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Dodge Hodge Podge/'65 Mustang - Part 1
Season 3 • Episode 4
Richard and Aaron pick up a 64 Dodge Sweptline that's a mishmash of parts. A 32 Ford Roadster Richard forgot he bought rolls in, but it's up to Christie to seal the deal with the prospective buyer. KC hits the road with Richard to buy a 65 Mustang.
43 min|TV-14|Premiered 07/02/2013


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Rock & Roll Pt.2
60 Woodblock Prints
On RFK Reeves
22" x 30"
Dieter Runge, 2006
In the spring of 2006 I took J. W. Junker's class A History of Rock & Roll (MUS 477) at the University of Hawaii's music department. It was probably the most fun class I ever took in college, undergrad or grad school. Part of it was the subject of course, but for the most part it was the combination of Jay Junker's infectious personality and knowledge of the subject. It was in a good-sized auditorium with great acoustics, and a grand piano. Jay showed video clips and played lots of songs as he lectured, often standing next to the piano pounding the top of it with his palm to make a point. Most students were classical or ethnic music majors and when the Jay asked questions I was usually the only one raising my hand. But I still learned a lot, for example that the term rock'n roll was used as far back as the 19th century. Yes, it could be a ship rocking and rolling back and fourth as some dictionaries suggest, and yes a form of popular music developed during the 40's and 50's, but making love is probably much closer to the original meaning and that's really how I see it. I knew for a long time that Bo Diddley took his beat straight from the church, but I learned much more about the influence of gospel on rock'n roll.
My field research project was to write about and document my time in New York City (May 1978-November 1988), my bands, recordings, band posters, record covers, videos, basically all my creative activities. I called it Dieter's Rock'n Roll Revelation. Artist book publication soon. This looking back inspired me to take some of my band posters and recreate them as woodblock prints in the fall of 2006. I was also working on a print of my taiji master's grandfather and one of the wooden Guan-yin sculpture at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. I carved eight blocks all together. After pulling some prints of the individual blocks, I printed the taiji master on top of the New York Niggers. It opened up a massive flow of creative energy. I started to print the different blocks on top of each other, often using the ghost print technique, or partially blocking off the plates. I quickly realized that the prints reproduced the singular aesthetic of walls or fences covered with posters, aged by rain and sun, and partially ripped off. I created about 20 prints, each different from the other. When I showed them to my graduate adviser Yida Wang, she suggested I print 40 more. I went to the bookstore and got 40 more sheets of 22×30" BFK and went to work. I worked fast and spontaneous. The printmaking process itself became rock'n roll. The subject of the images became identical to the process. I hung all 60 prints, three on top of each other on a 25' wall and another 10' around the corner. Later a few were framed and hung in different shows. Some of the prints now hang in Hamburg, Berlin, New York, San Francisco, Honolulu and Telluride. 27 appeared at a pop-up show in Honolulu's Kaimuki (2013).
Rock & Roll Pt 2 refers then to the revisit of my life as a rock'n roller in NY through printmaking with a nod to Gary Glitter, not to exonerate him of his personal downfalls, but to point to the essence of rock'n roll. Rock'n roll in its essence is tribal. It is for this tribal element that I always strive for when I play, and aim to combine with intelligence, humor and spiritual uplift.

subset: commoncrawl


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Perú has two official languages; Spanish, which was brought over when the Spaniards arrived to South America as conquistadores, and Quechua, which was the language used by the Incan Empire. While there are many different languages spoken in Perú today, Spanish is the most popular language, with Quechua following behind, being spoken mostly in the sierra regions of Perú. Since I am living in the department of Áncash, which contains a large portion of the Andean Mountain chain, Quechua is spoken quite regularly. Consequently, as part of my language training to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, during my first 3 months of in-country training, I received extensive Quechua training with the other Volunteers coming to Áncash. By the end of training, I had received a cursory overview of most of the grammar of Quechua, and was ready to put my new language to practice. However, in my site, Quechua isn't spoken as regularly as in others, so my knowledge slowly began to wane throughout the months in my site. Occasionally I would practice with my host family, but I was never in a situation in which my knowledge of Quechua was absolutely vital for an interaction with another community member. Everyone speaks some Spanish, and I found myself relying more and more on my Spanish, neglecting my Quechua training.
However, in mid-December I got another booster to my Quechua lessons in the form of another 3-day Quechua taller (training) in Huaráz with my teacher from training. Although I was quite out-of-practice, I still recalled quite a bit of information and communicated quite well with my teacher and the other Volunteers who were in attendance. We reviewed grammar, learned new words, and went out to the market in Huaráz to practice. Practicing was hard; we are very basic Quechua speakers, and it felt imposing to walk up to people selling food and attempt to speak to them in their native language. Eventually, I got over the nervousness and had a very nice, but simple, conversation with a señora who had sold us some food. Throughout the conversation, I found myself improvising and creating new structures and thoughts based on the things we had reviewed, and I was proud of my simple conversation. My teacher even said he was glad with my progress, even though I know I still have a long way to go in my language studies. Even though my knowledge of Quechua probably won't make-or-break my Peace Corps experience, I still plan on studying, practicing, and learning more so that I can become as fluent as possible in this wonderful language.
And it is a wonderful language. Although all Peruvians tell me how similar Quechua is to English, it really is a thing of its own, with the only similarity to English being the fact that adjectives go before objects instead of after, as it mostly is in Spanish.
While English and Spanish are S-V-O languages (subject-verb-object), Quechua is a S-O-V language, meaning the verb comes at the end of the sentence. For example, the sentence "I am eating bread" is in the S-V-O format, but in Quechua it would be reordered to "I bread am eating" or "Nuqa tantata mikuykaa". Apart from this different grammatical order, to add description to a word or action in Quechua, you do so, mainly, through the addition of suffixes. For example,
Mishi = cat
Mishi + "kuna" = Mishikuna = Cats
Mishi + "yki" + "kuna" = Mishiykikuna = your cats
Mishi + "yki" + "kuna" + "wan" = Mishiykikunawan = with your cats
So, as you can see, you can make pretty long words in Quechua by adding various descriptive suffixes to the ends of words, be they nouns or verbs. Consequently, this is what makes Quechua a challenge, because a simple word like cat can be modified in many different ways to express different, yet similar meanings. And then of course, you have to wait until the end of the sentence to learn the verb, and sometimes find the context of all of the words that came before. That being said, with practice, your brain adjusts and learns to listen carefully and adapt to the different grammatical structure. While I still have a long ways to go in my Quechua-learning journey, I am excited to keep going so that, perhaps by the end of service, I'll be the gringo who can give a presentation in Quechua, and not just ask about where you are from.
One final Quechua fact. Quechua not only was used by the Incans, but also by an individual a long time ago in a galaxy far far away:
Yes, Greedo from Star Wars is speaking Quechua in this scene with Han Solo.


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Trombone Shorty, Patti Austin on Freihofer's Jazz Fest lineup
Earth, Wind & Fire, Trombone Shorty and Terence Blanchard are among the performers scheduled to be part of the 37th annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Fest, set for Saturday, June 28 and Sunday, June 29 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Also in the lineup are Dave Holland Prism, Patti Austin, Jon Batiste & Stay Human, Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra, Quinn Sullivan and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Tickets for the festival will be available online beginning Feb. 25 for SPAC's highest level members and March 18 for the general public. Tickets and information are available at www.spac.org.
Illustrious past
The Freihofer's festival was founded in 1978 by jazz impresario George Wein and over the years has hosted jazz greats including Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, B.B. King, Wayne Shorter and Ray Charles. With an inside seating capacity of 5,200, lawn seating of 20,000 and world class jazz talent performing on two stages, the festival draws thousands of fans from across the Northeast and throughout North America.
"Over the last 37 years, the Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival has established its place as one of the premier summer music festivals in America," said Marcia J. White, SPAC's president and executive director.
"Sharing the bill with Earth, Wind & Fire will be a star-studded lineup, including the phenomenal Trombone Shorty, who rocked the house during his 2012 festival appearance, Billboard chart-topper Patti Austin who makes her festival debut, rising star Jon Batiste and his Stay Human band, NEA Jazz Master Eddie Palmieri and his Salsa Orchestra, blues guitar prodigy and Buddy Guy protégé Quinn Sullivan and jazz giant Terence Blanchard, among many others."
In the gazebo
In addition to festival headliners performing in the amphitheater, Gazebo Stage programming will feature an innovative mix of established and emerging artists in jazz.
The lineup includes: Melissa Aldana Crash Trio, Marc Cary Focus Trio, Jaimeo Brown, Mary Halvorson Trio, Sean Jones Quartet, Warren Wolf & Wolfpack, and Tim Berne's Snakeoil, all making their festival debuts. The stage will also feature returning saxophonist Lew Tabackin with his trio.
While two days and two stages of live, world class jazz is the centerpiece of the weekend, fans can also enjoy a fine arts and crafts fair, CD signings by artists, a full-service bar in the Hall of Springs, Southern style barbecue and other food vendors, all presented by Stella Artois. Guests can bring in their own food and beverages, as well as blankets, tents and lawn umbrellas. Parking for the event is free.
The lineup
Saturday, June 28
-- Earth, Wind & Fire
-- Dr. Lonnie Smith Octet
-- Terence Blanchard
-- Mike Stern/Bill Evans Band featuring Steve Smith & Tom Kennedy
-- Jon Batiste & Stay Human
-- Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters
-- Robin McKelle & The Flytones
Gazebo Stage:
-- Marc Cary Focus Trio
-- Lew Tabackin Trio
-- Jaimeo Brown with JD Allen & Chris Sholar
-- Mary Halvorson Trio with John Hebert & Ches Smith Robin McKelle & The Flytones
Sunday, June 29:
-- Trombone Shorty
-- Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra
-- Patti Austin
-- Dave Holland Prism with Kevin Eubanks, Craig Taborn & Eric Harland
-- Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60, with Anat Cohen, Karrin Allyson, Randy Brecker, Mark Whitfield, Peter Martin, Larry Grenadier & Clarence Penn
-- Quinn Sullivan
Gazebo Stage:
-- Melissa Aldana Crash Trio with Pablo Menares and Francisco Mela
-- Tim Berne's Snakeoil with Oscar Noriega, Matt Mitchell & Ches Smith
-- Warren Wolf & Wolfpack
-- Sean Jones Quartet with Orrin Evans, Luques Curtis and Obed Calvaire
-- Quinn Sullivan


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On April 4, 2017, our teams lead a medical mission at the Clemencia Moneda Lumbao Hospital that provided doctors, nurses, and health educators to reach and empower the local population of Pilar, Sorsogon.
Specifically, this was a targeted measure building off of formed medical missions to the site, for malnourished children and their mothers.
Currently enrolled are 30 mothers and their 36 malnourished children. Of which, 100% are considered indigenous people.
The program began with prayer and a lesson on Values Formation from Pastor Raguini.
Then, our feeding program began. Providing the mothers and children with a well-balanced meal to address their nutritional concerns, and to serve as a model for the nutritional lesson on proper food preparation of "Go, Grow, and Glow!" food groups which stand for "Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Vitamins/Minerals!" in that order and in materials written in their local language of Bicolano. The lesson was lead by our 2017-2018 Global Health Fellow, Maricres Castro, and Executive Director, Fr. Villa.
After the teaching and the meal, the malnourished children received follow-up check-ups provided by our triage team and lead staff, Nurse Joel and Dr. Expedita L. Castro.
Through the generous donations of sponsors we were able to provide basic medication to address couching and pain, and refer them, with proper follow up, to the rural health clinic, Pilar Municipal Health Clinic.
Our teams continue to be on the ground providing a daily feeding program of a well-balanced meal, coupled with our monthly medical missions to track their health and status, we are ensuring a sustainable and steady recovery for these malnourished children and to help empower their mothers with knowledge and financial stability through business entrepreneurship training they receive through our foundation.


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While some mothers enjoy pregnancy, other women like singer and reality star Tamar Braxton say they never want to experience it again.
During a recent interview on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live," the new mom to baby Logan said she was a "hot mess" for nine months and has no desire to bring another child into this world.
MUST READ: Tamar Braxton Discusses The Future Of Her Talk Show 'The Real' [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]
MUST READ: Tamar Braxton Talks Motherhood & Admits She Didn't Immediately Fall In Love With Her Baby
"She's a hot mess which is why I'm never doing it again," she said before adding: "It's too much!"
Tamar revealed that fans can expect to see her mother and sisters on the upcoming season "Tamar and Vince" because she needed the extra help during her pregnancy.
"On this season they do [make an appearance] only because I am having a baby and I am team too much," she said, laughing.
The second season of Tamar and hubby Vince's reality show debuts on WeTV September 5th.
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Tamar Braxton Explains Why She's NEVER Having Another Baby! was originally published on hellobeautiful.com


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The 21st century is a pivotal moment of tremendous historical and technological changes and overwhelming challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. While this era will bring difficulties for some, at Nabbesh, we believe that for the women of this region, this can be a golden moment of prosperity, which is why we have launched our www Initiative: Work that Works for Women. Nabbesh specializes in bringing the tools of economic prosperity to the MENA region, offering not only economic empowerment, but also transforming the Middle East towards lasting peace and prosperity. Through our online platform, www.nabbesh.com, women can search for, find, and get paid for flexible work without necessarily leaving their homes, a simple concept, which has the power to positively transform this region.
In 2013, the World Economic Forum which tracks the Global Gender Gap found that for the MENA region, men are 60 percent more likely to be economically empowered than women. Although education is thought to be one of the key indicators of labor force participation, the region's women are increasingly well educated. In the UAE alone, where Nabbesh is based and has the largest number of members, women make up more than 70 percent of university graduates. Overall, the World Bank reports that women in the Middle East are more likely to be better educated than men. In the UAE, for example, one of the most progressive places in the region, local women make up less than 5 percent of the private sector workforce. Polling by the Dubai Women's Establishment, a local government entity, indicates that the lack of flexible work opportunities and mobility are some of the main reasons preventing more Emirati women from joining the labor force.
In the overall region, there are distinct and vastly different local challenges affecting female labor participation. For example, in war-torn countries, where traveling by roads may not be safe or in other countries where females may not be able to easily commute to work or to work long hours because of family obligations. However, an overall chord runs amongst all the women in this region—there is a lack of flexibility in traditional labor markets. And, in this region, where our culture and families are special to us, although work and careers are important to us, the latter has tended to take a clear second place for most women.
What Nabbesh's women's initiative offers to women is the freedom that they no longer have to choose between the two; now they can have both. Why can the women of the Middle East not lead the world in this way? Nabbesh is creating a new work paradigm that we believe will resonate not only in this region, but throughout the world. It is about increasing options that work for women wherever they are in life, whether they are students looking for experience, or women with young families that cannot commit to a full-time schedule.
Nabbesh has brought our www Initiative to the UAE, but we are reaching out to women throughout the MENA region and have members across the region from the UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, and beyond. Our goal is to reach and provide flexible employment opportunities to every woman throughout the MENA region.
Through Nabbesh, a young mother in Lebanon can have the flexibility to be there for her children, but also to make a difference in her community. Nabbesh member Khawlah Madoudi, a young Saudi woman holding an MBA, who provides consulting services in Saudi Arabia uses Nabbesh to hire talent on a project basis. Nabbesh is not only providing flexible work for women, but women are, in fact, using Nabbesh's talent to grow their own businesses. Employers looking for talent ranging from highly technical skill sets, such as accounting or engineering, to more creative and artistic skills, such as photography and graphic design—skills and projects that can be done in a flexible way that works for women.
Increasing options for women also makes economic sense. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, recently noted that narrowing the labour force gap between men and women in the MENA region would have resulted in enormous economic gains of nearly $1 trillion, or 6 percent of the GDP.
When westerners think of the Middle East, they see our limitations, from war and turmoil to high rates of unemployment and beyond, but what Nabbesh is trying to do is to think beyond the limitations of this region. We think better 21st century tools for creating more work opportunities for women include efficiently and effectively using the internet to create and fulfill almost any project-based job opportunity. It can often be easier to gain access to a computer and to the internet and work from home. If flexibility and lack of mobility are preventing women from entering the labor force, Nabbesh is breaking down those barriers. If women worry about getting paid for freelance labor, Nabbesh is ensuring safe and secure online payments. Nabbesh is doing everything possible to break down barriers to success and streamline the process, benefiting those hiring with overhead cost savings and fulfilling jobs more quickly.
One of our biggest challenges in a marketplace as large as the MENA region is in reaching the talent and job volumes necessary for Nabbesh's overall success. In the Arab world, where there are vastly different languages, dialects, cultures, and ways of doing business, there is no perfect one-size-fits-all model, so our challenge is to provide local solutions to satisfy local needs and to monetize our business at the same time (Nabbesh currently charges a commission fee for each job transaction). Sharing our challenges with others also reinforces our identity as Arab women who have overcome very big odds, and that propels us forward to continue to make a difference for other women, hopefully making their challenges at finding work a little less difficult.
What we have done is tap into 21st century technology to do something transformational in this region. Now a woman can search online for work that works around her lifestyle; she can negotiate the contract, get paid, and receive ratings for her work all at the simple click of a mouse. We have already fulfilled thousands of jobs in over 108 cities through Nabbesh, showing that Nabbesh's impact on this region can be profound. Every day a woman gains economic empowerment through tools like Nabbesh, peace and prosperity become much more plausible in the Middle East.
Nabbesh co-founders, Loulou Khazen Baz, a Lebanese national, and Rima Al-Sheikh, a Syrian national, both grew up in neighboring countries, but did not meet until they were both living in Dubai. Khazen Baz was the original architect of Nabbesh, but Al-Sheikh brought Nabbesh to life online as the platform it is today. As women from the Middle East, they grew up seeing firsthand the lack of opportunities for many women and youth in the region, so they created Nabbesh with the goal of providing equal access to opportunities for everyone in the MENA region.
Nabbesh is the Middle East's virtual skills marketplace. Home to over 30,000 skilled freelancers, Nabbesh connects freelance talent with project-based and flexible (i.e. virtual and part-time) work opportunities. Nabbesh's 'Work that Works for Women' or 'www Initiative' is a finalist in the Ashoka Changemakers Women Powering Work competition sponsored by GE.


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Newt Gingrich, the former United States congressman and Speaker of the House, is a shining example of why Rebublicans have such a hard time finding freedom loving independants, libertarians, fiscally conservative democrats, and middle of the road Americans to vote for them in presidential elections.
"I have two grandchildren," Gingrich told the congregation at Cornerstone Church, a megachurch in San Antonio, Texas, headed by the Rev. John Hagee, a high placed leader among American Christian evangelicals, who endorsed John McCain and Sarah Palin's doomed 2008 presidential campaign. "I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."
Gingrich, like several other high ranking Republican presidential candidates, does what most reasonable Americans abhor – he equates Christianity with patriotism. The "nature of America" is Christian, according to Newt Gingrich, and he's convinced that it is the patriotic duty of all Christians go out and do battle in a grand social and cultural struggle to "win it" back for America, because only Christians have an "understanding of what it once meant to be an American."
He doesn't want his grandchildren (or you and me) to live in a "secular country." He's afraid our nation will become "atheist" and "dominated by radical Islamists."
Think about that one for a second.
How could a secular atheist country become dominated by radical Islamists? How many radical Islamists out there are secular atheists? How many secular atheists do you know who are radical Islamists? How can Mr. Gingrich hold on to any political credibility among reasonable logical voters making stupid statements like that?
Then Gingrich warned the congregation ominously that American college professors and media types are seeking to wipe out the Founding Fathers' Christian values, and worse, that American judges want to re-write the U.S. Constitution.
I have a short wake-up call for Mr. Gingrich, and all the other pandering social conservative Republicans on the religious right who yearn for a Christian theocracy in America: I appreciate the values of our founding fathers. I like the Constitution they wrote just the way it is. Get your historical facts straight.
The United States of America – my country and yours -- was founded as, and always has been, a secular atheist country – secular in that religion and government are deliberately separate entities here; one private, the other public; and atheist in that the republic was conceived and ordained by the people rather than a deity.
We are not a theist nation, like Iran, or even Britian, but individuals enjoy religious freedom here, and the majority now happen to be Christians. President Lincoln called it a government conceived in liberty; of, by, and for the people. So religion had nothing to do with it. Islamists are welcome here just like everyone else.
The Declaration of Independence makes no refrence to Christianity. The United States Constitution makes no reference to Christianity. Those are the founding documents of this nation and neither makes any reference whatsoever to Christianity. That, of course, we all know was quite deliberate. The founders even made sure that the Constitution prohibited any religious test for public office, and any other law respecting an establishment of religion.
If these undeniable historical facts are not enough for Mr. Gingrich, he might also be reminded that, in 1797; 214 years ago, the same founding fathers, including all the Christians, explicitly and officially declared, once and for all, that:
"The government of the
is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." United States
Ironically, this simple straightforward official declaration by the U.S. Congress, unanimously ratified by the Senate, and signed by President John Adams on
June 10, 1797, was made to assure the Islamic North African states of Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis, after American conflicts with Barbary pirates, that harmonious relationships with the United States in the future would not be adversely affected by differences in religious opinions. [Art 11; Treaty of ] Tripoli
If the Republicans nominate the likes of Newt Gingrich, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.


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Client Centred Service Delivery Philosophy
Children's Mental Health Services is committed to providing client centred services. Our clients will be encouraged to actively engage with our staff teams throughout the service process to maximize treatment outcomes.
Children's Mental Health Service Delivery Philosophy incorporates the following principles:
- Children, youth and their families come first. We are committed to providing counselling to children and youth who need it.
- Respect for the uniqueness of each client / family member
- Respect for the values and beliefs clients / families bring to the counselling / treatment setting.
- Respect for the needs and preferences clients / families identify
- Appreciation for understanding and supporting the client / family within the context of their community, family, friends, social, cultural and spiritual beliefs
- Commitment to help client / families understand their rights related to service and support decisions, including the right to refuse or discontinue service.
- Commitment to a service approach that is strength based and promotes autonomy, skill development and quality of life.
- Commitment to ensuring communication with persons seeking and receiving service accommodates diverse needs, interests, cultural backgrounds and language / communication needs.
- We measure out success by out ability to respond to the needs of children, youth, families and the communities we serve.
- As inspiration is the key, we recognize and rely on "best practice" to make a difference in the lives of children and youth.
- Collaboration is critical. The staff work together as a team to engage children, youth and their families in all aspects of service. Through the exchange of information and experiences, we are able to develop skills, enhance understandings, and co-create a plan to strengthen the mental health of children and youth.
- To build knowledge networks we seek to develop and maintain alliances with community partners in order to provide children, youth and their families with a well co-ordinated service system.
Communication with Clients
Our staff are committed to taking all necessary precautions to protect client confidentiality.
In order to ensure we maintain client confidentiality and privacy our counsellor's will discuss with clients how best to communicate outside of appointments.
Counsellors can only use e-mail with clients to confirm or cancel appointments.
Our counsellors are discouraged from texting with clients unless it is approved by their supervisor. This is to ensure client privacy is maintained.
Counsellors cannot use social media (such as Facebook, Twitter or other) to communicate with clients due to the high risks to client privacy and confidentiality.


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Gusts to 90 mph for Oregon Coast; 60 for Portland, Valley
Published 12/10/2014
(Oregon Coast) – Just as things are calming down around much of Oregon, the big storm will swoop in around the state. Gusts as high as 90 mph are possible on the beaches, but even Portland could get slapped around with gusts around 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
The latest update from the NWS reports a high wind warning in effect until 10 p.m. Thursday night for the Oregon coast and south Washington coast. Gusts from the south from 75 to 85 mph are possible in some of the towns, while exposed beaches and headlands may get around 90 mph.
These are Category 1 hurricane numbers.
Winds will rapidly increase in the late afternoon along the central coast, but the north coast could get hit earlier.
Another high surf advisory will start at 4 a.m. overnight and linger until late Thursday, with some incredible swells clocking in at 25 to 30 feet high.
"Swells of this magnitude will produce hazardous surf conditions with breakers around 20 feet," the NWS said in its bulletin. (Find Oregon coast oceanfront lodging here for a front row seat).
A high wind warning is also in effect for Portland, the lower Columbia Valley and Willamette Valley towns like Corvallis, Eugene, Salem, McMinnville and more. Lasting until 10 p.m. on Thursday, the NWS said winds 25 to 35 are likely, with gusts up to 60 mph in the afternoon.
This may cause significant tree and power line damage, the NWS said.
More Oregon weather here. More Oregon coast weather here.
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Update 16 Jan 2013: I just noticed this post is one of my most-viewed. Unfortunately, when I moved it to wordpress, I lost the images that go with it. I'm planning to create new ones, but will have to create some data for it, as I'm no longer working as a network admin. The examples should still work, though, and if you have access to .rrd files, you can try them out for yourself – just adjust the DSes yourself.
(Note: This is a very simplified (but real-life!) example. Usually we'll include the "in" data on the same graph, and Errors and QueueDrops etc, but that clutters up the example.)
So, say we have an interface that's dropping packets. Not too many, but the ideal number is zero, so we'd like to see them in the graphs in our NMS (which is based on rrdtool as all decent NMSes are). We use rrdgraph to show packets out in black and packets that should have gone out, but were discarded instead, in purple:
rrdtool graph images/router-errors-unscaled.png
--title "unscaled"
--vertical-label 'Pkts/Second'
--start end-2day
--end -1hr
--width 800
--height 250
--imgformat PNG
GPRINT:ifOutPkts:AVERAGE:"Avg ifOutPkts %1.2lf\n"
GPRINT:ifOutDiscards:MAX:"Max ifOutDiscards %1.2lf"
That produces a graph like this:
(Click on the thumbnails to get the full graphs.)
We can read the average rate of discarded packets in the graph key at the bottom, and there are tiny little blips in the purple line that represents discards , but we don't have a strong visual cue that something is off.
One possible solution is to scale up the discard values relative to the total packets. A factor of 100 ought to do it. Then we'll use the –right-axis options to rrdgraph to label the right-hand y-axis accordingly.
We add this CDEF to provide the scaling (the LINE1 etc commands will need to be altered accordingly; you'll see those in the final snippet):
That gives us a graph that looks like this:
Note that it now looks like we're dropping up to 70 packets/second – we still have to read the stats in the key at the bottom of the graph. So let's get the secondary y-axis correctly labeled & scaled, with the following commands:
--right-axis-label 'Discards/Second'
--right-axis 0.01:0
–right-axis-label prints the specified text along the right-hand axis.
–right-axis [scale:shift] scales and/or shifts the tickmarks on the right axis relative to the left axis. In this case, the new values we're displaying are 100X the original values, so we need to scale our axis accordingly: 0.01. More simply: left/right = 1/100. We don't need to start at a value other than 0, so we set the shift value to 0.
Hmmm…rrdtool has automatically converted our values to milli-units. (Note the lower-case m in the labels.) Let's fix that with the –right-axis-format command:
--right-axis-format %1.1lf
And that's all there is to it!
The final rrdgraph command looks like this:
rrdtool graph images/router-right-axis-format.png
--title "right-axis-format"
--vertical-label 'Pkts/Second'
--right-axis-label 'Discards/Second'
--right-axis 0.01:0
--right-axis-format %1.1lf
--start end-2day
--end -1hr
--width 800
--height 250
--imgformat PNG
GPRINT:ifOutPkts:AVERAGE:"Avg ifOutPkts %1.2lf\n"
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia � There was nothing random about the Vancouver Canucks� 2,500-mile flight to Boston.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - There was nothing random about the
Vancouver Canucks' 2,500-mile flight to Boston.
There never is when the Canucks hit the road.
Like everything surrounding a team that is two wins away from
its first Stanley Cup title, the travel to the East Coast has been
carefully mapped out. From how and when they get there, to when and
what they eat, to the sleeping arrangements once they arrive and
get ready to play the Bruins in Game 3 of the finals on Monday
All the plans have been rooted in science, with players even
wearing specialized bracelets throughout early season road trips to
measure circadian rhythms - internal body clocks - and how they are
affected by travel.
The results are processed and translated under the leadership of
the Canucks' Director of Sports Sciences, Dr. Len Zaichkowsky, a
former longtime Boston University professor who has consulted with
teams from the NBA's Boston Celtics to Spain's World Cup soccer
As a result, Vancouver has tinkered with everything from travel
plans between games to who rooms together. The Canucks are trying
to gain every edge possible.
"Anything that helps even a little bit is worth it," defenseman
Keith Ballard said of the team's fatigue management program. "We
don't really have to worry about it as players. The people in
charge monitor it, whether it's what time we fly or practice or eat
- all that stuff. You have to find little advantages wherever you
Under third-year general manager Mike Gillis, the Canucks also
made significant upgrades to the amenities at home.
As part of a massive rebuild to create an oval locker room (so
nobody is stuck in a corner) they added private chefs to provide
meals - both at the rink and take-home options - and even a "Mind
Room" where players can get brain training based on psychological
and physiological feedback measured by computers.
How much it helps is open for debate. Some point to Vancouver's
dominance in the third period this season in which the Canucks
outscored opponents 100-58 before the playoffs and 24-18 in the
The Canucks won Game 1 against Boston 1-0 on Raffi Torres' goal
with 18.5 seconds remaining. In Game 2, Vancouver scored the tying
goal in the third and then won when Alex Burrows netted the
decisive tally 11 seconds into overtime.
It's hard to argue with how the Canucks went about grabbing a
2-0 lead in the finals.
"Even if it's just a little tiny bit it's worth it," Ballard
Minimizing the effects of a tough travel schedule is very
important to the Canucks, who left the Pacific time zone 15 times
this season. They often had trips that took them through several
clock changes, and then they endured long flights to Chicago and
Nashville during the first two rounds of the playoffs.
"We're so far away, one of the worst travel teams in the
league," said forward Chris Higgins, who was acquired from Florida
on Feb. 28 and was soon asked to wear a sleep monitor bracelet on
the road. "I got here late but it's certainly something guys were
talking about. They track when you fall asleep, if you wake in the
middle of the night, how long it takes you to fall asleep.
"With our travel, the fatigue adds up, so the more you take care
of it, the better."
The Canucks have to travel as far east as Minnesota, south to
Colorado and north to Edmonton - and that's just to play their
rivals inside the expansive Northwest Division. The Bruins play
most of their games in the Northeast, and the division only goes as
far west as Toronto.
So that leaves them a little less accustomed to the kind of trip
created by the quick turnaround between Games 2 and 3. To acclimate
to the time change, the Bruins left their Vancouver hotel at 7 a.m.
for an 8 a.m. flight, arriving in Boston around 4 p.m. Sunday.
"We're not going to hide the fact that we don't travel as much
as they do," Bruins coach Claude Julien said on Sunday. "They're
probably used to this more than we are. So I think it was important
for us to really look at it in a way where we had to make it the
best possible way for us. Our travel was planned accordingly. We
wanted to get back on Eastern Standard Time as quickly as we
The Bruins left the Eastern time zone only four times all
season, and have only been on Pacific Time just five times in three
years. The start of the finals was their third trip out West this
season, and the Bruins didn't arrive in Vancouver until late
Monday, just over 48 hours before the puck dropped for Game 1.
Boston hopes to head back to Vancouver at least one more time in
the series. They will have to win at least one game there to
capture the Cup and become the fifth team to overcome an 0-2 start
in the finals.
"It definitely takes some time getting used to with your body
and the different times zones," Bruins forward Nathan Horton said.
"We're not so used to it playing in Boston."
The Canucks won't pretend they are used to playing in Boston, as
they are making just their third visit there in six years.


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Events in September 2012
Visits (14344)
Can you believe it is September already? We have a number upcoming events that you might be interested in.
I hope you can participate in one or more of these events!
technorati tags: IBM, Smarter Analytics, Axtel, StorageBeers, Paul Gillin, Oracle, OpenWorld, Pat O'Rourke, Dennis Wunder, Steve Loeschorn, Curtis Neal,


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Creating Personal Impact is a highly engaging 4-day programme that will shine a new light on how to engage with groups. Attending will enable you to start your journey to delivering the most effective and inspirational presentations that make lasting impressions with your audience. It will allow you to create rapport with groups no matter how large or small instantly facilitating a great environment for learning, communication and personal development.
Certified Practitioner of NLP - Certified by ABNLP
Delivered by Ian Pitchford, NLP Trainer - Read Reviews from ANLP website
By attending you will:
- Learn the secrets of some of the very best presenters.
- Discover how to captivate your audience, maintain their interest throughout and change their attitudes and emotions.
- Understand how to accommodate individual learning styles to dramatically improve your public speaking abilities.
- Learn how to use physiology and gestures to add impact to your communication.
- Discover how to put energy into your presentation and into your audience! Learn how to handle hecklers.
- Eliminate your limiting beliefs you may have about your ability to present.
- Develop the ability to communicate using stories to get your message across and have fun doing it
A Mind 4 Adventure programmes are designed to accommodate all learning styles and will therefore include lecture discussion visual aids individual and group exercises, feedback, questions and answers. But are highly interactive and participative.
Imagine what it will feel like going into your next presentation having attended our course and learnt new skills and abilities, knowing the secrets of some of the very best presenters, trainers and public speakers. You will have the advantage of knowing how to use language that is irresistible to your audience, getting your message across in a way that is entertaining and interesting creating an everlasting impression of professionalism.
Course Venue: Redcliff Hotel
The venue has beautiful views of the sea from Paignton, allowing you to find a quiet corner in the area to reflect.
Click here for more information on this course
Read Reviews on the ANLP website:
We are proud to offer a quality promise with our courses - Discover more about our promise to you


text: Pre-Soviet Advertising Columns Get link Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Other Apps November 26, 2012 A handful of pre-Soviet (I'm guessing Austrian-era, so pre-WWI) advertising columns are still found in the center of Lviv. These are still used for their original purpose – to post concert and theater announcements. 1 comment Read more


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So after some online voting from ODOC Members, the winner of the Which Restaurant Do We Pick was .The Tilted Kilt at 157 York Boulevard in Richmond Hill.
Remember this is a Delorean Optional Event meaning you are welcome to bring your daily driver. This should encourage some members who never attend ODOC Events because they do not think their DMC-12s can make a trip or if you have already put the car away for the winter.
The Management and waitresses are stoked to see us and the Deloreans but I NEED TO KNOW HOW MANY ARE COMING.
Some of you already have replied, so many thanks, but if you are going to attend, please let me know at email@example.com
This is our opportunity to talk about what we want to do for next year.


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Multisurface Hydrophobic Treatment
Aculon®, an award-winning & proven supplier to numerous industries, introduces Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment, the best-in-class hydrophobic technology. For information on purchases or optimization services, please contact us.
Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment
Aculon®, an award-winning & proven supplier to numerous industries, introduces Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment, the best-in-class repellency technology. Aculon® multi surface hydrophobic technology is designed to make many surfaces including plastics, rubber, fabrics,and painted surfaces, hydrophobic, and repellent to water and other water based fluids. Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic treatment is easy to apply, optically clear and ultra thin. It can even be applied via several application methods. Features include:
- Hydrophobicity
- Uniform Thickness
- Repel Most Aqueous Liquids
- Optically Clear (100% transmission)
- Apply via Dip, Wipe, or Spray
- No Capital Equipment
- Apply in Minutes
- Easily reapplied in field if damaged
Aculon® Multisurface Hydrophobic Treatment typically imparts inital water contact angles of around 110 degrees. After significant abrasion cycles, these contact angles are only slightly affected. This technology results in a hydrophobic coating that can be applied to nearly all surfaces.
If you have large volume requirements or a specialized application requiring our technical support, please contact us directly. As part of lab services business we regularly work with customers to implement our technology for your process or application. These services include optimizing a process to treat your parts at our facility or provide you with the technical support including materials and procedures to treat at your facility. Click the button below to submit your information and an applications expert will reach out to see how we can assist.
Please note we are a B2B company and do not support consumer inquiries.
Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment is relatively durable relative to competitive nanoscale repellent treatments. Unlike other technologies requiring surface microstructuring (inherently very fragile), Aculon® technology is a non-toxic chemical treatment which physically adsorbs onto the surface. It does not covalently bond however so it is not meant to be permanent! Just how durable or how long will the treatment last? Well that depends on the part and application! Depending on the exposure conditions a lifetime of days to years can be expected!
Note that, in most cases, Aculon® Multi Surface Hydrophobic Treatment is intended to be a temporary treatment where re-application is acceptable. You should test to determine the lifetime of the treatment on your particular application to determine a reapplication schedule.
Abrasion Resistance
Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment ranges from 10-500 nm thick depending on application method. It is physically bound to the substrate and thus very stable. While it will reduce impact damage as the Aculon® treatment make the surface lubricious and therefore more likely that impacts to glance off the surface, the treatment is too thin to add any direct scratch or gouge resistance or hardness to the part. The lifetime will depend on the applied thickness of the coating (see application methods) and the abrasive action. Reapplication may be needed after a few days in aggressive environments and may never be needed on parts that see zero abrasion.
Chemical Resistance
Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment is chemically resistant to many liquid chemicals! See below for lists of compatible and incompatible materials:
- Organic Solvents
- Acetone
- Petroleum
- Etc
- Neutral Aqueous Solvents (up to pH 9)
- Acidic Solvents which do NOT etch your substrate
Not Compatible
- Caustic Aqueous Solvents (pH 10+)
UV Resistance
Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment is impacted by UV over time. The level of degradation depends on exposure time & intensity. Anywhere from weeks to months before reapplication is required can be expected. Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment is not intended for outdoor applications where a permanent treatment is required.
Temperature Resistance
Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment is stable to 250C before the chemical structure is damaged and performance impacted. There is no known lower temperature threshold which damages the treatment.
How to Apply
Step 1: Clean
Though beneficial, cleaning is typically not required for this technology. See cleaning tabs for options should you wish to prepare the surface with cleaning.
Step 2: Primer
Option – Dip
Apply Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment via dip bath to fully treat parts with a uniform treatment ensuring even coverage over entire part. Contact us now to see how we can work to implement this solution into your facility.
Typically results in treatment thickness of 5-40 nm depending on process parameters.
Option – Wipe
Apply Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment via an easy to apply wipe. Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment can be packaged in convenient pre-moistened wipes.
Typically results in treatment thickness of 20-100 nm depending on process parameters.
Option – Spray
Apply Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment via spray gun. Utilize common paint spray equipment for application.
Typically results in treatment thickness of 50-500 nm depending on process parameters.
Unlike most of Aculon® other treatment technologies a properly cleaned and prepared surface is not required for application of Aculon® Multi-Surface Hydrophobic Treatment. In most cases a degreased and visually clean surface is acceptable. However in some cases cleaning may provide better and more durable performance. Cleaning Methods can be summarized into Good, Better, & Best Options. The below cleaning options assume that the part to be treated has been sufficiently degreased and cleaned of all visual contaminants first. The best results are achieved when a water break free surface is achieved (typically better & best).
Often times a good enough cleaning method is sufficient when your process needs to be simple and future reapplication is not inconvenient. Good enough cleaning methods sufficiently clean the surface but do not necessarily achieve a water break free surface, which indicates a perfectly clean surface. Examples of good enough cleaning methods include:
- Windex
- Other Solvent Degreasers
When performance and durability are important or when reapplication is not practical a more reliable and an efficient cleaning method is necessary. Better options are designed to achieve a water break free surface (perfectly clean) on the vast majority of parts against a variety of different contaminations. Better cleaning methods typically utilize more aggressive chemicals and may require rinsing or specific procedures to ensure proper results. Examples of "better" cleaning methods include:
- Aculon® 905 (Room Temp Caustic cleaner)
- Ceria polish (abrasive scrub)
- Comet abrasive (or other polishing compound)
When performance and durability are critical and reapplication is absolutely not practical the absolute best cleaning options are required. These options are designed to achieve a uniform water break free surface (perfectly clean) reliably on all parts. These Best cleaning methods utilize more aggressive chemicals requiring rinsing and specific steps to ensure proper results. In some cases physical cleaning methods are utilized. Care should be taken when using these methods as they are potentially hazardous to the operator and part to be coated. Examples of "best" cleaning methods include:
- Aculon® 907 (Heated Caustic cleaning dip)
- Argon Plasma
- Corona Discharge
- Piranha bath (H2SO4/H2O2)
Not sure what level of cleaning your parts require? Contact Aculon® and we will work with you to determine the level of cleanliness needed for your application and to determine a cleaning method that fits your glass repellency treatment process.
How thick is the treatment?
5-500nm depending on treatment type and application parameters:
- Dip : 5-40 nm
- Wipe: 20-100 nm
- Spray: 50-500 nm
How do you know the thickness?
Via Spectral Reflectance measurement techniques we can quantitatively confirm thickness after application.
Can I see the treatment?
It is 100% optically clear if applied uniformly and thinly. When applied at thicker levels and variable uniformity it is possible to see the presence of the treatment. Visible defects can usually be eliminated via buffing with a microfiber cloth.
Do I need to clean the part? It looks clean enough.
It is always a good idea to clean the substrate prior to application of our coatings. However, it is less important with the Multisurface Hydrophobic Treatment.The need for cleaning will depend on your process, part and durability requirements.
How do I know if the part is 100% clean?
It is water break free. Note that "good" cleaning options may not clean to this level.
Is it superhydrophobic? (contact angle 150 degree plus) No, while very hydrophobic, it is not superhydrophobic. In fact, at the moment a durable superhydrophobic treatment is a unicorn, it does not exist. Current superhydrophobics rely on surface microstructuring and while impressive at first (I know you have seen the youtube videos) are extremely fragile and offer terrible longevity (now go check the Amazon reviews of these products).
Is it oleophobic (oil & solvent repellent)?
No, this treatment is not oleophobic as it does not contain the necessary materials for repelling oil. Please utilize Aculon®
Multi Surface Oleophobic Treatment if an oleophobic treatment is required.
Will you sell me a smaller amount to treat my sunglasses or car windshield?
Sorry, but at this time Aculon® is a business to business company and is only working on commercial accounts and is not supporting consumer requests.
Is it possible to over apply the treatment?
No, the treatment can be effectively applied at thick and thin levels.


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Florida State Attorney's Office of the 12th Judicial Circuit (SAO12)Home Menu
Civil eService
To meet the requirements of rule 2.5.16 where documents are required or permitted to be served by email, use the following addresses:
- Sarasota County: email@example.com
- Manatee County: firstname.lastname@example.com
- DeSoto County: email@example.com
Please do not send electronic service of court documents directly to individual Assistant State Attorneys.
- The email subject line must contain "SERVICE OF COURT DOCUMENT" in all capital letters followed by the case number in the Uniform Case Number format.
- The body of the email must include:
- The court in which the proceeding is pending.
- The case number.
- The name of the initial party on each side.
- The title of each document served.
- The sender's name and telephone number.
- Pleadings must be attached to the email and must be in PDF format.
- The email and attachments together may not exceed five megabytes in size; emails exceeding the size requirement must be divided into separate emails and labeled sequentially in the subject line.


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Have your windows look pretty and provide privacy with these sharp shades.
Homeowners find great value in this sunroom shade, as they can be customizable in a wide selection of colours, fabrics, textures and patterns.
Roman shades maintain a smooth look when opened, effectively blocking sunlight from overheating the room while giving your space privacy. In comparison to other styles, when a roman shade closes, it stacks evenly from the bottom creating an aesthetically appealing look.
Aside from their aesthetics and function, roman shades are also a popular choice because they are customizable. If you're looking for a convenient and simple shade, roman shades also come in cordless systems or motorized versions.
Book an Appointment


text:
They're lighting cigars and popping corks at Suffolk Federal Credit Union and Hauppauge ad agency Austin & Williams, now that SFCU's "We See it Too" TV campaign has snagged eight coveted Telly Awards.
The Telly Awards honors web commercials, promotional videos and short films, along with outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials. The 35th Annual Telly Awards received more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents, according to a press release from the organization.
From all those entries, judges singled out SFCU with six bronze awards and two silver awards (the highest Telly honor) for commercials created and produced in partnership with Austin & Williams.
In a special effects-heavy spot promoting a Suffolk Federal Visa Platinum card, a big-screen television, new golf clubs and several shiny household appliances magically appear around a happy family (including a pleasantly surprised baby and equally impressed dog), backed by whimsical sound effects and peppy music.
Calling New York's financial services sector "super-competitive," Austin & Williams Executive VP and Chief Creative Officer Rick Chiorando praised his team's SFCU work.
"It's not easy to stand out in that kind of environment," Chiorando said in the release. "I couldn't be more proud."


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eating disorder
Coming Home to My Body
by Claire Bischoff
Toward the end of February, as a treat for my children and myself for enduring a particularly long and harsh Minnesota winter, we went to an indoor community pool that has a wonderful zero-entry children's wading pool complete with water slides and a spitting turtle fountain. Despite being five months pregnant, I decided that I would don my bathing suit so that I could wade in the water with my sons. As we were changing in the locker room, my three-year old pointed to my bulging hip and asked, "Mom, what is that bump?" In the split second that followed, options for responding flashed in my brain. I wished I were the sort of person who could gush on and on about how wonderful the human body is and the many ways that it changes to support the growing baby inside. But I am on a recovery journey from an eating disorder (and also a woman in our society), so part of me just wanted to yell, "Mom is fat!" In the moment, I settled for some middle ground, giving a tepid, "My body's changing because of the baby," before rushing us out of the locker room and onto the pool deck.
Not long after this, I attended the Ash Wednesday service at my son's Catholic elementary school. The presiding priest opened mass by asking, "Who thinks that Lent is about giving something up?" A majority of the children, as well as a good portion of the teachers and parents present, raised their hands. The priest went on to say that Lent is not really about giving something up, but rather is about giving ourselves over to God. Giving something up usually only lasts for the six weeks of Lent, he told us, after which we tend to go back to our regular patterns or habits. In contrast, when we focus on giving ourselves over to God, we take steps on our spiritual journeys that stay with us for a lifetime.
As I reflected on what the priest had said throughout the mass, it slowly dawned on me that I had been misusing the Lenten practice of abstinence for years. When I gave up candy or chocolate, it was not about giving myself over to God. It about turning this abstinence into a religiously-swaddled stick I could use to beat myself into losing ten pounds or finally getting back to my pre-baby weight. Other years, I gave up television, not in order to spend more time focusing on my spiritual life, but so that I could prove to myself that I could do it. No matter what it was that I gave up, I simply willed myself to get through the six weeks. I gutted it out and then held up my accomplishment to God, internally saying to God, "Look at what I have accomplished on my own. Look what I did to be worthy of your love." And then having crossed the finish line at Easter, exhausted by the will power it took to abstain for six weeks, I would promptly binge on Easter candy or the next season of The Wire (carefully requested from the library at the right time so as to be in my possession at Easter).
As I was rising to go forward to take communion, I decided that I still wanted to give something up for Lent (old Catholic habits die hard!), but to choose something of a different order and to do it in different way so that it would contribute to my spiritual growth. I wanted to give up hating my body and to ask God to help me to do so.
In her wonderful book The Dance of the Spirit, feminist Catholic educator Maria Harris writes about how the spiritual journeys of women begin with the step of Awakening, and that Awakening often takes the form of awakening our senses and coming home to our bodies. Thinking back to the locker room interaction with my son, I could see how I needed to come home to my body in a radical way if I was ever to be able to continue on a spiritual journey that resulted in giving myself over to God. Treating my body as a project constantly in need of work and viewing my happiness as always ten lost pounds away has been a great detriment to my spiritual life. But to correct this distorted way of relating to my body, I needed a spiritual practice that did not demand a further disconnect from my body. Further, in all practicality, as a busy pregnant mother of two young children, who also works part-time outside the home, I needed a spiritual practice that could arise from and fit into my everyday life, not something that took me away from the commitments I already have.
The first practice I thought of has been surprisingly easy: I gave up getting on the scale each day. I boxed it up and put it in the attic; I ask for blind weigh-ins at my prenatal appointments; and I save myself the mental and emotional energy drain that my daily weigh in had become. It has been immensely freeing not to measure the success of my day (or myself or my life) by a number on the scale.
The second practice that seemed crucial, of accepting my body as it is in order to come home to it, has taken a bit more work. The morning after Ash Wednesday, I stood naked in front of the mirror, and I tried to pray that God would help me accept my body as beautiful, as made by God just for me. But I was so overwhelmed that tears started to fall as I backed away from the mirror and retreated to the shower where I could at least avoid looking at myself. Fortunately, a wise friend told me that trying to start with my whole body was like trying to teach someone to swim by throwing them in the deep end of a pool and hoping they would not drown. She suggested I start with just one small part of my body, one small part for which I had at least neutral, if not positive, feelings.
So the next morning, in the shower, I took time to carefully look at and gently touch my forearms, praying that I would be able to accept them as they are. And this seemingly simple practice, done during my favorite quiet time away from the kids each morning, is already starting to work its wonders on me. After years of being starved for positive attention, I can feel the thankfulness in my arms at finally being noticed and cared for, and I hear other parts of my body calling out to be let in on the action. In these first few weeks of Lent, I have been able to add my upper arms and my hands to my daily shower practice of coming home to my body. These hands, which I once thought of only as the holders of ugly, stubby fingers, are the hands that God gave me. These acceptable-as-they-are hands are the ones I use to write this reflection, and they are connected to the acceptable-as-they-are arms which enable me to embrace the world and myself.


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40th ISICEMInternational Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency MedicineSQUARE - BRUSSELS MEETING CENTER - SEPTEMBER 15-18, 2020
NH Brussels Louise****
The hotel is ideally situated for both business and leisure travellers, with its impressive location on the Avenue Louise, it is Brussels most fashionable shopping and business district.
There you can find Brussels' most fancy shops, cosy restaurants and nice pubs. Nearby there is the Place de Sablon, a highly recommended market place for antique lovers. All other famous sights, such as Manneken Pis, the Grand Place and the Royal Palace are located within walking distance from the hotel and also easily accessible by public transport.
There are 2 conference and banqueting rooms available. The maximum capacity is 30 people in both rooms. These conference venues can be used for various purposes, and all enjoy the advantages of full air-conditioning and daylight. The NH Brussels City Centre guarantees meetings with a personal and, most importantly, flexible service.

|Single Occupancy price per night
|Double occupancy price per night
|240,00 €
|256,00 €
|240,00 €
|256,00 €
|180,00 €
|196,00 €


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Ste'astexwtset Cha Wa Sq'eq'otset Cha.
Together it will be done. We, you and I, we are caretakers of this land.
The Seabird Island community is well positioned within British Columbia with natural beauty, abundant natural resources, and is a sound agricultural and light industry business sector. The community has a population of 850 people and is located in the Upper Fraser Valley, three kilometers northeast of Agassiz, British Columbia.
Aboriginal rights & title
Aboriginal rights & title assists negotiations with consultations, impact benefit agreements, and environmental assessments and works for the Band by assessing and monitoring developmental sites.
Public safety
We work in partnership with local communities, as well as operate our own Fire Department and policing & security teams.
First Nations Festival
Youth soccer, young adults, adults alike an opportunity to showcase their culture and history through Soccer, Ball-Hockey, and War Canoe races.
Learn about how we can help you get your business started, find out more about our Development Corporation, or find out assessment or tax rates for leased lands.
Curbside collection
Learn more about curbside collection days and how to start composting.


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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food." – George Bernard Shaw
Date night has never been so romantic! In the next part of TBSP's popular Date Night series, you and your special someone will be transported to Paris for a fun and tasty culinary adventure. You'll get hands-on experience making the menu items and class will finish with a full meal of everything we cooked. We'll talk about the tools needed to cook the menu, buying great ingredients and how to plan and prep so you can host an authentic French dinner at home.
Our menu includes:
- Salade Lyonnaise
- Steak-Frites
- Mustard Sauce
Our Date Night menus are designed to be cooked with a partner! Therefore, your ticket includes admission for two. We encourage bringing your significant other, friend, parent or any French food lover in your life!
Don't wait to sign up – seating is limited! We hope to see you there!
Explore our other Date Night offerings here: https://tablespooncookingco.com/classes/


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It has been a busy start to the summer for us, and I am thrilled to show you what we have been up to the past few weeks! Prior to leaving on a week-long trip to Philadelphia, where I studied under the internationally acclaimed wedding photographer Cliff Mautner (the images I took at his workshop to come on my next blog post) I had the opportunity to partner with some amazing local wedding vendors to showcase their work!
Together with Simply Couture Photography, we created a lovely styled wedding to feature the pieces of Vintage Alley Rentals, Belle Rose Designs, Desiring Joy Design, Clinton Village Candles, and the makeup artistry of Enhance Makeup by Mandy. And, a very special thank you to our lovely bride Katie for photographing on her birthday!
The scene: Rustic barn, with a jaw-dropping bride.
Gorgeous bride and gorgeous makeup styled by Mandy.
The charming pieces provided by Vintage Alley Rentals are a stunning way to create a uniquely chic atmosphere at your event.
Divine floral silk accents by Belle Rose Designs
Can't forget the cookie table! A must have tradition for Pittsburgh couples.
The perfect, rustic invitation created by Desiring Joy Design.
Favors: Clinton Village Candles
Floral Silk Details (Bride's Sash, Hairpiece, Cake Topper, Napkin Rings): Belle Rose Designs
Invitation: Desiring Joy Design
Makeup Artistry: Enhance Makeup by Mandy
Photography: Lavender Leigh Photography
Props: Vintage Alley Rentals


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I hate that phrase. What a stupid phrase.
What ever happened to Mr. Bean? What is he doing with his life? Cocaine? Is he fat? Is he gay? Married? Is he a scientologist? Did he make a rap album? Is he pregnant? Has he gone off the deep end with Sheen? I have so many questions.
There was his run with the television show, Mr. Bean, then he starred in one of my favorite movies of all time, Rat Race, apparently he was the voice of Zazu in The Lion King (who knew?).
Then there's a laundry list of other random films like Johnny English, various James Bond parodies, Scooby Doo, and Love Actually. Why is he famous for being verbally challenged?
Holy shit. I just found out he was born in 1955. He's probably dead. As you can see, I am Googling/Wikipedia-ing this information as I go along. I'm kind of disappointed to find out that his name isn't actually "Mr. Bean." I would have found it perfectly reasonable to discover that his first name was really Mister and his last name really was Bean. I refuse to refer to him as "Rowan Atkinson." He has to understand that he will only and can only be addressed as "Mr. Bean" for the rest of his life, assuming he isn't rotting in the earth yet (I'll find out).
I just realized that Bean being born in 1955 makes him just 56 years old. Haha. Never mind. When you're born in 1988 like I am, anything before 1980 seems really, really ancient.
I'm stupid.
Do not post your relationship status as "complicated." Here's what it means: "I cry a lot." No one wants to know you spend your nights weeping and listening to country songs about heartbreak and stalking your not-ex-but-not-current-boyfriend's female friends online, waiting for booty call text messages at 2:13 a.m. on quarter-bowling night, and littering our news feed with lyrics about being lovesick. Basically all "complicated" eludes to is that you were once in a relationship, but now you just hook up when you're 11 Irish Car Bombs deep and neither of you can do any better, but you haven't cut the umbilical cord yet and realized the other person is a sleazy shitbag that doesn't care about you or your feelings.
Just hide your relationship status. Please.
Alright. Bean is alive. He's married to a half-Indian woman. Two kids, lives in London, worth 100 million pounds. He actually has a stutter in real life. That's all I care to know. I was hoping for something a little more scandalous. You can't always get what you want.
But sometimes, you get what you need.
Why is Velveeta so delicious? It's so gross. It's like a block of silicone with a hint of orange food coloring to it. It's like a big melting rectangle of hot glue. It's like a bunch of fake breast implants globbed together and then melted down to dip tortilla chips into. I can feel it sluggishly oozing through my veins like Elmer's school glue. The marriage of Ro-Tel, Velveeta, and chorizo is one of the greater concoctions on the planet though. Can't stop, won't stop. Don't care how radioactive it is.
Love, peace, and chorizo grease.
"You can tell it's an aspen tree because of the way it is."


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In addition to the wonderful staff at ICS, the doctors below are instrumental in suggesting what features are added into our product's clinical workflows.
We take your content, data security and requirements very seriously. That is why we have worked closely with each of the below doctors to make sure our software has what it needs to ensure your compliance and ease of use.


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Hummus a delicious healthy creamy spread that can be eaten so many ways. I have always been a huge fan of hummus, but have never tried making my own until now. If you have never been tempted to try hummus before you should give it a try. This spread is made of mostly chick peas (or garbanzo beans if you prefer to call it) tahini (a sesame paste) and yogurt. Some recipes call for oil, but I rather omit that for a more fat free version.
Instead of dipping your veggie sticks into a tub of fatty ranch dressing try dipping it in hummus instead. You can use it in a sandwich in replace of mayo or in a wrap. Hummus can be used a dip for pretzels, crackers, tortilla chips, pita chips, pita bread, flat bread, and even sliced apples! Continue reading


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Using SalsaScript to Build a Custom Homepage
If you want to use SalsaScript to build custom pages for your organization, you can do so using the website management package.
With this package, you can create custom pages using whatever templates you'd like and drop SalsaScript into it at any appropriate point.
The important thing to note is that you cannot drop SalsaScript into the pages that you create directly, but you can do so in the templates you create. So, we will use a template.
- Navigate to the Website management package in your Salsa account.
- Find your Template section and create a new template. You can either do this manually or use Salsa's template extractor, but cannot use the Political Templates package.
- Make sure you're set to edit the source code of this template.
- In the body section, create a new div element and add the following code in:
<? var supporters = DB.getObjects('supporter', { orderBy: ['Date_Created DESC'], limit: '5', includes: ['First_Name', 'Last_Name'] } ); // Loop through and print supporters for each (record in supporters) { ?> Superstar: <?=(record.First_Name + " " + record.Last_Name) ?> <?}?>
This specific code does two things:
- use DB.getObjects() to create an object called supporters that contains the first name and last name of the five most recently created supporters,
- loop through the supporters object and print out a string that says "Superstar : " before the first and last name of each supporter
In this case we have used SalsaScript in the same way that front end developers have been using PHP with HTML and CSS for years. This will update dynamically every time the page is loaded.
- Now that we have this in our template, we can create a home page for ourselves with the template.
- You will note that at this point, we are only creating content for the page. All the SalsaScript lifting was done in the template.
- The final product will look like this:
This was done using a basic Salsa training template, but you can use any template that you'd like and create any Salsa functionality that you'd like in the template.
You are only restricted by your imagination!


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I always struck me as being one of the weirdest music videos ever made as there doesn't seem to be a point to the surreal library setting. The Rabbi and the Chimp, for example. This is why it is a perfect video to sing literal lyrics to:
Head Over Heels - Tears For Fears - Literal Video Version


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Choosing Hitch Jacks
First, when choosing hitch jacks, it's important to know your trailer and its tongue dimensions. For example, you will see jacks that say "fits tongues up to 3" x 5." Some hitch jacks bolt onto the tongue itself; others require drilling, and some do not come with installation equipment.
Next, know how much you'll be carrying. Your jack needs to be strong enough to lift what you'll be towing. Fortunately, there are a wide variety of jacks out there to suit your hitch, from ones that can pump up an 800-pound mini-trailer with a motorcycle on the back to heavy-duty jacks that can support 5,000 pounds or more.
You should also note the ground clearance of the tongue. The jack won't do any good if it can't reach the pavement, so jacks come in different lengths to suit different trailers. Some jacks come with wheel casters on the bottoms. These small wheels aren't meant to be left on while you're driving, they do make storing the trailer in your garage a little easier. If you're towing a boat, get a hitch jack that won't corrode or rust with exposure to water.
Finally, you may want to consider purchasing a power jack. Rather than having to manually crank the trailer up and down, which can be time consuming and physically difficult, these jacks plug into the vehicle's battery and raise and lower themselves. These are often more expensive than manual towing accessories.
In the next section, we'll learn how to stay safe when using a hitch jack.


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In 2003, German television network ZDF broadcast claimed that Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein was frequently replaced with doubles for TV appearances. This analysis was based on sophisticated measuring techniques, which detected discrepancies in the position of Hussein's facial features and blemishes from appearance to appearance. It was supported by the opinion of Jerrald Post, the man who created the CIA's Psychological Profile Unit.[22] It was also alleged that Austrian politician Jörg Haider had actually met a double when he thought he was meeting Hussein.
... A German forensic pathologist studied hundreds of Hussein photos and videotapes, concentrating on his mustache and eyebrow measurements.
Then he used computer software to locate specific points such as the tip of his nose and the cheekbone creating a face print which was compared to the Hussein photographs.
His conclusion: that there are three Hussein impersonators, all with small, distinct differences.
Intelligence officials have long suspected that the Iraqi president makes ample use of body-doubles -- an idea reinforced two weeks ago when a German television news program asked a forensic pathologist to examine hundreds of archived photographs and video stills of the Iraqi leader. The pathologist, Dr. Dieter Buhmann of Homberg University in Saarland, determined that there are at least three Saddam Hussein lookalikes in rotation, making public appearances, firing rifles, smoking cigars, waving and strutting. (The doubles rarely speak, it was suggested, because Mr. Hussein has an inimitable lisp.)
Iraqi dissidents have told stories of impostor Husseins in the past -- of recruitment schemes and plastic surgery, of training in mannerisms, strides and tics. The differences can seem remarkably subtle. In some instances, Dr. Buhmann suggested, the face of the doppelgänger was just a hair too wide. In others, the area under the mouth was just a bit too small and too low...Indeed, the pop-culture fascination with cloak-and-dagger devices like doubles, disguises and decoys tends to give Mr. Hussein's use of lookalikes a sort of buffoonish quality. But this is serious business, with a long history. And it would be naive, some intelligence officials have suggested, to think that everyone isn't playing the game...
''It's definitely a play that one wants to have in their arsenal,'' Mr. Mendez said. ''It's the sort of thing that comes to mind immediately when you think about the good guys and the bad guys. The idea of bilocation -- of being able to be in two places at once -- is key to some situations of security,'' he said. ''Everyone uses it.''
JUST what lengths a government like Iraq might go to is only a matter of resources. Finding lookalikes willing to serve a higher calling isn't difficult, Mr. Mendez said, particularly when patriotic passions are inflamed. Makeup artists are deft at making temporary changes. And turning to plastic surgery for more permanent alterations is common in every corner of international intrigue. Iraq is not likely to be an exception.
... Moslem al-Asadi, a doctor living in exile in Iran, said he believes the real Saddam died in 1999 from cancer.
"The real Saddam died because he had cancer of the lymph nodes, and since his death in 1999 they're just showing his doubles" he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
In a plot reminiscent of the Hollywood tale of a body double subbing for an incapacitated American president titled "Dave," al-Asadi claims Saddam's sons, his first wife and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz run a scheme to keep the truth under wraps using three doubles. Al-Asadi alleges Saddam's younger son, Qusay, actually holds presidential authority...Days later, Iraqi state television showed footage of him chairing meetings with top officials.
But U.S. and British intelligence suspected the footage was prerecorded prior to the attacks...Despite the reference to Umm Qasr, British intelligence thought the broadcast may have been prerecorded.
"We are well aware that he spent many hours recently tape-recording various messages. We have to do a little more analysis of what he was actually saying to see whether or not that in fact was Saddam Hussein," British Defense Minister Geoff Hoon told reporters.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer echoed the suspicion.
"I think there are some doubts about whether that tape is canned or whether it's fresh and based on recent events. It would not be a surprise if Saddam Hussein had some time ago put in the can numerous statements designed to be released later," he said...
"The voice is easy to simulate and doubles constantly study video and audio records," argued al-Asadi.
The exile maintains the footage purported to be Saddam Hussein provides the evidence to support his claim that look-alikes are all that remains of the dictator.
Specifically, he asserts Saddam had big, oval ears but one of the doubles' ears do not match Saddam's, which had a special bend. Al-Asadi also said Saddam has an overbite, but one of the doubles doesn't have such a defect. While Saddam has wide and strong shoulders, those of two doubles are narrow and almost sloping. Saddam had big hands, said al-Asadi, while one of doubles has small hands. Lastly, a second long finger of one of the doubles doesn't match that of the real thing.
Corriere della Sera reports the testimony of former doubles corroborates al-Asadi's thesis.
Longtime bodyguard Saddam Michael Ramadan in 1979 wrote in the book "In Saddam's shadow" that the Iraqi leader was so ill he was dependent on pain killers, according to the newspaper. Ramadan is reportedly now under the protection of the CIA.
The paper quotes another former bodyguard, who fled Iraq for Israel two months ago as declaring, "Saddam whom you now see, was photographed some years ago."
... And in Iraq we tried to implement the same policy that was so successful in Saudi Arabia, but Saddam Hussein didn't buy. When the economic hit men fail in this scenario, the next step is what we call the jackals. Jackals are C.I.A.-sanctioned people that come in and try to foment a coup or revolution. If that doesn't work, they perform assassinations. or try to. In the case of Iraq, they weren't able to get through to Saddam Hussein. He had—His bodyguards were too good. He had doubles. They couldn't get through to him...
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions," November 09, 2004, http://www.democracynow.org/2004/11/9/confessions_of_an_economic_hit_man
Sajida Heiralla Tuffah, after the Russians demanded she be allowed to visit her imprisoned husband Saddam in Qatar:
"Sajida arrived from Syria with her official escort Sheikh Hamad Al-Tani, and then entered the prison, emerging only moments later pink with rage and shouting, "This is not my husband but his double. Where is my husband? Take me to my husband".
American officials rushed forward to shield Mrs Saddam from perplexed Russian observers, trying to insist that Saddam had changed a lot while in custody and she probably didn't recognise him. This was certainly not the best way to handle the Iraqi President's wife. "You think I do not know my husband?" Sajida shouted furiously, "I was married to the man for more than twenty-five years!" Then she stormed off, never to return."
Parisoula Lampsos, who says she was Saddam's mistress over a period of nearly 30 years, told U.S. officials and ABCNEWS that the man who appeared on TV was not Saddam.
For starters, she said, the real Saddam has an unusual tattoo: two dots on his left hand that he received in prison years ago. But his eyes are the real giveaway, she said.
During planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the CIA's Iraq Operations Group kicked around a number of ideas for discrediting Saddam Hussein in the eyes of his people.One was to create a video purporting to show the Iraqi dictator having sex with a teenage boy, according to two former CIA officials familiar with the project."It would look like it was taken by a hidden camera," said one of the former officials. "Very grainy, like it was a secret videotaping of a sex session."The idea was to then "flood Iraq with the videos," the former official said.Another idea was to interrupt Iraqi television programming with a fake special news bulletin. An actor playing Hussein would announce that he was stepping down in favor of his (much-reviled) son Uday."I'm sure you will throw your support behind His Excellency Uday," the fake Hussein would intone.The spy agency's Office of Technical Services collaborated on the ideas, which also included inserting fake "crawls" -- messages at the bottom of the screen -- into Iraqi newscasts...The reality, the former officials said, was that the agency really didn't have enough money and expertise to carry out the projects."The military took them over," said one. "They had assets in psy-war down at Ft. Bragg," at the army's special warfare center...
Jeff Stein, CIA unit's wacky idea: Depict Saddam as gay, May 25, 2010.
Email Tina at faulconandsnowjob at hotmail dot com.
Reptilians, Cetaceans and Frequency Wars on Planet Earth


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cosmology, area of science that aims at a comprehensive theory of the structure and evolution of the entire physical universe.
Modern Cosmological Theories
Present models of the universe hold two fundamental premises: the cosmological principle and the dominant role of gravitation. Derived by Hubble, the cosmological principle holds that if a large enough sample of galaxies is considered, the universe looks the same from all positions and in all directions in space. The second point of agreement is that gravitation (or an antigravitation force, called dark energy) is the most important force in shaping the universe. According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, which is a geometric interpretation of gravitation, matter produces gravitational effects by actually distorting the space about it; the curvature of space is described by a form of non-Euclidean geometry. A number of cosmological theories satisfy both the cosmological principle and general relativity. The two main theories are the big-bang hypothesis and the steady-state hypothesis, with many variations on each basic approach.
The Steady-State Theory
According to the steady-state theory, now of historical interest only, the universe expands, but new matter is continuously created at all points in space left by the receding galaxies. The theory implies that the universe has always expanded, with no beginning or end, at a uniform rate and that it always will expand and maintain a constant density.
The Big-Bang Theory
According to big-bang theories, at the beginning of time, all of the matter and energy in the universe was concentrated in a very dense state, from which it "exploded," with the resulting expansion continuing until the present. This big bang is dated between 10 and 20 billion years ago, most likely c.13.75 billion years ago. In this initial state, the universe was very hot and contained a thermal soup of quarks, electrons, photons, and other elementary particles. The temperature rapidly decreased, falling from 1013 degrees Kelvin after the first microsecond to about one billion degrees after three minutes. As the universe cooled, the quarks condensed into protons and neutrons, the building blocks of atomic nuclei. Some of these were converted into helium nuclei by fusion; the relative abundance of hydrogen and helium is used as a test of the theory. After many millions of years the expanding universe, at first a very hot gas, thinned and cooled enough to condense into individual galaxies and then stars.
Several spectacular discoveries since 1950 have shed new light on the problem. Optical and radio astronomy complemented each other in the discovery of the quasars and the radio galaxies. It is believed that the energy reaching us now from some of these objects was emitted not long after the creation of the universe. Further evidence for the big-bang theory was the discovery in 1965 that a cosmic background noise is received from every part of the sky. This background radiation has the same intensity and distribution of frequencies in all directions and is not associated with any individual celestial object. It has a blackbody temperature of 2.7°K (-270°C) and is interpreted as the electromagnetic remnant of the primordial fireball, stretched to long wavelengths by the expansion of the universe. More recently, the analysis of radiation from distant celestial objects detected by artificial satellites and orbiting observatories has given additional evidence for the big-bang theory.
Development of Modern Cosmology
The earliest pre-Ptolemaic theories assumed that the earth was the center of the universe (see Ptolemaic system). With the acceptance of the heliocentric, or sun-centered, theory (see Copernican system), the nature and extent of the solar system began to be realized. The Milky Way, a vast collection of stars separated by enormous distances, came to be called a galaxy and was thought to constitute the entire universe with the sun at or near its center. By studying the distribution of globular star clusters the American astronomer Harlow Shapley was able to give the first reliable indication of the size of the galaxy and the position of the sun within it. Modern estimates show it to have a diameter of about 100,000 light-years with the sun toward the edge of the disk, about 28,000 light-years from the center.
During the first two decades of the 20th cent. astronomers came to realize that some of the faint hazy patches in the sky, called nebulae, are not within our own galaxy, but are separate galaxies at great distances from the Milky Way. Willem de Sitter of Leyden suggested that the universe began as a single point and expands without end. After studying the red shift (see Doppler effect) in the spectral lines of the distant galaxies, the American astronomers Edwin Hubble and M. L. Humason concluded that the universe is expanding, with the galaxies appearing to fly away from each other at great speeds. According to Hubble's law, the expansion of the universe is approximately uniform. The greater the distance between any two galaxies, the greater their relative speed of separation.
At the end of the 20th cent. the study of very distant supernovas led to the belief that the cosmic expansion was accelerating. To explain this cosmologists postulated a repulsive force, dark energy, that counteracts gravity and pushes galaxies apart. It also appears that the universe has been expanding at different rates over its cosmic history. This led to a variation of the big-bang theory in which, under the influence of gravity, the expansion slowed initially and then, under the influence of dark energy, suddenly accelerated. It is estimated that this "cosmic jerk" occurred five billion years ago, about the time the solar system was formed. This theory postulates a flat, expanding universe with a composition of c.70% dark energy, c.30% dark matter, and c.0.5% bright stars.
A number of questions must be answered, however, before cosmologists can establish a single, comprehensive theory. The expansion rate and age of the universe must be established. The nature and density of the missing mass, the dark matter and dark energy that is far more abundant than ordinary, visible matter, must be identified. The total mass of the universe must be determined to establish whether it is sufficient to support an equilibrium condition—a state in which the universe will neither collapse of its own weight nor expand into diminishing infinity. Such an equilibrium is called "omega equals one," where omega is the ratio between the actual density of the universe and the critical density required to support equilibrium. If omega is greater than one, the universe would have too much mass and its gravity would cause a cosmic collapse. If omega is less than one, the low-density universe would expand forever. Today the most widely accepted picture of the universe is an omega-equals-one system of hundreds of billions of galaxies, many of them clustered in groups of hundreds or thousands, spread over a volume with a diameter of at least 10 billion light-years and all receding from each other, with the speeds of the most widely separated galaxies approaching the speed of light. On a more detailed level there is great diversity of opinion, and cosmology remains a highly speculative and controversial science.
See D. W. Sciama, Modern Cosmology and the Dark Matter Problem (1993); J. D. Barrow, The Origin of the Universe (1994); P. Coles and F. Lucchin, Cosmology: The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Structure (1995); M. S. Longair, Our Evolving Universe (1996); B. Green, The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (2000); S. Hawking, The Universe in a Nutshell (2001); R. P. Kirshner, The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and Accelerating Cosmos (2002); S. Singh, Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe (2005).


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It's not that I've abandoned all my old interests: I still love history and music and literature and intellectual pursuits. But the direction of all those things has changed since turning 40.
In general, I seem to have started taking more of an interest in the past, particularly the past 150 years or so.
"You say you love history; isn't history ALREADY about the past?" you may ask.
Well of course, but what I mean is that my musical and literary and even film/TV interests have, in recent years, turned towards events of the last 150 years. I've found myself listening to what I call "Old Timey" music (I have a so-named playlist on Amazon music that has nearly 150 songs ranging from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s), watching old TV shows and movies, and reading 19th and early 20th century novels.
If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know I've been working on a songbook of "old timey" songs that I am arranging for solo piano. I just finished an H. Rider Haggard novel from 1886 and have since started a Jack London novel from 1908. This is the second Jack London novel I've read in the last 6 months and the eighth book I've read in the last year from the late 19th or early 20th century (and that's not counting a biography of Zachary Taylor - president in the 1840s - that I read a few months back).
I've also started occasionally watching old movies and, especially, old TV shows. For instance, I've been making my way through the original Twilight Zone series over the last year or two, and I recently watched a movie from the 1970s that was about World War One. I've been watching The Three Stooges and The Little Rascals on Hulu and hoping for them to get M*A*S*H.
In addition to my "Old Timey" music on Amazon, I've also, in recent years, really gotten interested in classic country from the 40s through the 70s. I've got three different playlists of that music on Amazon Music (I'm listening to one right now, actually).
I enjoy watching shows on KET and PBS about early Kentucky and early America. I especially like old documentaries from the 70s and 80s on various topics (I watched one recently that was made in the 1970s and was about a Kentucky Derby clock that was being made by a Louisville artist who smoked like a freight train).
|This is the clock in question, still on display in Louisville
I'm not sure why I've had this sudden interest in various aspects of the last 150 years, but I think it might have to do with being more "in touch" with my grandparents and great-grandparents.
"What the HELL are you talking about now, Schmoo?" I hear you asking.
It may be another aspect of reaching middle age, but I have started thinking about my grandparents and great-grandparents a lot more in recent years, and even "talking" to them on occasion.
I was not one of those who was blessed to have my grandparents (or great-grandparents) alive during a significant period of my adulthood. My parents were both the youngest of three children and my grandparents were all already in their 60s when I was born. By the time I was old enough to remember them, my grandparents were already "elderly." Three of my four grandparents lived into my adulthood, and my Dad's mother didn't die until I was 34, but after my childhood, I saw very little of my grandparents because they all lived out of town and I only saw them once or twice a year on average. And by then, between the distance and their increasing ages, it was hard to have any sort of "relationship" with them.
In any case, since turning 40, I have found myself wanting to "connect" with my grandparents by experiencing the things they would have experienced - like the TV shows they would have watched or the music they would have listened to. Classic country music, for instance, makes me feel close to my grandfathers, knowing that it's the sort of music they liked listening to. Right now, "Sweet Dreams of Kentucky" is playing on my playlist. It's a song by Grandpa Jones of "Hee Haw" fame. I associated my Dad's father very closely with Grandpa Jones. They were born within a couple of years from each other in neighboring Kentucky counties and my Papaw loved a Grandpa Jones song called "8 More Miles to Louisville." I also have many memories of watching Hee Haw with my grandparents.
|As he got older, Grandpa Jones didn't have to wear make-up anymore
Now, a song by Tennessee Ernie Ford is playing - "Shotgun Boogie." Another Tennessee Ernie song, called "16 Tons," reminds me strongly of my Mom's father, because it's a song about coal miners written by Merle Travis, who was from the same western Kentucky county that my Grandaddy was from. My Grandaddy was also a coal miner. So this song is, to me, basically about Oscar Kirby and the life he lived.
|Oscar with a gigantic cigar
In the same way, listening to, or playing on the piano, Stephen Foster songs, and other songs from the 19th century and early 20th century, reminds me, in general, of the lives my great- and great-great grandparents led, even though I didn't really know any of them. I know their names, thanks to Ancestry.com, and listening to the popular music of their lives makes me feel a connection with them.
Why, in middle age, has feeling a connection with my ancestors become so important to me? I don't know the answer to that. I just know that it's a thing now. I want to feel close to the ancestors I never knew or only knew for a brief time, and delving into the popular culture of their lives helps me to feel connected to them.


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It's a fact. Your ability to recall significant events in your life will fade with time. Memories can get swept between the sheets, as it were.
The guys who promised they'd always respect you, and the men you promised to remember...well, after time they begin to morph into mush.
That's why we offer this remarkable spray! With a single squirt on your tongue, your brain may begin to sort out the former fun. Be careful though, you could die laughing.
Peppermint Flavor .25 fl. oz./ 7.5ml. A hilarious gift for your promiscuous best friends.