text:
Fri, 23 January 2015
Captain Scott & Cindy are together again! This week we talk television, gaming, theatre & the National Readathon Event the Satyr is participating in.
Check out the Satyrsphere website: http://satyrsphere.blogspot.com.
Contact us at email@example.com. Tweet us on Twitter at @Satyrsphere. Call our voicemail line at 206-666-2313!
Until next time,
This is the Satyr, over & out.
Direct download: Satyrsphere166.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:04pm PDT


text:
Finding the Right Fit
I am new to the area and seeking employment. I'm looking for advice on how to tell if I'm interviewing with an "employer of choice," or someone who will commit to me and be a really good fit. Do you have any tips?
Dear Seeker,
Being an employer of choice most often means that the company offers a work culture and model that makes it easy to recruit superior employees. One common feature among choice employers is that they look out for the well-being of their employees as well as their customers.
Remember one thing: Not every employer of choice fits every employee. For example, Google is an employer of choice, but some people leave because of the culture. Google encourages socializing, networking, and group activities; some people might not thrive in that environment.
Employers of choice have many traits in common, but the employer that you choose may not have the same characteristics as the employer of choice next door. Often, these companies will have a powerful yet simple mission statement and value statement. You'll find that employers of choice strive to pay above the norm and offer a comprehensive benefits package.
Here is a list of common characteristics to look for and questions to ask during an interview:
They're focused on commitment.
Question to ask: What strategies, programs, or practices does your company use to retain staff as well as customers?
They have growth opportunities.
Question to ask: Once I start working, what type of training or career development opportunities are available?
They encourage involvement.
Questions to ask: How do your team members contribute when they have ideas for new products or services? What are the opportunities and expectations to sit on committees for event planning or best work practices?
They have positive co-worker relationships.
Question to ask: What would your staff tell me about your work style?
They offer a solid work–life balance.
Question to ask: What does the company offer that helps maintain a healthy lifestyle outside of work?
They value job performance.
Question to ask: Once I'm on board, I understand I will be evaluated. What type of regular guidance and feedback should I expect?
They emphasize employee recognition.
Question to ask: How do you provide feedback to employees about their performance, accomplishments, and needs for improvement?
There are many more characteristics of an employer of choice, but if you can find out these things in advance, you'll gain an advantage over the job applicants who don't. You will show your potential employer that you are sincerely searching for the right company for yourself.
Anne Williams is not an attorney. All content in this column is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality and is not to be construed as legal advice.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Zeus Video Slot Machine
About Zeus
Zeus is a massive video slot, and it began one of the most beloved franchises in the online slot world. The Zeus franchise had humble beginnings, though, so don't expect overly complicated structures, features, and nifty graphics in this old title. Zeus is still very much findable and playable today, and its 5-reel, 30-line structure can still deliver decent wins, some of which can be worth as much as 2,500 coins. Zeus is a flexible slot, with paylines adjustable and total bets ranging from a floor of just 1p per line per spin, up to a ceiling of £150 per spin. As you might be able to tell from this slot, this a Greek mythology themed game.
Special features
Zeus offers up an interesting selection of special features, most of which you will be more than familiar with if you have played a WMS Gaming developed before. The feature in Zeus include a temple wild symbol, and it can replace all other symbols in the slot save for the thunderbolt.
The thunderbolt icon is the feature symbol, and it can trigger a bonus when it appears 3 times on the reels. Of course, if you can land the scatter more than 3 times, you will land even bigger and better bonuses.
As for Zeus, himself, he acts as the best-paying symbol in the slot. Land 5 of these on the reels, and you will pocket a 2,500-coin non-progressive jackpot.
Bonus features
The free spins bonus will offer players 10 free spins for 3 scatters, 25 free spins for 4 scatters, and 100 free spins for 5 scatters. Three or more thunderbolt icons in this bonus are enough to offer you more free spins, whilst wilds are far more frequent during this feature than in the base game.
Players will note that the free spins feature in Zeus is triggered rather easily, but they will have a hard time landing the top whack of 100 free games. Even so, considering what this slot can offer against its age, this is still a very playable slot machine from WMS Gaming. Its sequels are even better.


text:
Black Mechanical Jersey
Important: Please check your size below before buying!
This amazing black mechanical cycling jersey is designed to keep you dry in hot conditions and warm in cold conditions.
Don't ever go out again for a ride without this amazing jersey and show how unique you are with this spectacular jersey.
Product Details:
- Material: 100% Polyester.
- COOLMAX: quick-dry function and makes you feel more comfortable.
- High-quality tights fabric: light and decreases the wind.
- It keeps you dry and cool in hot conditions and warms in cold conditions.
- Even if you're sweaty, this Jersey never adheres to your skin.
- Zipper Length: Full Zipper.
- Pockets: It has 3 pockets on the back.
Please check your size before buying!
Select your size then click on Buy It Now to get yours before it's gone!
Estimated delivery time2-3 weeks for USA
3-5 weeks for International
ReturnsYou have 30 days to return this item if not as described or if it has any issues.
Please contact us before returning any item.


text:
The TWZ Titan Lightweight Trouser is the ultimate in strength, durability and style, while providing you with excellent comfort and performance on the job! With special features such as Tough Crotch®, Tough Scuff®, reinforced knees and twin needle high tensile stitching youll get more efficiency out of your work day.65% superior abrasion resistance100%+ stronger tear resistanceNow with Ripstop fabric for greater strength on the TRBCOLW-BLA Black trouser, the TRBCOLW-RSNAV Navy trouser, and the TRBCOLW-RSGRY Grey trouser.Five belt loops - positioned on EnduraLite waist band210gsm 100% natural fibres - biodegradable light and soft fabricTwo hanging insert pockets in front made from 205gsm cottonNylon coil zipInternal quick access storage pocketTough Crotch® EnduraLite reinforced to guarantee it goes the distanceMobile phone pocketBellowed pocket to provide storage with easy accessAll 252 pressure points bartacked and reinforcedTwin needle high tensile stitching on all high stress areas to prevent seams tearingEnduraLite reinforced layer kneepad pocket, for all day comfort and protection. Optional TWZ EPDM kneepadavailable on requestTough Scuff® EnduraLite reinforcing for longer life
Please click on the 'Become a stockist' button below to receive your information pack and to find out more on how to become an Argyle retailer.
Become a stockist


text:
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Wishing my readers a Happy New Year. I wish you health and prosperity. But most of all, I hope that you have love in your lives, for love above all things brings true happiness.
As for the world at large and our Republic…I don't have high hopes for 2017. The Orange Beast and his steely, compassionless band of self-interested multi-millionaires are about to be unleashed on America and I fear many will be hurt. Those who will suffer most under this "peoples'" regime will be the usual suspects: the poor, the old, the disabled, sexual and racial minorities, and other marginalized citizens. I think those making six figure incomes and above will do just fine initially, but sooner or later something near and dear to them will be privatized and monetized.
Unfortunately, I don't feel that progressives and Democrats will do much to alleviate our suffering. The Democrats are still controlled by the same neoliberals who got us into this mess in the first place. There are no compelling new leaders or ideas from the left, only bitter infighting over who lost the election. Only new leadership and a new party will energize those who wish positive change.
Much love,
Obama Just Signed off on a Shadowy New 'Anti-Propaganda' Center That Will Be Handed Over to Trump
Photo Credit: Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com
The 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that was signed by President Obama on December 23 greenlights the creation of a new federal center ostensibly aimed at countering foreign "propaganda and disinformation." Termed the Global Engagement Center, the body is granted broad and ill-defined powers to surveil the "populations most susceptible to propaganda," compile reporting and social media messaging critical of the U.S. government and disseminate pro-American propaganda.
The head of the center will be appointed by the president, meaning that a Donald Trump nominee will likely sit at its helm.
The center was originally proposed in separate legislation introduced by U.S. senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) before being inserted into the NDAA. "The purpose of the Center shall be to lead, synchronize, and coordinate efforts of the Federal Government to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining United States national security interests," the NDAA states.
The center is tasked with generating and disseminating "fact-based narratives," a directive likely to unleash a torrent of pro-American propaganda, as demonstrated by other government agencies.
The center will also be tasked with monitoring and tracking "counterfactual narratives abroad that threaten the national security interests of the United States and United States allies and partner nations." While the precise meaning of this language is unclear, such instructions could be interpreted as targeting information and communications critical of the U.S. government.
The surveillance powers granted to the center are sweeping. The body is instructed to, "Identify the countries and populations most susceptible to propaganda and disinformation based on information provided by appropriate interagency entities." It is not immediately clear from the text how the government will determine which populations qualify for this escalated surveillance.
The center will also "collect and store examples in print, online, and social media, disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda directed at the United States and its allies and partners." The language indicates that federal authorities will have a new mechanism for monitoring social media and reporting that is critical of the U.S. government.
Michael Macleod-Ball, chief of staff for the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU, told AlterNet it is not yet clear how this language will be put into practice.
"We just saw that the Department of Homeland Security is now collecting social media identifiers for people applying for visa waivers, so the collection, retention and sharing of social media information is going to be a growth industry for the federal government," he said. "We have big concerns with the retention of that information and how it might be shared across agencies."
He added, "There are already a whole bunch of government agencies collecting information. Whether you're talking about law enforcement or intelligence officials, having the government in the business of monitoring individual communications is very troubling to us."
Overshadowed by the holidays, the provision passed with little debate or notice, despite its potentially broad implications. The measure will be handed over to the administration of Trump, who has previously called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, a database to track Muslims within the United States, the mass deportation of 11 million undocumented people, and the authorization of torture.
The NDAA also rubber-stamps a massive military budget of nearly $619 million and places limits on transfers from the Guantánamo Bay detention center, meaning the prison will almost certainly remain open despite Obama's pledges to shut it down.
Street art in Zielonej Góry, Poland
9 Weird and Wonderful Facts About Death and Funeral Practice
Photo Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
It might not be something you want to think about very often, but it turns out that the way we treat our dead in the modern age is heavily influenced by the way our ancestors treated theirs.
When you look at death and funeral practices through the ages, repeated patterns of behaviour emerge, making it easy to see where some of our modern ideas about death – such as keeping an urn on your mantelpiece or having a gravestone – have come from.
So here are nine surprising facts about death and funeral practices through the ages:
1. Some prehistoric societies defleshed the bones
This was done with sharp knives. And we know this because human skeletons buried during this period show the traces of many cut marks to the skulls, limbs and other bones.
During the medieval period, bodies that needed to be transported over long distances for burial were also defleshed – by dismembering the body and boiling the pieces. The bones were then transported, while the soft tissues were buried close to the place of death.
2. Throwing spears at the dead
During the Middle Iron Age, "speared-corpse" burials were a pretty big deal in east Yorkshire. Spears were thrown or placed into the graves of some young men – and in a couple of instances they appear to have been thrown with enough force to pierce the body. It is unclear why this was done, but it may have been a military send-off – similar to the 21-gun salute at modern military funerals.
3. The Romans introduced gravestones
As an imported practice, the first gravestones in Britain were concentrated close to Roman military forts and more urbanised Romano-British settlements.
Back then, gravestones were more frequently dedicated to women and children than Roman soldiers. This was most likely because Roman soldiers were not legally allowed to marry, so monuments to their deceased family members legitimised their relationships in death in a way they couldn't be in life.
After the end of Roman control in Britain in the fifth century, gravestones fell out of favour and did not become widely popular again until the modern era.
4. The Anglo Saxons preferred urns
During the early Anglo-Saxon period, cremated remains were often kept within the community for some time before burial. We know this because groups of urns were sometimes buried together. Urns were also included in burials of the deceased – who were likely their relatives.
5. Lots of people shared a coffin
During the medieval period, many parish churches had community coffins, which could be borrowed or leased to transport the deceased person from the home to the churchyard. When they arrived at the graveside, the body would be removed from the coffin and buried in a simple shroud.
6. And rosemary wasn't just for potatoes
Sprigs of rosemary were often carried by people in the funeral procession and cast onto the coffin before burial, much as roses are today. And as an evergreen plant, rosemary was associated with eternal life. As a fragrant herb, it was also often placed inside coffins to conceal any odours that might be emerging from the corpse. This was important because bodies often lay in state for days and sometimes weeks before burial, while preparations were made and mourners travelled to attend the funeral.
7. Touching a murderer could heal
Throughout early modern times, and up until at least the mid 19th century, it was a common belief that the touch of a murderer – executed by hanging – could cure all kinds of illnesses, ranging from cancer and goitres to skin conditions. Afflicted persons would attend executions hoping to receive the "death stroke" of the executed prisoner.
8. There are still many mysteries
For almost a thousand years, during the British Iron Age, archaeologists don't really know what kinds of funeral practices were being performed across much of Britain. And human remains only appear in a few places – like the burials in east Yorkshire. So for much of Britain, funeral practices are almost invisible. We suspect bodies were either exposed to the elements in a practice known as "excarnation", or cremated and the ashes scattered.
9. But the living did respect the dead
Across time, people have engaged with past monuments to the dead, and it is common for people to respect older features of the landscape when deciding where to place new burials.
Bronze Age people created new funeral monuments and buried their dead in close proximity to Neolithic funeral monuments. This can be seen in the landscape around Stonehenge, which was created as an ancestral and funeral monument – and is full of Bronze Age burial mounds known as round barrows.
And when the Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain, they frequently buried their dead close to Bronze and Iron Age monuments. Sometimes they dug into these older monuments and reused them to bury their own dead.
Even today, green burial grounds tend to respect preexisting field boundaries. And in at least one modern cemetery, burials are placed in alignment with medieval "ridge and furrow". These are the peaks and troughs in the landscape resulting from medieval ploughing.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Sweat: An honest depiction of the American working class
At the Public Theater in New York City
By Fred Mazelis
30 December 2016
Lynn Nottage's Sweat is an unusual and rewarding play, depicting social reality not often seen in the American theater. Set in the decaying industrial city of Reading, Pennsylvania, the work shows, through the lives of its eight major characters, what decades of concessions, deindustrialization and plant shutdowns have done to the living standards and social conditions–and texture of existence–of tens of millions of workers and their families.
The play, directed by Kate Whoriskey, has just finished a successful two-month run at New York City's Public Theater, and is headed to Broadway in the spring. The same writer-director team was responsible for Ruined, which appeared off-Broadway in 2009 and is set in the Congo during the long civil war there. Like Ruined, Sweat is the product of lengthy research. Nottage and a team of assistants spent more than two years interviewing about 100 people in Reading.
Nottage explained, in a recent interview in the Los Angeles Times, that she seeks to focus attention on "spaces that are under-illuminated." She was drawn to Reading after hearing that the city of some 88,000, the fifth-largest in the state of Pennsylvania and only about 125 miles west of New York City, was the poorest city in the United States, according to 2010 census figures.
Reading, with 41.3 percent of its residents officially living in poverty, ranked highest among US cities with more than 65,000 people below the poverty line. However, it is only the first among near-equals. Its history and current economic state are not fundamentally different from those of many small and larger cities across the US.
The list of factories that have closed or drastically reduced operations in Reading in recent years is a long one. It includes the Hershey Company, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, the Dana Corporation and many others. The state of Pennsylvania, with a current population of about 12.8 million, lost 314,000 manufacturing jobs between 1998 and 2013.
While the characters and story line of Sweat are fictional, they are the product of the intensive research and interviews conducted by Nottage. The play is situated within a definite time and place, the action framed by exact dates that introduce, via supertitles, the various scenes in the narrative.
Much of the action is set in the year 2000. A brief prologue, however, takes place in 2008. A parole officer is interviewing two young men, Jason and Chris, who have just been released from prison for a crime which is not further explained at that point.
The play then proceeds to explore the background, leading up to events eight years earlier that changed the lives of these and the other characters.
After the introduction of Jason and Chris, the next scene flashes back eight years to a neighborhood bar, where we meet the other characters. They include Tracey and Cynthia, friends and co-workers at a local steel-tubing factory and the mothers of Jason and Chris, respectively; Jessie, another co-worker of theirs; Stan, the local bartender and a veteran worker at the same plant, who left after being injured on the job; Oscar, Stan's helper and assistant at the bar, an immigrant from Colombia; and Brucie, the estranged husband of Cynthia, who, in the course of a 93-week lockout, succumbed to despair and to drugs.
The action unfolds over a period of several months. The atmosphere is one of increasing fear and helplessness in the face of the ever-present and mounting threat of a plant shutdown and job losses. At one point Tracey and Cynthia discuss the possibility of applying for a supervisory position in the plant. They both wind up applying, and Cynthia gets the job. Tension continues to grow as the threat of a lockout looms on August 4, 2000. The workers are replaced by scabs. Over the next three months the stresses expand to the boiling point. November 3, 2000 is the fateful day that charts the course of the next eight years for these characters.
The final scene, set on October 18, 2008 and including Chris, Jason, Stan and Oscar, brings the various strands of the story together in a grim, unsentimental and vaguely humanist conclusion. Sweat could hardly be more appropriate, in a presidential election year in which the cry of anger and desperation was heard, from voters and non-voters alike.
Lynn Nottage's play is welcome for its honest depiction of life in Reading and, by extension, life for the majority of workers in the US and other advanced capitalist countries. The cast was excellent in every respect, including Will Pullen as Jason, Khris Davis as Chris, Carlo Albán as Oscar, Michelle Wilson as Cynthia, James Colby as Stan, Johanna Day as Tracey, Miriam Shor as Jessie and John Earl Jelks as Brucie. The play, which was co-commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Arena Stage in Washington DC, came to New York after appearing in Oregon and Washington.
One of the most positive elements of the play is its generally truthful accounting of the relationship between race and class in American society today. At a time when the theater–and cultural dialogue as a whole–is almost entirely dominated by talk of "white society," "white privilege" and the allegedly unbridgeable gap between the races, Nottage shows that workers of different races and nationalities face the same conditions and the same challenges.
This is not to say that racial and ethnic tensions are ignored in the play. They are present, but they are depicted in a realistic and almost matter-of-fact manner. What emerges from the dialogue and the actual story of these workers and their families is how similar they all are, beneath the surface of their skin color. The city of Reading, according to latest figures, is about 48 percent white and 14 percent African American. More than half the population is Hispanic.
Tracey, who is white, at one point suggests that her African-American friend Cynthia obtained her management job because she was black. Tracey and Jessie do not trust Cynthia, and understandably suspect she is withholding information from them, as rumors swirl of equipment being moved out of the factory in expectation of a plant closure.
Brucie discusses racial divisions, including the struggle his own father had to get a job in the factory when, having picked "his last bale of cotton," he came north in 1952 as part of the "Great Migration."
Jason, meanwhile, is turning angry and bitter, while his friend Chris has more hopes for the future, and hopes to return to school. Oscar, the immigrant, adds another element to the story of the working class in 21st century America.
What emerges in the end is that, despite changes in the composition of the working class, the basic social issues remain.
Amidst the tensions between them, all of the characters express, in one fashion or another, their disgust with the existing system and its political representatives. In one scene, in March 2000, listening to discussion of the upcoming presidential election, the appearance of George W. Bush on television is met with general contempt. In August of that year, one character says that after "watching these candidates talking bullshit, I decided I'm not voting." "Amen to that" is the reaction.
When the workers are forced to accept a 60 percent pay cut, they blame it on NAFTA (the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement passed during the Bill Clinton administration). The union offers a bag of groceries, comments one of the workers. "It's fuckin' humiliating," says Jason about the lockout. "They won't let me clean out my locker."
Nottage makes a distinction between the black and white workers she met in Reading that contains a grain of truth if properly understood. The playwright, who is black, told the LA Times that "The language they [white workers] were using sounded very familiar to me, language that for 100 years or more African Americans have been using to describe our circumstances. 'We feel marginalized,' 'We feel unheard.' 'We feel disenfranchised' … I felt for the first time we all shared a narrative."
Nottage is wrong to suggest that a "shared narrative" has just emerged, although perhaps she means that she hasn't felt it previously. Despite the history of slavery, Jim Crow and pervasive racism in the century following the Civil War, there are numerous of instances of common struggle, from the days of the IWW to the organizing struggles of the 1930s and the battles for civil rights in the 1960s. Objectively, there is one working class in the US. But Nottage is right when she suggests that the artificial divisions that have been used to pit white and black workers against one another are being fatally undermined by the current crisis of the profit system. In that sense the "shared narrative" is a weapon against all those who seek to divide workers along racial lines. Sweat is not without weaknesses. There is much that is gripping and realistic, but, as in Ruined, the playwright stops well short of fully probing and exploring the roots of economic and social disaster. This weakens the overall effort.
To the extent the play communicates the desperation facing the working class, that there seems to be no way out of their dilemma through the established institutions, including the Democratic Party and the trade unions, it poses some crucial questions.
The play ends with a brief and understated plea for empathy and human connection. This is an increasingly common refrain from a section of the liberal middle class. The workers are portrayed simply as victims.
"Where do we go from here?" says Nottage in the abovementioned interview. "All of us are in pain. All of us feel a certain level of trauma. Are we going to remain divided? Or are we going to try to come together and heal?"
Who is going to come together and for what purpose? At this moment, of course, there are those who call for a "coming together" to rescue the Democratic Party after its latest electoral disaster. There are others who recognize the need for uniting the working class against the system that is responsible for the conditions depicted in Sweat. This is not the message of Sweat, although it is one conclusion that could be drawn from the suffering depicted on stage.
Street art in Manizales, Colombia


text:
Palestinian event at library brings controversy
COLUMBIA - A public program called "The Exiled Palestinians" held at the Columbia Public Library on Tuesday drew strong opinions. Two Palestinian women, Umm Akrum and Amena Askar, who live in a Lebanese refugee camp, spoke during the event. More than 100 supporters and opponents of this event attended the program.
"I think it's important for us to develop a greater collective consciousness and awareness," Jeff Stack, an organizer, said.
An attendee who advocates the event said the perspectives of Palestinian refugees have historically been absent in the U.S. mainstream.
"I think there's a lot gets missed out on. I think a lot of times the people who are consulted as experts don't come from those backgrounds, so they don't have those personal experiences to really give a nuanced opinion. A lot of times a lot of facts are missed out on, or they are framed in a way that's very biased," Farah El-Jayyousi, who is part Palestinian and part white-American and grew up in Columbia, said.
Daniel Swindell, a person who opposed this event, wrote an official letter to the Columbia Public Library and hoped the library would cancel the program based on hate speech laws.
"I'm extremely disappointed that the Columbia Public Library allowed this event, not just because of the idea of hate speech, but the Friends Room in the library says it's open to people who want to use it for education events, hosting an event where you call for destruction of Israel is not really an education event," Swindell said.
Swindell said the reason he opposes this program is he believed the program calls for Jewish people to be denied rights.
"In the 1920s, the League of Nations granted the Jewish people right to self-determination, so the international community granted the Jewish people the rights to a nation. So if you host an event where you call for destruction of Israel, then you are literally hosting an event where calling for Jewish people to be denied rights," Swindell said.
The event was sponsored by Mid-Missourians for Justice in Palestine, the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation, Mid-MO Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, MU Socialists and Occupy CoMo.


text:
The PSB-2X96W-010-24VDC Class 2 LED Power Supply accepts input voltage in range of 120-277 volts AC and outputs 24 volts DC power up to 2x96 watts. The power supply can be used as a dimmable or non-dim power supply. Features short circuit and overload protection. Power Input: 120-277VAC, 50/60Hz. Power Output: Class 2, 24VDC, 2X4A, 2X96 watts maximum. For indoor applications only. To avoid overheating the power supply, install it in a ventilated remote location where air flows. Maintain proper spacing among power supplies when multiple power supplies are installed in the same remote location. The low voltage output dims down 7 percent when two additional wires are connected to a 0-10V dimmer. Dimmable with a 0-10V dimmer (tested and approved: Philips Sunrise SR1200ZTUNV), sold separately. ETL listed. 12.15 inch width x 6.48 inch height x 2.18 inch depth.
1 x LED/192W/24V LED


text:
Saturday, November 17, 2012
A HowTo Guide For My Crock Pot Methods
I've mentioned here previously in my 'Bad Words: BOIL & BLEACH' post that my last resort for removing tough stuck on ligaments, skin and etc from bones is a crock pot. But I didn't really go into much detail. So this is my instructional guide for that.
This crock pot method is one of my own invention. I've never met anyone else that does it. It has worked well for me since the early 90s when I first started using it. I've further mastered it since and figured out other ways to use it for bone processing tasks... and I've used the same trusty crock pot all these years.
When I have a really stuck on flesh mass, ligaments or something similar that maceration has not removed I use the crock pot as a last resort to remove it from the bone. Most of the time it works within hours but in tough cases I've had to leave it overnight or a full 24 hours.
I like to add a metal veggie steamer/strainer to the bottom of the crock pot to minimize the bones/teeth actually touching the hot ceramic pot since it is this extreme heat that can damage them. But if you can find a metal strainer that fits in your crock pot that won't rust, that will work well too.
This method is also a good way to carefully clean smaller more fragile bones that may start to break down during maceration. Put them in a metal screen style tea strainer if they are that small to keep from losing them, or another smaller metal strainer that will fit into the crock pot.
The reason I do this in a crock pot and not stove top is because I like to carefully regulate the temperature. Stove top simmering always seems to eventually boil. The lowest setting on my crock pot never boils. I've discussed why boiling bones is bad in my 'Bad Words: BOIL & BLEACH' post.
I fill the crock pot with water well above the bone and put it on low and replace the lid. Being sure to top off the water as it evaporates. Best part is that there is nothing to do. You just put your bones into the crock pot and go do something else. Just like when you use it to cook dinner.
Vultures had literally just pulled the outer skin off this opossum so I decided to do a slow simmer in the crock pot instead of maceration. This worked very quickly with the flesh still so fresh/soft.
There's really not much of a need to add anything to the water. The slow constant heat alone will get the toughest dried on mummified skin off of anything. Often overnight. Sometimes I pour out what has cooked off overnight, add new water and start again... if it is something really fleshy like a mummified head.
These turtle skulls started off whole mummified heads before I added them to the crock pot. The process is so gentle that even the keratin sheaths (or rhamphotheca) that covers the upper and lower turtles jaws were unharmed.
If the bones seem very greasy I just add a little dish soap to the water and it helps the natural fats out of the bone and rise to the top. That's the only additive I've ever put in the water with the bones. But grease will still come out of the bone without you even adding soap to the water! This is why I say to add water well above the top of the bones you've added to the crock pot. The grease will float to the top where you can easily spoon it out of the water.
These partial coyote skulls were quite visibly greasy so I put them in the crock pot overnight with some dish soap.
The next morning a good amount of grease was at the top of the water.
To easily remove the grease from the crock pot so it doesn't get back onto the skulls when removing them I just scooped it out with a spoon. Doesn't get any easier than that. Remember as I discussed previously in my post 'Bad Words: BOIL & BLEACH' that boiling bone will draw the grease further inside the bone. So don't do that to remove the natural fats in animal remains.
Another thing I use the crock pot for it to soften bone so that it is easier for me to remove teeth. This worked well for these wild boar mandible fragments.
The bone became soft enough after a couple days for me to use pliers and wrenches to carefully smash and break the mandible apart and extract the teeth.
Much more about this at my 'Extracting Teeth From Bone' blog post.
My crock pot method works beautifully. Very low maintenance. Rarely any need to scrub anything from the bones afterwords. I've never even had any need to find another method. I do wish though that crock pots came MUCH LARGER...haha
I hope you enjoy my HowTo blog posts. For most of the time I've been collecting and processing bones the internet was not yet around and this info was not commonly found in books either. So I've had over 30 years of trial and error figuring out these things on my own. I decided to save everyone some time that comes across my blog and let them in on a few of my trade secrets. And hopefully keep some bones from being destroyed in the process.
12 comments:
- Lina said...
hi! i'm new at this stuff, so i have a few questions for you if you have the time :)
1: how do i preserve insects?
2: when you're in the woods collecting stuff, are you ever worried about bumping into a dangerous animal? when i'm in the woods i'm always scared to meet a brown bear or something that would attack me. (i live in sweden)
3: should i wear gloves when i touch bones or dead animals?
hoping for some answers :) love what you do by the way!
- December 12, 2012 at 12:21 PM
- Jana Miller said...
Hi Lina!
1) I find all of my insects already dead and there is very little to do to preserve them. Here in Florida they quickly naturally dry out on their own. I do not kill insects and mount them.
2) There are no dangerous animals where I am other than some rattlesnakes. Just be very aware of your surroundings at all times and travel with a partner while bone collecting if it is a concern.
3) Yes, always wear gloves while handling anything dead. Sun bleached bones are usually ok to pick up with your bare hands though. And wash your hands well after doing any bone processing. I usually take a shower and change clothes if I've done anything exceptionally messy.
Good luck and have fun!
- December 12, 2012 at 2:36 PM
- Unknown said...
Hi there! I am also painfully new at this. I have a quail head that still has feathers and flesh on it, although i believe the blood is drained. I have never cleaned flesh or feather from bone before, but I desperately want that cute little quail skull. What should I do?
- January 14, 2013 at 10:18 AM
- Andrea Laura said...
Very Informative! This blog is great source of information which is very useful for me. Thank you very much for sharing this!
Office Cleaning
- April 26, 2013 at 11:13 AM
- Unknown said...
This might sound gross but is it safe to use the crock pot for food after using it for this? (Yes, I know I'd have to wash it.) I'm on a bit of a budget but this sounds exactly like what I need.
- November 12, 2013 at 2:54 PM
- Jana Miller said...
Callum - That honestly sounds like a very bad idea, washed or not. I can't stress enough to keep your regular kitchen/bathroom items apart from your bone processing items. You may just want to macerate and be patient instead. Stay safe!
- November 13, 2013 at 8:57 PM
- Unknown said...
I figured as much. Luckily I found a cheap crock pot on craigslist. I've already macerated my raccoon but there are some stubborn bits, so I'll use this method. Thanks!
- November 18, 2013 at 11:42 AM
- Tsimmu said...
So, I have a problem. I have a lot of goose heads and feet in my freezer that I'd really like to clean up, but I live in a situation where I have no outdoors to long term macerate my bones and I don't want to leave anything stinky in my apartment for my roommate to deal with (or our cats).
I also saw Jake's Bones post about the baby bottle warmer, but I don't think they still make the one he has, they only make a much smaller version that I don't think will work for even a goose skull.
Will the Crock Pot method you describe here work for general maceration so that I don't have to worry too much about not having an outdoor area in which to do my macerations?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
- February 23, 2014 at 12:19 AM
- Jana Miller said...
Hi Tsimmu!
I recently processed a whole duck & it involved outdoor bone cage decomp, then maceration, then peroxide. turned out beautifully. A duck (or goose) beak & skull are quite thin and fragile & would most likely be destroyed if cooked in any way. No bird bones of any kind would likely survive in a crockpot. If you can find a very tight fitted plastic container you can hide somewhere inside/outside I highly suggest macerating them that way. There will be zero smell even inside if you use a high quality container w/tight lid.
Good luck
- March 15, 2014 at 5:19 PM
- Unknown said...
I found some whale bones the other day I was wanting to turn into jewelry. The bones are from a 3 week rotted whale carcass that was beached nearby. What would you recommend? The bones are from the fin of the whale and are only about 6in by 3in.
- August 14, 2014 at 2:07 AM
- Unknown said...
I came across some whale bones the other day from a 3week old rotted humpback whale. I would like to make some whale carved necklaces and I was hoping you would have some advice on how to clean the bones. They are from the fin of the whale and are only about as big as a remote for a TV. PS: I extracted them from the carcass and they are smelly :(
- August 14, 2014 at 2:11 AM
- Jana Miller said...
That's an amazing and unusual find Chris, but also likely an illegal one for you to have in your possession as whales are covered by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Not sure where you are located or where all the act covers but you should really look into it before doing anything with those bones. As for cleaning any kind of bones from a larger size mammal you'd want to deflesh by maceration first, degrease and then do a peroxide bath. Which are all covered here in my blog pots. Stay safe!
- August 14, 2014 at 6:54 AM


text:
We keep your daughter safe, so she can concentrate on having fun
As well as providing a fun environment, GFS is responsible for keeping your daughter safe while she attends any of our groups or programmes, including during trips off site.
Our staff and volunteers undergo checks
GFS activities are run by volunteers and/or paid staff who are trained and experienced in working with girls and young women. We follow national guidance for safe recruitment of volunteers and staff, including relevant DBS checks.
Our health and safety standards
GFS carries comprehensive insurance and operates to a high standard of health and safety. All the buildings we operate from undergo a minimum of yearly risk assessments including fire safety and the suitability for activities we deliver within our venues.
We also offer a range of experiences for young women including trips and residential opportunities. These are rigorously assessed to ensure the safety of those attending. You will also be given a special consent form to complete prior to the trip going ahead.
While GFS will do everything it we can to keep your daughter physically and emotionally safe, we must remind you that your daughter is responsible for her own belongings, i.e. mobile phone, money, coat and ask that they only bring with them what they need for their session.
Your daughter's wellbeing
As part of our commitment to keeping girls and young women safe, we have a statutory duty to report any concerns about a child or vulnerable adult at risk, in accordance with our Child and Vulnerable Adult at Risk Policy.
When registering you daughter, you will be asked to give your consent for GFS staff to give any medication/medical treatment if necessary during a session or emergency. All accidents under GFS supervision are recorded in the accident book and parents/guardians are always informed.
We will also ask if you consent to us photographing or filming your daughter on occasion during a group. This could be used as evidence of her achievement or could be used to promote our work in newsletters, on the GFS website or in other GFS marketing materials.
GFS does not tolerate bullying and has a zero tolerance policy on threatening or violent behaviour of any kind. We have behaviour agreements in all our groups that set out expectations that all participants are made aware of.


text:
Match Report: Watford 0-3 Brighton & Hove Albion
By Kevin Affleck
Well, that didn't really go to plan.
The parading of two high-profile signings – one a 16-goal England international, the other a club-record purchase – and the return of Z-Cars was supposed to be followed by a win of some sort against Brighton, but it didn't quite work out. In fact, it didn't work out like that at all.
There was a feeling it wasn't quite going to go according to the script when Abdoulaye Doucouré put through his own net just before the half-hour mark. And that horrible sinking sensation (you know the one) was confirmed when one of Brighton's own summer signings, Neal Maupay, combined well with Florin Andone within 12 minutes of the pair coming off the bench to firstly kill the game, and then put the Seagulls completely out of sight. The result brought to an end 12 seasons of opening day matches without a defeat for the Golden Boys. Talk about unlucky 13.
The Hornets initially surfed the wave created by the two sea-changing signings in the week. Troy Deeney thundered into Dan Burn; Gerard Deulofeu had an ambitious crack inside two minutes and Craig Cathcart won the first three duels with Glenn Murray, including a clattering first challenge. The portents were hugely encouraging.
Brighton would have been expecting a lightning fast start from the hosts and they came tooled up, weathered it and then crept into the game, slowly but surely. Jürgen Locadia had the first shot on target, Davy Pröpper forced Ben Foster into thinking twice about a rising drive the Watford goalkeeper eventually allowed to sail over and then more enterprising play down the right saw Doucouré put through his net. It would be a stretch to say the goal was coming but it certainly didn't arrive out of the blue.
The home crowd were looking for a response, something to get them going and rally round. There was a well-drilled free-kick routine involving Kiko Femenía and Étienne Capoue that caused a bit of panic in the Brighton box while Matt Ryan played safe and tipped over a free-kick from José Holebas that was probably going over anyway. But that was about it and Gracia opted for a major change at half-time, bringing on Roberto Pereyra probably sooner than he anticipated.
Pereyra responded immediately with a piece of tracking back he often isn't given credit for. It was a small thing, a footnote, but Gracia will have loved it. It seemed to spread as in the next breath Dawson was all over Locadia in front of the dugout and then Femenía was particularly persistent on the right byline, winning possession and then cutting it back for Gray. It looked a certain goal but Lewis Dunk, not for the first time, stuck out an outstretched leg and the ball was deflected over. Gray couldn't believe it.
There were quite a few in disbelief at how Andone managed to ghost in at the near post less than 60 seconds after he strolled on to replace Locadia. Pröpper flashed one across from the right and there was Andone to nip in front of his man to tuck it first time past Foster. Dawson was furious at the nature of the goal.
The third, just over ten minutes later from Maupay, was just a kick in the teeth and was the sort of counterattack goal you'd expect with one team over-committing resources. It was all a bit too easy and you can bet Gracia will launch an inquest into just how that one came about.
Final confirmation that this was going to be an afternoon to forget came when Dawson smashed one at goal from less than 12 yards out but Dunk heroically stretched out yet another limb to prevent even the crumb of comfort that comes with a consolation. These kinds of results can happen, and indeed do happen, in a season and it's probably just as well the Hornets got theirs out of the way in the very first game. Things can only get better.
HORNETS: Foster (GK), Femenía, Cathcart, Dawson, Holebas; Hughes, Doucouré, Capoue, Deulofeu (Pereyra h-t); Deeney (c), Gray (Success 75).
Subs not used: Gomes (GK), Janmaat, Cleverley, Sema and Kabasele.


text:
Octane and Abstract Deformations With Brett Morris From Capacity at NAB 2015
Another series of C4D goodness from Cineversity!
Watch Brett Morris of Capacity used C4D and Octane renderer to create an undulating orb and an alien landscape. Gorgeous stuff. He even uses Signal to help easily animate some of the parameters. You can follow Bret Morris on Twitter at @bma_morris.
Brett Morris, Capacity Day 1
Brett Morris, Capacity Day 2
Hello! Sorry, i not know english, can you say me "where i can take this expresso"?
at the cafè?
@madmonk hahahha
Amazing. Thanks for sharing!
Octane and Arnold both have big releases coming out if you're a C4D + Mac user. Anyone have any thoughts or experience on which is better to learn?
I needed a fast renderer for 2 big projects and didn't want to spit them out to a cloud farm. I decided to try Octane and man, is it a beast. Everything this guy is saying is true. As far as a learning curve, I picked a majority of it up in 2 days. I was able to output a photo real frame in that time. I actually like the material editor better than c4d's native one. There are still some weird things with it, like you can't layer materials, etc. but it'll only get better. I'm using a 2010 mac pro with a single 680 (through the network I have 2 more 680s) but I'm not at my work station (a trash can) because as of now Octane only uses Nvidia CUDA. The next release, 3.0, will unleash the power of my awesome dual graphics cards which, up until now have been wasting away.
Personally I'd say go with Arnold, its just been released and it is great, loving the IPR window for realtime preview, plus its super easy to get great rendered, all you need to worry about is the samples. The main reason I say this though, is that houdini Engine is also coming to C4D and Arnold is great at rendering volumetrics. You may find the Material Network editor in Arnold a little daunting, but the node based shader setup is very simular to how houdini works, so is a good preparation to harnessing the power of houdini for vfx when it drops. Arnold is by far the best in terms of quality vs speed imo.
A $1000 Titan X will demolish a $1000 5960X in render times. CPU rendering is old, slower, and costs more while GPU rendering is in a very immature state, light-years faster, and costs less. Octane 3.0 is coming soon with even more features and will support both AMD and NVIDIA GPU's. There is honestly no point in purchasing a CPU-based render engine in 2015. The built-in physical render engine for Studio is still a great alternative if you don't have a powerful GPU yet.
Great presentation
Amazing content !! Thank you for sharing. How did he change shirts so quickly from 35 to 36 mins?
Best Presentation I have seen. He is actually talking about something interesting and new. He is taking you through the steps. Legend
Hi there,
Pretty new to C4D but I am very curious about Brett Morris, Capacity Day 1 at 37:30 on how to achieve such "organic explosions". I tried but didn't succeed in replicating the effect he walk us through during the video. Is there a better more step by step tutorial to replicate this?
Thanks to the team for the hard work!
I was having the same issue trying to replicate this part but I finally figured it out. You have to set the Falloff in the Plain Effector to "Source" and make the Matrix the Source Link.
hi nick, i am a big fan of your design work, am from Cuba,a graphic designer, we have here, a very bad internet conexion, but we follow as we can all your videos, and we apreciate so much that you shere your knowledge, and a big part of our work is based in all your proyects, as now i am developing the image for a cuban TV show named 23 y M, so my question, i don knok how to download your tutorials, ´cause my conection does´nt let me to see them online, i´ll aprecciatte yor help ..thanks
sorry if my english is not good


text: I've always loved doing my nails a little quirky. My normal is having them painted black with one random dark blue or red on each hand, but once in awhile I switch it up. I found these great Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips recently, so I've been doing them a lot as well. They go on ridiculously easy and last for a week to 2 weeks. Apparently there were even Halloween themed ones available during October. Sucks that I missed that, but I'll be on the look out this year. My favorite up to now is I Love Lacey. Unfortunately they keep discontinuing designs, so who knows how long that will be available.


text:
Tisserin Coquet
Bonjour !
My name is Chloé. I come from a family of crafters. I learnt to embroider at the age of 3 and developed a love for thread, fabric and yarn ever since. I rediscovered the joy of knitting in her studying years while I had to spend several hours on public transportation every day. I soon started designing my own patterns to play and experiment with colors and textures.
I love bright colours, speckles, singles, shawls and socks so I guess you will see a lot of it here :)
Join the Tisserin Brood to get pre-release sneak peaks, extra chance in giveaways and surprise exclusive content!
Connect with me:
Blog & Stitch Marker Shop | Patreon | Ravelry Group | Instagram | Facebook
Interviews: Knotions (en) | KnitSpirit (fr)


text:
Washingtonians take home book awards
Wendell Minor won for his design of "Rossiter: Country Houses of Washington, Connecticut" and Lane Smith won for his children's book "John, Paul, George and Ben."
The two men, along with five other winners, were recognized in Hartford at a ceremony presented by the Connecticut Center for the Book, a program of the Hartford Public Library and an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
The awards, an annual event for the Connecticut Center for the Book, were made after 40 judges distinguished in the fields of writing, librarianship, book arts, academe, journalism and publishing considered nominations for work published in 2006.
The winners, current or former state residents or authors whose work had a Connecticut setting, were chosen in six categories as well as for a Lifetime Achievement award.
For more information, visit http://www.hplct.org/cfb.


text:
My mood has greatly improved over the last few days. I finally feel like doing things again. I want to work on my book again. I actually am working on electrical panels again instead of barely getting by. Now, if only the electrical room didn't feel like 100 degrees inside due to the sun and the lack of a working air conditioner, I might get more accomplished. Damn that room is HOT!
I finally heard back from one of my beta readers. She raised some very important issues and had great suggestions, but how do you take the criticism and not want to rewrite your entire novel? My books a mess. Great. Now I have other readers reading the same thing and I wonder if they are have trouble with it. 😦
I don't know when I'll ever finish my book. At this rate, I'd rather take time to get it right than to worry about time. Hopefully, a literary agent will pick it up sometime. I just don't know when I will be able to submit.


text: International UFO Congress › Videos › Travis Walton Skyfire Summit 40th Anniversary Witness Panel Travis Walton Skyfire Summit 40th Anniversary Witness Panel On November 5, 1975, one of the most highly regarded and controversial alleged alien abduction encounters took place. Five men claimed to see a UFO beam their coworker. They fled in fear returning later to find the man missing. Beginning on November 5, 2015, on the 40th anniversary of the event, a historic reunion took place to commemorate that fateful event. The reunions took place during the Skyfire Summit, a four day event that included two unique panels. This panel included three of the witnesses to the UFO event, including Travis Walton, the man who disappeared. The other witnesses were John Goulette and Mike Rodgers. Rodgers was portrayed as the lead character in the Hollywood movie Fire in the Sky based on this UFO event. Watch Practically Anywhere. Online, from your iOS device with a free download stream to Apple TV or Google Chromecast


text:
Peer Reviewed Articles
Hopkinson, P., Hammond, M., Bartolome, J. W., Macaulay, L. 2020. Using consecutive prescribed fires to reduce shrub encroachment in grassland by increasing shrub mortality. Restoration Ecology. (Download PDF)
Macaulay, L.T., Sollmann, R., Barrett, R. 2020. Estimating Deer Populations Using Camera Traps and Natural Marks. Journal of Wildlife Management. 84(2):301–310.
Bartolome, J.W., A. Brown, P. Hopkinson, M. Hammond, L. Macaulay, and F. Ratcliff. 2019. Evaluating Prescribed Fire Effect on Medusa Head and Other Invasive Plants in Coastal Prairie at Point Pinole. Grasslands. Winter 2019 edition.
Macaulay, L., & Butsic, V. (2018). Who Owns California's Cropland. ARE Update, 21(3). (Download PDF)
Macon, D., R. Baldwin, D. Lile, J. Stackhouse, C. Koopmann Rivers, T. Saitone, T. Schohr, L. Snell, J. Harper, R. Ingram, K. Rodrigues, L.T. Macaulay, L. Roche. 2018. Livestock Protection Tools for California Ranchers. UC Agriculture & Natural Resources Publication 8598.
Ratcliff, F., Bartolome, J., Macaulay, L.T., Spiegal, S., & White, M. D. 2018. Applying ecological site concepts and state-and-transition models to a grazed riparian rangeland. Ecology and Evolution. (Download PDF)
Macaulay, L.T. & V. Butsic. 2017. Ownership characteristics and crop selection in California cropland. California Agriculture. 71(4):221-230. (Download PDF)
†Shapero, M., I. Dobrovna, L.T. Macaulay. 2017. Implications of changing spatial dynamics of irrigated pasture, California's third largest agricultural water use. Science of the Total Environment 605–606: 445-453. (Download PDF)
Stackhouse, J.W., G. Giust, L.T. Macaulay. 2017. Game Species Management and Economics of Hunting Enterprises in California Grasslands. Grasslands.
Macaulay, L.T. 2016. The role of wildlife-associated recreation in private land use and conservation: Providing the missing baseline. Land Use Policy 58: 218–233. (Download PDF)
Macaulay, L.T. 2015. Pastured Pig Production in California Oak Woodlands: Lessons from the Spanish Dehesa. In: Outdoor Hog Production: Best Practices for Conservation in the San Francisco Bay Area. UC Cooperative Extension.
Macaulay, L.T. 2015. Proceedings of the 7th Oak Symposium. Evaluating Recreational Use as an Incentive for Habitat Conservation on Private Land in California. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-251. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station.
Huntsinger, L., N. Sayre, L.T. Macaulay. 2014. Ranchers, land tenure, and grass-roots governance: maintaining pastoralist use of rangelands in the U.S. in three different settings. In: Davies, J. (ed). The Governance of Rangeland: Collective Action for Sustainable Pastoralism. (Download PDF)
Macaulay, L.T., P.F. Starrs, J. Carranza. 2013. Hunting in Managed Oak Woodlands: Contrasts Among Similarities, in: Mediterranean Oak Woodland Working Landscapes. Springer, pp. 311–350. (Download PDF)
Reports & Plans
Hopkinson, P., M. Hammond, L.T. Macaulay, & J. Bartolome. 2011. Grazing Management Plan, Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area, California State Parks.
Macaulay, L.T. 2011. Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program (IHRMP) Evaluation Report. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Bartolome, J., P. Hopkinson, M. Hammond, B. Kellogg, L.T. Macaulay, S. Spiegal, & B. Voelker. 2009. Cowell Ranch Ecosystem Management Alternatives Plan, California State Parks.
Hopkinson, P., M. Hammond, J. Bartolome, & L.T. Macaulay. 2009. Grazing Management Plan, Macedo Ranch, Mount Diablo State Park.
Macaulay, L.T. "What about native fish?" Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine. April 2010. Letters.


text:
Date of Birth : May 5th 1983
English actor. He played the role of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, on the Showtime series The Tudors from 2007 until 2010. Cavill was born on the island of Jersey and was educated at St. Michael's Preparatory School on the Island, before attending Stowe School, an English boarding school, where he acted in many plays. "In prep school, I really learned to love the stage. When you step out from the wings and into the lights, there's this incredible rush of adrenaline and fear and anticipation; it's just something else, it really is." He has four brothers, three older and one younger. Henry has said during an interview that if he weren't an actor, he would have joined the forces. He also cites to have an interest in Egyptology.


text:
I believe we need to provide QUALITY EDUCATION which helps students to achieve a respect for all humanity by expanding their creativity in partnerships with peers and adults. My proposal for PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION provides this essential QUALITY EDUCATION to increase the value of humanity to a point that no one would want to harm any human being or our life-supporting environment.
Historically, societies have limited and even prevented young people from discovering their potential interests, talents, skills and creative relationships which, in turn, has affected their motivation to want to learn (especially when the required subjects were not relevant to their interests). As a result of this deprivation, societies have been producing adults with limited vision and ability to contribute to a more productive, creative and peaceful world of communities. Adults have claimed that they have known what was best for kids. If that were true, we should have had a better world by now.
I submit that this dysfunctional education has been the root cause of the constant and escalating dehumanization that has haunted our past and is threatening our present existence. Unless we improve the education for young people by providing an exciting support system that can enable them to develop their potentials for life and environmental enhancement, what hope can there be for a healthy livable future?


text:
December is a month that would leave me confused and crazy. All work and deadlines seem to snowball at the last month of the year and on top of it all is the perfunctory celebration of Christmas. Every year, I find myself dutifully going through the motions of preparing for parties, parties and more parties. At last, on Christams day, I take a sigh of relief to finally have accomplished something far more important. That is, to celebrate Christmas simply and more meaningfully.
I did go Christmas shopping but my budget was so tight, it could rival Scrooge's. No, I did not go around work and home scolding people "Bah! Hambug!". Instead, I greeted them with smiles and cheers inspite of and despite of. So here are pictures from a very busy December. I thank God, why despite of my miseries and problems, I still could manage to be grateful. To read the captions, just lead your cursor to the picture.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


text:
Elizabeth (Woodbury) Balch (August 15, 1654 - c. 1698) was born in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts to John and Elizabeth Woodbury. Little is known about Elizabeth's life prior to her marriage to Benjamin Balch on October 11, 1674. Eighteen years later, in the midst of the Salem Witch Trials (1692), Elizabeth would be instrumental in the conviction of Sarah Bishop. Testimony, provided by Elizabeth, would cost Sarah Bishop her life.
Note: Please be advised that The Salem Witchcraft Papers' site states that "Bridget Bishop" was executed not "Sarah Bishop." Apparently, Sarah Bishop and her husband Edward Bishop, Jr. escaped from prison in Boston according to Wikipedia. It would seem that their final fate is unknown.
Original Text:
It's been difficult but I've seemingly confirmed several of the stories I have heard about the Balch family and their involvement in the Salem witch trials. Thanks to a web site called The Salem Witchcraft Papers I have found verbatim testimony taken from the original trials in 1692 which recounts the testimony of Elizabeth Balch against Sarah Bishop. Elizabeth Balch, according to the trial transcripts, was the wife of Benjamin Balch at the time. Thanks to a helpful tip, left in my guestbook, I believe I have now figured out the identity of Elizabeth Balch. Benjamin Balch, son of John Balch immigrant from England, had a son he named Benjamin. This Benjamin married a woman by the name of Elizabeth Woodbury. It would seem that this was probably the Elizabeth Balch who gave testimony during the Salem Witch Trials.
Elizabeth Balch, along with her sister Abigail Walden, made testimony against Sarah Bishop and both signed their testimonies with the first letter of their first names. The basic gist of her testimony is that Elizabeth and her sister came across Edward Bishop and his wife Sarah as they were riding on horseback. Edward and his wife were involved in an argument about how fast they were going on their horse when Edward addressed Elizabeth and her sister. Edward accused his wife of entertaining Satan in her kitchen at night and various other allegations. Elizabeth at first scolded Edward Bishop for saying these things about his wife but Edward asserted that these allegations were indeed true. Sarah Bishop apparently made no effort to defend herself against these allegations and Elizabeth evidently took this as an indication that the allegations were correct. When the trial for Sarah Bishop came along Elizabeth Balch testified against her.
Below I have included a link to the original testimony given by Elizabeth Balch and also an additional link to the original source.
Genealogy of Elizabeth (Woodbury):
Father: John Woodbury
Mother: Elizabeth Woodbury
Husband: Benjamin Balch
Married: October 11, 1674
1. Ann
2. Joseph
3. Ebenezer
4. Abigail
5. Elizabeth
6. Ruth
Primary Sources/Links:
Ancestry.com - Elizabeth Woodbury
Elizabeth Balch's Testimony against Sarah Bishop
Genealogy of the Balch Families in America - By: Galusha Burchard Balch
Geni.com - Elizabeth Woodbury Balch


text:
What Kind of Prepper Are You?
By: Alec Sharp (Palmetto Prepper)
Yesterday while at work I had to attend training on a new time clock system that is being implemented at my job. The new time clock will consist of a biometric scan of your finger along with a fingerprint scan. Of course none of this made me happy. At the end of the training we had to enroll in the system by completing both scans.
Of course I was not happy and voiced my opinion when it was my turn to submit my finger for scans. There was talk about how no matter how many times we were told that the information submitted was secure; we all knew that before we left the training session the NSA along with countless other government agencies would be in custody of the newly scanned information.
Afterwards one of my coworkers asked me … "How can you tell others about the need to prepare without making yourself a target for unwanted visitors in the future if we really have one of those SHTF situations?" He continued to give me a hard time because I have both my Palmetto Prepper Facebook page and this Blog. I did my best to ignore him and went about my business.
Later in the day I really started thinking about what my coworker said. I decided there were really only two types of preppers; the first type being like my coworker, a Paranoid Prepper and the other like myself which is a Pragmatic or Logical Prepper.
A paranoid prepper is someone who is preparing for an event but is scared to let anyone know about it. The paranoid prepper is terrified that his preps will be stolen from him when he needs them most.
However, a pragmatic/logical prepper knows that in a SHTF situation that they will have to share what they have with others and prepares for this situation. I am sure that this is causing many of you to think I am crazy but just take a second and hear me out.
If I am at the local Wal-Mart and talk to some random stranger in line about why I have 25 cans of corn in my buggy and he seems interested in what I have to say, then of course I am going to tell him about his need to be prepared. And if in six months or a year from now we have a SHTF situation; I doubt he is going to say to himself, "I remember talking to this brown-haired man in Wal-Mart and he had lots of extra food. I think he said he lived in the next town over so I am going to go get his food." That just is not going to happen. And if he did happen to find me some twenty miles away then he would also need to know that I have also bought some extra guns and ammo. There is actually a greater chance that he might buy a few extra cans of food for himself and his family.
What is most likely going to happen is that my son, who thinks I am crazy and is not preparing, is going to show up at my house with his family and need some supplies. What am I to do? Turn down my son and his family or am I going to know this is likely to happen and prepare for that situation.
Another likely situation that will probably occur is that one of my neighbors will need some supplies. How safe would it be for me to turn them down or get into a gun battle with someone from my immediate community who likely has close friends in the area? In that situation we should ban together and help one another; there is safety in numbers. I might be able to give him some needed sugar and he could help me fix my car or assist with hunting and fishing in the area.
I agree that we need to be careful of who knows that we are preppers and limit their ability to find us; but we need to remember that we cannot keep it secret from everyone. We need to be selective who we tell all while we encourage others to prepare for themselves.
So what kind of prepper are you?
First Exposure – The Journey of Discovery
It is important to remind ourselves that we did not always have the peace and courage that comes from living the prepper lifestyle. We didn't always know that "life as we know it" is not stable and that it can change overnight. The inner peace that we, as preppers, have realized comes from slowly taking the steps to insure that our families will have a roof over their heads, water to drink and food for them to eat.
The average person is just rocking along with life and my have had limited exposure to people like us. They might have a flashlight, some batteries and possibly a portable radio socked away for when the lights go out, but they are not prepared for any real life changing events. Then they meet someone like us and they think we are strangle and might even treat us differently. Our family will tolerate us preppers because they have to, after all they are family.
However then we have contact with that average person that was just rocking along and they have suddenly had the "First Exposure" with the need to be prepared. They may have just lost their job or knows someone who has. They might have just lived through a natural disaster that made life scary for a few days or a week and now they realize that their family is vulnerable. Or like most people they have discovered that our country cannot keep plugging along spending more money than it takes in every year and they have noticed that the cost of everyday living has risen very fast and it all gives them some concern. Whatever the reason is, they have started seeking out advice and are looking for justification to start spending a pile of money on things that they think they need so they can have the same peace and courage we have when we take on whatever life throws our way.
What we have to remember is that "First Exposure" sucks. Not only does it suck but the person that was recently exposed feels alone and knows that they cannot talk to most people or their family because they know that their friends and family will think they are crazy, just as they would have thought about us before their exposure. Now they are seeking out someone who does not think they are crazy!
Hopefully they find someone who is a level-headed prepper that will steer them in the right direction. Someone that gives them good solid advice and helps them think of thing logically and points them to reliable resources so they can educate themselves before they waste lots of money. I also hope that they find someone who will direct them to more like-minded people so they can start building community and a support group.
I have a feeling that 2014 will produce many new people who experience their "First Exposure" and there is a good chance that you will be placed in a position to be that SOMEONE I mentioned earlier. I ask you to remember what it was like when you had your "First Exposure" and that you help your new friend down the path of preparedness with understanding and patience.
Help them get started and help them to feel normal. Living a prepping/preparedness lifestyle is nothing new. People until recent history lived this way. Remember you grandparents, their generation lived this way. They always saved and put supplies up for later use. People all over the world live a preparedness lifestyle. It was not until recent times that people were taught that we can just run to the store whenever they needed something. Well I believe that is a false security and that 2014 will show us all just how false it is.
Happy Prepping!
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/PalmettoPrepper
Twitter – https://twitter.com/SCPrepper
The Daily Prep
By: Alec Sharp (Palmetto Prepper)
Prepping is an important activity that everyone should make sure that they are participating in. You never know when a winter storm will close down your city or truckers will go on strike, keeping the much needed food supply from being delivered to your community.
I have been asked by both friends and family this one question: What is prepping? This question often confuses me because prepping is such a natural activity. It is what American's have done since the beginning of our great county. Prepping is preparing for the future. It is just that simple. You decide what you are preparing for and do it. But for most of us, the acts of prepping consist of storing up basics for the future (food, water and supplies). For more information about what our grandparents did check out this blog entry: https://ki4idb.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/our-grandparents-had-it-right/
Once you decide that you need to start prepping and then you look around at all the things you need to purchase and store, you can become easily overwhelmed. That is when most people start to get discouraged. Then after the first trip to the store and you find yourself spending $100's of dollars on food, water, water purification devices and medical supplies you find yourself wanting to run for the hills. At least I did!
Then I decided that I was going to have to take the slow and steady approach. That is how I was able to prep without being overwhelmed. My slow and steady approach is very simple … I just do one small prep a day. If I don't have any extra money to purchase a prep for the day, then I work on a new skill like "Knife Sharpening" or "Gardening". Each thing you do makes you more prepared then you were before and that is what is important. However, you also have to a goal in mind and continue to strive to obtain that goal. Good beginner goals to have would be to store up a month supply of food and water. After that maybe have an extra 10 gallons of gas on hand or extra LP gas for your propane grill, both of those things are important preps.
If you were to look back at my prepping activities for the last 5 days you would see the following:
Day 1 – Stored an extra gallon of water in an empty Arizona gallon tea jug.
Day 2 – Bought a few extra can goods while grocery shopping.
Day 3 – Cleaned and oiled guns.
Day 4 – Bought an extra bag of food for the chickens.
Day 5 – Bought extra dental floss and some large needles (you would be surprised at all the uses for dental floss).
You can follow along on my Facebook page, where I ask the daily question, "What was your prep for the day?"; you will be surprised at some of the answers. https://www.facebook.com/PalmettoPrepper
Cool Cucumber Salad
By Alec Sharp (Palmetto Prepper)
By the time garden season gets into full swing most back yard gardeners have more cucumbers, peppers and onions then they know what to do with.
Every summer I take several quart jars and make up some Cool Cucumber Salad for my family and friends …. Enjoying a few for myself along the way. The recipe is easy and will last two months, as long as it is kept refrigerated.
– 7 cups pickling Cucumbers sliced thin (about 7 large cucumbers)
– 1 cup sliced Onions
– 1 cup sliced Bell Pepper
– 1 tablespoon salt
– 1 cup white vinegar
– 2 cups sugar
– 1 teaspoon celery seed
– 1 teaspoon mustard seed
Place the vinegar, sugar, celery seed and mustard seed in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, remove from heat and cool for one hour. While your vinegar mixture cools place your cucumber, onion and bell pepper in a large bowl and sprinkle salt on top. Mix all the vegetables together and place them into two quart jars (wide mouth jars work best). Once the vinegar mix has cool for an hour, pour over the vegetables and place in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day enjoy your Cool Cucumber Salad!
Our Grandparents had it Right
By Alec Sharp (Palmetto Prepper)
Back when our grandparents were young most people were fairly resilient and resourceful. Largely they grew a lot of their own food, knew how to can/store it for the winter and had the basic ability to fix and repair items when they broke. In addition, they did not spend their money foolishly and were masters of reusing and repurposing items. If our grandparents made a bad decision there was no federal program to bail them out; they were accountable for the outcomes of their decisions.
Most people now a day live in a disposable/instant gratification world. If it is broken they throw it away and simply buy a new one. Worse than that is when a newer model of an item they already have comes out, lots of people will simply disregard the older model and buy a new one (I have a friend that has a new iPhone 5 and also an iPhone 4 and 4S in a bedroom drawer; still in working condition). There is no waiting; you get hungry simply pull into the nearest fast food drive thru and in a few minutes you have a hot meal and cold drink. This society has left us empty and wanting more!
Society has forgotten the mottos of our grandparents. Patience is a virtue. Waste not, want not. If you want something you will have to work for it. If you squander what you have then you will go without. Put some away for a rainy day. When was the last time you have heard any of those mottos? I know for me it has been a long time!
However, trends seem to be changing. More and more people are getting interested in prepping. If you think about what prepping is, it is basically trying to live our lives closer to the way our grandparents did and less like people of the very recent past. The prepping movement seems to be growing. More people are waking up and realize that we are going to have to be accountable for ourselves and our families, society as a collective will not be able to keep up with the pace of people needs.
Spring is upon us, go plant a little garden, examine your life and take responsibility for you decisions. Make your grandparents proud!
For more information please visit my Facebook page -Palmetto Prepper at http://www.facebook.com/PalmettoPrepper?ref=hl
Hello world!
This blog along with my Palmetto Prepper Facebook page is designed to help people prepare for their safety and the safety of their families future.
I am a new prepper/homesteader and want to share my journey with you.
Let's learn together.


text:
Choosing The Affordable Moose Hunting Trips
It costs a great deal of money to hire the services of a elite moose hunting guide. Therefore, it is essential to hire the services of the british columbia moose hunting who is able to counsel and guide you regarding the location, climate requirements, clothes to be obtained etc. In case you have never used a moose hunting guide or outfitter before, then you have to complete your research and then check out them. It's really far better to reach at camp in order to locate the other hunters buzzing with delight, wanting to talk with one of the link between their very own hunts.
Use this listing of questions to interview your prospective moose hunting guide or outfitter. Make certain to hire the services of the professional guide because they can help you create the trip memorable and value for money verify references because any reputable guide is going to have a lengthy list of satisfied customers. Most fulfilled customers of manuals talk of their guide. Be cautious whilst talking to them because you don't know any of the people and so they could possibly be fake referrals also. Don't hire their services by just conversing with their own referrals make certain that you learn their online reviews.
Genuine And Reliable Moose Outfitters
Select the services of the hunters that have years of knowledge within the hunting. Assess the online forums for advice about the outfitters you are thinking about and all these can assist you in finding the best and the most experienced outfitter to get moose hunting. What equipment are you expected to attract? If you never have a notion where to purchase hunting equipment then a professional outfitter will provide you with the reference to the reliable manufacturers from where you are able to purchase all the necessary equipment. A few moose hunting guide manuals are special about the gear their customers use. They have through the years of experience shortlisted exact goods that work well under certain circumstances, which will improve the guest experience. Should you prepare yourself and obtain your questions answered long before you go, you'll have time to arrange for that trip of a life. Doing all this research work appears to be a daunting task but it is going to help you enjoy the experiences more and you will have the ability to simply take the preventive measures ahead.


text:
Some years ago, when I was still new to private practice, I met regularly with three colleagues for peer supervision. We shared cases and helped each other think through how best to help our clients. One day in 1991, as I sat in the big stuffed chair in a colleague's office, I talked about a tough relationship issue. She handed me a book from her shelf. "You need to read this book," she said emphatically. I looked at the cover: Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples by Harville Hendrix, Ph. D.
I took it home and read it straight through over the next two days, completely absorbed. The next year I signed up for the training. It was 1992. My son was five years old. Yet I left him with his father while I made three trips to New York City to train with Harville Hendrix himself. I was captivated. He had taken a lot of approaches I had studied and been trained in—Transactional Analysis, Gestalt, family systems, Jungian, psycho dynamic therapy—and focused them on relationships.
Here's the theory: Imago is the Latin word for image. It refers to that first internalized image we form when very small from the family we grow up in about what love is, what life is. When we leave our childhood home as adults and go into the world looking for a mate, our imago operates like an invisible sensor causing us to be attracted to some people and not to others. We tend to fall in love with someone who is like our parents in all the good and bad ways. At first, intoxicated by love, we only see the good. This first stage of relationship we call the Romantic Stage, when we feel attraction, infatuation, and form an attachment. It can last anywhere from three weeks to three years. Inevitably, it is followed by the Power Struggle Stage, when the person of our dreams sometimes seems like the person of our nightmares. This is when the real work of relationship begins. We must learn to deal with our differences, with disagreements, and with conflict. Whatever is left over from the past–unmet needs, childhood wounds– comes up. If we understand what's happening, it can be an opportunity for growth. If we don't, it can begin the nightmare that ends in divorce court. The way through to the third stage, the Conscious Relationship Stage (or from Romantic Love to Real Love), begins with becoming thoroughly acquainted with our own childhood wounds and those of our partner. This way we learn to become a more loving person (which is what I think it's all about anyway).
The basic skill taught in Imago Therapy is the Imago Intentional Dialogue Process. Not meant to replace ordinary conversation, the intentional dialogue is a structured way of talking most useful when there is a conflict or touchy topic. Dialogue is really a listening exercise. Listening is very difficult when we are upset. Dialogue slows down the process to help us listen to each other. It involves first one person taking the role of sender and the other as receiver. The sender shares a frustration, the receiver gives a neutral reflection, called a mirror, of what the other said: "What I hear you saying is you are frustrated with me because I get home late so many nights from work." Then the receiver asks: "Is this correct?" and, if yes, then "Is there more?" Dialogue continues until the sender gets it all out. The receiver then summarizes, validates, and empathizes. Then they switch roles–the receiver now becomes the sender—and gets a turn to share his/her point of view on the given topic. It may start with a current issue but can deepen as the sender realizes the other's behavior reminds them of past hurts from childhood. Most people say it feels awkward and artificial at first, but with practice, it becomes a powerful tool for couples to use.
The training was wonderful. There is nothing like a group of therapists hanging out together. After a long day of training, we went off in small groups to dinner at various New York restaurants. We had no reluctance to share intimate details of our own lives as we tried on the theory like a new dress or suit. We walked the streets late at night, exploring the city, laughing, and sometimes singing songs from Broadway shows. At the end of the week, I left the hotel and visited my childhood friend in Brooklyn, staying over with her Saturday night to get the cheaper airfare. Andy and I had been friends since fourth grade so this was a real treat. She had a daughter the same age as my son so we compared notes as parents. As a lawyer who wished she had become a therapist, she was fascinated to get a vicarious dose of Imago from me.
Imago became my passion. Its vision of the healing power of the intimate partnership sustained me through many ups and downs in my own life. And finding that I could use it to help couples who had worn out previous therapists just thrilled me no end. Riding on Harville's marketing coattails as I built my private practice didn't hurt either. A bonus for us all was that Oprah became a fan of Imago and had Harville on her show many times. Now there are over 2000 Imago therapists all over the world. Thanks to modern technology, we keep in touch through email, weekly phone bridge trainings, and annual conferences. In Imago World, support and consultation are available to me at the stroke of my keyboard. Conferences feel like family reunions. And now more and more couples seek me out because I am an Imago Therapist. Learn more at www.gettingtheloveyouwant.com.


text:
Hi everyone! Welcome to my stop of the Steel Lily blog tour! Be sure to check the others blogs at the tour listed on the schedule at the end of the post!
Steel Lily by Megan Curd
Genre: Dystopian
AVERY PIKE is a commodity. No, more than a commodity. Her existence is guarded at all costs.
She's a water Elementalist, the strongest of her dwindling kind. She creates steam to provide energy to fuel Dome Three: the only thing standing between humanity and an earth ravaged by World War III. No steam, no Dome. No Dome, no life.
Or so she thinks.
That is, until a mysterious man offers her a way out of having to donate steam. A way to escape the corrupt government of Dome Three. While the offer seems too good to be true, Avery is intrigued.
But when she arrives to her new home, she realizes the grass isn't any less dead on this side of the fence. Instead, the lies are just hidden better. …Which means digging deeper.
When Avery enlists the help of her friends to uncover the truth, it may make her wonder if she was better off being a government tool than searching for freedom.
Some secrets are better left concealed, but humankind was never meant to live in a cage. And when you can control the most sought after resource, you can learn to control anything…including the fate of your world.
By now I've read my share of dystopias. The Hunger Games were my introduction to the genre and then only few other series managed to keep me a fan of this type of books. It was with great joy that when I finished reading Steel Lily I just wanted to read book 2 to be ready by my side so I could just pick it up and start reading it, too. Believe me when I tell you that Steel Lily is like a piece of candy that you'll love and won't be able to stop eating.
Steel Lily is about Avery, a girl who has the ability of making water turn to steam and because of that she is called an Elementalist. Basically. everyone lives in a world where WWIII has taken place and destroyed everything. Energy is not the same and they live off the steam the Elementalists make, or so is thought (no spoilers here 😉 !!!!). When faced with a certain situation, Avery and her friend Alice have to move out of the Dome they in. And that's when things begin to move forward and give way to a beautiful and not so smooth journey in Avery's world.
Avery kind of won me over right in the first character so she might have clouded my judgement of the book from the beginning (I'm obviously joking but I really liked her!). She just says whatever she wants and doesn't back down, even when older students or even teachers at school make fun of her or try to make her do things. I just loved the first chapter because there she shows her personality right away and we learn that there is no bullshit with her. Oh, how so many girls could learn from her in real life…
We meet so many interesting characters throughout the book, too! Oh guys, the love interest. Yeeshh, he is up there in my book boyfriends list, and that's kind of a tough list to enter! Jaxon is kind of different from other boys in books. From his physical description he would probably be like a secondary character or the bestie, at least that's what I think from other books I've read and that's one of the things that make him unique. He says what he thinks, just like Avery and I just want to see what will happen to them in the future. Then there is Sari and Alice who become major characters in the plot development. I loved Sari but Alice, Avery's best friend from the dome, annoyed me some times… I would talk about many more characters but they are for you to discover in case you choose to read the book.
There were not one but several plot twists (YAY!). They don't make your head hurt, don't worry, they are really well introduced and only make the story even more intricate at the same time that it makes you even more entranced with it.
Steel Lily is, for now, one of my favourite dystopias and for any fan out there who likes this type I can only say: read it and prepare yourself to be enchanted.
5 Chibis
Author's Info:
Megan Curd is a graduate of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. While having always enjoyed reading any books she could get her hands on, Megan didn't begin writing until a friend encouraged her to do so while in college.
When not writing, Megan enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She loves to snowboard and travel to new places, and doesn't turn down the opportunity to play xBox with her brother and friends when it presents itself. Megan currently resides in Stanton, Kentucky with her husband, son, and Great Dane named Dozer.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon
Tour Stops
August 12th
Into the Land of Books-Author Interview, Top Ten, Excerpt
Books For A Delicate Eternity-Review, Character Interview
Great Imaginations – Review
Little Library Muse-Excerpt
The "I Love Books Club"-Review
Enchanted Endpapers-Review, Interview
Girl in the Woods Reviews-Review, Excerpt
August 13th
A Book Vacation-Review, Guest Post/Top Ten, Excerpt
Indy Book Fairy-Review, Guest Post
This Is How It's Supposed To Be– Review
Literary Meanderings-Top Ten List
ReadingToTheStarsAndBack-Review, Author Interview
Kaidans Seduction-Review, Excerpt
Shelves of Books-Review
The Book Town-Review
Secrets of Lost Words-Review
Frodo's Blog of Randomness-Review
Istyria book blog-Review
This Redhead LOVES Books-Review, Excerpt
August 14th
SassyCat's Books Review– Guest Post, Author Interview, Character Interview
Oops! I Read A Book Again– Guest Post/Top Ten, Character Interview, Excerpt
BookEnd 2 BookEnd-Review, Excerpt
Fabulous and Fun-Review
Momma Says Read-Review, Interview, Top Ten List (moved to 17th)
Live, Love, Laugh-Guest Post, Excerpt
Diamond & Coal Book Reviews-Review
Kate's Tales of Books & Bands-Book Playlist
Dizneeee's World of Books-Review, Guest Post, Excerpt
Faerie Tale Books-Review, Excerpt
The Social Potato-Review
Loves All Things Books-Excerpt
Book Nerd Dash-Review
August 15th
Upon The Wings of Greater Things– Review, Author Interview
Such A Novel Idea-Review, Interview, Excerpt
Shelfspace Needed-Review, Character Interview, Excerpt
the flirty reader-Review, Interview
Little Bookworm Reviews-Excerpt
Book Groupies-Excerpt, Top Ten
Addicted Readers-Excerpt
Little Bookworm Reviews-Excerpt
A Cup of Coffee and a Book-Review, Excerpt
Chibi Reader-Review
Bibliophilia, Please-Guest Post, Interview, Excerpt
Bodacious Bookaholic-Review
August 16th
TSK TSK What to Read-Review, Character Interview
bees knees reviews-Review
Books Forget Me Knot– Review, Excerpt
paranormal book club– Review, Excerpt
Book 2 Book-Review
Book Soulmates-Guest Post, Author Interview, Top Ten
Nook of Books-Review
Ramblings of a Writer-Review
Book Nerd Dash-Review
Racing To Read-Review, Top Ten List
Dear, Restless Reader-Review
Reads and Thoughts-Review, Top Ten List
August 17th
The Book Ninja-Review
Adventures in Reading-Excerpt
Life with Lesley-Review, Excerpt
The Reading Pile – Review
Reading Rainblog-Review, Guest Post, Excerpt
Becky's Barmy Book Blog-Guest Post, Author Interview,Character Interview, Top Ten
Paperback cowgirl reviews-Excerpt, Top Ten List
Tamara's Book Ramblings-Excerpt
August 18th
Black Lilies Are Deadly-Review, Excerpt
Reader Girls– Review, Top Ten List
Write Away Bliss-Review, Character Interview
Paperback Princess-Review, Author Interview, Character Interview, Top Ten List
abookandalattee– Review
Girls With Books– Review, Guest Post
Musings of a Blogder-Review
Manga Maniac Cafe-Author Interview, Character Interview
Blkosiner's Book Blog-Guest Post, Author Interview, Character Interview, Excerpt, Top Ten
read more sleep less-Review, Interview
Resch Reads and Reviews-Interview
Hope, Faith & Books-Review
August 19th
My Bookopolis-Review & Excerpt
Mercurial Musings-Guest Post, Author Interview, Character Interview, Excerpt, Top Ten List
TeamNerd Reviews-Review, Excerpt
Brooke Blogs-Guest Post
JeanzBookReadNReview-Review, Interview, Excerpt
Jess resides here-Guest Post, Excerpt, Top Ten List
Working for the Mandroid-Review, Guest Post, Top Ten List
deal sharing aunt-Top Ten List
The Bearded Scribe-Review, Interview
To Read or Not to Read?-Review
The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club-Review, Interview
Mercy Amare-Review
Rose & Beps Blog-Excerpt
My Midnight Fantasies-Excerpt
Geek Goes Rogue-Review, Guest Post, Interview
Book Infatuation-Review, Excerpt
Project Read and Review-Interview, Excerpt
Two-Tall-Tales-Guest Post
Starlight Book Reviews-Review, Excerpt
Tamara's One Stop Indie Shop-Review, Excerpt
The Book Diaries-Review
girls in the stacks-Review, Interview
Books For YA!-Review


text:
About Us
Who We Are
Infinity was founded as a grass-roots firm with the mission of helping local businesses grow and adapt to changing modern business practices. As young professionals dissatisfied with the job options presented before us, we decided to team up together with the mission of helping local businesses adapt to todays ever-changing market.
With a passion for community outreach and a love of our home state, we aim to always put the needs of our clients before our own. We're a forward-thinking digital marketing agency that forms close relationships with other forward-thinking organizations. We believe that if enough like-minded people work together we can not only change the lives of our community but ultimately the world around us.
Strategic Partnerships
What We Do
We provide strategic direction, creative design, and data-driven tactics to help align customers and businesses for maximum effectiveness. With our modern approach to small business markets, we can help identify the target audiences so that your advertisements and products reach the people who truly need them the most while still helping your business grow.
Success story
Blenko Glass Company
In summer 2017, Blenko formed a strategic partnership with
Infinity to adapt their traditional hand-craft to the modern era.
We've been setting records ever since!
Since our partnership began Blenko has experienced:
2017-2018 Online Sales Growth
Online Conversion Rate Increase
Facebook Ad Avg R.O.I.
What You Get With an infinity Partnership
Graphic and web design
Audio and Visual
I.T. And Web Management
Email Campaigns
Targeted Ad Campaigns
Schedule A Free Demo
What's your problem statement? Let's get started!
Submit Your Project Here & We Will Contact You!
Ready To Make The Most Out Of Your Marketing?
Contact us today to get started!
(304) 208-8065
3554 Teays Valley Road Ste 116, Hurricane, WV, 25526


text:
Bedford Community House
Bedford Hills, NY 10507
Theatre Address
Bedford Hills Community House
74 Main Street
Bedford Hills, NY 10507
Mailing Address
Bedford Community Theatre
c/o Town of Bedford Recreation & Parks Dept.
425 Cherry Street
Bedford Hills, NY 10507
By Car
We are located in the heart of Bedford Hills, NY and are easily accessible by car using the Saw Mill River Parkway (Exit 39) or Interstate 684 (Exit 6). Driving directions can be obtained by clicking here.
Most parking for the Community House can be found on the street: on Church Street, the northern side of Main Street, or on South Church Street (just up the hill and to the right). Parking is also available in Municipal Lot # 6 on Griffin Ave. Please allow extra time to locate parking before the performance to ensure you don't miss the start of the show.
Mass Transportation
Train – The theatre is within easy walking distance to the Bedford Hills Metro North train station which is located on the Harlem (Blue) line. A searchable schedule can be found by clicking here. If you prefer a full printable schedule (PDF format) you can find them on this page. Please note there are separate schedules for weekday and weekend trains.
Bus – We are served by the Westchester Bee-Line Bus #19 with a stop in downtown Bedford Hills near the train station. Schedules can be found by clicking this link.