text:
Part of Ethics Education Boot Camp
I have posted some interesting material and files on the following post:
|CPE session
|Ethics Boot Camp
|Ali Abdolmohammadi
Kind regards
Anton du Toit
Director: Accountancy Studies, Monash South Africa
From the AICPA on June 28, 2012
Three ethics resources for CPA, CGMAs
With the importance of ethics and non-financial reporting rising on the global agenda, CGMAs are in a unique position to make an important contribution to creating a sustainable ethical operating environment. The AICPA and CIMA have developed a number of resources to assist CPA, CGMAs in guiding their organizations to long-term sustainability and success. The Ethical reflection checklist is designed to provide organizations and individuals with an overview of how well ethical practices are embedded in the business. The CGMA case study: Navigating ethical issues highlights issues related to non-disclosure at the corporate level that come to the attention of non-executive financial managers and controllers. Responding to ethical dilemmas: CGMA ethics resources provides links to resources to help CGMAs navigate ethical dilemmas and respond in a manner that upholds their professional
Bob Jensen's threads on professionalism in auditing ---
Bob Jensen's threads on Tools and Tricks of the Trade ---
i Marc,
I've not had first-hand experience with ethics games. But here are a few ideas (not all are accounting games):.
Ethics Games and Puzzles (and other ethics learning resources) --- http://www.ethics.org/resource/ethics-games-and-puzzles
Putting Yourself in Somebody Else's Shoes --- http://thinkingethics.typepad.com/thinking_ethics/games/
Situation Ethics Games --- http://www.rsrevision.com/games/alevel/situationethics.htm
Scruples Game --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scruples_%28game%29
Ethics Training Games --- http://www.ehow.com/info_8028940_ethics-training-games-ideas.html
This has a "brainstorming category."
Concept Mapping is a type of brainstorming --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#ConceptMaps
There's a good brainstorming accountics science paper in
"Auditors' Use of Brainstorming in the Consideration of Fraud: Reports from the Field," The Accounting Review, 2010, Vol 85, No. 4
John A. Schatzel at Stonehill College does research on simulation games for teaching auditing, some of which entail ethics ---
You must have access to the AAA Commons for the above link.
John posts to the AECM on occasion. Maybe he will read this and help us out.
You might consider easy-to-use software for making your own games
"Games in the Classroom (part 3)," by Anastasia Salter, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 30, 2011 ---
The challenge of finding a game for the classroom can be difficult, particularly when the games you've imagined doesn't exist. And if you wait for a particular challenge or topic to make its way into game form, it might be a while. Educational games and "serious" games haven't always kept up with the rest of video gaming, in part because there's no high return. Modern game development tends towards large teams and impressive budgets, and these resources are rarely used on explicitly educational productions. While efforts like the STEM Video Game Challenge provide incentives for new learning games, and commercial titles can often be adapted for the classroom, there's still more potential than games have yet reached.
But if you have a new concept for playful learning, you can still bring it to life for your classroom. There are two ways to start thinking about making games in the classroom: the first is to build a game yourself, and the second is to engage students in making games as a way to express their own understanding.
You're probably not a game designer, although there's a game for that: Gamestar Mechanic can help you "level up" from player to designer. But it's also important to remember building games rarely happens alone: as with digital humanities projects, games lend themselves to collaboration. If you have a game design program (or even a single course) at your university or a neighboring school, there might be an opportunity to partner your students with them towards creating valuable content-based educational games. Similarly, there may be other faculty who are interested in collaborating on grant-funded projects to build new educational experiences, or collective and expanding projects like Reacting to the Past (which many readers cited as a classroom game system of choice). You might also find collaborators, inspiration and games in progress through communities such as Gameful, a "secret HQ for making world-changing games"–and community manager Nathan Maton has a few things to say about building serious games for education.
There's also a difference between making a game or asking your students to make a game as an expression of content for pedagogical purposes and making a game in the industry. Even a flawed game can provide an opportunity for learning and discussion. And your students will often bring a wealth of their own experiences with games to the process, offering them a chance to make new connections with your course material.
Ready to try making games? Here are a few tools for getting started.
- Board and card games can be a great first project, particularly for students. Digital games are flashy, but board and card games offer the advantages of structured play with a lower barrier to entry. They can also be good practice for learning the mechanics and structure of games without getting bogged down in programming and logic. We've all played some version of classroom jeopardy before, and it remains an example of taking game-like mechanics and applying them to any content–but when content guides the way, board games can transcend these roots.
- Inform 7 is a modern heir to text-based games, and it's a free development tool that's perfect for interpreting and building worlds without needing visual elements. Aaron Reed's Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 is a thorough guide to the system. The Voices of Spoon River IF offers one example of literary instruction through the form, while Nick Montfort's Book and Volume demonstrates the potential for systematic logic. There's even the ECG Paper Chase IF for a meta-experience on the origin of gaming and educational technology. (Curveship, a newer interactive narrative platform, is less friendly to non-programmers than Inform 7 but offers some impressive possibilities.)
- GameMaker (with a free lite version) allows for building games on two levels: at the surface is an easy to manipulate, graphical interface for building games. Beneath that, an advanced scripting language allows for the possibility of delving further. The GameMaker's Apprentice textbook goes step-by-step through making a variety of basic games drawn from arcade genre standbys, many of which could serve as the basis for more creative projects while also offering the tools to build procedural literacy and digital skills.
- GameSalad is a free tool for building simple games. While GameSalad is only available for Macs, it offers a code-free way to create graphical games for both mobile platforms and HTML5. It's relatively new, and most of the educational games created for it aim at the younger crowd of kid-friendly mobile apps, but it definitely offers the chance for experience with logic and rapid prototyping.
"Games in the Classroom (part 4)," by Anastasia Salter, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 6, 2011 ---
Throughout this series, we've talked about why you might want to use games in the classroom, how you can find them, and how to start making your own. But games can also inspire us to rethink our classrooms at a structural level, and particularly as sites for collaboration and playful learning that can extend long beyond a single lesson plan. Game designers are pointing out the similarities between games and the classroom. Extra Credits, a video series by game designers taking a deeper look at the form, recently did an episode on Gamifying Education that provides a great starting point for a conversation on game-inspired classroom design.
For ideas on getting started, I recently spoke with Lee Sheldon, author of the recently released The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game (Cengage Learning 2011), whose book chronicles both his own and others' experiments with taking the structures, terminology, and concepts of a massive multiplayer role-playing game and applying them to the classroom. You can check out Lee Sheldon's syllabus at his blog on Gaming the Classroom, along with more of his reflections on the experiment, which divided his students into guilds and encouraged them to "level up" through the semester. After using the course model in its latest iteration, he reported perfect attendance. He also notes the value in his system of "grading by attrition"—students are not being punished for failing, but instead rewarded for progressing and thus less likely to be defeated early.
As a professional game designer teaching courses on game design, Lee Sheldon has a natural environment for innovation–but his concepts open the door for a conversation across disciplines. Lee Sheldon describes his model as "designing the class as a game"—so not just focusing on extrinsic rewards (the typical focus of gamification), but instead trying to promote "opportunities for collaboration" and "intrinsic rewards from helping others." As game designers, like teachers, are focused on creating an experience, many of the strategies for building a class as game are similar to more traditional preparation. And he advises that these ideas can work for anyone: "You don't have to a be a game designer…you can prep like putting together a lesson plan, but learn the terminology." Lee Sheldon explains that one of the benefits of using games as a model is that a game is abstracted—it has to "feel real", but you get to "take out the stuff that isn't fun." He also notes that "You can do just about anything in a game that you can do in real life," and the wealth of games today is a testament to that range of possibilities.
Lee Sheldon and his team at RPI are now working on an experiment with their new Emergent Reality Lab that offers a possible future for courses as games. He explained their current project, teaching Mandarin Chinese as an alternate reality game, as a "Maltese Falcon-esque mystery" narrative—the class will start out as usual, in a normal classroom, but it will be interrupted and move into the lab as the students take a virtual journey across China aided by motion-aware Kinect interfaces in an immersive environment. Lee Sheldon said that his ideal outcome would be for students to learn more Chinese than they would in a traditional class.
Continued in article
Edutainment Idea for Class
This might be a fun thing to try in class.
The instructor could identify three students in the class that have some cartoon drawing skills.
Then the three-column Jeopardy-like listing of choices could be presented to the class where the choices relate to accounting issues.
Students pick one issue from each column.
The cartoon-drawing students could then commence their cartoons.
While they're drawing, the instructor could show New Yorker's accounting cartoons to the class. At The New Yorker Website it is possible to drill down to accounting cartoons.
Video: Improv With New Yorker Cartoonists --- Click Here
You could have students draw accounting ethics cartoons similar to those wonderful cartoons that appear in the New Yorker.
Educational Comics Collection --- http://contentdm.unl.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/edcomics
Hollywood's Accounting, Ethics, and Business Movies --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNovels.htm
Professor Roselyn Morris has a listing of ethics movies and some accounting movies---
"Perceptions of accountants' ethics: evidence from their portrayal in cinema.: by Felton, S., Dimnik, T. and Bay, D. (2008, December). Journal of Business Ethics, 83(2), 217-232.
Abstract: "This article examines popular representations of accountants' ethics by studying their depiction in cinema. As a medium that both reflects and shapes public opinion, films provide a useful resource for exploring the portrayal of the profession's ethics. We employ a values theoretical framework to analyze 110 movie accountants on their basic ethical character, ethical behavior, and values."
Hollywood Accounting --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
Spout's Movies Tagged for Accounting --- http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/accounting/MemberTagFilms.aspx
Amazon's Wall Street Movies --- http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Movies/lm/R2Q5QMM6BWWEAL
And here are some entrepreneur movies. Of course there are countless movies that feature business (usually in a bad light).
"Must-See Movies for Entrepreneurs," by Anthony Tjan, Harvard Business Review Blog, March 12, 2010 ---
After the Oscars last weekend, I started to think about which movies have really inspired me as an entrepreneur. Here are three films I believe that you should not only see, but also share with your teams. Each ties to an important entrepreneurial and leadership lesson.
Man on Wire
A story of the fanatical pursuit of a dream. Philippe Petit, a French tightrope walker, was consumed by the idea of walking a wire between New York's former World Trade twin towers. To do so, he would need years of planning and would have to do it as a covert mission. When I first watched this film, I did not know if it was based on a true story or not. The narrative and grainy black-and-white shots made me constantly question whether I was wishing for this to be true or if it was just brilliant story-telling. The fact that Petit is real and actually accomplished the feat in August of 1974 is beyond incredible. In an earlier post, I wrote about the thin line that great entrepreneurs balance between what Oscar Levant described as genius and insanity. You want someone like Petit to succeed because it seems so improbable and outlandish that it takes a creative visionary with some degree of craziness to pull it off. Seeing this movie is an inspiration for those who dare to think differently and push the boundaries.
More than a Game
This is the inspiring story of a high school basketball team and their quest for the national title. It is also happens to be the documentary of the high school basketball team on which superstar Lebron James played. I loved this movie for so many reasons, but the inspiration for entrepreneurs is in the unfolding of how Lebron and four of his closest friends from childhood pursued a dream, Starting as a team of fifth graders playing and growing up together in some of the poorest neighborhoods and practicing in a Salvation Army basketball court with linoleum floors. The movie highlights how the journey is always as important as the ultimate goal and inspires us to believe that almost anything is possible with the right people and right dedication.
Slumdog Millionaire
A hugely successful film about how you can create your own luck. So many successful entrepreneurs I have met talk about the role of luck in their careers, but it is equally true that they put themselves in the pathway of opportunity. In some ways this movie was like a modern day Bollywood version of Forrest Gump (we all need a little Bubba Gump shrimp luck in our lives). Both are believable tales because of the attitudes of the protagonists who, like great entrepreneurs, have a boundless optimism and openness that allow luck to come to them.
That's it for my Siskel and Ebert moment. I'll see you all at Netflix.
A lot of ethics cases are available ---
Bob Jensen's threads on edutainment ---
Ethical Video Dilemmas for use in the classroom from KPMG --- Click Here
"Business Ethics" (Judge) Richard Posner, Becker-Posner Blog, March 3, 2013 ---
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting ethics ---
"Business Ethics" (Judge) Richard Posner, Becker-Posner Blog, March 3, 2013 ---
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting ethics ---
Can Ethics Be Taught?
"Crazy Eddie Revisited: Old Lessons for Today's Accountants," by Anthony H. Catanach Jr., Grumpy Old Accountant, June 7, 2013 ---
Note especially Item 4 in the above link.
All this points to another and related tension. This is the tension between the ideology view and the concept of the rule of law, the centrepiece of a liberal legal order. At their most basic, the terms the rule of law, due process, procedural justice, legal formality, procedural rationality, justice as regularity, all refer to the idea that law should meet certain procedural requirements so that the individual is enabled to obey it. These requirements center on the principle that the law be general, that it take the form of rules. Law by definition should be directed to more than a particular situation or individual; the rule of law also requires that law be relatively certain, clearly expressed, open, prospective and adequately publicised.
Jensen Comment
The question is where do ethics codes fit in between law's rules and ideology. Also at issue is how rule-like codes of ethics become become laws over time. Also at issue are sanctions. With rules of law there are procedural requirements for enforcing those rules. Ethics seems to fit more into a gray zone when rules of laws are not broken but morality standards (ideologies) have been violated.
An interesting aspect of this thread would be examples where laws are not broken but ethics codes are violated. For example I don't think there are statutes dictating that a supervisor cannot date or have sexual relations with an employee being supervised. Many business firms and governmental agencies, however, consider this to be unethical and actually have rules against such behavior even if it is not illegal in the statutes.
There are no statutes to my knowledge that college instructors cannot campaign for particular political candidates in their classrooms. However, the AAUP and most colleges consider this a breach of ethics in the classroom. Instructors can and have been suspended for such political activism in classrooms. But more often than not the instructor is simply advised not to campaign in the classroom. Further actions are taken if the instructor repeatedly and egregiously ignores the advice.
The ideology in this case is that instructors should teach but not indoctrinate. Ethics codes become somewhat specific regarding what constitutes indoctrination. But the sanctions are often vague. Laws become even more specific what constitutes violation of law such as offering bribes or making physical threats. Such laws are enforceable to a point where the courts rather than the employer decides on the punishments. And the sentencing guidelines can be quite specific.
""Ten Commandments" for Today's CFO," by Anthony H. Catanach Jr., Grumpy Old Accountants, September 17, 2013 ---
"How not to cut ethical corners as economic growth slows in emerging markets," by Sabine Vollmer, CGMA Magazine, October 10, 2013 ---
Challenging economic conditions are increasing the risk of unethical practices in markets around the world, according to EY surveys in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
After years of rapid growth, economies in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known collectively as the BRICS, have slowed considerably, International Monetary Fund data show. The economic environment has also gotten more difficult in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
EY surveys found that many companies in these countries are under increased pressure to meet targets of their investors and owners. In countries where enforcement of anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws is less rigorous, survey respondents perceived a rise in unethical practices. The surveys involved 681 executives, senior managers and other employees at companies in eight Asia-Pacific countries and more than 3,000 board members, managers and their team members in 36 European, African and Middle Eastern countries.
While regulatory efforts to tackle fraud and corruption seem to be improving in China, where only 9% of respondents said using bribery to win contracts is common practice in their industry, 79% of respondents in Indonesia reported widespread bribery and corruption.
In South Korea, where investigations into alleged bribery are underway at state-owned enterprises, 86% of respondents said their companies have policies that are good in principle but do not work well in practice.
In India, 74% of respondents reported increased pressure to deliver good financial performance in the next 12 months, and 54% of respondents said their companies often make their financial performance look better than reality.
Respondents in Spain and Russia reported the highest incidence of misleading financial statements (61%).
About half of all respondents in Malaysia (54%) said their companies are likely to take ethical short cuts to meet targets when economic times are tough, or double the Asia-Pacific average (27%).
Local application is key
"The majority of businesses surveyed have created or are in the process of creating policies and procedures to deal with fraud, bribery and corruption," Chris Fordham, an EY managing partner for Asia-Pacific, observed in the introduction of one of the survey reports. "However, too often we see a disconnect in the local application of these policies and tools."
The Asia-Pacific findings echo results of the survey involving European, Middle Eastern, Indian and African companies, Fordham said.
Big data technology. Seventy-eight per cent of the Asia-Pacific respondents agreed that tapping the large volumes of data companies generate and collect routinely to examine all company transactions would result in better fraud detection and more effective prevention of corruption, but only 53% do it. In several Asia-Pacific countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, IT investments are still seen more as a burden than a tool.
Whistleblower programmes. Eighty-one per cent of the Asia-Pacific respondents considered them useful, mainly because whistleblower programmes are easy to access and employees are willing to use them, but only 32% set them up. Concerns about potential retribution and lack of legal protection and confidentiality prevent implementation of whistleblower programmes. Thirty-four per cent of respondents in Europe, Africa and the Middle East said their companies had whistleblower programmes.
Codes of conduct. About half of the respondents in Europe, Africa and the Middle East said their companies had anti-bribery codes of conducts with clear penalties for breaking them and that senior management was strongly committed to the codes of conduct. Forty-eight per cent said certain unethical practices, such as offering gifts or cash to win business or falsifying financial statements, are justified to help a business survive an economic downturn. In Asia-Pacific, 40% of respondents said their companies have anti-bribery codes of conduct, but only 34% include clear penalties and senior management at only 35% of companies were seen as strongly committed to compliance.
How to better manage the risks
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on professionalism and ethics ---
Bob Jensen's threads on managerial accounting ---
"Cheating Scandals at the Navy and Air Force bring Integrity into Question: Ethics Failures can be attributed to the Culture of the Military Services," by Steven Mintz, Ethics Sage, February 11, 2014 ---
Fraud --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud
Ethics --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics
"A few thoughts on teaching Ethics: Are Business Schools using the Best Approach to Teach Ethics?" by Steven Mintz, Ethics Sage, January 27, 2015 --- http://www.ethicssage.com/2015/01/a-few-thought-on-teaching-business-ethics.html
Jensen Comment
For me role playing did not work so well in teaching ethics or most any other topic. I think it went too slow and got boring. There are tons of cases, but these also tend to get boring.
For me short videos seemed to work the best, especially when followed by review discussions. At the time the IMA had some very good videos for classroom use.
I think it's important to stress the occasional murky line between unethical acts and illegal acts. You can teach both, but it's important to stress when behavior is possibly unethical but probably not illegal.
CGMA Portfolio of Tools for Accountants and Analysts --- http://www.cgma.org/Resources/Tools/Pages/tools-list.aspx
Includes ethics tools and learning cases.
Ethics Games and Puzzles --- http://www.ethics.org/resource/ethics-games-and-puzzles
Scruples Game --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scruples_%28game%29
Ethics Training for the Workplace --- http://www.ehow.com/facts_5957733_ethics-training-workplace.html
The bottom line is that both ethics and political leanings more often than not are impacted more by what is learned growing up at home and possibly by what is learned in church and K-12 schooling. Sometimes we learn ethics best by watching our teachers, coaches, and supervisors recommending things that are not ethical.
For example, my high school football coach encouraged playing dirty ---


text:
One person has been killed on a central Melbourne street where a knife wielding man was left in a critical condition after being shot by police.
Two other people have been injured amid reports of a shooting and stabbing in Bourke Street on Friday afternoon.
Photographs from Bourke Street show a white sheet covering a body.
Footage from the scene show a man making stabbing gestures at two uniformed officers near a burning car before he was shot.
He has been taken to hospital in a critical condition under police guard.
One witness said a man was stabbed in the face.
Ambulance Victoria confirmed three people were injured.
"One person has been taken to hospital with a neck injury. They are in a suspected critical condition," they said.
"A second person has been taken to hospital with a head injury. A third person has also been taken to hospital."
Police initially responded to reports of a car on fire at the corner of Bourke and Swanston streets. The car was quickly extinguished.
Markel Villasin, 22, was finishing his shift at KFC on Bourke St as the drama unfolded.
"Me and the managers ran out and that's when we saw the car on fire and then we saw the guy on the floor and we wanted to help, there were two blokes helping him out already, he was face down pools of blood around his face," he told AAP.
"I'm pretty sure he got stabbed in the face.
"I really wanted to help but I was in shock, I didn't know what to do.
"Because he was on his stomach, they turned him over to see if he's alright, he was still alive."
Bystander Drew Hair told AAP he was walking on Swanston Street when he heard an explosion.
The next thing he saw was a "big dude punching into the police car".
Mr Hair said the assailant was dressed in Islamic clothing and of African appearance and about six foot four inches tall.
"The cops were trying to hit him with batons and he wasn't going down," he said.
Mr Hair said two civilians became involved as well as two police, trying to stop the man from his attack.
Witness Fiona told 3AW her friends had seen someone with a knife in the area and she'd been told he'd stabbed a security guard.
Another witness on a passing tram told ABC Radio it seemed police had been trying to subdue a man who was waving something.
"People around me screamed that he had a knife but I couldn't see clearly from where I was," Meegan May said.
"Then I heard a loud bang and someone said they could see someone doing chest compressions on someone as an ambulance started coming up the street as well."
The area is cordoned off and people are asked to avoid the area.
Australian Associated Press

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Employee Injured in Industrial Accident
A 29-year-old man was recently injured in an industrial accident in Hunterdon County. The man was working along a conveyor belt when his arm became caught up in the belt at the Vianini Pipe factory on County Line Road in Readington Township. His coworkers had extracted him from the belt before emergency personnel arrived, and had attempted to treat his injuries as best they could. Eventually, Readington Township police and Whitehouse emergency personnel arrived at the scene of the accident. The man's left arm was seriously crushed, he had friction burns to his chest and shoulder, and his shoulder may have been dislocated. OSHA has been notified of the accident and may conduct an investigation.
Conveyor belt injuries are one of the most common types of injury experienced by industrial employees. The entry and exit points on industrial-level conveyor belts can be especially dangerous. While shields and guards can sometimes be installed to protect workers from possible injury by having clothes or limbs pulled into and crushed by rollers and belts, such safeguards may not be mandatory, and they aren't always installed due to the additional expense and effort they require.
Immediately after an accident at work, it's important to ensure that your employer knows about the injury and has generated an accident report to document details from the incident; it is important to follow all required steps to secure workers' compensation benefits. In addition, there may be other sources of compensation as well. For instance, the conveyor belt that was the source of injury in this case may have been defective. New Jersey law holds product manufacturers liable for injuries caused by a product which was not reasonably fit, suitable or safe for its intended purpose due to a design defect, manufacturing defect or failure to contain adequate warnings or instructions.
Depending on the circumstances, you may have a products liability claim or other third-party negligence claim, even if the accident or injury occurred at work. If the maker of a defective product or other third party is responsible for a workplace injury, you may be able to recover compensation for your injuries over and above what workers' compensation provides in benefits. It's worth talking to an experienced workplace and industrial accident attorney to determine all potential sources of compensation to help you achieve a maximum recovery under the law. In New Jersey, call the Law Offices of Andrew R. Jacobs at 973-532-9681 for a free consultation on your claims.


text:
Barcelona is more than just about funky architecture, distinct neighbourhood and pulsating nightlife. Its known to be one of Europe's most alluring destinations. There are several ways to explore the hidden gems of this Spanish city but we feel nothing can beat the Barcelona walking tours. We have done two Barcelona walking tours in the past and this one is our third. Must admit that we are quite addicted to this vibrant city that has a lot to offer to anyone visiting it. To check out our previous tour experiences click Gaudi Free Walking Tour and Free Gothic Quarter Walking Tour
Today we are reviewing the Dark Past Night Tour organised by the Runner Bean Tours Barcelona. This is a fixed price tour and the tour price is 16 euros per person.
This tour was very different from the ones we have done in the past. Its a tour based on Barcelona's legends and actual historical facts.The tour is very aptly named the Dark Past Night Tour because it begins once the sun goes down. The walk through the narrow streets of El Born took us back in time to explore and trace the darker side of Barcelona, exposing us to some spine -chilling tales of torture, punishments and public executions. Our guide- Adam blessed with the gift of the gab played a huge role in making this tour a grand success. While on the tour ,we learnt a lot about the Spanish Inquisition which we otherwise would not have known. We got a good understanding on the beliefs and methods used in the past during the inquistion and how it affected the common man. During our two hour walk we touched upon several interesting places in the Catalan Capital. A few of them being- Church of Saint Peter, Convent of Sant Agusti, Carrer dels banys vells and Santa Maria del Mar. We were also taken to the ancient cemetry which unravelled tales of a lively past. Adam used several props and a mini projector to make the whole tour a fun one. Honestly we are cluless on how time flew by so fast whilst on this tour. We do not want to share all the stories we heard through Adam ,instead we want you to go and experience the Dark Past Night Tour yourself. Just so that you know what to expect, we are giving you a small background of the Spanish Inquistion below.
A little about the Spanish Inquisition- Previously (711 AD) Spain and Portugal was collectively known as the Iberian Penninsula. The whole place was vested in the power of Christians. Somehow a bunch of Muslims sneaked in and thew out the Christians. The latter fled into an unknown land and plotted revenge to get back the land which they believed was theirs. The whole process took close to 800 years and voila finally the Christians came back to power. The power couple ruling during this period- Ferdinand and Isabella was very religious and took pride in being Catholics. Their main mission was to somehow get the others-Jews, Muslims & Protestants converted into Christianity. Since they wanted the order to be concrete , they approached the Pope who gave them a Pepal Bull ( a written order from the Pope) stating that Christianity is the only legal religion hereafter. Anyone failing to convert could be questioned, punished and even executed. Following the order, anyone who was not Catholic was pulled into the tribunal court and questioned.If he/she failed to give a convincing response to the questions thrown ,then things would go bad for them. Rope, water and fire were used to torment the poor souls….hooked on the story already? Find out more from the tour guides!
Barcelona Walking Tours detail –
The Dark Past Night Tour details
- March 15th to March 31st: Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7pm
- April 1st to October 31st: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 9pm
- November 1st to November 30th: Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7pm
- December 1st to December 31st*: Saturdays at 7pm
- January 1st to March 14th: No scheduled group tours available (only private tours)
To be noted- (*) Tours not running Dec 24th, 25th & 26th and Jan 1st
Meeting Point -Arc de Triomf (under the monumental arch) and End point -Plaça Comercial (at the main entrance of El Born CC)
Please note- We would not recommend this tour for children.
How to find the guide –The guide will be waiting under the monumental arch wearing a bright green vest and a name tag.
To join the above tour visit Dark Past Night Walking Tour Barcelona
Another tour we recommend is private tours Barcelona
Why we recommend Runner Bean Walking Tours Barcelona?
- A local tour company with several years of experience. They offer free and reasonable priced tours.
- They have the best guides. What we liked the most is that these guides are so passionate about what they do and they never ever compromise on the quality of the tour. Jose and i have sensed a local touch which makes us believe it cannot get more authentic and more spanish than this.They do their job exceptionally well and we assure you that there is no room for disappointment. Hats off to the whole crew of Runner Bean Tour for making this an exciting tour!
- They support responsible and sustainable tourism. They always strive to make a positive impact in the city and also collaborate with small businesses thus helping to support the local economy. Kudos to the founders of Runner Bean Tours-Gorka & Ann-Marie for such great intiatives. We love how you are educating and inspiring those around you through your small business.
Note to our Readers– If you are given a choice to choose between the barcelona hop on hop off buses and barcelona walking tours , we highly recommend the latter because your guide will be able to give you more details about the barcelona attractions and you would get to know the city better this way.Its honestly one of the best things to do in barcelona and we suggest you do it as soon as you arrive .So now the next time someone asks you what to see in barcelona or places to visit in barcelona tell them about these awesome walking tours that happen in the city.


text:
Garage Door Repair & Installation Services in Laguna woodsOur own specialized techs can deal with many sort of garage door maintenance issues and they are going to provide you with the finest quality of garage door maintenance solutions. Austins garage door services is ready 24 Hour, and definately will rapidly reply to any garage door service predicament. Do not try dealing with your garage doors yourself especially if you have no idea of what you are doing simply because you could harm the doors as well as harm yourself. Ring us now at (949) 397-6329. We offer the easiest, efficient and trusted garage door service through the entire Laguna woods and surrounding areas. Our round the clock, accessibility and guaranteed quick response, ensures our clients that their garage door will undoubtedly be fix immediately. Services: Garege Door Out Of Track, Best Garage Door Repair, Emergency Garage Door Repair, Out-of Track Doors, Minor Garage Door Repairs, Garage Door Panel Repairs, Broken Springs Repair, Remote Control Repair, Cheap Garage Door Installation, Cheap Garage Door Opener, Steel Carriage House Type Doors, Garage Door Spring Replacement, Decorative Garage Door, New Overhead Door, Put Door Back On Track, Fix Garage Door Panel, Genie Garage Door Opener, Garage Door Accessories, Local Garage Door Companies, Garage Door Track Repair, Garage Door Off Track, Repair Garage Openers, Low Rate Garage Door Installation, Garage Door Opener Repair, Repair Garage Springs, Garage Door Repairs, New Garage Door, Garage Door Warranty, Replace Garage Doors, Garage Door Spring Installation, Ornamental Iron Garage Doors, Reliable Garage Door Service, Wood Carriage House Type Doors, All-wood Garage Doors, Garage Door Springs, Overhead Door Repair, Garage Door Lock Handles, Broken Garage Door Hinges, Lift Master Garage Door, Garage Door Repair, Overhead Garage Door Spring Replacement, Garage Door Opener Parts, Torsion Springs For Garage Door, Garage Door Contractor, Broken Cables, Residential Garage Door, Insulated Garage Door, Fast Garage Door Opener, Affordable Garage Door, New Garage Door Installation, Garage Door Opener Replace, 24 Hour Emergency Garage Door Service, Garage Door Safety Sensors, Routine Maintenance, Overhead Repair Parts, Noisy Doors Silenced, Automatic Door Opener Repair Door Opener, Traditional Style Garage Doors, Repair Garage Door Spring, Genie Garage Door and more.
Laguna woods Garage Door Repair & Installation ServicesOur company is very happy to deliver pleasant team which is in a timely manner plus certified with all the tasks they are working on. Getting a reliable as well as experienced garage door repair services just like us is one thing that you must look into. We provide day service for garage door replacement units and garage door repair emergency situations. Austins garage door services is fully devoted to getting the task finished successfully within the first attempt. We wish that each and every customer will have the finest parts, at the top deals, and with the best guarantees can be found in the industry. One of our best selling products is torsion springs, and this is because we provide an entire lifetime warranty on almost all springs.
We serve all the following zip codes:
Austin Belanger - Google+
El Monte Locksmiths
Garage Door Repair in Folsom
Roseville Locksmith
Los Angeles Garage Door Repair


text:
When your photography mentor, the person who has pushed you the hardest throughout your career to up your game, has believed in you and your potential even when you were ready to throw in the towel, and who herself has a successful decades-long photography business built on a reputation for beautiful, high-quality images, asks you to take her family photos… first, you vomit into the toilet, then you hover over the "n" button on your keyboard, before scolding yourself for being a coward and then saying "absolutely, I would love to!" (Closely followed by a large glass of Chardonnay to slow down your heart rate.)
Lisa Richmond is an incredible person: caring, driven, creative, dedicated, funny, a true professional. And, in truth, despite my nerves, I was honored to have been asked to photograph her and her family this past December.
Lisa is also a take-charge type person (we have this in common) which meant that I had to walk into this session ready to run it and run it my way. We are both awfully nice people but, when we sense that their is a vacancy of leadership, we'll step into the space and do our thing. So, I was determined that, no matter what she and her family ended up thinking of the photos I delivered, I would succeed or fail on my own merits. That meant no doubt, no jitters, no second-guessing myself, forgetting who was in front of the camera and focusing on getting in the flow.
It helped that Lisa chose the location (I had to give her something, hehe) and that the light there on this particular winter afternoon was absolutely magical. It also helped that her entire family laughed more than any family I have ever photographed, ever. Sure, there was some element of awareness around how their position and reactions would play to the camera but, in general, I don't think I have ever been with a family for whom laughter was so clearly a natural part of who they are together.
Jaz and Ember are both in boarding school on the east coast (cool fact: the same boarding school that Lisa attended as a teenager) and so I know this session came at an important time for her, coming to terms with the empty-nest syndrome earlier than many moms who typically don't see their kids fly the coup until college.
I also know that the girls miss home. They love spending time with their friends but not being able to "escape" (their words) from the drama of school can sometimes be hard
I hope these photos give them all a little comfort when they're missing one another.
Our session ended with some photos of Lisa for her website, camera in-hand, as I'm usually experiencing her.
I loved every minute of photographing Lisa and her family. They made my job easy. The best reward was Lisa's smile and thanks at the end of our session, her appreciation and recognition for the energy I put into my sessions to help my clients be in the moment, let go, and have fun.
This morning, I got an email from her after she saw her photos for the first time…
just took a quick run through.
I am absolutely never letting another year go by without doing this.
I LOVE SEEING my family….we've grown so much, we've worked so hard.
and we are still laughing
and you caught it all. Thank you from the bottom, top and middle of my heart.
Mission accomplished.
Now booking newborn sessions and weddings for 2019
… as well as more family sessions and headshots. Click here to see my schedule


text:
January 19, 2014
The Vintage Motorcycle Flying Squadron
Originally posted on Riding Vintage.
The gentlemen in this picture are members of the Flying Squadron, a motorcycle unit of the American Red Cross in Great Britain during WWI. Made up of more than a dozen young men, the Flying Squadron was on duty 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Even after dark, two members of the Squadron were always on active duty with the others "on call" if a problem should arise. All Red Cross calls that were made after midnight were routed to the Squadron's direct line.
Due to the nature of their "missions" and the times in which they occurred, the Flying Squadron was allowed to do whatever was necessary without pre-approval from higher ranking members of the Red Cross. This led to some interesting solutions to the many problems they were faced with. One such episode took place at the end of WWI, when London was over run with American and British soldier's with no particular place to go or proper lodgings. The Flying Squadron's solution was to open up the Red Cross buildings and use them as temporary barracks once the staff had left each day. Soldier's were given food and blankets before being escorted to an office chair, desk or spot on the floor to sleep. Then they were awaken early each morning and fed while the Flying Squadron converted the rooms back to offices. It seems this went on for sometime before the rest of the staff at the Red Cross had any idea what was going on.
Members of the Flying Squadron used a variety of vehicles to carry out their duties around London, including the Harley-Davidson motorcycle pictured above, equipped with a sidecar. They prided themselves on being able to make it to any call within 3 minutes and you can bet that motorcycle could be heard roaring threw London in the middle of the night as they rushed to help those in need.
Filed under History, Panhead Jim's Blog by PanheadJim


text:
« Older: Acoydan McCarthy on board for upcoming campaign Newer: Austin Peay Govs lead late but can't hold off hard-charging Tigers in Baton Rouge »
Nashville Sounds Rally Late, Upend Baby Cakes 4-3
Nashville Sounds
Metairie, LA – For the second night in a row the Nashville Sounds rallied in the ninth inning to topple the New Orleans Baby Cakes. Once again Jaff Decker was the catalyst as the Sounds won 4-3 in the penultimate game of the 2017 season.
Decker launched a solo home run to open the ninth inning and knot the game at 3-3. Four batters later Chris Carter hit a fly ball into shallow left field but the shortstop, Peter Mooney had his back to home plate and went to his knees to make the catch, allowing Renato Nuñez to scamper home for the game-winning run.
The late rally bailed out Sounds starter, Daniel Mengden, who was in line for the loss. Mengden cruised through four innings before running into trouble in the fifth that ended his night.
Things unraveled for Mengden in the fifth inning as he surrendered three runs. The right-hander walked a pair and allowed a single to load the bases and then plunked Eury Perez to bring home the tying run. The next batter, Moises Sierra, slapped a pitch through the hole on the right side of the infield to score two runs and give the Baby Cakes a 3-1 lead.
Carter played a role in three of the four Sounds runs on the night. With Joey Wendle on first base and one out in the second inning the first baseman drilled a base hit down the left field line that was mishandled by Perez and allowed Wendle to score. In the seventh Carter smashed a missile over the left field fence for his ninth home run of the season. The solo blast cut the Baby Cakes lead in half, 3-2.
The bullpen for the Sounds kept the game within reach. Chris Bassitt looked sharp for Nashville, striking out four Baby Cakes hitters in his 2 1/3 innings of work. Logan Bawcom came on for the eighth inning and shut New Orleans down and Raul Alcantara retired the Baby Cakes in order in the ninth for his fourth save of the season.
The Sounds and the Baby Cakes wrap up the 2017 campaign Monday afternoon at The Shrine on Airline. Right-hander Zach Neal (3-8, 5.18) starts for the Sounds against left-hander Victor Payano (4-3, 3.70) for the Baby Cakes. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00pm.
The 2017 season is the Sounds' 40th in franchise history and their third as the Oakland Athletics' top affiliate. 2018 season ticket memberships are available now by calling 615.690.4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com
SectionsBaseball, Featured Story, Nashville Sounds, Professional Teams, Sports
TopicsChris Bassitt, Chris Carter, Daniel Mengden, Eury Perez, Jaff Decker, Joey Wendle, Logan Bawcom, Metairie LA, Moises Sierra, Nashville Sounds, New Orleans Baby Cakes, Oakland Athletics, Pacific Coast League, PCL, Peter Mooney, Raul Alcantara, Renato Nunez, Sounds, Victor Payano, Zach Neal


text:
The Alternative Camp Experience, or A.C.E., is for 8-18 year old campers who want to experience the Overnight Camp program without staying overnight. A.C.E. works in harmony with our Overnight Camp program and schedule, not the Day Camp schedule. Accordingly, you may bring your camper each morning for breakfast and pick them up following their final activity each evening.
Get ready for your week of camp by clicking on the links below:


text:
Back To Top
Frequently Bought Together
Back to Top
Customers Also Purchased
Customer Reviews
- 5 star 16
- 4 star 2
- 3 star 1
- 2 star 0
- 1 star 1
Average Customer Rating for:
Magnetic Grasshopper - Like a Third Hand(20)
4.5 out of 5 starsSee All 20 Customer Reviews
Added: 05/30/2019 by Eric P.
Very handy, and a lot stronger than I anticipated.
Added: 02/19/2019 by Jackson S.
excellent products, good Quality, practical and super strong
Added: 01/10/2019 by Floyd L N.
The Grasshopper works very good clean metal. Any metal dust will collects on the magnets will reduce the Grasshoppers holding ability. Clean the magnets often.
Added: 12/13/2018 by Chris B.
Handy and versatile. I mainly do welded art and this has helped immensely in keeping unusual shapes in place and allows for slight adjustment before welding.
Added: 11/19/2018 by Scott S.
One of my handiest tools! So much more useful than my homemade one! the magnets and spring are a game changer!


text:
Stepping Out of Westport Winter Hibernation
In search of shadows, food and other humans…
In a winter that seemingly has us in training for olympic snow shoveling, today's sun was a welcome valentine. And thankfully, some Islanders are not deterred by sleet, nor snow, nor blowing winds and have extended themselves to bring the Island a little post-Groundhog, Valentine's Day cheer.
A quarter of the way down Westport Island, you'll see master woodturner Ken Shepherd's Valentine creation. Shepherd's creations always greet passersby with eye-catching images of the season or the times.
Paul Bonyun, representing the Westport Volunteer Fire Department, and Angie Calvo of Westport, representing the Portland Fire Department, completed the grueling Climb for Clean Air on February 1. They raced up 789 stairs wearing full turnout gear in a vertical race to the top of One Boston Place to raise money for healthy lungs and healthy air. Portland Firefighters were a top fundraising team ($6,766); Paul a top fundraising individual ($1,670). Angie completed the race in 12 minutes 52 seconds, and Paul clocked a 16:32 — impressive. (Angie is pictured with fellow Portland Firefighters under the raised arm; Paul on far right)
Nita Greenleaf flanked by her daughter Joyce Spicer and friend Louise Speece organized and cooked up a tasty Valentine's Day dinner at the Town Hall for friends and neighbors to share time and break bread. It was a pork and gravy feast with all the fixings, topped off by an assortment of desserts.
And, on Saturday, February 15, the Community Association sponsored a "crafting bee" with Artisan Jill Cooney. For two dollars and two hours, participants channeled their creativity, chatted with friends and walked off with a sunflower wall hanging.
Photo of Paul Bonyun with the Portland Firefighters courtesy of Chris Fabian
Posted on February 16, 2014, in Crafts, Everyday Life, People and tagged Jill Cooney, Westport Island Community Association. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.


text:
The Revolution Infinity from Solid Gear is a new work shoe from Snickers.
Just as you'll find in the leading sports trainers, there's endless cushioning and comfort which has until now, been difficult to get in safety shoes.
But with Solid Gear's Revolution Infinity it really is possible, with a 'bounce back' mid-sole which gives a 55% 'energy return' that will put a real spring in your step to reduce fatigue and stress on your back, legs and feet.
The shoe's stretchable upper with Cordura is water-resistant with amazing performance when it comes to breathability, fit and flexibility. What's more, It has a non-slip sole and a composite midsole with a heel counter for foot stability.
These shoes also come with Solid Gear's newly developed NANO toe-cap. It's 40% stronger than fiberglass, lighter than other materials and thinner than other non-metallic toe-caps.
Your feet will notice the difference with the top class safety functionality in every Solid Gear product.


text:
Will County police and States attorney's office make boo-boo.
inside source states attorney office: transcripts of 6:45 March 07/08/03 Will county Police
A call came in to the Will County Sheriff's Office at 6:45 pm the anonymous caller spoke with the on duty officer.
Officer: "Yes. What can I do for you?"
an anonymous caller "I'm calling to report my neighbor Virgil Sith…. He's hiding Marijuana inside his firewood! the caller stated, I Do not know how he puts it inside the logs, but he's hiding it there and they are in the shed in back of his home."
The on duty officer reported what he had been told by the caller to his superiors, So today march 9th 2007, the Sheriff's Deputies and the States attorney descend on Virgil's home in the 1400 block of Jefferson St in Joliet Illinois. They search the shed out back of Virgil's home where the firewood was kept, using axes, they busted open every piece of wood in Virgil's shed, but did not find marijuana. After 3 1/2 hours grilling the suspect Virgil Sith, Not finding no probable cause for arrest, they sneer at Virgil and leave.
Shortly after the Police and the States attorney left, the phone rings at Virgil's home. The states attorney and one Will county officer was now enforcing a wire tap on Virgil's home 3 blocks away; the Unknown caller said:
"Unknown caller (whispering)…. Did the Sheriff show up.
Virgil: Yea and they brought the States attorney too?"
Unknown caller: "What did they do"?
Virgil: They came with a warrant and busted up all of my wood in my shed and I don't know why?"
Unknown caller: "Well I told you I would help you with that job of splitting the wood!" "Happy Birthday, buddy!"
"Note this just a joke and never really happened".
Drick up for Trial in March.
A trial date of March 12th has been set for former Joliet Fire Chief Joseph Drick and his wife Cheri Drick. The two are accused of stealing about 200 thousand dollars from the bank accounts of the late Gladys Farrington. The Dricks had struck up a friendship with the elderly woman after offering her a ride on a winter morning. The couple alledgedly used Farrington's money for various personnal expenses. Farrington died in the summer of 2005.
The Dricks allegedly began using the money in February 2003, shortly after Cheri Drick obtained power of attorney over Gladys Farrington's financial affairs, prosecutors said. Seven days after gaining power of attorney, a $57,000 account was closed, then states attorney Jeff Tomczak said. The money was then deposited into an account for Drick Educational Services, which is a company that Joseph Drick ran.


text:
- Dollar General is expanding rapidly in the United States. In 2017, it opened new locations at a rate of around four stores a day. In 2018, it is on track to open 900 new stores.
- In a call with investors on Tuesday, the company said that it would open a further 975 stores in 2019.
- According to data from GlobalData Retail, 75% of the population is now within five minutes of a Dollar General store. Meanwhile, 37% live within five minutes of a Walmart store, and 90% within 15 minutes of a Walmart.
- Dollar General is looking to compete with Walmart by rolling out more fresh produce to its stores and making them a suitable place to pick up midweek groceries.
Dollar General is on a path to dominate America, and it should terrify Walmart.
The discount store, which is known for being a bargain hunter's paradise, has been described as growing at a pace that is largely "unthinkable" in retail.
Read more: We shopped at Dollar Tree and Dollar General to see which offered a better shopping experience, and the winner was unmistakable
In 2017, it opened new locations at a rate of around four stores a day and is currently on track to open a further 900 by the end of fiscal 2018.
On Tuesday, the company reported third-quarter earnings and continued its 28-year-long sales-growth streak, reporting a 2.8% increase in same-store sales. In a call with investors after reporting earnings, CEO Todd Vasos announced that the company plans to open a further 975 stores in 2019 and remodel 1,000 others.
Dollar General now has over 15,000 stores and counting in the US and is rapidly dominating rural America.
When it started to grow, Dollar General's strategy was to go where Walmart wasn't. This meant that the majority of its stores in the United States were located in rural and suburban areas. According to data from GlobalData Retail, 75% of the US population is now within five minutes of a Dollar General store.
Meanwhile, 37% live within five minutes of a Walmart store, and 90% within 15 minutes of a Walmart, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, told Business Insider on Tuesday.
However, Dollar General is not only putting Walmart under pressure by expanding its physical presence in the US but also by expanding its assortment.
It has long been known for offering non-perishables. However, in an effort to draw in more frequent visitors, it has brought fresh produce to 425 locations and plans to add this to 200 more locations in 2019.
This enables it to better compete with Walmart and become the go-to place for a mid-week shop for some consumers.


text:
We will discuss the book "The Last of the Mohicans" by James Cooper. (DaynaRT)
Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)
James Fenimore Cooper has 1 past event. (show)
Member ratingsAverage:
Author pictures (5)
Improve this author
Combine/separate works
Author division
James Fenimore Cooper is currently considered a "single author." If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author.
James Fenimore Cooper is composed of 28 names. You can examine and separate out names.
Combine with…


text:
AceShowbiz - List of Lindsay Lohan's problems keep getting longer. As if facing criminal charges is not enough, the on-screen daughter of Meryl Streep in "A Prairie Home Companion" now has an emergency financial situation. According to TMZ, IRS has seized all of her bank accounts.
LiLo reportedly owes the IRS $233,904 in unpaid federal taxes for year 2009 and 2011. She was allegedly given lenient time to settle her debt, but the IRS' patience was wearing thin when she still hadn't paid it despite buzzing news that she earned around $2 million this year alone.
Her big paycheck most likely came from her movie projects that included her portrayal as Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor in "Liz & Dick". Her next big screen project include a cameo with Charlie Sheen in "Scary Movie 5" and her role in erotic thriller "The Canyons".
Charlie, who plays her on-screen partner in the upcoming "Scary Movie" installment, has generously given the "Mean Girls" star $100,000 to help her with her 2009 tax problem, but the money barely covered the debt since LiLo reportedly also has unpaid taxes for year 2011.
Just earlier, LiLo was rumored getting stressed out by her countless problems, especially her impending court dates one of which is for third degree misdemeanor assault charge stemming from a nightclub catfight with another female. She turned to alcohol to distract her worried mind.
LiLo has also been slapped with misdemeanors for resisting, obstructing, or delaying an officer in the course of their duties by giving false information to an officer who investigated a car accident involving her last summer. She's also cited for reckless driving.
Her friends thought the only way she could avoid jail was by getting into rehab, but she dismissed it. One of her concerned buddies is her assistant Gavin Doyle. "@lindsaylohan after bailing you out last night I HOPE and PRAY you get the help you so desperately need," he tweeted after getting her out of jail following the club brawl.


text:
- Date: Thursday, 24th March 2016 - Thursday, 24th March 2016
- Time: 8:30pm
- Category: Entertainment
- Venue: Arad Fort
- Ticket information: Free Entry
Since the beginning of his career, London-born multi-platinum singer-songwriter Seal has been focused on a single creative pursuit: expressing the full experience of love through song. His inimitable voice was first heard on Adamski's 1991 club smash "Killer," followed by his Top 10 hit "Crazy." On the heels of his stunning debut album, he went on to win the prestigious BRIT Award for "Best British Male" in 1992, while hits like "Kiss From a Rose," memorably included in the Batman Forever soundtrack, earned him multiple Grammy awards and global esteem. Now an established superstar, with worldwide album sales exceeding 30 million of his eight studio albums, Seal puts on a performance like no other. An evening filled with old hits and new music from his album Seal 7, which reunites him with his long-time collaborator, the producer Trevor Horn is one for the books.
Fax:+973 17293873


text:
On the Rocks
Mountain grooves: «On the Rocks» is a musical for plastic minerals, oil stalactites, angels and stones, supported by one mountain and up to 15 excellent dancers. «On the Rocks» is a time-based sculpture consisting of hybrid materials that produce a planet we may recognize without ever having been there. Once in a while it is haunted by a ghost that goes under the name of «Volkskörper». There will be picnic, glamour, beautiful nature, some soccer and a lot of future folk dancing. Volkskörper. Omnipresent and ever so flexible. That ghost tumbles through ancient pyramid gymnastics, worn out exhausted lycra bikinis and overstretched sweat pants. It sticks to the phantom pain of LED thumbs overwhelmed by everyday technology and its endless always-too-late. Songs of yearning forever as a farewell to alienated euphoria. There is no time here and at the same time, all the time in the world. It is in the uninterrupted now that the Dance of the Capricorns is taken into the archive of Swiss dance history and finally, finally, some stones get rolling. It's the end of the season. Lucie Tuma & Co. invite to a megalomaniac festivity and into an ecology of being alone together. Wicked vibe in a landscape of expenditure - ain't no mountain high enough. Viens viens!
«On the Rocks» is the third part of the Volkskörper trilogy by Lucie Tuma. #3 builds upon and continues an on-going endeavour towards the production of a particular attention—between active and passive—as a minimal attention that is hard to describe if not experienced and manages to change time. For each part of the Volkskörper trilogy, settings have been developed in relation to the experience of different temporalities and their relation to non-human figures: ritualistic and mathematical evocations in the neo-shamanistic #1: solo for every body (Solo, 2012), and the evocation of tectonic dimensions with the help of geology, speculations and science fiction in the context of #2: choreography of tectonics (book and a series of strolls/walking practice – guided walks, 2014). #3, «On the Rocks», launches from the proposal of a future Volkskörper—imagination of a folk yet to come and a corpus of entities not exclusively reserved for humans, while celebrating dance and poetry vis-a-vis the monumentality of the mountain. «On the Rocks» engages in the simulation of the aesthetic experience of nature in the theatre space.


text:
The new Google feature instant previews, with which you can 'preview' a page in the Google SERPS, has been 'corrupting' the numbers of viewers on the specific page in Google Analytics for the past few weeks. Because of an 'issue' in Analytics each time somebody looked at the preview was counted as a view in Google Analytics even though the visitor had never actually visited the page itself.
Google now tells us on their Analytics blog that they have "fixed this issue, and visits from Google Instant Preview will no longer show up in your Analytics account". They will not be reprocessing the data to remove past visits.
The issue may trigger another interesting question: should you count these views or not? The visitors have not been on your page, but they did see the page. And based on that view they clicked or moved on. Isn't that a bounce when a visitor decides not to visit your page based on a first view? Is this really an 'issue' or should Google have left it that way?
Also this off course will be an influence on the actual click through rates. If a preview is not counted as a view it means the CTR goes down, while that same person in the earlier situation might have clicked on the page to see what the page looked liked and would have been counted. On the other hand, they're not seeing the actual page but an image, so Google might be right here. I'm curious to know how the State of Search community feels about this.


text:
The condition popularly known as "brain fag," "brain exhaustion," or "tired brain," is one fairly common today, and is used to designate a state of ill-health, of which the prominent symptoms are inability for prolonged or concentrated mental work, sleeplessness, and often apprehension of impending disaster; and in which there is also usually a feeling of general weakness and lassitude, together with digestive troubles and constipation.
It is true that the exciting cause is often excessive mental strain, anxiety, and "worry," which, the last two especially, by their depressing action and undue call upon the stock of nervous energy, seriously interfere with the organic functions of digestion, excretion and nutrition, this action being often assisted by too sedentary habits and a complete neglect of personal hygienic measure. It is to these secondary causes that the condition described is due. In fact, it may be truly said there can be no brain fag if the digestive organs perform their functions properly. The appetite becomes impaired, there is often a craving for stimulating foods and drinks, and such food as is taken is slowly and imperfectly digested, yielding but a tithe of its nutritious elements to the organism, and the rest during its retention undergoes fermentation and decomposition, producing poisons which are absorbed into the blood, and which are the immediate cause of the morbid symptoms. The individual is, in fact, self-poisoned, or in medical language is suffering from auto-intoxication.
Although the disease has acquired its popular name from the prominence of particular and easily discernible symptoms, and is usually considered as a more or less local brain trouble, I have never seen a case in which the secondary causes were absent, or were not the most powerful in maintaining the condition. In fact, with the exciting causes they form a vicious circle, from which, when well established, it is difficult to escape.
In old persons and in some organic diseases we often have another factor added. i.e., rigidity of the arterial system preventing a due supply of blood to the brain; this condition with a feeble heart will alone often give rise to similar cerebral symptoms, but these are usually found to be aggravated by the existence of digestive difficulties also.
As it is generally recognized that drugs are of quite secondary importance in relieving such sufferers, the advice usually given may be summarized in the words "rest" and "change." But many persons owing to their circumstances are quite unable to avail themselves of either (and if taken alone these are usually non-effective); it is for these more especially that I propose to indicate means, available by all, by which health can be regained and maintained. I will deal with these under separate headings for convenience sake.
Rest. The hours of mental work, if excessive, must be shortened to a reasonable period. Mental "rest" should be sought in "variety" of objects, rather than in complete inaction. A mind tired in one particular set of faculties finds relief in an occupation involving the use of another set. Hence the well-known recuperative effects of "hobbies," gardening, etc., on a mind tired with professional or commercial details. Try to cultivate some interests as different as possible from the usual ones.
Baths. A rapid plunge or sponge bath in water, cold or with the chill off, should be taken on rising, followed by vigorous rubbing; not only does the shock act as a nerve tonic, but the skin is rendered healthy and its recuperative functions increased. If for any reason a bath is not available, a vigorous kneading and rubbing of the muscles with the bare hand on the bare body (always in a direction from the extremities towards the heart) for five minutes, may be used as a substitute.
Few people are aware of the vivifying influence of a "sun bath," are such an easily available and powerful therapeutic agent would become largely used. It can be most readily enjoyed, by reclining nude, on a couch placed before a convenient window; if unpleasantly hot, the heat rays can be partially intercepted by a screen or covering of blue gauze or veiling. The duration of the bath should be quarter of an hour to begin with, and may be increased gradually up to an hour. The head, however, should be always shaded.
Food. Oxygen is a true "food" of the highest importance, and to get a due supply deep breathing must be practiced. Most people breaths with only a small portion of their available lung capacity, and suffer from inadequate supply of oxygen in consequence. A full supply is especially necessary in the conditions of which we are treating. Whilst in the reclining, or erect sitting, or standing positions, a deep, steady inspiration should be taken slowly through the nostrils, fully expanding the whole of the chest and pressing the abdominal walls downwards and outwards, followed immediately by an equally slow, steady expiration, these should be continued until a sense of fatigue is experienced in the muscles of the chest walls, which will be felt in one unused to such complete breathing, after about 8 or 10 inspirations – but a little practice will enable it to be extended to 30, 40 or 50 such inspirations. Slight dizziness may be produced at first, and some tingling sensations of the extremities, but these soon pass off.
Such deep breathing should be practiced in bed immediately on retiring and on awakening in the morning, and at least once during the day; in fact, it is desirable to practice it frequently till it becomes a habit. A delightful sense of lightness and well-being will be found to result from this practice when properly executed and persevered in. I need hardly say it should be done in the purest air available, and to that end free ventilation should be secured, without draught, and the windows of the sleeping apartment should be always open. As much exercise as possible in the open air should be taken.
Food should consist mainly of –
Whole Meal Bread or biscuits. The former may with advantage be toasted.
Nuts. Walnut, almond, pine kernels and Barcelona nuts, which should be shredded in an Ida nut mill; and chestnuts, which may be steamed.
Olive Oil. Freely with salads, bread, etc. (see that it is "Olive," not Cottonseed Oil). Cream or butter may be taken, but good Olive Oil is preferable.
Fresh and Dried Fruits. The former for preference, but they must be ripe. Take of these freely.
Salads. Watercress, beetroot, lettuce, onion, etc., with abundance of oil and a little vinegar.
Tea, coffee, alcoholic liquors and flesh food should be absolutely avoided – or the former taken only much diluted and in small quantity. This diet furnishes everything that is required for the nourishment of all the tissues, and especially of the nervous tissues, and will be found to restore and promote the regular action of the bowels.
Before commencing this regime a 6 or 12 hour fast is desirable, giving the stomach time to empty itself and recuperate, and to establish a healthy appetite.
Do not eat unless hungry, and when eating see that each mouthful is thoroughly masticated and reduced to a fluid pulp before it is swallowed.
Nuts, usually considered (in error) to be difficult of digestion, will give no trouble when this is observed.
Not more than three meals daily should be taken, and of these one should be very light. They should have an interval of 5 hours between each, and the last should be taken not less than 3 hours before retiring. Fluid (water) to be taken 2 hours after a meal.
For sleeplessness, a very cold or very hot (the former preferable) foot bath immediately before retiring, and the deep breathing exercise as soon as in bed, will usually be followed by sleep. A glass of hot water or hot lemonade the last thing (in bed) will often be a valuable aid to the same end.
The adoption of, and careful perseverance in, the course sketched out above, simple as it seems, will be found to be of striking benefit in all cases of brain fag.
I may add that this paper is written to answer the question of one of the correspondents of The Herald, so that others beside the lady who wrote may have the opportunity of benefitting thereby.
I shall be glad to welcome further enquiries suitable for dealing with in the same way.
As a last word, I would, say above all "Don't worry;" worry is the most fatal destroyer of vital energy that we know, use every effort of the will to attain and maintain a placid and hopeful mental attitude. I know this is very easy to advice and very difficult to perform; in truth it can only be completely realized when we have become "as little children" with complete trust and confidence in the love and wisdom of the Divine Father.


text:
Since I am teaching kindergarten this year, I'm in the trenches of back to school picture books. Some picture books correlate nicely with a theme in which the teacher can use the picture book to support the classroom theme.
For example, I am using a pirate theme. There are soooo many pirate picture books out there. Sadly, I don't have that many, but what I do have, I'm excited to share because it goes perfectly with my theme. I found this image below on Pinterest.


text:
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - In the five months since his biography of Cold War diplomat George Kennan came out, John Lewis Gaddis has been toasted as a master historian, and roasted as a conservative who minimized Kennan's liberal tendencies.
Now he's won the Pulitzer Prize - and he'd like readers to just take in the story.
"I didn't have any particular agenda in mind," Gaddis says. "My hope is, and I think it has been borne out, that people would respond to the book on its own merits."
Gaddis was widely acknowledged as the obvious choice to tell the story of Kennan's life. A published author for more than 40 years, he has been called the dean of Cold War thinkers by Harvard historian Priscilla McMillan. Evan Thomas, whose book "The Wise Men" includes a chapter on Kennan, says Gaddis is a "master" who makes an "honest effort to cut through cant and ideology." In 2005, Gaddis received a National Humanities Medal for "his incisive examination" of the epic conflict between the capitalist West and communist East.
But while Gaddis is an insider - a popular teacher at Yale University, winner of numerous awards, a guest at the White House - he's an outsider to many colleagues in New Haven and elsewhere. He has kind words for Ronald Reagan and became close enough to George W. Bush to advise him on his second inaugural address and on his memoir "Decision Points," which Gaddis includes in a class he teaches on biography. Henry Kissinger is a supporter of the "Studies in Grand Strategy" course Gaddis helps teach and wrote a highly favorable review of the Kennan book for The New York Times.
So while the Pulitzer board praised "George F. Kennan" as "an engaging portrait" of the quintessential Cold War diplomat and the times he lived in - and the National Book Critics Circle cited Gaddis' "profound understanding of U.S. foreign policy in the 20th century" in awarding him its biography prize - Gaddis has been criticized for omitting or disregarding some of Kennan's more liberal opinions. Eric Alterman of the liberal weekly The Nation labeled the book "Strategies of Disparagement."
"It's fair to say I am more conservative than most of the Yale faculty," Gaddis observes during a recent interview at his Yale office, where pictures of him with Bush and Kissinger hang on the walls. "I'm used to it, but certainly it's not always a popular position. Universities are rather intolerant places and there are orthodoxies within universities. Political correctness is not what it once was, but it does still exist."
Kennan himself had differences with his biographer. Gaddis thought Reagan was a visionary who ended the Cold War and the nuclear arms race; Kennan worried the president would blow us all to Kingdom Come. Gaddis supported the Iraq war, Kennan opposed it. Kennan, a born brooder, wondered whether Gaddis was the right man.
"I think he got a little nervous at times because I was a little more to the right of him on the current political issues than he was," Gaddis says. "I was more sympathetic to Ronald Reagan, for example, and later to George W. Bush, for sure. But we never got to the point where he said, `Because of your politics you are no longer qualified to write the biography.' He never did, and never came close to it."
And Kennan had a long time to second-guess his choice. Gaddis first met Kennan in the mid-1970s and felt enough of a rapport to send some pages from an upcoming book about the Cold War. They became friendly and agreed in the early `80s that Gaddis write his story. Gaddis would be granted full access to Kennan, his family and friends and to Kennan's papers. Kennan, in his 70s at the time, sought no editorial control. But he did ask that the book not be released until after his death.
Kennan lived to 101.
"Poor John Gaddis has seen his undertaking being put off for years while he waits for me to make way for it," Kennan, who died in 2005, wrote in his diary.
Gaddis says his goal was to present his subject fully and fairly, with flaws and virtues accounted. Kennan had much to offer on each side. He was a tireless seeker of knowledge and a first-rate prose stylist who won two Pulitzer Prizes. His influence far outweighed his rank; Kennan was a member of the foreign service who never held a high-level position.
But as a member of the diplomatic corps in Moscow, his intimate knowledge of the Soviet present and the Russian past gave him near-prophetic powers. He anticipated that Marxism was just a phase in the country's history. He was an architect of the Marshall Plan, which helped revive the economies of Western Europe after World War II and helped undermine Stalin's belief that the West would turn against itself. He believed early on that that the Soviet Union and China would quarrel despite a shared belief in Communism.
Kennan was also the most human of visionaries. He had several extra-marital affairs. He was highly sensitive and impatient and once wrote in his diary that he dreaded "any occupation that implies any sort of association with, and adjustment to, other people." His call in 1946-47 for "containment" of the Soviet Union was a victory for anti-Communists who doubted that the U.S. could remain on good terms with its World War II ally. Yet Kennan found himself to the left of Washington for decades after, whether on Vietnam or the nuclear arms race.
"He came up with the most influential post-World War II strategy and within a year of having done so began to repudiate it," Gaddis says. "Kennan was one of those people who felt his ideas were not working unless he was personally putting them into effect."
"George F. Kennan" has an ironic subtitle: "An American Life." Kennan lived abroad for long periods of time and seemed out of place when he returned. He disdained American culture and had limited taste for electoral or office politics. His sensibility was not of a campaigner, but of an artist. He wrote poetry and played guitars. His great dream was not to become president, but write a biography of Chekhov.
"Your understanding of the subject of any biography is broadened and deepened and complicated by any act of biography," Gaddis says. "I've always seen the word `critical' as having both a positive and negative meaning. To be a critic is to praise and to complain. But I still came out of this book extremely impressed by George and with an increased admiration and respect for him."
Over the past 40 years, the 71-year-old Gaddis had written several books on Cold War policy. But prior to "George Kennan," he had never written about an individual life.
As he researched and wrote Kennan's story, the historian decided to educate himself by offering a class in biography - not a lecture, but one centered on discussion.
During a recent class at Yale, the assigned book was Robert Caro's "Means of Ascent," the second and most controversial of Caro's series on Lyndon Johnson. "Means of Ascent" portrayed a politician so boorish and unscrupulous that former LBJ aides accused Caro of trying to destroy Johnson's reputation.
But Gaddis, a low-key instructor with an even, probing style, notes that the book is prefaced by Caro's vivid portrait of one of Johnson's noblest moments - the 1965 civil rights speech he gave as president, when he brought tears to the eyes of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and others by invoking the title of the protest movement's anthem, "We Shall Overcome."
So what kind of man was LBJ, Gaddis asks 20 undergraduates seated around a conference table? And what kind of system did he work in? Could the achievements of his presidency have been possible without the misdeeds of the Senate race years earlier? Is life ever without compromise? The students reach no conclusion, and Gaddis wasn't expecting one. After the class, he explains that of all the lessons he's taken in as a biographer, none is more important than leaving some questions unanswered.
"A really good biography does not have to resolve all issues," Gaddis says. "It can leave contradictions there. It can just say these contradictions were there and were important and the subject of the biography never completely resolved them." The subject of the biography himself was torn by contradictions. And this is certainly true of George Kennan."
Some critics allege Gaddis turned against his subject. In The New York Review of Books, Frank Costigliola's analysis was titled "Is This George Kennan?" He called the book "monumental and absorbing" but worried about the "perspective and balance," noting Gaddis never mentioned that in 1968 Kennan endorsed an anti-war Democrat, Eugene McCarthy, for president.
"The biography suffers from this neglect," Costigliola writes.
Gaddis acknowledges that he could have included Kennan's support for McCarthy, but said he found it more important to write about Kennan's televised Senate testimony in 1966, when he called the Vietnam commitment "unsound" and chastised the United States for acting like "an elephant frightened by a mouse." The book, Gaddis emphasizes, does not fit any political category.
Conservatives think highly of Gaddis, and liberals disapprove, but he says he's a registered independent who has voted for Democrats and Republicans, from Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Bill Clinton in the 1990s to Ronald Reagan in 1984 and George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. (He voted for Barack Obama in 2008, but remains undecided for this year).
During his seminar, Gaddis spoke warmly about the New Deal and the civil rights movement. In his books, he has expressed great skepticism about the Vietnam War, dismay at the "outright deception" of Kissinger and Richard Nixon and disappointments about the Iraq war. He says during his interview that it "was a great failing of the Bush administration" not to know more about the culture of Iraq before invading and for relying on bad intelligence.
"These were big mistakes," he says.
Criticism of Bush actually helped lead to Gaddis' meeting the president. In 2004, he published a brief book, "Surprise, Security, and the American Experience," which defended the right to "preemptive war," but also faulted the administration's "shock and awe" military campaign. Condoleezza Rice, then national security advisor and an old acquaintance of Gaddis', asked the historian to meet with her staff.
According to Rice's memoir, "No Higher Honor," Gaddis encouraged her to take a more diplomatic approach to the country's allies. As Rice would acknowledge, "repair work" was needed. When they were done, she surprised Gaddis by bringing him to the Oval Office to meet the president.
"I was thinking it would be a photo op," Gaddis says. "But he had read the book. He underlined it. He had taken notes on it. ... We kind of hit it off at that point."
Some of Gaddis' former students have gone on to careers in Washington. Chris Michel became a White House speechwriter under Bush and later worked with Bush on "Decision Points." Keith Urbahn was an aide to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who now runs Javelin Group LLC, a communications and book firm based in Washington.
Urbahn recalls taking Gaddis' "Grand Strategy" class at the height of the Iraq war's unpopularity: "He saw his role as raising larger questions that you had to grapple with. He cultivated a generation of students to think in terms of practical decision making. He didn't have this air of knowing sophistication that I felt with a lot of other professors."
"I don't think of him as a conservative," Michel adds. "But anyone who has nice things to say about George W. Bush is going to stand out among the Yale faculty."
Gaddis was born in Cotulla, Texas in 1941. The community was small, and personal. During his biography class, the historian asked his students to imagine a man on a tractor, age 25, working in a Texas field in the 1920s. It's hot, the land is flat and dusty. The man spots a Model-T pulling up and a young stranger getting out, dressed in a blue serge suit. He climbs through a barbed wire fence and approaches.
"Hi, I'm Lyndon Johnson and I'm the new high school teacher."
"The hell you are," is the reply.
Adds Gaddis: "The man on the tractor was my father."
He credits teachers in high school with inspiring him to become a history major. Gaddis was an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin and remained there for his master's and Ph.D. He specialized in the Cold War in part out of "ambition" and out of awareness that it was a relatively new field, a story just beginning to be told.
As an author, he established himself with his first book, "The United States and the Origins of the Cold War," published in 1972. At the time, Cold War scholarship had been shaped by such New Left historians as William Appleman Williams, who had written that economic reasons, especially the need for markets overseas, were a principle force behind U.S. foreign policy. Gaddis countered that capitalism was just one part of a conflict that included domestic politics, Marxist ideology and the personalities of Stalin, Mao and other leaders.
"I found some of the New Left views valuable: the emphasis on the economic dimensions of foreign policy, and, flowing from that, their insistence that there'd been more continuity in it throughout the 20th century than older historians had perceived," Gaddis says. "What I did not find convincing was their argument that the need to export drove the Americans into an aggressive foreign policy, and that had it not been for this, the Russians would have continued to be allies. The New Left's greatest weakness was always its lack of interest in, or curiosity about, the USSR."
Gaddis' scholarship has been a story of revision. In the 1970s, historians had no access to Soviet or Chinese documents, and the world itself seemed deadlocked between rival superpowers. Within 20 years, the Cold War was over and the Soviet Union had broken up. Secrets once vital were now expendable; Gaddis and others could finally learn what Stalin and other Eastern bloc leaders were thinking.
In "We Now Know," published in 1997, Gaddis revisits such Cold War topics as why North Korea invaded South Korea (Stalin encouraged it, assuming the United States would not respond), how frightened the Soviets might have been by the atom bomb (more than they let on) and the assumption that Stalin and others valued survival above all and never really thought Marxism would defeat and destroy capitalism.
"That was the prevailing wisdom, which I certainly bought into, that the ideological rhetoric of the Chinese, Russians and East Europeans was window dressing," Gaddis says. "But as I began to go into the documents, I discovered that the language was the same in the secret meetings as it was in the public pronouncements. They really believed this stuff."


text:
I've been using the Paslode PF350S for a good year now... Not a ton of big framing jobs but it gets a lot of use. I've only had it hooked up to my gas compressor for a week this...Replies 134
How about SIPS panels.Replies 4
I just ended up getting the magnets from home depot, but I used 4 per panel.Replies 14
Well finally got around to that tub surround project. I think it turned out really nice, customer is happy... I ended up using magnets for the access panels, the whole surround...Replies 14
Looks like a greasy craigslist ad...Replies 51
I really don't see how increasing what big corporations are paying for unskilled workers will effect much, they all make solid enough profits to pay their executives **** tons o...Replies 213
Great read, final sentence gave me chillsReplies 11
It's only made -30 down here once or twice so far... Lots of -25, tropical weather really, I bust out the flip flops and short shorts around -15 or so.Replies 20
am I right in saying that if you buy something for a job for 100 dollars you charge the customer 100dollars and then add labour for going getting it etc. I assume then that w...Replies 25
You are entitled if you meet the qualifications. It's the attitude of treating it as a vacation vs using it to save your ass while you are hustling to find new employment... Peo...Replies 77
Wow the amount of comments on that page is crazy... It's like he's famous! Makes you kinda famousReplies 29
There are way too many people abusing EI... They treat it as a vacation and feel entitled to it...Replies 77
I'm GC doing a remodling for house. One of my subcontractor is dealing the job he send his guys start the work and has been on and off for a while. The job stoped for some cabin...Replies 10
Are these panels going to be inset or overlay? Probably insetReplies 14
Thanks a lot guys, magnets seem like a good idea... How would you go about fastening them? Can you go magnet to magnet or would I need some sort of steel on the other side? For ...Replies 14
I just ended up getting the magnets from home depot, but I used 4 per panel.Replies 14
Well, just making another observation. I've never run a work vehicle this long before. I've totally ignored all standard sane routine maintenance practices on this truck...........Replies 24
Unless you are dealing with some really dirty fuel , you should need to be changing a diesel fuel filter that often. Most trucks anymore have senors that tell when the filter ne...Replies 24
I change mine every oil change on my diesel, it's a much easier process than most inline filters in gas trucks thoughReplies 24
There should always be somewhere to take a dump on site... What other industry makes you drive to some greasy gas station to chit? Having to use porta pottys is bad enough... I ...Replies 46


text:
This was made a few weeks back when plums were still in season. But you can definitely replace the plums with any fruits that you fancy. So slow on blogging nowadays, made me feel really out of fashion sometimes, lol! :)
Ingredients for Plum-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake: (Makes an 8" round)
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
5 tbsp caster sugar
2 large eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1.25 cup (150g) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
100ml fresh milk
8 to 10 plums, cut half and pitted
4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 package of the standard Philadelphia cheese )
1/2 cup (112g) caster sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease an 8" spring-form pan or a fluted, deep tart pan. Place parchment paper.
- For the cake, cream together to butter and sugar will creamy. Add eggs, vanilla and blend until smooth.
- Fold in flour and salt to make a smooth batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Gently pressed in the halved plums with cut sides down into the cake batter.
- Cream cheese layer: Mix cream cheese and remaining ingredients in a bowl and whisk till well blended. Spread the mixture over the plums in the cake pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown and appears set, about 45 mins. Cool completely before slicing to serve.
This cake is a really simple and delicious cake to whip up. Try it yourself and you will taste this delicious cake just like me and my family. ;) Happy Baking!!


text:
Monster Hunt in streaming. The cute baby monster Huba is the child of a human man and a monster queen, threatened by both monster-hating humans and monsters attempting to capture the new-born in an ancient world based on medieval China.
Yuexuan Zhang, Yucheng Tian, Yuexin Wang, Xiaodong Guo, Elaine Jin, Chen Yao, Wu Jiang, Sandra Ng, Baihe Bai, Wallace Chung, Eric Tsang, Ni Yan, Wei Tang, Boran Jing, Jianfeng Bao
Directors: Raman Hui
Duration: 111 min
Year of release: 2015
Click the links below to watch Monster Hunt in streaming:
- Alternate links
- 01
- 02


text:
"Could not install extension from 'C:\Users\<User>\Downloads\DblClickDial.crx'. Invalid extension manifest."
This is on dev version 18.104.22.168.
If you wish your plugin to work with this vesrion then update your manifest for the appropriate newtab URL: chrome://newtab/
Of course I'm sure it probably works with older dev versions and the beta version as well (not sure if beta supports .crx install since I've never used beta).