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Office Space: How Dandelion Chocolate goes from beans to bars
Like so many Bay Area startups, Dandelion Chocolate founders Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring got their start in a garage in Silicon Valley.
Only they work with beans, not bytes.
Now Dandelion has a 3,200-square-foot factory and cafe in the Mission District and a new factory space in the works.
Founded in 2010, the company produces bean-to-bar chocolate. This means scouring the world for high-quality cacao beans, sorting them, roasting them and turning them into chocolate bars. Cocoa and sugar are the only ingredients in Dandelion Chocolate's bars. (Chocolatiers, on the other hand, jump into the process later, buying pre-made chocolate and shaping it into treats.)
"Not a lot of people make chocolate, and very few of them really see the process," said Masonis, the CEO. "We wanted to put it on display and put it on a very busy street."
The first thing you notice when you enter the cafe is the smell: chocolate. The cafe, which opened in early 2013, is an open space, with wooden beams providing support and atmosphere. Walls are made of exposed brick. The retail section is stocked with chocolate, pastries, caffeinated beverages and souvenirs with the Dandelion Chocolate name. The counter has a modern feel, with pastries laid out on simple wooden plates. Past the cafe is the chocolate factory.
The factory is entirely visible to patrons. It's a small space, with just a few feet of walking room between machines. Sacks of beans are stacked on the floor, and bright orange buckets hold beans ready for sorting. Sorters throw out about 30 percent of every batch, picking out chipped beans, sticks and garbage, according to Dandelion's Jennifer Roy. After the beans are sorted, they're roasted for about 20 minutes and cracked.
Beans are then deposited in a winnowing machine that separates husks from nibs — the part of the bean that provides chocolate's flavor. Metal cylinders called melangers grind the nibs and sugar. Most mixtures are 70 or 80 percent chocolate, the rest sugar. (Dandelion also sells a popular 100 percent chocolate bar that's popular with diabetics).
Melanging takes two to four days. Chocolate is stored in a block form, then tempered to give it the familiar chocolate texture and snap. From there, the chocolate is molded, foiled, wrapped and shipped to shops across the country. Pastries are made in a room near the factory.
A chalkboard lining one wall has a map that shows where Dandelion gets its beans. The company buys most of its cacao from Central and South America, while most of the world's beans come from Africa and Indonesia. The chalkboard also describes chocolate classes offered at the factory. There's 101 on tasting chocolate, 201 on making it and 301, which involves traveling to Belize for a week. A mezzanine above the factory serves as a classroom, break room, meeting room and office.
The space is no longer big enough to meet Dandelion's needs. The company is opening a new location, which will include a factory and cafe, on 16th Street. Its wrapping machine is already there. Masonis said this should allow for more education and less production at their current location.
The company was drawn to the Mission District's food scene when it was originally looking for a space.
"It seemed like there are other places with a bit more tourist traffic. We wanted to be more the real San Francisco," Masonis said. "This whole area has such amazing, interesting food. We wanted to add to the neighborhood and benefit from it."
Each Monday, Office Space gives readers a glimpse inside a Bay Area company. Julie Balise is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: email@example.com Twitter: @jkbalise
Dandelion Chocolate
Location: 740 Valencia St., San Francisco
Size: 3,200 square feet
Employees: 58
Move-in date: December 2012
T ime it takes to sort a bucket of beans: 15 minutes


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Good News! Stories We Dig From Around the Web
A round-up of VT editors' favorite links this week.
A new study conducted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church finds being vegetarian may help you live longer. [Grist]
San Diego Unified becomes the latest school district to approve Meatless Monday in school cafeterias. Los Angeles Unified, the country's second largest school district, went meatless on Mondays a few months ago. A+, California! [CBS]
On the GMO front: Connecticut passes a bill that would require labeling genetically modified foods. (The catch: four other states, including one that shares a border with Connecticut, need to approve similar measures before Connecticut's bill can go into effect.) Small steps! [New York Times]
The USDA and EPA launch the "U.S. Food Waste Challenge," aiming to partner with 1,000 organizations by 2020 in order to reduce, recover, and recycle wasted food in schools, supermarkets, and beyond. Exciting to hear, considering nearly 40 percent of all food produced in this country gets tossed in the trash!

subset: commoncrawl


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I excused the dog...
Posted by Frankie on February 18, 2000
In Reply to: I excused the dog... posted by ESC on February 17, 2000
: : My husband uses this phrase quite often. Any idea what it means. He says this just something his father used to say.
: I couldn't find the phrase in any of my reference books. But I remember a similar phrase I used to hear in West Virginia -- "I don't excuse a dog after it's done bite me." Maybe these two sayings are variations on a theme.
: I've heard this phrase a few times to mean that
an apology may be accepted but not without punishment or severe reprimand (ie the dog was excused but still must die.) The best example that comes to mind: Let's say that your spouse cheated on you. You may say " I accept your apology but I'm still leaving you". Hope this helps.


text: We had a marvelous time on "Wonverse," our Inspirado Projecto episode that landed on a very cosmic day….8-8! Double Infinity blipped through the KCHUNG studios in such a dynamic fashion, everything unknown and unseen showed itself to us and the listeners. Our guest Geoff Gardner, spoke about his screenplays and upcoming projects. Later in the show, a mystery guest appears! We also play Jimmy Byron's song "It's Sad," a Man Behind The Machine song "In Your Computer," along with Dale Cooper speaking about Twin Peaks, a new episode of "Celebrity Afterlife Report" and other fun!


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You might have heard that the streets of London are paved with gold. Dick Whittington certainly thought so. I didn't see any the last time I visited, but there may just be a grain of truth behind that story.
On this day in 1577 Martin Frobisher set sail from Harwich for the New World. Frobisher was a bit of a chancer, basically a pirate with a letter from the Queen saying that he could get on with his job. Ostensibly he was looking for the same Northwest Passage that everyone was looking for. Portugal controlled the shipping lanes all along the coast of Africa, so it was difficult for anyone else to trade with the Far East. They were hoping to find a northern route to China and India by finding a way to sail along the north coast of Canada. But Frobisher had a secret mission. He was looking for gold.
An earlier journey in 1576 to the same spot had not gone well. He set off with three ships but lost two of them on the way and five of his crew were captured by Inuit and never seen again. However, he was so confident that he has found the route, he named his landing place 'Frobisher Passage'. They returned with a few bits and pieces they'd picked up, tokens of possession, including a small black stone "as great as a halfpenny loaf" if you can imagine such a thing. They didn't think it was worth much to begin with. There is a story that one of the sailors was given a piece of it in payment for his services. His wife was so disgusted by it that she threw it into the fire, where it changed colour and sparkled "with a bright marquisette of gold". Then, it was examined by experts and most of them thought it was pretty useless. Two men though, named Burchard Kranich and Jonas Schutz thought that it contained gold.
This was enough to send them on the second, much bigger, voyage. They scoured the West Country for miners to take with them and seem to have found only five. Arriving at what is now named Frobisher Bay in Canada, they spent twenty days mining ore and loading it onto their ships. They collected two hundred tons of ore. Significantly, they worked until their baskets wore out and their tools broke. This rather suggests that the men they brought may not have been miners at all, since they didn't know how to repair the tools of their trade.
Oddly, they returned with only one hundred and forty tons of ore which was locked up in a castle in Bristol. Schutz claimed to have smelted some of the ore and found it to contain £40 worth of gold per ton. Most of it though, he told them, was trapped in the slag and what he really needed was a 'great workes' – a really big smelting plant to really, properly get at the gold.
Everyone was pretty excited and set off on a third voyage, this time returning with one thousand three hundred and fifty tons of ore. The smelting works were built at Dartford and everyone thought they were going to be very rich. Sadly, when the ore was treated it was found to yield very little gold. Everyone blamed Schutz for designing such a rubbish furnace but eventually it turned out that the actual problem was that there wasn't really any gold in the ore in the first place. What it most likely contained were crystals of iron pyrite, which is also called 'Fools Gold' and clearly not without reason.
Surprisingly, both Frobisher and Schutz survived the debacle. Frobisher was later knighted for his services in the battle against the Spanish Armada and Schutz went to work for the king of Scotland. His 'great workes' were sold and eventually became England's first paper mill. As for the ore, once it was found to be valueless it was smashed up and used as gravel to pave the streets of London.


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Thursday, July 29, 2010
Inception: Further Thoughts
Niall, Adam and Brian argue that Inception is drawing our attention to the similar actions we perform in dreams and when consuming a story--accepting illogic as logic, filling in the interstices between 'scenes' in order to create a coherent story in our brains. But to my mind these are actually two distinct and very different acts. I mentioned the second season finale of House in one of my replies to Brian. In the opening scene, House is shot, and spends the rest of the episode trying to diagnose a patient from his hospital room. In the climactic scene, he has a revelation about the patient's illness while talking to his fellows, and the next scene shows them in a stairwell continuing to talk. House turns around and asks: "How did I get here? I was just in my hospital room," and realizes that he's still in a coma following his shooting. It's a very neat and wrongfooting moment because it draws attention to an action that the audience performs automatically--filling in the gaps in a story so that it can form a coherent, lifelike whole in our minds--but it also draws our attention to the difference between dream and story, and the reason that reading Inception as a metaphor for storytelling strikes me as empty. When House realizes the illogic of his experiences, he ceases to believe in his perceived reality, in the story happening around him. I'm sure that most people have had the experience of being immersed in a dream and, as they draw closer to consciousness, realizing some logical flaw in it, at which point the dream dissipates. Consuming story isn't like that. Momentarily wrongfooting as it is, the metafictional gag at the end of House's second season doesn't cause the audience to stop believing in the show, because the audience was already aware of the story's fictionality. Unlike dreams, we know that a story is unreal and accept that unreality. We know, even if it's not something we think about very often, that we are active participants in the creation of the story, and that we are lending our intellectual and emotional faculties to something unreal. It's a knowing, conscious act, not the unaware acceptance of the illogic of dreams. Dream isn't a parallel for story; it's the opposite of it.
The other reason that I don't like this reading of Inception (besides, as I say to Brian, that I'm really not sure what Nolan is trying to say when he compares storytelling to what is essentially a mind-rape) is that it reduces the film to this metaphor. The substance of the film ceases to matter because its purpose is merely to call attention to its own artificiality. The experience of watching the film is not the point, and therefore it doesn't matter that this experience is so leaden, because the purpose of the film is the realization that comes hours or days after one has finished watching it. This doesn't have to be an unsuccessful approach--once again I'm moved to compare Inception to Primer, which so completely avoids delivering anything like a satisfying viewing experience that it's almost necessary to watch the film twice in order to get anything out of the experience--but it does require more courage and intelligence than Inception seems to possess. I agree with Niall, in other words, that an intellectual exercise can be thrilling in its own right, without appealing to the emotion, but Inception, to my mind, isn't. That said, it's precisely because Inception is so substance-less that I'm growing more charitable towards it as I move away from it. Like a dream, the experience of watching the film has faded away almost entirely, while the interpretation offered by Niall, Adam and Brian--so much more palatable in a few, well-written paragraphs than in a two hour film--lingers on.
17 comments:
I liked this take on the film:
- July 30, 2010 3:35 AM
- Raz Greenberg said...
I think it's unfair for any movie to be compared to "The Cell" - because "The Cell" was such a terrible, terrible film.
If anything, I think the best SF film to illustrate the dream/reality border is Alex Proyas' "Dark City" - still one of the best, under-appreciated genre films of the 1990s.
- July 30, 2010 8:42 AM
I agree with you Abigail.
I decided that Frank was in a dream in Mombasa, because the events that happened there were so ridiculous that they could only happen in a dream (sudden firefights in the middle of the street in which nobody dies, Saito turning up out of nowhere for no good reason, the street that gets narrower and narrower as he runs down it).
However, there is another place where this also happens - in the movies, where characters are moved from place to place by authorial fiat, and audiences (mostly) just accept it.
The problem being that "evidence of a dream" looks exactly the same as "evidence of a clumsy author" from the outside.
- July 30, 2010 10:17 AM
- Niall said...
"Unlike dreams, we know that a story is unreal and accept that unreality"
We know that academically, and if we stop to think about what we're doing. I'm pretty sure we forget it when caught up in a story, though -- isn't that sort of transport precisely what most people are looking for when they read? -- so I don't think I can agree that dreams and story are in opposition.
"an intellectual exercise can be thrilling in its own right, without appealing to the emotion"
That wasn't the point I was trying to make, though -- I was trying to say that "intellectual thrill" *is* an emotional response, so it's a contradiction in terms to say that a film is intellectually thrilling but emotionless.
But then, I found Primer a hugely satisfying film.
"I'm really not sure what Nolan is trying to say"
You're not convinced by my simple "don't trust stories" explanation, then? :-)
"The problem being that "evidence of a dream" looks exactly the same as "evidence of a clumsy author" from the outside."
This is only a problem if you think the film is "solvable", that it's possible to determine which level is "real". Given the ambiguity of the ending, I don't think this is possible, so the ambiguity of Mombasa becomes a virtue.
(You can still think the film *should* be solvable, of course, but at that point you're not critiquing the film for what it is.)
- July 30, 2010 12:33 PM
- Abigail Nussbaum said...
I strongly believe that no one ever truly forgets that they are consuming a story rather than reality, not unless they're actually dreaming, or insane. Would we be able to to watch an episode of your average cop or doctor drama, or a horror film, if we didn't make that distinction? On the contrary, the very fact that we search for works of fiction that overwhelm, however imperfectly, our ability to distinguish fact from fiction is, to my mind, an indication of how deeply ingrained that ability is.
You're not convinced by my simple "don't trust stories" explanation, then? :-)
You're being a little disingenuous there. My exact words were "I'm really not sure what Nolan is trying to say when he compares storytelling to what is essentially a mind-rape." To my mind, that's a pretty powerful overstatement, especially if his point is merely that we should distrust stories.
- July 30, 2010 2:16 PM
- Niall said...
Hmm. I strongly disagree with that first bit, so we may be at an impasse there. Although it partly hangs on what you mean by "truly forgets"; I might say, would any horror ever scare us if we didn't, for a moment, truly forget that distinction between fiction and reality? It also hangs on what you mean by "dreams"; as I said in my post, I find any arguemnt that starts with there being one truth about the nature of dreams unsatisfactory. Dreams in which you're aware you're dreaming is not a concept Christopher Nolan made up, after all.
As for the second bit, I think inception is a good model for how stories gain their power: they give us an experience that inevitably smuggles along with it a lot of implied ideas. Stories are precisely attempts to create experience within our heads, and I do think they continue to unpack for years afterwards; I think the books I read as a child have had an indelible shaping effect on my character.
Now, when I pick up a novel and start reading, the experience is consensual, but that doesn't mean the story doesn't have its own ideology, some of which will be unconscious on the part of the author, but some of which may be conscious. And think of how often you hear a cry of "betrayal" when a story doesn't meet expectations; that speaks to a sense that consent has been abused, surely. So I don't think "we should distrust stories" deserves "merely", I think it's a quite vital and profound point. And I don't particularly think the two inceptions presented in the film are overstatements as models for some types of story, although like Martin in the other thread I think I find "mind-rape" a bit reductive. The inception on Fisher is clearly malicious, but you could understand Cobb's inception on Mal as a literal example of breaking through a false consciousness.
- July 30, 2010 2:46 PM
- Martin said...
I think it's unfair for any movie to be compared to "The Cell" - because "The Cell" was such a terrible, terrible film.
The Cell is great! It was also the last time Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn gave decent performances so of historical interest too.
It is a shame Tarsim Singh's follow up film took so long and was ultimately so insubstantial but I still think he is a very interesting director.
- July 30, 2010 2:58 PM
- Abigail Nussbaum said...
I think the example of horror films actually plays to my viewpoint rather than yours. A lot of people crave the excitement and adrenalin rush that accompany fear, but actual fear is, well, scary. No one really wants to find themselves running from a serial killer through the woods in the dead of night. So people go to scary movies in order to get a controlled dose of fear under circumstances they know to be safe. If we didn't know that the movie was unreal, we wouldn't get a kick out of the negative emotions it aroused in us. Meanwhile, people who actually get off on danger don't go to the movies for it. They take up extreme sports or go into high-risk lines of work.
I do, however, take your point about stories slowly unpacking in their readers' minds and having unintended, long-term consequences. I just think that as delivery method for this point, the metaphor of dream manipulation is a singularly bad one.
Martin, Raz:
I split the difference between you on The Cell. It's a pretty bad film (and I don't even think Lopez's performance is that great), but it's visually stunning, and I can't think of another movie that goes as far as it does in representing the human unconscious as a wild, irrational space (though I haven't seen Dark City). It is telling, though, that so much of its imagery is made up of quotes from surrealist, but consciously created, art.
- July 30, 2010 6:55 PM
- Niall said...
"So people go to scary movies in order to get a controlled dose of fear under circumstances they know to be safe."
Yes -- but of course, I'd argue the pleasure comes from remembering that you are in a safe environment, after you've been made to jump out of your seat. :-)
- July 30, 2010 7:16 PM
- Raz Greenberg said...
Hey, I have no argument with you about "The Cell" being a beautiful-looking film - it's just a shame that the visuals were wasted on such a dumb script that ripped off pretty much every other significant serial-killer film, and offered no surprises or excitement.
I don't know if the visuals of "Dark City" will meet your expectations for an accurate representation of dreams (is such thing even possible?) but the film's visuals are gorgeous, and the film is extraordinarily good.
- July 30, 2010 11:02 PM
- Abigail Nussbaum said...
As Niall points out, The Cell is actually a less accurate representation of dreams than Inception or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I don't think it's realistic on that level any more than it captures the reality of the psychology of serial killers, but it is stunning, and comes closer to the popular concept of what dreams are like - or, more accurately, to dream as a literary conceit rather than a reality - than either of the other films.
- July 30, 2010 11:19 PM
- Matt Denault said...
FWIW, while I generally agree with Brian's understanding of the film and a little more hesitatingly with Niall's, I'm very much of your opinion, Abigail, on its effectiveness: it struck me as extraordinarily dull for how loud it was.
I'm a quite happy consumer of "don't trust stories" stories, and I also don't have any problem with ambiguous endings--and as far as I can see, Inception seems purposefully designed to resist "solving" as a story. But I think the two together here are thus conceptually problematic, in that you can't do "don't trust stories" while refusing to allow any story to be told.
This is also where I agree with Abigail that the film displays a certain lack of courage, and unwillingness to follow through on its ideas. If it is a "don't trust stories" story, then even the possibility that the ending reunion is "true" seems to betray that idea; I am likewise not sure what to make of the concept of the tokens, that there are things you can use to "test" whether something is real or a dream/story. (For reasons such as these I'm a bit skeptical about the dream-stories metaphor; also because the movie makes points like "you can never remember the start of a dream" which is true for dreams, but not for stories.) On the other hand, to the extent that the story was a metaphor for filmmaking, that suggests a ton of ideas that could have made it more interesting in that regard, both informationally and visually. Why are certain roles cast, how are settings chosen to achieve affect, etc.? And then parallels like both the constructed dreams and constructed movie sets having edges, borders.
I find that any such rich metaphorical reading tends to make the dullness of actually sitting and watching the film that much more apparent, and unsatisfying.
- July 31, 2010 8:25 PM
- Noah Motion said...
Isn't the point of comparing dreams and movies (or stories, more generally) that, despite the fact that they are not real, we have a real emotional (and/or intellectual) response to them?
The following essay makes this point and discusses the dream-as-moviemaking metaphor (it's the first place I read about it):
- August 01, 2010 2:54 PM
- Abigail Nussbaum said...
I suspect that's the reasoning behind the film, yes. But you know, apples and oranges are also both fruit, and my contention is that despite this point of similarity between them, there are more differences between dreams and stories than similarities.
- August 01, 2010 4:37 PM
occasional reader, never commenter.
Since I clicked on your blog and you were discussing dreams, I simply had to say the following: last night a dream about making dinner for my family featured you showing up and discussing linguistics (Welsh predominated, but Hebrew and Farsi were in there also) with myself and my father. You mentioned at one point that you'd moved to England.
Excellent dress sense, by the way, and a natty brunette crop.
- August 05, 2010 3:29 PM
- violet said...
I don't think it's about just not trusting stories, full stop, burn the reel. It's more an exploration of the stories we all have inside, how we deal with them, and how they interact with all the other narratives flitting around outside of ourselves. It's the wheel Dom draws—creation and perception, with narrative in-between. And just as we've all had weird and fragmentary dreams, I'm sure we've all had dreams where you wake up and realize you just dreamt a whole, coherent story. Maybe a world. And then, typically, you immediately forget large chunks of it, a phenomena that likely contributes to how we think of dreams.
@Abigail — It's weird, because I've read some of your other reviews, and I usually find I agree with you about whether a thing is lovely or not quite so much, even if maybe we differ on the specifics. But I disagree about Inception on nearly every point at which disagreement is possible—I find it lovely and engaging and both times I've seen it, my heart feels full of light and energy, even though I know that soon, I'll be crying on my girlfriend's shoulder.
- August 06, 2010 12:39 PM
I don't think that Dreams and Stories are a bad comparison at all.
Stories being compared to dreams is not a new idea. John Gardner wrote about Fiction as Dream in the 80's, and I'm sure he wasn't the first.
And while I agree that the dreams in Inception are not like the dreams that we have normally, I don't think that Nolan was ever suggesting they were supposed to be. Really the term "dream" isn't even the best way to describe them. People are manufacturing a reality in order to trick Fischer into accepting it and achieve an emotional experience.
That is exactly what fiction is. A story can cause profound change in an audience despite none of it being real. You call it "mind-rape", but that's essentially what any story is.
I also don't think that the film exists only as metaphor. The film doesn't lose anything by working as a blockbuster on one level and a metaphor on another level.
Of course I realize that you don't like the movie, so I can see if you're biased to see things as more negative than they are.
- October 12, 2010 8:39 PM


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Finally Asus announced the Time Frame for ANDROID 6.0 Marshmellow Update.
Asus finally provided the information about the release of Andorid 6.0 for various Asus devices. It's a good news for all users having Zenfone 2 devices.
In Zentalk(Asus Form) the Admin has posted that the update will be rollout in the month Q2(April,May and June) of 2016. It is not the exact date but we can assume that the update will come within this three month.
As per the rollout plan, Zenfone 2 will be the first model to receive the update then other Zenfone 2 Laser devices, Zenfone MAX ,ZOOM and Selfile. The devices and the model number which will receive update is given below.
1. Zenfone 2(ZE550ML,ZE551ML)
2. Zenfone 2 Delux (ZE551ML)
3. Zenfone 2 Delux Special eddition (ZE551ML)
4. Zenfone 2 Laser (ZE500KL, ZE550KL,ZE601KL)
5. Zenfone Selfie (ZD551KL)
6. Zenfone MAX(ZC550KL)
7. Zenfone ZOOM(ZX551ML)
Upgrade Ssenario- Google Messanger, Calender, and Gmail apps will automatically be included with the Android M upgrade. These apps will replace three ZenUI apps- ASUS messanger ,ASUS mail and ASUS calender- as the default apps in the Android M verion of Zenfone if you restore to factory setting after the update.
But if you restore to factory setting after the update then , ASUS messanger,ASUS mail and ASUS calender can be downloaded from Play Store.
After all i am also Asus Zenfone 2 Laser user and I am too watting for the update. I have lots of excitement and hope with this BIG update. I hope ASUS will release a bug free OS for Everyone.
Thanks for reading my article. For latest news about Android M, Stay connected to me and suscribe for news letters for Instant notification of new posts.
Source- ZenTalk"Asus ZenFone Blog"


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Our team of experts will handle the payer enrollment obligations for your practice. Working alongside your staff, we help obtain necessary documents and physician signatures and submit on your behalf. We track the submissions process and follow-up to ensure your practice meets all credentialing and re-credentialing requirements.


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|Best Design Infotech
Best design was created with the concept to give a cutting edge to companies by creating a corporate identity which make them a brand with visibility and easy recall value.
|Free Article Submission Directory - wArticles
wArticles is free article directory where expert authors submit their original articles to get massive exposure from search engines and drive traffic.
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DialMyVICI is a division of Nethawk (pvt) Ltd registered company. We are doing call center.


text:
We have the final pre-edit Fate Conversion Guide manuscript in hand, and it's available to everyone in the form of a final playtest document!
Here's a list of what's changed in this version compared to the last:
Game Creation - Added Firewall server creation, more on setting issues
Skills - Added doctoring evidence to Investigate skill
Stunts - Added new gear stunts
Conflicts - Added guidelines for handling nanoswarms
Mind Hacks - Added Psi, Added Psychosurgery
Running the Game - Added entire chapter
Setting - Added entire chapter
NPCs - Added entire chapter
At this point, we are bringing the book into layout, but there are still a few weeks for final playtest comments.
The playtest pack is available here: http://eclipsephase.com/downloads/EPFate_Nov15_Playtest.zip
Please use the Fate Playtest forum for posting commentary: http://eclipsephase.com/forums/fate-playtest
Get started on your campaigns! :D


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Anthony Wayne Michaels was an animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios. Like some other animators, after traditional animation retired in 2004 and was revived in 2009, it is currently unknown if he returned to the studio.
- (1991) Beauty and the Beast (breakdown artist: Belle)
- (1992) Aladdin (breakdown artist: Aladdin)
- (1993) Aladdin (video game) (animator)
- (1993) Trail Mix-Up (assistant animator)
- (1994) The Lion King (video game) (animator)
- (1995) Pocahontas (animator: Chief Powhatan)
- (1998) Mulan (animator: Mulan and Fa Zhou)
- (2002) Lilo & Stitch (animator: Nani)
- (2003) Brother Bear (lead animator: Sitka)
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


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YesAsia Affiliate Information
Posted 25 October 2005 - 01:31 AM
Okay, here's the deal. I worked out an affiliate program with YesAsia.com, and here's how it goes...
-For orders placed through this url, we get a part of the cost as commission. If you don't know anything about business, commission is a fraction of the sale price that we get back as a bonus. Higher cost items = more net commission.
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For those of you into specifics, the commission rate is 10% if we refer 0-29 people, and after the 30th customer redirected from DC makes a purchase, it goes up to 12%.
If you do make a purchse through YesAsia, please do it through DC! I appreciate it!
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The area of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains – beyond the original colonies on the eastern seaboard – has always held a mystique and wonder, both for the people who lived it and the people who look back to a place and time unrecognizable in the modern world.
The Wild West earned its name in history on the back of stories about cattle and pony rustlers, marauding Indians, bank robbing gangs, saloon shootouts and whooping prospectors striking it rich in the various mining towns of the west. It earned its reputation fast with stories traversing the infant United States by rail and telegraph new technologies that cemented and helped exaggerate the reputations of real people.
Henry Brook takes on the mission of distilling the modern legends of the 19th and early 20th Century in as easily accessible a fashion for Usborne Publishings True Stories line. It is certainly not an original topic to approach but one which this western obsessed reviewer enthusiastically approaches. The task is always clear – make it readable, make it interesting, make it educational.
The old favorites are in attendance as the book comes with ten stories including such western luminaries as: Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, the Daltons, Buffalo Bill, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, my old favorite Wild Bill Hickok and one story I hadn't read about before on mountain man Hugh Glass, which is an extraordinary tale.
Brook accomplishes his task with three approaches. He introduces each new story with a narrative passage that throws you into the setting like a fictionalized novel and then pulls out to give a sufficiently fleshed out historical account of the story in question. Added to this the book is dotted with interesting sketches in much the similar fashion of the 'Dime Novels' that first gave these legends legs. Brook regularly gives definitions of words readers might not be familiar with allowing them to expand their vocabulary.
At 150 something pages, the ten chapters do not stretch the readers interest allowing short quick reads each night or day (if in school) and whilst not going into detail the book does what all good young readers books should – it leaves the reader wanting to know more.
My only reservation is that whilst a map is included at the front of the book it is symbolic of the scope of the book rather than of any particular use. It can become very easy reading the stories to lose track of any sense of locality and as the American west is probably unfamiliar to a British student, maybe a small sketch of the narrative area at the start of some of the stories would have been illustrative of events. The story on Butch Cassidy is an example – a sketch of the two Americas highlighting the distances traveled would have been impressive on the reader and helped them track the people involved.
The cover price is £4.99, good value for something which can keep a kid occupied for a week or two and who knows – like an old book on the west did for me when I was a kid, Brooks book might spark a wider interest in history for the young reader.


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Supreme Court Asked to Review Idaho Ban on Bible in Public Schools
The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, is asking the Supreme Court to review a case in Idaho in which judges ruled that a publicly-funded charter school was violating the state constitution for using the Bible as a textbook in a secular history class.
The Idaho Public Charter School Commission issued a ban in 2009 on all religious texts after Nampa Classical Academy (NCA) attempted to instruct students with the Bible. The ban was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit earlier this year, which said in its decision that because NCA is a publicly-funded school, it is "subject to the supervision and control of the state, and exists at the state's mercy," and therefore can be restricted in which textbooks it uses in the classroom.
NCA chairman Mike Moffett argued that restricting which textbooks he can use in a classroom was a violation of his academic freedom rights as a teacher. However, the court disagreed, arguing the state has the right to limit which texts are used in its schools "because Idaho charter schools are governmental entities [and] the curriculum presented in such a school is not the speech of teachers, parents, or students, but that of the Idaho government."
In a Dec. 21 press release announcing ADF's intention to contest the ruling at the Supreme Court level, SDF Senior Counsel David Cortman said, "It's ridiculous that a historical religious text that has been studied as part of Western Civilization for centuries is somehow automatically off limits."
He added: "It's no wonder that the call for school choice has become so popular: When government officials ban the objective study of all religious texts, including the most important literary works of all time -- such as the Bible, the Iliad, and the Odyssey -- it only contributes to the further dumbing-down of government-run education."
In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled in Abington Township School District v. Schempp that prayer and Bible devotion in a public school was unconstitutional, but that the Bible could be used as a historical and literary text.
"The Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities" as long as it is "presented objectively as part of a secular program of education," the court decided.
In a 2007 Time magazine article, it was reported that the use of the Bible as a literary and historical text was on the rise, with at least 460 school districts in 37 states providing classes utilizing the Bible in some form.
However, usage of the Bible had not been easy for NCA, which had been accused of walking too thin of a line between church and state for a public school.
In a 2009 Boise Weekly article, NCA founder Isaac Moffet, the twin brother of Mike Moffet, said he would be borrowing the curriculum of a local Christian school, but with slight adjustments in order to fit the public school requirements.
"Some of the books are too devotional, if you will, so we're not going to use that particular one," Moffett said of the Christian school's reading list.
If the Supreme Court decides to hear NCA's case and rules in favor of the school, the ruling could have important implications on the freedom of public schools to use the Bible in the classroom. However, it is unclear what effect that will have on NCA.
In June, the school had its charter revoked one year after going bankrupt with $867,000 in debt, including 15 employees still owed wages ranging from $700 to $5,500 each, the Idaho Statesman reported. However, the Moffett brothers hope to resurrect the school.
"There's been some talk of coming back," Mike Moffett said in June. "We've already submitted a revised petition to the state for a sufficiency review."


text: Should Christians Keep the Sabbath? - Doug Batchelor & Steve Gregg It's an age old debate. Do Christians need to keep the Sabbath or is that only for Jewish people? Is Sunday the new Sabbath? ... Watch » Bowing to Babylon Why do we have a 7-day week? We can trace the daily, monthly, and yearly cycles to astronomical occurances but the 7-day week... Watch » Bricks Without Straw As in the days of Moses, God is about to do great things for His people. Soon they will be delivered from the slavery of sin ... Watch » Christ the End of the Law Christ, the End of the Law — what does that mean? Does that mean, when Jesus came, there is no more law? We'll explore this i... Watch » Christ, the Law, and the Covenants Have you ever heard people say, "Don't talk about the Ten Commandments. That's the old covenant. We're under the new covenant... Watch » Don't Be Fooled Things are not always what they appear. Don't be fooled on this very important issue ... Watch » History's Greatest Hoax Did you know there is a very important day that almost everyone has forgotten about? It's astounding that only a few people a... Watch » Holiday or Holyday Is the Sabbath just a free day off to sit around and be lazy? Or is it holy unto the Lord? If so ... what does that mean for ... Watch » Labouring To Rest Labouring to Rest? What does this mean? Why do we need a rest day? Watch » Sabbath, Sunday, and the New Covenant What is the new covenant and what does it have to do with the seventh day? This issue has been the subject of great confusion... Watch » Page 1 of 2First Previous [1] 2 Next Last


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7 Ways to Keep Your Gadgets Secure While on Vacation
Going off on holiday is always great fun, but what do you do in your downtime? If there's nothing good on TV, you've forgotten to bring a book 7 Tips to Help You Find Kindle Books to Read on Vacation Vacations provide the perfect opportunity to catch up on your reading, and a Kindle is the perfect traveling partner. The problem is finding the right Kindle books to read on vacation. Read More , or you're chilling on the beach, you'll likely have a smartphone or tablet to play with instead.
But how do you make sure it's not stolen? And if it is, what can you do to retrieve it, and your data?
Here are a few ways to reduce the risks you take when taking a device on vacation with you.
1. Avoid Using Laptop Bags
Bags specially designed to carry laptops have proved particularly popular recently, partly as they're also a good size to carry your tablet.
i didn't have a bag to take my laptop on the plane and hanna gave me a dunkin doughnuts halloween bag pic.twitter.com/fXXzk0krvW
— sy (@JohnsonSylas) June 21, 2017
They're a signpost to criminals, however. More often than not, a laptop bag in public signals that there's something worth stealing inside.
Of course, you need to look after your bags no matter what: even securing them with a padlock is better than nothing. But the best thing to do is carry any devices on your person. That might mean keeping tablets in handbags or rucksacks, or wearing a fanny pack to hide your smartphone.
Judging by looks alone, "uglification" (the process of personalizing a possession The Art of Stopping Phone Thieves With Uglification Smartphone theft worldwide reached epidemic proportions in 2013, prompting manufacturers, like Samsung, to announce plans to create a device kill-switch. The kill-switch design will turn stolen phones into lifeless hunks of glass and plastic. Can... Read More to such an extent that others wouldn't want it) may work, but you might not want to devalue a device that much. Instead, you could simply use a case or cover 5 Awesome Laptop Decoration Ideas: Stickers, Cases, and More Customizing your laptop doesn't have to be a chore. Here are some easy and inexpensive laptop decoration ideas. Read More that hides what it actually is — a fake book cover, for instance.
2. Simply Lock It
You should be doing this wherever you go regardless, but especially when you're going somewhere you don't know.
The 25 most common #passwords ?#cybersecurity #CyberSec #CyberAttack #infosec #hackers #hacking #infosec #informationsec #password pic.twitter.com/86HySTqHRX
— Evan Kirstel (@evankirstel) June 20, 2017
A passcode on your smartphone or tablet not only acts as a deterrent to potential thieves but also stops them getting access to your data if it is stolen.
Passcodes are a form of encryption, so your personal information is rendered unreadable 7 Reasons Why You Should Encrypt Your Smartphone Data Are you encrypting your device? All major smartphone operating systems offer device encryption, but should you use it? Here's why smartphone encryption is worthwhile, and won't affect the way you use your smartphone. Read More without one.
Though you're advised not to use a birthday, if it's a number you can easily remember, it's at least better than something generic. Make sure you use a strong code, personal to you! Don't pick 1234 or 1111 or anything similarly obvious. And yes, a code is more secure than a pattern Which Is More Secure, A Password Or a Pattern Lock? Our smartphones carry a lot of personal information. All of your text messages, emails, notes, apps, app data, music, pictures, and so much more are all on there. While it's a very great convenience to... Read More , so that's preferable. A fingerprint is potentially even better Should You Use a Fingerprint or a PIN to Lock Your Phone? Should you protect your phone with a fingerprint or a PIN? Which one is actually more secure? Read More (no one can ever guess that), but it depends on your device and where you live.
If you fancy an extra security method, try downloading an app The 3 Best Apps to Catch the Person Who Tried to Unlock Your Phone These Android apps take pictures of people who try to unlock your phone and fail. Catch phone snoopers and thieves red-handed! Read More that utilizes the front-facing camera on your phone to take a photo of any false logins.
3. Enable Tracking
Keeping a device locked won't help you to find it. Fortunately, tracking apps and features will.
You can use the Find My iPhone function So Your iPhone Was Lost or Stolen? Here's What to Do If your iPhone was lost or stolen, here's how to locate, recover, and block your iPhone to protect your data. Read More on all Apple devices, enabling you to locate your smartphone, iPad (and variations), iPod Touch, Mac, Apple Watch, and even AirPods. You'll simply need access to iCloud.com, which shows you a map and allows you limited remote control of your device. If your fellow travelers don't have Wi-Fi, you can try an internet cafe or ask at your accommodation.
It's not ideal, however. You need to have activated the Find My iPhone function, and your phone needs to have battery. Some thieves are smart enough to turn on Airplane Mode What Is Airplane Mode on iPhone? Everything You Need to Know What is Airplane Mode on iPhone? We explain what Airplane Mode does, when you should use it, and how it comes in handy. Read More , which cuts out all incoming signals, so you won't be able to find it that way.
That's why it's so important to have a solid passcode.
Android offers similar features Was Your Android Phone Lost or Stolen? This Is What You Can Do There are many good options for remotely locating your stolen phone, even if you never set anything up before you lost your phone. Read More , notably Android Device Manager which also shows your device locations on a map Find My iPhone for Android? Meet Android Device Manager Jealous of the iPhone's Find My iPhone app? Well, lucky for you there's an equally awesome app for Android called the Android Device Manager! Let's take a look at it. Read More through the Manager dashboard.
4. Jot Down Important Numbers
A lot of this is damage limitation. Imagine your device was stolen: what information will you need?
Before you go, check out your phone's International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) What Is My Phone's IMEI? Here's What You Need to Know You might have heard the acronym "IMEI" and know it relates to the identity of your phone, but what exactly is it for? Read More number by typing in *#06# (iPhones display it on their backs, and you can further find it, as with Android devices, in Settings). It'll be a handy identifier if a stolen device is returned to the police How to Return a Lost Phone in Four Easy Steps Every year, millions drop their mobile into the unknown. In the US, about 50% of lost devices are returned to their owners. The rest get resold or reused – while thievery may seem eco-friendly and... Read More .
Also make a note of your network provider's helpline phone number. You might already know this if you've had issues with your carrier before, but check there's not a separate one for foreign travel.
That way, if your smartphone is stolen or permanently lost, you can contact your network and cancel your SIM card, meaning you won't be charged for any calls made by someone else.
5. Make Regular Backups
In case your device is stolen, it'd be awful to lose all that data, especially if you have to make the ultimate sacrifice and remotely erase all personal information.
Before you leave for vacation, back up your device on your PC. This means you'll definitely have a copy of what's stored on it at home. But what about all those photos you're bound to take while on your holiday?
This is why you need to activate backups on-the-go, whether for your laptop NAS vs the Cloud: Which Remote Storage Is Right for You? Network Attached Storage (NAS) straddles the line between a local hard drive and cloud storage, and gives you the benefits of both. Read More or just for your phablet. For Apple users, you can rely on iCloud which is a way of storing your information online securely (at least in most cases). Even then, you might prefer to double-check your data is safe by using another service too.
Many use Dropbox, which acts as a storage space for your files, but a growing collection of images and videos could force you into using Dropbox Pro. It's well worth your time shopping around for a system Safeguard Your Mac's Files With Remote Online Backups Time Machine is a great first line of defence, but the best way to keep your files safe is to use an off-site backup. Read More that gives you maximum space for minimum cost.
Every time you connect to the internet, you can automatically upload all your content to these cloud services What Is The Cloud? The Cloud. It's a term that gets thrown around a lot these days. What is the cloud, exactly? Read More , so if your hardware is compromised, at least your software is safe (again, depending on your passcode).
6. Insure Your Device
What about stolen hardware Five Ways a Thief Can Profit From Your Stolen Hardware Criminals steal your PC, your laptop, your smartphone, either by burglarising your house, or by snatching them from you. But then what happens? What can thieves do with your stolen tech? Read More ?
If you can't recover your device, you'll be without it until you get home. Fortunately, there is a way to limit your loss — but it'll cost you.
Insurance isn't for everyone Should You Buy Smartphone Insurance? What does smartphone insurance cover? What does it cost? And after all is said and done, is it worth it? Read More . You've got to weigh up the pros and cons. On one hand, you're unlikely to have your smartphone or tablet stolen. On the other, you have peace of mind, and in most cases, it also covers accidental damage.
Android and I don't get along so well. The first phone I have ever cracked the screen on. #googlepixel pic.twitter.com/s9Y3a8zFM9
— Aaron Zollo (@Zollotech) June 17, 2017
The most important factors to consider are:
- Whether the cost of insurance per year exceeds the price of a replacement.
- Whether such insurance companies breach your privacy rights Do Insurance Companies Breach Your Privacy? Insurance companies use increasingly invasive tactics to investigate and verify a potential claim, keeping fraudulent and other malicious claims low. How far do they go? Is it too far? And most importantly, is it legal? Read More and if that bothers you.
- Which gadgets need covering Should You Consider Buying Insurance For All Your Gadgets? With portable hardware costing more and more you could be quite easily carrying around $2,000 worth of equipment simply by taking a smartphone and a laptop on a train. Mobile phones and tablets can represent... Read More .
- Whether the Terms and Conditions cover the device when travelling abroad.
Once you've checked all of that, it's time to compare prices 5 Smartphone Insurance Plans That Provide the Best Value When a device is as important and as expensive as your smartphone, it probably makes sense to insure it against catastrophes. Read More and go for whichever sounds perfect for you.
7. Beware Public Wi-Fi Hotspots
Using public Wi-Fi abroad can save you considerable data roaming charges, so it's understandable if you're tempted by it. However, you need to be aware that these hotspots can be compromised 5 Ways Hackers Can Use Public Wi-Fi to Steal Your Identity You might love using public Wi-Fi -- but so do hackers. Here are five ways cybercriminals can access your private data and steal your identity, while you're enjoying a latte and a bagel. Read More and your data hijacked.
Notably, scammers might set up fake connection or intercept your connection through a man-in-the-middle What Is a Man-in-the-Middle Attack? Security Jargon Explained If you've heard of "man-in-the-middle" attacks but aren't quite sure what that means, this is the article for you. Read More (MITM) attack.
That's why you need a good form of encryption, using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). It's far from perfect Don't Believe These 5 Myths About Encryption! Encryption sounds complex, but is far more straightforward than most think. Nonetheless, you might feel a little too in-the-dark to make use of encryption, so let's bust some encryption myths! Read More , but it does at least give you some form of protection against cybercriminals. Also, look out for shoulder-surfers and Wi-Fi access points that don't require passwords. Scammers may set up internet access with generalized names, so if you're using a restaurant's Wi-Fi, ask at the counter for its true name.
Heck, you're susceptible to these types of scams no matter where you go. Let's say, for example, that you've found accommodation via Airbnb A Traveler's Tales: How To Save Money On Your Next Trip With Airbnb We are always eager to cut costs while traveling. Hotels are expensive. Ludicrously so. But are there any alternatives? Until recently, the answer to that question was a loud 'no' till AirBnB came along. Read More : either the homeowner or a previous guest could have hacked the network you're using Security Threats All Airbnb Users Need to Know About It might offer flexible accommodation for good prices, but Airbnb can be a security nightmare for those renting. So what can you do about it? Read More .
Remember, cybercriminals exist in all countries!
Sit Back and Relax?
Of course, the other option is just to leave your device at home — after all, there are still ways to keep track of the world's goings-on How to Get Your Recommended Daily Dose of News via Social Media What if we only got news from social media? What would we miss? How effective is relying on retweets and such to spread the word? And which feeds are best for the all-important headlines? Read More anyway.
But by adhering to these methods, you've got peace of mind that your phone or tablet is safe, and even if it does get stolen, you haveprepared counter-measures.
What other ways have you tried to keep your gadgets secure while away from home?
Image Credit: ARIMAG via Shutterstock.com
Related topics: Smartphone Security, Travel.
Affiliate Disclosure: By buying the products we recommend, you help keep the site alive. Read more.


text: Al-Ahmar had held the position of the Yemeni parliament's speaker since 1993 [File, AFP] Because of illness, al-Ahmar had been unable to perform his role as speaker for more than a year. He spent much of his time in Saudi Arabia receiving treatment. Born in 1933, he had been an instrumental figure among the leaders who brought down the monarchy in 1962. Al-Ahmar took part in elections through his Islah party, which combines tribal and Islamic elements, following the unification of northern Yemen with the communist south of the country in 1990 after years of conflict. SOURCE: Agencies


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Housing may avoid much of energy's pain
Real estate economist tells builders the Houston area's home market is likely to hold up relatively well
A prominent real estate economist told Houston builders on Tuesday that the energy slowdown will continue to hamper the local economy for the next two years, but the housing market is likely to hold up relatively well as long as inventory remains in check.
"It's amazing how resilient the housing market in Houston is right now," Mark Dotzour told a lunch crowd of some 700 at the Greater Houston Builders Association 2016 midyear economic forecast event. "It's almost beyond economic reasoning how sturdy this economy has been."
Despite low oil prices, home values and sales haven't collapsed. That's because the real estate market wasn't overbuilt when the slowdown began.
"There are not enough homes for sale in this town," said Dotzour, who stepped down last year from his long-held position as chief economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M.
In a typical Texas cycle, the residential real estate market falls in concert with oil prices. But today's low inventory is proving a blessing, he said.
"There's no massive overbuilding of houses here whatsoever, so we're poised to come out of this really strong," Dotzour said.
Still, the housing market will not be totally unscathed.
Dotzour estimated that a year from now, new home sales will have fallen about 10 percent.
Sales of high-priced homes are softening the most, and builders are now looking to capitalize more on more moderately priced properties, where demand remains strong.
For the first time since 2009, the average price of a new home in this region fell slightly in the first quarter compared with the previous three-month period, residential data firm Metrostudy reported earlier this month.
After the Tuesday event, Lawrence Dean, Metrostudy's Houston regional director, echoed Dotzour's comments that the local home building market could avoid a painful downturn.
Part of what will help the market recover, they both said, is the millennial generation.
"They are aging out of apartments. They're aging out of being single," Dean said. "They're aging into home ownership. There's a lot of validity to that."
Chris Patterson, a vice president of RVi Planning & Landscape Architecture, which works on master-planned communities, said his company is busy.
Builders are adjusting to the softening at the higher-end of the market.
"We've seen some people reposition," Patterson said, referring to builders focusing on smaller and less expensive homes.
"But there's still activity out there," he said.
Dotzour also addressed the national economy and how the housing market will help boost the country overall.
"I think nationally we are in the early stages of a real bull market in housing that could last for quite a while," he said.
Dotzour was cautiously optimistic about the energy business, too.
"Last year was a miracle," he said, as energy companies were still making money because of hedges that allowed them to sell oil at high prices.
The bankruptcies and layoffs, he said, will reach "peak intensities" over the next year or two.
On mortgage rates, Dotzour said not to expect an increase anytime soon. That's because they are closely tied to inflation and the U.S. economy isn't growing that quickly.
"Until we have any inflation in this country," he said, "mortgage rates will not go anywhere."


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This blog is the product of the attempt for a couple of environmental minded students trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle on a student budget. Furthermore, it is an attempt to make sense of an overload of conflicting information about what is better for the environment, since these days with everything you try you are, as we say in Portugal, "arrested for having a dog and arrested for not having one".
So the only solution I see for this problem is to reach my own conclusions, which are admittedly not without a great deal of rationalization. But nonetheless, we will have our own go at sustainability, and hopefully come out of it with a new perspective. And part of that will be based on some real, home-made environmental measurements, instead of eternally relying on statistics out of someones @$$.
And just one last thing, in case of any doubts. The header picture is an original… we did not find it on google images.
9 Comments Add your own
Nice blog! Good luck with the challenge! It will be interesting to see what problems you bump into. I wonder if reducing certain things will allow your budget to buy other things e.g. cutting back on electricity/ plastic bags will give you enough money to buy organic foods.
Is's nice to read some of your crap again :P, seems i gonna be a regular visitor here. Good job and remember to SHARE YOUR SHOWER as often as possible! 🙂
Very cool idea. I will make an effort to learn from your challenges and keep checking in on the blog. I am sure my aunt Audrey in Portland, Oregon has some wise words of wisdom to help in your pursuit of a more sustainable lifestyle. I will send her this blog url.
I wish you both the best with this endeavor. You have a lot to teach us all by your own actions! And I agree – what do we do about air travel in this era of becoming more and more "world citizens"? I really admire this undertaking and look forward to following your journey!
Hi, Alina! I finally made it over here! Thanks for visiting me at my blog; I'm looking forward to keeping up with your adventures at yours, too.
I read this blog to find out what i twould be like to be an environmentalist I love the planet and want to kep it clean Rock on Save the Planet !!!!!
Rice and beans, more rice and beans, some meat with it when sales allow, Home brew from extract into 2 liter pop bottles to age (recyclable). Grow some alfalfa greens, not economical but fun, mostly get a meal card if possible, if not, visit the local food bank – it's a time of survival, and forgive me, but the environment takes second place sometimes, Tube steaks (baloney) recycle animal parts we don't like to think of while eating, and macaroni and cheese fries up good the next day! If it wasn't for oatmeal, warm, cold, refried, or whatever, some would starve to death! Get a part-time at a supermarket and forage for stuff on its way to the dumpsters! You're recycling, after all! America has Three classes of people, upper, middle and poor students! Even toilet paper is a luxury if you haven't any. 'Borrowing' it from restrooms is one way to get to the end of the week. Can't recycle here can we! (stained facecloths anyone?) Some church-meetings come with a free meal, tastes great and the company's not bad either. The computer rooms are usually a good source of one-sided notepaper, and sometimes some very interesting pictures. Water fountains are good for re-filling that cool bottled water bottle, and they last and last! (see recycle bins for newer bottles, nicer 'upstream' labels) Second hand and used clothing is expensive, try church yard sales and ask for free bees, you'll get them with an understanding smile! Coffee grounds can be boiled over and over and over, but once instant is gone, its gone. Brush off veggies, the skins have flavor and nutrients. To be a student again! Don't forget to give to your student associations, they were good for a meal when things got bad and they depended on donations mostly.
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With all of the craziness last week I didn't have time to do a week round-up post.
Wearing- I need new clothes! Badly.
Watching- I bought the Kings of Leon "Talihina Sky" DVD for Nath. I watched it the other night and loved it. It's a real honest look into the band's life. It's so refreshing to see that even though they are a world famous band they're still so down to earth.
Eating- Too much chocolate! We were bought so much for Christmas. I feel sick just looking at it but I can't stop eating it.
Listening to- Ellie Goulding, love her new stuff and also the new Will-I-Am & Britney song, I know it's terrible, it's just so annoyingly catchy!
Thinking about- My goals for 2013, mainly getting in shape and starting to organise my wedding for 2014
Highlight of the Week- Spending time with my mum and the rest of the family. Not a highlight is Ava still being ill.
Picture of the Week-


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Iranian Cyberattack Reveals Desire to Control Bahrain
A series of high-level cyberattacks against Bahrain last month illuminate Iran's use of cyberterrorism as a destructive weapon to expand its empire.
The Wall Street Journal reported on August 7, "Suspected Iranian hackers infiltrated [Bahrain's] critical infrastructure and government computers" and "shut down several systems" in a cyberattack that is believed to be a "test run of Iran's capability to disrupt the country."
On July 25, the alleged Iranian hackers broke into the offices of the Ministry of Interior and prime minister, as well as Bahrain's chief criminal investigative authority's systems. Last month, Bahraini authorities stated that Iranian hackers gained "command and control of some of the systems" of its Electricity and Water Authority.
Iran is increasing its malicious cyberactivity. "The intrusions, according to people familiar with them, rose above the normal level of Iranian cyberactivity in the region," the Wall Street Journal continued. While Iran has targeted several of its Middle Eastern adversaries with cyberattacks, "the Bahrain intrusions may be a sign of increased aggression"—aggression that even has the United States concerned.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (cisa) director Christopher Krebs said:
cisa is aware of a recent rise in malicious cyberactivity directed at United States industries and government agencies by Iranian regime actors and proxies. We will continue to work with our intelligence community and cybersecurity partners to monitor Iranian cyberactivity, share information, and take steps to keep America and our allies safe.
Iranian regime actors and proxies are increasingly using destructive "wiper" attacks, looking to do much more than just steal data and money. These efforts are often enabled through common tactics like spear phishing, password spraying, and credential stuffing. What might start as an account compromise, where you think you might just lose data, can quickly become a situation where you've lost your whole network.
"This is an actor that has previously demonstrated a willingness to go destructive," Krebs said last month. "They've done it regionally. If their calculus changes, they could go global."
According to the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, Bahrain is about 74 percent Muslim. However, it is widely accepted that about 70 percent of Bahrain's population are Shiite Muslims; Iran also has a Shiite majority. Iran's elite expeditionary force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, is actively working in Bahrain to overthrow its Sunni ruling elite. Bahraini officials have even accused Iran of meddling in their nation's affairs.
Iran is working to bring Bahrain under its control, just as it has been in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes in his free booklet The King of the South, "The stage is being set for an Islamic group of nations to be led by Iran as the prophesied king of the south."
Notice the beginning of an end-time Bible prophecy in Daniel 11:40: "And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him …." This coming radical Islamic, Middle Eastern power bloc will be the dominant force in the region. It will be led by a radical nation with an extremely aggressive and pushy foreign policy—Iran.
However, Iran's belligerence will soon come to an end.
Mr. Flurry continues, "Iran has also heavily infiltrated Yemen and Bahrain, and it is deeply entrenched in Afghanistan. Many moderate Arab nations fear, and are afraid to offend, Iran." As a result of Iran's tyrannical and brutal use of power, "[t]he 'moderate' Arabs today are going to join forces with Germany," writes Mr. Flurry. "Germany has also supplied Bahrain with naval patrol boats dating back to the time the Middle East was destabilized by the deposing of the shah of Iran. In more recent years, German arms exports to Bahrain have been stepped up, especially arms of a type traditionally used to put down insurrection" (ibid).
Notice the rest of the Daniel 11:40 prophecy: "And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over." In response to Iran's belligerent behavior, "the king of the north," or a German-led Europe, will "come against him like a whirlwind."
Psalm 83 contains a list of nations that will survive this whirlwind attack by aligning themselves with Germany. One of the peoples listed are the Ishmaelites, whom Saudi Arabia claims to be descendants of. Their connection can easily be proved by tracing the lineage of the 12 princes of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13-15). Each of the 12 princes became their own tribe situated on the Arabian Peninsula. Throughout history, many, if not all, of the tribes remained on their ancestors' lands. It is possible Bahrain could be one of those tribes and, therefore, is included in the prophetic Ishmaelites who align themselves with Germany.
Iran's attack against Bahrain was just a "test run" of its capabilities. Watch for future Iranian attacks against Bahrain, as it attempts to bring the Shiite country under its control. And watch for Germany to take a stand against this increasingly belligerent Iran.
For more information about this coming confrontation, request a free copy of The King of the South, by Gerald Flurry.


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North East Personal Health Budget Regional Network Meeting
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These events are a great opportunity to hear latest national policy and guidance including sharing of resources, templates and hearing from guest speakers in specific NHSE departments. The opportunity to network with others and find out what they are doing, ask questions and find solutions is also available at these events.
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It's not every day that animated films---especially those featuring furry woodland critters---delve into extensive mythologies, introduce us to multi-layered characters, and manage to insert a genuine sense of danger into the story; then again, Martin Rosen's Watership Down (1978) isn't your average animated film. Based on Richard Adams' eponymous 1972 novel, this tale of rabbits and their struggle for survival has captivated and terrified fans of all ages for over three decades. Produced on a shoestring budget, Rosen's passion project beat just about every conceivable odd to become a true genre classic...so if this is your first introduction to it, you're in for no shortage of surprises.
New viewers will want a quick synopsis, so here goes: Watership Down, both the film and the original book, is about a group of animals in peril...but that's just the tip of the iceberg: our story is prefaced by the mythology of this particular world, which was created by the sun god Frith. Our rabbits serve as "the hunted", but they're equipped with the necessary skills to evade their predators. One rabbit named Fiver, who's also something of a prophet, serves as the unofficial main character of the story; along with his older brother Hazel, he predicts the last days of their relatively peaceful stomping grounds. After a struggle with their leader and his "military group", Fiver and a handful of friends manage to head for higher ground. From here on out, it's a tense struggle for shelter, safety and survival...but with enemies at almost every turn, it soon becomes clear that most of these rabbits won't survive the journey.
Rendered in a detailed, expressive style, Watership Down's distinct visuals are one of its greatest strengths. Foreground and background objects blend seamlessly in this colorful world, which features as many bold, frightening tones as it does pastel landscapes. These colors are vitally important to the film's oppressive but captivating atmosphere. Red isn't just "red" and brown isn't just "brown"; there are countless variances in Watership Down's palette and they don't go unnoticed. The characters' semi-realistic appearances would also be a problem in lesser hands; the rabbits look fairly similar at first glance, but their visual differences are handled skillfully. The strong and varied voice cast also helps, featuring the likes of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Denholm Elliott, Joss Ackland, and Zero Mostel (in his final film role), just to name a few. Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson's score also supports the film perfectly...as does the memorable hit "Bright Eyes", written by Mike Batt and performed by Art Garfunkel.
More than anything else, it's Watership Down's mood that holds everything together. The dark atmosphere of Adams' book is left completely intact...and unlike the later Rosen-produced UK animated series (1999-2001), an almost continuous sense of dread can be felt as danger draws near. As in the natural world, violence is inevitable; here, the anthropomorphous characters have names and personalities, so the sudden loss of a character often feels more traumatic. For obvious reasons, Watership Down is not a film to pop in as a virtual baby-sitter. This is a sophisticated project with a clear message, so those unsure of a child's ability to handle such delicate subject matter are encouraged to view it beforehand. Ultimately, though, Watership Down will provide a rewarding experience to those who can handle it: this is animation at a deeper and more complex level than some may be used to, so those unfamiliar with the source material should expect a few surprises along the way. To make a long story short: Watership Down is a film to be shared and admired, as affecting and important now as it was more than 35 years ago.
First released on DVD by Warner Bros. in 2002, the original "snapper case" edition of Watership Down has since gone long out-of-print; the same goes for their 2006 Deluxe Edition, which offered an improved technical presentation and a handful of extras featuring Rosen and several of the original animators. Nearly a decade later, Criterion has raised the stakes considerably with this new Blu-ray package, which serves up terrific A/V specs and even more supplements (including one from the Deluxe Edition). Overall, this a pleasant surprise from a studio not known for their focus on animation: this marks Criterion's first release of a hand-drawn film since their 1992 Akira CAV laserdisc. With any luck, a Criterion Blu-ray of Rosen's brutally effective follow-up, The Plague Dogs (1982), won't be far behind.
Presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, this 1080p transfer of Watership Down offers a substantial improvement over Warner Bros.' previous DVD releases. As mentioned earlier, the film's complex color palette is an extremely important part of the story and it's represented well here; additionally, the improved image detail and natural film grain add a great detal of texture. Black levels and shadow detail are strong, which comes in handy during many of the film's darker moments (of which there are many). Please note that this isn't the first time Watership Down has been released on Blu-ray: at least one Region B version exists...and to the best of my knowledge, this release was created using the same (or nearly identical) source transfer. Either way, die-hard fans will enjoy and appreciate the benefits of this Blu-ray; quite frankly, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving production.
Not surprisingly, Criterion's Blu-ray plays it straight with an PCM 2.0 Stereo track that preserves the film's two-channel roots. Watership Down's audio is slightly underwhelming in direct comparison to the visuals, but this is likely due to budget issues and the era in which it was made. Plain and simple, the film has always sounded a little flat and unremarkable, though channel separation is often strong and the dialogue is balanced nicely with Malcolm Williamson's score and the background effects. Optional English subtitles are included during the main feature only.
A feature-length Storyboard Comparison is also available, which presents concept art during the opening "origin story" and hundreds of early drawings as the film unfolds. Please note that Warner Bros.' 2006 Deluxe Edition DVD included a partial storyboard comparison; it's not included here, but this substitute is more than acceptable.
Closing things out is the film's Theatrical Trailer, as well as a brief but enjoyable "Defining a Style" featurette ported over from the Deluxe DVD. This visually-themed segment features animators Alan Simpson & Colin White, background artists Denis Ryan & Gary Sycamore, and voice actor Joss Ackland ("Black Rabbit"). Those with an interest in the film's striking visual approach should enjoy this session, which is also filled with plenty of production info and early sketches. All bonus features are presented in 1080p but do not include optional subtitles or Closed Captions.
As a footnote, it's odd that the featurette with Rosen and editor Terry Rawlings (including on the Deluxe Edition DVD) has not been carried over. An audio commentary with Rosen that appeared on an international DVD release didn't make the cut either...but it's never been included on any domestic releases, so this is understandable.
Martin Rosen's Watership Down is a dark, disturbing, and essential slice of animation that's aged perfectly well during the last 37 years. Difficult to finance and distribute at home and abroad for obvious reasons, this passion project remains singular and supremely affecting, perhaps only rivaled by Rosen's own The Plague Dogs in its brutal depiction of nature at work. Whether you first watched it (accidentally?) as a young child or are entirely new to this production, the film's memorable visuals, voices, and music anchor the its ambitious story with energy to spare. Criterion's Blu-ray does the film justice, offering a rock-solid A/V presentation and a slightly thin but entirely appropriate collection of bonus features. Though new viewers may want to rent this one first (or at least do a bit more research), the obvious strength of this disc makes Watership Down a must-have for established fans. Highly Recommended.
Randy Miller III is an affable office monkey by day and film reviewer by night. He also does freelance design work, teaches art classes and runs a website or two. In his limited free time, Randy also enjoys slacking off, juggling HD DVDs and writing in third person.


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Abbot Muhō
Muhō became the abbot of Antaiji in 2002. He is called "dōchō-san", which is Japanese for "abbot".
He was born in 1968 in Berlin and grew up in Western Germany. At age 16, he was introduced to zazen by one of his high school teachers and soon had the wish to become a Zen monk. To prepare for his stay in Japan, he studied Japanese at the university in Berlin, along with philosophy and physics. During his studies, he spent one year at Kyōto University and learned about Antaiji for the first time. At age 22, he spent six months there as a lay practioner.
Three years later, after graduating from university, Muhō ordained as a monk under the abbot Miyaura Shinyū Rōshi. Apart from Antaiji he trained for one year at the Rinzai monastery Tōfukuji in Kyōto, and one year at Hosshinji in Obama.
After obtaining the transmission of dharma (shihō) from his teacher Miyaura Rōshi he decided to live as a homeless monk in a park in central Ōsaka, where he led a zazen group. He was 33 years old.
After six months though, in February of 2002, he learned of the sudden death of his teacher and was called back to Antaiji. He succeeded his teacher as the ninth abbot in the spring of that year.
Muhō is married since 2002 and has three children. You find his writings in the "Adult practice" section of this website.


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The coupon rate is one of the lowest among the real estate enterprises in China with the same credit level recently
HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - 22 March 2019 - CIFI Holdings (Group) Co. Ltd. ("CIFI" or the "Group", HKEx stock code: 884), a leading real estate developer engaged in the property development and investment business in the first-, second- and robust third-tier cities in China announced that the Group issues US$ 255 million senior notes at a coupon rate of 6.55% with a 5-year maturity. The coupon rate is one of the lowest among real estate enterprises in China with the same credit level recently.
The issue received over US$ 625 million subscription and was approximately 2.5 times over-subscribed, representing a keen market demand for the issue.
Standard Chartered Bank is the sole global coordinator, sole bookrunner and sole lead manager of the issue.
On 15 March 2019, Standard & Poor upgraded CIFI's rating from "BB-" to "BB". It is because CIFI has significantly improved its diversity and scale in the past two to three years. The "stable" outlook reflects S&P's expectation that CIFI will continue to expand its sales scale with controllable leverage.


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Posts Tagged 'vietnam war'
The Power of Photojournalism in War
By Jason Etzel
In 1832 Senator William Learned Marcy spoke the phrase, "To the victor belong the spoils." Although first spoken (or at least documented) this was not a new concept by any means for those who won a battle of any kind. With a victory you could design how it would be viewed to those alive [at the time] as well future generations who would read and learn what you left behind as history of this battle. This meant that selective editing could always be done by the victor, filtering words, omitting particular events or details, artistic renderings showing how they wanted the victory to be recorded.
And in 1832 this was still true, until technology changed how history would be written—by both those who triumphed and those who felt defeat—by the invention of the camera, it would now be seen unchanged. In the world we live in today, doctored images are common knowledge, we know now what is seen may or may not have been really there. For hundreds of years historical figures were seen only as their statues or oil painted portraits perceived them to be. Battles were drawn showing honor and courage without really showing tragedy, violence, or loss.
In 1839 when the camera was first shown to the public, everything became real and an instrument in the field of journalism. The first war images are credited to an anonymous American who took a number of daguerreotypes during the Mexican-American war in 1847, and for the first time the face of the soldier was seen. The first known war photographer was Carol Popp de Szathmari who took photos of various officers in 1853 and landscapes where battle took place in 1854 during the Crimean War. However it was in 1861 that a portrait photographer in New York City named Mathew Brady changed the world of photography and journalism as we know it.
Having mastered the new art of photography from his time studying under the skilled daguerreotypist Samuel Morse, Brady had a thriving portrait photography studio. His subjects included numerous historical figures including past and then present Presidents of the United States of America. When the first shots were fired of the American Civil War in 1861, and against the wishes of friends and family, Brady put the essentials of his studio into a wagon and made his way to the battlefield at Bull Run. At Bull Run Brady took images of the war-torn landscape of destroyed buildings and bridges as well as the dead littering the countryside.
At times he was so close he was nearly captured by the Confederate soldiers. This was not a commissioned painting, nor an article being written for a newspaper, to be released to the public. These were images being taken, processed, and printed from where it all happened and they spoke louder than any cannon fired during any war. Through the course of the Civil War, Mathew Brady and his team of photographers captured the bloodiest battles as well as the faces of the men who fought on both sides.
War was no longer a distant battlefield; it was piles of dead soldiers and a country tearing itself apart. Many feared on both sides that the images showing war would cause both an escalation to stop or continue the war. Photography became a weapon itself, as many photos were staged with bodies moved into positions to manipulate public perception of battles.
As the years passed so did the purposes of photography and war. It was used for reconnaissance, intimidation showing strength of arms and new weaponry, and even to confirm the deaths of famous figures such as Dale Titler's photograph of the downed plane of the WWI German Ace Manfred von Richtofen more commonly known as "The Red Baron" to discourage the German people and lower moral.
The chaos and confusion of battle was illustrated to the world with Robert Capa's images from the landing at Normandy for the D-Day invasion of Europe. Joe Rosenthal's "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" and Alfred Eisenstaedt's "V-J day in Times Square" have also become timeless images showing triumph and victory on distant shores as well as at home.
During the war in Vietnam, newspaper correspondent and columnist Joseph Galloway often fought alongside the troops he covered with his cameras, documenting the conflict around him.
Perhaps one of the most famous images of the century came from Eddie Adams with his portrait of an execution of a prisoner of war in 1968. It led to not only a Pulitzer Prize for Adams, but many claimed it changed the balance and political opinions of the war in Vietnam.
Nearly 150 years after Mathew Brady set out to capture the American Civil War, photojournalism still continues to advance, educate, and at times manipulate conflicts worldwide. Just as Andrew Jackson used paintings and monuments to tell stories of victory and triumph, leaders today use the press in all of it's forms—particularly photography—to show the frozen moments in time that they want remembered.
Sometimes they can immortalize a great achievement and cement your place in history, however it can also backfire as President George W. Bush found out in 2003. By flooding the media with images of him on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln with a banner reading: "Mission Accomplished" many would believe the war ended that day in the Fall of 2003, however the conflict remains and now the banner is a mere punch line for a joke, and a large part of his presidential legacy.
Today's media is no longer limited to just words, images, and video but also can include computer graphic based animations and renderings. For most, the portrait of Barack Obama altered by Shepard Fairey is considered a sign of change, others saw it as a violation of a law on the copyright of AP photographs. All the same it became part of everyday culture and awareness around the world.
The photojournalists are the eyes and the ears for the world. On this Veteran's Day, it is important to remember and be grateful for those people who have been the eyes and the ears for us all—and the sacrifices they made to do so.
♦ Jason Etzel is a working photographer who is well respected in the photographic industry today. For 15 years he has worked for companies such as Unique Photo, B&H, and Dyna-Lite, providing sales, education, and research development of photographic products. In addition, he is also a frequent contributor to photographic publications such as Photo Insider and other photographic blogs. Even though he is based out of New Jersey, Jason is frequently seen from coast to coast at photographic events discussing the history of photography, where it is today, and where he hopes it is going tomorrow. Look for future articles by contributor Jason Etzel on Picture-soup.com.
Documentary Film Review: An Unlikely Weapon
Acclaimed film chronicles the life and career
of photojournalist Eddie Adams
by Diane Berkenfeld
For those who are enamored of everything photography, check out the acclaimed documentary film—An Unlikely Weapon—The Eddie Adams Story. The documentary film is directed and produced by Susan Morgan Cooper, with cinematography and editing by Isaac Hagy. Cindy Lou Adkins, Eddie Adams' sister-in-law co-produced the documentary. The film documents Eddie Adams' life and how one photograph—some say the one photograph that ended the Vietnam war—changed his life forever.
You may have been too young to remember the news footage of the Vietnam war, but you've likely seen Adams' photo, taken in 1968 of Saigon Police Chief General Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting a Vietcong Guerilla at point blank range. Along with fame, and a Pulitzer Prize, that image haunted Eddie Adams for the rest of his life. "Two lives were destroyed that day, the victim's and the General," Adams often said. Others would say three lives were destroyed.
Adams' career spanned 13 wars, as well as forays into commercial and beauty photography because he'd gotten to the point in his life where he felt he had to find a different photographic avenue to pursue. Adams found photographing celebrities was much easier on his psyche. His images graced the covers of Time, Life, Parade Magazine, and even Penthouse. He is also known for having captured the images of six presidents and every major film star of the last 50 years. An Unlikely Weapon tells the story, not only of Adams' famous image, but of the photographer—how he worked, why he did what he did—as raw and crass as the man himself was. Adams was a perfectionist, and throughout the documentary, he explains in his own words why he felt he never attained it. But don't let his manner of speaking fool you—Adams was a great photographer, well admired and respected for what he did during his lifetime, more so than he probably ever thought of himself. The film gives the viewer a unique view into the life and career of a fascinating photographer. An Unlikely Weapon is a wonderful film that should not be missed.
The viewer is brought back to the Vietnam war by Adams' reminiscing as well as storytelling by journalists including Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Morely Safer, and fellow photographers: Douglas Kirkland, Nick Ut, Jay Maisel, Bill Eppridge, Gordon Parks, and Former President Bill Clinton, actor Alec Baldwin, General Nygoc Loan, and others. The film is narrated by Kiefer Sutherland.
The documentary has won numerous accolades and awards from film festivals around the world.
In addition to the many images he created, Eddie Adams also left the photographic world Barnstorm, the Eddie Adams Workshop, (www.eddieadamsworkshop.com) a tuition-free photography experience that spans four days. Barnstorm gathers top photography professionals and 100 carefully selected students each fall for an amazing learning experience.
The film is being screened in select theatres around the country. Check out the website at www.anunlikelyweapon.com for locations/dates or more information.
THIS SUMMER, AN UNLIKELY WEAPON WILL BE SCREENED IN DENVER, LOS ANGELES, CHICAGO, AND PALM SPRINGS. CHECK www.anunlikelyweapon.com FOR DATES AND TIMES.