be exciting, sitting in a room? So what is my routine… I wake up in the morning, I go downstairs and have a minimal breakfast, usually some orange juice and a pot of tea. Read the New York Times, fairly thoroughly - depends on the day. And then I go off to a little apartment I have in the neighborhood about two blocks from my house.
KC: Every author I've talked to has a separate office, a distinct and physically removed place from their home where they can write.
PA: Really? Interesting, interesting.
KC: And I don't personally possess one, but I find that I have to get out of the house, even if I just come out to a place like this, where I have all of this grey noise…
PA: Well, see I live with a writer, a great writer, and the two of us together in the house is not a good thing, workwise. [laughs] We used to do it, but it is better for her and for me to go out.
KC: So do you have "the view of the cinder block wall" sort of thing at the office?
PA: Well, it's pretty Spartan in there. The workroom actually looks out on the backyard, the fire escape, and a little untended garden of tangled weeds. My only companions are the squirrels that hop around on the fire escape.
KC: You have some pretty brave squirrels in New York I've seen. I saw a woman actually get mugged of her muffin by one.
PA: Listen, they carry guns here, you think Texas is bad…
KC: One jumped on my knee in Union Square and was like "hey, where's my food?" and then went off to the next guy. So you mosey down there by like what, nine or ten?
PA: It all depends. Depends on the day.
KC: So you don't force yourself to some rigid schedule.
PA: No, no. But I wake up pretty early. I am in there by nine o'clock, generally. I have a little kitchen with a refrigerator, so I always have my lunch there. And then I don't do anything but write. There's no television, no computer… no distractions.
KC: You still write on the typewriter, right?
PA: Well I write by pen, longhand, first – and then I type it up every day, paragraph by paragraph.
KC: It seems like so few write by hand anymore.
PA: Oh, I know plenty who write by hand.
KC: And I think the best stuff comes when you least expect it, and you jot it down. I was taught early on in school that taking notes, the physical action of writing it down, helps to reinforce the idea in your mind, something you don't get from typing.
PA: Well for me the whole act of writing is very physical. I can't think with my hands on a keyboard.
KC: In the Lethem interview you talk about that, how you can actually hear what the word sounds like as it scratches out across the paper.
PA: Yeah, the ink is coming out, it's as if the ink is coming out of your body.
KC: Is that the pen you write with? [nods towards Auster's ball point Mont Blanc]
PA: No, this is a treasured object, a gift from my daughter. I write with an Aurora, an Italian fountain pen, the flow is very good with those.
KC: You go through a lot of ink? This one [I show my pen] dumps ink on the page.
PA: No, I use cartridges. I find they are less prone to accident, more efficient. So anyway I write in my notebook, I write and write until the paragraph is where I want it. That is the unit of composition.
KC: So you don't move forward in the process until the graph is nailed down, except for maybe an outline, well, DO you outline?
PA: Minimally. The whole book could be in half a page. This book would be Miles, Florida… you know it's all in my head. I don't need this thing to remind me of the chronological order of things. I've always written this way, from the very beginning. It is a unit of breath and thought, each paragraph is a unit of composition unto itself.
KC: And most of us read that way, we read the graph, then we pause, we reflect, and we move on.
PA: Yes.
KC: It's the pause, the bite, the mouthful.
PA: Yes. And I don't write short paragraphs. So, when I get tired of writing for the day, I leave and go home. It all depends - some days it's three, some days it's six. It all depends on what that day brings.
KC: From everyone I've talked to, only one deviates from that, he insists on an almost punch-clock regiment. Whereas others are like, if it ain't coming, it ain't coming.
PA: Yeah, that's a bit much. And I don't throw a lot of stuff out. I tend to editorialize inline, while I write. I attack the paragraph and the page, but there's not a lot of alteration afterwards.
KC: This is the opposite of Spanbauer.
PA: Yeah, well, that works for him, then great. But not for me. There's a music in your head when you write, and the effort every day, when you write, is to capture that music. Get the music in your head on the page. So that's my day as a writer. Then I go back home and we do what everyone else does.
KC: So directing and screenwriting. Are you done with that, is it something you want to revisit?
PA: Well, I've done it four times…
KC: Seems like the popular thinking is that if you are going to write screenplays, then write screenplays, and if you are going to be a novelist, then write novels.
PA: Well, you know, you should do what you want to do. I made a film in '06, came out in '07, the tiniest film imaginable.
KC: Tiniest film imaginable?
PA: Well, four actors, shot for under a million dollars, shot in Portugal, and it had a minimal release here, one theater in New York, and it's on DVD. THE INNER LIFE OF MARTIN FROST. But I feel happy about the film. I loved doing it and I would do it again but for two reasons. 1) I don't have an idea for a film, and 2) I think the state of independent film is so dire right now, even if I could raise the money, I doubt it could get distributed. I mean, I had New Yorker Films distribution for my last one, and they're gone, they went under. This great company that for forty-five years put out some of the best films, they couldn't survive. So I don't know, I don't know if there is any point in spending two years of your life to do something that no one is ever going to see.
KC: Chris Cleave said writing a novel is so much more fun, you have no constraints, no budgetary concerns, it's just you and the page.
PA: Yes, yes. But you see he's just a writer, he's never directed. Directing is just the most thrilling job in the world, I have to say. You're involved in ninety-nine things at once, and they are all interesting. And when you see it all click - it's wonderful. The business is disgusting, but the actual work is wonderful.
KC: But that's everything art, right?
PA: [laughs] Yeah.
KC: So you are still amenable to the idea…
PA: Well, we'll see.
KC: So what kind of advice do you have for writers?
PA: None. Well, the only advice I ever give to young writers is "don't do it."
KC: Okay…
PA: I say that very sincerely. Because what is to gain from this? A life of loneliness, poverty, and frustration. That's pretty much what you are guaranteed. If anything other than that happens… it's just a roll of the dice. And I say don't do it. And if a person is determined to do it, then they will do that in spite of my advice, and that means they are a born artist, and they need to do it. Because the only reason to do it is because you feel the need to.
KC: Doesn't that also statistically guarantee a little more success on their end if they are compelled for reasons other than fame and fortune?
PA: Well I don't think that far ahead. [laughs]
KC: So don't do it.
PA: Don't do it. Get a real job.
Paul Auster lives in Brooklyn and cannot be found on Twitter or Facebook.


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Liberty Mutual Insurance, Associate Business Analyst – Commercial Insurance – Houston, TX, Application Deadline, BTT Gateway Job ID 7681
Wed, December 18, 2013
Launch your career at Liberty Mutual Insurance- A Fortune 100 Company!
The start date for this program is June 2014.
As a Business Analyst you will perform business research that's designed to improve business processes and support decisions that contribute to the growth of profitable business.
• Conduct production-oriented activities by entering and extracting information from various applications and systems, manipulating data in spreadsheets; identifying and researching anomalies; and making corrections as needed.
• Use the information gathered to develop standard reports; may draw conclusions about trends, variances (against plan, year-over-year, etc.) and business performance; presents information and distributes reports.
• Assist others with conducting business research by gathering data, identifying options, performing cost-benefits analyses, and creating non-routine reports with detailed analyses and/or proposals to create or revise management policies, business processes and services provided to customers.
• Work with other departments to coordinate activities and project work in order to ensure that Liberty Mutual Insurance meets customer expectations. Assists in problem resolution as needed to ensure that customers receive prompt, efficient service in accordance with company policies.
• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience
• Demonstrated ability to interpret and apply standard policies, procedures and other established guidelines.
• Effective analytical/problem solving and research skills; effective communication skills for exchanging routine and non-routine information (verbally and in writing) with people inside and outside the Company; proficiency with personal computers, spreadsheets and database software.
We recognize that talented people are attracted to companies that provide competitive pay, comprehensive benefits packages and outstanding advancement opportunities. For this reason we offer a Comprehensive Benefits Plan that includes the following:
• 401K and Company paid pension plan
• Medical coverage
• Dental coverage
• Paid time-off
• Pay-for-Performance
• Discounts on automobile and homeowner's insurance
• Discount fitness memberships
• Flexible spending accounts
• Tuition reimbursement
• Vision care coverage
• Work/Life resources
• Credit Union membership
• Employee and Dependent life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Accidental death & dismemberment insurance
We believe strongly that commercial success can be achieved in a manner consistent with principles and ideals that bind us together as one company, that set us apart from our competitors, and that in the end will allow us to say we have succeeded commercially by doing the right thing the right way.
We believe that the Company's success is inextricably linked to our employees' satisfaction and success: satisfaction that they work for an industry leader committed to improving safety, satisfaction that they work for a company that does the right thing, and satisfaction that the company will reward them for their contributions and provide opportunities for personal growth and success.
We believe our employees take pride in knowing that they help people live safer more secure lives everyday.
Responsibility. What's your policy?
See BTT Gateway Job ID 7681. Application Deadline 12/18


text:
Thomas Carlyle
Born: 4 December 1795 in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
Died: 5 February 1881 in Chelsea, London, England
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Thomas Carlyle is best known as an writer but in fact was also a mathematician. His father, James Carlyle, was a stonemason and his mother, Margaret Aitken, the daughter of a bankrupt Dumfriesshire farmer, was James' second wife. James had married Jannet but she died after the death of their son John in 1791. James and Margaret married in 1794 and Thomas was the eldest of their nine children. Although James and Margaret were intelligent people they were not well educated and Margaret, for example, could read only with difficulty and could not write at the time of her marriage. They were very religious people and they brought up their family to strict Calvinist principles teaching them frugality and discipline. Thomas first learnt basic arithmetic from his father.
Thomas attended the village school at Ecclefechan until he was six years old and then Hoddam parish school until he was ten years old. He was also taught Latin privately by a local minister so he was well prepared for his secondary schooling. However Annan Academy was six miles away and Thomas's mother did not want him to attend the school. His father, however, insisted and on 24 May 1806 he accompanied his ten year old son on the six mile walk to the Academy where Thomas became a boarder during the school week returning home for the weekends. He excelled academically at Annan Academy, showing particular aptitude for mathematics, but his school days proved difficult and unhappy. His mother told him that he must never use physical force even to defend himself and this, rather naturally given the conditions in the school, meant that he was badly bullied. Eventually he went against his mother and fought back, which certainly made his life more bearable. His teachers provided efficient but uninspiring education which was aimed at making pupils ready to enter university by the age of fourteen. In addition to mathematics, his best subject, he had also enjoyed studying modern languages at school. Almost certainly he had learnt more from studying books on his own than he had from the somewhat second rate teachers.
Carlyle entered the Edinburgh University in November 1809 where his parents expected him to train to enter the ministry. The university was eighty miles from Ecclefechan and Carlyle said goodbye to his parents on the edge of his home town then walked the eighty miles during the following three days. Arriving at Edinburgh University he matriculated and began the four year course leading to an M.A. with the prospect of a further three years after that to train for the Church. As all students did, he studied a general course not specialising in any particular topic although he showed particular promise in mathematics. In his first year he was somewhat withdrawn as he had been at school but by his second year he had become more confident, and was making friends with his fellow students. He was described by a fellow student while in his second year as:-
... distinguished ... by the same peculiarities that still mark his character - sarcasm, irony, extravagant sentiment, and a strong tendency to undervalue others, combined however with great kindness of heart and great simplicity of manner.He was, however, inspired by the mathematics teaching of Leslie but one would have to say that his opinions of most of his other lecturers was poor to say the least.
In November 1813 he completed his M.A. course but, like many students at this time, chose not to graduate. He enrolled in Divinity Hall of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh for his divinity training, but as his parents could not afford to have him study full time for three years, he chose the option of one year of full time study followed by six years part-time study during which he had to return to Edinburgh and preach a trial sermon once a year for each of the six years. Carlyle completed the one year of full time study but did not enjoy it. During this year he maintained his mathematics interest by publishing articles in newspapers and greatly enjoyed entering into controversial intellectual discussions. He left Edinburgh in June 1814 and returned to Annandale. With a strong recommendation from Leslie, he was appointed as a mathematics teacher at Annan Academy [3]:-
From the start Carlyle anticipated that he would dislike teaching. Moreover, he had to face the irony that Annan Academy was where he had been unhappy for most of his schooldays.In 1816 he moved to another school, again as a mathematics teacher, this time in Kirkcaldy. At least this had the advantage he could get easily to Edinburgh by taking a ferry ride across the Forth. His life was made harder since around this time his mother had a severe mental illness. He continued to study mathematics on his own and in 1816 he tried to read Newton's Principia but finding this difficult he read Delambre's Abrégé d'astronomie then returning to the Principia with more success. He continued his part-time divinity training and returned to Edinburgh to give a trial sermon on the text "Before I was afflicted I went astray". In 1817 he tried to understand the Continental approach to the calculus by reading Wallace's article Fluxions which was published in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia in 1815 and used Leibniz's differential notation. Again he found it difficult and, discovering his mathematical limitations, he began to lose his enthusiasm for the subject. He wrote to a friend in November 1817 [11]:-
[Geometrical problem solving] depends very much upon a certain slight of hand, that can be acquired without great difficulty by frequent practice - I am not so sure as I used to be that it is the best way of employing one's self - without doubt it concentrates our mathematical ideas and exercises the head; but little knowledge is gained in the process.Unhappy with teaching, Carlyle resigned from his post in Kirkcaldy in 1818, and returned to Edinburgh University. Leslie, seeing that despite being a very competent mathematician, he would never excel at research, advised him to use his mathematical skills by studying engineering and then suggested that he should go to the United States. Carlyle chose not to follow Leslie's advice but, despite making a little money as a mathematics tutor, he was in severe financial difficulties. He made an attempt to study law taking some classes in 1819 but soon discovered that this was not to his liking. He spent three unhappy years in Edinburgh, eventually deciding that he would change direction again. He began a serious study of German and he turned to history and literature for which he is famed. In mathematics Carlyle is famed for his English translation of Legendre's Eléments de géométrie which David Brewster commissioned him to undertake for £50 in 1821. This translation, which first appeared in 1824, ran to 33 editions.
Carlyle held a number of posts as a tutor after leaving Edinburgh University, having no fixed base. In 1821 he met Jane Baillie Welsh whose father John Welsh had been a respected Haddington doctor but had just died of typhoid. Jane was nineteen years old at the time and her mother Grace Welsh was finding things very difficult. Carlyle was soon sending Jane letters showing his affection, but she found it hard to imagine that she might ever marry. However she wrote to Carlyle, going against her mother's wishes in doing so [3]:-
Despite Jane's warning that he would repent of it, Carlyle went to Haddington the first weekend in February 1822. The visit was a painful disaster: both mother and daughter resented the brash appearance of a young man who did not qualify as a suitor and who was too assertive to be welcomed as a friend.Despite little encouragement, Carlyle persisted in his attempts to win Jane over. She worried, however, that she did not love him and she also worried that if they married she would have a much lower standard of living. Carlyle lived for a year at a small isolated farm called Hoddam Hill near the town of his birth. Then, after Jane's mother rented a home on the outskirts of Edinburgh for the couple to live in once they were married, the marriage took place on 17 October 1826.
Several important events happened in the years between Carlyle meeting his future wife and their marriage. One was that, despite his very religious upbringing, he turned away Christianity and became an atheist. He began to write and his first work The Life of Schiller was published in the London Magazine (1823-24), then soon after his translation of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister appears in the same publication in 1824. He had also made a short trip to London in 1824 where he met a number of the leading literary figures at dinners and arranged visits. It was perhaps ironical that the type of mathematics position which would certainly have interested him a few years earlier now came up. He was told that if he applied for the position of Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in Surrey he was certain of being appointed. However, he felt that his literary career was taking off and that it would be damaged by his holding such a post; he chose not to apply.
In the spring of 1827 Carlyle and his wife began to consider living at Craigenputtoch, a small farm about 20 miles from Dumfries which Jane had inherited from her father. Carlyle still fancied a university post, however, and in May 1827 he wrote an application letter (see [12]):-
I have more than once meditated inquiring of you about that "London university" of yours. I learn from the newspapers that the people have advertised for professors. ... to myself it seems that some moral philosophy or rhetoric professorship there would be no such unhansome appointment. I can teach mathematics also, and physics ... and touches of metaphysics. But the fittest place for me would be that "Jack of all trades" in case they wanted such a hand.Perhaps not surprisingly this rather strange letter of application did not lead anywhere. It is interesting, however, that even at this stage, Carlyle was still interested in teaching mathematics. Carlyle also applied unsuccessfully for the chair of moral philosophy at St Andrews University, and he even applied for the chair of astronomy at Edinburgh University in 1834.
Carlyle and his wife spent six years living at Craigenputtock, from 1828 until 1834, after which he went to set up home in London. His first major work was the philosophical play Sartor Resartus. He had completed it in 1831 but despite spending several months in London attempting to find a published he failed. He did however publish Characteristics in the Edinburgh Review in 1831. After he moved to London in 1834 he wrote the three volume historical work The French Revolution which brought him both popular and academic fame after its publication in 1837. However writing the work proved very dramatic. After completing the manuscript of the first volume he gave it to his friend John Stuart Mill to read. Somehow the manuscript was mistaken for waste paper and used to kindle of fire. Carlyle had to rewrite the whole volume from memory. He also had Sartor Resartus published in 1838. As well as his historical works Carlyle wrote Chartism (1840) which opposes conventional economic theory.
These works had achieved fame for Carlyle who now received invitations to lecture which solved his financial problems. He gave a series of lectures beginning in May 1837 on the German influence on Britain, and another series in the following year on European literature. Further lectures series were given in 1839 and 1840. His later historical works include The Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell (1845), and the six volume work The History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great (1858-1865).
Carlyle became rector of Edinburgh University in 1865 after Gladstone retired from the office. He had been elected by the students in a contest with Disraeli. His installation address On the Choice of Books (1866) was published and its tone of high moral exhortation made it very successful. In fact Carlyle was still at the University following his address when news reached him that his wife had died in London on 21 April.
A O J Cockshut, writing in [1], describes Carlyle in these words:-
Though incapable of lying, Carlyle was completely unreliable as an observer, since he invariably saw what he had decided in advance that he ought to see. ... Carlyle was never able to respect ordinary men ... His fierceness of spirit was composed of two elements, a serious Calvinistic desire to denounce evil and a habitual nervous ill temper, for which he often reproached himself but which he never managed to defeat.Froude, who was a personal friend, sums Carlyle's character up in [6]:-
He was fierce and uncompromising. To those who saw but the outside of him he appeared scornful, imperious and arrogant. He was stern in his judgment of others ... insincerity ... he could never pardon ... He would not condescend to the conventional politenesses ... He called things by their right names, and in a dialect edged with sarcasm ... His temper had been ungovernable from his childhood; he had the irritability of a dyspeptic man of genius ... he who preached so wisely on 'doing the duty which lay nearest to us', forgot his own instructions ... He was always sad: often gloomy in the extreme.
Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson
List of References (13 books/articles)
Some Quotations (13)
A Poster of Thomas Carlyle
Mathematicians born in the same country
Additional Material in MacTutor
- Obituary: The Times
- Multiple entries in The Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles
(Click the link below for those honoured in this way)
|Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Other Web sites
- Dictionary of National Biography
- Encyclopaedia Britannica


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The exaggerated "death of text"
How much is already free?
It's time to put to bed the idea that SMS costs millions per Gigabyte – a game I have played in the past, along with many others – now that every major mobile carrier in Australia has plans with text allowances stretching all the way up to "unlimited".
This week has seen a burst of stories proclaiming the death of SMS – in Australia, volumes only grew by five percent last year – in the face of various free messaging applications available for iOS and Android users.
Prep the intensive care unit and fetch the defibrillator, nurse! SMS is nearly dead! The LA Times says so, the Sydney Morning Herald says so, even The Economist says so.
Each and every outlet attributes the slow growth to the emergence of applications that have only existed for a relatively short time – and that's where they miss-step, because in Australia at least, text growth has been flattening for some years.
(My comments below are specific to Australia. I don't know the details of mobile plans for other countries; if Australia is somehow different to the US or the UK, then my comments won't apply.)
The chart accompanying this story shows Telstra SMS growth since the 2004-2005 financial year. I have picked on Telstra not because it's the largest carrier in the country, but because it publishes the best data; a reckoning of Optus and Vodafone/Hutchison SMS volumes would involve too much guesswork.
The peak happened in 2007 – even before Aussies first started fondling iPhones.
I'd guess the curve relates to the evolution of bundles. Carriers decided that SMS was more valuable as a plan differentiator than as a revenue stream in its own right, and as they ramped up the number of free SMSs included with the plans, customers started sending more messages.
In that interpretation – which I don't pretend is the whole story, just a working hypothesis – the slowing growth reflects customers approaching a new equilibrium in which SMS usage is constrained not by the old "25 cents per message" paradigm, but by how many messages they want to send.
What of the notion that slower SMS growth is a financial disaster for the carriers?
While not everybody is buying "infinite text within Australia" plans, it's hard to buy a mobile plan that doesn't have some amount of free SMS as an inclusion. A significant proportion of the texts sent over Australian networks now – pick a figure that suits you – is already free, not the 25 cents you only pay after you reach your bundle allowance.
Driven by competitive pressure, Australia's mobile carriers are already rebalancing their revenue away from an over-reliance on "billable events" (like calls and text; calls within Australia also figure heavily among free inclusions) into a simpler annuity revenue.
What kind of user figures most heavily in the "unlimited text" type of plan? That needs no heavy deliberation: someone who sends lots of text messages will gravitate to plans that give them no nasty surprises.
Having those users switch their habits from SMS to a free messaging app on iOS or Android involves no pain for the carrier whatever: they stop using one free service and start using another. The revenue impact is zero – except where the app replaces an expensive international SMS (it's just as likely that people sending international messages on an app are sending messages that they wouldn't have bothered with on SMS).
Meanwhile, the kind of user that still pays to text probably isn't the iPhone or Android customer. People who buy advanced devices and go on the app-hunt don't sound like the unsophisticated punter who buys a phone with minimal smarts on the cheapest plan available.
In assessing flattening text growth as a financial crisis for carriers, analysts and reporters are embedding a third assumption, perhaps their most profound mistake. They are treating carriers as passive players who cannot and will not act to protect their revenues and maintain their margins.
I've seen "death of carrier" articles for at least 15 years now; always, analysts fastened onto a new technology that attacked one revenue stream or another as proof that carriers would not and could not respond. Each time, at least in Australia, the businesses have responded. Sometimes it's taken a shock to draw a response; at other times, the carriers spotted the trend before the rest of us and were prepared; at still other times, the carriers themselves were in the driver's seat, creating the new product and engineering their customers towards it. ®
Sponsored: Detecting cyber attacks as a small to medium business


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1Xtra listeners show off their tattoos.
rip dad tattoo designs. Kelly Osbourne has decided to get some of her
rip dad tattoos ( unique rip dad tattoo? We got it!
Q: Do you guys have any cool tattoos?
puzzle piece tattoo. another one of my earliest tattoos, done for a friend
In Loving Memory Tattoo Sean Ohara - In Memory. Tattoos


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Gunmen attack Libyan posts in Benghazi
By NANCY A. YOUSSEF | McClatchy Foreign Staff | Published: June 15, 2013
BENGHAZI, Libya — Gunman attacked the Benghazi's Special Forces headquarters and other security buildings in this increasingly restive Libyan city Saturday in what some residents suspected was a retaliatory response to an assault a week ago that killed 32 and shut down the nation's largest militia.
The latest attack fueled concerns of a further deteriorating security situation in this already volatile city, Libya's second-largest. The interim head of the Libyan army, Salem al-Konidi, warned of a potential "bloodbath" that could emerge here.
The attacks began around 3 a.m. local time when gunfire could be heard outside places such as the nation's Army Special Forces headquarters. The mob then moved to a police building and at least three other security outposts, before fighting ended around 6 a.m. According to estimates by one Special Forces official, five soldiers and four gunmen were killed and another four people were injured.
Suspicion fell on members of the Libyan Shields, a militia group set up and funded by the government to buttress the nation's nascent government forces.
A spokesman for the Shields, Ahmad al Jaziwi, told McClatchy his forces were not involved. "The Army got involved in a fight with civilians," al Jaziwi said.
By morning, army troops riding camouflaged pickup trucks with machine guns affixed to them could be seen patrolling the streets of the city, the birth place of the 2011 revolution that led to the ousting and public killing of the nation's former leader, Moammar Gadhafi.
Since Gadhafi's fall, this once beatnik city has increasingly become Islamist, secured by heavily armed forces aligned with them that at times hold the city hostage to demands for a more conservative Libya, often by kidnapping opponents. They man checkpoints, for example, to tell drivers they should not consume alcohol.
Islamist attackers also are suspected in the Sept. 11 attack here that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, along with three other Americans. No one has yet been charged in that attack.
A week ago, residents staged a protest outside the Libyan Shield headquarters to speak out against their control over the city here. But that quickly turned into a firefight between the armed militiamen inside and the Army forces that responded to the hours-long attack.
Civilian and army forces then stormed the Libyan Shield headquarters, taking their ammunition, destroying their military vehicles and burning the multi-building complex. At least 32 people were killed. The city had just finished burying the dead when Saturday's attack began.
In Tripoli earlier in the week, the head of the Army, Youssef al-Mangoush, who supported the militias, was forced to resign. The government said that the Libyan Shields would be disbanded and incorporated into the official Army by the end of the year.
Up until Saturday's attack, military officials said they would welcome qualified former Shield members into their forces. But the latest attack, in which at least one outpost was burned, may have changed that. "It is a mistake by the Libyan government to pay them," Army Col. Hamad bin Khais, head of the 1st Brigade in charge of Benghazi, told McClatchy just two days before Saturday's attack. "But we will welcome them, if not as police, then as a soldier in one of the ministries."
It appeared the city would endure further instability as the militias and the government forces fight for control of the city. Saturday's attack, near the city's airport, delayed flights for three hours and created a tense atmosphere as residents stood around the Special Forces headquarters assessing the damage.
In Tripoli, al-Konidi said that if government forces are targeted, "there could be a catastrophe for Benghazi."
Special correspondent Dawood Idrees contributed from Benghazi.


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An animal rights organization is urging McDonald's Canada to take a firm stand against what it calls "shocking animal cruelty" captured on a graphic video it says was taken at two Alberta farms.
McDonald's, for its part, says it gets no eggs from those farms.
The hidden-camera video filmed by Mercy for Animals Canada aired on the CTV show W5 last week. It shows hens crowded in battery cages, and chicks being violently smashed by workers and thrown into garbage bags.
"They're so crammed inside those cages they can't spread their wings, they can't walk, they can't turn around, they can't engage in any of their natural behaviour," said Stephane Perrais, director of operations with Mercy For Animals Canada.
"They spend one year of their miserable life in there, basically producing eggs and after that time period, they're considered spent by the industry because their productivity is declined, and then they're slaughtered."
Group's secret probe shows how pork gets on our plates
The group says the footage was taken by an undercover investigator who was hired as a farmworker by Ku-Ku Farms and Creekside Grove Farms for 10 weeks in May.
The video also shows dead hens rotting in the cages, and chicks being covered in feces.
Mercy For Animals Canada says Creekside Grove Farms provides chicks to Ku-Ku Farms near Edmonton. Ku-Ku then supplies eggs to Ontario-based Burnbrae Farms, the primary egg supplier to McDonald's Canada.
McDonald's, however, says while it does get eggs from Burnbrae along with many other Canadian companies, it says its eggs do not come from the farms referenced in the W5 story and that "we source no eggs from the province of Alberta."
Photos on the Mercy For Animals Canada website indicate eggs in trays with packing labels that show the eggs come from Ku-Ku Farms and are destined for Burnbrae Farms.
While Perrais said the provocative video does not address the quality of the eggs or food safety, his organization is calling for McDonald's to ban its egg suppliers from using hens that are confined in battery cages, which are barely bigger than the hens and prevent them from freely moving about.
A statement said McDonald's said it does not condone animal abuse by its suppliers.
"We care about the humane treatment of animals and believe they should be free from cruelty, abuse and neglect," said spokeswoman Karin Campbell in the written statement emailed to The Canadian Press.
"Abuse is never tolerated in our supply chain and McDonald's has strict policies in place concerning the treatment of animals that our suppliers must adhere to at all times. We also work with our suppliers and outside experts to continuously improve our standards and practices, both within McDonald's and across the industry."
Egg Farmers of Canada, a non-profit organization that inspects egg producers across the country, said it has watched the W5 segment, and that what was aired was an "aberration" from normal practices.
"What we did see, and what I was exposed to on W5, was certainly very alarming and disappointing to me as an egg producer," said chairman Peter Clarke in a phone interview.
"I can tell you categorically that that activity that was shown in that video in regards to such things as how birds were being handled, how chicks were being disposed of . . . is something that does not go on in egg farms across this country."
Clarke said Egg Farmers of Canada inspects farms regularly to make sure producers are adhering to the industry's code of practice, but the inspections don't "necessarily ever prevent something as graphic and as disappointing as this taking place."
Egg Farmers of Canada is investigating Mercy for Animal Canada's video to make sure it is authentic, Clarke said.
It has also launched an investigation of the two Alberta farms, and has contacted a U.S. agency called the Centre of Food Integrity to recommend any potential action.
"What you see in that video is an aberration from our normal practices," said Egg Farmers of Canada CEO Tim Lambert.
"It's not acceptable to our industry and to our farmers, and if there are things on there that are authenticated as we do our investigation, they will be corrected."
The owner of Ku-Ku Farms and Creekside Grove Farms had refused an interview with W5.
Neither he nor anyone with Burnbrae Farms immediately responded to phone calls and emails from The Canadian Press.
The animal rights group is planning to hold news conferences on Monday at Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.


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A few weeks ago I remarked upon the current popularity of the words 'curate' and 'curation' as a new form of marketing lingo, following a story in The New York Times on that subject. Today I ran across this very good bit of commentary within a post at things magazine on "The Death of the Object" as it applies to a type of emerging blog genre that's driven by particular cults of personal taste. The specific websites they're referring to relate largely to fashion, but the larger idea, I think, makes just as much sense when considered in terms of how objects of art and culture are consumed on the internet today. Read Things Magazine's full post here, an excerpt is below (bolded text is my own emphasis).
"…a recognisable genre of weblogs has emerged (see this question: Is there a name or term for the aesthetic these blogs contain?), the seemingly random streams of 'good work', quirky images, striking photography, cool objects, strange concepts, old scans, etc. etc. etc. We can drift though these – and we do – yet we shouldn't kid ourselves that we are flaneuring our way to anything but a highly selected cultural overview. This genre of presentation is both persuasive and pervasive, the digital equivalent of Wired's 'Fetish' pages (which have obviously a far more natural existence on screen than on paper). Take the AJ's new Notebook site, wherein 'inspiration' is 'curated', an explicit acknowledgement of the dominance of image-driven culture.
These visual essays, together with animated stings and very short films, have become the primary modes of communication; objects are strung together rather than taken in isolation. There is no space for contemplation, just clicking, scrolling and flicking. This leaves the solitary object somewhat adrift, only embodying meaning when it is juxtaposed or collated or slotted into a larger collection. Although a glance at any tumblr or curated weblog might suggest otherwise, the 'thing' is in danger of imminent extinction.
Claudine Isé
Latest posts by Claudine Isé (see all)
- Michelle Grabner, Anthony Elms, Stuart Comer Named Curators of 2014 Whitney Biennial - November 29, 2012
- New Fielding Practice Podcast on the Art21 Blog! Episode 16: Summer Review-O-Rama! - July 19, 2012
- Tom Sanford is a Busy Man…Here's Why - June 12, 2012


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"Wow, that centerpiece looks good enough to be in a magazine. I wish I could put together something half that beautiful. I usually just plop some hydrangeas in a vase – pretty, but totally unimaginative." That's what I said to my friend and talented designer, Trace, last spring. It was late February, when buds are swollen on bare branches and hyacinth flowers are only a promise, and I loved how the centerpiece celebrated that feeling of anticipation. Trace replied, "Thanks. It's not that hard; I could teach you." Thus began my yearlong training, learning how to create impressive centerpieces and tablescapes for every season.
My first lesson began immediately as Trace discussed this spring-themed centerpiece. "I got the idea when I saw those spectacular lichen- and moss-encrusted logs on the side of the road. The different heights add a sense of movement and excitement to the centerpiece. Place the items casually, as you would see them outside, and continue the outdoor theme by using rustic place mats and simple napkins and dishes." Most of the items came from outside his door. The hyacinth bulbs and the peat pots were the only purchased items for a total cost of just $10. The first version of this centerpiece included old bird nests collected from a fencerow, but when a bunch of baby spiders started crawling out, the nests were quickly replaced with twine balls.
Spring Centerpiece
Recreate your own: Start by arranging interesting logs cut to various lengths. Add young bulbs and peat pots full of spring blossoms. Trace used hyacinth bulbs and Bradford pear flowers, but daffodils and cherry would work equally well. Use what you have. Tuck small branches, pinecones and moss along the edges.
In mid-May, Trace fashioned this stunning centerpiece using flowers cut from my garden. He gave me some pointers while he worked. "Look at what you group together in the garden. If they complement each other there, they'll look good in a vase. And play with the form of your vase; here I chose an antique cement urn to contrast with the relaxed arrangement of the flowers. I also like how it looks on this concrete table. You can't go wrong when you match materials; wood on wood, glass on glass … it always works."
Early summer arrangement
Recreate your own: Soak floral foam in water overnight and center it in the container. Casually arrange branches of native mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia). Cut the lavender blooms of false indigo (Baptisia spp.) slightly longer and add them to the bouquet.
This centerpiece was amazing, and the pictures do not do it justice. However, when I try this on my own, I'll do it on a much smaller scale, because it was the most time-consuming project of the year. Trace wanted to mimic a country roadside in the fall when the wildflowers make you want to pull the car over and take a walk. We each spent several hours cutting long stems of goldenrod (Solidago spp.), Liatris and asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae); then Trace spent another hour adjusting the lengths and arranging.
Fall wildflower centerpiece
Recreate your own: Laws and ordinances regarding picking roadside flowers vary from state to state, and we're not suggesting illegal activity, but if you live in an area that allows it, cut what you see. Be a good gardener, however, and don't weaken a plant by over-cutting. Use an informal container such as this dough bowl, which is lined with plastic wrap and aluminum foil to protect it from the floral foam. Cover the foam with the shortest plants, the asters and grasses, and then add the longer stems of liatris and goldenrod. The trick is to use the same color combinations and height variations, and ideally the same plants that you would see on a ride in the country.
By fall, I knew a lot more about centerpieces, and Trace thought it was time I learned how a centerpiece for a dinner party differs from other centerpieces. He charged tuition for this class – a big pot of chili. "It's important to keep the arrangement low. There's nothing worse than having to play peek-a-boo around a tall centerpiece when you want to talk to someone across the table. Keep it narrow so guests don't feel crowded, and make sure the food is the only fragrant thing on the table. Don't let anything compete with the centerpiece; it needs to look good with everything else on the table: the dishes, the napkins, the china, the linens … everything." He used four different, yet similar, china patterns, and when he ran out of placemats, he fashioned his own using grapevine left over from the centerpiece. It was a relaxed gathering and the centerpiece matched the mood.
Fall formal centerpiece
Recreate your own: A crowd of pumpkins with unique textures and colors serves as the backbone of this centerpiece. Varieties such as 'Rouge Vif d'Etampes', 'Galeuse d'Eysines', the bluish gray 'Jarrahdale', or 'Musquee de Provence' are good candidates. Or use interesting squash such as 'Fairy', 'Sweet Dumpling', 'Turban' or 'Potimarron'. Wind dried grapevines around the pumpkins; add red berries, groundsel tree flowers (Baccharis halimifolia) and Eleagnus foliage.
For this, the easiest of the centerpieces, Trace combined logs and branches into a minimalist piece of art, and then transitioned it for Christmas with a few simple additions. He says, "This is the most versatile of the arrangements we've done. An attention-grabber inside or out, I use arrangements like this by an entryway or as a fireplace accent."
Arrangement for winter into holidays
Recreate your own: Hunt for interesting logs and branches then arrange them to suit the space. Absolutely anything, from a large glass vase to an old galvanized bucket, works as a container. Alternatively, you can skip the container completely and just tie the bundle with a natural twine or a strip of burlap.
At Christmas, the everything-must-work-together rule was expanded from just the tabletop to all the decorations. Repeated elements tie things together, but too much repetition is boring. Trace knows how to walk the fine line between the two. He started with a large Noble fir tree where glass ornaments mingle with more natural elements. I recognized the large twine balls from February's centerpiece. They looked great on the tree, as did the grapevine from the fall centerpiece.
Magnolia leaves and Noble fir branches cut from the bottom of the tree are components of most of Trace's decorations, but to varying degrees. The three outdoor centerpieces used Noble fir, Loropetalum and cedar, but they were mostly magnolia.
Christmas centerpieces
On the dining room table, it was just the opposite, mainly Noble fir with a bit of magnolia mixed in. And whereas outside, the foliage took center stage, naturally shed antlers were the unique focal point in the dining room centerpiece. My favorite Christmas decoration was the little fir tree topped with dried blooms of Hydrangea paniculata. Did you notice those peat pots tucked in the branches? They're left over from the February centerpiece.
We asked our editor for an extension under the pretense that a New Year's Eve centerpiece would be a great way to end the article. Actually, we just wanted an excuse for another party. It was a small gathering of good friends, and Trace's centerpiece was bright and shiny to celebrate the New Year, and yet relaxed and simple to match the mood. I thought the lesson here might be that sometimes it's OK to break the rules and use an even number of objects, but when I asked Trace about it, he replied, "Well, actually I spray painted five bottles. The last one was drying on the porch when I jumped in the shower. Then I got busy and totally forgot about it." So the real lessons are start early and don't worry if things aren't perfect.
New Year's Eve centerpiece
Recreate your own: Look outside for interesting twigs, branches, roots or other items, and spray paint them metallic silver. If you don't have mercury glass votives and vases, do what Trace did and make your own. Work outside if possible; you don't want that smell lingering when guests arrive. Collect glass items and spray the interiors with mirror paint. While they are still wet, squirt with water and either dry upside down or lightly wipe. Use the same technique for the outside of the wine bottles. Arrange small bouquets of white roses and tulips in your hand, re-cut the stems and add the twigs. Create a dense arrangement by grouping things tightly.
I'm sad that my year of training with the master is over. Researching an article has never been so much fun. Hmmm … maybe next year Trace can teach me something else.
Trace's Tips:
• Repeating elements from your centerpiece, create small, coordinating arrangements in bathrooms or tucked into bookshelves.
• Let fallen petals lie.
• Don't skimp when you are cutting. It usually takes more than you think.
• Press beautiful leaves and use a paint pen to make unique place cards.
• Tie fresh rosemary around napkins to serve as a natural napkin ring.
• Just as you should always plant in odd numbers – 3, 5, 7 – always use odd numbers of elements.
A version of this article appeared in a March 2014 print edition of State-by-State Gardening.
Photography by Peggy Hill and Monica Hill.


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Phillies' bullpen slammed in loss to Braves
PHILADELPHIA -- Manager Ryne Sandberg had informed Jake Diekman on Monday afternoon that he would serve as closer if the situation presented itself that night against the Braves.
It would be his first chance to close in his brief career, but it would not be his finest moment.
After the Phillies went into the bottom of the eighth inning with a four-run deficit, they used a dramatic five-run rally to take an improbable one-run lead. That's when Diekman entered with an opportunity to pick up his first save with closer Jonathan Papelbon unavailable after pitching each of the previous three games. But the hard-throwing left-hander loaded the bases before allowing a grand slam to Braves second baseman Dan Uggla in a tough 9-6 loss.
"You watched it, right?" Diekman said of the hanging 0-1 slider to Uggla. "That's pretty much it, right?"
"You hope he doesn't throw a strike or he leaves something up," said Uggla, whose last grand slam came on June 11, 2008, against Phillies reliever Tom Gordon. "He has such great stuff. He throws so hard, you go up and try to get your foot down and get the barrel on it. It was a slider. He threw a fastball first pitch, and I thought, 'This is going to be difficult.' Luckily, I got enough of it."
The bullpen pitched nicely over this past weekend in a three-game sweep of the Marlins, allowing seven hits, three runs, three walks and striking out 11 in 12 2/3 innings to help the Phillies improve to 6-6. But two hard innings late on Monday increased the bullpen ERA from 4.35 to 5.53.
Even so, "We've had some good bullpen work," Sandberg insisted.
The Phillies entered the eighth inning down, 2-1, with the scoring coming on Ryan Howard's solo home run off Braves right-hander Ervin Santana in the second inning and Evan Gattis' two-run homer off right-hander Roberto Hernandez in the sixth.
But reliever B.J. Rosenberg allowed three consecutive home runs, to Gattis, Uggla and Andrelton Simmons, to hand the Braves a four-run lead. Those would be the only three hitters Rosenberg would face.
Retrosheet found 44 pitchers since 1950 who allowed home runs to the only two batters they faced in a game, but no pitcher since 1914 had allowed home runs to the only three batters he faced until Rosenberg.
"Rosenberg struggled," said Sandberg, who said before the game that he'd wanted to avoid using him after pitching him the past two days. "He said he felt fine. He was throwing 94, 95 [mph]. He was just behind in the count with fastballs, and his breaking ball seemed to be up in the zone."
But the Phillies scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth against left-hander Luis Avilan to take a one-run lead.
Tony Gwynn Jr. walked to start the inning, and Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley followed with singles to load the bases. Howard struck out swinging for the first out, but Marlon Byrd then laced a single to right field to score Gwynn and Rollins to make it 5-3.
Domonic Brown then ripped a three-run homer to right field to hand the Phillies the lead. It was Brown's first home run since Aug. 14, snapping a streak of 154 plate appearances without one.
Talk about a dramatic turn.
"For a fan it's got to be a great game to watch, entertainment-wise," Byrd said. "It [stinks] for us. We came out on the losing end, but that was a [great] game."
Diekman walked B.J. Upton on four pitches to start the ninth. Freddie Freeman then hit a ball to Utley, but Utley's flip to second base arrived late. After Diekman walked Justin Upton to load the bases, he struck out Gattis on three pitches to set up a potential inning-ending double play, but Uggla didn't cooperate.
"I felt good," Diekman said. "I just wasn't throwing strikes and attacking the zone. You can't walk people like that."
It would not have been a surprise if emotions got the best of Diekman in that situation.
"Maybe a little," he said, "but you can't start off hitters 2-0 every time."
The loss dropped the Phillies to 6-7 with three more games against the Braves before they hit the road for a 10-game trip through Colorado, Los Angeles and Arizona. They would like to leave with at least an 8-8 mark.
They had a great chance to leave with a better record than that with a victory on Monday.
"It's hard to say, because we didn't win it," said Byrd, asked about the possible momentum a victory could have created. "You can't really speculate on that. We've got to figure out a way to bounce back and make sure this doesn't snowball and turn into something bad."


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Iwakuma leads Mariners to fourth straight win
Zunino's 18th homer helps righty top White Sox sans best stuff
SEATTLE -- Hisashi Iwakuma didn't have his normally devastating splitter or command of his offspeed pitches on Friday night.
But it says much about Iwakuma's excellence that the Japanese standout was able to hurl the Mariners to a 4-1 victory over the White Sox though he wasn't at his best in a seven-inning outing at Safeco Field.
Combined with an awakening offense, that was enough to help Seattle to its fourth straight win as the Mariners kept pace in the wide-open American League Wild Card race.
"He certainly knows how to pitch when he doesn't have his best stuff," said manager Lloyd McClendon. "That's how good he is. I think sometimes we take him for granted, but to be a successful pitcher in this game there are going to be times like that where you have to know how to pitch and he knows how to do that."
Iwakuma improved to 10-6 with a 2.86 ERA as he allowed one run on five hits over seven innings, joining Felix Hernandez (12-3) and Chris Young (10-6) as Mariners pitchers with double-digit victories. Those three have the lowest ERA for a starting trio in the American League at 2.64.
Seattle dropped a 1-0 decision in Baltimore in Iwakuma's previous start, losing a game in which the only run came on a leadoff home run. Since then, they've won four in a row at Safeco Field, improving their overall record to 61-54 and their home mark to 30-31.
Catcher Mike Zunino supplied the offensive oomph with a three-run homer for the Mariners, who have outscored their opponents 28-9 in the last four days.
"To be honest, I was fighting tooth and nail," Iwakuma said through translator Antony Suzuki. "I gave up the lead first and that wasn't good, but I was making sure I kept the team in the ballgame and I was very happy for that three-run home run and then the other run."
Iwakuma surrendered one hit in each of the first five frames, but the only one that hurt him was a first-pitch home run to right fielder Dayan Viciedo with two out in the fourth. It was Viciedo's second opposite-field blast in two days and raised his homer total to 16, with three of those coming in five games against Seattle.
But Zunino more than answered with his own opposite-field shot in the fifth, a three-run rip that moved the 23-year-old catcher back into the team lead with 18 homers. Zunino is tied with Cincinnati's Devin Mesoraco for the most homers by a catcher in the Major Leagues this year and is one shy of Seattle's club record set by Miguel Olivo in 2011.
"That's where I really want to drive the ball when I'm feeling good," Zunino said. "That's where it's directed. I was able to get a good fastball on a 2-0 count and barreled it up. When I'm going well, that right field to right-center is a good comfort blanket for me. It takes a while to trust yourself to let that ball travel and get deep, but hopefully I'm on the right path."
The Mariners' offense seems to be on a better path as a whole as Seattle improved to 8-4 over its last 12 games and is averaging 6.1 runs per game in the eight victories.
"Guys are feeling pretty good," said Zunino. "When everyone is piecing together good at-bats and working hard and meshing like we are now, we're trying to score some runs because we know if we score a few, we've got a good chance with our pitching staff and bullpen."
Designated hitter Kendrys Morales made it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly later that inning as Seattle took advantage of a dropped pop fly by third baseman Conor Gillaspie to score two unearned runs in the four-run frame.
Rookie Chris Taylor went 3-for-4 and now has hits in his first 10 starts at shortstop while batting .395 (15-for-38), Robinson Cano upped his hitting streak to 10 games with a seventh-inning single and Logan Morrison extended his own streak to nine games with a 2-for-4 night.
Cano was 1-for-3 with a walk and is hitting .335, tied with Houston's Jose Altuve for the AL lead, while also adding his career-high ninth stolen base.
The Mariners couldn't get much going early against White Sox southpaw Jose Quintana, who hadn't lost in his previous nine starts and allowed just two singles over the first four innings. But a walk by Chris Denorfia, followed by Gillaspie's error set Zunino up for his game-changing blast.
"It's like we're in a funk," said White Sox skipper Robin Ventura. "If anything can go wrong, it's going to go wrong right now. Quintana was pitching great and then a walk, error and homer does him in. It's a combination of us not playing well and they are playing well."
The White Sox had been outscored 63-19 over their last seven games while going 1-6 as they've fallen to 55-62 in the AL Central. The White Sox are 29-10 against the Mariners since 2010, but Seattle leads this season's series, 3-2, with two games remaining this weekend at Safeco.
The Royals won their fifth straight game on Friday to maintain a half-game lead in the race for the final AL Wild Card spot, but the Mariners and Yankees stayed right on their heels by also winning, while Toronto fell 1 1/2 games back.


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'Prominent Progress Citizen Buried Monday;
Was Pioneer Farm Leader'
"Progress. Services for George Howard Alford, 83, prominent Pike county farmer, writer and community leader who died Sunday, were held at 2 p.m. Monday at Progress Baptist church. Mr. Alford died at 2:35 a. m. at St. Dominic Hospital at Jackson following a trip to Mississippi State College where he attended an alumni meeting. He was a veteran farm leader, editor and former Pike representative.
Excelled in Farm Work
He excelled in all these fields, and he was Pike County's first county agent and was the first federal agent of agriculture in the United States. He was a Baptist, deacon and Mason. Mr. Alford was born January 28, 1875, at Progress community in southern Pike county – the eldest of 10 children of J. Dock and Laminda Fortenberry Alford. At the time of his death, he lived within 200 yards of his birth place in Progress. He was graduated from Mississippi State College in 1899 and later was graduated from George Washington University, Washington.
First Pike Agent
With the inauguration of farm demonstration work, Mr. Alford became Pike county's first county agent. He also served as agent in Clairborne and Forrest counties and later was district agent for South Mississippi. He served as state agent in charge of agricultural work in Maryland and also was federal field agent for Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. He also was secretary – manager of the Texas Farm Bureau and superintendent of Magnolia Electric Assn. In the field of farm journalism Mr. Alford was editor of the Southern Farm Gazette, the Progressive Farmer and the Progress Enterprise.
Survivors Listed
In 1902, Mr. Alford married Mayme Simmons, daughter of Dr Willis Fleet and Annie Hall Simmons. They had five children. Survivors of Mr. Alford include two sons, Percy K. Alford, Washington, and George H. Alford Jr., Jackson; three daughters, Miss Ruth Alford, Houston, Tex., Mrs. Clyde E. Day, McComb, and Mrs. Lura W. Alford, Roseville, Calf.; four brothers, Delis C., Washington, Yarbor and Claud, both of Progress, and Dr. T. C. Alford, Mashulaville, Miss. Three sisters, Mrs. J. H. Ellzey, Progress, Mrs. Ethyl A. Byrne, Los Angeles, and Mrs. Effie A. Ball, Columbia; and 11 grandchildren and four great grandchildren. The Rev. Joe Hinton, pastor of Progress Baptist Church, and the Rev. Dr. Wyatt Hunter, pastor of First Baptist Church, McComb, officiated at the service. Masonic gravesite rites were conducted. Burial was in the church cemetery."
From: Magee, Zuma Fendlason. Selected Obituaries from Louisiana (Washington & Tangipahoa Parishes) and from Mississippi (Pike, Walthall & Marion Counties). Volume I. Franklinton, Louisiana: Privately printed, 1976. From Franklinton Library, LA.
1 George Howard Alford b: 28 Jan 1875 Pike, MS, d: 06 Apr 1958 Pike, MS
... + Mayme Indiana Simmons b: 11 Jul 1878 Pike, MS, m: 2 Nov 1902, d: 14 Mar 1949,Pike, MS
......2 Ruth Alford b: Abt. 1904
......2 Mildred Alford b: 03 Aug 1905 Progress,Pike County, MS, d: 17 Apr 1997 Pike, MS
...... + Clyde E. Day
......2 Lura Willet Alford b: 11 Aug 1908
......2 Percy Knapp Alford b: 25 Jun 1911
......2 George Howard Alford b: 1914


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text:
The Ann Arbor Holistic Health specializes in the treatment of infertility. Whether you are just getting started in your fertility journey, or are working with a fertility specialist, we can help increase your likelihood of conception and full term pregnancy.
Acupuncture can be used alone to increase fertility and achieve pregnancy, or used in conjunction with assisted reproductive technologies (ART), or in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF), including gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT), zygote intra-fallopian transfer (ZIFT), micro-manipulation, blastocyst transfer, and cryopreservation.
At Ann Arbor Holistic Health we use the appropriate tools to help understand what is needed to restore the body to health. These tools include: Acupuncture, Enzyme Nutrition, Food Allergy Testing, Saliva Hormone Testing, Natural Hormone Balancing, Herbal Medicine, Nutritional Supplements and Dietary Counseling. Our treatment encompasses Pain Management, Women's Health, Infertility, Gastrointestinal Health, Food Allergies, Migraines, ADD & ADHD, Autoimmune Disorders, Chronic Conditions, and Metabolic Disorders.
Symptoms do not exist separately from the rest of our bodies. They arise when the body has exhausted its reserves and can no longer compensate for the demands of your life. Resolving those symptoms can be simple, often times they are not. Chasing them can prove frustrating. The most important question about your health is: What is stopping your body from healing? A complete approach to wellness will give your entire body what it needs to heal.
Our office offers appropriate therapies to help guide people seeking help towards a comprehensive and holistic strategy to healing. Restoring your body to health will restore the quality of your life. Please call Ann Arbor Holistic Health and start your journey of healing today


text: Ultramarines, the CG Warhammer 40K movie, was supposed to come to Blu-ray and DVD back in 2010. It didn't. But if you've been patiently waiting for your chance to see the Ultima Squad fight the Black Legion Chaos Space Marines — or even if that sentence makes any sense to you — good news, as Anchor Bay has announced they're finally releasing the damn thing on March 5. It will include "over 45 minutes of bonus features including Into The Void: Making of Ultramarines™, Between Chaos & Darkness: The World Of The Space Marines, Creating the Daemon and a cool Ultramarines™ 'prequel animated onscreen graphic novel," so... it's just about Warhammer time, I guess. You can pre-order the movie here. Question: Why hasn't there been a nerdcore rapper named MC Warhammer yet? Seems like a real wasted opportunity to me.


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I have in the past purchased Street fighter 4 AE; I think I used to own a hard copy, but not anymore.
I logged into my Windows Live account on Xbox Live's website and I saw that I had Achievements in the game. Which means that my Windows Live account does have a Street Fighter 4 AE CD key attached to it.
How do I re-download the game if I haven't purchased it from the Windows live site?


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Faith & Tim in London
Since Gwyneth Paltrow is always on my mind, and since she's all over the site today, that was my first thought. That Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are in London and they can visit Gwyneth! Really though, they're in town to perform at the O2. Obviously. But I'm sure, SURE, that if Gwyneth's around, she'll be inviting them over for dinner, with their girls, and eat paella, or whatever brown rice sh-t G's up to cooking that day, and you'll roll your eyes, even though if you were invited you would totally go, don't lie.
HOW did their daughters get so big…?
Unrelated point: I just googled old Faith Hill photos and the first thought that came to mind is that she has the face of what Lance Armstrong looks for in a wife/girlfriend. I wonder now if she was his fantasy mate model.


text:
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Junior Jamie Rees scored Harvard's goal at 46:55 (photo courtesy of Gil Talbot).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Jamie Rees scored a goal in the 47th minute and Austin Harms recorded two saves, but the Harvard men's soccer team suffered a 2-1 loss to Providence at the Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium Wednesday evening.
Harvard (2-3-3) had the first scoring chance in the game, as Richard Smith
sent a long ball into the box and Brian Rogers blasted
a point-blank shot at the Providence goal. Jhojan Obando made
the save for the Friars at 24:27, keeping the game scoreless.
In the 36th minute, Keith Jecewiz gave the Friars a 1-0 lead as he
batted a quick shot toward Harvard goalkeeper Austin Harms.
The ball rolled inside the left post and just past a diving Harms
at 35:12. With only two ticks on the clock remaining in
regulation, Jecewiz crossed the ball from the right and Matt Marcin
one-timed a shot under the crossbar, making it 2-0 in favor of
Providence (5-2-1) heading into halftime.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Rogers had a shot saved by Obando, but Rees collected the rebound from 15 yards out. Rees sent another shot on net, beating Obando, and cutting Harvard's deficit to 2-1 at 46:55.
The Crimson outshot the Friars, 6-4, in the second half, and 18-8 for the game, but could not find the equalizer. Harvard also earned 10 of the 12 corner kicks in the contest. Obando finished the game with five saves for Providence.
Up next, Harvard will open Ivy League play at Ohiri Field against archrival Yale Saturday, Oct. 2 at 1:30 p.m.


text:
How to Use the Images Photo 1
Photo 1
Painted by George Marsden.
Questions for Painting 2
1. Study Painting 2 closely. What time of day is it in this scene?
2. Why might there be a light on in the school? What do the buckboards and buggies next to the school suggest? What might be going on at the school?
3. What activities go on at your school in the evenings or weekends?
* The image on this screen has a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a larger version of Painting 2, but be aware that the file will take as much as 30 seconds to load with a 28.8K modem.


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The Atlantic hurricane season is once again upon us. It's time for preparation… and a little history.
Some of the most famous storms in the annals of hurricane history made landfall in Florida. The Sunshine State is certainly not alone in suffering from tropical weather; Hugo, Gilbert, Katrina, Mitch, and Sandy immediately come to mind.
We remember the devastation from Andrew, Charley, Donna, Jeanne, Francis and many others, but what about the lesser known hurricanes in Florida history? This series of blog posts takes a look back at lesser known hurricanes and other tidbits concerning tropical weather in Florida history.
Today, we look back at Bernard Romans' account of the West Florida Hurricane of 1772.
Between August 30 and September 3, 1772, a powerful hurricane battered West Florida. Bernard Romans—naturalist, cartographer, soldier, and author of A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida (1775)—wrote a vivid account of the storm. At the time the hurricane struck the northern Gulf coast, British Florida stretched from St. Augustine on the Atlantic Ocean, all the way to the Mississippi River near New Orleans. The British administered the colony as two provinces: East and West Florida.
Romans' notes on the 1772 West Florida Hurricane are believed to be the only published account of the storm. Below is an excerpt from A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida, pages 4-5:
"The fatal hurricane of August 30, 31, September 1, 2, 3, anno 1772, was severely felt in West Florida, it destroyed the woods for about 30 miles from the sea coast in a terrible manner… [I]n Pensacola it did little or no mischief except the breaking down of all the wharfs but one; but farther westward, it was terrible… [A]t Mobile every thing was in confusion, vessels, boats, and goods were drove up in to the streets a great distance…all the vegetables were burned up by the salt water…all the lower floors of the houses were covered with water…"
Romans went on to describe the destruction of plantations near New Orleans on the Mississippi River and the hardships faced by residents of the area.
To learn more, see Bernard Romans, A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida… (University of Florida Press, 1962 [1775]).


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Oscar 2012: Lunch With the Stars for Colorado Filmmakers
The Academy's annual Nominees Luncheon feels like the best award-season gathering we the public aren't invited to. That's possibly why it's so cool and genial. According to the Academy, 18 of the 20 acting nominees were set to attend today's fete, which got underway at noon in Los Angeles, and three of the five directors.
Even if we can't partake in the rubber chicken (and honestly, Mad Moviegoer doesn't know what they're serving), we can rubberneck with three local filmmakers. Director-producer Daniel Junge and two of his coproducers — Davis Coombe and Alison Greenberg– of the disturbing short-doc nom "Saving Face" are at the Beverly Hilton as MM types.
With "Saving Face,' Junge and Emmy-winning codirector Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy turn our gaze to Zakia, 39, and Rukhsana, 23, Pakistani women attacked with acid by their husbands. Their stories of disfigurment and painful recovery are infuriating, but also promising: Zakia was the central and brave figure in a landmark case to create new legislation in Pakistan.
Junge found his way into this human rights saga when he heard a BBC radio feature about Dr. Mohammad Jawad and the reconstructive surgery the London plastic surgeon performed on Katie Piper. The model and TV personality was attacked with acid on a London street in 2008. The assault was arranged by an ex-boyfriend.
On March 8, HBO will broadcast "Saving Face." Denver audiences can see a preview of the powerful, 39-minute film during the 2nd Annual Women + Film Voices Film Festival on March 7 at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax.
"It's such a treat to have a premiere screening of 'Saving Face' in the festival," said fest founder Barbara Bridges via email. "We're not only supporting a local filmmaker, we're also showing a terrific film that's up for an Oscar. The film is so well done and tells such an important story that I'm certain it will win." Spoken like a true advocate of social justice film and local filmmaking.
Women + Film Voice Film Festival runs March 6 – 11 at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax, 2510 East Colfax. Go to denverfilm.org for updates.


text:
Milk Chocolate Pretzel CLASSIC RECIPE Bar (4.2 oz)
Creamy, smooth milk chocolate with crunchy pretzel pieces and sea salt crystals.
More details
Nutrition Information
Lindt chocolate embodies the passion and expert craftsmanship of its Lindt Master Swiss Chocolatiers. Lindt delivers a unique chocolate experience offering a distinctly smooth and rich, gourmet taste.
- Flavor: Pretzel
- Chocolate type: Milk Chocolate
- Piece count: 1
- Weight: 4.2 oz (120 g)
- Dimensions (approx, in.): 3.5 x 0.3 x 7.6
- Brand: CLASSIC RECIPE
- Packaging: Wrapper
- Country: US
- Gluten free: unspecified
- Kosher: unspecified


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Impostora July 4 2017
SHOW DESCRIPTION: Impostora tells the story of Nimfa (Kris Bernal), an ugly street vendor who willingly undergoes surgery and complete facial reconstruction to pretend to be Rosette (Kris Bernal), a wealthy and beautiful but unhappily married wife seeking to escape her husband Homer (Rafael Rosell). Homer and their kids learned to love the new Rosette and prefer her over the old one, not knowing that she is an entirely different person. Nimfa has also embraced her new life as a wife and mother. Problems will arise when the real Rosette returns to reclaim her family from her impostor.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5


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