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Leh Ladakh is a place like no other. Bounded by two of the world's powerful mountain ranges, the Karakoram and the Great Himalaya, it lies athwart to one another, the Ladakh Zanskar range and the Ladakh range. The beauty of place can not be described in words, one need to get down to this place to know and see how beautiful this place is. So how about catching last minute flight to India to visit this city, which is heaven on earth. This place holds so many surprises that one can't stop awing. It's the epitome of scenic beauty, once you are here you won't find any place better. Well if you don't believe our words, get down to see Best Places in Leh Ladakh and confirm it on yourself.
Here are 20 twenty best places to visit in Leh Ladakh which sure will confirm that this place is no less than heaven.
1. Pangong Lake
Pangong lake is one among the most popular places to see in Leh and is located about 160 kilometers away from Ladakh. The drive to this lake is one amazing experience offering scenic views. The lake is crustal blue, blessed with weather too pleasant throughout the year.
Be here and enjoy the solitude near the waters of this magnificent lake. Take out your cameras and capture the scenic beauty of this place which is too serene to relax and feel best. Also you can spot here black necked Siberian, this is the only place of breeding for these migratory birds which are very rare.
2. Magnetic Hills
Popularly known as the "Gravity Hill" Magnetic hills are located near Leh in Ladakh gives one a lifetime experience. The hill bewilder it's optical illusion thus making one question the existence of gravity.
There are different approach to why it is called the Gravity Hill or the Magnetic Hill. Some believe the magnetic force in the area to be so strong that it is capable of pulling cars uphill. In fact, Border Roads Organization has made painted boxes on the roads for the visitors to see the magic.
Others believe that that there once was a pathway that led to heaven. Whatever the notion may be, the magical hill is worth a visit.
3. Khardungla Pass
This Khardungla Pass is loacted in the range of Ladakh, and it is one of the most beautiful and world's highest motorable pass. On the top of this plass you may feel headache and vomiting which will affect your brain's activity. So we would advised you that before starting a trek to this highest pass you may have to drink some black tea which will help in maintain your brain active. On the top you can capture mesmerizing views which make your trek more memorable.
4. Shanti Stupa
In this world, which needs peace a lot, this white beautiful and quite Shanti Stupa on a hilltop which is situated in Chanspa, Leh district, provides unobstructed, fabulous view. This white beauty in the middle of the snow let's one experience a breathless moment.
5. Nubra Valley
Trekking on the colossal, rocky trails of this valley is an exciting experience as it is located near the banks of the Nubra river. Nubra Valley which is also famous for it's camp ground is a place where one can get lost in it's majestic beauty.
This valley also is named as valley of flowers which has some of the most vibrant, beautiful and colorful flowers set in the middle of lush green landscape.
6. Tso Moriri Lake
Wanna have jaw dropping experience? Then pack your bags and plan a trip to Moriri Lake which is an absolute pristine and
Stunning lake with mountains, cool winds and sunshine, all together offering a spectacular view. This is one wonderful place to visit in Leh. For a much better experience you can stay at camps there.
This lake is a sister counterpart of the Tso Pangong lake measuring about 100 feet in depth and about 28 kilometers in length. This lake in situated inside a Wildlife Sanctuary which is home to nomadic yaks, cows and goats.This lake imparts intense mind peace with eye soothing experience.
7. Lamayuru Monastery
This monastery is royal, most ancient and interesting one of Ladakh, situated at a distance of about 125 Kilometers from Leh. It is very beautiful and is enveloped by the dusty rugged mountains. It comes in the way when one move towards Kargil from Leh. It's a good drive to witness the scenic snow caped mountains. This Monastery is one among the must to see places when in Leh.
8. Diskit Gompa
If you are the kind who keenly are interested in going in depth into history then this is a perfect place for you to be in and upgrade knowledge. Diskit Gompa which also is known as Dikshit Monastery is the oldest and the largest surviving monastery in the Nubra Valley of Leh.
Standing on top of the hill, above the flood plains of Shyok River, Gompa captivates one with it's flawless beauty.
9. Kargil
Interested in the history of the Kargil War? Yes, then you must visit Kargil, also it falls among the most suitable destinations to visit in Ladakh. It is famous for the popularly known Kargil War. Kargil is located near the LOC, Line of Control, between Indian and Pakistan. Kargil is the second largest town in Ladakh after Leh which is situated along the banks of Indus river. Get here to bow down to the war heroes and pray for their family.
10. Royal Leh Palace
This amazing place is one of the beautiful places to visit in Leh Ladakh. The entire place is surrounded by the amazing beauty of nature. Ladakh is far famed for this place as it has snow capped mountains & valleys. This Royal Palace is one of the most visited tourists attractions in the city of Leh. This palace consists nine stories which make this one of the tallest structures. Here you can enjoy the outstanding views of Stok Kangri. The architecture of the building witnessed the finest example of medieval Tibetan Architecture.
11. Alchi Monastry
This monastery is situated in the Alchi village which is placed in the left side of the Indus river. It is one of the best attraction of the village as it is the holiest place of the Ladakh. The Choskar temple consist five shrines and adorned with some wall paintings. The entire wall is features with the miniature pictures of Buddha. You will love to visit this amazing place.
12. Gurudwara Pathar Sahib
It is another one of the beautiful places to visit in Leh Ladakh. This Gurudwara is situated 25 miles away from Leh in the area of Ladakh. This place is famous by the Guru Of Sikh religion, Guru Nanak Dev Ji which accepted to overcome an evil presence. This gurudwara is loved by the Buddhist people too. You must have to visit this sacred place to take blessings of God.
13. Sangam Point
Sangam point is one of the most favourite place of tourist. This point is famous as two rivers Indus and Zanskar river meet at this place. The zanskar river is frozen and the water of the Indus river is too hot which make this place an amazing sight. You can enjoy here the majestic views and the collision of two river which look outstanding.
14. Tso Kar Lake
It is another most visited attractions of Leh Ladakh. It is also termed as White Lake which is one of the high height saltwater lake across Ladakh. The white salt of the water stores on the shores of lake that's why it is termed as the White Lake. Here you can see the best bird watches as the range of the lake has good amount of birds and wildlife.
15. Hall of Fame
It is another best place to visit in Ladakh. It is one of the most visited and must see attractions across the Ladakh. As thousands of tourist visit every year. The Hall of Fame is located near to the Leh Airfield. It is an exhibition hall which consists the memories of the Indian Army warriors who had passed away in the war of Indo-Pak. Even the name of the hall is named on the memories of the war saints. Here you will realize the remembrance of the Indian Army, their weapons and lot of pictures.
16. Thiksey Monastery
It is another beautiful monastery of the Buddhism religion. It is situated in the Thiksey village which is placed 19 km east to Leh. In same area, large number of buildings are dedicated to various set of people. At this place don't miss to visit the statue of Maitreya which is 15 meters high. It is one of the the largest statue across Ladakh which covers2 stories of the buildings. The pictures of buddha are painted and carved in the walls which influence the value of gompa.
17. Hemis Monastery
The architecture of the Hemis Monastery make this place must visited attractions of Ladakh. It is a reputable site which is reconstructed by Sengge. The entire place is adorned with lush green valley which make this site most beautiful. The interior of the monastery is adorned by large number of gold statues which are decorated by the precious and rare stones. In the months of May or June, the people of monastery celebrate annual festival which is dedicated to the Lord Padmasambhava. He plays an important role with this monastery.
18. Drass Valley
Drass Valley is also known as the "Gateway to Trek". It is one of the best places to visit in Leh Ladakh. The barren brown mountains will provide the mesmerizing views of the intense beautiful nature. In the winters, here you can feel freeze as the temperature will get too low. Here you can enjoy the hot water springs, and amazing sights of the bank of Drass river.
19. Shey Monastery
This monastery is famous because of the magnificent metal statue of Buddha and one among the places to must visit in Leh. Also it is the second largest statue in the city of Ladakh.
20. Namgyal Monastery
There is another monastery which is a must visit when you are in Leh Ladakh. This Monastery is worked by King Tashi after the reunification of lower and upper Ladakh and triumph over Hor.


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Tired: The Hell of Trading Sleep for Work
We're trading sleep for work at an alarming rate—pun intended. Every time a busy American entrepreneur bemoans the pace of a crazy, caffeinated life, puts a little hemorrhoid cream under the eyes to take down the bags, or resorts to moisturizer-and-makeup-Armageddon-plan-C, a little devil gets…Read More
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The Art of the Interview and Image(s) – MMRT Facilitator Shawn Beltran
When interviewing potential clients, it is important to start with a few questions: What qualities do you want this employee need to have? (Behaviors) What are the essential qualifications for the position? (Skills, degrees, experience) Where are you going to find this person, or how…Read More
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subset: commoncrawl


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Tourist Information
The history of Aarhus goes all the way back to the early Viking Age when a small settlement called Aros was founded at the mouth of the Århus Å river. From those beginnings the town grew to become an important trading centre during the Viking Age, surrounded by an earthen rampart and a moat.
In 1201 the first stone of the Cathedral was laid, and the city started to expand outside its original area. It is still possible to follow the borders of the old town, and the streets named 'Volden' (the rampart) and 'Graven' (the moat) show the location of the old borders.
The centre of Aarhus is known as an enjoyable shopping area, and a fascinating cafe environment by the river forms the basis for the lively student life that characterises the city today.
For more information on Aarhus, please visit: www.visitaarhus.dk.
Travel information Aarhus Airport - www.aarhusairport.dk
Travel information Billund Airport - www.billund-airport.com
Travel information Copenhagen Airport - Copenhagen Airport
ARoS, Art Museum - www.aros.dk
Open-Air Museum - Den gamle By - www.dengamleby.dk
Moesgaard Museum (Archaeology and Ethnography) - www.moesmus.dk
Varna Mansion - www.varna.dk (in Danish only)
Nordic Choir and Cultural Festival - www.nkkf.dk


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Gambling is indeed one of the oldest ways of recreation and merry making. it won't be wrong to say that casino onlinehas become the latest fad, which is why one can easily find sun dry casino that are doing the round over the internet. In this small post we bring you myriad benefits of online casinos and how you can make the most of it. If you are someone who loves to play casino then online casino is no less than bait where you can easily try hands on the various game at a time. If you are not acquainted with all this then don't worry sit back on your favourite couch and justglide your beautiful eyes to understand the nuance of the online casino.
One can easily find numerous online casino but it is advisable to choose the astutely so that you can make more money and at the same time it will help you to stay entertained. It is one of the most appealing games where one has to find the different games under the sun. one can easily find numerous games that re doing the round in the souk therefore it become important to choose the best game that will help you to get the maximum rewards and pay offs.
Well it is very easy to dip the dough on the right casino, and if you are looking forward to find the best casino then you are at right stop where you will get complete and detailed information that will help you to choose the best casino that will help you to have the great casino experience. If you are completely unaware then on how to choose online casino then you is at right stop as here we bring you step wise procedure to sign in in any Casino online.
Step wise break down signing in an online casino!
- Go on the register page of the website, the money you will click on the link it will take you to the new page, where you have to fill the correct information.
- It is advised to fill the information correctly; otherwise your account will become void. Make sure to give correct information.
- Give your bank details; you need to have active bank account.
- Once you are done with all this then submit the token money and enjoy the game.


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Give Me Your To-Do List .
Whether you're looking to make a major renovation to your home or you've accumulated a list of small repair projects, This Handy Man can can get it done for you..
My experienced team is committed to handling every job whether small or large with complete dedication and an eye to quality. We believe in giving our customers the best value possible. So although you'll get top-notch materials and workmanship you'll find that my prices are extremely competitive. Don't just take my word on this - I urge you to talk to my customers and compare prices.


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BTB's Week 1 Power Rankings--Top Ten Teams
1 - New England Patriots (reigning Super Bowl champions): They are the greatest team of this generation, have the best coach, and employ the best quarterback. There's no reason for them to not be at the top right now.
2 - Kansas City Chiefs (the fighting Pat Mahomes'): The hype around the Chiefs this season is very real, and why shouldn't it be? Pat Mahomes looks like the quarterback that will dominate the league for the next decade, plus KC just reunited LeSean McCoy with Andy Reid.
3 - New Orleans Saints (is this the year?): I'm a firm believer that it's extremely difficult to play at an elite level year after year. New Orleans has dealt with postseason heartbreak in each of the last two playoffs. Maybe this is the year, but Drew Brees' age is worth monitoring.
4 - Los Angeles Rams (losing the Super Bowl sucks): The Rams didn't exactly load up this offseason like they did last year and Todd Gurley's knee is very much worth watching; however, Sean McVay is Sean McVay. Until we see otherwise it's fair to believe.
5 - Dallas Cowboys (holdouts be damned): I've said many times over the last months that I believe Dallas to have a top-five roster in the NFL, and that means they're a top five team. The Cowboys begin with three not-necessarily-intimidating games and that could propel them to a strong start to the season. Believe.
6 - Philadelphia Eagles (they're very good): Philly also has one of the best rosters in the NFL, but they were swept by the Cowboys last year. It's illogical to regard them as better without any 2019 data in my opinion. The NFC East will come down to America's Team and the bad guys, it should be fun.
7 - Los Angeles Chargers (also experiencing a holdout): Death, taxes, and Chargers getting hurt. Somehow though Phillip Rivers generally finds a way to overcome and even with players already banged up and Melvin Gordon not showing up, the Chargers should be in contention once more.
8 - Seattle Seahawks (adding a pass rusher helps): The Seahawks won the Jadeveon Clowney sweepstakes and amazingly sort of re-made their pass rush in one offseason. Moves in the eleventh hour still count which means Seattle is ready to roll for the season opener.
9 - Cleveland Browns (there's a lot of hype): I'm skeptical of putting the Browns this high, but they do have a lot of talent. It will be very interesting to see how Cleveland handles all of these expectations.
10 - Pittsburgh Steelers (they still exist): The only true loss for the Steelers compared to last year is Antonio Brown, although that's obviously a lot of production. People act like they're going to drop off a ton, but Big Ben always finds a way to remain competitive.
Imagine that! Cleveland rated higher than Pittsburgh!


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Unique Fire & Security Ltd
Mr Bradley Williams
Skills & expertise
- Alarms / Security
Skills & expertise
- Alarms / Security
Company info
Unique Fire and Security Ltd is a local family run company based in Poole, Dorset with coverage across Dorset, Hampshire and surrounding areas.
We are specialists in the Installation, Design, Maintenance and Service of all types of Electronic Fire and Security Solutions including Intruder Alarms, CCTV Systems, Access Control, Door Entry and Fire Alarm Systems to name a few.
With the latest testing equipment, up to date training and fully qualified security screened staff, the company provides a professional installation and maintenance service to homes and businesses across the South West. We use only the latest technology and equipment available to ensure the most reliable and effective solutions at all times to protect your home or business.
Unique Fire and Security Ltd is also an SSAIB Approved Company, (Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board) which ensures you that any work carried out by ourselves will therefore be carried out in compliance with the current British and SSAIB Standards. A certificate of compliance will be issued on completion ensuring you that the installation and on-going maintenance has also been certified in accordance with ACPO Policy (Association of Chief Police Officers), which is supported by insurers.
Contact details
- Domestic Work
- Commercial Work
- Free Estimates
- Free Estimates (excl. Insurance)
- 24 Hour Call-out
- Insurance Work Undertaken
Works in
Bournemouth, Poole, Weymouth, Dorchester, Blandford, Dorset, Wilts and Hampshire.
Vetting Status
Fully Vetted Trade
Accreditations and Memberships
Unique Fire & Security Ltd are a member of SSAIB
Design, Installation, Corrective and Preventative Maintenance of Intruder Alarm Systems in accordance with the requirements of PD 6662


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Are you committed to a low carb, whole-foods lifestyle, but have trouble keeping up with the extra cooking? While we do, indeed, have the most control over the ingredients in our food when we prepare it ourselves, the majority of us have busy lives and are not able (or even willing) to cook every meal from scratch. A little extra planning and prep can really lighten your load!
One of the simplest ways to make your life easier in the kitchen is "bulk" cooking. Of course, you could hire a personal chef, but that's not in the budget for most of us! I learned early on as a food professional about the advantages of preparing foods in quantity. It takes almost the same amount of time to prepare and clean-up a meal for 2 as it does for 8 or 12. My philosophy is that if it takes more than 30 minutes to prepare, I'm going to get more than one meal out of it!
In addition to saving time and knowing what ingredients are actually in our food, cooking from scratch and bulk cooking have two more big advantages. First, it saves a lot of cash! Second, that savings enables us to invest in higher-quality ingredients, for example: pastured meats, locally-sourced foods, and organic foods. While these are not necessary to effectively follow a low carb way of eating, the quality of our ingredients can often make a difference in terms of health and taste.
Successful bulk cooking includes properly storing your creations so that they will be fresh and tasty for as long as possible. I'm going to share some pro tips I learned from my years as a professional chef and caterer. You'll find that in nearly every recipe on this blog I will give suggestions for "leftovers" or extra portions for that particular item.
What the Heck is This?
I'm going to put this out there right now — you must mark each item with the contents, as well as the date it was prepared. I know this may seem like a hassle of an extra step. I know this because I, myself, used to store unidentified objects thinking that I would absolutely remember what they were when I went to use them. Now, perhaps your memory is better than mine, but unless an item was particulary identifiable, I wouldn't even know what it was, much less how long it had been in there. That's less than appealing when we're simply trying to find something good to eat without a lot of effort. Bulk cooking is a waste of time and money if we don't use what we make. And we probably won't use something if we don't know what it is.
The good news is that it takes just a minute to label your portions. If I'm using a bag, I write on the bag (using a permanent marker ) what the item is, the date I stored it, and sometimes the quantity (i.e., "8 oz or 2 cups"). For all other storage, I use a piece of freezer tape (like this) with the same info scrawled on it, also with a permanent marker. Regular masking tape won't work and it's can be difficult to remove later. Freezer tape adheres well, but is easy to remove. You'll want to use the marker and/or apply the tape before the item is frozen (it won't work very well once it is frozen).
Keep it Airtight
Whether you're storing food in the cupboard, the refrigerator, or the freezer, packaging it properly in an airtight fashion will always give you the best result. Keeping out as much air as possible will keep items fresher, reduce "off" flavors, and help prevent freezer burn. My food storage arsenal includes plastic and freezer bags (zipper-style), heavy-duty foil, disposable aluminum pans, BPA-free storage containers, and glass storage containers. Vacuum-sealed bags are good, too. My vacuum sealer machine broke a while back, though, and I haven't bothered to replace it, although I might at some point. If you have one, by all means, use it.
- Plastic and Freezer Bags (zipper-style). Regular plastic bags have their uses, but for freezing, they don't protect food as well as freezer bags. Sometimes I will use non-freezer plastic bags or plastic wrap for portion-size servings and then transfer those individual portions to a larger quart- or gallon-size freezer bag for better protection.
- I use bags frequently for freezing stocks, soups, stews, and sauces because it is the most efficient way to store them. I fill the bags, carefully pressing out excess air before sealing, lay them flat on sheet pans, and freeze until solid. Then I transfer the frozen bags to plastic bins, stored on end, kind of like index cards. That makes it easier for me to sort through them and they're not falling all over the place.
- When filling bags with liquids, I will fold over the top edges of the bag to give it more structure and to keep the zipper-area clean so it will seal well. I'll often place the bag in a tall-sided bowl, so it doesn't tip over easily while I'm filling the bag.
- Heavy-Duy Foil and Disposable Aluminum Pans. I use a layer or two of foil to wrap large items that don't fit well into plastic bags or containers, a large roast, for example. It's also useful for covering disposable aluminum pans (like this and this). These kind of pans are great for dishes like casseroles, and can go straight from the refrigerator or freezer into the oven for reheating. I cover the pan with foil, then insert the cardboard lid on top for rigidity. I remove the cardboard lid before reheating, though.
- Storage Containers. I prefer containers made out of freezer-safe BPA-free plastic or glass that have snug-fitting plastic lids and are stackable. In general, rectangular containers are more space-efficient than round containers.
- I do like to use round glass jars, such as mason jars, for storing items in the refrigerator or freezer that can fit in the door shelves. They are quite airtight and are good for condiments, sauces, nuts, and seeds. I keep various sizes on hand, and I prefer the straight-sided "wide mouth" style. They're easier to fill and to clean. I also have some French-style "working" glasses with lids that are useful (like this and this). They're stylish, though a little more costly than mason jars.
- Choose a container that will be mostly filled with food to minimize the amount of air in the container. However, when using containers for freezing liquid items, be sure to leave a couple of inches at the top so the contents have room to expand.
Take Steps to Preserve Texture
- When storing an item in the refrigerator, be sure it is completely cool before covering or wrapping. If there is residual heat, condensation will develop and can cause dampness and contribute to poor texture. If the item is temperature sensitive, be sure to transfer it to the refrigerator within an hour (for food safety), but leave it uncovered until it has finished cooling.
- Chill everything thoroughly in the refrigerator before you freeze it. The colder the item is, the smaller the ice crystals will be when it freezes. This will help maintain ideal texture, as well as help prevent freezer burn.
Is This Still Good?
- If a home-prepared item needs to be refrigerated, the general rule in terms of food safety is to consume it in within 5 days (counting the day you prepared it). Some items may be safer for longer keeping because of the types of ingredients they contain.
- Just because it's safe to eat within 5 days, doesn't mean a food will be at it's best for that long. Some items might be at their best for only a day or two before the texture, flavor, or scent suffers. For instance, seafood is usually best used in a day or two. Our recipes will usually state if there's a period of time within which something should be used for best results.
- For purchased food items, "sell by" or "use by" dates on things like milk and eggs, are guidelines. Even if something is within the sell-by, use-by, or within the 5-day rule, I still use a little protocol that I learned in culinary school when I pull something from the fridge:
- Look at it. If it looks funky (just not right), toss it.
- Sniff it. If it smells funky, toss it.
- If it looks OK and smells OK, but you're still not sure, taste a tiny bit. If it tastes funky, toss it.
- You'll want to do these steps in order, so you don't end up tasting something funky that you could have ruled out by giving it the eyeball and sniff tests first! 😉
- Just as some items can end up being questionable before the sell by/use by dates (depending on how they were transported or stored before you purchased them), some items are still perfectly fine well after those dates, especially unopened dairy products. Eggs are usually good for 4 to 5 weeks after the "pack" date. Use the same criteria I listed above — don't just pitch the stuff out just because the date has passed. My husband will do that, and it drives me crazy! I sometimes have to chase him away from the refrigerator the night before the trash pickup or he'll start throwing things away willy nilly! On the other hand, if it's a canned item that's been in your cupboard for years and is well past the use-by date, just pitch it. Even canned things can go bad (coconut milk, in particular) over time.
- An exception to the look/sniff/taste goes for purchased items where the seal or container has been comprimised. Either return it to the store or pitch it. In this case, it's better to be safe than sorry.
- If an item contains nuts or seeds, they are usually fine at room temperature for up 3 to 4 weeks, but I prefer to keep them refrigerated or frozen to preserve freshness. Nuts and seeds contain mostly polyunsaturated fat, which is the most unstable type of fat, so they will develop off-flavors and become rancid fairly quickly at room temperature once opened.
- As for how long items can be kept in the freezer, refer to these handy guidelines.
A Few Tips for Organizing
I've found it quite helpful to group like items together, especially in my refrigerator and freezer. That may sound kind of obvious, but it's easy to simply jam things on to shelves where ever there happens to be an opening. If you have certain shelves, bins, or baskets that are designated for certain types of things, it can really cut down on items getting lost or forgotten, as well as the frustration level when you know something is in there, but you just can't find it. It also helps others in your household, such as your husband/wife and kids, find things more easily, although it can sometimes be a challenge to have them put things back where they belong!
- In my refrigerator:
- Less temperature-sensitive condiments, such as pickles, olives, mustard, nut butters, are stored in the door shelves/bins. For other more temperature-sensitive condiments, such as mayonnaise and dressing, I place them together in bins that are the depth of the one of the shelves. It's easy to pull them out when I need something, and I don't have to remove layers of items to get to items in the back.
- Cheeses and cooked meats are in the same drawer.
- Fresh meats and/or seafood are kept on the lowest shelf in the refrigerator on a rimmed tray keep them as cold as possible and to catch any drips.
- Leftover meal portions that I don't plan to freeze are kept together on a lower shelf as well.
- As I don't keep much fresh fruit, except for lemons and limes or perhaps a few berries when they're in season, I use most of my 'fresh' bins for veggies. I keep the sturdier items on the bottom, and the more delicate items layered on top.
- In my freezer, I group together on shelves and in bins:
- Stock, soups, stews, and sauces
- Cooked and ready-to eat meats and seafood
- Casserole-type items
- Uncooked meats and seafood
- Vegetables and berries
- Nuts, Seeds, and Baking Flours (almond, coconut, flax, etc.), usually in the door
- Low carb baked items, such as cookies and scones, are wrapped separately, but kept together inside a larged covered storage container, as they are more delicate and prone to freezer damage.
I hope these storage and freezing tips for bulk cooking have been helpful. If you have any questions, or tips of your own, please share them in the comments section below. We love to hear from our readers!
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A city in the state of Connecticut, Middletown is located in the Middlesex County, directly parallel to the Connecticut River, situated in the central region of Connecticut. The city is 16 miles directly south from Hartford. Middletown, which was previously known by Mattabesek, a name give to it by the native Indians, it was also incorporated in the very same name. The name of the town changed to Middletown in 1653. Upon the establishment of[…]Read more
Category: Towns
About Wethersfield
A little town in Connecticut, Wethersfield is located in Hartford County. The town is directly south of Hartford, parallel to the Connecticut River, also accessible by Interstate 91. According to numerous statistical records from the Colonial times, the name of the town was repeatedly spelled as 'Weathersfield', and the town was called 'Pyquag' by the Native American settlers. "Ye Most Auncient Towne in Connecticut" is the Wethersfield's motto and according to the general consensus report[…]Read more


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Loose Parts Play
The Full Loop Kit
The Loop can be reconfigured by children using hook-and-loop fastening straps. Metal plates and bolts are also included for utilizing the Loop as a fixed structure.The Snug Loop is available in three combinations: the Full Loop, the Compact Loop, and the Loop Ring.
- Part NumberSNUG-FLP
- Weight286 lbs


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Get your copy of Networked Journalism: What Works - Lessons from Nine Collaborative Journalism Pilot Projects
Event Details
Three years ago, J-Lab funded nine pilot projects that invited eight newspapers and one public radio station to partner with at least five indie news start-ups in their communities. Now the results - and lessons learned - are in. The nine hub newsrooms grew their networks from 44 partners to 169. Final score: five wins, two hits, two losses.The project was funded by the Knight Foundation.
"Paradigm-changing," David Boardman, The Seattle Times
"Transformative," David Shribman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Order a copy of this book for your newsroom, your classroom, or yourself!
J-Lab is the Institute for Interactive Journalism


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Mike Patton is a man of many talents, most notably a wide vocal range in both key and style. While the public generally knows him as the front-man for Faith No More and, to a lesser degree, Mr. Bungle, Patton has created and contributed to dozens of other music projects across the genre spectrum.
DJ Qbert is heralded as a local hero of modern-day turntablism, and is almost as prolific as Patton when it comes to collaboration. His ability to pull a whole world of sounds out of a vinyl record is something that never ceases to impress, with many shows featuring projections that make his quick hands the focus of the event.
Special guest opener Money Mark, well-known for his production with The Beastie Boys, demonstrated a number of homemade music creation devices involving piano rolls, feedback and vocal manipulation, with a set that was equal parts workshop, concert and science fair.
Without even knowing what they would experience at the event, fans of the artists snapped up all of the tickets for Friday's performance, causing the show to sell out within hours, with a Saturday show added shortly after.
Mike Patton and DJ Qbert's collaborative performance was all of the over place musically, with Qbert laying down many of the packing tracks, beats, and all kinds of sounds, and Patton growling, shrieking and singing over the additional noises he made. Classic tracks from Patton's 'Peeping Tom' project were performed, as was original material concocted with Qbert, and Money Mark joined in to add to the controlled chaos.
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"Stop, these are my people too."
Statement by a white male directed to a group of other white males tormenting some Americans of South Asian descent with shouts of "Go back the country you came from."
Happy Birthday to my beloved sister Maryann and to her son Brendan.
On Wednesday morning, I helped Naida take her books to the booth at the State Fair. Many other authors were there also checking in. I got to meet several of them. They were a friendly lot. They all asked me whether I had written a book. When I told them I had not, they insisted I get on with it and write one — then they tried to sell me their books. One woman had been an opera singer who had lived in Florence for a while. She writes books about tales she picked up while living there. We discussed, in Italian, things Italian.
I left the fair and drove off to Peter and Barrie's home in the City by the Bay.
Soon after my arrival at Peter and Barrie's house and following a brief discussion with them on the state of the world and of our health, I took a nap. That evening, we went out to dinner at Bacco's, a local upscale Italian restaurant, and enjoyed a delightful meal. I had gnocchi as I usually do when I go there. I think they prepare the best gnocchi of any restaurant I have tried in Northern California. After the meal, we spoke a while with the hostess an Asian-American woman who is co-owner of the place along with her husband, a native Italian immigrant. We shared memories of Italy and discussed good food and the high prices of everything in the Big Endive. I began eating at that restaurant when I lived in that neighborhood over forty-years-ago before the current owners bought it from the original proprietor. The quality of the food remained high over all those years, but the prices have climbed even higher.
The next morning, I said goodbye to Peter, Barrie, and Ramsey and set off to the UCSF complex on Divisadero. I had my immunotherapy infusion there. That was followed by a CT scan which, after it is analyzed, will tell me whether the immunotherapy is keeping cancer in check. If not, then it may become time to begin chanting Kaddish. I then returned to Sacramento. Usually, Naida drives most of the way, but since she was selling books at the fair, I drove myself. It was difficult to keep from nodding off and by the time I got back, I was so exhausted I went right to bed.
The drive back and the side effects of the treatment wasted me for the next day also. After seeing Naida off to the Fair, I ate breakfast and then went back to sleep and slept dreamlessly until mid-afternoon. I then ate lunch, walked the dog, typed this, and returned to bed.
I do not recall how many days have passed since I last wrote here, one or two or maybe more. Today, Naida again is off to the State Fair and the authors' booth selling her books. I spent most of the day in front of the television following the coverage of He Who Is Not My President's racist attack on the "Squad," the four first-term Congresspersons and women of color. One commentator on CNN had what to me was the most interesting observation when he pointed out the media must separate the President's comments which were undeniably racist from the media's tendency to concentrate on the political implications of the inevitable give and take in the responses to it.
"Everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story."
Rothfuss, Patrick. The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle Book 1) (p. 658). DAW.
More days pass. In this the time of my decrepitude, as my memory slowly shreds, I find the quiet contemplation of nothing enjoyable. In the past, I could never get into meditation or even the idea of quiet contemplation. It would irritate me. If I had nothing to do, I would prefer taking a nap, reading, throwing stones into the water, starting an argument or shouting at someone — things like that. I could not understand going so far into myself that the maelstrom of my senses, the screaming of my id or the constant preaching by that little voice within that is always with us would go silent and somehow that would make me better, happier. If there were not something out there in the world around me upsetting me or demanding my attention, I don't think I could feel completely alive — Now, however, not so much. Now, when I sit on a bench along some path in the Enchanted Forest, the dog laying and panting at my feet, I smile, confident that whatever harangue or flight of fancy the voice within me obsess on, it soon will be forgotten. That thought cheers me up now. Perhaps your inner voice enjoys happy talk. Good for you. Mine, alas, is a complainer. Always telling me how I screwed up or how I would fail at what I planned on doing. I guess for me, I should consider it one of the few upsides to my decrepitude.
Today I felt quite chipper so Naida and I set off for the State Fair. It was not her day to man (woman) the Authors' booth so I felt a bit bad asking her to join me. I had never been to the fairgrounds when it was open, so I was eager to see what it was like. We parked in the employee-exhibitor parking lot, crossed over the levee that separated the parking lot from the fair and entered the fairgrounds.
During the past decade the State Fair, like most of the county fairs in California, has suffered a long decline in attendance, revenue, and public interest caused in part by the decline in family farms over the past forty years, and the more recent changes in the public's entertainment preferences.
The size of the fairgrounds surprised me — it is huge. There is a number of very large two and three-story buildings scattered helter-skelter around the site. Some are barns where the animals are kept and judged, others contain stores, various booths like the authors' booth and indoor exhibits such as the school children's art and the handicraft competitions. There are two separate carnival sites with rides and the like. There are several large entertainment venues, a race track, a raging waters swimming complex and much more. All of it cannot be visited in one day — seen perhaps but not enjoyed. We had a good time visiting the cattle shed, viewing the pygmy goats, browsing through the stores, spending some time at the authors' booth, eating a lot of odd food, examining some of the arts and crafts exhibitions and watching a juggling show at one of the other outdoor theaters. Alas, our age caught up with us and by the late afternoon, exhausted, we stumbled back to the parking lot, drove home and collapsed onto our reclining chairs.
I am becoming used to old age. And by old age, I do not mean that time when you first realize you are getting old and tired, and feeling creepy and irritable. Rather, I think of old age as when you can no longer see your use-by date in your rearview mirror; your diminished memory ceases to be an amusing irritant and you find hours and whole days lost from recall; and you become acutely aware that you suffer from some dread disease that may or may not soon kill you. Although most of the experience is not something you would tell to your grandchildren as bed-time stories, old-age has a surprising upside. No, the upside is not that it all may soon be over. Nor is it that strangers sometimes go out of their way to be helpful to you in your decrepitude. (I used to hate that. When some younger person would, for example, hold the door for me, I used to want to brain him with my cane. Now, I smile. Not because I admire the gallantry, but because I feel I am getting away with something.) No, I find something else pleasing about getting very old.
When we were younger the good is usually good while it lasts while the bad only too often piles up on our backs growing heavier and heavier until we either die or experience some form of psychological surgery. Youthful love is thrilling, but when it is over it often becomes merely a gossamer of a memory. A broken heart, on the other hand, often lasts forever. The tattered memories of old age, at least in my case, allow me to forget the bad, the good too, but I always have. So, I find myself, as a whole, happier.
Old Age also allows me to be garrulous. I should be embarrassed but I am not. I amuse myself knowing the person reading or listening to my endless patter does so for the same reason as the younger person who holds the door for me. On the other hand, if they don't, I am miffed — another benefit of old age — the ability to get away with childish behavior while knowing we are no longer children.
Having read the above three paragraphs, I realize I have too much time on my hands. Rather than erasing it and saving myself from embarrassment, I think I will walk the dog and sit on the bench for a while.
I did and I feel better now, so I turned on the Rachel Maddow Show.
A few days later, Naida and I set off for the Fair to deliver some copies of her books. It was a hot day. We parked in the exhibitor parking lot, loaded a box of books on a hand-truck and set off for the Authors' Booth about a mile away. We passed the animal barns and judging pens. I could not see which animal species were being judged that day, but I certainly could smell them and see their droppings everywhere we walked. After we dropped off the books and headed back to the car I felt faint. I had not eaten lunch. It was now four in the afternoon. Happily others appeared from somewhere to assist me whenever I seemed to stagger a bit and Naida demonstrated, once again, that women are more capable and robust than men by guiding me back to the car, providing liquid refreshment, and after we got home serving me a nice dinner while I sat like an ancient salami in my favorite chair.
I watched Fritz Lang's "How The City Sleeps" with Dana Andrews, George Sanders, Thomas Mitchell and Howard Duff pirouetting drunkenly through the noir movie. (yes they all were, much to Lang's distress, often dead drunk when they arrived on the set.) It was set in NY or Chicago I couldn't tell which.
Then we went to bed. While lying there, I described to Naida an article I had read recently about Vikings.
Apparently, sometime between the ninth and eleventh centuries, an Arab traveler had, during his journey, visited a Viking tribe living in what is now northwest Russia. He wrote about his voyages especially the time he spent with the Vikings. He considered them savages. He observed that the Viking warriors were generally drunk from morning to night. He described seeing a drunken warrior die in front of him while drinking a cup of dark ale or whatever. He wrote at length about the horrid funeral rituals performed at the death of their chieftains. It was no Hollywood production featuring a craggy-faced Kirk Douglas lying on his boat with his sword clutched to his chest and fire tipped arrows arching gracefully through the blue-black evening sky while loud brassy classical music blares in the background. No, not at all. It was ten days of slaughter, rape, drunkenness, and savagery. The chieftain was buried temporarily for ten days while his burial clothing was made. The tribe divided his property — one-third to his family, one-third to the other chieftains to pay for his funeral and one-third to be cremated with him. One or more of female slaves were chosen to be raped multiple times every day by the surviving chieftains. On the tenth day, his body was exhumed, dressed and laid on his boat along with his wealth and his weapons. Dogs and horses were slaughtered, carved up and thrown onto the boat containing the chieftains cadaver. Then the slave girl was raped again multiple times by the chieftains, dragged by her hair to the boat, her throat cut, and her body thrown onto the vessel to lie there with the bodies of the chieftain, the dogs, horses, other slaughtered slaves and the chieftains wealth while it is all set ablaze. True or not, quite an image.
After I finished, Naida recited a portion of a poem by Longfellow:
"While the brown ale he quaffed,
Loud then the champion laughed,
And as the wind-gusts waft
The sea-foam brightly,
So the loud laugh of scorn,
Out of those lips unshorn,
From the deep drinking-horn
Blew the foam lightly.
"There from the flowing bowl
Deep drinks the warrior's soul,
Skoal! to the Northland! skoal!"
Thus the tale ended."
A little later, she reminded me that we had not taken our evenings dose of pills. We then each took the multitude of pills and medicines that are the sad lot of the aged and downed them with water. After I finished drinking my glass of water, for no apparent reason but terminal silliness, I decided to sing:
Keep a-movin' Dan, don't you listen to him Dan, he's a devil, not a man
and he spreads the burnin' sand with water.
Dan can't you see that big green tree where the waters runnin' free
and it's waiting there for me and you.
Water, cool clear water.
We sang the rest of the song together — at least those lyrics we could remember. Then we went back to bed and slept well until morning.
The following morning, Naida returned to the Fair and I spent the day wondering what I was going to do with myself. I did receive good news. The results of my most recent CT scan arrived showing no growth so far in the cancerous tumor.
Last Friday HRM messaged me that he had hurt his foot while performing some tricks on his scooter. I was not concerned, considering whatever injuries he suffered were those simple bruises that life gifts you with to warn you that you are becoming too old for some activity. Two days later upon hearing that he was still in pain, I set off to the Golden Hills to visit him and see what's up. I found him sitting in his new bedroom fashioned out of the old family room in the basement of Dick's house. Jake was there also and no one else. They were playing video games. He said he felt much better and could walk around now without pain.
His new room had begun to take on the aura of a teenage boy-cave. A large Bob Marley banner covered one wall. The desk against another wall by the sliding glass doors had the names of the members of what I call the Scooter Gang carved helter-skelter in the top. There were Haden and Jake of course and Kaleb, Hamza, Tyson, Ethen and a few others. Inscribed among all the other names, I was surprised to see mine there or rather my nickname, Pookie, that they all know me by. I am pleased that at 80 after a hiatus of more than 60 years, I have once again become a member of a teenage gang — well, I doubt they consider me a member, more like a mascot, I suppose.
H's mom arrived and immediately ordered them out to get some exercise. As we left they asked me to drive them to Jake's house where they could resume their video games and whatever else teenagers these days use to spend their time.
As with any sunset, the sunset of our lives needs a good place to sit in order to enjoy the view.
Remember to always take care of yourselves and keep on truckin.
We should never forget, some of the guiding principles underlying fascism, Trumpism, and the religious and conservative right are:
1. "There are no facts, only ideology."
(And, when one scrapes away the pseudo-intellectual veneer, what that ideology comes down to is "power," how to get it, wield it, and keep it.)
2. "There is no morality only religion."
3. "There is no compassion only transaction."
4. "There is no love only desire."
5. "There is no peace only order."
6. "There is no mercy only philanthropy
7 "There is no freedom only obedience."
8. "There is no humanity only data, assets, consumers, and laborers."
This is the fourth and I hope the last post describing a critical event in the passage of the California Coastal Act over 40 years ago. The previous post ended with the Governor saying, "Well Senator what's your problem now?"
The Senator did not answer immediately. Instead, he sat there for a moment and looked around the room as though he was searching for help. Then in response, I assume, to a signal from the undertakers, he turned back to the Governor and said, "Governor, I need some time to discuss this."
"Take your time Senator. We'll be right here waiting for your answer," the Governor replied.
With that, the Senator got up out of his chair and along with the undertakers left the room. The rest of us remaining in the room broke up into small groups and the buzzing of our conversations replaced the quiet. The Governor whispered something to the Chief of staff then remained silently sitting at the table, unmoving. This struck me as a little unusual since I have always known him to be a bit of a fidgeter. I resumed conversing with our little group. We avoided talking about what had just happened neither did we speculate on what may be being discussed by the Senator and his cronies a few feet away. Instead, we passed the time in nervous small talk, about families, the weather and the like — every now and then glancing at the doors by which the conferees had left.
I no longer recall how long we stood there waiting. It could have been as much as twenty minutes to a half-hour or perhaps even more. The doors finally opened, the conferees piled back into the room, the whispering ceased and the Senator announced, "Governor, we can support the bill only with the following five non-negotiable amendments." The Senator handed a piece of paper to the Governor.
The Governor took the paper handed to him, glanced at it briefly, turned, gave it to me, and said, "Here, can you guys live with this."
Along with the Executive Director and the Lobbyist for the supporters of the legislation, I examined the handwritten note. As far as I could see, it appeared as though neither the Senator nor the undertakers had read the legislation through because four of the five non-negotiable demands seemed either irrelevant or covered in other parts of the bill. The fifth, however, appeared more significant. While it did not call for any material changes in regulation policies, jurisdiction or authority, it did require a significant alteration in administration, one that would need logistical changes in the operations of the agency, and, of course, more staff. Nevertheless, it was livable and in my opinion, far more detrimental to the interest groups proposing it, then to the agency forced to administer it. After reading it through at least twice, the Executive Director and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, turned back to the Governor and said more or less in unison, "We can live with this."
At this date, I do not recall if there was a muted cheer or just a collective exhale of breath. The Governor, however, was not finished. He turned to the chief spokesman of the undertakers and said, "You heard it. Now that we have reached agreement release the rest of your votes," and handed him the telephone.
The chief spokesman dialed the floor of the Senate which was still in session and asked to speak to a specific Senator. The Senator eventually came online. The Chief Spokesman said, "We have an agreement here. You are free to vote for the bill. You can tell the others." The Senator responded, "Thank God" and hung up the phone. At that point, there seemed to be a release of the collective breath in the room. Handshakes and smiles broke out among almost everyone except the undertakers. The Governor did not partake in the spontaneous celebration, but following a brief word or two with the Senator and the Spokesman turned and, with the Chief of Staff in tow, strolled up the ramp and out of the room.
The Non-negotiable amendments were placed into what was referred to as a "trailer bill" and it also passed.
There you have it. After more than a decade, the efforts of thousands of people and the expenditure of millions of dollars, it all came down to a few people in a room, some lies, a bit of theater, lots of exaggeration, and a bagful of coincidence and luck. That's often how laws are made — — like sausages, but not as sanitary.
"UBUNTU" in the XHOSA culture means: "I am because we are."
A. Tuckahoe Joe's Blog of the Week:
"Usually, conspiracy theories are for losers,"
University of Miami professor Joseph Uscinski.
During my periodic searches through the internet for arcane and interesting (to me at least) blogs, I came across one by someone named Jason Colavito entitled interestingly 'Jason Colavito.' (http://www.jasoncolavito.com/). Colavito is an author and editor based in Albany NY. He specializes in the critique of authors and commentators who are crazy. At least to me, they are either crazy or dishonest. They are those people who write books or articles claiming things like, alien visitors created early human civilization, chemtrails are a deep state assault on us all, or the Illuminati conspiracy folderol is real. They use half-truths and at times outright lies in order to persuade the gullible to buy their books, alternative medicines, gold coins, computer currency, and other claptrap they may be selling.
They spring from the same fetid swamp as conspiracy theorists, patent medicine salesmen, far-right politicians, and Fox News commentators.
In a recent post entitled, "David Wilcock Claims YouTube Is Part of an Anti-Trump, Population-Reduction Plot," he smashes into Wilcock, someone I have never heard of, like The Hulk into a building. Here is the opening paragraph of the post:
"David Wilcock hasn't been having a very good couple of years. Only a few years ago, he was the third most prominent ancient astronaut theorist* on Ancient Aliens, behind Giorgio Tsoukalos and David Childress, and he was one of the biggest stars of the Gaia TV streaming service, which featured hundreds of hours of programming from him. He also had a lucrative line of books and DVDs and a speaking tour. But then Wilcock made the critical error of turning subtext into text. With the exception of Tsoukalos, nearly all of the Ancient Aliens crew and their colleagues are right-wingers, but they manage to keep their conservative ranting mostly confined to short asides in YouTube videos and tweets. Wilcock, on the other hand, has been outspoken in his embrace of the most extreme pro-Trump conspiracy theories, including both Pizzagate and Q-Anon, and he has proudly declared himself a recipient of Russian propaganda, which he repeats uncritically. Between this and his contentious departure from Gaia, even the brain trust behind Ancient Aliens finally cut ties with Wilcock, who has not appeared on the show since Wilcock refused to participate in their episode interviewing John Podesta, whom Wilcock considers part of an anti-Trump, child-raping alien death cult."
One of the things I like about Colavito is his writing style. It is almost as bad as mine. I notice his last name, like mine, indicates an Italian heritage. As a result, like Italian prose is often written, he strings his sentences together into paragraphs of operatic magniloquence (I apologize, I could not resist). Most English speakers prefer a more leisurely and sparer style. One stretching out the story over several paragraphs — perhaps even over whole books. But I digress. Colavito continues:
As Wilcock's platforms have collapsed around him, his claims have become more extreme as he "programs to the base" and attempts to develop a smaller but more intensely loyal audience for his self-produced products. In his latest blog post, whose six parts form a 51,000-word eBook, Wilcock has fully embraced the Q-Anon conspiracy theory, and he has extended it to the recent efforts by YouTube to clean up the video-sharing service by altering its algorithm to display fewer conspiracy theory videos. Wilcock has declared this action to be the work of the "Deep State." "And, as we so often like and need to do," he wrote, "this initial phase of the story will expand into a vastly more interesting mega-conspiracy as you read on." Oh, don't they all.
I like Colavito. He goes after those that hide in darkness — those conspiracy theorists, who prey on the gullible and whose success encouraged the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and other purveyors of malice and hate.
Over the past year or so, YouTube has come under fire from a wide range of advocacy groups and law enforcement agencies for its algorithms, which by design direct viewers to progressively more extreme content in the hope of keeping viewers watching for as long as possible. This resulted in many viewers being directed to white nationalist content, extreme conspiracy theories, and content that sexualized young children. YouTube officials took steps to reduce the prominence of this content earlier this year after a wave of negative stories in the media. They did not eliminate the content, but they made it harder to stumble across unknowingly, and they also removed advertising revenue from some videos that did not meet their decency standards.
In his massive blog post last week, Wilcock likens this action to the music industry, which he accuses of deliberately killing off rock-n-roll for nefarious reasons, leaving only … Papa Roach? "Since the 1990s, there has been little to no financing, development, promotion or exposure of new rock bands of any real prominence, other than a handful of examples like Papa Roach," he wrote, nonsensically. I hesitate even to begin to think about what is going on inside Wilcock's head, particularly since we know that he remains fixated on what he called his traumas and mental illness during his adolescence in the 1990s, as he chronicled in The Ascension Mysteries. This might seem like a laughably silly digression on Wilcock's part, but one of his overarching if wrongheaded themes is that pro- and anti-alien conspiracy theorists use popular culture products to deliver secret messages to the public. He typically associates this with science fiction movies and TV shows (he believes the series finale of Game of Thrones was a psy-op conspiracy, for example), but here he extends the idea to music acts beloved by himself and his father, a onetime music critic. Music he doesn't like becomes part of an evil conspiracy. In this case, he follows some conspiracy theories suggesting that elites purposely designed hip-hop to promote criminal behavior in order to oppress African Americans.
Colavito ends his post with:
The last third of his blog post / eBook endorses every bizarre aspect of the Q-Anon conspiracy theory and then attempts to link it to Tom DeLonge and To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science, which he sees as fighting a battle against the Deep State to reveal the truth about … well, not quite UFOs. Wilcock picks up on DeLonge's embrace of the ancient astronaut theory to argue that the real truth is that space aliens are also fallen angels and that they had an outpost in Atlantis from which they meddled in human affairs, sort of like super-Russians plotting a thousand Trumps.
It's all too much, really. The volume of his conspiracy theories is mind-numbing, but the ease with which he abandons his supposed beliefs as soon as they become inconvenient is all too typical. He believes that he has a right to have major corporations promote his belief that they are all run by child-raping demon aliens, and he is mad that the corporations have decided not to put up with him anymore.
On a sadder note, Wilcock said that he has "very few acquaintances" apart from his family, his manager, and his "creative team." That he describes none of them as friends is perhaps sadder than realizing that there is a "creative team" behind his seemingly dada verbal diarrhea.
I bet you never knew something like this existed in the dark underbelly of our nation. An entire industry of deranged lunatics crawling through the sewers of America desperately hoping to infect the rest of us with their peculiar derangement.
I regret that only a few lonely difficult to read and understand commentators like Colavito confront these people in their dank dens. Respectable pundits seem to shy away from challenging them. Perhaps they dismiss them as irrelevant. Perhaps they are embarrassed to engage with those they consider absurd and dishonest. Nevertheless, we should never overlook the fact that almost every pernicious, fascist and violence provoking political movement begins with those in the shadows whispering make-believe conspiracies and specious histories to the gullible and poorly informed.
* Is third most prominent ancient astronaut theorist something one would, or should, aspire to? For that matter, is first?
B. Trenz Pruca's Observations:
Conspiracy theories are the improper application of correlation to causation developed usually by those with pecuniary or malicious intent and designed for consumption by the ignorant, naive, and foolish.
C. Today's Poem:
This poem is very close to my heart. It is written in a poetic form called Villanelle, a rather complex rarely used poetic format. Wikipedia describes it as follows:
A villanelle, also known as villanesque, is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third line of the first tercet repeated alternately at the end of each subsequent stanza until the last stanza, which includes both repeated lines. The villanelle is an example of a fixed verse form. The word derives from Latin, then Italian, and is related to the initial subject of the form being the pastoral.
Dylan Thomas' poem, "Do not go gentle into that good night," also is written in that form.
My Darling Turns to Poetry at Night
My darling turns to poetry at night.
What began as flirtation, an aside
Between abstract expression and first light
Now finds form as a silent, startled flight
Of commas on her face — a breath, a word …
My darling turns to poetry at night.
When rain inspires the night birds to create
Rhyme and formal verse, stanzas can be made
Between abstract expression and first light.
Her heartbeat is a metaphor, a late
Bloom of red flowers that refuse to fade.
My darling turns to poetry at night.
I watch her turn. I do not sleep. I wait
For symbols, for a sign that fear has died
Between abstract expression and first light.
Her dreams have night vision, and in her sight
Our bodies leave ghostprints on the bed.
My darling turns to poetry at night
Between abstract expression and first light.
D. Mopey's Musings:
Terry suggested I read an article that examined storytelling and death. I post portions of it here in order to include it in my morning contemplations about what it is I should be doing now.
"I began to wonder whether the secret to a good death wasn't looking forward, but peering backward — whether retrospective examination might be more therapeutic than prospective preparation. I thought of how often I'd focused solely on helping patients navigate the future: how many weeks or months of life they might expect, which procedures they should or shouldn't consider. These discussions, while important, fail to address what research has revealed about the deeper wants and needs of seriously ill patients."
"Nearly 20 years ago, a seminal study in the Journal of the American Medical Association explored what patients and doctors feel is most important at the end of life. Many responses were predictable and consistent across groups. Both doctors and patients, for example, thought it was important to maintain dignity, control pain and other symptoms, and have one's financial affairs in order."
"But where physicians and patients diverged is telling — and suggests both a missed opportunity and a path to progress."
"Patients were far more likely to express that it was important to feel that their life was complete, to be at peace with God and to help others in some way."
"In other words, to feel that their lives mattered."
"A growing body of work suggests that a powerful but underused method of creating this sense of mattering is storytelling — reflecting on the past and creating a narrative of one's life, what it has meant, who you've become and why…"
"In a 2018 study, researchers assigned veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to engage in either five 30-minute writing sessions in which they reflected on traumatic experiences, or a rigorous 12-week program of cognitive processing therapy (CPT), a first-line treatment for PTSD. The study found that the short writing sessions were just as effective at reducing PTSD symptoms as the resource-intensive CPT program."
"Other work suggests that the particulars of storytelling matter. Simply looking back and listing life events doesn't seem to help. It is the constructing of a narrative — exploring linkages, formulating a plotline — that's critical for arriving at a coherent sense of self…"
So that has been what I have been up to for the past 10 years — writing T&T and preparing to die. I guess that beats obsessing about it — although I do that too.
E. Apologies, Regrets, and Humiliations:
I have two apologies, regrets and humiliations from my previous post:
1. In that post, I wrote that Naida's book was titled "Girl of the West." I was totally embarrassed when she pointed out to me that the name of the book that I had been working on with her these past few months is actually called, "Daughter of the West." I regret the error and apologize to her and to everyone else I may have misled.
2. Also, Madelyn Glickfeld pointed out that in the story about the passage of the Coastal Act, I wrote that Mr. West's request that "In the future, you don't have to call, a letter or email will do," could not be correct because email was not in use back then. She is correct. I recall West mentioning a letter and something else. Email was obviously not it. I will correct it in the final version. I apologize, regret the mistake and am, once again, humiliated.
"Next time he asks, have Lisa tell him that I'm no longer human. And that is why I cannot sleep with anyone any longer. Have you ever seen statistical theory making out with Newton's first law of motion?"
Sergey and Marina Dyachenko. Vita Nostra. Harper Voyager.
This chart demonstrates that at least from the 1980s, and probably all the way back to the 1940s or 50s, Democratic presidents replacing a Republican administration have received declining economies upon their taking office. As a result, they spend the first years or so of their presidency turning the economy around. Having successfully revived the economy, the Democratic administration then passes the now healthy economy on to their Republican successors, who promptly cut taxes for the rich, take credit for the health of the economy and then when the economy collapses again pass it on to their Democratic successors who then must concentrate on rehabilitating the economy rather than on the social programs on which they ran for election. This is no way to run a country.


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I've already explained how our bathrooms are unparalleled in quality (and cleanliness), but today I'm here to tell you about another thing that makes The UC Theatre so special – our food. The UC Theatre is dedicated to only using locally sourced produce, fish, and meat, and you can definitely taste the difference. Even though we're surrounded by the countless culinary options Berkeley has to offer, many still opt for "The UC Theatre Pizza" when looking for something to eat before or during a show.
Think I'm biased? Hear what some of our satisfied customers had to say:
"Just tried the food, hands down this is the best venue food ever at great prices… Maybe because it's newly renovated and recently opened or maybe it's because the owner is out and about throughout the show, or maybe it's just the provider. Whatever it is, the food is truly good and even better it's at great prices."
"Individual shrimp pizza had tons of shrimp which was cooked perfectly. No hints of fishy, rubbery clues that lead you to believe it was previously frozen. This is no Sysco food."
Clearly I'm not the only one with an appreciation for above-par venue food!
Our wide (and delicious) food selection is just another thing that makes The UC Theatre so special, and if you haven't had a chance to try our famous UC Theatre Fries yet, I definitely recommend doing so next time you're here.


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SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia hit a 6 week high on Friday on news overnight that the ECB was injecting more stimulus into the economy, and a shaving of official interest rates by 10 basis points.
Positive overtures by both China and the U.S. on trade tariffs also helped sentiment.
"Risk assets should find further support from accommodative policies, which are set to remain in vogue for some time, and not just in Europe as seen in the global easing trend," Esty Dwek, head of global market strategy at Natixis in Geneva, Switzerland was quoted by the Reuters Thomson news agency as saying.
"Nonetheless, we believe that trade uncertainty and growth concerns will not vanish, so any reprieve on either subject will be welcome. We also believe that some earnings growth will be needed for equities to grind higher," she added.
The U.S. dollar was under pressure in Asia, probably undergoing a bout of profit-taking.
At the close of trading on Friday, the Nikkei 225 in Japan was ahead 228.68 points or 1.05% at 21,988.29.
In China, the Shanghai Composite rose 22.42 points or 0.75% to 3,031.24.
The Australian All Ordinaries climbed 11.40 points or 0.17% to 6,777.10.
The euro rose sharply, to topple the 1.1100 level earlier in the Asian session. By the Sydney close, and as Europe had begun trading, the EU unit had settled back at 1.1084, still well ahead of its New York close.
The British pound strengthened to 1.2404, while the Swiss franc jumped to 0.9886.
The Canadian dollar was little changed at 1.3221. The Australian dollar was a tad higher at 0.6872, while the New Zealand dollar was a fraction lower at 0.6399.
Overnight on Wall Street , the Dow Jones rose for the seventh trading session in a row, adding 45.41 points or 0.17% to 27,182.45.
The Standard and Poor's 500 strengthened 8.64 points or 0.29% to 3,009.57.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 24.79 points or 0.30% to 8,194.47.


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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
break from the norm (no pun intended Norm). DJ goes solo for the first time as RedKorn and Rookie both flake. A bit of a bounce between flakes, rude people and hearing the same joke for hours at a time.Things also take a bit of a serious turn as DJ goes down the rabbit hole alone and possibly has a moment of temporary weakness. Next week we'll be back to normal we promise.
Intro: "Yours to Keep" from the album "Songs of the Great Collapse" by John Frickin Smith. Purchase song and album on iTunes or at http://www.johnfrickinsmith.com/
Don't forget to hear our one on one interviews, leading up to our all-together finale with Rob from the Random Ramblings w/Rob podcast at http://randomrobcast.com/podcast
Next week's sexy street fight will be between Kathy Bates and Rosanne Barr(for real this time hehe). Leave us a voicemail or hit us up on social media to let us know your pick.
Don't forget to visit our sponsor, Boss Boxes, a monthly gaming subscription box with specialized boxes for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Check them out at https://bossboxes.store/ and use the promo code 'JNTBAG' for 10% off.


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Without compromising on high academic quality, we are proud of our broad and rich curriculum which offers creativity and opportunity for all through a genuinely holistic approach.
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There are many activities to choose from outside the classroom and everyone has the chance to perform in music or drama or play for one of our school teams. Our after school club provision is exciting and offers a wide range of opportunities for students to further develop their interests and talents.
Deepdene is a terrific environment to learn and 'grow up' in. At the very centre of all we have to offer is the happiness and personal development of each and every child. To fully capture the essence of what Deepdene is really about I absolutely welcome the opportunity to meet with you and your child and would be delighted to show you around the school. Please do enjoy our website but do come and visit.
Nicola Gane


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The haunting beauty of the mourning jewelry
May 13, 2016
There are two sides of Black in this world.
First one- black as color that our eyes see, found in every day use, art, fashion, classy but simple, peaceful but bold color. Mystery and fear, magic and glamour.
And there is the second black- The Mourning Black.
DEATH has always been important part of history, and in different times and different cultures it was presented in various ways- from fearing it to celebrating The day of the Dead, even worshiping dead and death in cults.
Latin saying "Memento Mori" (Remember that you will die) originated in Rome, and than gained popularity in Europe in the 14th century, the time of the Black Death (plaque epidemics in Europe).
Since the 15th Century the Ars Moriendi or the �Art of Dying� had been a recognized model for the ideal death. And after a period of scepticism during the Enlightenment of the 18th Century, Victorian era happened.
VICTORIAN ERA was period, roughly (1830s to 1900s) that brought many changes in fashion, including changes in clothing, architecture, literature, and the decorative and visual arts. But it's often recognized as period that has been marked with specific kind fascination with death, and developed love for the beauty in darkness.
Post Mortem photography of the deceased displayed as alive and surrounded by relatives, or displayed in artistic surrounding as living model, songs dedicated to the dead, architecture and interior designs- everything became monument and sign of admiration and grief.
Accepted opinion is that the public adopted mourning fashions when in the 1861. Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria died. The queen's mourning imposed on all the British court. Also, it was period of high mortality rate.
After the mid-19th century, men would wear a black hatband and black suit, but for only half the prescribed period of mourning expected of women. Widowers were expected to mourn for a mere three months, whereas the proper mourning period expected for widows was up to four years.
Women who mourned in black for longer periods were accorded great respect in public for their devotion to the departed, the most prominent example being Queen Victoria herself.
Since medieval times, skulls and skeletons were popular motifs, as well as hourglasses, urns, willow trees, forget-me-nots and weeping eyes. In the first stages of mourning a widow was only allowed to wear black clothes and jewelry, which led to the trend of jet jewelry(Jet is black fossilized driftwood, mined in Whitby, England).
Another form of more personal memorial jewelry was hair jewelry-rings, pendants, brooches that contained the hair of the deceased. There were several different styles-little braids of hair with different decorations such as gold, pearls, gemstones; hair shaped into lace motifs, miniature portraits and scenes made using hair... In later periods when rise of photography begun, lockets with a photograph of the deceased and hidden hair with carved date of death or verses from poem became more popular.
Main materials used were pearls, as they were considered to respresent tears, jet, gold/silver or bijoux-depending of the financial power of the owner, and gems. Dried flowers, another symbol of lost beauty were used too.
This personalized jewelry was a way to keep a part of a loved one with you forever, containing beloved lady's silky locks, little braid of strong gentlemen's hair, or kid's soft curl. Many skillful jewelers with brilliant ideas made unique pieces, for eternal memory to remain- signed and sealed in the haunting beauty of mourning jewelry.
I hope that you have enjoyed this article, tell us about your impressions in comments bellow.
*Disclaimer: All images found on Google.
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Of course :)
4 years ago
Yeah, using bits and pieces of dead people's last possessions! I would use the last note my aunt wrote to me before she died, and I would wear it forever!
4 years ago
Would you consider modernizing it a bit? Using small items that belonged to the deceased instead of hair?
4 years ago
@Gaelira- Thank you :) @Jazzy- I'm glad you enjoyed it! @Imorgen- Yes, silly Victorians... No- at least not bijoux inspired by mourning jewelry. But I would design silver/gold pieces with real hair of the passed, crafted by hand in old techniques - so it would be authentic and truly unique. @Feline- I will do my best to find more interesting themes for future texts! @Wiccana- Welcome to my site! :) Your comment reminded me of belief that one should not wear memorial pieces, if not mourning-reportedly it brings bad luck. :P Just kidding, I'm glad you liked article. @Demons- You will, just relax and enjoy life and it will happen ;)
4 years ago
You just don't get that level of devotion nowadays :( I would die to feel as strongly about someone that I would keep a piece of them with me forever
4 years ago
I just LOVE mourning jewelry!!! I even made some pieces for my personal collection :D And your article is amazing, good job
4 years ago
I had no idea! This is just fantastic discovery!
4 years ago
Victorians where adorably creepy :D Great post, love it! Are you planing to make some jewelry inspired by this?
4 years ago
A, I love costume history! It was my favorite subject at uni :D Really good article!
4 years ago
Gaelira Gwealon
Amazing blog post!
4 years ago
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Opinion: One Of Donald Trump's First Victims May Be The Hungarian NGOs
- 11 Jan 2017 1:00 AM
A few hours after the publication of the article, Szilárd Németh, one of the deputy chairmen of Fidesz, announced the government's intention to get rid of "the pseudo-civilians" of the Soros Empire. In Németh's vocabulary, "pseudo-civilians" are foreign political agents who represent the "global plutocracy and the world of political correctness above the heads of the national governments.
These organizations should be forced back, and, I believe, they should be thrown out. I feel that the international opportunity for such a move has arrived." The "international opportunity," of course, is the election of Donald Trump, as Péter Krekó, an associate of Political Capital, a think tank of political scientists, pointed out to The Guardian.
The announcement of the government's intentions regarding foreign-subsidized NGOs was not unexpected. Just before the holidays Orbán gave an interview to 888.hu in which he was quite explicit about his feelings toward the NGOs critical of his government. According to him, they are being used by antagonistic powers and their agents, like George Soros, to advance their own interests in foreign countries. Therefore, these organizations must be banished.
Not only Hungary will move against them, but "all countries" in Europe. The year 2017 will be about Soros in this sense.
"One can feel it coming when each country will trace the source of these monies; they will find out what kinds of connections exist between them and the intelligence communities; and which NGO represents what interests…. [2017] will be about the extrusion of the forces symbolized by Soros." One cannot be more explicit. The only question was just when in 2017 the onslaught would begin.
It is unlikely that Donald Trump will be upset if Viktor Orbán follows in Vladimir Putin's footsteps. In 2012 Putin introduced a law requiring non-profit organizations that receive foreign donations and engage in "political activity" to register and declare themselves to be "foreign agents."
George Soros recently wrote an opinion piece in project-syndicate.org in which he didn't hide his feelings about the president-elect, whom he called "a would-be dictator." He described Trump's cabinet as being full of "incompetent extremists and retired generals." He predicted that "Trump will have greater affinity with dictators," which will allow "some of them to reach an accommodation with the US, and others to carry on without interference."
Soros's attack on Trump naturally elicited counterattacks on the financier by the pro-Trump media. Articles appeared with headlines like "Soros and Other Far Leftists Instigate Revolution against Trump," "Billionaire Globalist Soros Exposed as Hidden Hand against Trump," "Busted! Soros-Backed Pro Clinton Group Caught Funding Violent Protests," and many more. Orbán can rest assured that no one will be terribly upset in Trump's White House or State Department about the harassment of Hungarian NGOs. Under these circumstances Orbán can feel pretty safe.
By the time Orbán gave his interview to 888.hu, initial plans for the elimination of NGOs were already in place. On December 14, Zsolt Semjén, who serves as Orbán's deputy, sent a modification proposal to a 2012 law on non-governmental organizations to the president of the parliament, which apparently will discuss and most likely enact it into law before April. One of the important changes is that "officeholders of non-governmental organizations" will have to submit financial statements just like members of parliament.
What's wrong with such a requirement? In the first place, salaries of officials of nongovernment organizations have nothing to do with the public purse. Second, knowing the Hungarian government's practices, it's likely that the Hungarian Internal Revenue Service would immediately begin to discredit those people who are seen as standing in the way of the government.
In addition to this change, there is a vaguely worded reference to "the legal environment of the civic association" that will be rewritten. For the time being, officials of NGOs have no idea what this means, but "in light of the Orbán interview" it is worrisome that the proposal includes references to "the adoption of solutions that have worked" in other countries. The fear is that the Orbán government has Putin's solution in mind.
NGO officials believe that the elimination of organizations will take place in stages. First, the usual character assassination will take place after the submission of financial statements. Second, the NGOs will have far more administrative obligations, which will take time and money away from their useful activities. As a third step, the government might accuse them of espionage and treat them as sources of danger to national security.
They could be accused of treasonous activities against the legitimate government of their own country as agents of foreign powers.
According to rumors, behind the scenes the Hungarian government has been trying to convince George Soros "to limit his presence to the financing of the Central European University" and to stop giving any more grants to the 60 or so organizations that are the beneficiaries of his generosity.
For the time being, it looks as if neither the Open Society Institute (OSI) nor the NGOs are intimidated. They insist that they will continue as before. In the first place, some of these organizations, like Transparency International (TI), receive only a small fraction of their funding from the Soros Foundation. In fact, one of TI's largest contributors is the European Union.
The director of TI, József Martin, can't imagine that the government would dare to ban TI because by this act "Hungary would remove itself from the community of free countries." In Martin's place, I would be less sanguine that Viktor Orbán cares what the community of free countries thinks.
The Hungarian Helsinki Commission gets about a third of its budget from OSI. In addition, it receives financial help from the European Commission and the United Nations High Commission. Its position, I believe, is less secure than that of TI. After all, it deals with human rights, something that leaves Viktor Orbán and his friends cold. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) is unfortunately heavily dependent on the Open Society Foundation.
Szilárd Németh's announcement of the government's intentions to eventually eliminate NGOs prompted the usual protestations from the left. MSZP couldn't come up with anything more original than the demand that "Szilárd Németh must leave public life." Sure thing. He will rush to oblige. DK reminded Viktor Orbán that, no matter how strong a feeling of affinity he has for Vladimir Putin, "this place, in the Carpathian Basin, is not called Russia."
In the past, we kept trying to convince ourselves that surely this or that move of the government would not be tolerated by the European Union, the Council of Europe, or the Venice Commission.
Be it the new constitution, the media law, or the building of a nuclear power plant on Russian money by a Russian company that received the job without competitive bidding. And what happened? Almost nothing. A few sentences were changed in the constitution. So, let's not try to shift the burden to the EU. There is only one way to put an end to this nightmare: to get rid of Orbán and his minions in 2018.
Source: Hungarian Spectrum
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