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What is a Green Remodel?
December 11, 2009
Green – it's the hot new color that has nothing to do with decor and everything to do with product choice. But, outside of being a buzz word, what does "green" really mean? If you visit Wikipedia, after paragraphs on the color itself is a sentence directing you to the "Green Movement" or " Environmentally Friendly".
Environmentally friendly (also eco-friendly, nature friendly, and green) are synonyms used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment.[1] To make consumers aware, environmentally friendly goods and services often are marked with eco-labels. But because there is no single international standard for this concept, the International Organization for Standardization considers such labels too vague to be meaningful.[2]
Green is a loose term thrown around by companies to instill consumer confidence while having to prove nothing to anyone. The end effect is commonly called Green Washing; ie. the term is meaningless because there is no substance behind it.
But there are still ways that you can be ecologically conscious when remodeling your home. Beyond the "Green" label, look for these qualifications:
- Is the product manufactured domestically? This question is ecologically based for two reasons. First, less traveling time from the manufacturer to your home equals less emissions. Second, the US EPA regulations are more strict than those of developing countries – less pollution emitted, however you will see a higher price tag because compliance with these regulations is expensive.
- Is the material in the product recyclable? This is a no brainer. On a global level, Americans, in general, consume goods faster than any other nation. When you are finished with a product, if you cannot resell/donate it for another person to use, you should repurpose the materials in that product for another task.
- Is the natural material in the product a renewable resource? Wood is the best example of this. Choose product that can comes from companies that practice sustainable foresting activities. You don't have to buy cork or bamboo floors to do your part. These materials are typically forested in China, think of the emissions from transportation alone. Buying locally harvested wood can actually be a more effective choice. Stay away from anything marketed as "exotic."
- Are the solvents/adhesives in the product low-VOC? VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. VOCs are what outgas from a product after manufacturing. It's the smell of new paint, new carpeting, new furniture… and it is an irritant, and may cause short term and/or long term illness. Some people have no reactions to these outgasings, other people are more sensitive – regardless, they are not healthy for anyone.
These are guidelines you can apply to any purchase you are thinking of making, it doesn't just apply to improving your home. Don't get snowballed by marketing when the label says "Green" – ask why. Just because the salesperson tells you it's natural and that's why it's "Green" – take a moment to think.
As an example, one of the biggest misconceptions in this industry is that natural stone countertops are "Green" because they are natural. Think about the amount of diesel spent in cutting stone out of the ground, shipping it across the world, fabricating it into a top and then throwing the cuttings away. The end-user then repetitively uses a chemical sealant to keep the stone from staining. However – if you want a stone counter, and you are committed to living with that counter for the next 30 years or more, then the choice becomes more ecologically sound.
Want other ideas on how to make your remodel more friendly to the environment and to yourself? Post a comment and I'll get back to you. Remember, the money you spend is your vote on what the world manufactures.
Written for Imperial Kitchens and Baths, Inc. by designer Stephanie Bullwinkel, CBD.
Tankless Hot Water Heater Hype
August 4, 2009
Do you ever feel that you just can't seem to get enough hot water out of your hot water tank? Are you ever stuck with a cold shower in the morning? Or do you have a luxury shower with body sprays and you find your luxury only lasts for about 5 minutes? Are you thinking that a larger hot water tank is the only answer?
Tankless hot water heaters have been very popular in Asia and Europe for many years and they are finally catching on in America. The idea is that you only heat the water that you use as you are using it and with that theory you could have an endless supply of hot water. Never run out of hot water again.
The number of fixtures/appliances that can operate on a tankless hot water heater varies from region to region. In warmer climates, the cold water coming into a home isn't as cold as it is in cold climates. The colder the water, the more work the tankless has to do within the same period of time… the outcome, the hot water available to meet the demand is at a lower temperature. This means, provided they have the same tankless brand and model, a home in Florida may be able to heat 5 showers at once, while a home in Illinois may only be able to heat 2.5 showers.
Tankless hot water heaters are fueled by electric or gas. Units that feed hot water to the whole house are typically gas. If you are considering a tankless, be aware that depending on your average gas consumption during the coldest time if the year, you may need to increase the size of your gas meter. Not everyone needs a tankless. And you won't necessarily save money with a tankless, though you may be able to take advantage of an energy tax credit (talk to your accountant). The main reason to go tankless is to achieve comfort, if your current tank heater isn't working for your household.
If you decide that tankless is right for you, use a certified installer to ensure that the unit is installed correctly to keep your warrantee valid.
Written by Imperial Kitchens and Baths Designer, Stephanie Bullwinkel (CBD). Previously published in Imperial Kitchens and Baths Newsletter Issue 1.
Kitchen Cabinets Resurrected
July 29, 2009
Reface, recover, renew, refresh – these are all words used to define a technique commonly used to update kitchen cabinets. I prefer to use the term "recover," since it most accurately describes the process.
A recover involves removing the old doors and drawer fronts from your existing cabinetry and replacing them with new doors of your choice, wood or laminate. The faces of the boxes are then covered in wood veneer or laminate to match the new doors. The cabinets themselves are rarely distrubed. The result is a brand new look wihtout undergoing major construction. The video below is a time-lapse of a recover in process that we did in our showroom.
Can a kitchen recover really save you money? Yes, but not every kitchen is a candidate for a recover. The majority of cabinets in the space must be stable and solidly constructed. Poorly constructed cabinets are better off being replaced with new cabinets. The layout of the kitchen needs to remain approximately the same. Appliances and sinks will remain in their current location.
Removing a wall and/or changing the floor will not necessarily exclude a kitchen from being recovered, but it may incur some expenses that you would not necessarily have if you replaced the cabinets entirely.
Adding and replacing select cabinets to the existing layout may be a problem depending on the limits of your contractor. This is a question you should ask when getting estimates on your project, especially is you suspect your a cabinet. As in all remodeling projects, it is common for the less skilled laborer to charge less. Look for longevity, ask for referrences from other "recover" clients. Recovering cabinets is an art equal to that of a custom tailor.
If you do add cabinets to your existing layout, be prepared – the interior of the cabinets will not match the interior of the existing (as they are not part of the recover process unless specified). But the exteriors should be a seamless design vision between old and new.
Will the savings of a recover be half of what would be spent on new cabinets? It could that significant of a savings. The best way to find out is to have your contractors quote the project both ways.
Is a recover truely a" green" remodeling option? When you factor in the existing cabinets going to a land-fill, new cabinets being made from new timber, and then transporting those new cabinets in large cardboard boxes, which are mainly filled with air unless the cabinets are not ready-assembled. Yes, it is a greener option. Just the doors off the exisitng cabinets are going to waste and the new doors take up considerable less space on a frieght truck than cabinets. Then add to it that several door manufacturers and laminate companies in the US are taking the "green" initiative to heart and you have something you can feel good about. (Many cabinet companies are offering sustainable cabinetry options as well.) However, the glues used to apply the new veneer to the cabinets can cause irritation in senesitve people. The outgasing of these product is typically fast-occuring.
Will a recover be less of a headache than a "typical" remodel? Since the existing cabinetry will not be removed, a lot of time is saved in carrying in and out large casework. If the floors and walls are not distrubed then there is even less mess in your home.
While there is no reason this process can't be used in a bathroom, it's just not as common. Sometimes it is actually cost prohibitive. In the case of a single 36″ vanity, it can be less expensive, and less hassel, to just replace the whole thing.
Written by Imperial Kitchen and Baths Designer, Stephanie Bullwinkel (CBD).
LED Lighting
July 15, 2009
The first time I saw real LED lighting for the home, I was in IKEA. This was about 4 years ago. I was very impressed. These small lights meant to be installed under walls cabinets or in display shelving emitted cold, blue light – just like the inside of a refrigerator. All the same, I was impressed. I thought to myself that it is just a matter of time, this will either fizzle out leaving LEDs to flashlights and kids carnival toys… or this will be brought into the mainstream. The latter is happening.
One of the reasons that LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting is entering the marketplace so slowly is partly due to our own US government – it can take years for fixtures to become UL approved. There is however, the ETL certification from Intertek which allows safe products to enter the marketplace quickly and on a global level.
LED lights entering the marketplace now are categorized as low-voltage. What this means is that the fixtures are not directly connected to your household electricity, but rather "Plug and Play". A transformer is necessary to "step-down" the voltage to a lower level like 12-volts. This transformer is either plugged directly into a switched outlet or hardwired into the home's electricial system. Then the individual LED fixtures are plugged into the transformer.
The Low Voltage lighting family includes Xenon and Halogen. These lights, like LEDs, are very intense; Xenon lighting is often found in jewelry stores where diamonds are made to sparkle as if on fire. And on fire it could be – these lights are very hot. But LED lights stay comfortable to the touch for hours on end.
LED lights are more expensive than traditional lighting. However, in the long run – they could save you money. An LED fixture and transformer is expected to give 20,000 to 30,000 hours of light. If you break this down to 4 hours a night, every night, 365 days a year – you would get approximately 13 years out of your LED lighting system.
LED lights come in 6 colors – cool white, warm white (like an incandescent bulb), orange, red, green and blue. For those of us who can't make up their mind, there is a rotating effect available that slowly fades between colors. I can only think of commercial applications for this – or if you like to have your Christmas decorations up year round.
While LEDs are still used mainly for decorative and task lighting – general room lighting may be in the future for Americans. It will just take a little more time as we wait and see.
Written by Imperial Kitchens and Baths Designer, Stephanie Bullwinkel (CBD).
Indoor Air Pollution
July 9, 2009
"Indoor air is on average seven to ten times more polluted than outdoor air." ~United States EPA
We try to contain indoor air as much as possible. We pay to heat it and cool it, why would we want it leaking outside. Newer homes, of course, are tighter than older homes.
But by limiting fresh air to enter our homes, we are in fact creating a pollution problem.
Indoor air pollution comes from a variety of places: radon from the ground leaching into our basements, formaldehyde out-gassing from furniture and carpet, particulates from the breaking down of biological matter, and gasses from household cleaners and chemicals—not to mention odors and moisture that encourages mold and mildew growth. When we limit the passage of air between the indoors and outdoors we are harboring these contaminants.
Vents in the kitchen and bath are excellent at expelling odors and moisture to the outdoors. When running, they are also removing indoor pollutants. This exchange of air is very healthy for your home and for you.
When air in your home exits through a vent, replacement air needs to be available to make up what is lost. This make-up air can come from an open window, leaky doors, down-drafting of a chimney or a recovery system specifically put in place to exchange household air. If your home is well sealed, you may find the operation of your vent fan disappointing. If replacement air is not available, a vent fan will starve for air. Not only will it not perform well, but it may prematurely age the motor.
A vent will also under perform if it is not clean. We recommend vacuuming your bathroom vent fan when cleaning. In the kitchen, clean or replace your grease filters often. These filters are in place to keep grease from building up in the ducts in your walls.
Determining what size vent you need for your application can be a complex calculation that takes into account not only the size of the room but also the length of the ductwork for your vent. Vents are sized by "cfm" (cubic feet per minute). For example, this simply means if you purchase a 100 cfm bathroom vent fan, this fan will replace 100 cubic feet of air per minute.
There is a caveat however, and this lies in your walls or your ceiling. The material, length and twists and turns that your vent ductwork takes as it sends the expelled air to the outside will have an effect on the efficiency of your vent motor. If the complete venting system is not accounted for correctly, you could find your 100 cfm vent fan only pulling 40 to 60 cfm – and if you don't have adequate makeup air to replace what is being expelled that number gets even lower.
The manufacturer's website and paperwork that comes with your vent fan should help you with your calculations to insure a proper installation. There are other independant websites that offer the formulas as well. If in doubt, hire a professional to assess the size of the room and what it will take to properly get the air to the outside.
The other important factor when buying a vent fan is "sones." Sones rate how loud a fan is, the lower the sone – the quieter. However, lower sones also usually equate to a higher price tag. It may be worth the extra money however if you will be running the fan often or if you have sensitive hearing.
Fresh air in your home not only smells better, but is healthier for you too. We all have experienced dank air from time to time, but if you are experiencing chronic issues with dank, musty or smelly air for which you cannot pinpoint a source, it may be a sign of a larger problem and an appointment should be made with a remodeling specialist.
Selections from this article will appear in Imperial Kitchens and Baths next newsletter mailing.
Written By Imperial Kitchens and Baths Designer, Stephanie Bullwinkel (CBD).


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This primer is designed to be a first step for PPP project teams aiming to ensure their projects promote gender equality.
This paper discusses some of the main challenges in developing a robust and viable project pipeline to address the daunting infrastructure needs facing many countries worldwide.
The Infrastructure Finance in the Developing World Working Paper Series is a joint research effort by the Global Green Growth Institute and the G-24 that explores the challenges and opportunities for scaling up infrastructure finance in emerging markets and developing countries.
The Navigator – a web-based platform – helps project teams, public authorities and financiers to find the right sustainable infrastructure tool from amongst 50+ rating systems, high-level principles and guidelines.
Globally, governments are accountable for the development of infrastructure and the delivery of basic services in an affordable and inclusive manner. The ability of governments to nurture a conducive enabling environment for infrastructure investment has often been found to be a key differentiator between countries that successfully scale up infrastructure and those that face challenges in doing so.

subset: commoncrawl


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Most mornings, I take pictures of the sky. This may seem an odd ritual for connecting with the world but it works for me. I arise before dawn to have my quiet time. I sit alone in the dark and watch the day begin. I cherish this time. It is mine alone, but not really. There are others, friends and family, scattered around the globe, which see my sky, and say hello. This connection fills me with warmth. Just now, I stood outside for the third time this morning and stretched up my arms and said "Good Morning World! I love you!" This is a true statement. I am corny.
Earlier this week I saw dolphins in the clouds. They were in a pod as I have seen them in the ocean off Butterfly Beach. There was a bird too. It was a lovely robin. I think I am lucky to see such beauty just driving home from getting my hair done. I stopped at the water reclamation basin near the mountains to snap a picture of these afternoon phenomena. Then I drove home to eat lunch and take a nap.
I have always been in awe of the sky but I think this is not true of everyone. I remember one Sunday over thirty years ago when I was driving away from Mission Bay in San Diego with a friend. We were leaving a weekend retreat where I had been a speaker. The sky was covered with buttermilk clouds and I remarked to my friend "how beautiful." I was shocked when she replied, "I don't really like those kinds of clouds." How could that be?
I think we see what we expect to see. I think we find what we expect to find. I expect gifts, treasures, secret messages from the universe that tell me I am loved, connected, on the right track. When I walk on the beach I ask the sea to give me what it wants me to have. I find sea glass and large, unusual, "just for me," shells. I know someone is listening.
My daughter Stacy finds heart- shaped stones on the beach and the mountain trails. She has a whole collection. My daughter Shelley finds fossils. They, we, never go out without finding the beauty, the gifts we expect and hope to find. Never.
I thought about feelings of expectation and entitlement. Where I come from, these are not a good thing, or are they? Things always work out for me. This is different than always getting what I want. Sometimes I do not get what I think I want but still, it always works out for me. What I want changes into what I receive. It works out for the best.
My daughter Shelley told me yesterday at lunch that when I add the word "gratefu"l to the pictures I post on social media, it annoys my twelve-year-old granddaughter. I can see how that would be annoying but I don't care. I AM grateful. I haven't always been grateful. For one thing, I now know that I have not earned the right to be here to witness all of this. I am here only at the pleasure of a benevolent universe, a power greater than myself. I am an invited guest. I don't yet know my "check-out" time.
Several years ago Tom and I traveled to Botswana on Safari. I knew I would see wild animals; that was expected. What I did not anticipate was the sky and how connected I felt to this place. We flew in a small plane to the camps in the bush, where for hundreds of miles there were no buildings and no roads. When we landed on the small gravel airstrip, we were transported to the camp by jeep over sand ruts rather than roads. Along the way a large bull elephant ran out of the bush, trumpeting his alarm. The driver pushed down hard on the gas and as we sped away, I realized we were not at Disneyland. This was real!
When we drove into camp we saw more elephants eating the Mopani trees right next to the open-sided bathroom where I stopped before lunch. That night the main source of light on the ground came from the blazing fire in the center of camp. Looking past the fire, I had never known such darkness. But later from my bed, I looked out of the screened-in side of our tent to see a swath of stars that reached to infinity and back to the earth. It was the densest blanket of stars I have ever witnessed. I do not know why I did not take a picture.
I am in awe of my life. Every spec of earth and sky, every living being is a gift beyond naming. Grateful? Thankful? Writing those words feels like cardboard.
In a little while Tom and I will fly to Denver to share Thanksgiving with one of our daughters and sons in law, three grandchildren and more family we love. Twelve more, plus scores of friends and loved ones are scattered all over the world. I will be posting pictures and checking my phone for their posts and knowing that wherever we are, one sky is above us. We are all standing on the same blue planet, at the same party given by the same host. Wishing you all a beautiful day of love and connection.
My life is so glamorous! It's just not fair, lucky for me!!


text: Explore Malaysia's first and largest indoor miniature exhibition, spanning an impressive 17,000 square feet! Stroll through showcases on historical local structures, railway models, and more, whereby 95% of the models are designed and hand-built by local Masterbuilders. Take lots of photos and videos, or participate in the MinNature Grand Treasure Hunt Challenge for a more immersive experience.


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Listen to Plato's Cave - 25 May 2015∙∙
Wild Tales, Spy and Hatchet for the Honeymoon are reviewed. With Josh Nelson, Cerise Howard, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Thomas Caldwell.
About this program
Primal Screen is a show about movies, from the ones on the big screen to the ones you stream. A mix of new release and retrospective film reviews and interviews with film practitioners. Presented by film critics Paul Anthony Nelson, Sally Christie and Flick Ford. With occasional guests Cerise Howard, Emma Westwood and Stuey Richards.
Panel Operator: Karl Chapman
The podcast intro and outro theme is Soft Illusion and was generously provided by Andras.


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Want to Have a Successful Accounting Firm Online? Use SEO
A lot of people up to this present time, dreamed to be an accountant someday and wanted to land a job in a very well-known and successful accounting firm, the reasons may be because they love numbers, enjoyed studying the math subjects or they simply want to follow the footsteps of their parents or relatives that are very successful in that specific profession.
Accounting or accountancy is said to be the language of business, it is established by an Italian mathematician named Luca Pacioli in the moder times, its primary functions includes measurement, communication and processing of financial information about entities of the economy, examples are federal agencies, municipalities, companies and hospitals, in other words an economic entity are any units of the society and organizations. An accountant is the specific term used to call for people that took up and finished an accountancy college course, they have accounting duties and responsibilities of doing audits and analyzing any financial statements, they can also work with the help of an accounting firm, they can work independently or be simple be employed with a large company that has specific accounting department, a professional accountant have choices of either be certified of their state by completing the needed requirements to be like one or to just simply work on your own or under other accountants.
Nowadays, a lot of accounting firms are making use of the newest way to easily earn a profit for their company, that is with the help of the internet and by creating a website that could eventually attract business owners and individuals that are using the internet to search for help with regards to their tax and accounting. This is where an SEO or a short term for search engine optimization is needed and is important for the successfulness of a specific accounting firm, SEO is composed of different steps that could help you ensure that the website of your company can be easily and immediately found by your probable clients because it is the function of an SEO to make your website visible in the uppermost part of a search engine. If a certain accounting firm made up their mind to do the process of an SEO for their company's website, then they could hire some companies that are specialized in the process of using SEO or they could just simply do it by themselves, because it is a hundred percent sure that an accounting firm can be seen easily by a possible client in any search engine.


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Showing reviews 1-10 of 14 | Next
Posted by Anna Marie S. on 25th Aug 2015
We were hesitant to spend a decent chunk on a premium cooler but are very happy we did. Great investment and matches out boat almost perfect which was what we were after. Fast shipping and great advice from the employee I spoke with.
Posted by Asur R. on 24th Aug 2015
great store and nice folks to work with, the cooler arrived in 4 days and so far it's living up to it's claims.
Posted by Silvia on 24th Aug 2015
very pleased with the service here and also the quality of the icey tek cooler itself - so far so good :-),
Posted by Capt. Donnie Alfredo on 24th Aug 2015
Our new Icey-Tek cooler is probably one of the best investments we've made to date as far as camping and boating equipment goes.
We save on average $50 per week on ice alone. Well worth the money to say the least. Fast shipping and very knowledgeable staff. Wish these type of coolers were around when I was younger!:)
Posted by EMS Group of America on 22nd Aug 2015
Ideal for medical applications and medicine transportation. We purchased several and are very pleased so far. The customer service is outstanding compared to others. We'll never buy on amazon after some of the issues we've experienced purchasing from unauthorized dealers.
Posted by Unknown on 22nd Aug 2015
Love it so far. Nice having cold drinks on the patio for entertaining family and friends.
Posted by Meg on 22nd Aug 2015
Excellent store and service. The cooler we got is totally awesome and we use it almost daily and have no issues at all. Our friends love it more than we do I think lol.
Posted by Azekial on 20th Aug 2015
I purchased the icey-tek because of the colors offered. I love the fact it matches my boat and that in itself in priceless considering it's a lifetime purchase. Much easier to keep clean also. Very nice folks to work with and quick us based shipping. We had an issue with our yeti when we got it from here when they sold them and they got us into the iceytek for next to nothing when yeti wouldn't stand behind their warranty/products. Nice site and staff.
Posted by Alexa R. on 6th Aug 2015
Nice offering and great dealing with a true authorized dealer which is huge when spending a lot of money on a cooler. Quick shipping and nice freebies! ; )
Posted by Elija on 6th Aug 2015
very nice cooler compared to yeti or icekool
Showing reviews 1-10 of 14 | Next


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Here's what SCADALynx can and can't do with Allen Bradley PLCs, specifically in relation to communication:
ControlLogix/CompactLogix PLCs
We can talk the native protocol (EtherNet/IP) on the Ethernet port. These also have a serial port in which we can talk DF1 or Modbus RTU but both have to be configured in the PLC (Modbus has to be configured in Ladder Logix so much more difficult). For these we'd much rather talk the native protocol on the Ethernet port.
MicroLogix PLCs
Unfortunately, at this time we do not support the MicroLogix EtherNet/IP protocol.
The MicroLogix 1400 can be setup to respond to Modbus/TCP requests on the Ethernet port so that's an option.
We can only talk to a Micrologix 1000/1100/1200/1500 on the serial port (DF1 or Modbus RTU except for the 1000 which is DF1 only). Typically our preference would be DF1 via the serial port but if going through Ethernet is desire then the PLC must be set up for Modbus/TCP.
SLC 5-03/04/05 PLCs
All three support DF1 via serial port. There are some Ethernet add on cards for the 03/04 and the 05 has it built in, but we can't communicate with these PLCs over those connections, so we use DF1 via serial to communicate to these PLCs.


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[HELP] please help i got banned because Anti cheat issue
this is my first problem start on 16/2/2019
I report to Dev on case ID : 290091
i cant' run my game because i got this error after update
easy anti cheat Error 30007
i seach google on Error 30007 code and do as manaul but it won't help
now i can't access game with this computer please help !!
(But can play with other computer)
Right now : My id got banned because anti cheat stuff
i decide to open new case on Case id : 299258
last month ago i have problem with Anticheat (Case ID : 290091) Problem is not solved yet
but today i got banned because anticheat , i do nothing , i don't have cheat program on my account
please help
my steam id : timelimiter
my player id : c223d330-ec2d-11e6-9878-a7ca3ae254d4
PS Pleaase help i 'm not use cheat program T___T
I can't play game for 8 day right now , dead by daylight are my favourite game T_T
this is picture update0


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What You Never Knew About Jason Wu!!
June 12, 2009
Jason Wu, a 26-year old designer born in Taiwan, is a rising star designer whose fame reached new heights when Michelle Obama wore his gown to the inauguration. To most of us, that was Jason Wu's debut in the fashion world. For all I knew, that was the first dress he ever made. But apparently Jason has been very popular in the fashion community both before inauguration hit. So let's get familiar with Jason Wu !
Jason's parents recognized his love for art. His mom would drive him to bridal stores so that he could sketch the gowns in the window. His parents were said to move him from Taiwan , and relinquish their import and export business, because the culture did not appreciate art. They moved to Canada, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. While in the US Mr. Wu got started experimenting with fashion design by making clothes for dolls. At the age of 16, Wu started freelance doll clothing for a company called Integrity Toys by a line titled "Jason Wu dolls" which later turned to "Fashion Royalty." He was given the title of creative director of Integrity Toys.
He went to Paris for his senior year in high school and then enrolled in Parsons for 3 and a half years before he left to intern for Mr. Rodriquez. From there his fashion career blossomed. He continued to build his fashion designs for dolls at Integrity Toys , which is still sold today. In 2006 , with money he saved from his doll making, he started his own ready to wear clothing line. Today, he wants to stay exclusive making luxury women's wear and selling it in select stores and cities world wide. He has had his share of book and reality tv offers, but he declined them because he rather focus on developing a shoe and makeup line to add to his collection.
The title of this post reflects the appeal of his clothing and his fashion show diversity. His fall 09 show was crawling with models of all backgrounds, which tickles my heart a little. He is also known to design dolls for famous transsexuals such as RuPaul and Amanda Lepore.
Look at him showing his stuff in dress over his suit, maybe a representation of his double life.
However, his most famous design, for Michelle Obama ( the ultimate Barbie in my opinion), was an unexpected surprise. He said he was not expecting her to wear the gown. He was sitting in his apartment with his boyfriend in Midtown NY with a box of pizza when he saw the first lady appear on the screen with his white gown dripping in crystals. He was just as shocked as the world to see the first lady in a dress by an up and coming designer.
Though some people criticized the first Lady's choice of a new designer's dress and not a dress from an established fashion house, he still received a staggering 4 million hits on his web page. Remember, J-Crews website even crashed!
Jason Wu is riding on the glory of his Historic accomplishment, with the dress being displayed in the Smithsonian museum, he will be remembered for centuries to come.
His clothing line has been climbing to the top of the charts with recognition from the fashion goddess herself, Anna Wintour. Some sources even say that Jason Wu was introduced to Michelle Obama through Andre Leon, Anna's right hand man. That seems like it could be a possibility. Another possibility is that Michelle Obama's stylist from Chicago Ikram Goldman played as a third party in getting Michelle in Jason's design. Jason has sold pieces through Ikram's Chicago Boutique, some of which Mrs. Obama owns.
Jason Wu's designs have also been seen on Ivana Trump, Kristina O'Neill, and Kerry Washington. Not to mention that Michelle Obama wore his clothing 3 days in a row while in England for the G20 summit. Jason is apparently a good hit with his target market, older women who want to look chic, stylish, and feel gorgeous.
Jason Wu has been receiving critical acclaims from established designers and worshiped magazine editors in addition to being a finalist for Vogue Fashion Fund Award and winning the Fashion Groups International's Rising Star Award. He is now on his way to the top. His revenue has grown 280% since 2007 to $950,000 and is expects 2009 sales to exceed $2.5 Million. His recent line that debuted earlier this month has won rave reviews. Like me, he doesn't follow trends, he designs classic trends that enhance femininity and highlights a woman's beauty.
So now we can stop questioning why Michelle Obama chose his design and not one from a huge fashion giant or an African American designer like everyone complained about. She chose a hardworking, driven designer whose clothing fits her personality and accentuates her beauty.
Jason Wu, Here's to you!


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Crewe in Nottoway County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Ella Graham Agnew
1872 - 1958
Erected 1978 by Nottoway County Board of Supervisors.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Agriculture • Education.
Location. 37° 11.432′ N, 78° 9.436′ W. Marker is in Crewe, Virginia, in Nottoway County. Marker is on Colonial Trail (U.S. 460) 0.3 miles west of Rocky Ford Road, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Crewe VA 23930, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. T. O. Sandy (a few steps from this marker); Crewe (approx. 1.9 miles away); Roger Atkinson Pryor (approx. 1.9 miles away); Ingleside Training Institute (approx. Lottie Moon (approx. 2.3 miles away); Burkeville (approx. 2½ miles away); Wilson-Kautz Raid (approx. 2½ miles away); Burkeville Junction (approx. 2½ miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Crewe.
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on May 16, 2009, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. This page has been viewed 1,141 times since then and 22 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on May 16, 2009, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia.


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Read the post title aloud. Now say it again. A little faster. Ok, just one more time.
Now think about this:
That is all.
Til next squeak,
Still running for the cheese (or why this blog still exists)
As the time in between posts has grown longer, I came to realize something. Without the past years' material, where I am now makes very little sense. What good is the destination without the journey? As Christians, so much of the best stuff that happens to us is in the times God is molding us to His image. To throw away the evidence of that process would somehow cheapen the result, I think.
So, here we are, dear friends. I think my little mousie may just have rounded a corner finally. Some things will change around here to reflect the changes in my heart. And you know what? That's ok. As much as I typically rage against anything changed in my life, I'm learning to accept the God-given ones. My prayer is that some of you may be encouraged by what you read here. Hey, you may even be challenged. And of course, if you know me, then you know you always stand a good chance of being offended too. Not intentionally, to be sure! Just know that what you find as you wander this Maze with me may surprise you as much as it does me.
All that to say this:
Welcome to
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Brown chicken, brown cow.
Read the post title aloud. Now say it again. A little faster. Ok, just one more time.
5 Squeaks from the Maze:
- Mr P said...
GRRRRRRRR that is getting annoying but I still I love you!
- January 14, 2009 at 1:45 PM
- melanie said...
You're silly.
And your mousie looks all naked up there now after being decorated from Halloween on!
- January 14, 2009 at 5:47 PM
- Laurie said...
Brown chicken, brown cow. Woooo. LOL!
BTW, my intended departure does not mean I don't want to keep in touch. Please email me... as my computer has so many bugs in it that it can't do simply things like email people based on clicking links titled "email me". I'm working on it...
- January 14, 2009 at 6:25 PM
- LittlePaintedPolkaDots said...
Not only did I look like a fool saying this multiple times out loud until I finally got it, but the insane laughing to follow just added to it.
Thanks for the laugh!!
- January 31, 2009 at 7:56 PM
- Mrs. P. said...
Bwahahaha! I actually got someone to sit at their 'puter, repeating "brown chicken, brown cow"! Yes!
- February 1, 2009 at 12:14 PM


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You might think this is a shameless plug for some fellow MVPs (and it is to some extent) but if you have begun to use Power Query (or 'Get and Transform' as some bright spark decided to call it in 2016) or are thinking about it, or if you spend a lot of time cleaning up and manipulating data in Excel, then you owe it to yourself to get this book:
M is for Data Monkey by Ken Puls and Miguel Escobar.
I have only just begun to discover how fantastic the Product Formerly Known as Power Query is and, for an Excel user rather than BI specialist, this book is absolutely invaluable since it approaches tasks that will be familiar to most of us in a way that makes sense. If you don't already have it, it really needs to be on your shopping / Christmas list. Trust me, you won't regret it!


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Following a brutal attack on a German train on July 18 by an ax- and knife-wielding teenager who was an Afghan refugee, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack. Four people were injured in the attack, one critically.
The attacker, identified in an ISIS video as Muhammad Riyad, reportedly shouted the Islamist slogan "Allahu akbar" ("God is great") during the assault, which took place in the German city of Wurzburg. The ISIS-linked online Amaq news agency said Riyad was an ISIS "fighter." The Amaq statement said:
The perpetrator of the stabbing attack in Germany was one of the fighters of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in answer to the calls to target the countries of the coalition fighting the Islamic State.
Riyad was shot dead by police after fleeing the train.
A report in Britain's Mirror quoted transcripts from a video released by ISIS that the terrorist group claims is Riyad delivering a speech in Pashto before the camera while holding a knife.
The video's narrator calls Riyad "a soldier of the Islamic State who carried out the Wurzburg [Germany] attack."
The Mirror reporter said the video appears to show Riyad saying he would "slaughter infidels" with a knife, one that he holds up to the camera.
He then went on to say:
I am a soldier of the caliphate and I am going to carry out a suicide attack in Germany.
O Kufar [non-believer], the time has passed when you would come to our homeland and kill our men, our women and our children. And your apostate rulers were silent about these massacres.
That time is over now. Now the Islamic Caliphate has been established in Iraq, Al-Sham, Khorosan, Libya and Yemen and God Willing, soldiers of the caliphate will get you.
They will slaughter you in your own back yard and they will live in your houses and break your rules and take your land. We will target you in every village, every city and every airport, God Willing.
BBC News reported that German officials had found a hand-painted ISIS flag in Riyad's room.
The report cited a statement from Joachim Herrmann, the interior minister of the state of Bavaria, who said the flag had been found among the teenager's belongings in his room in his foster home in the nearby town of Ochsenfurt, about 12 miles away from Wurzburg.
Authorities also found a text written in Pashtun, Herrmann said, and it showed a strong indication that Riyad "could be a person who had been self-radicalized."
Herrmann said that those who had met the young man in recent months described him as calm and quiet, and they could not understand his actions.
The teenager had gone to the mosque "on special occasions," said the interior minister, but no one had noticed any radical behavior, nor noticed any signs of a direct link to jihadist networks. But Riyad attacked nonetheless.
BBC quoted a statement from one witness who said the railroad car "looked like a slaughterhouse."
More information about the victims of Riyad's attack was published in a report in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post for July 19, noting that the four people assaulted were all Hongkongers — a married couple, their daughter, and her boyfriend. The report noted that the two men, aged 62 and 31, suffered critical injuries and were under intensive care the University Hospital of Wurzburg.
The Post noted that the 62-year-old father, surnamed Yau, and Edmund Au Yeung, the boyfriend of Yau's daughter, Tracy Yau Hiu-tung, suffered severe head, neck, abdominal, and hand wounds after they tried to protect their loved ones.
A German official told the Post that the two women caught up in the attack — Tracy Yau and her mother, Mrs. Yau — suffered "severe but not life threatening" injuries.
The Post, citing information received from officials, reported that Riyad arrived in Germany as an unaccompanied minor two years ago and had been living with a foster family south of Wurzburg for a few months. The Post report, crediting Reuters as providing additional reporting, predicted that this incident would have an impact on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal immigration policies:
Analysts said the latest attack in Germany will deal a blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee-welcoming policies. About 1.2 million refugees are estimated to be living in Germany. Latest estimates by the European commission put the number of asylum seekers in Europe by the end of 2017 at around three million.
As we noted in an article last September, Germany, which previously had taken in the lion's share of refugees fleeing to Europe from the turmoil in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, had recently made a sudden change in policy and decided to restrict the flow of migrants across its borders.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Mazière announced the change in policy on September 13.
De Mazière explained that the new restrictions were partly necessary for security reasons and added: "This step has become necessary. The great readiness to help that Germany has shown in recent weeks ... must not be overstretched."
With this attack occurring just days after Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian immigrant with jihadist inclinations, drove a truck into a crowd in Nice, France, on July 14, killing 84 people, it is sure to raise awareness among Europeans about the threat posed by refugees from areas of the Islamic world where terrorism is rampant.
The same cautionary warning should be heeded by Americans, as the number of Syrian refugees being processed for entry into the United States has accelerated in recent months, with the Obama administration seeking to process 10,000 such refugees by the end of the fiscal year in September.
While it is obvious that not every refugee from the Middle East or North Africa is a terrorist, it is essential to restrict the number of refugees admitted from those regions to a number that can be adequately and safely vetted.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a non-profit research organization that advocates for greater restrictions on immigration, told the Wall Street Journal in a recent interview that he wasn't confident in the vetting. "They aren't going to admit the next 5,000 Syrians in three months unless they are rushing through the supposedly rigid security screening," Krikorian said.
Related articles:
Germany Changes Policy and Halts Massive Influx of Middle Eastern Refugees
Hungary's Orban Says Germany Made "Secret Pact" with Turkey to Accept Refugees
French President: Refugees Still Welcome, Despite Paris Attack
After Backing Jihad and Open Borders, French Gov't Feigns Shock
Did France's Strict Gun Control Contribute to the Paris Bloodbath?
Americans Fear Muslim-Country Migrants Entering U.S. May Include Terrorists
Hungarian Leader: Immigration a "Treasonous" Conspiracy to Marginalize Nation States
EU Leaders Will Spread 120,000 Refugees Across Europe
Flood of Refugees From Syrian Civil War Challenges Europe
Globalists Who Created Refugee Crisis Now Exploiting It
Hungary's Orban Says Europeans Must Defend Their Borders
European Commission President Asks EU to Accept 160,000 Migrants


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When we think of Scotland we often think of, Scotland home of the brave as in William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Rob Roy. As wonderful as they were we really need to think outside the box as there is so much more to Scotland. We can help you and hope that you will find a few ideas here.
For example, as inspirational as those men were Scotland has a long history of influential and eminent men and women. Scotland gave the world artists, architects, mathematicians, great writers and poets, musicians, engineers, industrial revolutionaries such as Andrew Carnegie and more.
You might find it very fascinating to travel around Scotland with a goal to either see one of the many engineering feats or getting a personal view by visiting the home or estate of one or more of these distinguished individuals. As busy engineers you don't have time to put together an adventure that provides the details, interest, fun, and inspiration for ourselves or families. Its a balancing act that we can work out for you. Think of the educational and inspirational moments you can provide for yourself, children or grandchildren by going on a Scotland adventure. Here are a few famous engineers that you might want to explore while in Scotland. These engineers and scientist were either born in Scotland or went to one of the world famous Universities in Scotland, Dr. James Watts, William Thomson Lord Kelvin 1824-1907 (Glasgow University), Thomas Telford 1757-1834, Robert Stevenson, Alexander Graham Bell, Alan Stevenson, David Stevenson, Robert Mylne, Alexander Mackenzie, James Alfred Ewing, John Muir, and William Playfair to name a few. A few sites of engineering significance are the Caledonian Canal, a Thomas Telford design, perhaps visit one of the homes were they lived or a quick visit over to one of the Universities, Glasgow or Edinburgh. Of course the Kevlingrove Museum and Edinburgh Museum have information pertaining to these famous engineers and scientists.
Lets say you are interested in the outdoors but you are not sure where to go in Scotland or what to do? There are a plethora of ideas and activities that Scotland holds for your visit. If you do not want to drive we have several options from your own driver guide, join one or more small groups while based out of Edinburgh or Glasgow, or use of the train. The landscape of Scotland is vast and beautiful with mountains, islands, and water everywhere in the form of Loch's, Rivers, and Oceans. Lots of places to walk or hike and see nature. Because of the vast beauty and geography of Scotland there is also a vast opportunity for outdoor activities. Besides walking and hiking you might want to golf, after all it is where it all started. There is fishing, falconry, rafting, sailing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and even surfing. We can add these options to your adventure package.
Are you celebrating a milestone event, honeymoon, or anniversary and looking for an equally exciting adventure to match your event? Scotland is a wonderful and romantic place to be. By now, many of you know about Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series. I don't think I need to say more, if you know about Outlander then you know Scotland is romantic. The people, the language, the landscape, the castles and history, the wonderful hospitality at the hotels, B & B's, Inns, and Castles, need I say more? Call, we can talk about it. This being Scotland's year of Food and Drink you can rest assured that Scotland will have lots of options to help you celebrate.
Are you a part of a clan, Lindsay, Boyle, MacLeod, Cameron, McDonald, Campbell, Southerland, Fraser, MaKenzie, to name a few, and are interested in going to the area where your family clan seat was established or go to Scotland for your own research, we can help you as well. Depending on your interest we have a clan specialist in Scotland that we can work with on your behalf to create that special genealogical experience.
Bagpipe bands interested in attending Piping Live, Glasgow events and need help with getting tickets, lodging, transportation, etc.. we are able to help you under our groups division. You might want to arrive a few days early or schedule a few days after Piping Live to enjoy Scotland while you are competing or enjoying the festivities. Perhaps a visit to Edinburgh to enjoy the Edinburgh Tattoo? We need at least 6 months lead to secure your group booking. Its a very popular event and sells out quickly. We know you want the best for your group as do we, so check in with us before the end of March. Piping Live this year as always will be in August. The actual program dates will probably be released in April so the sooner we are in getting the group processed the better we will be placed to book all that is needed before it is all booked out.
We can go on and on with the many wonderful adventure options that Scotland holds for you and your special needs. Please check out our packages and should you need to add or make changes please note that we can make those adjustments to make it your special Scotland Adventure.
Some other thoughts for you
Golf Scotland
You have looked at all those websites for golf packages and have not found the right product that gives you the WOW experience you are looking for. Luckily you found us as we have special opportunities for golfers interested in playing some world class courses. Have a PGA Champion at your call to look after you while you are on and off the course. Should you require any tips on improving your golf, you will have a wonderful coach on your side to help you out. You will be filmed you so you can see what you do and get tips on how to improve. Have wonderful activities to do while not golfing and enjoy wonderful local food and drink in celebration of Scotland's year of Food and Drink. More information, go to our Golf or Leisure Travel pages.
Mystical Scotland
Scotland is home to many mystical, historical and spiritual sites, ranging from the well known Iona, to out-of-the-way burial mounds, hidden caves and holy wells. Folklore and local legends combine to create an air of mystery and intrigue, as unexplained phenomena and spiritual energy merge with myth and fable. Enjoy a thought provoking tour of discovery and contemplation.
Caledonian Scotland
The Scotland Immersion tour. Its a whirl wind of some of Scotland's beautiful landscape, history, architecture, art, food and drink.
Start in Glasgow, then travel to the Isle of Skye, Loch Lomond. Glen Coe, Caledonian Stairway, Glenfinnan Monument and Portree. Take a Scenic Drive on the Isle of Skye and see The Storr, Kilt Rock, Dunvegan Castle, Armadale Castle Gardens and Museum of Isles. Then drive to Inverness and on the way see Eilean Donan Castle, Clansman Center, Loch Ness, Urqhuart Castle, Culloden . An amazing military fort not far from Inverness in Narin called Fort George is a must see as well as a visit to Cawdor Castle then perhaps enjoy an evening of local music. Then drive through Aviemore, Kingussie, visit the Dalwhinnie Distillery, and if time allows a visit to the historic Blair Atholl Castle. Stay a couple of nights in historic Pitlochery and take a moment to relax and perhaps enjoy a lovely off the beaten path walk on one of the many posted walking trails. Its a chance to enjoy a wonderful dinner locally created with local game, fish, produce and perhaps a little dram. Head on down to Perth and visit historic Scone Palace then on to Dunfermline with a must stop at the church and abbey where Robert the Bruce is buried. Onward to Edinburgh and stay a couple of nights to see the Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh Castle, Rosyln Chapel, and perhaps a night to see the Military Tattoo, should your adventure be scheduled in August.
These are just examples which are found under our Leisure Tour page section or we can adjust the tour with any additions or removal that would fit your adventure needs.


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Bravo! FACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent) is now accepting submissions of shorts and films. The next deadline is June 24, 2011. Submissions must be in the office by 5pm. Bravo!FACT has distributed tens of millions of dollars in grants for the production of thousands shorts across Canada and these shorts and videos have been honoured with awards and screenings at festivals including the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and other prestigious festivals in New York, Japan, and throughout the world. For more information visit the Bravo!FACT website.
The 19th Annual Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival (RWM) is looking for feature and short films and videos that address issues of mental health and addiction to screen at their festival on Nov 4-12, 2011. The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2011. All fiction, documentary animation and combination of will be considered.
For more information please visit their website.


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Must read
Why do the wealthy get all the best jobs? Are the children of the rich simply better at these jobs by virtue of attending better schools where they learn better skills? Very unlikely. Based on the Milburn Report, The Guardian[1] finds that children from richer backgrounds in the UK are 35% more likely to get the high-paying jobs despite possessing lower academic ability than their poorer counterparts; wealthier families create a ""glass floor" for their less academically inclined children" and "hoard the opportunities" for them. A 2014 study in the US[2] found that children with 'inherited advantage' achieve better outcomes even with lower effort.
Mind the (pay) gap
But the "glass floor" story is just that – a nice story. Firms are in it for the money. Bosses are not (all) stupid – they are not usually known to put up with (in)competent…
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Filed under: Uncategorized


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May 18, 2017
609 Main at Texas Grand Opening
Last night we attended the grand opening celebration of 609 Main at Texas, a Hines development in downtown Houston. The new addition to Houston's skyline is a 48-story, LEED certified tower designed by Pickard Chilton. OJB designed the landscape and hardscape for the entry plaza and streetscape, as well as the expansive two-tiered 30,000 SF roof garden. OJB also collaborated with Pickard Chilton on the 28-foot tall greenwall and water feature in the 15,000 SF "hotel-style" lobby, which offers a welcoming arrival experience for building tenants and visitors.
The greenwall comes alive at the grand opening last night!


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"Haven't Got the Blues Yet" by Loudon Wainwright III https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OkyVdgA814
You don't have to be male, or middle-aged, or clinically depressed to love this song. If you're just privileged and lucky (that's me!) and if you value self-mockery and are prone to introspection (that's me, too!), I don't see how you can't love it.
Mr. Wainwright has been making funny, tuneful, honest, and moving music since the 1970s (has also sired a few very musically adept children, the best known of whom is probably Rufus Wainwright; see http://deejayjay-waitaminute.blogspot.ca/2015/03/something-instead-of-nothing.html). He can do country, folk, jazz, and, as he does here, the blues. He's most often with other musicians on his albums, but when he performs live, it's usually just his guitar and his reedily engaging tenor voice. Back in those long-ago '70s, I saw him at the old El Mocambo in Toronto (is that place still around?), and pretty well immediately after he took the stage, he owned the whole audience. It was a great, hammy, hilarious performance (just like the one he gives in the linked video); I remember that my face actually hurt for a while after he finished because I'd severely strained every last one of its smile- and laugh-muscles.
He's a gem, and so is this song, with all its gemmy, funny lyrics. My favourite lines: My life isn't tragic/But it's still a doggone shame/That I'm not the man I used to be/Though we're genetically the same. (Okay, I'll admit that an appreciation of this song might, after all, get a bit of boost if you're male and middle-aged.)


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Redevelopment ruling will slow affordable housing construction
No one can argue that San Diego is a highly desirable place to visit. San Diego has for many decades capitalized on its optimal weather and picturesque landscape to foster a healthy local tourism and hospitality sector. Our natural assets make our region the envy of tourism thirsty cities throughout the country.
For many of the same reasons that San Diego has become a desirable vacation and convention destination, San Diego is also a wonderful place to call home. Thousands of hospitality and tourism industry employees live here. Unfortunately, these workers, as well as thousands of other San Diegans, struggle each day to afford the region's high housing costs.
According to a study released earlier this month by the Center for Housing Policy, a national research organization, a household in San Diego County will need to earn almost $46,000 annually to afford a one-bedroom apartment, and $56,000 annually for a two-bedroom unit. That's a large sum when the household is comprised of one or two people working at or near minimum wage. This may explain why 83,000 families in San Diego County are currently on waiting lists for safe and affordable housing.
This situation may be made even worse in light of the California Supreme Court's ruling this week to abolish redevelopment agencies in San Diego and across the state. The Supreme Court's decision will dramatically slow the construction of new affordable housing in San Diego County. The development of almost 2,000 units of affordable housing in the region is now on hold, in projects stretching from National City to Oceanside. It is unclear if, or when, these affordable homes will ever be completed.
Previously, state law required redevelopment agencies to spend 20 percent of their revenue collections to build affordable housing that in turn could provide a safe and affordable apartment for the waitress, dishwasher, cashier, housekeeper or janitor in our community. The policy resulted in more than 15,000 affordable housing units being built in San Diego County, and 98,000 units statewide.
Unfortunately, these numbers don't even come close to meeting the need in our region. The San Diego Association of Governments estimates that 64,000 new affordable homes must be built across the county before the end of the decade just to keep up with demand.
In response to the court's ruling, a new funding source for affordable housing must be found.
At the state level, voters approved bond measures in 2002 and 2006 to dedicate nearly $5 billion collectively for affordable housing. Those funds, however, have nearly been exhausted. It is now time to find a similar – if not longer-term – funding mechanism.
While the path to new funding sources is unclear, the benefits of affordable housing remain obvious for the entire community – not just the seniors, veterans, people with disabilities and families who gain an affordable place to live. Affordable homes are absolutely necessary to ensure a sustainable and accessible workforce for our economic base. Furthermore, new affordable housing is a significant jobs engine. For every 100 units of affordable housing built, 122 local jobs are generated during construction and 32 permanent jobs after completion, according to a 2010 report from the National Association of Homebuilders. In addition, a new home can produce as much as $375,000 in new economic activity in the market.
With the elimination of redevelopment agencies, the state's already-struggling economy faces the loss of thousands of more construction jobs. Hopefully, state leaders will recognize that affordable housing provides shelter for our workforce, and jobs to those who are unemployed. Now is the time to devise a new way to fund such economic development.
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I have a fb account, it's true. I have a few friends, update my status once every few months, and comment on my friend's kids' pics. Recently I got to looking at a friend's fb page. Let me clarify: I was stalking a colleague who just got fired and became mesmerized by his 450+ friends list.
Now that I have a basis for comparison, I can see I have made some assumptions.
- My friends are all clothed in their fb pics, but that is not true of everyone
- "Henny"is a very popular drink, and many people like to feature it in their pics
- I do not have one female friend who has a pic of herself, back to the camera, looking alluringly (read drunkenly) over her shoulder at the photographer
- Do you know anyone named "DJ" anything? Do you have any friends with "cash" "money" or "tooks" in their name? I don't.
- Has this ever been your status update: "i hate when i pass out at a friends house...lol"
Likes and Interests: The Bible, I HATE AN INDIRECT ASS BITCH....BITCH IF YOU GON SAY IT BE DIRECT...OH PUSSY ASS


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With the redesign of the journal as of Volume XI, we introduce this section called, simply, "Voices." The material in this section will vary each quarter with the common denominator of presenting the perspectives of as many colleagues as possible, present and past.
In Volumes I to X, we offered both a Keyboard Roundtable and a Voices from the Past article in every issue (and each continues to have a section index in the Archives). Now these two types of articles will appear once or twice a year under Voices, alternating with such things as longer audio interviews, opinion pieces, conference reports, and other items.


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Last week after my shoot for Hawes & Curtis, I went to the Estee Lauder Bronzed Goddess Limited Edition Launch. Summer is fast approaching which obviously means a make-up change or what I call a wardrobe change for the face!
I have some fab new things to tell you about!
First let's start with the most important thing when it comes to sun, sand and summertime...SUNSCREEN!
Growing up in Texas and California and spending summers in Louisiana as well as Florida, I know all about getting sunburns! It's a real shame that I wasn't taught about sunscreen when I was younger. There didn't and maybe still doesn't seem to be a huge push to protect your skin for UV rays in the USA. I'm hoping things have changed in the last 9 years since I have lived there.
Well sunscreen comes in so many packages, from basic drugstore ranges to the more luxurious brands and that includes Estee Lauder's Bronzed Goddess -Sun Indulgence Lotion for Body SPF 15 RRP £21.50
I haven't used this as of yet, but I am having a trip to Florida in the next week and a half and I will be cracking this bad boy open and letting you know how I get on with it. It is supposed to be great and I know it smells gorgeous already.
There is also SPF30 for the Body Lotion and there are SPF 15 and 30 in the Lotion for the Face.
Estee Lauder didn't stop there. They also have a whole Bronzed Goddess Golden Perfection Self Tanners
-Lotion for the face £21.50
-Spray for the body £21.50
-Milk for the body £21.50
-Tinted self-tanning Gelee for the body £21.50
-Firming body Creme- (I totally need that one) £23.50
-Moisture tan enhancer for body £21.50
I know that no matter where I go, whether I am on the beach (which unfortunately doesn't happen often), popping to the shops or even the gym, I do like to have a least a bit of face on. I don't feel my best unless I have at least mascara on.
Estee have a goddess range of NEW Limited Edition Bronze Goddess range for eyes, lips and nails. One of the lovely pieces from this range is the Bronzed Goddess Shadow Stick Duos. They come with two complimentary shades. I have the Gold Bronze Duo. These are great as they are water resistant which is great for those sweaty, summer months. I will be doing a tutorial on these as they take a bit of getting used to, but once you get it you can use them as eyeliners or a smokey shadow.
Now during the summer I'm not huge on wearing a lot of foundation. Summer weather usually makes my skin lovely and clear and a bit more freckly, so the best thing to do is enhance the glow and besides a bit of light mineral make-up or a tinted spf I also like a bit of added bronzer.
I have already used this Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Sea Star Bronzing Blush on myself and a couple of brides who will be having summer weddings. It is gorgeous and smell yum too!
You'll see this used in my next bronzed bride tutorial!
-It has a lovely coral finish with a hint of pink and adds a tad of shimmer to the cheeks but not TOO much!
Quite literally every bit of the body...well aside from hair...has been thought of with these Limited Editions. Shimmer Bronze -Pure Colour Nail Lacquer £14.00
I don't tend to wear bronze on my nails. I mean I have before, but during the summer I tend to wear bright pinks, but I think it's time I mixed it up a bit and try a bit of both and stop being a one trick pony when it comes to my summer nails.
There is one thing that I will never go without during the summer. I can forget all other make-up and go bare faced, BUT I must always have mascara on. I have blonde eyelashes and in the summer they only get whiter and make me look like I have teeny tiny eyes. I think a little mascara goes a long way with everybody. It opens and brightens the eyes and adds a little bit of glamour to the eyes with just one swoop of a wand. Sumptuous Waterproof Bold Volume Mascara in Black £19.00
This is a gorgeous mascara. For once, someone has a want that catches all the lashes, unlike others you hear me repeatedly complain about. It adds volume and most of all it is waterproof.
Great for those beach days or warm summer weddings....or weddings in general.
I bet you wish I would stop waffling on now, but I'm NOT DONE YET! For those who do know me, know I love a good perfume. My house is filled with them. My bathroom has about 30 sitting around, my bedroom has at least 6 big ones and then 10's of mini ones. So when I saw that Estee Lauder had two Limited Edition Fragrances I was over the moon.
Limited Edition- Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche- £38.00
This one is my favourite. It's a soft, warm smell and reminds me of the beach. It's gorgeous and I have been wearing it every day since I got it. This will be my staple fragrance of the summer.
Bronzed Goddess Soleil
The BRAND NEW Limited Edition Fragrance of the summer
This fragrance will be lovely post sunbathing as it is fresh and feminine. A good fragrance for a few cocktails on the beach in the evening.
PHEW that was a mouthful! So that was my rundown on the great stuff in store with Estee Lauder this summer. Grab yourself some special things for what I am hoping is another warm summer!
Stay tuned for the tutorial for the summer bronze look!


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Bebrite has on offer a fantastic opportunity to buy a Bebrite Carpet Cleaning Franchise but that's not all! When you buy a carpet cleaning business from Bebrite you are given additional opportunities which will quickly expand and grow your business. Carpet Cleaning is generally a one off job which makes it difficult to estimate or gauge an average monthly income, however when combined with a Residential and Commercial Cleaning Business you get the chance to double your income at no extra cost to you. This concept is unique to Bebrite – we offer you stability, security and ongoing support.
When a Bebrite Carpet Cleaning business begins with a round of regular customers, who are already being serviced on a weekly or fortnightly basis you have a ready-made clientele to whom you can offer your carpet cleaning services to, at least once or twice a year. You may be servicing up to 20 or 30 regular customers and they just love the fact that their regular cleaning team can also offer them carpet cleaning and upholstery cleaning.
We use high quality equipment not just the cheap steam cleaning method. Bebrite's method is using steam and hot water and then an extraction process which leaves the carpet almost dry on completion. You would be amazed at how the finished carpet looks and smells. Some of your regular customers will have pets which they keep indoors and they can leave carpet and upholstery smelly and dank. Your customers will be delighted when you offer them the service to clean their carpets and as a regular customer you may offer them a loyalty bonus or discount.
In addition to this work you are also offered Move Out, Bond Cleans, End of Lease and pre-sale cleans which require carpet cleaning as well as internal and window cleaning. You have the double bonus of receiving the income from these One Off Cleans plus the Carpet Cleaning making it a win, win for you.
We give our Carpet Cleaning teams full and comprehensive training in the use of the required applications for removing different types of stains. You receive official certification as a Bebrite Carpet Cleaning Technician. Bebrite places a great deal of importance on the correct processes and procedures when purchasing a Carpet Cleaning Business.
Some Bebrite teams have very high turnovers in a Carpet Cleaning Combined business it makes sense to combine your business options and getting the most out of your investment.
Bebrite Carpet Cleaning businesses have a genuine guarantee which will provide a minimum of 80% return on your franchise fee within the first 4 months of operation. Your equipment is a depreciable asset and the costs of running your carpet cleaning business, are of course tax deductible.


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Boston Marathon Hit By Explosions: 176 Wounded, 3 Dead
Two explosions occurred at the finish line of the Boston marathon on April 15. Many people have been injured, some having limbs blown off. There have been reports that 17 people are in critical condition, three are dead and hospitals have admitted 176 injured people.
There were two explosions, 12 seconds and 100 to 150 years apart from each other, near the Mandarin hotel in Boston, and 176 people have been injured. Three have been killed. At the final line of the Boston marathon, two explosions occurred during the race. Many victims have lost limbs, and two people have been reported dead. Copley Square in downtown Boston was the scene of the crime. There are currently no flights going in or out of Boston.
Boston Marathon Explosions Ruin The Race
The Boston Police Department Spokesperson said there "some sort of incident at 671 Boylston Street", which is the finish line for the race. There were twin explosions, 15 seconds apart.
"They were probably planned explosions, we are identifying this as a crime scene," said a police spokesperson to WBVC. "They will gather a tremendous amount of information."
What Caused The Explosions At The Race?
It is believed that the bombs had been placed in garbage cans, and 176 people have been reported injured by The Boston Globe. They are reporting that two have been killed.
Twin Blasts Leave Dozens With Injuries
The blasts happened at about 2:50 p.m. near the intersection of Boylston and Exeter streets. Store fronts have been blown out, and there have been reports of dozens of injuries.
"There were two bombs that exploded near the finish line in today's Boston Marathon. We are working with law enforcement to understand what exactly has happened," wrote The Boston Marathon on their Facebook page.
Sadly, doctors are performing a lot of amputations.
Witnesses Tweet Horrific Scene Of Boston Marathon Explosion
"I saw people's legs blown off. Horrific. Two explosions. Runners were coming in and saw unspeakable horror," tweeted NECN reporter Jackie Bruno.
"We were so close it was scary. Felt the force of the explosion. People were fleeing and victims were scattered."
"My photog @JohnHammann and I are safe. But, we were very very close. Saw people on the ground with limbs missing. Awful."
"just saw and felt a huge explosion @bostonmarathon @boston multiple deaths, legs blown off" tweeted John Hammann.
The victims are being taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, and there are up to 30 ambulances on the scene.
How horrifying.
Was The Boston Marathon Bombing A Terrorist Attack?
UPDATE: Boston Police think the attack was an act of terrorism. CNN called the tragedy a "well-planned event."
CBS News reports that police are now looking at surveillance video showing someone carrying multiple backpacks into the area about 20 minutes before explosions.
Additionally, CNN reported that about 17,500 runners of the 27,000 total had already crossed the finish line before the explosion.
Three other devices have been found and dismantled.
What do YOU think HollywoodLifers? Do YOU think this is terrifying?
WATCH: Footage Of The Explosion April 15
— Eleanore Hutch


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6 strategies to be Financially Fit
If you finished college with a student loan debt, you'll finish paying it off approximately in your late twenties or early thirties. This is also the time you'll start saving for a house, get promotions, and seriously start saving for retirement. Keep your finances in check with these eight strategies to be financially fit.
Focus on your career
Since you are primarily relying on your active income, invest in your skills and continuing education for career growth.
Don't live like your parents
It took your parents over 15 or 20 years in the workforce to achieve their current level of lifestyle. If you're eating out as often as they do or drive a fancy car, you may be living beyond your means. Tighten the belt when you're only starting to earn your own money.
Handle credit cards with care
Credit cards are a great way to get buried in debt if you're not careful. However, credit cards are not entirely evil – you just have to use them right.
Choose loans wisely
If your student loan is low interest, you may not have to rush to pay it off immediately. You can invest the money in a mutual fund so it can earn more interest in the meantime. On the other hand, be quick to pay off high interest loans so the interest expense does not pile up.
Prepare for retirement
It's never too early for retirement planning. Starting early even with small efforts will give you better chances of securing a comfortable retirement than saving big to catch up if you started late.
Save, save, save
And finally, don't forget to save regularly until it becomes a habit. First, establish your emergency fund which should be equivalent to at least three months of your present income. Then invest the rest in a mix of mutual funds and other instruments, depending on your risk tolerance. That way, your money works for you.
To know more about these strategies, click here.


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A few photos….
The last West End Bocce night of the season was well attended and the weather was cooperative. It was an evening with great food and company. We took our traditional last photo of the season…. thanks to Brian Howlett for taking our photo. To see more photos from bocce- go to Bocce 2011 in our photo gallery.
The 9th Street Mural Community has been completed except for the neighborhood names that will face each neighborhood. We had over 30 volunteers help paint last Saturday!
The Mural Committee members: Denise Hill from St. Rose Neighborhood & Sher Ennis and Lea Barron-Thomas from West End Neighborhood started the project in the Summer of 2009. Their goal was to take a dark, uninviting space and make it friendlier and easy to maintain. It was a simple project but took a long time to get through the City of Santa Rosa Art in Public Places and CalTrans approval processes. We couldn't have done it without Tara Matheny-Schuster, Art Coordinator for City of Santa Rosa.
The Mural was funded by a City of Santa Rosa CAB grant. Mario Uribe created the design. ArtStart was on hand to train the volunteers to use the stencils. We would also like to thank: Our wonderful community volunteers. Friedman's for graciously donating all the paint. The Coffee Girls for providing delicious coffee to our hardworking volunteers. We couldn't have done it with out you! THANK-YOU! For more photos go to 9th Street Community Mural.
The West End Neighborhood where urbanism, preservation, art and people come together! For the latest updates, crime alerts, full calendar of events and photos- go the West End Neighborhood website. Click Here!


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An official website of the United States government
The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites always use a .gov or .mil domain. Before sharing sensitive information online, make sure you're on a .gov or .mil site by inspecting your browser's address (or "location") bar.
This site is also protected by an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate that's been signed by the U.S. government. The https:// means all transmitted data is encrypted — in other words, any information or browsing history that you provide is transmitted securely.
Cool season food legume germplasm project focuses on the conservation, characterization and utilization of pea, lentil, chickpea, faba bean, grass pea, lupin and Trigonella genera.
There are more than 24,000 accessions in the cool-season grass and safflower collections. Major goals are increasing seed, gathering accession data and images, and managing the International Safflower Genetic Resources web site http://safflower.wsu.edu/.
The Horticulture Crops program conserves, characterizes and acquires accessions of over 232 genera of food, forage, medicinal and restoration species. Major collections are beet, lettuce, Allium, milk-vetch and sanfoin.
The bean collection is composed of over 17,000 accessions consisting of 57 taxa. Common bean is the largest species with over 13,000 genetic varieties. The primary focus is on seed conservation, production, characterization, imaging, and distribution.
USDA Temperate-adapted Forage Legume Genetic Resources project conserves, grows, and distributes seed and information for 13,000 accessions of alfalfa, clover, trefoil and wild relatives to users worldwide.


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Finding your feet is shown on the next film night at Nunney Village Hall on Friday 11 May, presented by Somerset Moviola and the Nunney Village Hall Committee.
Finding Your Feet is a 2017 romantic comedy film directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Nick Moorcroft and Meg Leonard. The film stars Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie and Joanna Lumley.
'Lady' Sandra Abbott (Imelda Staunton) discovers that her husband of forty years (John Sessions) is having an affair with her best friend (Josie Lawrence).
She seeks refuge in London with her estranged, older sister Bif (Celia Imrie). Sandra is a fish out of water next to her outspoken, serial dating, free spirited sibling who lives on an inner-city council estate.
But difference is just what Sandra needs and she reluctantly lets Bif drag her along to a community dance class where she meets her sister's friends, Charlie (Timothy Spall), Jackie (Joanna Lumley) and Ted (David Hayman).
This colourful group of defiant and energetic third-agers start to show Sandra that retirement is a beginning, and that divorce could be her new lease of life and love.
Finding your feet has a 12A rating. Films rated 12A are suitable for children aged 12 and over.
But people younger than 12 may see a 12A so long as they are accompanied by an adult. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult.
Finding your feet is shown at Nunney Village Hall on Friday 11 May at 7.30pm. Door open at 7.00pm. Seats cannot be reserved, so please come early.
Tickets cost £5 in advance at the SPAR shop in Nunney or £6 on the door. Advance booking is highly recommended (the film nights frequently sell out in advance!).
A licensed bar and ice creams will be available. The bar opens at 7pm. The film programme begins at 7.30pm.
Future Film Nights at Nunney Village Hall
Friday 8 June The Post
Friday 13 July Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Friday 10 August The Greatest Showman
Contact information
Roger Hutchings
Somerset Moviola
Telephone 01373 836 049
Web www.moviola.org


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You might be a new dancer making your way to the top of the game with your talent, or you might be a professional and experienced dancer who is already at the top of the game, nevertheless something that the two of you have in common is buying outfits for dancing. You cannot simply out on a large shirt with a pair of shorts and then head out to the dance floor, it is nearly impossible to dance certain styles that way like ballet or jazz. This is exactly why you need to go ahead and choose your outfits very carefully before deciding it will work for you. You can even ask for professional help if you want to completely sure about what you are buying. Here are some tips to help you get started.
Outfits for different styles
The first thing to clear is understanding the style of dancing you are engaged in. There are possibly hundreds of dance styles and each one of them is different from the other, so make sure you have a clear understanding of what you are doing as a dancer. Try to ask a senior dancer or a good dance teacher about what type of clothes you will need. Try to research a little bit about what clothes, shoes and accessories your dancing style requires. Once you get that part sorted out, you can even buy online dance wear as long as you know what you have to buy!
Outfits that fit
The second step is, when you are done figuring out what exactly to buy, make sure the clothes actually fit you right! You cannot be a proper dancer if the outfit you are wearing is tight and cutting off your oxygen every time you do one dance step. If you are getting clothes custom made, make sure the clothes are not too tight nor too loose, the same goes even if you buy clothes from a store as well. Shoes are also an important part of an outfit, for example if you are a ballet dancer you have special shoes to use. Even if you are to buy pointe shoes online, or any other shoe type please make sure it will always fit you right!
Outfits that do not wilt
Finally, when you are all ready to buy the necessary clothes, do be sure that they are made of correct material like Lycra so the clothes will allow a lot of stretching and movement. Sometimes even material like Lycra can make your perspire heavily, so look for materials that absorb body heat and allows you to dance as long as you like without making you break a sweat!


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Power Line has the link to Michelle Malkin's list of the worst whiners of 2003. Yeah, I know. I could have linked to it, but then you wouldn't check out Power Line and it would be your loss.
So go check them out and then read the list. She's got a good one.


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I'm sure every one of you reading this post is already familiar with the news about the upcoming Venus Transit on June 5th/6th 2012. But I wanted to share with you a beautiful story I have around this Transit and how it links in with my mandala artwork.
Just before I tell you about the painting I'd like to fill in a little of the background information surrounding the transit in case any of you don't know. I'm not an astrologer and have gleaned this information from those in the know.
About every 120 years Venus transits the face of the sun and when it does, this occurs twice with a gap of 8 years inbetween. The last time this happened was on June 8th 2004. It is due to happen again on June 5th/6th 2012. Venus will be closest to the Earth and so we will see her as a large body crossing over the Sun.
Now there was a very strange occurrence for me on the first transit of this pair on June 8th 2004. I had been working on a silk painting, a mandala and on that very morning I brought it to completion. It struck me how firey the image was and that there seemed to be a planet at the centre of it.
It wasn't until June 8th that it really hit me. As I completed the turquoise sky background, I realised I was looking at Venus in Transit. I got shivers as I saw with clarity what it depicted. At that very time we were able to see the Venus Transit from our front window in Glastonbury. Blue sky, the firey sun and the large body of Venus passing over her face.
And so my mandala was named 'Venus in Transit'.
So what does this astrological event mean for us? It has a lot to do with heart opening and our feminine energy and gives us a chance to look at old buried things we thought were long since gone to finally release them with love. A time of great clearing. Letting go of whatever does not nurture our hearts.
The coming week is filled with significant events for me on a personal level and I am excited as to what this Venusian energy heralds in.
Embracing the Divine Feminine and allowing it full expression in my life.
This image is available as a greeting card. If you would like to have one, please contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Windows 7
Windows 7 Logon Editor
We have covered a few application like Account Screen Editor, Screen Rotator and Windows 7 Login Changer to change the Windows 7 logon to custom one. Windows 7 Logon Editor is another free tool to change the Logon screen, but apart from changing the logon, it provides other options like editing the text, Windows 7 branding and also add some text effects to the user text.
You can select the background picture and also set the size of the image. The preview tools allows you to change the size, rename the user name text which appears when you log in and also the Windows 7 branding. For example if you are using Windows 7 Home Professional, you can change it to Windows 7 Ultimate in the Logon section.
You can save the current logon, apply a new logon and also restore the old logon using this tool. Apart from this, there is also option to change the text and button style by adding shadow effects.
7 Comments
Nice tip, thanks! Could you tell me where the background wallpaper is from?
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i tried to use this program and tried to change the windows branding i have windows 7 home premium i got it to change to windows 7 professional and then i clicked apply logon and i got a message saying
application attempted to perform an operation not allowed by the security policy To grant this application contact your system administrator or use the Microsoft.Net Framework Configuration tool.
if you click Continue the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue if you click quit the application will close immediately.
Requested registry access is not allowed.
well this says it all
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text: Read, Dream and Achieve is our summer reading and math challenge program to keep your child progressing and ready to start a new school year. We encourage you to help your child to reach his/her reading goal of reading 1,000 pages using books, magazines, Raz-Kids, and Achieve 3000 this summer. You can help them reach their math goal of 10 hours of Dreambox online by logging the number of minutes students spend on dreambox.com. See next link for Read, Dream and Achieve information and logs.


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You'll learn how to identify and use 11 of the most common sewing feet. Start with zipper and buttonhole feet, then learn how to use blind-hem and rolled-hem feet to finish your work like a pro. Step to the next level with a tour of popular optional feet to help you achieve perfect topstitching, gathers, couching, free-motion stitching and more. Start off on the right foot and sign up for this FREE mini-class today!
What You'll Learn
Regular and invisible zipper feet
Buttonhole foot
Blind hem and rolled-hem feet
Decorative stitching feet for machine embroidery and couching
Gathering foot
How to make perfect stitch lines with helpful guide feet


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The historic Conwy Castle Hotel has provided many services over the centuries. It began life as a Cistercian abbey and then moved on to become a popular coaching inn that attracted many travelers to the area.
This article will be taking a look at the paranormal case that is known locally as 'The Unfortunate Chambermaid of The Castle Hotel' and the spectral friends she brings with her…
The Chambermaid's Tale
Over the years there have been numerous reports from visitors that suggest a blond girl, no more than 12 years old, haunts the old hotel.
There is some interesting historical evidence to support the appearance of this lost spirit…
A girl that fits the description of this ghost was employed by the hotel during the 1920's as a chambermaid. Unfortunately for her, the manageress at the time was a little bit of a cow!
The young girl fell terribly ill suddenly and pleaded with her employer to have the day off – the manageress would not agree to this, and forced her to work throughout the day in her poorly condition.
The following day the girl's sickness got worse…but the manageress yet again refused to let her rest…she collapsed hours later.
As she lay on her deathbed she pleaded with her employers to send her body back to her home of Anglesey – they agreed to do so.
Once she had passed the manageress went back on her word – maybe to cover up her harsh treatment of the girl?
Her body was swiftly and crudely buried in the graveyard adjacent to the hotel.
Within days the hotel was struck by a series of hauntings that involved a spectral young girl – it got to the point where nobody wanted to stay there!
The manageress had the body exhumed and sent down to Anglesey…but she was too late…the spirit of the girl has never left the hotel.
The Phantom Cat & The Cellar Dweller
There have also been numerous reports at the hotel of a phantom cat that some believe is linked to the chambermaid's ghost.
Apparently this 'pet ghost' still feels drawn to the warmth of hotel visitor's beds, and is frequently felt walking slowly across the bedsheets in the dead of night.
A handful of employees to the hotel have also reported an entity down in the building's cellar – it is unclear whether this is the spirit of the chambermaid or not.
This creature of the dark likes to violently push visitors to the cellar up against the wall, as if he/she/whatever is trying to get past them in a hurry.
If you have any thoughts or opinions on the subject we have covered here today, please leave them in the comment section below.