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ROADMap systems raises $1.7m in Series A investment
Cambridge University spin-out company ROADMap systems has announced that it has successfully closed a funding round of $1.7 million by securing investment from a number of institutional and private investors. The investment will help fund the expansion of the business as it takes its revolutionary wavelength selective switch (WSS) technology to market.
The company was spun out from the University of Cambridge in 2013 based on research by CIKC (PASSBACK project). ROADMap is developing the next generation of WSS that is universal, flexible, and software upgradable. These switches are used to create Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs) which are now a fast expanding part of optical telecom networks, enabling the flexible use of different wavelengths of light that carry traffic through the network. Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) technology, which was one of the main themes of CIKC, has emerged as the beste candidate to meet the demands of current and future needs, and ROADMap Systems is developing these into the next-generation WSS, which are densely integrated to achieve high performance and low cost.
For more details of the funding round see: roadmap-systems-secures-1-7m-in-series-a-investment/


text: The lovely lot at DC have offered up a load of clothes from their Spring/Summer Street Lounge range. That is super cosy fabrics tailored for multiuse mix-ups, whether dressing up, getting funky or staying casual at the crib. One lucky winner will get a pair of Venice shoes, a Believe Top (both pictured) and a Believe Hoodie. This wicked prize is worth £130. For more info on the brand visit dcshoes.com

subset: commoncrawl


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SEVERE Karmic Booms Striking Apartheid, Morally Repugnant NZ!
Major Disasters Looming!
♠ ♠
No. of international dropout students dropping off in parts of the country
"10 of the 16 institutes of technology and polytechnics had fewer international students in 2017 than the previous year," according to the Auditor-General's report presented to Parliament on Thursday.
"Auckland saw interests drop over the last year which the Government admitted could be a response to regulatory changes. The city raked in $2.76 billion in 2017 from international students," said a report.
It's been "a particularly challenging time for New Zealand in the international education market," said Destination and Attraction general manager David Perks.
Based on 2017 data, international dropout students contributed $5.1b into NZ's "economy", making it number four in "
export deception industries".
♠ ♠
The land of dodgy warrants and deadly roads!
For over ten years, we've been telling our readers about 90 percent of vehicles on NZ roads are UNSAFE!
NZTA is finally warning 10,000 drivers their warrant of fitness may be dodgy. Okay, but what about the remaining hundreds of thousands of vehicles that are unsafe to drive? https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/377108/dodgy-warrants-may-impact-up-to-10-000-drivers
♠ ♠
Welcome to New Zealand!
World's most brutal tourist deathtrap
Another "tourist" killed in Mt Cook avalanche
Thursday, 29 November 2018 – 7:26pm – Canterbury
One more person was killed in an avalanche on Mount Cook. The avalanche occurred at about 1:30pm and involved three climbers. The other two survived the incident.
♠ ♠
Only in NZ and Saudi Arabia
Getting away with murder!
Outcome of Tongariro National Park bus crash investigation
Thursday, 29 November 2018 – 12:03pm – National News
"Police has completed the criminal investigation into the tragic crash near Turoa on 28 July that claimed the life of 11-year-old Hannah Francis and injured several others. As a result of the investigation, no criminal charges will be laid."
♠ ♠
Police ordered to keep road fatality reports near 2017 levels
[Police censorship: Only two of at least five fatal crashes reported today!]
Proudly Killed in NZ
Fatal crash, Rangitata
Thursday, 29 November 2018 – 10:31am – Canterbury
Yet another fatal crash involving a truck and a pedestrian occurred on State Highway One just south of Rangitata, Timaru. The pedestrian was violently killed in the collision.
Fatal crash – Rotorua
Thursday, 29 November 2018 – 6:16am [Bay of Plenty of Deaths]
Yet another pedestrian was killed after being hit by a car in Rotorua last night. "The crash occurred on Te Ngae Road at around 11.40pm."
♠ ♠
NZ Police Watch: Censorship at an all time high!
Police ordered to keep road fatality reports near 2017 levels
How many actually killed on NZ roads this year so far?
- Actual road toll for 2018 so far: 1,018 [Based on the blog's advanced statistical models and backed by other resources – margin of error: ±3 per cent.]
- No. of fatalities reported by police: ONLY 682 [Includes unofficial data for two regions provided by a police insider.]
- Official No. of crash victims: ONLY 343 as of Nov. 28, 2018 [No. unchanged since yesterday despite at least four additional road fatalities]
- No of dead statistically resurrected by Ministry of Transport: 682 – 343 = 339
Monitor the Ministry of Resurrection's road fatality updates and calculate the number of resurrection's daily at https://www.transport.govt.nz


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Questions? Call us at 000 800 001 6000.
Find out how a digital-first mortgage can bring together your borrowers, loan officers, and partners.
Today's consumers are accustomed to getting the products and services they need when and where they need them. For many home buyers, however, the mortgage process remains a frustrating experience where offers are generic, stakeholders are disconnected, and status updates are infrequent.
Download this e-book to learn how to overcome these challenges with a digital-first approach that helps you:


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The Episcopal Admission Committee seeks to enroll highly-motivated children who will best benefit from our academic and extracurricular programs. The admission process is designed to assess readiness and predict success of applicants while providing families and students an opportunity to explore the mission and goals of the school. If you would like a member of our Admission Team to contact you, please click here.
Application Process
Admission Forms
To begin the admission process, complete Episcopal's online application for admission and submit the $125 application fee. Once your child's application is submitted, you will have access to an interactive admission checklist tailored for your child's grade. The Admission Office recommends prospective families submit an application for admission the fall preceding the year of intended enrollment. For example, if you wish to apply for the 2019-2020 school year, an application should be submitted between September 2018 and the application deadline. The remaining steps necessary to complete the admission process are outlined below by grade level.
PreK-3, PreK-4 and Kindergarten
Admission Policy
As a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, Episcopal nurtures and develops the whole child - spiritually, intellectually, morally, physically and artistically - through challenging academic and co-curricular programs which prepare our graduates for college and for purposeful lives. Our students benefit from a cohesive and collaborative PreK-3 to 12th grade Episcopalian education, the only of its kind in Baton Rouge. As a school community, we celebrate different cultures, races, and perspectives and we seek to enroll students with varying strengths and interests.
Episcopal School of Baton Rouge admits students without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national and ethnic origin, or disability. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, national, or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and tuition assistance programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. Priority admission consideration may be granted to Episcopalians and/or children of Episcopalians, as authorized by applicable law.


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Thats all very well on how to groom, but, how do you stop the fighting when they dont want to be brushed?. We have to put ours on the ironing board to keep her still, and it takes two of us because she struggles all the time. !
Friday, December 17, 2010
I Love Those J-I-N-G-L-E Bells
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Grooming Your Tibetan Terrier: An Update
@Gracefuldecor The trick is to start grooming your TT as a pup
before they even need to be groomed so that they get used to it
(and may even enjoy it) from a very early age.
I've posted some grooming tips on my blog. Hope this helps.
She's an independent girl! Gotta admire that!
that is an extremely good Tibetan terrier, dear God how
I'd like to be you mine is a naughty minxcallmeloyal 5 months ago
Come on, own up! You MUST have sedated this dog!
Did you have a vet in attendance?
Maybe you're a hypnotist?Purdelicious 2 days ago
I hope you are kidding! We just have very laid back dogs
(most of the time). Plus we began brushing our dogs from
a very early age so they are very relaxed about it.
Would never sedate our dogs.
Hypnotist! Now that WOULD come in handy.DeepAcresFarm 2 days ago
@DeepAcresFarm OK, I'm much relieved to hear it
and also VERY impressed! Honestly though,
I was worried sick The dog is very beautiful
and its behaviour is a credit to you,
therefore please accept my apologies.
I really love dogs!Purdelicious 15 hours ago
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Absolutely Fabulous
The little Tibetan Terrier pictured here is made from sheep wool, bamboo silk, mulberry silk and tussah silk (whatever the heck that is). He also has a hand-sculpted polymer clay nose and realistic brown glass eyes.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sweet Something
Moravian Sugar Cake
2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup water (110 F)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons non-fat powdered milk
1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted cooled butter
2 eggs
3 cups flour
For Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melted cooled butter
1. Sprinkle yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar into the 1/2 cup of warm water.
2. Set aside until yeast bubbles, and mixture is foamy.
3. Add the next 7 ingredients, and about 1 cup of flour.
4. Beat with a wooden spoon.
5. Add remaining flour or a little more if needed, until bread dough consistency.
6. Place in a greased bowl and turn it to coat.
7. Dot dough with butter, and let it rise until double in size, about 1 hour.
8. Then, punch dough down, and place in a greased shallow baking pan (about 17 x 12 inches) Let rise 30 minutes, then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Note: I heard a newcomer in the kitchen say, "The 3 cups flour became about 7 to make it a workable dough. Must be an error in the recipe" But one of the old gals, an experienced sugar cake baker, explained there is no mistake in the recipe; this is a cake with a soft dough, not a bread. The term "workable" does not apply here; the soft dough will rise right in the pan. This is not a bread where you are continually kneading it into something that must be shaped. Simply pat it into the pan and let it rise in the pan it should have been fine.
9. Now the fun begins.
10. As if you're playing the piano, punch your fingers into the dough making indentations.
11. Pour on remaining 1/2 cup of butter, and let dough rise another 30 minutes.
12. Bake in a preheated 375ºF for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
13. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Then it was back to our dear friend Katherine Smith Reynold's house where Rufus and I played on the lawn for awhile before going inside for nice warm baths.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Beyond My Wildest Dreams!
Well, you are really not going to believe this, but we took Group 1 on Saturday which, for all of those of you who don't give a hoot about dog shows, means Rufus was judged to be the very best non-sporting dog in the ring that day. He beat a total of 178 dogs. Rufus then went on to the Best in Show competition with the other six top dogs from the entire show. And, the sugar on our strawberries, on Saturday and Sunday Rufus earned two of three majors needed for his grand championship right on the heels of earning his champion title. Not bad for my little boy who has been in the ring for less than six months and who just became a Champion on Friday.
After the show on Friday, we went to an Airstream trailer in the middle of a Christmas tree lot to celebrate. The place was called Krankie's and they served delicious sandwiches filled with brie and apples or asparagus with smoked gouda and aioli. The young proprietor, Jesse, served up special tiny biscuits for Rufus and me. We all reveled in the delightfully funky holiday scene and Rufus' new championship status. Then it was off to the K-9 Doggie Bakery and Boutique where we indulged in fresh baked goods and found a special Tibetan Terrier holiday ornament that we just had to have for our tree.
On Saturday, while Rufus was resting up for the group competition, dad and I snuck off to Winkler's Bakery in Old Salem, a historic Moravian community, for sugar cake. Sugar cake is a traditional Moravian treat that starts as yeast-raised dough, then is rolled out and topped with a combination of cinnamon, pure butter and brown sugar, then baked until golden brown. Dad gave me just a pinch and it was DELICIOUS. We met a horse named Billie and some very fine folks in a horse and buggy before we headed back to watch, much to our surprise, Rufus triumph in the group ring. It was a very yummy day.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Is This the Little Boy I Carried?
Could this handsome man be my sweet little boy?
All this and then I came across this video called "The Gift of The Ordinary Day." Us mothers, we can be quite the martyrs can't we? I mean there's like one pic of the dad in this entire reel and it seems to be all about the mom and her perception of everything. As it should be. I have to admit it did make me a bit weepy. I'm a sap for shit like this. But it also makes me think, maybe, I should ship the pups off to California to spend a few years with their dad so I can develop some outside interests. Like, perhaps, gluing small plastic figurines and glitter to smooth flat stones I collect. Just like Grandma Frannie did.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
One Less Bell to Answer
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
A Very Happy New Year
I received my 2011 calendar from the UK Tibetan Terrier Association. And, I have to say, I am now really looking forward to 2011. I mean the calendar is just that GREAT. Each month there is a new adorable/gorgeous/enchanting TT to pass your days with. I must say that Miss September is Angus' favorite. But, pray tell, who is that hunk/hunkess gracing the month of October?
If you're interested in ordering a calendar, just click the following link (they accept paypal) so you can order via email if you like. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO I ordered two and they arrived in the US in no time.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Female Tibetan Terrier Lost in Edgard, Louisiana
Message from: Linda McCormick Caire firstname.lastname@example.com
We lost her while she was staying with my in-laws (who are 81 and 85) on River Road in Edgard, LA on 10/4. She is a 7 yr old Tibetan Terrier 20 lb a beauty. She probably was looking for me but I was in New Orleans moving into to our house.
The area is very rural in Edgard with 8,000 acres of sugar cane behind their house. I have put out 300 flyers, listed her on Petfinder, Craigslist and visited all the shelters. I have spoken to the police who have not seen her or picked up any dead dogs like her.
I have driven River Road and all the surroundings fields and walked all the ditches. With all this said, I feel as though someone picked her up. She is very pretty and sweet. I am a huge animal lover and this is probably one of the toughest things I have been through and I really want her back… dead or alive.
Linda McCormick Caire
443 994 1686
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Keira Knightley's Bra and Panties
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Smile You're on Canine Candids
Snow Shmo
Friday, December 3, 2010
Happy Ending! Stolen Eukanuba Dogs Reunited with Owners
I love a happy ending. I know my dad does too. Happy Endings and Massages. Those are my two favorite things right now. Don't ask me why! And a massage with a happy ending? Don't even go there!! I guess you could call me a bit of a fatalist with a flair for the dramatic. I guess that's why when I heard about those corgis and akitas who were stolen en route to the Eukanuba show I imagined all sorts of unhappy endings to their story. Every now and then the world surprises me and I'm really glad it did in this case. Lori Rickard, the dogs' owner/handler, and I have met because of this ordeal. (BTW, Lori has promised a first-hand account of her ordeal so keep checking my blog) Lori is praise jesus-ing all over the internet since the dogs were found. Well, heck, she even god-blessed me in a personal message. You know, I think I might consult a higher power too if something like this happened to me. Well, all this uncertainty and tumult has me thinking about the ultimate unhappy ending - DEATH.
When I die, so does my dog: Some pet owners take animals to their graves
Some simply don't want to be buried alone, while others fear no one will take care of the critters
By Diane Mapes
msnbc.com contributor
We've all heard of people who love their pets too much. But what about loving your pet to death?
Such was the case with Tom Tom, a healthy 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier who was euthanized and laid to rest last March after its late owner, Donald Ellis, left explicit instructions that his beloved Yorkie be put down and buried with him.
While startling, it wasn't an anomaly. Tom Tom isn't the only pet to find his days numbered after an owner shuffles off this mortal coil.
Emily Kinney, a 32-year-old communications manager from Dallas, says her grandmother sat everyone down after her husband's funeral and announced she wanted her Shih-tzu, Sam, to be put to sleep and buried with her when she passed.
"She said if she should die before her dog, my dad's first job was to take Sam and have him put to sleep," she says. "She wanted to be buried with her best friend. She knew that there were plenty of people in the family that would take him but she wanted her best friend with her."
Of course, Sam was hardly a pup. The dog was 17 years old, deaf, blind and prone to "accidents". But Kinney says discussing the dog's future (or lack thereof) was still unsettling.
"Sam was not a healthy dog so it wasn't exactly cruel," she says. "It was almost funny to be talking about putting him to sleep while he was in the room, clueless about his fate."
Luckily, Sam died first so the family wasn't forced to make that long drive to the vet. But it was a different story for K.C., a 14-year-old tortoiseshell cat left behind after its 84-year-old owner, Elue Olvera, died last November.
"My mom told me, 'Either you take her or put her down. She can't live with anybody. She's very picky,'" says Bea Gonzales, a 56-year-old school bus driver from San Antonio, Texas.
Gonzales says she couldn't take the cat (she had other pets) but couldn't bring herself to put K.C. down either, so she tried letting the cat live on in her mother's home with a niece who'd moved in. Unfortunately, K.C. became listless — and then began to fight with the niece's cats. Eventually, Gonzales made that final trip to the vet.
"My mom and that cat were two peas in a pod," she says. "It's like they were married. I loved my mom and wanted to respect her last wishes. And I feel like she was up there saying, 'It's about time.' She knew K.C. couldn't live with anybody, that she wouldn't be happy."
Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Los Angeles, says she's heard all kinds of reasons why people want their animals euthanized after their death.
"They think no one will love them as much as they do," she says. "That's the more narcissistic reason — it sounds like it's in the best interest of the pet but, clearly, when you think about what they're asking you to do you have to wonder if it is. And some feel their pet will suffer, that there's such a strong bond between them the pet will grieve and be miserable and fail to thrive."
'It's what my brother wanted'
That was the case with Ellis, who asked his sister to euthanize his 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier after his death because "nobody would love him like he did."
"Tom Tom was grieving for my brother," says Marilyn McDaniel, 58, of Star City, Ark., who consented to her late brother's wishes. "They were very close. I've gotten a lot of grief for doing this, but it's what my brother wanted."
Other people worry that the animal might be a burden to friends or relatives, particularly if it's an older animal with health problems, says Bernstein. But no matter what the reason or rationale, she says people who request their animal be put down following their death should stop to consider just what it is they're asking.
"Killing something is not easy," she says. "It's asking a lot of your survivors to follow those wishes."
It may also be difficult to find a veterinarian who will comply with the pharaoh-like request, she says, particularly if the pet's young and healthy.
"It's not illegal to put down a healthy pet but you have to be able to sleep at night," she says. "A vet may have an ethics issue with it."
Planning ahead
According to Emily Patterson-Kane, an animal welfare scientist for the American Veterinary Medical Association, the AVMA has no specific policy on the subject — but they do have principles of veterinary medical ethics.
"When in doubt, we always go back to the veterinarian's oath," she says. "Consider the needs of the patient. And the patient is not the human — the patient is the animal. We can't tell people what to do with their animals, but a veterinarian is going to counsel as to what's best for the animal."
Dr. Tony Kremer, a Chicago-based veterinarian who owns five pet hospitals, says he finds the idea of taking an animal with you into death "inconceivable."
"Obviously it's a bit crazy," he says. "I would rank it as saying 'I want you to put my kids to sleep when I pass away so no one mistreats them.'"
Luckily, such practices are rare, he says, though relatives commonly come in with a deceased parents' pet asking for euthanasia, even when the animal is healthy.
"When this happens, we do our best to steer them in the direction of putting the animal up for adoption," he says. "Most people are glad to find there's another option."
Kramer also says by planning ahead, people can avoid all the drama.
"If you're the caregiver of a pet, then you need to be responsible for setting up something, some plan for that pet if you're unable to take care of it for whatever reason," he says. "There are a lot of different rescue organizations. Or people can put money in their will so the pet will be taken care of in perpetuity."
Chris Jones, a trust attorney of 40 years and founder of TrustedPetPartners.com, says pet trusts are another way to ensure an animal is taken care of after you're gone.
"You choose a guardian and then you choose a watchdog — someone whose job it is to enforce the terms of the trust — and then you set aside money or other property that can be converted to money to pay for the care of the animals," he says.
Prepaid pet insurance is yet another way to help make sure your animal will be cared for.
As for those who worry that going against the deceased's last wishes might be illegal, Jones recommends asking the court for advice.
"Legally, you're supposed to carry out the instructions in the will, but whoever the executor is always has the opportunity to go to court and say, 'It tells me to do this but I'm not so sure I should,'" he says.
Protesting a death order can work, too. In 1992, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police refused to carry out the instructions left by Clive Wishart, a Canadian man who stipulated in his will that his four horses be shot by the RCMP and buried after his death. The court found that "the destruction of four healthy animals for no useful purpose should not be upheld" and the horses were spared.
Ron Lee, 44, is so committed to his basset hound, Winston, that he's made arrangements to be buried with Winston's ashes when he dies.
'You don't have to give the final solution'
Ron Lee, a 44-year-old TV reporter from Charlotte, N.C.,, says the idea of prematurely taking a pet with you to the grave is "repulsive" — although he definitely plans to be buried with his beloved basset hound, Winston.
"If Winston goes first, my wife and I will cremate him and put his ashes in a little shrine until I die," he says. "Then Winston's ashes will be put in my arms and buried with me."
And if Lee goes first, Winston will live out his days in style, thanks to a "secret savings account." After that, his ashes will be sprinkled over Lee's grave.
"I can understand why people want to be buried with their pet but to cut its life short, that doesn't make any sense," he says. "There's always someone who can help — some group, some organization. You don't have to give the final solution to your dog or cat."


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Tony Danza is hitching a ride to single town.
The former "Taxi" and "Who's the Boss" star has filed for divorce from Tracey Robinson, his wife of more than 24 years, TMZ and Us Weekly reported.
Danza listed "irreconcilable differences" as cause for the split, TMZ reported.
U.S. & World
However, Danza had already been his own boss for quite some time. The couple had reportedly been separated since 2006.
The 59-year-old actor has two children with Robinson and another from a previous marriage to Rhonda Yeoman.
Danza had recently parted ways from a teaching career, which was documented in the A&E series "Teach."
The actor had taken up employment as a full-time 10th grade English teacher at Philadelphia's Northeast High School.
The show ran for the 2009-2010 school year, but Danza apparently didn't make the grade since the show was canceled last October.


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DOC FAUSTUS and the Frankenstein Factory
Written by C. Wayne Owens
Meet Doc Faustus and the Secret Six
In an homage to the golden age of Pulps and Radio Drama, the 4077th present an exploit taken from the 1930's, when the home front was shaken by the depression and fear of the growing threat from the uprising of Nazis in Europe. Horror was also king on the radio and movie screens, from "Nosferatu" through the Universal Monsters. Jump on that running board and fly with us through terrors and breath-taking adventure with larger than life heroes and monstrous villains. Doc Faustus and the Secret Science Six are saving the world….again!
Meet Doc Faustus and the Secret Six
© C. Wayne Owens/The 4077th and All Better Audio


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What to do if you missed your lesson…
(click above for a helpful guide)
Utilizing the Lesson Mate software, our teachers will spend your missed lesson time uploading a detailed and personalized lesson plan. These plans may include text, YouTube clips, sheet music, and video commentary and examples from your teacher. Lessons and homework reminders sent to you from your teacher also remain in your Lesson Mate account for review and easy access at any time.
Watch this brief Lesson Mate video to learn more:


text:
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Monthly Archives: December 2012
Emergency Food and Shelter awards in 2012
Here is a listing of distributions from the Emergency Food and Shelter Board in 2012: Alpha Omega Veterans Services $54,075 Catholic Charities of West Tennessee $80,055 Cocaine & Alcohol Awareness Program $16,878 Friends for Life $26,177 Memphis Family Shelter $20,528 … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized Leave a comment
Youth United Way and the Memphis Grizzlies team up for First Annual Memphis Grizzlies Dribble Parade on Sunday, Jan. 27
The Youth United Way Leadership Program wants you to celebrate NBA Fit Week in January with the Memphis Grizzlies fans by joining the First Annual Memphis Grizzlies Dribble Parade through downtown Memphis. An army of children and teens dribbling basketballs … Continue reading
United Way support helps AFL-CIO Labor Council distribute 150 Christmas food boxes to families in need
Earlier today, the AFL-CIO Labor Council were able to assemble and distribute 150 Christmas food boxes to local families in need thanks in part to a special grant from United Way of the Mid-South. United Way Labor Participation Director Casel … Continue reading
Posted in Grants, Health, Labor Participation, News, Volunteers Tagged afl cio president, afl-cio, afscme, beale street, christmas food, labor members, labor union, labor union members, n calliste, organized labor, participation
United Way grant helps establish latest Boys & Girls Club branch in Oakhaven neighborhood
The youth of the Oakhaven community have an extra reason to celebrate the holidays this month, as a special grant from United Way of the Mid-South helped open the doors of a Boys and Girls Clubs location in the neighborhood … Continue reading
United Way distributes over $83,000 to network partners in Tunica County, MS
Health and human service nonprofits working to improve education, financial stability and health in Tunica County, MS will receive a total of more than $83,000 as a result of decisions from United Way of the Mid-South allocations committees. United Way … Continue reading
Posted in Allocations, Events, Funding Decisions, Grants Tagged tunica county ms, tunica ms
Reminder: Everyone can use the familywize card to save on prescription medicines
While people's thoughts are focused on the approaching holidays, a lot of people are struggling with colds, flu or other illnesses during these days of busyness and constantly changing temperatures. Purchasing medicines while simultaneously buying Christmas presents can pressure family … Continue reading


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Total Commander, one of the most powerful file managers for Android, has now been updated to version 2.0 beta. Like previous TC betas, this one isn't yet available in the Play Store, but can be found on the official TC for Android forums. It's worth noting that this version will install on top of the Play Store version if you have that one, so you're not stuck with two different versions on your device.
This update brings a host of new features, making this already-impressive app even better:
What's new?
- Audio/Video-Player, can stream from Internet and from (updated) plugins
- Drag&Drop in file lists (by holding down finger on file icon)
- Scroll thumb also in the editor
- Write to restricted external SD cards
- Set owner and group for a file or multiple files
- Root mode: Ask for permissions when copying, deleting, and saving file in the editor
- Custom date/time format
- Improved stability of background operations (file functions)
- Prevent operations from pausing when screen is turned off
TC's new video player and EQ.
With the addition of these new features, Total Commander brings more of a desktop-like experience to Android devices, alongside the existing powerful file manipulation, root support, no ads, and a completely free price-tag.
If you're a TC fan and want to give the beta a shot, head to the source link below to grab the download.


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Celebrate Summer With Comedy Bang! Bang! and Brooklyn Comedy Festival
Catch Comedy Bang! Bang! Fridays back-to-back starting at 11P on IFC.
Posted by IFC on
Photo Credit: IFC
Summer is just around the corner, and what better way to kick off the season than a backyard BBQ with a heaping side of Comedy Bang! Bang!.
In partnership with the Brooklyn Comedy Festival, IFC and Mike's Hard Lemonade threw a backyard bash at Brooklyn's Littlefield. Comedian Anthony DeVito emceed an evening of stand up from the likes of Jo Firestone, Joe Pera, Matteo Lane, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and Bonnie McFarlane. Guests were treated to BBQ, outdoor games, and a special sneak peek of the new season of Comedy Bang! Bang!.
Check out the event highlights below, and don't miss the premiere of Comedy Bang! Bang! this Friday, June 3rd at 11P.


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A recent study revealed that children who spend lots of time playing video games are more likely to demonstrate tech addiction behaviors. Here are 3 signs that a child may be addicted to technology:
1. Reluctance or refusal to do other things. Whether it's putting down the tablet for dinner or crying about playing with friends instead of the video game, a constant refusal to do other activities besides engage with electronics is not typical. while there is to be some expectation of not wanting to transition, if parents notice extremes in the child's preferences for video games above all else, there may be some addictive behaviors going on.
2. Withdrawal symptoms. When children are forced to take a break from electronic devices they often experience irritability, anxiety, depression, deviant behavior, and agitated. When this behavior doesn't smooth out over time or is only reversed when the electronic device is reintroduced, it may be problem.


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November 24, 2013 •
Dolphin News, Dolphin Science •
Ricky Gervais is standing on stage at Carnegie Hall underneath a three meter tall drawing of a dolphin inserting his penis into...
September 1, 2012 •
Dolphin Science •
A video with the salacious title "Dolphin humps girl" went viral over the past couple of weeks, prompting the Daily Mail to...
December 8, 2015 •
I've had a few queries from folks looking for comments/thoughts on the recent press release from speakdolphin.com that purportedly reveals an image of "What Dolphins See With Echolocation." The press release has been repackaged as a news story that is making the rounds on the web. As far as my take on this story goes [&hellip...
Dolphin News, Dolphin Science Read More
November 30, 2015 •
Book News, Dolphin News, Dolphin Science, General, Writing News •
November 25, 2015 •
Book News, Dolphin Science, General, Writing News •
© 2020 Justin Gregg™
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Response to "Ironic Provincialism" by Paul Rasor
Rosemary Bray McNatt
June 24, 2009, Salt Lake City, UT
It is always a pleasure to get a chance to think with you, Paul, so let me thank you for this opportunity to reflect on your insightful and provocative essay. I want to begin with a brief story from my own life, involving my the older of my two sons, both of whom are third generation Unitarian Universalists: this story is about Allen, who is now nearly 16. Perhaps a year ago, after his beautiful and moving Coming of Age ceremony at our congregation, Allen asked me whether I would be offended if he joined another religion when he grew up. Now as his mother, I couldn't possibly be offended. My husband Bob and I have raised our children to know that they must find their own way, even as we have been clear about what path we follow as Unitarian Universalists. We want him to feel free to be the spiritual seeker he has been raised to be. On the other hand, as a Unitarian Universalist minister, I was internally screaming YES, I'm offended! Just what do you think I've been doing around here?
When I asked him why he thought it would be better to be a different religion, he said, it's not that I don't like being a UU; I am just tired of being the only black kid in the youth group, and the only black kid at camp, and the only black kid everywhere. He loves our faith, he loves it: but he is lonely. Even attending a loving church where your mother is one of the 24 senior or solo ministers of color in the entire movement cannot save you from the truth of your situation.
It would be great if those of us who are ministers of color, or Latino/Latina ministers, or Asian/Pacific Island ministers, or multiracial ministers, were automatic magnets for diversity in our congregations. It surely would make raising my sons easier. It would be fabulous if the handful of us who do this work in the parish had grasped the magic formula after the hard years spent in the laboratories of our own congregations. But the truth is that most of us haven't. I know I haven't, even after nearly nine years in New York City, one of the most racially and ethnically diverse cities in the world. But even to imagine that we alone could figure it out in our UU congregations would be attributing far more power to us as ministers than we have, and far less power than we should to the culture of our congregations itself. As we continue to parse this complex issue, we forget at our peril that even topics as innocuous as what color to paint the bathroom walls continue to fall victim to the realities of our congregational systems, to our habits of being, and to the inordinate length of what we in the parish measure as church time.
We underestimate as well, I think, the reality of resistance in our congregations, a resistance rooted not so much in racism as in matters of class and culture. We forget that when we talk about cultural competence in ministry, or cultural change in ministry, that is not just those other people who have a culture. Unitarian Universalist congregations have a culture. Consider who many of us are, and who we are pretty proud about being, no matter what our race or ethnicity. Many of us are the people who brag about not owning televisions because there is nothing worth watching, unless it is PBS. Many of us are the people who refuse to listen to popular music because it is misogynistic and violent, and more than a few of us regard rap music as nothing more than noise and confusion. Many of us change the channel, and listen to NPR and love Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion, and laugh when Keillor makes fun of us. Many of us are unapologetic nature lovers, and the only thing we might love more than hiking in the woods is building our congregations in the woods, complete with tiny elegant signs that blend in well with the natural environment, but cannot possibly be seen by a seeker on the highway. Many of us eat locally, and we shop at farmer's markets, and we would never be caught in Wal-Mart, unless it was a dire emergency. Many of us do look ahead in our hymnal to see whether we agree with the words, and forget that the person sitting next to us may need exactly the words we are refusing to sing. Most of all, many of us love our UU congregations because they represent for us places of respite and peace and sanctuary.
How, then, do we encounter those whose experience of church is different, whose experience of the holy is different, who find the truth of their lives in music from T.I. and Naz, in the Black Eye Peas and a Tribe Called Quest? Where do they enter into the culture of Unitarian Universalist religious community? How do people like me, proficient in navigating the worlds of African American identity, learn to make room for the experiences of immigrant people whose names I have not yet learned to say? How do we—all of us—convert our ignorance into wisdom, manage both our shame and our earnestness, both our resistance and our desire to know?
I don't need to tell you that Paul's engaging essay is nonetheless a more fact-based version of the exact same conversation we have been having in this faith since I became a Unitarian Universalist in 1985, 24 years ago. It was the very first GA that I went to, in fact, that included a workshop on diversity, in the days when our movement was close to dragging people of color off the street, if necessary, and into a UU church. But what I remember most about that workshop was the white man who stood up during the discussion period, looked straight at me and said, in perfect seriousness, "But I don't like gospel music."
Now I do happen to like gospel music, but that was hardly the point then and it is not the point now. What is the point is that race and ethnicity has stood in during our conversations for something more ineffable, more complex, more edgy than we are willing to discuss. We are speaking as well about matters of culture—Unitarian Universalist culture--that many of us have been unwilling to acknowledge, and we have been unable to address these issues because we have been confused about the conversation we have been having, and we cannot escape the boxes to which we are likely to be assigned. If you talk about loving gospel music and you're black, you're stereotypical and if you are white you are racist, and if you are Latino/Latina you are angry that the movement remains in a black white paradigm at all, and if you are Asian, you feel invisible a lot of the time, and if you are multiracial you are annoyed that you are being asked to choose and….no matter what your social location, you find yourself in trouble rather than in community.
But the truth is that community is precisely what we need here, most particularly religious community. More than one person in our movement has remarked over the years that, for people who are blessed with the gift of free religious community, we are also cursed with a nasty little Calvinist streak that we would do well to examine. We would rather be angry and judgmental with one another and ourselves than be tender and merciful, in simple acknowledgement of how hard it continues to be to do what we must do in our congregations—we must admit that we have a specific, sometimes alienating culture, and we must change it. And we must grieve the loss of the familiar and gain some measure of courage to embrace the new.
These things are not the work of Paul's very real and telling numbers; these things are the work of the spirit. These things call us to be faithful to James Luther Adams' observation that church is where we practice what it means to be human. We have a lot more humanity to learn about; a lot more practicing to do, with a lot more people than we are used to. If we really mean what we say, we will have to get a lot better at some very Universalist values. We will have to learn to love each other more, and in better ways than we do right now. We will have to learn to forgive each other more, and in better ways, than we are used to doing. We will need the Universalist gifts of "hope and courage," too. We—ministers and congregations-- want our churches and fellowships to be safe. But safety is a relative term when it comes to religious community. For if we are really practicing what it means to be human, in an ever widening circle of humanity, our congregations may become some of the most dangerous places we know, because they will become faithful communities of change, as we call each other into that territory of the soul that distinguishes the church from a social club, or a sorority, or a coffee house for the vaguely spiritual.
Thank you, Paul, for lifting up the details of our continuing reluctance to step into a new world. But in the end, this is not, and never will be, a numbers game. For me, the stakes are far higher than the numbers indicate. I am a Unitarian Universalist because I cannot be anything else. But my sons have yet to make a decision. Will they stand, or will they move? I do not know. But what I wish with all my heart I could be sure of is that they would find in our liberal tradition the wings with which they might fly. Thank you.


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1968 Ford
- Stock
- Engine Size
- 5.0 Liter V8
- Transmission
- 4 Speed Manual
- Miles
- 62,850 (Unknown)
- Location
- Fort Worth
or give us a call at (817) 764-8000
If it's a stock Bronco you seek, well, we have plenty of those. But if you're looking for something that can play in the dirt with the best of them, this modified 1968 Ford Bronco might be more to your liking. More horsepower never hurts, either, and with an injected 5.0 liter V8 under the hood, this Bronco is as entertaining on the road as off.
Off-roading fans seem to fall into the same groups as muscle car fans, but the Bronco seems to have an edge over its competition in terms of popularity and values. The early trucks like this are red hot in the market, and that was surely behind the build which uses top-quality components and great attention to detail to create something special. The beautiful midnight blue paint isn't stock, but it looks fantastic on the boxy sheetmetal of the vintage off-roader. The steel underneath is in excellent condition and doesn't look like it's spent much time off-road since it was completed. Much of the trim has been blacked out or painted body color, including the grille, giving it an updated look that gets a lot of attention without losing what makes these trucks so popular. Obvious upgrades include the front and rear bumpers (powdercoated black), a big Warn 8000XI winch up front, oversized Bushwhacker fender flares, and not-so-subtle '5.0' badges on the front fenders, which we'll get to in a moment.
If you need to know how extensively this Bronco has been upgraded, look no farther than the incredible interior. With body-hugging bucket seats and that beefy roll cage overhead, it's a no-holds-barred off-road performer. The industrial-strength look is enhanced by the spray-in bedliner material on the floors and even on the dashboard, so you know they were serious. The factory gauges and switch gear were reused during the transformation, but the dash was reworked for a cleaner look. And for a little extra style, there's a Grant GT steering wheel on a tilt steering column, making this vintage off-roader very easy to drive. There's a fold-up seat in back, just in case you need to bring some passengers with you, and a secure steel trunk behind the seat to stow your valuables in this topless truck.
You could get your Bronco with a small block, but the 5.0 liter V8 is a lot more powerful than anything installed by the factory. Given the 225 horsepower right out of the box (and more importantly the 300 pounds of torque), upgrades were superfluous, although more power will be insanely easy to make if that's what you want, thanks to the booming Mustang aftermarket. With factory programming and EFI, it starts instantly and idles well, sounding every bit like a 5.0 Mustang exhaling through a custom Flowmaster dual exhaust system A big radiator keeps it cool and the NP435 4-speed manual transmission has been recently rebuilt and fitted with 6.7 gears and a Centerforce hydraulic clutch. A modest lift kit, recent Rancho shocks, and all the usual heavy-duty upgrades underneath, you shouldn't think twice about using this truck as intended. Oversized 15-inch aluminum wheels are fitted with giant 33x12.50-15 Cooper Discover off-road radials and give it an awesome stance.
There's far more in this Bronco than we can possibly describe here, so please give us a call for all the details. This is a very impressive truck that won't let you down when the going gets rough. Call now!
- All Wheel Drive
- Four Wheel Drive
- Front Disc Brakes
- Fuel Injection
- Power Brakes
- Power Steering
- Seatbelts
- Cloth Interior
- Heat
- Tilt Wheel
- Exterior Color
- Blue
- Interior Color
- Black & Silver
- Rear End
- Ford 9"
- Front Suspension
- 3-Link
- Rear Suspension
- 3-Link
- Front Brakes
- Power Disc
- Rear Brakes
- Power Drum
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The MIG 2014 conference will be held at the University of Southern California (USC) Institute for Creative Technologies in Playa Vista, California, U.S.A. Playa Vista is located in Los Angeles County, California, about 10 minutes north of the Los Angeles (LAX) airport. The conference is located 10 minutes from the beach areas of Santa Monica, Venice, as well as 20 minutes from Beverly Hills, Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles.
USC Institute for Creative Technologies
12015 Waterfront Drive
Playa Vista, CA 90094-2536
(310) 574-5700 tel
(310) 574-5725 fax
Air Travel
The Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the largest airport in the Los Angeles area and is located 4 miles south of the conference location.
There are special hotel rates based on availability. The closest hotel to the conference location (.6 mile distance), currently at $119/night is:
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Los Angeles – Westside
6161 West Centinela Avenue
Culver City, California, 90230-6306, USA
To reserve a room:
• Type in "12015 E Waterfront Dr, Playa Vista, CA 90094" in the "Where are you going" space
• Enter the dates, presumably arrive 11/5, depart 11/8,
• Select "Add special rate codes"
• Enter Corporate account code 0560035945
• Select "Find it" and you a list of hotels, starting with the Doubletree at Centinela.
In addition, there is another Doubletree hotel, currently with a reduced rate of $159/night through the same reservation system:
Hotel MdR Marina del Rey – a DoubleTree by Hilton
13480 Maxella Avenue
Marina del Rey, California, 90292,
You are welcome to stay at any hotel in the Los Angeles area. Parking will be provided at the conference location on a daily basis. Although Los Angeles has a public transportation system, it is easier to get around with your own car.


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#AIRBLUSH by Marc Jacobs
I was made for warm days and sun-kissed glow so this whole summer ending is just not in my plans! Have you ever noticed how beautiful and luminous your skin is after a nice day outside? I love the natural flush!
Today, I am super excited to share my newest blush obsession, the Air Blush in the shade 504 Kink & Kisses by Marc Jacobs. I received this beauty through Influenster last week and I've been loving it! I'm super picky when it comes to blushes so I was worried this one wasn't gonna cut it but it so did!
What I loved:
- The color is beautiful, it's complimentary to any skin tone.
- The pigment is on point! Not too much, and not too little but just right to give you that natural flush.
- Marc Jacobs was very generous because it's huge! It's going to take me a while to hit pan so I am definitely happy about that!
- The packaging is cute, slick and it sure feels like what it's worth. It has a large mirror and it's slim enough to fit in your bag for touch-ups through the day (not that you need to).
- The wear is pretty long, I wore it between 6 and 7 hours and it stuck on real good.
- The pictures speak for themselves! If you're looking for your next blush, try the Marc Jacobs Air Blush selection. They have a couple of other shades that just as beautiful and to die for!


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Whiskeys and bourbons have dominated the cocktail market for years. Everywhere you go, there are old fashioneds, Manhattans and sazeracs on the menu. These classics aren't going away, but we are starting to see some variations with the whiskey being replaced by other boozy options such as rum and tequila. (We noticed this trend at the 2016 San Antonio Cocktail Conference and wrote about it.)
A great option is a new rum on the market, Stolen Smoked Rum. Normally, I find smoked drinks to be overdone with smoke and too much like drinking a cigarette. This is not like that at all. It is smooth, with deep caramel notes and a lighter sweetness than you normally encounter with rum. It definitely connotes a bourbon, but with a sweeter nutty finish. It's just good.
The company uses a distillery in Trinidad and Tobago, aging the rum in whiskey barrels and adding Arabica coffee beans, Madagascar vanilla and fenugreek. Then the rum is smoked with American hardwood.
Sadly, this new nectar won't be available in Texas until May, but if you will be visiting Florida, New York, New Jersey or Southern California before then, you should check it out. $23.99 for a 750 ml bottle. It sips well straight up, though a small ice cube or splash of water brightens it. I can't wait to try it in an old fashioned like this:
Smoked Old Fashioned
Makes 1 cocktail
- 1 sugar cube
- 2-3 dashes of bitters
- 2 ounces Stolen Smoked Rum
- Orange slice:
Instructions: Place the sugar in a rocks glass and douse with bitters; add a few drops of water, stir until cube dissolves. Add rum and a large ice cube. Stir and garnish with a slice of orange.
From Stolen Smoked Rum
Instagram: spiceoflife_en
Twitter: @Spiced1
Pinterest: SpicedOne


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Flip Flops
$ 20.00
These flip flops will bring a smile to everyone's face. "New style this year!
***Please note that the color of these charms may vary from the picture shown due to variation from supplier. However, please let me know if there is a certain color charm or charms in that set that you "have to have" and I will do my best


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"Blizzards, strong winds, and heavy snowfall" aren't terms you associate with the UK, but Storm Emma hit the country 2 weeks ago. eBay issued an initial warning about possible delivery delays and updated the post on Tuesday to inform sellers it would protect them from any negative impact to their accounts caused by weather-related delays.
Announcement follows:
Severe weather conditions from Storm Emma affected many parts of the United Kingdom and caused delays to postage deliveries.
We've been in contact with delivery providers and they have informed us that their delivery services have now resumed as normal.
In order to prevent negative impact to seller accounts caused by the adverse weather, we'll take the following measures for affected transactions from 27 February to 03 March by:
– Automatically removing Late Shipment Rate defects for a delivery delay of maximum 2 days
– Reviewing and removing Feedback and low Detailed Seller Ratings if sellers feel they've been unduly affected by the adverse weather and have supporting evidence.
– Monitoring Detailed Seller Ratings and taking corrective action in cases where there's an abnormal increase in low Dispatch Time ratings across all impacted sellers.
SOURCE: eBay Announcement


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I wish you could have seen Tim and me in our little galley kitchen on Saturday, October 12, at around 2 p.m. in the afternoon. There we were, side by side in front of the sink, each of us with a plate of slow-cooked artichokes to our sides. Barely speaking, the both of us stood there, rhythmically pulling tender, wilted leaves of artichokes off their softened, deep green bulbs, scraping the flesh with our teeth, oil and juices dripping down our hands and arms and over everything.
"These are the best artichokes I have ever had," Tim finally said to me between slurps, halfway through his dish.
"They should be, with all that butter and wine and garlic!" I responded, ever the one to mentally tally ingredients costs as we cook.
We concluded that these artichokes, from Emeril Lagasse's newest cookbook, are no everyday side dish. Even though they're made in a slow cooker, these are not artichokes to serve alongside a boring main course; these are Celebratory Artichokes, the indulgent sort of thing to wow guests with at a dinner party—and preferably one where you provide a lot of napkins. Calling them celebration artichokes has other significance as well, as there we were, eating them, three days before celebrating being married two years and, also, one day after I met Stephanie for coffee.
I've known Stephanie since December of last year, ever since she wrote a brilliant article about vulnerability for Darling Magazine. After the hour or so I spent with her at Fido, I came away with a renewed belief in the power of sharing our stories with one another because, if you've ever met Stephanie you already know, that's the kind of thing you walk away feeling after meeting this girl whose eyes light up when the word storytelling is said. "Stories are how we connect with one another," she said to me when I asked her why sharing our experiences with each other matters. "They remind us we're not alone." And the one that especially got me: "Not everyone has the ability to articulate their experiences. If you do, it's a gift, and you should use it."
Her thoughts affected me so much, I've talked about them with Tim and with Joanna and with Kathryn and Jivan on our Greenville anniversary trip. I've thought about them while we traveled, when I went to write a blog post on the morning of our anniversary, when I've been tempted to avoid personal stories and talk in a surface way instead. So when I saw a video last week of a brand figurehead—the brand figurehead over even this new book from Emeril that we were asked to review—dismissing bloggers with a wave of her hand, it's no surprise I thought about Stephanie's words again.
We live in a competitive world where everyone is trying to find a claim to fame, a reason to be noticed, a purpose to makes his or her existence make sense. Sometimes, these motivations make us belittle others. We have to be the Smart One or the Pretty One or the Expert. We can't let someone else be on top. We compare ourselves; we strive to be something. We want to be the one who is praised and admired and emulated. We want to be the best. But whether or not bloggers are the best, whether or not they are experts, doesn't matter to me. The fact that so many of them, including Stephanie, have changed my way of seeing the world does.
"I don't think our job is to tell each other what to do," Stephanie said to me that Friday afternoon at Fido. "I think we're supposed to walk on our paths and take a minute to turn around to the people a few steps behind us and say, 'Hey, look out, there's a rock!'"
I'm thankful for the people who have done that for me, who do that for me, in magazines and on cooking shows, at my kitchen table and through computer screens. I'm thankful for the big brands and the little Web journals and the individuals who generously share their stories, whether those stories are tales of kitchen failures or the tested recipes on glossy pages of professional cookbooks. We're, all of us, simple human beings, even when we're puffing ourselves up with accolades, even when we're trying to define our meaning through titles or praise. We're, all of us, not that different. We all want to matter. We all want to be loved.
Special thanks to Martha Stewart Living for letting us share this recipe with you here today.
disclaimer: We were given an advance copy of Emeril's cookbook, which launches October 22, as well as a beautiful six-quart slow cooker, for this post. All opinions expressed are our own. We feel a little overwhelmed with how much we're being given lately, and we already have our own slow cooker, so we're giving both of these products away. Use the Rafflecopter widget below for your chance to enter. The book giveaway will be given to a random user picked by the widget; the slow cooker will go to a random US resident. Contest ends October 28.
Adapted from an original recipe by Emeril Lagasse, from Emeril's Cooking with Power, William Morrow, New York, 2013, courtesy Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.
- 2 3/4 cups dry white wine
- 1 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, halves reserved
- 3 tablespoons salt
- 1/2 head of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
- 4 to 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 4 large or 6 medium artichokes
- Crusted bread, for serving (optional)
Pile everything besides the artichokes and the bread in a six-quart slow cooker: wine, oils/butter, lemon juice, salt, garlic, thyme, black pepper and red pepper.
Prepare the artichokes for the slow cooker: Take the artichokes one at a time and cut a bit off the stem end and a third off the top, rubbing both cuts with the lemon halves as you do. Pull off any discolored outer leaves, and, using kitchen scissors, cut off the sharp tips of each leaf. Cut the artichoke bodies into quarters. Remove the fuzzy choke from the inside. As soon as you finish each artichoke, submerge it in the slow cooker, covering it as much as you can with the wine-oil mixture to prevent discoloration.
Once all the artichokes are inside the slow cooker, cover it and cook on high for five to six hours. It would be nice to do this before you leave for errands, so artichokes are ready and waiting when you return, but it's nicer still to cook them while you're in the house---The smell that fills your kitchen while they cook is intoxicating.
Artichokes are done when the leaves easily pull away and the hearts are very tender. Serve them warm or at room temperature, drizzling some of the remaining cooked liquid on top. Eat with crusty bread, if desired.
The original recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups of vegetable oil and 1 cup of olive oil; we altered these parts of the recipe both because we don't use vegetable oil and because our pantry was running low on everything. Additionally, we changed a few proportions in the recipe based on what we had on hand. The good news is, it's very forgiving---feel free to sub in the fat (butter or oil) of your choice.


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As marketers, it has never been more difficult to gain attention. We are publishing more than ever, but we're often faced with declining engagement.
One powerful opportunity: original research.
Only 37% of B2B marketers use original research in their content marketing (Source: CMI/MarketingProfs). And, of those who do, we see common struggles:
- Knowing how to get started
- Figuring out what specific topic to cover
- Creating the survey
- Getting respondents
- Doing more with your research after you publish the original findings
Our mission is to help marketers publish research that gets attention and propels their brands forward. Pick the path that is best for you.
- Getting started: Get a detailed strategy and project plan customized to your business so you can execute your project in-house -- or figure out where you need help so you can spend your time and money most effectively. Our Research Roadmap is the best place to start if you are new to research.
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Registering with SimplyGiving.com is free. There are no upfront costs or long term contracts. When you register, you agree to our Terms & Conditions, which protect both parties and ensure the necessary privacy, security and data protocols are in place.
You can read about our terms in our 'Legal Stuff' section.


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A website suspected of being created by the Middle Eastern terror group Islamic State has been registered to an office in Parnell, Auckland, close to the home of the Prime Minister John Key.
Website Khilafah.is was closed down by Iceland overnight as controller of the country's suffix address name.
Documentation for the web listing shows it was registered to Suite 4551, 17B Farnham St, Parnell, Auckland.
Its owner is described as Azym Abdullah.
Managing Director of Private Box Ltd, Gareth Foster, of Porirua, told TV One News they do provide a mail drop service for Suite 4551 on 17b Farnham St, but said the website's domain was registered to a Azym Abdullah, who is not a customer of Private Box.
"We will be working with authorities to identify what relationship this account has with the person or website in question (if any)," Mr Foster told TV One News.
On the New Zealand Companies Office listings, the Parnell suite is the registered office for at least 63 companies, including a number that have been struck off.
Under New Zealand's company system, registration can be done on line with virtual offices providing a legal entity for mail drops.
It is not the first time New Zealand virtual offices and shell companies have been caught up in international security.
Full Story: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10613951/Islamic-State-site-linked-to-New-Zealand-office
Also see: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/kiwi-postal-service-horrified-possible-link-isis-6105879


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Book now
Bentre is one of the provinces located on Mekong Delta, around 90km away from Saigon. It is famous for coconut so that people said it-the hometown of coconut. There are a lot of types of tropical fruit trees here. So this is a place to supply fruits for other provinces in Mekong Delta
This Insight Mekong Delta Tour is a customized trip for clients who love to explore the deeply untouched landscapes, less touristy or shopping places and honest local people.
Join in Insight Mekong Delta Day Tour with us. Depart from Saigon and head south to Ben Tre province – the hometown of coconut.
Enjoy your boat trip through small canals with some of the Mekong Delta's most breathtaking scenery and stop-over at various local workplaces including brick kilns, a coconut processing workshop and amazing visit to the local family workshop where sleeping mats made.
Visit a peace village where you can have a short walk to observe real Life of the local. Take Xe Loi ride (a kind of modern motorized rickshaw) before a stop at a riverside restaurant for a delicious lunch, try some local specialties such as elephant-ear fish, river shrimp… After that, have a chance to row a sampan along the water coconut canals.
Then go back to Saigon and your Insight Mekong Delta tour end at around 17:00
Copyright 2015 by ATRAVELMATE - All Rights Reserved


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Chi Alpha at SUNY Stony Brook is a trans-denominational Christian fellowship sponsored by the Assemblies of God.We are a Pentecostal fellowship with the purpose of reaching SUNY Stony Brook with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our meeting times are as follows:
For more info. contact firstname.lastname@example.com
This page was created on Saturday July 27, 1996.
Last update was on Tuesday November 17, 2015.
"The views and interest represented on this web site are not endorsed by the State University at Stony Brook and do not represent official positions or policies established by the University. All questions or concerns regarding this web site should be directed to the webmaster."


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Washington (CNN) -- A liberal advocacy group is blaming Republicans for the Ebola crisis in a new ad that will first air on TV in Kentucky next weekend.
The Agenda Project released an ad online late Sunday that interlaces self-described "disturbing footages of the Ebola outbreak" with a mash-up of top Republicans -- including those tied up in crucial midterm contests and potential 2016 candidates -- saying the word "cut." The ad describes how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw its discretionary funding cut by $585 million from 2010 to 2014 and the National Institute for Health has faced $446 million in cuts during the same period.
The group plans to continue to play up public fears over the Ebola virus in the final weeks leading up to the midterms and will modify the ad with state-specific versions to hit Republican Senate candidates like Iowa's Joni Ernst and North Carolina's Thom Tillis who want to cut federal government spending, the group's founder and president Erica Payne said.
Payne called the ad an "indictment" of Republican policies that have "led directly to thousands of deaths overseas" and said the ad is not "sensationalized" or "aggressive."
"People should be deathly afraid of Republican policies," Payne said in an interview Monday, adding that the link between the Ebola crisis and the Republican focus on cutting government spending is "really straightforward."
Complete coverage of the Ebola outbreak
Responding to the ad, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee said the best way to fix the federal government is to remove "Democrats from the driver's seat in the Senate."
"It's odd in that the Democrats blaming Washington for Ebola have controlled Washington for the last six years," he said.
Both the CDC and NIH were impacted by the sequester, across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect in 2013 when Republicans and Democrats in Congress could not come to an agreement on specific cuts that would offset the automatic slashing.
The ad, "Republican Cuts Kill," ties Republicans to the Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 4,000 people in West Africa, but only one person in the United States.
Payne said that there's "no question" that the Ebola death on U.S. soil would not have happened if Republicans weren't so focused on cutting government spending.
"These people's anti-government fever has reached such a level that it is damaging to our country's ability to deal with this kind of issue," Payne said. "We're here because of them."
The ad, which the group said will make its debut on Kentucky airwaves this weekend, opens with a clip of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who would likely become majority leader if Republicans take back the Senate next month.
"Washington actually can cut spending," McConnell says at the start of the ad.
McConnell isn't the only Senate contender featured in the ad. Reps. Bill Cassidy and Tom Cotton, who are vying to unseat the Democratic incumbent in Louisiana and Arkansas, respectively, also pop up in the spot.
Ebola becomes an election issue
Pat Roberts, the senator from Kansas who is facing independent businessman Greg Orman, also flashes across the screen.
The group plans to expand the ad to high airwaves in Senate races in South Dakota, North Carolina, Iowa and Kansas, Payne said.
And the liberal group also attacks potential 2016 presidential contenders, with Govs. Rick Perry and Chris Christie, Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio as well as Reps. Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann making an appearance alongside clips documenting the Ebola outbreak.
Paul's spokesman, Brian Darling, blasted the Agenda Project for being "a shadowy group of progressive political hit men" and said they "should be ashamed of themselves for blaming a whole political party for the Ebola virus."
The organization itself is no stranger to controversy having been behind the 2011 ad that appears to show Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pushing an elderly woman in an wheelchair off a cliff.
The ad isn't the first time midterm politics have gotten an injection of Ebola. Republican candidate for Senate in New Hampshire Scott Brown also used the deadly disease to attack incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen for not securing the U.S.'s southern border.
GOP stokes border fears over Ebola, ISIS
Tillis also said the U.S. should tighten border security to prevent an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. in a debate last week against Sen. Kay Hagan.
Arkansas Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor also made Ebola the focus of an ad attacking his challenger, Rep. Tom Cotton, for voting against a pandemic preparedeness bill. (Cotton actually voted for the final version of the bill.)
Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said Monday on CNN the public health system needs more resources to confront Ebola and that Congress should have never cut public health funding over the last several years.
"Especially when it comes to public health, sequestration is a bad idea and should be repealed," Casey said. "Congress has to take responsibility for a program that needs a lot more funding."
Democratic senator can't judge Obama's Ebola handling
Congress will debate and vote on the budget for the next fiscal year in the coming weeks, which Casey called "an opportunity in the Congress to get this right." He is calling for adding at least $120 million to the public health budget.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, also linked spending cuts and the Ebola outbreak in an interview with CNN on Thursday.
"There's no doubt the deep health care cuts that we've seen have made it more difficult to respond in a rapid and comprehensive way to the Ebola outbreak," Van Hollen said. "The cuts they've seen in past years, they were like eroding the foundation and it clearly meant that they were starting from behind,"
And Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Insitutte of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a recent Congressional hearing that spending cuts have had "a significant impact on us" that has "eroded our ability to respond in the way that I and my colleagues would like to see us be able to respond to these emerging threats."
Ashley Killough contributed to this report.


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The Arizona Board of Executive Clemency suffered a meltdown this month, with two of the five members resigning, and accusations of mistreatment by one.
As the Arizona Republic reported yesterday, Jesse Hernandez, the board's chairman and executive director, abruptly resigned from on August 16 from his post without explanation.
New Times has discovered that another board member had resigned the week before, and we've obtained his short, but bitter-sounding, resignation letter.
Mel Thomas, the former warden of Arizona State Prison-Phoenix West, wrote a short letter to Brewer on August 5: "Effective immediately I tender my resignation from the Board of Executive Clemency. I can no longer endure the way me and my fellow Board Members have been treated."
Quick background on this rush to leave the clemency board:
Thomas and Hernandez are two of three new members appointed in a much-criticized move last year by Governor Jan Brewer. Seems the clemency board, which rarely granted clemency, was far too lenient for her. So, she encouraged three long-term members to quit and installed three new people to replace them. The Republic's editorial board wrote in a May 12, 2012, opinion column that the "stunning mass firing" indicated that Brewer "dislikes granting forgiveness to convicts that she will stack the board with (presumably) anti-clemency hard cases."
The new members included:
* Thomas, a former 21-year employee of the Arizona Department of Corrections and employee of the private-prison firm Geo Group, which in 2005 combined with Correctional Services Corp.
* Hernandez, GOP consultant, ally of Russell Pearce and director of a Hispanic Republican group that supports SB1070.
* Brian Livingston, retired cop and former director of the Arizona Police Association.
Obviously, a fountain of mercy in that bunch, right?
But back to Thomas' curious letter. "No longer endure?" Sounds like being on the board was pure torture.
A source close to the board who asked to remain anonymous tells us that the source of misery for Thomas and others at the clemency department was Hernandez, and now that he's gone, a major problem has been resolved.
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We can't verify that. Andrew Wilder, the new spokesman for Governor Brewer, refused to return phone calls on Tuesday. Hernandez didn't respond to a voice-mail message and we couldn't get in touch with Thomas. Brian Livingston, the board's new chairman and executive director, wasn't available for comment.
If you've ever wanted to work a relatively high-paying job where you can put your feet up and do nothing, and you're a right-winger preferably with a strong background in law enforcement, Brewer may be looking for you.
Next page for Thomas' handwritten resignation letter:


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Genta Incorporated announced that the Company will supply Ganite® (gallium nitrate injection) for a new clinical trial that will be initiated in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) who may develop serious infections.
Infection is the most common cause of death in CF patients. Frequently, these infections are due to bacteria known as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and patients are commonly treated with years of antibiotic therapy to control such infections. However, prolonged antibiotic use has greatly increased resistance due to genetic mutations.
In addition, Pseudomonas has evolved protective mechanisms known as "biofilms" that encase colonies of bacteria and prevent antibiotics from reaching infection sites. Bacteria in biofilms are far more resistant to being killed. Recent information has suggested that gallium may be used as an anti-bacterial agent against Pseudomonas, in part due to its ability to disrupt biofilms.
The initial clinical trial using a gallium compound for this purpose will involve patients with cystic fibrosis who will be treated at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA and the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. If initial results are promising, additional trials will be conducted with additional medical centers and a larger number of patients.
Genta has provided cross-reference to its Investigational New Drug (IND) exemption for Ganite®, and the Company will supply the drug at no cost to patients in the trial. The study is also supported by grants awarded by the Orphan Products Division of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
"Work from our center has established that gallium can be used as a 'Trojan horse' that interferes with how iron is used by Pseudomonas," said Dr. Christopher H. Goss, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington, who is the Principal Investigator of the trial. "Our preliminary data suggest that gallium exploits potentially vulnerable mechanisms in Pseudomonas by disrupting biofilms and killing antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. This study is the first formal pharmacokinetic and safety evaluation of gallium in patients with cystic fibrosis."
"This trial represents the rapid clinical translation of enormously promising observations," said Dr. Raymond P. Warrell, Jr., Genta's Chief Executive Officer. "Initial results from our first CF patient showed that systemic treatment achieved target gallium levels in sputum, and that these levels could be sustained for a prolonged duration. Pseudomonas infections in CF are exceptionally difficult to eradicate. If initial results of the IV drug in this trial are promising, future patients might also benefit from extended therapy that could be afforded by one of our oral gallium compounds."
Genta to Support Initiation of New Clinical Trial using Ganite®
News Dec 03, 2009
Genta Incorporated announced that the Company will supply Ganite® (gallium nitrate injection) for a new clinical trial that will be initiated in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) who may develop serious infections.
A team of researchers have developed an algorithm through machine learning that helps predict sites of DNA methylation – a process that can change the activity of DNA without changing its overall structure – and could identify disease-causing mechanisms that would otherwise be missed by conventional screening methods.READ MORE
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Environmental Toxins and Fertility
A new study has been released, further increasing the mounting data that toxins in our environment are harming our fertility. It appears that these chemicals, called perfluorinated chemicals are contained in many common household and other products. These products accumulate in the body, have a long half-life, and there is a connection between high levels of these in women and those women having difficulty getting pregnant.
It is going to be a long-haul to get a definitive, well-done scientific study done on this subject, as there as so many variables to control when it comes to fertility. But, the connection does seem to be there and it makes sense. These chemicals are found in food packaging, dental floss, shampoos, and non-stick substances (cookware and ScotchGard.) An example of this would be the grease-proof wrappers for hamburgers at fast-food restaurants. When these get hot (fresh hamburger), these chemicals are released into the food and then ingested. The big problem is that these chemicals have a long half-life, as long as eight years.
Some common sources of these chemicals are:
- PFCs are used to make textiles and leather resistant to water, dirt, and oil.
- Grease-resistant food packaging and paper products, such as microwave popcorn bags and pizza boxes, contain PFCs.
- Carpet – PFOS was used until 2002 in the manufacture of 3M's Scotchgard treatment, used on carpet, furniture, and clothing.
- PFOA is used to make DuPont's Teflon product, famous for its use in non-stick cookware. If Teflon-coated pans are overheated, PFOA is released.
- PFCs are in cleaning and personal-care products like shampoo, dental floss, and denture cleaners.
You can see that these compounds are contained in many, many products. I will try to include more on this important subject as I learn more.


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A Sikh combat solider sued the United States Defence Department on 29 February, citing claims of "religious discrimination". Simratpal Singh said that his beard and turban had prompted the US Army to make him undergo three days of performance tests that other soldiers had not been subject to.
The complaint was filed in the Federal District Court in Washington, the New York Times reported. Singh claimed that the Army put him through helmet and gas mask testing, which others did not have to do. The Army has had a ban on long hair and beards, which they say are a battlefield liability as helmets and gas masks are required to fit properly.
After receiving his temporary 'accommodation' – a licence to grow a beard and long hair given by the army – in December 2015, Singh said: "I have so much pride in my Sikh identity and service to my nation. To feel spiritually whole, while continuing my military career, has always been the dream."
Singh is now being represented by lawyers from the Sikh Coalition, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and law firm McDermott Will and Emery. A spokesperson for the Sikh Coalition said that Singh was granted temporary accommodation until 31 March 2016 to serve in the Army while maintaining his Sikh articles of faith, including a turban and beard. On 26 February 2016 he was allegedly ordered to report for additional testing as a precondition for remaining in the Army.
Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition's legal director, said: "Captain Singh is being subject to discriminatory testing that isn't required of any other soldiers, even those with medical or religious accommodations. The Army cannot delay in providing him his statutory and constitutionally mandated right to an accommodation to serve as an observant Sikh in the Army."
Singh's lawyers at McDermott Will and Emery also confirmed that soldiers that had been allowed to maintain beards for medical reasons, as well as previously-accommodated Sikhs, had not been asked to report for additional testing. The Army has permitted about 100,000 troops to maintain beards for medical reasons, and in recent years it allowed Special Forces troops in Afghanistan to grow beards.
The Sikh Coalition and McDermott Will & Emery have also represented the only three other Sikh Americans who have been granted the right to serve full time without cutting their hair or their beards.
Amandeep Sidhu, partner at McDermott Will and Emery, said that they had worked to avoid a litigation under the belief that the Army would do the right thing. Singh enrolled in West Point in 2006 and was met with failed attempts to obtain an accommodation. He was then forced to have his hair cut and shave his beard in order to serve in the Army.
Sidhu said: "The US Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act make it clear that Captain Singh has the right to practice his faith in the military and we are confident that the court will agree."


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Here are a few highlights.
The Travel
Adventure. Who doesn't love it? And I was lucky enough to go on more than my fair share of adventures this year. Soon after we won GSF, the invites started rolling in to conferences all over the world which we (of course) accepted, and before we knew it we were jetting off to a new country almost every second week, sometimes more. The most exciting of these experiences for me included WeDay UK in Wembley Arena, where we graced the stage with Sir Richard Branson addressed 12,000 students from schools all over Britain and encouraged them to follow their dreams and to try to change the world. Getting to chill backstage at Wembley was one of the craziest and wonderful opportunities I have ever had, and sitting in Sir Branson's dressing room with HRH Princess Beatrice and the man himself is a memory I will never forget.
Not to be forgotten here is the Thought For Food conference in Lisbon last February, a working lunch in Brussels for International Women's Day with Commissioner Moedas, and of course, the Do Lectures in Wales last June.
The Do Lectures really stood out to me as I have literally never attended an event of it's kind before. The first indication that this was a conference with a twist is when we were informed our accomodation would be in tents. Ever the optimists, Emer and I looked forward to this as it would make an interesting change from our usual routine. We arrived in Wales fresh from the stress of our summer exams, and honestly, nothing could have kickstarter our summer better. It was incredible - healthy discussions around a campfire in a small farmyard; lectures in a beautiful, airy barn; and workshops from speakers in open fields. The Do Lectures undoubtedly places in the top 3 of my favourite conferences ever.
The Friends
In a world where teenagers are fixated by the amount of likes on their profile pictures, I will never have to worry. Because if there's one physical, indisputable thing this experience has given me, it's friends for life. Through my trips to California, Boston, London, Ecuador and more, I have met some of the most inspirational and wonderful young people that I now have the honour of calling my friends. I still talk to my fellow Google Science Fair 2014 finalists as if we only left Mountain View yesterday, and I even managed to meet up with Eric and Sadhika during my time in Boston. Brian and Simone, our loyal compadre's from our trip to the Galapagos Islands still tease me about a disastrous bike ride (but that's another story). We're also planning a reunion in Antartica whenever one of us makes our first million. My Launchies, as I affectionately call the friends I made in Boston, are only a skype call away as we move forward working on our businesses together. And the phenomenal young ladies I met at the Outbox Incubator in London, well, let's just say I carry their milk-stealing, tea-drinking, fan fiction reading spirit with me wherever I go. It's those people, those friends, that made the last year special. Here's to reunions!
New Skills
What's an experience for unless you learn from it, right? Well I sure did learn from this experience, in more ways than one. I have known deep down since I spoke at the EU Innovation Convention in 2014 that I wanted to expand beyond science. I realised quite quickly that I have a business mindset, and wanted to explore this area further.
Shortly after winning the Google Science Fair, Emer and I launched Germinaid Innovations, a research company under which we are going to continue research in the agricultural area. Making this transition would not have been possible without the help of the Stemettes and Outbox Incubator, so it was fitting that we launched the company at the launch of Outbox last April. By that stage I had already got the good news that I had been accepted to study at MIT Launch that June, and I was really looking forward to acquiring new skills which would help me to succeed in the startup world.
So I packed my bags and it was off to America with me, where I went through the intense business bootcamp which is MIT Launch and founded PurchaseMate with Campbell, Simone and Jacob (aka three of my favourite people in the world). I have had the incredible opportunity to work with this team whilst learning all about entrepreneurship and bringing PurchaseMate into reality.
The Galapagos!
Technically this is travel, but it needs its of section because oh my god. The experience of a lifetime, literally, and it was just placed into our hands by the kind gods of National Geographic. As someone who wanted to be a zoologist for 10 years of my life, obviously I was pretty excited to head off to Equador. But honestly, the experience surpassed all expectations. We swam with sealions, seaturtles, iguanas, and octopi. A tortoise bit my foot. Emer got attacked by mosquitos. And I conquered my fear of sharks (but I'm still not their biggest fan). To be honest though, I think it's the pictures that really do the experience justice (even though I have misplaced the best ones unfortunately):
Yeah, Jeff (our Nissan Juke) definitely has to get his own section. I mean, Nissan gave us a frickin car! That is hands down one of the most random things to happen to me this year. Thanks to Jeff, I have learned to drive and plan on taking my test as soon as I can. I honestly and truly can't wait until I have my full license so I can drive myself to events which will be awesome, and put a lot less pressure on my taxi drivers (aka my parents).
Oh gosh, all these highlights. There has been more, of course, I mean MIT Launch and Outbox Incubator deserve their own sections, but you'll have to refer to other pages of my blog to find more on them. I'd really just like to thank absolutely everyone who made this year amazing (and who made it happen, really): My family; my friends; Google; the BT Young Scientist; EUCYS; Silicon Republic, Excited and Accenture for their continued support and friendship; MIT Launch; Do Lectures; WeDay; the European Commission; Thought For Food; National Geographic; Outbox Incubator; Dots (Brilliant Noise; and Kinsale Community School for letting us take so much time off!
ps: Catch me next week in Belfast at the Festival of Icons. Be there or be a triangle!


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The Walt Disney Family Museum
*Disclosure: I received an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for the coverage of several press events for Disney, Pixar and Google. All opinions are 100% my own.
From humble beginnings Walt Disney himself was a hardworking man that knew what he wanted and was willing to put for the effort to make it happen. During my recent trip to San Francisco we visited The Presidio area of San Francisco and nestled in there was a magical experience. The Walt Disney Family Museum is an amazing place to visit which is full of rich history, amazing sketches, drawings, movies and so much more. The minute you walk in the door you are surrounded in an environment like no other. Just like all things Disney you can feel the magic!
The museum was divided into several rooms throughout the tour and each room told a very unique story. Which was the story of Walt Disney himself as a young boy all the way up until his death. As with anyone's life he went through hard times, good times and of course obstacles but in the end he conquered it all and dreamed up the impossible.
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.~Walt Disney
From Oscars for the beloved Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to the Presidential Medal of Freedom and distinguished service awards Walt Disney received several throughout his lifetime. There are several on display in the museum and then you are swept away to the galleries that tell the story of Walt's life.
Starting as young as a baby and young boy starting in Marceline, Missouri clear until the end the museum takes you on a magical journey to see how far Walt Disney really did travel. The museum was broken down into the following rooms:
The Beginning focused around the beginning of his life from a baby in Chicago, Illinois to the small town of Marceline, Missouri and then onto Kansas City, Missouri. But the failing of Laugh-o-Grams Films was really where it all began, where he left for Hollywood with only $40 to his name.
Hollywood came next where Walt Disney moved in 1923 and where Disney Brothers Studios was born. Walt was married and Steamboat Willie was born and history kept progressing throughout the years.
New Horizons tells all about the end of the Disney Brothers Studios as well as the birth of The Walt Disney Studios. Life is an every changing book for everyone and we all have to embrace those changes in order to be successful.
The Move To Features was all about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the time period surrounding that success. It was amazing to see the original art, of such a classic Disney film.
New Success and Greater Ambitions featured such films as Bambi, Pinocchio and of course Fantasia. Which might have been my absolute time frame just because they are the ones that I grew up watching.
The Late 30's and Early 40's during this time period Walt lost family members, beloved workers and even more but in the end he persevered and Dumbo was born.
Post War Rebuilding included Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea but my personal favorite was Walt's personal collections of miniature items. In all my years of loving Walt Disney I never knew he collected miniature items.
Walt and the Natural World is where we saw the amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge and of course some real life things that Walt himself used in productions.
The 1950's and 1960's was probably my favorite room in the entire museum if I had to pick just one. It included things such as the full life scale of Disneyland, the full scale railroad that was once at Walt's home on Woking Way in Los Angeles and so much more! I even shed more than a few happy tears in this room because it was truly magical.
Remembering Walt was where I cried because it felt like the world had lost a friend. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966 and the news broadcast still plays in the museum today. I've idolized Walt Disney for as long as I can remember but my true love was started in the 4th grade. But the museum tour couldn't have ended a better way. Even though I was sad, I was happy at the same time and only "Walt Disney's magic can truly bring that to life."
This museum is truly a magical place with so much to see and do that everyone should visit at least once. My only regret is not spending more time in this rich environment. But there was so much to see and do that you could visit several times over and never see it all. After shedding a few tears of the greatness and feeling the sadness, excitement and so much more while visiting the museum. Visiting this museum is as magical as the other Disney locations and something everyone should experience for themselves.


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