text:
"Animals are my friends…and I don't eat my friends." – George Bernard Shaw
It's been nearly a week since I proudly completed Veganuary, along with my very un-vegany partner – which makes me doubly proud. It has been a brilliant show of solidarity with nearly 60,000 people world wide joining together to abstain from all animal products for the month of January. My pre January diet was about 80% plant based with the remaining 20% made up of a tiny bit of fish, a fair amount of eggs and the occasional product containing dairy. Here's what I discovered / learnt from the full experience :
People are overwhelmingly kind
My partner's very blokey fire brigade crew all decided to have vegan meals for all of their shifts together – entirely off their own bats, to show their support for him ! Bless !
I found a couple of working week staples which I fell in love with
Overnight oats (1/2 cup of oats, pinch of salt, 1/2 cup coconut/almond milk, 1 tsp acai powder, 2 tsp chia seeds, 2 tsp sesame seeds, 1 tbsp maple syrup – mixed together and left overnight) every morn' and
a quinoa buddha lunchbox creation (1/2 cup cooked quinoa, 1 tbsp kimichi (from green street kitchen), 1 square of flavoured tofu (Thai, Japanese etc) 1/3 avacado, 1 tbsp sesame oil, chopped capsicum, shallots, a few spinach leaves), every lunch.
Dark chocolate
Happily munched on the 90% Cocoa Lindt variety and adapted to it's bitterness with ease (as opposed to my super sweet, milk containing Caramel variety which I usually eat).
Greek Delis are a good source of great vegan cheese
I was pleasantly surprised by this. I learnt that Greek people abstain from animal products leading up to (and perhaps during) Easter. My purchase of a big block of their most popular vegan cheese (name unknown) from a big Marrickville Greek deli has kept me going all month. They told me that more options will be available closer to Easter.
Dairy Free Kingland yogurt is delightful
Particularly the berry / chai one. It does not have that overwhelming soy or coconut flavour that some non dairy yogurts have.
I am in good company
There are many but my new discovery this month was the tennis champ William sisters.
My friends were happy to give a bit of vegan eating a go and joined us for a brilliant feast at :
The Green Lion – the new vegan pub in Rozelle, Sydney. It was a big hit and I'd thoroughly recommend it.
The list of sublime things to cook up is infinite. The standouts this month were :
* Spicy Braised Tofu Tostadas,
*this ridiculously easy chocolate cake
* Corn Zuchhini Fritters (in which I replaced the eggs with the aquafaba from the chickpea can – 6tbsp for the required 2 eggs) topped with avocado,salsa and Toffutti creme cheese
* even in the midst of a horrendously hot summer, this spicy Thai soup went down a treat.
* I am yearning to try this baked spinach and artichoke pasta. It's on the menu this week.
My go to recipe sources just keeps expanding
The Happy Pear was my favourite discovery this month. I could happily live on their recipes alone. These healthy, inspiring Irish brothers are utter gems. I love their instagram feed of their early morning Irish sea swims.
Other people have removed the hard work / label stalking in supermarkets
Thank you Vomad. Your free guide specifically for Australia is outstanding (helps to identify products containing palm oil too).
I've scored a good one.
Not only did my fella dedicate 31 days to a plant based diet with no slip ups or complaints but he upped the anti at the end of the month. I had used some bribery to get him to commit to Veganuary by promising him that I'd make a $10 a day donation to his favourite charity (Medicens Sans Frontiers) per day that he made it through unscathed. He ended up donating the $$$ himself, enabling me to donate the same amount to my charity of choice (Project Hope) to let me say thank you. They have helped a situation I have been closely involved in over the last few days which is not my story to tell here. Suffice to say, the staff over at Southern Cross Vets are phenomenal.
- Spending $12 on 3 miniscule donuts and cupcakes at a way too trendy little vegan Sydney place.
- Put on a couple of kgs – too much good food to try !
- I didn't achieve the full conversion (or even partial really) of my fella as I had hoped – alas, he is adopting a couple changes (like my overnight oats) so I am happy.
So, looking at the pros versus cons…the way forward for me looks pretty clear. For me it is the most intentional way that I can express my love and respect of animals. It is also the most practical way that I can do my bit to fight against climate change (google animal agriculture and climate change, pick a reputable source, and you'll see what I mean).
Despite it's name, if you want to dip your toe in and give it a try, you can sign up with Veganuary at any time. The resources, information and recipes are great.
As per the beautiful words of Pam Ahern from Edgar's Mission "If we could live happy and healthy lives without harming others, why wouldn't we?"
Why not indeed ??
2 Comments
Join the conversation and post a comment.
lisa parkinson
Yay you two! That all sounds fab.I'll have to look up some of those recipes 🙂


text:
By registering, you agree to the OPUMO Privacy Policy.
Specialist Shirtmakers
Schnayderman's is an acclaimed Stockholm-based brand that aspire to make the best shirts possible. Rather than trying to expand its offering, Schnayderman's continue to specialise in clean tailored shirts in order to bring the art of shirting back into the 21st century.
Today, the men's Schnayderman's shirt collection features a range of slim-fitting button downs, relaxed plaid styles and premium cut fabrics to offer the best shirts that money can buy.
...come to those who sign up for our emails.
We'll keep you up to date.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
More news: Manufacturing/RoboticsAgency / Source: Adcole Corporation
|PRZOOM / PRTODAY - Newswire Today disclaims any content contained in this article. If you need/wish to contact the company who published the current release, you will need to contact them - NOT us. Issuers of articles are solely responsible for the accuracy of their content. Our complete disclaimer appears here.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Issuance, publication or distribution of this press release in certain jurisdictions could be subject to restrictions. The recipient of this press release is responsible for using this press release and the information herein in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations in the particular jurisdiction. This press release does not constitute an offer or an offering to acquire or subscribe for any Adcole Corporation securities in any jurisdiction including any other companies listed or named in this release.
|Manufacturing/Robotics via RSS
Find who RetweetFollow @NewswireTODAY
|Read Latest Press Releases From Adcole Corporation / Company Profile
|Atlas Copco Has Acquired A German Distributor of Compressed Air and Service Solutions
|Atlas Copco to Acquire A Mechanical Contractor for the Medical Industry
|Yokogawa Establishes Yokogawa Innovation Switzerland as Center for Bio Business
|BASF Signs Preferred Supplier Partnership with Jaguar Land Rover in Asia Pacific
|LANXESS Introduces Custom Materials for the Electric Mobility Charging Infrastructure
|YASKAWA Introduces MOTOMAN Weld4Me
|NMR Wine-Profiling™ 4.0 from Bruker Proves Product Authenticity to Safeguard Brand Reputation
|BASF Introduces Altrium™ Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) Catalyst to Increase Transportation Fuel Yields
|PPG INNOVEL Non-BPA Packaging Coatings Selected for China's Iconic
|Yokogawa to Expand Sushi Sensor Wireless Industrial IoT Solution Lineup in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia
|Boost Your Social Network
& Crowdfunding Campaigns
|PREMIUM Members


text:
Although property here may seem like a screaming deal when seen through Vancouver eyes, half a million doesn't go as far as it used to in Montreal.
I should have known better than to ask a Vancouver realtor how much half a million could get you in Lotusland these days.
"It's pretty easy," laughed MacDonald Realty broker Dan Scarrow. "It's a one-bedroom condo. That's what you can get for $500,000."
To find a detached home at that price point, he said, a buyer would likely be driving an hour or more outside the city.
Scarrow, who ran a MacDonald Realty office in Shanghai for a while, said that although prices seem expensive to locals — especially since salaries have not gone up in pace with real estate prices — the reality is that Vancouver is no longer a "local" market; it is international.
"Real estate in global, more international cities, until about 10 to 15 years ago, was locally driven. Since then it has become a more global market, with people around the world comparing cities to other cities," Scarrow said. "Locals always look at it in terms of the previous year's pricing and they can't make heads or tails of where these prices are coming from."
The influx of cash from outside Canada has buoyed prices in Vancouver and Toronto beyond what many locals can afford, he said, yet international buyers keep coming because they have been to places that are much more expensive, he said.
To Scarrow, it looks like it may be Montreal's turn now.
Scarrow's office is now repping Montreal condo projects like Victoria-sur-le-Parc, YUL and One Square Phillips to buyers in Vancouver and Toronto as well as Shanghai. Real estate agents who work closely with condo investors have been flocking to Vancouver launch parties for Montreal condo projects like these, he said. The buyers they're working with include both foreigners with property in Vancouver as well as bargain-hunting locals.
"We have a pretty mature investor clientele in Vancouver that are used to investing in presale condos, and I guess that market is just sort of starting in Montreal right now," he said.
Although property here may seem like a screaming deal when seen through Vancouver eyes, half a million doesn't go as far as it used to in Montreal. A Centris search reveals the options: lots of two-bedroom condos near downtown, a handyman special in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, plexes in the Sud-Ouest, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve or Ahuntsic.
Side note: did you know, for $65,000 you could be the proud owner of a parking spot in Golden Square Mile's YUL condo building?
Homeowners have the option to take advantage of real estate gains by cashing out and moving to a less-expensive neighbourhood — and there are still many affordable suburban areas around here. But for first-time buyers, seeing prices rise so quickly can be scary. I asked Scarrow how first-time buyers in Vancouver have coped. The answer? They simply learn to live with less.
"People are willing to live in a condo or townhouse for longer than they would in other markets. It's a lifestyle choice," Scarrow said. "In Vancouver you're close to a lot of amenities, so you don't go on vacation as much. You see more lifestyle spending in more expensive markets."
And if all else fails, you can do what I did: move. I hear Nova Scotia real estate is cheap…


text:
If you want to quit worrying about your looks, there are worse places to be than the Catholic Church.
That's a broad statement — probably overbroad, and probably over-positive. Naomi Wolf once saluted Islamic dress as a liberator of women from the "intrusive, commodifying, basely sexualising Western gaze," and from the tyranny of mass-media beauty standards. Her caveat, that "choice is everything" when it comes to the advantages of wearing hijab, appears as an afterthought. Wolf barely considers that family and societal pressures can stack the deck in favor of custom to the point where bucking it becomes as unrealistic an option as living in a tree.
So's not to repeat her mistake, I'll say up front — physical beauty and Catholic culture are in a complex relationship. I just happen to have shown up at the right time in my life to get the better end of the deal.
For me, beauty's always been an add-on: I could look good if I put the time and money into it. At a couple of points in my life, when I was willing and able to observe the workout schedule of a convicted murderer (taking cigarette breaks between wide-grip pulldowns and bent-over rows), I sculpted myself into a midget adonis. One of those spells coincided with a financial rebound I enjoyed just after beginning my catechesis. After securing the L.A. Fitness membership, I frosted my tips and bought a fine collection of striped Oxfords. If I'd lived on the other side of Papago Park (and had had a much more sociable nature), I could have carried on a bromance with the title character of the Blobots' "I'm a Big Douche (at the Scottsdale Bars)."
Most of the people most involved with the community were blissfully dowdy. These included many of the younger people. My initial home parish attracted many students, professors and administrators from the local unviersity who dressed according to the traditions of academia, that is, as though they chose their outfits in pitch blackness to give their incandescent light bulbs a break. For the most part, not even those who'd entered the professions preened themselves. Birks, khakis, perhaps a spare tire of bicycle width — these seemed the marks of a man with his eye on heaven.
The women were some of the palest — should I say fairest? — I'd ever seen in the state of Arizona. For a person of my particular ancestry, I'm very ignorant about jewelry, but they didn't seem to wear much, apart from a crucifix or a wedding ring.
My mother tells me there used to be something called the Catholic Schoolgirl Slouch. "Once you grew a bosom, you were supposed to hide it," she says, her choice of the word "bosom" giving the game away. "The easiest way to do that was to clutch your schoolbooks and pretend you had osteoperosis." Whether the weight of Catholic culture was pressing any of these people — men or women — into a kind of psychological slouch, I couldn't tell. It's a difficult thing to winkle out in polite conversation. But, like Naomi Wolf skipping through the souk in hijab and abbaya, I found a kind of freedom in the company of low-maintenance people. When I lost the energy (and, perhaps more importantly, the car) to hit the weights obsessively, I sensed I'd found a place where all the disfiguring transfers of inches wouldn't be such a big deal.
At least as far as my own particular niche — the Catholic media — is concerned, it really seems not to be. Yes, the founding father of Catholic televangelism was Fulton Sheen, with his head of wavy hair. But then, the founding mother was Mother Angelica, with her…well, bless her heart. Fathers Groeschel and Pacwa look like guys you might see behind the lectern in any university classroom. (The beards help.) From what I can tell, most of my closest blogosphere colleagues and I fall pretty close together on the great Beauty Curve. None of us needs to wear a bag on his head, but none of us is going to be posing for Praxiteles anytime soon. That's a medium I can be happy with.
So bully for me. It's not that simple, of course. The Catholic Schoolgirl Slouch is just the dwarf daughter of the cilice, the discipline, the extended fast and the monk's pallet. That's an unnerving tower of baggage. But then, the world outside the Church has baggage of its own. Deborah E. Rhode, Stanford's Ernest W. MacFarland Professor of Law, writes that between 12 to 16 percent of workers believe that they have been discriminated against purely on the basis of their looks. That percentage, she says, "is in the same vicinity, or greater, than those reporting gender, racial, ethnic, age, or religious prejudice."
Judging by the results of studies conducted by Biddle and Hammersch, this 12 to 16 percent may well know what it's talking about. Government interviewers in Canda and the United States collected data on the incomes, occupations and backgrounds of a sample of working men, whose looks they then rated on a five-point scale. Those rated "homely" earned 9 percent less than the average; those rated "handsome" earned 32 percent more. In a longitudinal study published four years later, the same researchers found correlations between looks and income among graduates of a top (unnamed) law school.
It makes a kind of sense, then, that some segments of the Church seem to be promoting an unofficial Catholic aesthetic, a house style, so to speak. On its website, Chastity.com, which declares "The New Sexual Revolution is Here," features photos of young people so perfect-looking, they might have gotten lost on their way to Brigham Young University. One of its chief spokespeople, former America's Top Model contestant Leah Darrow, calls herself the "Faithful Fashionista." Far from trivializing looks in relation to any other quality, Darrow affirms: "At times, clothes are the only visible clues to our personalities and even our beliefs. Today, clothes have become a means for one human to evaluate another."
On the face of it, what Darrow's selling is modesty; implicitly, she's promoting a particular kind of name-brand, put-together modesty. She hasn't said that beauty is next to godliness, and would surely deny believing it if asked. Still, human nature being what it is, I would be surprised if no one in her target audience conflated the two qualities. It would be a shame if doubles for Darrow (and now, for Mark Wahlberg) started rising to the top in Catholic ministries, social services agencies and universities. I'd hate to see the Slouch — or whatever the male equivalent might be — replaced with a strut. Lest anyone forget, on the road to Emmaus, they were walking.


text:
Jan Kounen's double-barreled biopic Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky doesn't start well. For one thing, there's its book-report title, which seems to promise a rote rehash of its protagonists' lives without shape or insight. It certainly doesn't help that the film begins in the most obvious place, with the riotous 1913 première of Stravinsky's dissonant Rite Of Spring, or that one hapless member of the Ballets Russes is stuck with the line, "Stop it, Nijinsky! Tell him, Diaghilev." By that point, viewers should be expecting further noteworthy personages to turn up bearing little signs: "Hello, my name Is Ernest Beaux."
The movie's saving grace is its performances—two of them, though not the most obvious pair. Clad in razor-cut monochrome with waist-length pearls swinging as she walks, Anna Mouglalis plays Coco Chanel as a living icon, an elemental force who is her own best advertisement. There's no depth to the characterization, but its contours are as sharp and engrossing as an Art Deco print.
The other standout turn isn't from Mads Mikkelsen, whose pinched, severe Stravinsky is a caricature of Eastern European repression, but from Elena Morozova as his long-suffering wife. Sallow and tubercular, she swallows hard when Chanel invites her husband to stay in her spare house, an act of patronage that also places him within arm's reach of another woman. Morozova knows when their affair begins, perhaps even sees it coming before he does, but endures it, partly out of masochism, and partly because it feeds into his work. Stravinsky's faithful copyist as well as the mother of his four children, she's the only character in the movie who exists for something other than herself (While Chanel and Stravinsky's bed sessions are passionate, they aren't loving.)
In the end, Coco & Igor offers little insight into its titular titans of modernism. There's little understanding of their individual aesthetics, let alone how they (hypothetically) informed each other. A flash-forward to the end of their lives suggests that the memories of their relationship remained potent long after its brief tenure, but the movie neither proves nor argues that thesis.


text:
It's time for financial services companies to call off their paid attack dogs who continue fighting the Department of Labor's "fiduciary" rule, which will require financial advisors who sell IRAs, annuities, and other investment products to act in their client's best interests, consumer groups argue.
Opponents of the rule have decisively lost three court challenges, most recently earlier this week, but continue fighting it through lobbying, legal challenges, and any other means they can dream up.
Consumer groups say the anti-investor campaign has gone far enough, and in a letter today, they ask board members of financial industry trade groups to assert themselves and rein in their lobbyists' efforts. They note that most financial services firms are already deep into the process of implementing the rule, which is intended to safeguard consumers who trust their retirement savings to so-called "financial advisors," who are often little more than glorified insurance salesmen.
Cleaning up abuse by financial advisors is especially important as defined pension benefits, group health plans, and other "safety nets" are shredded and responsibility for retirement, health care, and other essentials is shifted to individual consumers, who are too often talked into high-fee mutual funds, inappropriate annuities, and questionable products like long-term care policies.
Consumers on their own
The need for higher ethical standards by financial advisors has been recognized for quite some time. Indeed, as the consumer groups state, most major financial services firms -- including stock broker-dealers, certified financial advisors, and insurance companies -- are already far along with implementing the rule and have spent millions of dollars revising their operations.
The trade newsletter InvestmentNews recently quoted Andy Sieg, head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, as saying that Merrill will continue to implement a "higher standard of care," especially when it comes to retirement accounts, regardless of what happens with the Department of Labor rule.
"This is consistent with our overall strategic direction and what our clients are asking for," a Sieg memo stated, as quoted by the newsletter. "Depending on what is announced, we may need to adjust the timelines for certain operational changes we have announced to ensure an orderly transition and a good client experience."
A memo circulated by Wells-Fargo Advisors said much the same thing, saying that a fiduciary rule is likely to be implemented eventually, even if the current one is derailed, according to InvestmentNews.
"We will continue to move forward with many of the initiatives we have underway, reflecting our ongoing commitment to raising the standard of care we provide our retirement and non-retirement clients," Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Christine Jockle said in an email.
Time to stand up
The rule simply requires that financial advisors put the client's interest first, ahead of their own profits, something responsible brokers and advisors already do. Now it's time for responsible firms to stand up and declare their willingness to adopt the rule's requirements, according to the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), and the AFL-CIO.
"We believe the public needs to know where individual firms stand. Those opposing the rule are hiding behind their trade associations who are filing lawsuits, pushing legislation, and subverting the regulatory process to delay and kill the rule," the letter asserts. "Firms that support a fiduciary standard for retirement investment advice should not be passive bystanders to their trade associations' anti-investor activity."
The letter was sent to board members for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), and the Financial Services Institute (FSI). All three groups were party to the lawsuit that was roundly defeated in Texas earlier this week.
Retirees at risk
Besides the legal challenges and Congressional lobbying activities, Wall Street interests have taken their case to President Trump, who has ordered the Labor Department to take a second look at the rule, possibly leading to its eventual weakening or abolition.
In their letter, CFA, AFR, and AFL-CIO warn: "If successful, this anti-investor campaign would deny retirement savers the reduced costs and improved advice quality they both desperately need and reasonably expect. In short, it would preserve a system that allows firms to put their own profits ahead of their customers' best interests, with costly and detrimental consequences for the income security of America's retirees."
The DOL rule, with a compliance date of early April, closes loopholes that have enabled brokers and insurance agents to offer retirement investment advice without being held to the "best interest" standard required of a fiduciary. It requires firms to eliminate compensation practices that encourage and reward investment advice that is not in customers' best interests.
What to do
Consumers trying to invest for retirement and financial security should, regardless of what happens with the fiduciary rule, deal only with advisors who are Certified Financial Planners, a title that indicates they have complete professional training and adhere to strict ethical guidelines.
The CFP Board has an advisor look-up feature on its website, as well as a directory of certified planners and other information for investors. It's a good idea to meet with more than one advisor and compare their recommendations.
Many investors today are turning to automated investment advice, which may not be a good idea for novices. There are, however, large and respected non-profit organizations like TIAA that offer financial advice online as well as other financial services, including inexpensive and, in some cases, free checking accounts.
Consumers should also remember that there is risk in every investment, that returns are never certain, that diversification is essential, and that it is important to start investing early so that returns have time to multiply over time.


text:
Description from the author:
Every capture was made using Ipi DMC.
It was made before the two actors support was available, so I had to limit the movement of the actors, to avoid occlusion between characters.
Then, I processed the two actors separately, one by one. so that each reaction and sword movement would be in sync.
I used 2 kinect and 2 psmoves to track the wrists' position.
Making of video:


text:
Apparently a person affected by religion has a certain disadvantage, since he is busy doing useless things and limited in his capacity for analytic thinking. This might therefore be a helpful advantage for people not suffering from this kind of mental disorder.
And indeed many governments use religion to solidify and justify their power and keeping their subordinates ignorant and harmless for them. Therefore religion has often been made it into a very efficient tool of politics and for personal ambitions of ruthless rulers.
However, as it was explained before, religion is not an invention of politicians but is an independent entity with its own selfish intereswt in reproduction. If it is used by governments for their own purpose, it is in the same way as computer viruses are used to distribute hacking tools or advertisement or as DNA viruses are used as biological weapons in war. It is not the cause of their existence but merely a sort of domestication in order to turn them into useful tools. Many politicians who use religionn as an instrument of power are often not free of the virus themselves and are to a certain extent affected by the religion, which they use as a tool, too.
Independent from this phenomenon the questioin remains: If somebody is free from religious superstition and has understood its nature and mechanism, should he be interested in keeping religion alive so that he can gain a personal advantage over those people who are unaware of the virus and suffer from all negative consequences of religion? Or shoukld he be interested to help others to free themselves from religion and eliminate it from society?
Many of those who like to use religion as a tool to keep others ignorant, who use it as some kind of opium of the people and who don't practice religion in their own private lives, since they know better, underestimate thge influence that society has on the life of every single individual human being.
Their private lives in their own houses cannot be completely independent from what is going on in the ouitside world. In fact they depent on the society in every aspect of life. A religion that suppresses technological advancement will paralize society and even those who are free from religion will not be able to enjoy these technological advancements in their private lives, since they were never invented.
If religion limits personal freedom and puts restrictions on things that may be enjoed or consumed, these things will not be available for those who don't follow this religion in their homes. They simply won't have access to these restricted things in their private lives either. Or at least the access to these things will always be severely limited and made far more difficult. Furthermoire there is the danger that the violation of the religious rules in their private sphere may become disclosed and the society imposes a punishment on them.
So whatever personal advantage they may gain by keeping others religious and being free from it themselves it is more than out-weighted by the disadvantages it has on their own lives.
In many aspects technology has allowed even lower class members of modern society to havea better and more comfortable life than the ruling class in former centuries. Even welfare recipients receive medical assistance and can live in climatized rooms, while not even the monarch of the Middle Ages could enjoy such kind of luxury.
Therefore it would be no good idea to promote religion in order to keep others ignorant while being free from it in our own private life. The negative effect that religion has on the whole society will backfire on us, since we depend on the society we live in and our private life cannot be totally separate from society.
It is therefore necessary to reduce the influence that religion has on society. Using religion as a tool is short-sighted. At the end it will work against those who think they control it. Religion cannot be totally controlled, since it is an autonomous entity with its own selfish interests, which are the reproduction of itself and the optimization of the mechanisms of its own reproduction.
Religion is pathogenous, malignous and highly virulent. It should not be played around with.


text:
We understand that keeping tenants and building owners satisfied is your number one priority.
Today's property management firms demand consistent high quality cleaning service at a competitive price. BSC Cleaning Services recognizes this and uses our CIMS-certified quality management system to ensure we operate efficiently and effectively, and always meet our customers' needs.
And that's important to both of us. BSC's property management cleaning services staff ensures your apartment buildings and other facilities maintain a professional clean appearance. In addition, your tenants and building owners will be comfortable seeing the same trained, professional and uniformed BSC cleaning team.
Ready to learn more about our property management cleaning services?
Contact Us Today or call us at 207-775-1015.
Learn More About Us: About BSC Cleaning Green Cleaning, CIMS Certification,
Industries We Service: Healthcare, Property Management, Offices, Manufacturing, Education
BSC Cleaning recently added a Saco and Kennebunk building cleaning for Boulos Property Management. In addition to common area and tenant cleaning, we ensure the buildings are open at an early morning set time to allow tenant and customer access. These two locations require solid cleaners who are prompt each morning and are committed to quality.
Kennebunk Savings Bank recently finished the construction of their new 88,000 sq ft operations center, housing over 150 employees. This beautiful new building features a center courtyard in the middle of the building showcasing floor to ceiling glass and landscaping. Congratulations to Kennebunk Savings on their new facility. BSC looks forward to helping maintain this building!
Maine Veterinary Medical Center is a 24/7/365 facility specializing in advanced services for your pets. BSC Cleaning works with MVMC to establish an optimal cleaning schedule performed late each night to ensure the facility looks fresh each morning, ready to treat their customers' pets.
Saco Sport & Fitness is one of Maine's premier full service fitness clubs. They offer a full range of group classes, basketball and racquetball courts, extensive cardio and strength training areas, as well as on site nutritionists and personal trainers. BSC Cleaning is proud to clean this exciting facility.


text:
October 6, 2016
What many people don't know is I started the Glam Squad on my own, and it was just me walking around with my makeup chair and pulling up to a wedding. I never thought that things would have grown to the level that they did. Slowly but surely we became a team that includes 25 stylists.
I was so nervous to bring people in, this business is my baby, so it only made sense for me to start growing with the help of family. The first person I brought on was Amanda, who is now CEO and Master Stylist! The Glam Squad is as good as it is because the two of us work so well together. We are polar opposites, me being the creative one and Amanda being able to reel me in and execute the things that are possible! I am now blessed to work with my daughter, my sister, and my niece. This sort of environment has made the Glam Squad not only group of co-workers but also a family! And not just because some of us are blood!
We are so supportive of one another and that support not only takes place during the work place, but also outside of it! We are constantly in contact and keeping one another updated on what is going on in our day to day lives as well! Teams are made up of people that have specific roles and each girl is a vital part of the well oiled machine that we have going on!
Because I opened up to the idea of asking for help when I first brought on Amanda, I have realized just how successful working with a team can be! Our most recent addition is Alexis, our Director of Social Media and Marketing! She is definitely a combination of both me and Amanda, which makes it so funny to watch in action. She has brought another piece to the team that I didn't even realize was missing until it got here!
What I love is that The Glam Squad is constantly growing! And one way that we are growing is through the Glam Squad Academy! We are training girls in both hair and makeup and would love to expand that to anyone who has a passion for working in the bridal industry! If you are interested in joining the family please feel free to email us to get signed up for the Academy just email [email protected], I can't see what piece of the puzzle you will bring to the Glam Fam!


text:
How Halloween rolled from keeping the spirits happy to a zombie-esque pumpkin.
PUBLISHED: 11:50 08 November 2018 | UPDATED: 12:24 08 November 2018
Chasing my children around with a mouldy pumpkin seemed a good idea at the time, writes Jo Malone
How to explain to an eight year old that Halloween isn't just about collecting sweets from strangers isn't easy. Nor is explaining that on this one night a year it's fine to ignore everything she's been taught about stranger danger.
When that eight-year-old has a lot of questions, and also a lot of nightmares, it's almost impossible.
For this ghost-believing child I don't want to talk too much about the ancient Celts believing the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead came down for a night and that the ghosts of the dead came back to earth.
Or that the Romans added their spin on the night by combining commemorating the passing of the dead with a festival honouring Pomona the goddess of fruit and trees and that later the Christians gave it their twist with All Souls Day, a day to honour the dead.
"What do you mean the dead passed?" asks Thalia, as I start to get too involved and wish I hadn't looked up the history of Halloween.
I read out bits from a quick Internet search saying that a long time ago the Druids built bonfires and wore costumes during their celebrations and the Christians had bonfires too, but I knew I was making little sense when I said Irish immigrants taught the Americans about dressing up in costumes and going from house to house asking for food and money and that's why we trick or treat.
I said I thought the costumes were something to do with being in disguise so ghosts wouldn't recognize them and treats were offered to keep the spirits happy, but I'm not sounding convincing. For once I'm relieved when she changes the subject and asks when she can learn the violin.
For trick or treating we head into town; with Thalia a hissing vampire which keeps transforming into a zombie, copying Daddy-zombie Rob who drags himself around the streets, making very odd, horrible noises. (A friend later comments that it sounds like a normal night for us.) Keola's a cat, more cute than scary, but loving the atmosphere of everyone dressed up.
We're still talking about Halloween this week and notice that one of our pumpkins has gone very mouldy, naturally it becomes 'Mouldy Man' and I chase the girls about with it, borrowing from Rob's catalogue of odd zombie noises. They scream, a lot, it's very funny – until Rob points out they'll have nightmares.
Thalia wakes up terrified that night and I'm feeling awful, until she says it's not Mouldy Man in her dream but she's convinced earwigs are crawling over her bed. She calms down; it felt real but there are no earwigs, she understands they don't like beds and we all go back to sleep – and I dream of earwigs crawling from mouldy man, making horrible zombie noises…
If you value what this story gives you, please consider supporting the Norwich Evening News. Click the link in the orange box above for details.


text:
Calaminarian grassland
The term calaminarian grassland is used for the distinctive plant communities associated with heavy metal mining, particularly the sparse vegetation of lead mine spoil and smelt mill waste where only metal-tolerant plants (known as metallophytes) can grow. The lead and other heavy metals are toxic to plants, the soils are nutrient poor, and the ground is often very dry in summer. The only plants that can grow here are small and slow-growing, and specially adapted to these stressful conditions.
The most easily recognised form of calaminarian grassland in the Yorkshire Dales is a short, open turf with exposed stones and areas of bare ground close to historic lead mining sites. The most common plants are sheep's fescue and spring sandwort, which was used by miners as an indicator of a lead vein beneath the surface. Thyme, ribwort plantain, and thrift often grow with them. The bare ground between them supports a rich variety of lichens and mosses, and these are an important part of the plant community. Some of the lichens, such as Sarcosagium campestre and species of Vezdaea, are tiny and can only be seen with a hand lens, but they are quite beautiful and well worth the effort! There may be a living crust of cyanobacteria and other micro-organisms over the soil surface.
More grassy areas, where bent grass and harebell are more common, may have populations of alpine penny-cress. This plant is only found on heavy-metal contaminated sites in Britain, and accumulates astonishing levels of zinc in the shoot which deters grazing animals. Mountain pansy does well on less-contaminated ground.
Wetter ground also has some distinctive species, including Pyrenean scurvy-grass and the large green lichen Peltigera leucophlebia.
At risk?
Even where there is an old lead mine or smelt mill the area of calaminarian grassland is often very small. Small patches on stony ground are being encroached on by scrub and coarse grasses from the surrounding area, so some grazing is needed to control this, preferably by rabbits or sheep. As they become smaller and more isolated from each other they are becoming more vulnerable to disturbance and many are gradually losing their species of interest. Even small areas need protecting.


text:
Archive for December, 2006
Breaking Fast
I am about to break a 2 or 2.5 week fast. This is the first time that I've fasted for something. Before, I just fasted to be obedient (for Jesus said, "When you fast…").
This has been an experience for me. My fast has been from sugar which is something easy to find in my household and which is hard to avoid during the holidays. Whenever I felt the desire for something sweet, I used it as an opportunity to pray for the point of the fast. And, on my way to my parent's for Christmas, God spoke to me and gave me direction on how I can help bring about improvement for that which I was fasting. And, since then I have received confirmation on it. So, I am satisfied with the results of the fast.
Fasting is a mystery to me, as is so much of God. He says that fasting helps prayer. And now, I go to break the fast, having had my prayers heard. God is faithful and what he has begun will be accomplished.
Thank you, Father, for hearing my prayers. Thank you for your faithfulness and your grace. I praise you Lord and rejoice in your goodness. It is for your glory and in Jesus' name that I pray, Amen.Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )
Why can't I leave well enough alone?
I hate status quo. I hate staying still. I move and it's either progression or regression. Just stop.Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )
The Early Vernacular of the North Carolina Mountains
This is a really cool article that I found around 1994 on Nando. You might ask, "What the hell is Nando?" Well, Nando.net was one of the very first portal sites on the Internet and was run by the Raleigh News & Observer right here in North Cackalacky. This is before Google, before MSN, before Excite, even before Yahoo! was really big. If I remember correctly, the two main sites back then were Nando for your portal site and Altavista for your search engine. Nando was shut down in 2003 but I still remember it and I am kinda proud that it came from NC. One of my current clients was associated with it back in the day and that's kinda cool.
Anyway, this article speaks to the origin of how people talk in the NC mountains. I've lived in the NC piedmont for 12 years now. And people around here talk different. They have more of a Southern drawl while we have more of a twang. My mom used to be an operator with Southern Bell and she could always tell when she was speaking with someone from back home. Also, the people around here use different vocabulary than back in the mountains. There's some vocabulary in the article. Sometimes when I read a Jack Tale to my son, I wonder how anyone who didn't grow up in the mountains can understand them! 🙂
It makes me sad when I go back home and hear people speak. Everyone speaks like the actors do on TV and in the movies. It's the same boring language. But, when I was growing up there, there was this great diversity. I watched my home county move from the 50's to the 60's to the 70's to the 80's and I was only born in the 70's! It's because it had a lot of catching up to do and it did it very quickly in the 70's and 80's. I left in the early 90's – before there was a mass influx of folk from elsewhere like there has been in the last decade. There was still a feeling of uniquity there. Now, you can find it only in places like nursing homes and some of the more remote parts of the county. I'm amazed at how fast things have changed there. And, again, I'm saddened.
The Early Vernacular of the North Carolina Mountains
From the book
BY HORTON COOPER. Johnson Publishing Company of Murfreesboro (1972).
Not all the old-time speech of the early people of North Carolina mountains and their descendants for many decades consisted of held-overs from Chaucer's and Shakespeare's days, but much of it did. Some of it was due to mispronunciation, a syntax of non-English origin and a deliberate diction which was meant to fit the culture and environment of the strong and daring people in their splendid isolation. Much of it, however, was the colorful and spicy speech of the Elizabethan era.
The earliest settlers were either people from the English Isles and other Northern European countries or their descendants who had been born in America. Besides the English, there came the Scotch-Irish, the Germans, Dutch, and some Welsh, with those of almost pure Anglo-Saxon blood having predominance in number. They intermarried, flavored their language with the idiom of Chaucer and clung tenaciously to the picturesque language of the days of Good Queen Bess.
It should not be forgotten that the English language itself is an idiom of West Germany.
As time passed and contact with the outside world was lost, the metamorphosis of language gradually continued, as has always been the case when mountain ranges, bodies of water and other natural barriers isolate groups originally speaking a common language. It is a historic fact that the Latinic Languages of Southern Europe derived their strength from the Latin of the old Roman Empire after Rome collapsed and lost contact with its former far-flung provinces, hidden beyond mountain range and river. Doubtless, had progress moved less rapidly, the mountaineers of the Appalachians and Blue Ridge eventually would have had a language not understood by the English-speaking out-landers, but two centuries was too short a period for the completion of the metamorphic process.
Just as Gullah, a dialect along the shore and on the islands off the coast of South Carolina, has lasted more than 250 years, but will soon be a dead language, so is the picturesque speech of the North Carolina mountains rapidly giving way to language uniformity imposed by many factors, including good schools and colleges, an abundance of printed matter, the radio and television and contact with the outside world.
The phraseology and syntax of the early people of North Carolina mountains was doomed around the turn of the century, when the State's Literary Fund and the treasuries of the mountain counties made a longer school term possible, but for a decade or two the language of the most isolated rural regions was little affected. The slow process of eradication continued with marked success as the years passed and newspapers, magazines and books became more plentiful and high schools were established. Colleges began to dot the area. Those who observed closely knew that the purists of our language and the traits of mankind to conform were winning.
Today one has to travel farther and search more diligently than formerly to hear the old dialect spoken, but a part of it still exists, more or less, in many secluded neighborhoods, remindful of Chaucer's and Shakespeare's language.
Any area has its localism and colloquialisms, as well as mispronunciations of many words, but nowhere else in all the world — not even in England — were they blended and mixed so colorfully for so long a time with the spicy diction of the Elizabethans as they were on the tongues and lips of the stalwart men and women of the North Carolina mountains.
Perhaps the many factors, including the work of the purists of our English language, have accomplished less than many persons think.
- Following is a partial glossary of early mountain vernacular:
- a-childing: gestating; pregnant
- aingern: onion
- ain't losin' any sleep over hit: not worrying about it
- a give-out: an announcement
- air: are
- appearant: apparant
- a preach: a sermon
- arm baby: child small enough to be carried in the arms
- auger-eyed: sharp eyed
- atter: after
- at the getting place: where such things are obtained
- a whoop and a holler: a considerable distance
- ain't had much schoolhousing: hasn't had much formal education
- as all get-out: very much so
- ast, ax: ask
- a wheel: a silver dollar
- awnt: want
- bad off: very ill
- bald faced whiskey: whiskey fresh from the still
- bait: a good meal
- benasty: degrade
- biddy-peck: to nag mildly
- bigging and bigging it: exaggerating
- big room: family room
- big sight: much or many
- blamyfied: to eternally blame without reason
- blockader: a distiller of illicit whiskey
- breaking: failing by age
- bodaciously ruint: seriously injured
- bug days: days which should be avoided when planting potatoes to prevent bugs from destroying the green leaves
- butter-mouthed: speak flattery
- buttock down: sit down
- calm of day: early broad daylight
- carry: escort
- carry on: to act foolishly or immorally
- catawampus: crosswise; big and fine
- chunk-washer: a heavy rain
- clim, cloom, clome: climbed
- coon's age: a long time
- coon-along: walk on all fours
- cooter around: to walk aimlessly or idly
- corn-fed: husky; strong
- crack of day: break of day
- day down: late afternoon
- doctor-medicine: prescribed by a doctor; not a home or herb remedy
- doctor-woman: a midwife or female herb doctor
- don't dig up old dead cats: don't recall disagreeable subjects
- done nothing out of the way: did no wrong or immoral
- doney-girl: a female sweetheart
- don't set well: doesn't please
- drave: drove
- drink some water and suck our thumbs: eat a scant meal
- drooped up: disappointed in love; ill or indisposed
- druther: prefer
- edzact: to reason out
- et: ate
- every bit and grain: all, entire
- everyday gal: steady sweetheart
- feathered-legged: cowardly
- feet sot to run: ready to hurry away
- ferment: opposite
- fireboard: the mantel
- fit, fout: fought
- fleshen up: to put on weight
- fram: beat
- fotch: bought
- fotch on: homemade
- frayed: fretted and cried, as a baby
- frazzled: very tired
- friz: froze
- funeralize: preach a funeral sermon
- fur: far
- fur piece: quite a distance
- fur side: farther side
- gap: mountain pass
- garden sass: vegetables
- gommed: mess; ruined
- go-poke: a traveling bag
- graveyard cough: a tubercular cough
- greasy doors: doors of a family who have recently slaughtered hogs
- hant, haint: a ghost that haunts a definite place
- hell a-hooting: trouble starting; feuds
- hoofing: walking
- holp, holped: helped (old English form)
- home-boys: boys or men of the same neighborhood
- house plunder: furniture for the home
- goozle: to speak hoarsely
- goozler: boy whose voice is changing
- hot shots: first whiskey that comes from the worm of a still
- I can't come it: I can't eat no more
- infare: wedding feast given in the groom's home
- ill: of explosive temper
- It don't please me none: it gives no pleasure
- heard the wind blow before: heard boasting before; don't believe it
- jair: a jar, to jar
- jairy: nervous
- Jim-swinger: a frock or long-tailed coat
- jubus, juberous: dubious; frightened
- jularker: a male sweetheart
- kiver: cover
- knee child: a child small enough to hold on the knee
- laid by: had intended; cultivated for the last time
- lap child: a child that could be held in the lap
- let's play like: let's pretend
- light and hitch: come in and visit
- light in the breech: frail
- lit a rag: left hurriedly
- made the fur fly: work hard; be industrious
- mealy-mouthed: too timid to speak frankly
- meeting-house: church
- middling peart: fair in health
- might-nigh: almost
- mincy: finicky
- mizzle: to rain lightly in small drops
- nairy: none
- notorious republican: notary public
- on the down-go: declining in age or health or economic status
- outen: to extinguish; put out
- painter: panther
- pap: father
- peart: lively; in good health
- perzactly: exactly
- picking down: becoming worse
- picking up: improving
- pile up with trash: live with the low class or immoral
- pimeblank: exactly
- pooch out: to extend
- pump knot: knot on the head from a blow
- pure forgot: entirely forgot
- quod: quoted
- right smart: good deal
- rimtion: a great deal
- rip and tear: to raise cain
- riz: arose
- risin: a boil, carbuncle or stone bruise
- rooster a gun: cock a gun
- runction: a quarrel or fight
- saprising time: youth
- scrooch up: slump the shoulders; take less room
- setting rounders: ones sitting near; idlers
- shagnasty: a low bred person
- since Heck was a pup: a long while ago
- shammuck: to walk
- short talk: quarrelsome talk
- skun: skinned
- slaunchways: slanting
- smackdab: exactly
- snurl: to curl the lips
- spang: exactly
- sparking: courting; wooing
- splindlingest: slenderest
- sull-up: pout
- tater riffle: light bread
- techious: easily riled
- to contrary: to vex or anger
- chance on: happen on
- tooth-dentist: dentist
- trade: shop or buy
- traipse: walk aimlessly or needlessly
- trees are springing green: trees are leafing
- turn right-handed: turn right
- turn left-handed: turn left
- turkey tails out: spread out
- 'twant nothing: amounted to nothing
- twistification: a dance
- two curves and a cuss fight: the distance beyond two curves of the road and to the next house
- using around: dating or courting a sweetheart
- what will you take for it and not back out?: what is your exact price?
- whitleather: cured but untanned hide
- whole lot: a great amount
- whup: a whip; to whip
- woodscolt: a child born out of wedlock
- yan: yonder
- yan side: the farthest side
- yearth: earth
Exclamations for expressing diverse surprises
- For goodness' sake!
- For heaven' sake!
- For the Land's sake!
- Good gracious alive!
- Go on!
- Did you ever!
- Did you ever hear the like!
- Great day in the morning!
- I'll swan!
- I'll be John Browned!
- Mercy me!
- Not since Heck was a pup!
- My goodness!
- My stars!
- Sakes alive!
- Shut your mouth!
- I wish I might drop dead!
- Holy Moses!
Tall Tales of Appalachia
Here's a great article published in the New York Times on May 10, 2003. While it's not specifically about my corner of Appalachia, it's still speaks thoughts that are on my mind. In terms of regional identification, I've always identified myself first as an Appalachian boy, even before Southerner, North Carolinian or even American. The mountains are a place all their own.
Tall Tales of Appalachia
By JOHN O'BRIEN
REEN BANK, W.Va.
CBS is developing a reality TV series modeled after "The Beverly Hillbillies," the 60's sitcom. A poor family from a remote corner of southern Appalachia will be transported to a California mansion, the ensuing comic antics shown to America.
Well, as a West Virginia farmer might say, that's a load of fertilizer. Having spent virtually my entire life in West Virginia, I can say with some authority that the strange, woebegone place called Appalachia and the hillbillies who inhabit it are a myth — one devised a century ago to justify outsiders' condescension and exploitation.
In the 1870's, there was no "Appalachia." At that time, this mountainous stretch of the country from West Virginia to northern Georgia was one of the most prosperous agricultural areas in America. The people here drew upon their English, German and Scotch-Irish roots to create a variety of vibrant, peaceful cultures.
But in the 1880's that started to change. Outsiders came, ones who didn't care about the thriving farms. They wanted raw materials for their factories, and the mountains had them. Our mountains were covered with the largest and oldest hardwood forest that people had ever seen. The coal deposits were the richest in the world. Industrialization came here like a cyclone roaring through the mountains. People like my ancestors were bullied, threatened and cheated out of their land. By 1920, timber companies had cut the entire forest. Most of the profits left the state along with the timber and coal.
As the mountains were denuded, the industrialists portrayed the families they were robbing as "backward people" and themselves as the prophets of progress. The missionaries who often accepted large donations from the industrialists exaggerated the "otherness" of these strange people. "Local color" writers made brief visits to the mountains, then wrote fanciful books about the queer, violent mountain folk. As realistic as Harlequin romances, local-color books like Mary Murfree's "In the `Stranger People's' Country" were read and reviewed as journalistic accounts.
College professors began to use them as textbooks in sociology classes. The news media took its part with the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud in the 1880's and 1890's — a conflict that as Altina L. Waller wrote in her book "Feud," was not really a family feud, but a war between coal mining interests and local interests. Corrupt politicians took isolated incidents and described them as a hillbilly feud.
Reporters from the big cities wrote about "white savages" and "West Virginia barbarians." (The New York Times, for example, said of people in eastern Kentucky: "They are remarkably good shots and effective assassins," adding that they "are so accustomed to murder that they do not look upon it with the horror with which it is regarded in civilized communities.") Then, in 1897, the president of Berea College in Kentucky, William Goodell Frost, desperately trying to raise money for his failing institution, created a fund-raising campaign based on the idea of saving the people in the Appalachians from themselves. In an Atlantic Monthly article, Frost described the southern Appalachians as our "contemporary ancestors" waking up from a Rip van Winkle-type sleep and in need of help in joining modern America. Frost's article made mythic Appalachia and its backward hillbillies a permanent fixture in America's imaginary landscape.
Many in the southern Appalachians are certainly poor, but the poverty grew out of the vagaries of the coal market and outsiders' control of resources. Industrialists and others, however, blamed the people for their own poverty, and this myth continues because it is entertaining to the Americans beyond the mountains. Some of the region's middle-class writers continue to churn out Gothic hillbilly tales, the descendants of local-color stories.
This mythology has even been accepted by the people living here. Not long ago, one of the student counselors at West Virginia University told me that the most persistent problem she encounters is a lack of self-esteem. Bright, capable, young men and women do not think they belong in college because they are hillbillies. I have taught at a small private college in West Virginia. Ninety percent of the students were from out of state. The few West Virginians on campus huddled together in their own corner of the student union. They had become marginal people in their own state.
My own father spent his life backing up, apologizing for the space he took up in the world. He took the hillbilly stereotype to heart and all of his life believed that he was backward and inferior — a despair I, too, have been trying to escape all of my life.
The reality show that CBS is considering not only exploits my part of the world, it also separates struggling Appalachians from the rest of the American poor. If a television network proposed a "real life" show treating poor African-Americans, Latinos, American Indians, Asians or Jews as curiosities, they, and all Americans of good will, would be justifiably outraged.
Many of us in the southern Appalachians are outraged too. That's why coal miners from the southern Appalachians plan to protest "The Real Beverly Hillbillies" outside the shareholders' meeting on May 21 of CBS's parent, Viacom. It's time the people of the southern Appalachians stood up for themselves.
John O'Brien is the author of "At Home in the Heart of Appalachia," a memoir and social history.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
Our mountain heritage
I read this article today. It's from the Charlotte Observer. It's a great article and inspired me to create a Mountains category to which I'll post some things that remind me of home and the heritage there.
Their names take us on a trip through our history, our geography and our relationship with the land.
Coon Mountain … Onion Knob … Hog Hill … Never Mountain… Winding Stair Knob … and the stately Grandfather that looks down on all the rest.
Nearly 200 mountains rise above the Catawba Valley, most in western Burke and Caldwell counties. Catawba County has the least, with just a few isolated peaks breaking through the gently rolling ground.
Each mountain belongs to the Brushy, South or Blue Ridge chain. The valley straddles the Piedmont and mountain regions, with Catawba and Alexander counties and the eastern parts of Burke and Caldwell in the Piedmont, and the northwest sections of Burke and Caldwell in the mountains.
Sometimes we take our mountains for granted because they have always stood here, for us and our ancestors. We're used to a three-dimensional world that makes us feel closer to the earth.
But then we round a curve to face a mountain, and the ordinary is again extraordinary.
These hills inevitably formed us and the way we have lived. Music, traditions, personality, crime, the way we spend our time — mountains made their mark on all.
Music old and new
Of course, they inspired music, and people have written countless songs in their honor. In turn, the mountains held onto the old music styles longer than other parts of the state, due in part to the isolating geography.'Mountains inspired a sense of awe and kind of connected musicians to something greater than themselves,' said Wayne Martin, folklife director for the N.C. Arts Council who has studied traditional music for 30 years. 'It's a very romantic place.'
By the 1940s, other parts of the state started to let go of old-time string-band music in a movement away from things rural, replacing it with swing, jazz and later rock 'n' roll, Martin said. Though mountain people also embraced those new forms, even incorporated them into the old music, they never let go of the traditional sounds.
Mountain music blends styles from Scotland, England and Ireland with the black American banjo and blues, said Joe Newberry, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources spokesman.
'I like to call old-time music like a melting pot of American music,' Newberry said. 'It forms something that hits straight to the heart, and, above all, it's dance music.'
Mountain people still recite the traditional ballads that forebears inherited from their British homelands — songs that originated in the Elizabethan period, said George Holt, performing arts director at the N.C. Museum of Art.
'They were sung even on the Outer Banks 200 years ago,' he said. 'That has completely died off, yet it's a viable tradition in Western North Carolina.'
On their own
To say that mountain people are independent is like saying Americans cherish their freedom.
'There's that story, I think it was Daniel Boone — he woke up one morning and saw smoke from somebody else's chimney and said, `Rebecca, it's time to move,' ' said Terrell Finley, administrator of the Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center in Old Fort.
The mountains made their own world for people who lived here before reliable roads and the telephone and television connected them to other places.
Because the mountains had less of a stake in the old South's economy than other parts of North Carolina, many mountaineers opposed the Confederacy, said Dan Morrill, a UNC Charlotte history professor. Their land didn't lend itself to growing cotton and other crops dependent on slave labor, and many people had no money for slaves.
'The place that's least oriented to the Confederacy in Catawba County was the area around Anderson Mountain,' said Gary Freeze, who wrote two volumes of Catawba history. 'It had the fewest enlistments.'
Mountaineers mostly stuck out lean times on their own.
'I remember my father-in-law say, `We heard there was a Depression. But we grew everything we needed,' ' Finley said. 'It hurt them some but not like other places that depended on industry. … That independence helped them survive.'
Perhaps the mountains' distance from the state's centers of power compounded the isolation.
'Some people feel the mountains didn't get their just due from Raleigh,' Finley said. 'I remember when we were kids, they'd say all politicians think the world drops off west of Winston-Salem.'
Running whiskey
The mountains' relationship with illegal whiskey is well-known.Other areas of the state produced moonshine, but illegal alcohol distilled from corn mash seems forever associated with the hills.
'The thing that caused moonshiners was poverty,' Morrill said. 'I don't think it was exclusively a mountain thing at all, but there was more poverty in the mountains and therefore more moonshining.'
'Farmers used excess corn to make money,' Finley said. 'It was hard to haul enough corn out to sell, but they could load enough whiskey in a wagon to make it worthwhile. They could sell whiskey at a higher price.'
Also well documented is how the moonshine trade spawned stock-car racing.
In the 1930s and '40s, moonshine runners raced in cow pastures on Sunday afternoons in the souped-up cars they used to escape the law. Stock-car racing graduated to formal dirt tracks in the 1940s.
Hickory became the hub of public races. At first, drivers competed at what is now the Catawba County fairgrounds. Then Hickory Motor Speedway opened in 1951 and hosted racers who became NASCAR legends, including Junior Johnson, who started out running moonshine in Wilkes County.
Gold fever
The South Mountains in southwest Burke County supplied the product that spurred what's known as the Brindletown gold rush.
Weathering of the mountains in the Brindletown community freed gold from host rock and sent it into creeks, where miners panned for it, said Chris Tacker, curator of geology at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.
That gold mining, which started in about 1828, predated the Gold Rush that led people to California.
'Stuff in the paper played it up like gold was laying around in the street,' Tacker said. 'People from the eastern part of the state started looking farther afield and discovered there was gold in those valleys.'
The rush eventually died out, but people still pan for gold here.
Mountain people, perhaps more than people from other geographic areas, seem inextricably tied to the place that birthed and raised them.
The 'hollers' and hilltops they live in influence so much of who they become, whether they realize it or not.
And these mountains will be here long after they're gone.
Copyright © 2006 The Charlotte Observer, All Rights Reserved.Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
And He walks with me And He talks with me…
… And He tells me I am His own
I read this great quote recently from Frederick Buechner:
If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that he speaks to us largely through what happens to us… if we keep our hearts and minds open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize, beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear him, he is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, his word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling.
I really like this quote. For a long time, I didn't hear much from God. I used to all the time. And now I am again. Right now, I'm too muddle-headed to think back and try to figure out why or how things changed either time. But, I'm glad that he is speaking into my life again. Like tonight, as I was unpacking the truck, he answered a question I've had about some of my past behavior and whether or not it was stealing. I've waited for that answer for four or five years and it came so quickly, easily and clearly tonight. Thanks be to God!!
Some people are better able to hear God during the wee hours of the morning and others are better able to listen in the evening. I have found that I am better able to listen while I'm doing other things. Maybe that's a man thing – talking while you're doing something. Or, maybe that's a symptom of ADD. ("God, I have something important to talk with you about." "Oh, I forgot to lather my hair." "You see, God, there's this thing." "OK, I need to shave." "What should I say to them, God?" "I need to print out driving directions after I get out of the shower." "Should I wait to say that to them?" "Now it's time to rinse.") That's actually more organized than my prayers actually are.
But, I do know that God is able to sift through all the junk and hear what I'm truly saying as only a true friend can!!Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
We're back!
We are now home, mostly unpacked and we just finished supper (Thai beef salad!). We got back safely after just missing a pretty big accident on the interstate. It was a multi-car pile-up that happened just in front of us. Thanks to God for his protection over us!
The plan is to go to bed now (all of us) and wake up early (all of us, oh yeah) and start the workweek. I have to be in Fuquay-Varina in the afternoon and I have no clue where that is! Ugh… I have a feeling that it's farther away that I really want it to be. Last week we turned down a job – mostly because the potential client just didn't seem like a good fit. He was a good listener but we had a feeling that he was hiding something. But even though one of his sites was less than 5 minutes from my house, his other site was in Yanceyville. Another ugh…
Thankfully, my list of things to do isn't real long for tomorrow because I was able to keep up with my tasks while away. I love remote access! Oh, and the last server we need for our nationwide rollout is on its way! I need to confirm tomorrow but I think all of the contracts have been signed that we need for now and we have people working on the various sub-projects that are required to get this going! H! H! J! J!
Looking forward to getting back into the groove! Stay tuned for how Michael got his groove back! 🙂
BTW: We received a great compliment from my dad this weekend. He said that you could really tell the Spirit was present in our church! Thanks Dad!Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
Osservazioni di oggi
Today, as we had lunch after church with my parents and my sister and her family, this guy and his wife that my sister and her husband knew came over and spoke with us very briefly. After they left, I told her how much he reminded me of a cop. And she said that's because he is.
I can still recognize pig when I smell it.
I watched Click last night with my wife and I watched Spanglish today alone. Why do I identify with Adam Sandler so much? Well, I don't really know the guy but I identify so much with his characters. It started out with his early characters that were crazy and off-the-wall. And we've both been maturing together and now with his more mature movies, I still identify with the characters that he portrays. It seems that we run into the same situations and ask ourselves the same questions about the same choices in our lives. It's just that we don't always come to the same conclusions after we've asked the questions.
It's like a jungle sometimes It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' underRead Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )
I'm Real!!
Today I read to my son the classic book The Velveteen Rabbit. As I read it to him, a couple of passages struck me.
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. It takes a long, long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to toys that break easily, or who have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. When a child REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"I suppose you are REAL?" asked the Rabbit.
The Skin Horse smiled. "The Boy's uncle made me Real many years ago," he said. "And once you are Real, you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
That made me think of something that happened to me today. After going to a walking park near my parent's house, I decided to stop at a downtown pawn shop. I wanted to see what musical instruments they had that might work well for my son and what handguns they had available. After leaving the pawn shop for my parent's house, I drove through West End. I came to a four-way stop at the top of a hill where another car was already stopped at the intersection. We were one block away from a corner that was very "active" when I lived here. I waved the other car to make its left-turn around my truck and as the driver did so, he gave me a look that took me back over ten years. He looked kinda familiar so I don't know if he knew me or not. But, he gave me a look that I haven't seen for a while. I guess that means I've been living a sheltered life for quite some time now. I could tell when he looked at me that he did not care if I lived or died. To him, I was not a person – just a potential obstacle. There was absolutely no feeling in the look he gave me, just cold calculation.
It's a look that I encountered a lot in a prior life and one that I carried with me almost everywhere I went. It was part of my survival toolkit. I always likened it to the posturing that animals do. If you can scare a potential threat early, you can neutralize their threat. Once you inject fear or wondering or confusion into them, you cause them to act hesitatingly unless they are pathological. For normal people, this fear or confusion will give you time to maneuver. For crazy people, it will make them more likely to attack you.
As he drove around me, I immediately recalled what my reaction to that would have been and I found myself observing my reaction now. This all happened very quickly. I felt very sad for him and prayed that God would break into his heart because I knew how empty it was. I was also very thankful that God had done that for me. He filled an emptiness in my heart and changed me. He made me Real. And now, I can't become unreal again. It will last for always.
As I read the story, another passage leapt out at me:
And so time went on. The little Rabbit was so happy that he never noticed how his beautiful velveteen fur was getting shabbier, and his tail was coming unsewn, and all the pink was rubbing off his nose where the Boy kissed him.
This is describing the Rabbit's path to becoming Real. I believe that people who become Real in this manner will carry wear; they will have scars and mars, and tears from snares. I can relate to the Rabbit's testimony. It reminded me of Paul's testimony in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28:
Are they servants of Christ?–I speak as if insane–I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
Becoming Real is not an easy path. But it is a path that you do not walk alone. And it is the only path worth walking. Some struggles you encounter along the path are physical. Some are mental; some spiritual, financial, relational. But God is using all of them to work on us and create in us a new spirit. I think this is the meaning of Romans 8:28 – "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
I'm not on vacation…
…I'm simply living my life in a different location.
I used to hear people say that and it's a great concept. And, this week I got to experience it. We got home today from having spent nearly two days with friends. Granted, they live in the same city as we do. But, we spent practically the entire two days there, including nights.
It's really cool to have folk that don't irritate me when I spend that much time with them. Usually after that much time with people, you just want to go your separate ways for a while. But with this couple, things are very comfortable. It's a feeling that I've never had with a couple before. The only thing like it was how I felt about the inner crowd that I ran around with in high school. We were always together. I probably spent half my nights away from my parents' house because I was with a friend. One of my friends had a dad who was a widower and was retired. He would spend weeks away at his mountain cabin way up in the middle of nowhere. I practically lived with this guy. He had two older sisters but they were full grown with families while he was in high school. So, he basically was living by himself. I had my own clothes and toiletries at his place and it was great. In the summer, we used to wake up and go jump in his pool first thing. That was how we started each day. Around the pool, there was a fence covered in muscadine vines and towards the latter part of the summer, we would sit out there and just eat muscadines and cut up. His dad also owned a Christmas tree farm behind their house and we would take four-wheelers and drive as fast as we could through these straight lines of closely grown trees. That was a lot of fun! We would skip school and just drive to Black Mountain or Greensboro or Boone and pick up girls. I still have a few pieces of clothing that I "borrowed" from him. (And yes, occasionally I still wear them!) Anyways, I'm rambling because there are so many memories. But, it's been a long time since I've been comfortable with someone. I don't see him anymore because I mangled that friendship after high school. I'm just glad that I've gotten another chance at that with new people…
Another thought I had after the last couple of days is that I really appreciated the ability to do that. I mean it was two days in the middle of the work week. Because my wife is home with my son and because I have a very flexible work situation, it was possible to live our lives in a different location. And throughout those couple of days, my business continued to run, my customers' requests were still fulfilled and I don't think anyone probably noticed. That makes me appreciate my situation and really look forward to how things can change in the coming year based on our business plan to not only give us the freedom to do this but additional income to do this in more exotic locales than our town. Not that we didn't enjoy it (not at all), but just think if we (all four of us + chubs) had been able to spend those same two days on a cruise ship or hanging out at a B&B or (…the opportunities really do open up).
I have nothing to be ungrateful for…Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )
« Previous Entries


text: I have had the opportunity to see Marcia speak on a couple of occasions now and have been very impressed. Marcia's is extremely knowledgable with relationship marketing and gives very creative tips and ideas that the business owners can take and implement right away. Marcia is warm, funny and sincere in her delivery which makes her relatable and approachable. I highly recommend hiring Marcia for your next team meeting.Lisa Hall, Business Coach


text:
13 October, 2017
The oldest Georgian rock band emerged in 1965. Bermukha's music incorporated the elements of folk music mixed with the rhythm and blues, jazz and hard rock.
This was the first rock group who dared and played American style music in Georgia and introduced rock genre to Georgian audience.
Later, in the 1970s, similar bands against the Communist regime and
Bachi Kitiashvili, founder of the band Bermukha, was one of the first Georgian musicians who played forbidden rock music in Soviet times. He founded the band in 1965, in Rustavi, a city in the southeast of Georgia. Since then the rock group , has been popular with Georgian underground music lovers.
The band had been performing the famous foreign hits as well as their own compositions for several years. The group's mots popular hits are "Eagle" and "Today we are together."
"We have been actively performing for 12 years. Bermukha reached its peak of popularity during this period of time. We have been traveling from town to town, from village to village. We held concerts in Moscow, Sochi, Kiev, Kharkov and other cities as well.
To be honest, I am surprised that there are so many young people listening to our music today. Bermukha was so popular that there was a case when the roadroad was closed due to the flow of the huge audience attending our concert in Kutaisi (the capital of Georgia's Imereti Region). " – Bachi Kitiashvili used to recall.
Sadly Georgian rock-musician, guitarist Bachi Kitiashvili passed away after long illness in April 2016.
The legendary guitarist called himself and his band The Dissidents. Each concert held by them was expression of protest against soviet regime. Sadly the group could not record albums because they could not find sponsors at that time, so they only performed at the concerts.
Bachi Kitiashvili is still considered the father of Georgian rock music.
The footage features the rock group performing its iconic hit Eagle (Artsivi in Georgian). The performance was recorded few years ago.
Related stories:
Orion – Georgian alternative musical band on the scene
Giorgio Gomelsky – Georgian-born manager of Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin
Sesilia Takaishvili appeared in the Pink Floyd music video


text:
I've just started my third playthrough.
A few typos:
Once I do a new update will be easier if anyone has a save just before that puzzle to send me, would be good since I could test here before updating!I redid the trowel , puzzle 10. - it used to be 15x15 so I made it 10x10. It looks uglier, but it should be easier to solve.


text:
EVGA's GeForce GTX 780 Ti Classified K|NGP|N Reaches 1933 MHz Core Clock Speeds
Gabriel Roşu / 7 years ago
It appears that EVGA's in-house and world's renowned overclocker KingPin was able to shatter the previous GPU world record with a single GeForce GTX 780 Ti Classified graphic card. With some LN2 and a voltage beyond 1.5V with no additional modding, the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Classified was able to break past the previous world record of a single GeForce GTX Titan scoring an impressive 8439 3D Marks in FireStrike benchmark.
The clocks were set at an impressive 1933 MHz core and 7.8 GHz effective clock for the memory which is just shy of 2 GHz on the core. The card was pumping an impressive bandwidth of 374.4 GB/s when overclocked. The card has an extremely powerful 14+3 phase VRM design powered with an 8+8+6 Pin power configuration and placed with several V-Check Points for enthusiasts. Besides that, the card features an EVBOT connector that allows overclockers and enthusiasts to overclock and tune their cards by preference.
The heatsink itself has three aluminum fin blocks which are inter-connected via 5 or 6 heatpipes. The front of the PCB has a red colored base plate to support it while the back has a black colored plate with a huge KingPin logo. In addition to that, the card is going to feature 3 GB VRAM.
The card is expected to arrive in stores in just under a month now, but details regarding its price are still not available.
Thank you WCCF for providing us with this information
Images courtesy of WCCF


text:
Twilight of the Psychopaths
January 5, 2008
Twilight of the Psychopaths
The Canadian
January 4, 2007
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it." – John Lennon, before his murder by CIA mind-control subject Mark David Chapman
When Gandhi was asked his opinion of Western civilization he said it would be a good idea. But that oft-cited quote, is misleading, assuming as it does that civilization is an unmitigated blessing.
Civilized people, we are told, live peacefully and cooperatively with their fellows, sharing the necessary labour in order to obtain the leisure to develop arts and sciences. And while that would be a good idea, it is not a good description of what has been going on in the so-called advanced cultures during the past 8,000 years.
Civilization, as we know it, is largely the creation of psychopaths. All civilizations, our own included, have been based on slavery and "warfare." Incidentally, the latter term is a euphemism for mass murder.
The prevailing recipe for civilization is simple: Read the rest of this entry »
Bombed If You Do, Bombed If You Don't
December 12, 2007
by Ron Paul
The latest National Intelligence Estimate has been greeted by a mixture of relief and alarm. As I have been saying all along, Iran indeed poses no quantifiable imminent nuclear threat to us or her neighbors. It is with much alarm, however, that we see the administration continue to ratchet up the war rhetoric as if nothing has changed.
Indeed nothing has changed from the administration's perspective, as they have had this latest intelligence report for some time. Only this week has it been made known to the public. They want it both ways with Iran. On the one hand, they discredit the report entirely, despite it being one of the most comprehensive intelligence reports on the subject, with over 1,000 source notes in the document. On the other hand, when discrediting it fails, they claim that the timing of the abandonment of the weapons program, just as we were invading Iraq, means our pressure must have worked, so we must keep it up with a new round of even tougher sanctions. Russia and China are not buying this, apparently, and again we are finding ourselves on a lonely, tenuous platform on the world stage.
The truth is Iran is being asked to do the logically impossible feat of proving a negative. They are being presumed guilty until proven innocent because there is no evidence with which to indict them. There is still no evidence that Iran, a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has ever violated the treaty's terms – and the terms clearly state that Iran is allowed to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful civilian energy needs. The United States cannot unilaterally change the terms of the treaty, and it is unfair and unwise diplomatically to impose sanctions for no legitimate reason.
Are we to think that Iran hasn't noticed the duplicitous treatment being received by so-called nuclear threats around the globe? If they have been paying attention, and I think they have, they would see that if countries do have a nuclear weapon, they tend to be left alone, or possibly get a subsidy, but if they do not gain such a weapon then we threaten them. Why wouldn't they want to pursue a nuclear weapon if that is our current foreign policy? The fact remains, there is no evidence they actually have one, or could have one any time soon, even if they immediately resumed a weapons program.
Our badly misguided foreign policy has already driven this country's economy to the brink of bankruptcy with one war based on misinformation. It is unthinkable that despite the lack of any evidence of a threat, some are still charging headstrong into yet another war in the Middle East when what we ought to be doing is coming home from Iraq, coming home from Korea, coming home from Germany, and defending our own soil. We do not need to be interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and waging war when honest trade, friendship, and diplomacy are the true paths to peace and prosperity.
Ron Paul Speaks About the Drug War
September 28, 2007
Ron Paul is calling for an end to the War on Drugs. He cites numbers where blacks are singled out and punished more often for drug use than any other ethnic group. Thanks Mr. Paul for bringing this to our attention.
Secretly, the Federal government of the United States intentionally lets in a large percentage of drugs across the borders. The New World Order allows this to happen for the fact that it causes addiction in people, dependency to something other than themselves, weakens the mind of individuals and continues violence and chaos in society.
Occassionally, you will hear a story of a drug bust, a large one. This is done to feed the propoganda machine so they can justify their Drug War.
When you buy drugs you are essentially supporting the Federal government and their Drug War. Take away their drugs and what do you have?


text:
Computing Facilities
Computing @ IISER
The computing facility and IT infrastructure at IISER Pune caters to the requirements of all the faculty, students and staff. The institute has a robust data center comprising servers and high-end work stations for various system administration services. This is apart from the large number of PCs and workstations that serve personal computing requirements.
High Performance Cluster:
IISER Pune has various high performance computing clusters ranging from 6-TeraFLOPs to 80-TeraFLOPs based on core infiniband low latency network. There are several storage devices available providing a total storage capacity of more than 500 TB for users. Further augmentation of the facility is in progress.
The IISER Local Area Network consists of both the wired and wireless components and connects all computers in the institute including the mobile devices such as laptops. All computers in the institute have access to 100 Mbps internet connection. Most of the softwares required for scientific research and technical work have been procured by the institute, often with a campus wide license and most of them available over the IISER network.
IISER also hosts two e-classrooms funded by Govt. of India and it is connected to the National Knowledge Network (NKN) through a 1 Gbps connectivity. The NKN connects many other institutions like most of the national laboratories, IITs, IIMs and other IISERs. This facility is used to run classes for students taking courses from different parts of the country.


text:
In an effort to meet the demands of the rapidly growing mobile workforce, Cartridge World, the leading global ink and toner retail franchise, developed a one-of-a-kind mobile application, PrintWorld™. The new application, which was the brainchild of new Global CEO Steve Weedon, was unveiled at the International Franchise Expo, June 16-18 in New York City. This announcement is the first of two large-scale developments for the company.
The application launch is the first step in a strategic program developed by Weedon that focuses on catering to the ever-increasing mobile workforce, which is projected to hit 105.4 million people by 2020. The next phase of the project will be to work directly with Samsung to place thousands of printers in free Wi-Fi areas across the U.S. and, in the future, the globe. Ideal partners for PrintWorld printer placement would be transportation hubs, retailers, shopping malls and academic institutions.
Through a partnership with global technology giant Samsung, Weedon contracted the development of the PrintWorld app, which not only gives consumers access to 'print-on-the-go' technology directly from their mobile devices, but will ultimately revolutionize the printing industry. PrintWorld features the convenience of full printer functionality for hard copy printing and scanning facilities for use by anyone with a smartphone, tablet or laptop that are away from their office or normal work base location.
"The global workforce is continuously evolving and thanks to the advancements in laptop, smartphone, tablet and Wi-Fi technology, mobile and remote workers are now more common than ever," said Weedon. "To ensure the mobile workforce is able to perform at optimal levels, a lot depends on innovation in the development of mobile applications, which is what led to the concept and eventual creation of PrintWorld, the demand already exists and now the technology can support it."
Local Cartridge World franchise stores will play an integral role in maintaining printers and supporting all PrintWorld mobile – print locations. This ensures that the Wi-Fi client is free from any responsibility to the printer and can enjoy the increased mobile worker customer traffic through his store. A new revenue stream for Cartridge World franchisees is created through the app value downloads from users. The program will also be extremely beneficial to PrintWorld clients as they stand to see improved consumer perception with added convenience of on-site printing and increased foot traffic, thus driving their sales and profits.
To learn more about the Cartridge World Franchise opportunity please complete the following form so a representative can contact you:


text:
A satellite launched by South Korea's first space rocket is thought to have burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere after missing its designated orbit, officials said Wednesday.Seoul vowed to press on with its drive to become a space technology leader despite Tuesday's setback, caused by the defective operation of a fairing covering the satellite.
The science and technology ministry said one of the two aerodynamic fairings covering the rocket's tip failed to fall away, after opening in preparation for the satellite's release.
Because of the fairing's weight the second stage of the rocket could not achieve enough thrust to place the satellite in orbit. Its speed fell to 6.2 kilometres per second instead of an optimum eight kilometres per second.
Deputy science minister Kim Jung-Hyun said the extra weight also caused the rocket to steer upwards and the satellite to be released at a higher altitude than planned.
The satellite reached an altitude of 387 kilometres (242 miles).
"After reaching this height, it fell to Earth and was probably destroyed as it re-entered the atmosphere," Kim said.
South Korea had invested more than 500 billion won (400 million dollars) and much national pride in the satellite and the 33-metre (108-foot) rocket.
The first stage was built in collaboration with Russia's Khrunichev space centre. The second stage, including the defective fairings, was constructed by local engineers who also built the 100-kilogram (220-pound) research satellite.
"South Korea was in charge of the separation of fairings while Russia was in charge of overall technical assistance. Therefore the two countries share the responsibility," Kim told reporters.
"Further discussions (with Russia) will be held on this point."
The launch had been delayed seven times since 2005, most notably last week when the countdown was stopped eight minutes before blastoff.
"We can say it was half successful, though the satellite failed to enter orbit," President Lee Myung-Bak told a cabinet meeting Tuesday evening, Lee was quoted by his spokesman as saying.
"We must realise our dream of becoming a leading country in space technology, even if it takes an eighth attempt after seven failures or a ninth attempt after eight failures."
Korea Aerospace Research Institute expert Chae Yeon-Seok was more upbeat.
"Despite the glitch, this was a success as all main systems including the two brand-new first and second-stage rockets operated normally," Chae told AFP.
North Korea, smarting at the UN Security Council's censure of its own April 5 rocket launch, had vowed to closely monitor reaction to its neighbour's launch from Goheung on the south coast.
Washington and its allies said the launch by the nuclear-armed North was a disguised test of a long-range missile. South Korea limits its own missiles to a 300 kilometre range under an accord with its ally the United States.
US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday the South's space programme had been developed "in a responsible manner".
The nation has previously sent 10 satellites into space using launch vehicles from other countries.
In November 2007 it announced an ambitious plan to launch a lunar orbiter by 2020 and to send a probe to the Moon five years after that.
South Korea unveiled the lunar project one month after China launched its first lunar orbiter and two months after Japan did the same.
In April last year Seoul sent its first astronaut into space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.
Breitbart (Estados Unidos)


text:
It has been about a year since Paul went to LA to film with Eva Martino for "Mothers Day". We now have a update from Variety Online about the film release date which will be around Mother's Day in 2016. Read below for the details released so far.
Screen Media Films has acquired U.S. rights to the drama "Mothers Day," starring Courtney Cox, Rosalyn Sanchez, Susan Sarandon and daughter Eva Amurri Martino, Sharon Stone, Christina Ricci and Paul Wesley, Variety has learned exclusively.
Screen Media is planning on a second quarter release that will be tied to Mother's Day on May 8, 2016.
Lotus Entertainment will be taking meetings with international buyers during the American Film Marketto continue to sell foreign rights.
"Mothers Day" is Paul Duddridge's feature film directing debut, with Nigel Levy co-directing. The script by Paige Cameron is based on a concept by Duddridge.
The production company is Siempre Viva Productions in association with Aloe Entertainment and Mass Hysteria Entertainment. Producers are Danielle James and Amy Williams, who are both working mothers.
The story is focused on a rock photographer who is riding a career high when an unlikely and unexpected pregnancy forces her to turn her lens inward and see her relationship with her estranged mother with fresh eyes. Through a series of photographs documenting motherhood in all its varieties, she considers what it means to be maternal at all.
#paulwesley #mothersdayreleasedate #mothersday #paulwesleymovie #evamartino