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David Rains Wallace admits that for years he never really noticed California's dry, empty spaces. It wasn't until 1983, when writing about a Central Valley riparian woodland on the Kern River, that his attitude shifted from indifference to curiosity. Prior to that, whenever the award-winning nature writer found himself crossing California's deserts he dismissed what he saw as an enormous vacant lot rather than a living landscape. In Chuckwalla Land: The Riddle of the California Desert (280 pages; UC Press), he explains this transformation. Wallace's revamped attitude toward the desert and its denizens took shape during a serendipitous side trip […]
Month: May 2011
Other Voices, Other Rooms
by editor
BookExpo America has wrapped up, so now we can sift through the rubble of lanyards and business cards, of wine-stained plastic cups and mistakenly pocketed linen cocktail napkins, and see what stands out: The big book of the convention sounds like it might be Jeffrey Eugenides new novel (coming out in October), The Marriage Plot. Here are nine other "hot" books from BEA, including the Bay Area's Adam Mansbach's "Go the Fuck to Sleep." (Its pub date has been moved up from October to next month.) Maile Meloy will have a new book out in October — The Apothecary, a […]
by Leticia del Toro
Leticia del Toro is a writer living in El Cerrito. Her short story "Piropo," which was published in ZYZZYVA's Spring 2011 issue, marks her first time in print. (Not counting the liner notes she's written for Tex-Mex CDs from Arhoolie Records.) The story's narrator, Carolina, is a woman asserting herself in a man's world of manual labor. (She disguises her sex to get work). Meanwhile, she contends with Joaquin, the feckless father of her little boy back in Mexico, and navigates the unpredictable world of well-meaning Anglos. The following is an excerpt from "Piropo."
On June 4, Leticia del Toro will be reading with D.A. Powell, Michael Jaime-Becerra, Peter Mountford and others as part of Babylon Salon in San Francisco.
Ruins of the Real: Inger Christensen's 'Light,' 'Grass,' and 'Letter in April'
by Andrew David King
Reading the late Inger Christensen's poetry collections Light, Grass, and Letter In April (New Directions; 148 pages), as translated by Susanna Nied, is akin to stepping into a river of deceptive depth. The long-celebrated Danish poet doesn't parade with fanfare the complexity of her work. (The first poem in Light is just six lines.) Yet progressing through these poems, a strong, invisible current pulls on the reader with gathering strength. With a plaintive tone easy to underestimate, Christensen allows her algorithmic language to work as a sort of vortex that warps one's perception of reality. In Nied's crystalline translation of […]
Everything That Happens Can Be Called Aging
by Carl Adamshick
Carl Adamshick, who lives in Portland, Ore., is the 2010 recipient of the Walt Whitman Award. His first poetry collection, Curses and Wishes (Louisiana State University Press), was just published in April. "Everything That Happens Can Be Called Aging" is one of his two poems in the Spring 2011 issue of ZYZZYVA.
The poem evokes the giddy moment when we realize how much we love our somewhat average existence, when we grasp how remarkable and vibrant our seemingly unremarkable lives really are. "I need no resolution/just the constant turmoil of living," says the speaker, who notes in the poem's first line: "I have more love than ever."
A Fight Against the Meanness in This World: Q&A with Matthew Dickman
by Andrew David King
Matthew Dickman's first book, All-American Poem, received the 2008 American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize in Poetry, and his second book is slated to appear in 2012 from W.W. Norton. Featured in ZYZZYVA's Spring 2011 issue, Dickman's work has also appeared in The New Yorker, AGNI Online, and Tin House, where he works as an editor. The twin brother of poet Michael Dickman, his poems function as both paeans and laments of the zeitgeist of modern American life — tessellating mythology with reality, Beat zeal with modern nods toward restraint. The Oregon native sat down with ZYZZYVA at Stumptown Coffee […]
Fever Dreams: Roberto Bolaño's 'Between Parentheses'
by Marianne Moore
It's a little embarrassing to recognize, when reading Between Parentheses (New Directions; 352 pages) — a collection of Roberto Bolaño's essays, speeches and newspaper columns, translated by Natasha Wimmer — not only how little one knows of Spanish-language literature, but how much more Bolaño knew of English-language and European literature. Yes, he was on intimate terms with Poe (who could be seen as Borges' older brother from Baltimore — and Borges, writes Bolaño, "is or should be at the center of our canon"), but he could speak with equal authority on ancient Greek epic poetry, Provençal troubadours, and Snorri's Edda. […]
Son of the General
by Pamela Rivas
Pamela Rivas was born in San Francisco and grew up on the Peninsula. She is a bilingual educator for Santa Cruz County. "Son of the General," which appears in the Spring 2011 issue of ZYZZYVA, is her first work of fiction in print. Her tight, concise story was inspired by her family's first trip to Central America. Something like a prose poem, Rivas's fiction here delineates a legacy of societal brutality, a legacy that dovetails with the well-deep, universal anxiety of parenthood — how to protect one's children.
Seth Fried's 'The Great Frustration': Alternate Realities and Bloody Allegories
by Andrew David King
In Seth Fried's The Great Frustration (Soft Skull Press; 192 pages), strangeness and morbidity are the rules, not the exceptions. Through a pastiche of bizarre worlds and landscapes separated by only one or two degrees from our own (which is, of course, already thoroughly frightening) Fried fashions telling scenarios and the nightmarish half-realities in which they occur. Deftly evoking a familiarity before diving into fantastical realms, the stories in this collection exhibit a surprising wealth of ideas belied by Fried's spare prose. "Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre," a paralyzing allegory of modern-day groupthink, brings into plain view the ubiquity of violence […]
On Entering 2nd Grade
by Kate Martin Rowe
Kate Martin Rowe is a writing instructor at Glendale Community College and Los Angeles City College. She's also a published poet. Her poem "On Entering 2nd Grade" appears in the Spring 2011 issue of ZYZZYVA. A benediction of sorts for a child who can't possibly see coming what the poem clearly can — the rest of her life — "On Entering 2nd Grade" is both lovely and hopeful, if tinged with an understandable anxiety.
And You Shall Know Patrick deWitt's Western by the Trail of Dead
by Joel Aurora
Early on in Patrick deWitt's new novel, The Sisters Brothers (Ecco/HarperCollins; 328 pages), a grotesque old woman strings beads onto a piece of wire as the book's titular brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters, watch from across the room. Having taken refuge in her eerie cabin, they are repulsed by the "long gray hairs quivering from her chin" and the way her dented skull "caves in like an old piece of fruit." When the brothers awake the next morning, the witch has left, but the beads have been fixed above the cabin door. Determining them to be an evil spell, Eli and […]
In a Car, Far Away From Here
by Paula Priamos
Paula Priamos teaches English and creative writing at California State University, San Bernardino. Her published work includes pieces for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her memoir, The Shyster's Daughter, will be coming out next spring from Etruscan Press.
An excerpt from The Shyster's Daughter — titled "In a Car, Far Away From Here" — appears in the Spring 2011 issue of ZYZZYVA. It's an unsentimental, perhaps even hard-boiled story about a family on the verge of drastic change, seemingly drifting toward danger. Told against the background of Kevin Cooper's 1983 prison escape, it deftly evokes adolescence dread in Southern California. (The following is a portion of that excerpt.) Paula will be reading with Vanessa Hua at 5 p.m. on May 14 at the ZYZZYVA Spring Celebration at Skylight Books in Los Angeles.


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I've done my calculation for this year and it seems that my running is less compared to last year 2008. Last year I've managed to run 913.50km while this year 2009, I've only managed to run 788.74km. Why is that????Hopefully next year, my running will improve and if possible I want to reach the 1,000km mark.
What did I achieved for the past 12 months – 365 days.
|I've done my first Olympic Distance triathlon in Brunei and I managed to get 10th place in my age group categories
|X-Terra Triathlon
|I've participated the 1st off-road triathlon held in Kuantan Pahang Malaysia. 1.5km sea swim, 30km MTB and 10km trail running. It was a very good experience and I would recommend to anyone to join it
|Trail Running
|North Face Singapore 50km duo. It wasn't a very good experience. I would expect for it to be off-road running but somehow it was a mixture of road and off-road. What a waste of my new off-road shoes. I should have wore my road running shoes.
|1km walkathon
|What can I say about this walkathon. I didn't even sweat. macam bejalan ke kedai ada jua rasanya.
|160km Century Ride
|None of us actually reached the goal of 160km. Hopefully next year we can reached the goal of 160km bike ride.
|Bike Trip
|We managed to cycle from our home to Temburong via Limbang and went back using boat. It was a good experience.
|Ultimate Frisbee
|The game of Ultimate Frisbee was introduced to Brunei around March and I have been playing ever since.
Its a very fast game with lots of running. Good for my speed & sprint exercise. I'll resume playing after 3 months of no UF.
Next Year 2010 Projects
|4th Brunei Triathlon
|To Be Confirmed.
|Brunei 21K
|To be held 4th April. TBC
|Singapore Ultra marathon
|84km of running to be held on 29th May
|Pesta Sukan Kebangsaan
|Probably to be held around June school holidays.
|Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya
|July 2010. 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run
|Borneo Marathon
|Held in Kota Kinabalu around October. probably I'll do 21k or 42k – Preparation for Ironman Langkawi 2011
|Lombok Triathlon
|Held in Lombok, Indonesia around November
|Miri Triathlon
|Usually end of November
|Singapore Marathon
|Held early December. Probably I'll do 42km – preparation for Ironman Langkawi 2011
|Kinabalu Cycling Challenge
|Mid December. Maybe I'll join it.
|Bike Trip
|1. To Tasek Merimbun
2. Exploring Labuan Island
3. Return trip to Temburong
4. Climb to Kinabalu Park
(If we can do at least 1 bike trip, that is good enough)
Not all above projects will be carried out. Mungkin ikut, mungkin inda jadi.
Projects 2011 – Iroman Langkawi Malaysia (February) – 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42 km run. I have around 14 months to prepare for it. So part of 2010 projects are
1. To cycle 120km at least once a month so that my legs will get use to the long distance cycling.
2. Do as much as I can 42km marathon running.
Keep on doing it………………….

subset: commoncrawl


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We are three rounds into the competition, which means we've hit the time of the season where questions are asked of everyone and everything. Nothing is immune to scrutiny. Laws, referees, coaches, players, selections, concussion protocols, scrum engagements and the video referee all come under the spotlight.
The reality, though, is that every year the first month brings a calibration of all that is new and everyone is trying to decide if things are working better.
This is often subjective, but in 15 games there have been six bonus points for scoring four-plus tries and five losing bonus points for coming within seven points. This would suggest there may be two levels of team this year, although it's too early to pass judgment, especially when teams at this stage are primarily focused on getting their defence sorted.
There is always a team that surprises and the effort of the Blues against the Crusaders at the weekend was outstanding.
On the flip-side, who would have thought that two of the season's fancied teams – the Stormers and Hurricanes – would open with two straight losses. In our backyard, the Reds also began their season with a poor result against the Brumbies before responding with back-to-back wins at Suncorp Stadium against the Waratahs and Hurricanes. Pleasingly, this has taken our record at the venue to 23 wins from our past 26 matches.
What the results highlight is that not much credit gets carried over from the season before.
Everyone starts on a level playing field and you have to earn everything you get. From a Reds perspective, accumulating wins at this time of the year is especially important for us while several of our leaders, including Wallabies captains James Horwill and Will Genia, remain injured. The absence of key players is part of any season's challenge, so to remain on the right side of the ledger is crucial before they return.
During these opening rounds we've had six players from our Super Rugby final winning-team on the sideline through injury, which has been frustrating but has also allowed us to see some of our prospects.
Genia, Horwill, Anthony Faingaa, Beau Robinson, Ben Daley and Radike Samo have all been crucial for us and know what winning a competition is like. Samo is back but the rest will return gradually and bring with them experience and enthusiasm.
The teams that can cover injuries with depth are the ones who can prevail and those that can bring experience from the bench will be able to endure the test of time that Super Rugby requires. To be successful you need a high-quality bench.
There are lots of questions and the answers won't be known until the last round on July 13. But that's the best part about Super Rugby, we don't have all the answers here and now.
The original release of this article first appeared on the website of Hangzhou Night Net.


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His is a dying breed. Our politicians have looked more and more like grey-suited purpose-built machines ever since Labour's image-makers forced Neil Kinnock to throw away his houndstooth suit.
Michael Foot, who died March 3, 2010, at the age of 96, served as Ebbw Vale's MP for thirty-two years. Foot was a grand old man of the British Labour party, an unreconstructed radical, one of the last of his kind. He was known equally for his erudition and his disheveled appearance, most notably the jacket he wore at the Remembrance Day ceremony in 1981. (Not all were opposed to his sartorial choice: the Queen Mother complimented him on choosing "a smart, sensible coat for a day like this.")
The Economist described him,
He died a much-loved Englishman, renowned for his untidy shock of white hair, his shambling wanderings on Hampstead Heath with his dog Dizzy, his devotion to literature, and the modesty that allowed him, when leader of the Labour Party, to stand in his anorak waiting at the bus stop, comme tout le monde. Deep into old age, half-blind, he never failed to keep up with the latest works on his great loves, Shelley and Byron, and to hold forth over breakfast—several eggs running all over his plate—about the latest troubles of his beloved party, and its prospects for the future.Foot wasn't Welsh, but he worked for his constituency tirelessly, and the citizens of Ebbw Vale re-elected him until he retired in 1992. This was so despite his position as employment secretary when Ebbw Vale's steel mills closed, which, rest assured, did not go unremarked.
Though politically engineered rather than home-grown, the connection of Foot to Ebbw Vale has its own kind of logic: Ebbw Vale has a reputation as a rough and rundown place with its better days well behind it. (Have I shared with you the story of the six-month-old mince pie?)
first integrated steelworks in Europe. Today, not a single steel mill remains. In 1992, a steelworks site was used for a national garden festival that attracted over two million visitors, but the festival turned out to be the last of its kind. The site is now home to a shopping mall.
in more than fifty years, the National Eisteddfod of Wales will be held in Ebbw Vale. The Eisteddfod is the national celebration of Welsh poetry, song, culture, and language. Every event is held in Welsh. Like the garden festival, the Eisteddfod's reappearance at Ebbw Vale will take place on the grounds of an old steelworks, purpose-built for the occasion. The site is part of a development called "The Works":
Out of the demolition and reclamation of the iconic old steelworks, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and the Welsh Assembly Government are working together to create a new vision for Ebbw Vale.One has to wonder, in these hard economic times, how "The Works" project is faring. We hope for the best. As for the Eisteddfod, Welsh harpist Catrin Finch will perform at the closing concert. We'll be there, cheering for her and for Michael Foot's former constituency, Ebbw Vale.
Oh, and, as promised, here's the story of the six-month-old mince pie, as told by Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert (though the Welsh are profligate in their use of consonants, Gilbert's last name has one "l," not two):


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A roll-off container is a longer, rectangular can with a door on one end. This makes it easier for you to you to carry heavier items or wheel them on a cart into the container. Roll-off containers are suitable for general waste and cleanup, demolition materials, roofing materials (no larger than 20-yard container), construction materials and concrete (10-yard limit).
Convertainers are ideal for use in more difficult to reach locations due to the more accurate manner in which they can be placed. They are suitable for general waste and cleanup, roofing materials, demolition materials and concrete.


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Life science and health study launches
Over the past few months we've been hard at work on a market study for the life sciences and health sector in Texas. We're enthralled to announce that the report has launched and is ready for everyone to read!
We worked alongside Task Force Health Care, the Dutch platform the life science and health sector, finding leaders in the industry to give us the best breakdown of the industry possible.
We toured facilities in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Much of the research involved touring hospitals and speaking with their leadership about where there are opportunities for Dutch-Texan collaboration. In addition to hospitals, we also spoke with insurance companies, hospital builders, medical device distributors, government agencies, and interest groups and organizations representing professionals in the life sciences and health sector.
We learned that although Texas has some of the highest-quality healthcare in the world, there are some stumbling points with a lot of room for growth and improvement. For example, the Dutch have great e-health solutions and can help facilitate care for rural and suburban communities that may not have easy access to hospitals.
In addition to the meetings and desk research conducted in Texas, Saskia Pardaans visited the Netherlands to speak with stake holders and present the market study to a group of people who are interested in doing business in Texas and gain insight on what else the NBSO Texas could do to facilitate a good medical relationship between Texas and the Netherlands.
In September, we will invite leaders of this industry from Texas to the Netherlands for World of Healthcare 2018 where they will speak about the great number of high-quality opportunities for investment and trade between Texas and the Netherlands.
We look forward to continuing our efforts to make strides in this area and invite you to read the report for yourself to learn more about the life sciences and health sector in Texas and see what opportunities lie for Dutch companies.


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For us Mt Cook School's close knit community brings to mind such words as: diversity; support; vibrant; creative; multi-cultural; different; fun.
This is a state school with a special approach to supporting our children to think for themselves, develop independence and confidence in their abilities as well as taking responsibility for their own learning.
From our central city location we have easy access to many interesting activities the city has to offer.
At Mt Cook School we are building on the great work done by previous staff and school community members to create a warm, inclusive learning environment for all of our students. We aim to inspire and promote curiosity, creativity and individual growth through academic, cultural and physical achievements and the developing of social skills.
We have about 210 students (Y 1-8) and have an enrollment scheme in place that includes a school zoning policy.


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Investing Playbook: Denver Just Showed the Best Offense Is a Good Defense
The best offense is a good defense. I don't know who first said that, but the Denver Broncos just demonstrated it as well as anyone in last night's Super Bowl.
Facing off against the Carolina Panthers, the Broncos' defense completely shut down the offense led by quarterback Cam Newton. I wasn't even sure I was watching the same player. He had a completely different performance in the playoffs against Arizona two weeks ago. I've never seen one team play two more different games!
In the playoffs game, "Super Cam" had plenty of opportunity to show off his incredible throwing and running talents. He completed 19 out of 26 passes for two touchdowns and scored another two himself. Did you see him jump over two defenders to get into that end zone? How many quarterbacks can do that!? That was probably the best performance of any quarterback I've seen in a long time.
And then last night, Cam just couldn't get a break (I call it the "Cam Shaft"). The Broncos completely shut this all-star player down. The same thing happened with the New England Patriots when the Broncos shut down Brady. He wasn't able to get off many good passes and neither could Cam.
Congratulation to Peyton Manning for winning his second Super Bowl just as he looks to be retiring… but I hope he bought his defensive line a round of Cristal champagne, because that's who really took it home!
You're probably wondering: "Am I reading the right newsletter?" You are. My point, of course, is that offense is never enough. You need both offense and defense in any game or business, and the same applies to investing.
And it's paramount today as we're facing off against the most formidable opponent in our lifetimes: the economic winter season.
For those not familiar with my 80-Year Macroeconomic Cycle, the economy follows four seasons much like we see in the weather every year.
Think of it in terms of inflation, which is like temperature in the economy. Mild inflation comes in the spring and fall and that's when the economy does best. High inflation comes in the summer (think the inflation crisis during the 1970s). And today's deflationary period is like the declining and freezing temperatures of winter, which brings its own crisis that is much, much more severe.
People keep asking me what they can do with such a bearish forecast. Certainly their high-dividend, less-cyclical multinational stocks will be okay, right?
My response: I wouldn't count on it! And that's coming from a guy who used to be one of the most bullish forecasters in history. Back in the late 1980s when I had my breakthrough in demographic cycles, I was positive on the economy because I knew we were facing a long-term boom. But today, I'm one of the most bearish forecasters because I see what's coming down the pipe!
Many years ago, I went back through the last winter season focusing primarily on the 1930s – the worst crash and depression in U.S. history. I was thinking there must have been some stock sector that did well. Utilities, phone companies, booze, cigarettes, gambling, consumers staples, something! But no – all of those sectors fell. Some fell worse than others, namely automobiles, but not a single one escaped the carnrnage that ensued.
And even for the most stable companies, it wasn't because their sales and earnrnings fell. Rather, it was the fall in their price-to-earnrnings (P/E) ratio. When fear sets in, investors price in the worst scenario for everything. Even when adjusted for dividends, stocks suffered a 20% loss for the decade. At their worst in July of 1932, they were down 89%!
Real estate bubbled less and so therefore fell less, but still had a slightly negative returnrn for the decade. And commodities… forget about it!
But this is where a good defense would have helped. The one sector that did well (with minor volatility to boot) were the highest-quality, long-term bonds… which is about as defensive as it gets!
Look at the chart:
Long-term Treasurys nearly doubled counting their yields, and AAA corporates more than doubled in the worst decade for stocks and the economy ever.
How's that for a strong defense?
So my advice to you is this: be like Denver. This is not the time to rely solely on offense. Now's the time to bring out your best defense and conquer the crash ahead.
I'm still looking out for a spike in Treasury bond yields this year when Sovereign bonds in Europe and other countries face the reality of default. Italy in particular now looks like the next Greece or Cyprus. They're "too big to fail," and you know what that means.
Follow me on Twitter @harrydentjr


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A palindrome is a word that reads the same backward or forward.
Write a function that checks if a given word is a palindrome. Character case should be ignored. If the given word is a palindrome, the function should return 1; otherwise it should return 0.
For example, is_palindrome("Deleveled") should return 1 as character case should be ignored resulting with "deleveled" which is a palindrome since it reads same backward and forward.
- Example case: Wrong answer
- Lowercase words: Wrong answer
- Various words: Wrong answer
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On the TestDome Blog
Screening Applicants: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Since we're all biased and we use incorrect proxies, why not just outsource hiring to experts or recruitment agencies? After all, they've been screening people for many years, so they must know how to do it right?
Not really. I was surprised to discover that many experts disagree with each other. Everybody praises their pet method and criticizes the others. Many of these methods look legitimate, but are based on...


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Cyclist killed on Whyte was U of A track athlete
Friends of the cyclist killed on Whyte Avenue are planning a ride in his honour.
Cyclists will meet at city hall Friday afternoon to grieve the death of Isaak Kornelsen, killed Monday morning when he fell from his bike under the wheels of a cement truck.
He fell while trying to avoid the extended side mirror on a pick-up truck parked on the busy avenue.
Kornelsen, 21, was an accomplished track and cross-country runner.
Friend and trackmate Kris Loshack said Kornelsen never let success get to his head.
"Super modest," Loschack said, describing him. "You would never, you would never be able to tell just from talking to him."
Kornelsen also studied philsophy, art and was studying Swedish while planning to spend a year in Sweden.
"Probably the smartest guy I've ever met," said Loshack. "He's the kind of guy, if you couldn't think through an argument, he'd be able to jump on it, for sure."
Loshack cycled frequently with Kornelsen, who, he said, always wore a helmet and never took risks.
Loshack believes a bike lane needs to be installed on Whyte Avenue.


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Finding demographics — It's easier than you think!
Having to search for demographics can cause some people to have a meltdown and just totally avoid the task all together. But it can be easier than you think if you know the right tools to use. Knowing how to navigate the Census Bureau can be a life saver whether you are a student looking for information for a business plan or the average business person and knowing the right places to look can make this easier than you think.
One super easy way to go is to use the American FactFinder. This can be found a couple of different ways. One way is to look for the link to the American FactFinder at the bottom of the Census Bureau homepage. Click on this and you will be taken right to the American FactFinder page. The other way is to go to the top of the Census Bureau homepage and look for the link called "Data", then look for "Data Tools & Apps". Here you will see the American FactFinder. Either way, you end up at the page for this incredible resource. Depending on what type of information you are looking for, you can take 2 paths to your information. The first way is to use the Community Facts search to look for information about an area. Type in the name of the city you are interested in and you receive information from the latest Census and American Community Survey. This can give you a picture of your area by looking at age/sex/race for this area. Another way to go would be to use the Guided Search which basically walks you through the process. Once you click on "Get Me Started", you simply answer questions about what you are looking for – people or business. What about your subject are you looking for? Age, gender, education? Is it a particular industry sector? This is super easy and you end up with the tables of information that will help you.
As if this was not enough, there are also some special data tables that can provide some often hard to locate information. A good example of this is the data table that the Census Bureau has just released showing median earnings by detailed occupation from the 2014 American Community Survey. The table shows ratios indicating the percentage of women in an occupation, as well as the male-to-female earnings ratio in the occupation for full-time, year-round workers in the past 12 months. To locate this type of data, look for the "Topics" link at the top of the page, then go to "Employment", then look for "Occupation". Here you will see the table for "Full-Time, Year-Round Workers and Median Earnings in the Past 12 Months by Sex and Detailed Occupation: 2014" along with tables for employment statistics for college students and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) occupations.
Another good resource to be aware of is the Bureau of Labor and the information that they collect. While this may sound like it is all work related, there is also information on consumer spending. By looking under "Subjects" at the top of the page, you will see not only the consumer price index, but information on wages by area & occupation, worker characteristics, the national unemployment rate, green goods and services, employment by occupation, workplace injuries and much more.
However, the BLS is more than data, they also produce several great publications such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Career Outlook which can be found under the Publications tab.
So, finding demographics can be easier than you think – if you know where to look.


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Following a critically lauded and completely sold out tour of New Zealand earlier this year, Civic Events is proud to present the incomparable SOL3 MIO at Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre on Sunday September 28, and Monday September 29th, 2014.
The Samoan trio from Auckland, made up of tenor brothers Pene and Amitai Pati and their baritone cousin Moses Mackay, say they are thrilled to return to Wellington and to their favourite concert venue. "The show we did at the Michael Fowler Centre on our album tour in February was magical, the best of the tour. We are excited to return and to be performing new material for such a great audience"says Pene.
Since its release on November 15, 2013, the trio's chart-topping eponymous album spent sixteen consecutive weeks in the number one position and has to date achieved an incredible six times platinum sales certification. The debut set was the biggest selling album in New Zealand in 2013.
"As the rest of the world is now falling under the spell of Sol3 Mio, we are delighted to have the chance to fit these two special shows into their busy schedule" says Civic Events co-promoter Campbell Smith. "And what is even more exciting is that we will hear new songs, delivered with that irrepressible humour that the whole of New Zealand has come to love".
Be quick. These shows will sell out fast.
Civic Events presents
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th 2014
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th 2014
TICKETS ON SALE FROM TICKETEK, MONDAY 4th August.
For further information visit www.sole3mio.com


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KK Members Blog
Farewell to the Flyers
by FanspeakNHL on 05/10/12 at 04:14 PM ET
Comments (0)
Although the Eastern Conference Finals match-up hasn't been set yet, it's time to say goodbye (belatedly) to the Philadelphia Flyers, who proved that match-ups mean everything. Against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Flyers scored a league-high 30 goals and averaged 27.5 shots per game. But, in five games against the Devils, they scored just 11 goals, and after getting 36 shots in winning Game 1, they averaged just 24.5 shots per game over the final four games. (S/t NHL.com for the stats.)
Overall, the Flyers averaged 3.73 goals per game during the playoffs, but just 2.2 against the Devils (after averaging five per game against the Penguins) — and scored fewer goals (seven) combined over the course of the series' final four games (all losses) than they did in both game two and three against the Penguins, when they scored eight goals per game.
Furthermore, Claude Giroux and Danny Briere are still the leading point-getters in the league — but their offense dipped against the Devils. Giroux registered six goals and eight assists against Pittsburgh but just two goals and one assist against New Jersey (in four games, since he was suspended for game five). Briere was a little more consistent: he had five goals and three assists against the Pens and three goals and two assists against the Devils.
All in all, the Devils' strength on defense and in goal — in addition to their consistent offense and ability to rattle the Flyers — turned this series into a rout fairly quickly. The two teams split six regular-season meetings, but this playoff series showed that the Flyers had more flaws than they exhibited against the Penguins.
Read more, including what the Flyers need to do in the off-season, at Fanspeak.com.
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The rather uninformatively titled VAMPIRES (1991), edited by Jane Yolen and Martin H. Greenberg, although nominally a YA anthology, contains excellent stories to appeal to vampire fans of any age from early teens on up. Authors include such distinguished names as Yolen herself, Delia Sherman, Charles de Lint, Lawrence Watt-Evans, and Esther M. Friesner, among others. Husband-wife team of James D. Macdonald and Debra Doyle creates a chilling short piece, "Nobody Has to Know," written entirely in dialogue. Friesner's characteristically funny "The Blood-Ghoul of Scarsdale" introduces a vampire lurking at the mall, seen through the eyes of a shopaholic teenage girl. Another humorous story, "Curse of the Undead," by Chuck Rothman, begins with the narrator waking up in a coffin. In "Aunt Horrible's Last Visit," by Jeff Hecht, the children in a family try to get rid of their horrible Aunt Hortense, "who always came in early June, just like the blackflies," and discover she's even worse than they'd realized.
My favorites: Jane Yolen's poignant tale "Mama Gone," set in the mountain hollows of the Appalachians, is told by a girl whose mother, having died in childbirth, has come back to prey on her family and neighbors. The narrator bravely confronts her undead mother to send her on to her rightful destination. This tale has a strong folkloric feel. "Blood Libel," by Leigh Ann Hussey, stars a young Jewish man in medieval Europe who finds himself transformed into a vampire and struggles to remain a good Jew despite the Torah's prohibition against drinking blood. A kind rabbi takes him in, and the vampire becomes protector of the synagogue.
Featuring both old-style and modern vampires, evil, good, and in-between, these thirteen stories explore a wide range of the genre's possibilities.
Margaret L. CarterCarter's Crypt


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Nitrate - Ammonium is found in both inorganic and organic forms in the plant, and combines with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and sometimes sulfur to form amino acids, amino enzymes, nucleic acids, chlorophyll, alkaloids, and purine bases. Nitrogen rates high as molecular weight proteins in plant tissue.
Plants need lots of N during vegging, but it's easy to overdo it. Added too much? Flush the soil with plain water. Soluble nitrogen (especially nitrate) is the form that's the most quickly available to the roots, while insoluble N (like urea) first needs to be broken down by microbes in the soil before the roots can absorb it. Avoid excessive ammonium nitrogen, which can interfere with other nutrients.
Too much N delays flowering. Plants should be allowed to become N-deficient late in flowering for best flavor.
Nitrogen DeficienciesPlants will exhibit lack of vigor, slow growth and will be weak and stunted. Quality and yield will be significantly reduced. Older leaves become yellow (chlorotic) from lack of chlorophyll. Deficient plants will exhibit uniform light green to yellow on older leaves, these leaves may die and drop. Leaf margins will not curled up noticeably. Chlorosis will eventually spread throughout the plant. Stems, petioles and lower leaf surfaces may turn purple.
Figure 9.
As seen in figure 10 consumption of nitrogen (N) from the fan leaves during the final phase of flowing is 100% normal.
Figure 10.


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⓱orbits is a technology, science and entertainment blog founded by Dr. Andrew Leavitt. Feel free to link to any articles you find relevant. And contact me by email if you have anything to contribute or would like to become a sponsor.
"17 orbits" is a reference to objects in low-earth orbit which continuously circle the globe every 90 minutes. Thats about 16 orbits a day. I added one more for good luck and an affinity for prime numbers.


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If you require sophisticated, retro or modern jazz from the 1920s to present day the Hannah offers the following ensembles:
* Most jazz ensembles can perform pop repertoire also if you require an uptempo set for dancing. Hannah can advise you on the most suitable option for your event.
Performing using high quality backing tracks
Vocals and Piano
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Vocals, Piano / Guitar, Double / Electric Bass, Drums
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Vocals, Piano, Double / Electric Bass, Lead Guitar, Drums
* Other instruments can be added such as rhythm guitar, sax, trumpet, xylophone, kazoo, etc.
For stunning themed jazz bands styled by era please click on the links below:
1920s Band: Great Gatsby, Prohibition, Gangsters and Molls
1930s Band: Swing, Art Deco, Hollywood Golden Age, Fred and Ginger
1940s Band: Wartime, Film Noir, Singalong, Jump Jive


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Susan Feniger likes to make this salad early in the day, so the carrots marinate a bit in the dressing. Harissa, the North African chile paste, adds fiery heat. Slideshow: More Make Ahead Picnic Salad Recipes
How to Make It
In a large bowl, whisk the harissa with the lemon juice. Gradually whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Add the carrots, raisins, parsley and feta to the dressing and toss well. Serve lightly chilled or at room temperature.
Make Ahead
The carrot salad can be made without the feta and parsley and refrigerated for up to 6 hours; add the feta and parsley just before serving. The lemon dressing can be refrigerated overnight.
Harissa is a chile paste used in Tunisia and Morocco. It is available in jars and tubes from specialty food shops.


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By Mihir S Sharma
"The last thing I want to be," declared Tavleen Singh at one of the launches of her new book, Durbar, "is Lutyens Delhi's Shobhaa De." Perhaps she shouldn't have written the book, then. It will sell, certainly; people will read it; and it will spark a thousand dinner-table conversations – but all about its breathlessly-related gossipy bits and the smirking innuendo, not about the serious questions of policy and politics that Ms Singh likes to insist she has written it to elucidate.
Yet let us start by taking Ms Singh's mission, for it is a mission, seriously. The time that Ms Singh wants to chronicle – the 15 or so years between the Emergency and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi – were unquestionably the high noon of a certain sort of Delhi-centric politics, when India's policies and politics appeared to mould themselves to the personalities of Indira, Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi. Ms Singh is completely right in suggesting that, of the many ways in which Indira Gandhi had a pernicious effect on our society, one of the worst was through the power of her example. Across India, people still admire her; and some of those people are politicians who have remade their parties in the image of Mrs Gandhi's hollowed-out and icon-worshipping Congress.
Ms Singh would claim that all dynasties bother her, of course. In Durbar, which ends in 1991, well before the Badals took over Punjab and M K Stalin took over Chennai, the Pawars Maharashtra and Mulayam Singh Yadav's family UP, she doesn't really have to deal directly with any other dynasties. She dodges a bullet there, because her Indian Express columns on UP, for example, have said that Akhilesh Yadav displays less "entitlement" than Rahul Gandhi and is thus acceptable; and although her friend Naveen Patnaik is mentioned several times in this book, his later inheritance of Odisha from his father – although he was as sheltered, surely, as Rajiv or Sonia Gandhi – is mentioned later, approvingly, as "surprisingly successful". Indeed, as we'll see later, even Rajiv Gandhi's own assumption of power wasn't that problematic in her eyes. So, let's see – which example are we left with as the problem? Oh yes, just Sonia Gandhi. Odd how a principle can become so quickly personal when looked at objectively.
Unhappily for those who might want to read this to understand what a veteran writer about Indian politics has to say about the reasons underlying, say, Indira Gandhi's enduring popularity, Ms Singh has little to say beyond stating that most voters are illiterate, and so don't know what was good for them. Blaming voters' stupidity and illiteracy for not voting as you would prefer is, of course, Delhi opinion-makers' premier pastime and Ms Singh – however much she has travelled – doesn't seem to have stopped revelling in it. (In another of her Express columns, she says of those that admire Mrs Gandhi that they are "illiterate villagers who sometimes think she is still alive because they have just received a house under the Indira Awas Yojana".)
Indeed, nothing comes through as often in this book than Ms Singh's genuine lack of any desire to properly understand what lies behind the statements of "illiterate voters". Once something's said that could conceivably serve as a proper illustration of the point she wishes to prove (usually Sonia Gandhi Very Bad), it doesn't need further investigation. Towards the end of the book comes the description of a moment at a Congress election rally in South India when Ms Singh says she overhears people comparing Sonia Gandhi's complexion to that of a goddess. Ahahahaha, says Ms Singh. They adore her because she is a foreigner! India is a Wounded Civilisation! And so on. Of course, this is Tamil Nadu, where they said similar things about pink-cheeked MGR, and might say the same thing about Jayalalithaa today. But the sad truths of caste, colour, religion and hierarchy are not of interest to Ms Singh. Not if they come in the way of explaining how people are mystifyingly willing to vote for a Foreigner.
So much for Ms Singh's noble mission to elucidate the effects of Indira Gandhi and Delhi-centric power on India's persistent problems. What remains is an odd beast of a book indeed. It is best imagined, perhaps, as triumphant performance art: Ms Singh's elaborate demonstration that Delhi is filled with a particular type of networked, elitist, shallow, back-stabbing insider by setting out to play one herself.
Sometimes, true, Ms Singh's blind revelling in her privilege amuses. This is, after all, the lady who refused to pick up her dog's poo or pay a fine when the police asked her to, saying it was a stupid law, and why were they implementing it on Marine Drive, was it just because that's where the rich lived, typical socialist buffoonery. But often it infuriates. For example, given that I detest the way that Lutyens Delhi insulated India's elected rulers from the rest of the country, serving as a visible example of the benefits of ruling, you'd think Ms Singh's continual references to "the tree-lined boulevards" she thinks have been usurped by "our socialist politicians" would be to my taste. But when, with barely a breath in between, we are also treated to loving descriptions of those of houses which her powerful or rich friends inhabit – they, unlike those graceless politicians, truly belong there – it stops becoming funny.
Another thing that does not infuriate, but begins to pall over the length of the book is that Ms Singh never once questions that most of her best stories, her advancement as a reporter and commentator, come precisely from the access that she has to the innermost durbars of India's powerful – as a product of where she grew up, and the schools to which she went. When Ms Singh uses her inherited position as a crutch in her career, it's apparently OK. She happily regales her readers with accounts of the endless "colour stories" about the Gandhi family she was asked to do by editors, the interviews she was granted because of social connections, and so on. There's little wrong with that – or at least, it's the way this insider-loving city still runs. But the dissonance between the claim that this somehow makes one into a political reporter and observer worth listening to and the contempt, repeated practically every page, for everyone in politics who uses family connections to get where they are – unless they're an ex-royal – begins to first weary the reader, and then to exasperate. No amount of amusing anecdotes about what Naveen Patnaik said Raj Narain said to some bureaucrat, dressed up as social observation, can possibly compensate for this moral vacuum at the heart of Ms Singh's book.
Ms Singh begins Durbar, appropriately, with the scene where she discovers her foreignness. When a schoolmate reprimands some "Hindi-speaking types" for harassing them in a train compartment, she is called an "angrez ki aulaad". The fact that at this point Ms Singh is disturbed by what she claims is the truth of the statement, rather than wondering why it was made – how often sexism overlaps uncomfortably with class tensions – sets the tone for the book. Of course, she also claims later that girls who had gone to Welham, like her, already looked down on those who were "convent-educated" for being "less Indian", so you're forced to doubt her recollection and truthfulness as well as her understanding – but that's par for this book, really. Of course, Ms Singh herself has transcended her class, by learning Hindi "well enough to write two columns a week". (I wonder: can Sonia Gandhi write two columns a week in Hindi? If so, would Ms Singh say that washes out the sin of foreignness, as it has for her?)
Ms Singh's other examples of her class' insulation from the Real India of legend are even more amusing. At one point, a little later in Durbar, she says that the circles that she – and Sanjay and Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi – moved in were so distant from the rest of the country that they didn't even know that Sholay had opened a WEEK after that movie started playing. Ms Singh should stick to political commentary; one of the great wonders of Indian cultural history is that Sholay had a particularly poor start in theatres, and only picked up popularity gradually, on word of mouth, week after slow week, on its way to record-breaking runs.
But this certainty – paranoia, even – that everyone she ever knew is an irretrievably alienated child of Macaulay lies at the heart of this book. The confusions inherent in her central argument – apologies, her only argument – are many. Here is the argument (which I apologise in advance for laying out in syllogisms, a blatantly imperialistic imposition on Indian thought processes):
1. India's upper class are colonial inheritors, somehow completely detached from that mythical entity visible only to foreign correspondents and BJP MPs, the Real India, AND
2. The Gandhis are part of this class, and surrounded by people from this class.
3. They became a dynasty, WHICH
4. Caused all India's problems.
Look, several of those points are partly true. Several are also appealing emotionally, especially if you are one of the disastrously many in this country who get angrier at the memory of Macaulay, Nehru and Babar then at, say, honour killings. But even you, angry person, however much dynastic progression revolts you – as it irritates me – surely realise that the logical connection between these points violates all principles of reason. It simply makes no sense whatsoever. If you do recognise this, then rejoice in the fact that you are more perceptive than Tavleen Singh, who is so blinded by ego, self-absorption, bitterness and rage in turn that she doesn't, even over the 311 pages and two decades that she took to write Durbar.
"If we were more aware of India's great wealth of languages and literature," the still-colonised Ms Singh wails, "of her ancient texts on politics and governance and her scriptures, we would have wanted to change many things." Is perhaps the motivation to deal with malnutrition hidden in the Arthashastra? Do we need to read the Vedas to realise that corruption is wrong? Are mechanisms for reforming the PDS hidden somewhere in the Mahabharata –somehow evading the notice of the various economists who've translated it recently? We should, presumably, read India's ancient texts because we want to, perhaps as a guide to living, but not as signposts to policy making – which they're unlikely to aid, seeing as they written for what was, to put it mildly, a somewhat different country. Unfortunately, so complete is Ms Singh's inferiority complex about her upbringing, so bone-deep her superstitious fear of "foreignness", so elevated her ego about her own apparent transcending of her origins (she can write in Hindi!) that, again, this parody of an argument serves as the backbone of her book.
To these basic errors of understanding and thought we must add questions about Ms Singh's literally incredible memory. Oddly, at one of the early-1980s dinner conversations Ms Singh reports, recollects or thinks she remembers ("My recollection remains so vivid that I am able to recount it almost verbatim"), it is completely unclear to readers whether we are expected to sympathise with, say, the spoiled guests who understand the Real India ("It is better not to interfere in local customs") or with a Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi who have returned from a trip to Amethi shell-shocked by the nature of rural poverty. When Ms Singh recounts Sonia Gandhi being "unusually eloquent" about a baby playing with cow dung and putting it in its mouth, it appears that Ms Singh is inviting us to judge Ms Gandhi as being so divorced from Indian reality that this would shock her. Well, guess what – it shocks me. It is those not shocked that I'd worry about.
Indeed, one useful and entertaining by-product of Ms Singh's unquestioning self-confidence is that she winds up being, perhaps, a little more frank than she would have liked to be. The most obvious case of this is in the true central relationship of this book – not that between Rajiv Gandhi and India, but between Ms Singh and Sonia Gandhi. So convinced is Ms Singh that her readers will despise Ms Gandhi for her initial inability to speak Hindi and her working-class Italian origins that she does not seem to have noticed how her account of their friendship, much to my surprise, winds up being far more sympathetic to the Foreign-Born Usurper than she intended. From the very first time we are introduced – at a party in 1975, where Ms Singh's friend Naveen Patnaik casually asks Sonia Gandhi if the dress she's wearing is Valentino, and Ms Gandhi replies "it was made by my darzi in Khan Market", which Ms Singh seems to think is a bad thing, presumably because Italians should all wear Valentino; through the time where Ms Singh guilelessly reveals that, although she was living in a rent-free flat in Golf Links, she got Ms Gandhi to pay for her son's clothes – right up to the point at which they fall out, about which more later, Sonia Gandhi gets some of the best, and most human, lines in the book. I congratulate the editors who worked on this book for wisely not alerting Ms Singh to this fact.
Durbar takes us from 1975, when Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency shortly after Ms Singh became a reporter – fortunately, we are left to make the connection ourselves – to Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991. The initial chapters are a whirlwind of famous names and acerbic descriptions: Vicky Bharat Ram is "full of bluster", Suman Dubey is "nervous and permanently distracted", Arun Singh was "impossible to talk to because of his forbidding reserve", Satish Sharma a "surly, silent man who did not have much to say", and "came from a middle-class background". (Very important to note that, especially as Ms Singh later adds that he was the most "surprising" to her of Rajiv Gandhi's choices as adviser.) You might notice that a great deal of the men are described by Ms Singh as not having much to say to her for some reason; fortunately, the other women are largely dismissed as "sulky", "blowsy", "softly dumpy", "coarse and bossy", "may once have been pretty", and so on, so Ms Singh gives as good as she gets.
This is all delightfully entertaining, as are bits like the time where she tells us that journalists reporting a raid on her friend Arun Singh's brother discovered that the tax inspectors had found silver chairs he was holding "for a Gujarati prince", and "were somehow bedazzled by the idea of silver furniture," and so they got bigger headlines than the seven air-conditioners in someone else's house. These middle-class journalists, so easily bedazzled by silver furniture. In fact, the hopeless adulation for India's broken down ex-royals that permeates this book is first nauseating and then a little embarrassing. One gets the sense that Ms Singh's opposition to "dynasty" comes simply from the fact that the Gandhis are of too recent a vintage, or possibly that they don't ride on enough elephants.
The best chapter by far in the book is the one describing the election of 1977, when Indira Gandhi was voted out of power in a landslide. So little has been written about this time in our history that Ms Singh's recollections of the first Opposition rally at the Ramlila Maidan, when Atal Behari Vajpayee extemporised a verse about the air of freedom; or of the crowds in Old Delhi angrily shouting "Jai Nasbandi, Jai Bulldozer" as they voted against Congress; or of the Shahi Imam on the steps of Jama Masjid holding hands with RSS leaders; or finally of the vast crowds blocking ITO till late into the night as they watched the returns going up over the Times of India building and finally cheering for minutes when the billboard announced that Indira Gandhi had lost Rae Bareli to Raj Narain, are all electrifying. Of course, sadly, within a page we return to the ridiculously personal, with a story about how Maneka and Sonia Gandhi quarrelled about dog biscuits that Ms Singh credits to an impeccable and trustworthy source, Sanjay Gandhi's "best friend", Akbar "Dumpy" Ahmed.
Ms Singh then tells us how she "in the summer of 1982 returned to India with a young son to bring up and desperately in need of a job." M J Akbar, at the Telegraph, gave her one. Unfortunately, Ms Singh says, the paper's Delhi bureau "consisted almost entirely of women who had taken charge of covering all the important ministries and were fiercely possessive about them." (While this statement is quite in keeping with Ms Singh's attitude to other women throughout this book, it does also sort of help illuminate the fact that she wasn't quite alone as a female journalist at that point.) This is the point at which Durbar, which has so far largely been a chronicle of tony dinner parties and how Ms Singh fell in love with Amitabh Bachchan, turns suddenly darker. Ms Singh's description of the growing power of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the lead-up to Operation Bluestar, and the assassination of Indira Gandhi is strikingly well-written. Of course, there are inevitable moments of dissonance – when you hear all Sikhs being described in "permanent conflict with the Mughal emperors… [because of] the imperial mission to impose Islam on the communities who had refused to become Muslim", which is, at best, a heroic feat of undereducated oversimplification that would make even V S Naipaul proud. Yet she effectively conveys the terror of being summoned by Bhindranwale to explain yourself in front of his army of fanatics; of being in curfew-ridden Amritsar with trucks of Sikhs, alive or dead, blindfolded by their own unwound turbans. (Ms Singh has gotten that far thanks to imperiously waving around a letter written to the general in command in Amritsar by her father, a former army officer, but the rest of this section is so good one is tempted to let that little bit of dynastic privilege pass.)
Similarly powerful is Ms Singh's description of the hideous aftermath of Bluestar and Indira Gandhi's assassination, the anti-Sikh violence of November 1984. It clearly reveals how that mammoth crime – riots, pogroms, call them whatever you will – is an eternal blot against Rajiv Gandhi's name, one which Manmohan Singh's recent apology on behalf of the Congress cannot completely wash out. Ms Singh reveals how unconcerned the Congress establishment was by the spreading violence; remembers how Doordarshan showed loops of Congressmen chanting "khoon ki badla khoon"; describes the Congress' underhanded election campaign with its newspaper advertisements that asked if you could trust your taxi driver; tells of a dinner party in Arun Singh's mother-in-law's house where Rajiv Gandhi's friend Romi Chopra, "shaking with rage", told a room full of Sikhs – including the ex-princes of Kapurthala and Amritsar, the latter now a prominent Congressman – that Sikhs were "on trial", and must "prove their loyalty" to India. Those were horrific times, and Ms Singh's tone of outrage fits the events she relates.
Yet even then, Ms Singh trusted and continued to trust Rajiv Gandhi, making the endless excuses for him that one makes for a beloved monarch – that he was "cocooned" by his bureaucrats, for example, or alienated from the people by his wife's foreignness. She doesn't reveal who she voted for in 1984, or even if she voted at all, but she does say: "I was still prepared to give him a chance." For most Indians, she adds, that was "a brief shining moment" when Rajiv Gandhi was "a living symbol of hope." She doesn't explicitly include herself in that number – and the reader can't help assuming that she trusted Rajiv Gandhi because, perhaps, she knew and liked him. Nor does she, even once, mention dynasty as a problem when it comes to Rajiv Gandhi taking over from his mother. Odd, when you come to think of it. Dynasty, it appears, only comes to matter to Ms Singh when she is dropped by Sonia Gandhi from her circle of friends.
In describing Rajiv Gandhi's own dismal tenure as prime minister, Ms Singh is justifiably and satisfyingly harsh – especially since the UPA tries to project the chaotic late 1980s as a period of visionary reform. However, she's frequently harsh for the wrong reasons, confusing administrative ineptitude and arrogance of the sort we are familiar with in our current government for some sort of inability on Rajiv Gandhi's behalf to comprehend India's real problems. She describes Sam Pitroda's many "missions" – oilseeds, IT, water, goodness knows what else – as failures because Rajiv Gandhi was "unaware" of the need for "massive investment and institutional and administrative changes". Right – it was a failure of "awareness", and not of politics or administration or policy. It is, in fact, on anything to do with real policy that this book is weakest – which is a pity, since its author tries so hard to discuss it at the slightest opportunity. She derides the need for population control, for example, something not even the most diehard defenders of the "demographic dividend" do. However, given that Ms Singh has in her Indian Express columns said that no such thing as crony capitalism exists in India, perhaps it would be uncharitable to expect any particular economic insight from her. These sections, frequent and turgid, are frankly best skipped.
Fortunately, the section on Rajiv Gandhi's also contain the book's most gossipy bits. It is here that one is told about the mysterious falling-out between Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi and Arun and Nina Singh, once among their closest friends and advisers, and how it was prefaced by the famous locking, by Sonia Gandhi, of the garden gate that connected their two houses. It is here that one is told that the Quattrochis were the "closest" to the Gandhis, had privileged access to Race Course Road, and kicked its security guards when angry. It is here that one is told about a sable coat that Ms Singh claims was given to Ms Gandhi in Moscow and was "sent to Rome to be redesigned by Fendi"; and that Ms Gandhi was "buying shahtoosh shawls in large quantities… which only very rich Indians could afford to." It is here that Ms Singh claims "Rajiv's poorest friends" were spending large amounts of money abroad. Her editors helpfully interpolate a sentence saying "these were the sort of stories that are never possible to confirm," but Ms Singh seems not to have noticed, given that I've heard her since on television telling people to Google pictures of Sonia Gandhi from the 1980s, look, she's wearing a sable coat. (Only very rich Indians can tell if a coat is sable from tiny Google images.)
And it is here, too, that the relationship between Sonia Gandhi and Tavleen Singh – once a thing, or so Ms Singh claims, of lazy afternoon lunches and shared confidences at parties – comes to an end. This is how it happens.
When, in end-1986, Rajiv Gandhi is shot at in Rajghat, Ms Singh calls Sonia Gandhi to ask her what happened. Ms Gandhi chats away about it. Ms Singh – as one does in Delhi – promptly talks about it to everyone in her office at India Today and then is charmingly surprised when its proprietor, Aroon Purie, asks her to interview Ms Gandhi since they're such pals. Ms Singh duly calls up Ms Gandhi to ask; the prime minister's media advisors didn't want to do it, but Ms Gandhi conspires with her friend to "disguise it as a profile". Ms Singh thought what she wrote was "anodyne" but was told by Mr Purie that they'd "put some bite into it". When it came out, Ms Singh considered it "unflattering but fair", given the rumours about the Quattrochis. Ms Gandhi thought differently, apparently, telling Ms Singh icily that she "wasn't like the person I had described in the profile." When Ms Singh asked how, Ms Gandhi said she didn't let friends presume to use her name. Ha. I winced when I read this line, but I needn't have. It seems that Ms Singh, all these years later, doesn't seem to realise that it was a pretty effective put-down of someone who used her closeness to get a story. Instead she told Barkha Dutt on NDTV the other day she was dropped by Sonia Gandhi after the India Today profile because "being a politician means you need courtiers". Sonia Gandhi had gotten used to "no criticism in some ways", she added. In just two years! Amazing. Perhaps it was because she is Italian. They are known to be a changeable people.
Whatever else I have learned from this story, I think I have understood at least some of why Ms Gandhi doesn't trust the media enough to make herself available to them often. Ms Singh, amusingly, is part-cause of one of the habits in the Congress' president that she most noisily decries.
That was too, the birth of Ms Singh's self-image as a proud and persecuted critic of the Gandhis and of dynastic privilege. She has also served over these years the useful purpose of being a strident, if not always progressive, voice for reform; and in her willingness to always speak her mind, whoever it may offend, sets an example that more in India should follow. On the increasingly frequent occasions, however, when that self-image takes over, it results in some truly awful attempts at analysis.
Indeed, her last word in Durbar is as specious a piece of such analysis as I have ever had to process, though it fits in well with these blame-the-media times. Journalists have been insufficiently outraged, she says, by hereditary succession – because they then "get treated very well by governments". You know, of the many reasons I could think of for media corruption or conflicts of interest, that would perhaps be the last and least. Some journalists could, say, not mention to their readers their long relationship with the industrialist whose planned city is being defended in their columns. Other journalists and media houses can pass on planted stories, they can ignore scandals, they can extort money, they can lobby for this or that; but, really, they don't hesitate to question or mention the existence of dynastic politics. Yet, in this one-trick book, all good sense and political nuance is abandoned in the service of Ms Singh's ruling obsession.
Ms Singh wants Durbar to be "taken seriously" as an explanation of where, since the Indira Gandhi era, we've gone wrong. However, if it is indeed taken seriously, it reveals little more than the danger to your credibility of constructing a political philosophy around personal antipathy. No reader should be expected to take a facade of twisted and misshapen "principles" sheltering a decades-old grudge seriously.
So – for your sake and Ms Singh's – expect little explanation, and less insight, from Durbar. But large bits of it are certainly very readable indeed. It isn't the book we were expecting or that it's being touted as in Ms Singh's combative Q&As and on television. Instead there's a steaming load of entertaining gossip, reminiscent of a conversation with that one snarky auntieji who claims she vividly remembers what Romi Chopra was wearing that night in 1983. That's why it's probably best described as what I heard it called the other day – "a bit of an auntie-climax."
Still, the innuendo and the gossip will help it fly off the shelves, right behind Shobhaa De's Sethji. Ms Singh may not like to be known as Lutyens Delhi's Shobhaa De, but, sadly, your average potboiler might well reveal more truths to you about India than this product of a life in those tree-lined boulevards. If that's not the most depressing of comments on Lutyens Delhi, the seat of power and privilege, I don't know what is.
Tavleen Singh
Hachette India
311 pages
Rs 599
Courtesy : www.business-standard.com
Read More : http://www.business-standard.com/results/news/lutyens-delhis-shobhaa-de/494520/


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|AnimeGalleries [dot] Net
|AnimeWallpapers [dot] Com
|AnimeLyrics [dot] Com
|AnimePedia [dot] Com
|AnimeGlobe [dot] Com
Boyfriend and I are in time to get creative last weekend at Metrocon. ovo
More pictures to come.
Attachment 42069
Originally Posted by horrendous
This is not me, but I took this photo from my most recent anime convention.
Old spice guy is too freakin' legit.
i'm disappearing
Last edited by darksky967; 07-27-2014 at 07:29 AM.
Strengthen & Keep Strengthening
Never really posted a serious photo so here it is [friends]
Last edited by DeathBlade/13.666; 02-17-2015 at 02:19 PM.
Just me being a poser while on holiday recently.
Oh my... Selfies in bathrooms....
Last edited by Galaxian; 07-22-2014 at 05:06 PM.
told @Foxy i'd upload a picture of me. i was feeling generous so i uploaded two. click for full size
the line was down at work for half an hour, so i decided to make a rubber band ball. i think i'll name him "Tony's Rubber Band Ball That He Made While The Line Was Down At Work", or TRBBTHMWTLWDAT for short.
TRBBTHMWTLWDAT, say hello to my friends.
Well everyone, its time to say good bye. Good bye to my 1992 Honda Prelude SI. She's been good to me over the last 112,000 miles, but its time to let go. She's now at 264,000 miles and showing her age.
And say hello to the new project!
2008 4.6L V8 Ford Explorer sitting at 56,000miles!
Plans for this one (as of right now).
2 Sundown Audio ZV4 18" subwoofers
1 Sundown Audio NS-1 6500wrms amplifier
4 sets of Infinity Kappa 5x6 Coaxial Speakers
1 MB-Quart Reference 1000 watt 4 channel amp
Rockford Fosgate 3SIXTY.3 Sound processor
4 XS Power D3600 Batteries
Mechman 350amp Alternator
4" Lift
35" Mud Terrain Tires
2004 SVT Mustang Head and Supercharger.
And knowing me, i'll think of more stuff along the way lol
Last edited by Kaleohano; 07-29-2014 at 06:57 AM.
Hmmm... Been a while
AAAAH Dat gory finger with that creepy smile.
Hanging wiff my ratchet crew doin hood rat grozit. Maxy Pad Jill is the second from the left. She took time off her strippin job to go to the welfare office. That negra think she can buy Starbucks and think she all fancy and sheit but she got kids Attractive and Successful African American she got kids to feed! Oh wat? Oh wat? You think Maxi pad Jill can afford a $4.59 Triple Venti ghetto blasta drank from RatchetBucks? Nah nigg.... Nah.... Keep to yo job Maxi Pad. Keep to it...
Last edited by International 4-8818; 07-30-2014 at 11:28 AM.
Sure, why the hell not
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What started out as an insane idea from Arne over at Brushbrothers, turned into a full on mini project. Complete with pitfalls, wrong information, and overspending on materials :)
You might remember that it looked like this last week when I posted about it:
You can see that it has slightly changed.. OK actually it went through a complete overhaul actually.
Turns out that it was required to be on a 40 or 50 mm base.. to which my current one is only on a 30mm one. So a simple idea is just to expand it, and call it a day right? Which I do.. but on a round 50mm base. To which I then find out it needs to be on a 40/50 mm slotta square base. Insert massive swearing at this point considering it was already 2 days into the base with the updates on the round base. It now sits on the "future projects" pile at the moment.
So with that information in hand, I started out to make another one.
Well none other than Mr Ben Komets! Working on one of his own projects for the GD!
He began to just give me 1-2 sentence tips on what I could do to improve it. Such as..
Add foliage.. add paint chipping to the wood.. make the beam rusty.. and add some paper under the grots foot to remove the gap that existed there.
Actually that is quite a bit more than 1-2 sentences, but you get the idea. :)
And off I go.. adding paint chips, rust, and throwing some paper into the mix. In the end, I finished the duel to a level that I was really happy with and was able to enter it into the GD..
Some of the tips that he gave were really interesting. Such as mixing the baking soda along with the white glue to make the rusty sections. Instead of using the Vallejo Putty that I have used in the past ( which was a tip from another painter whom I spoke of in my last post, Roman! ). But being in their place, I gave it a shot, and liked the results!
I think I made the paper a bit too worn or weathered, but the way it began to work on the base gave the illusion of wind. As if they were standing high up on a work site or something. Dunno if that is how others see it, but that is how I saw it after placing the paper! Giving me another new inspiration and ideas for future projects!
One of the last things we did with it though was to add the display plinth. Although there is a socket inside the base itself ( again using the 30mm square as a foundation ), Michael suggested that we add something more to it. Making it easier to handle, and giving it a bit more class. So off to Battlefield Berlin to pick up this plinth from Andrea Miniatures. It is a bit large sitting at just over 40mm square, but it was the only one that came close to fitting so. Of course, I didn't stop at just the plinth, but that is a post for another time perhaps :)
Now with all the work on the entry done, and after handing it into the contest I thought I could relax for a while. Not thinking that we would get any information on anything ( what with it being my first GD ). But wouldn't you know.. at about 1 in the afternoon I was told by Siggi from 5th Dimension to go and check my entry. It had a new sticker on it..
Blurry photo but you can see that it was nominated as a finalist in the Duels! I honestly cannot say how giddy and happy I was to hear such a thing! Mostly considering that I spent less than a week on it, did it only on a "why not" mentality, and still got this high? Hells yeh! So it did much better than I was expecting to get, and in the end received a finalist medal! Not bad for my first time out here ;)
That's right.. a Finalist Medal to go with the GD comp pins that every entry gets. But of course, what is the one thing I could work on further.. MORE CONTRAST! Thankfully a button from PaintingBuddha will help remind me of that point now.
More shots of the model below, but for my first time entering with a real entry ( sorta ) I am really happy with the results! Oh and the second entry pin.. I will share that soon. But it was really last minute and can use a lot of updates on it!
- GD Winners - Lots of Photos!
- GD Germany: Armies of Display GW Staff
- GD Germany: Armies on Parade Entries
- The People of GD Germany 2013
- Golden Demon Germany Miniatures showcase!
- GD Entry - LoTR Hobbit Goblin
- GD Germany - Duel Entry
- GD Germany Slayer Sword winning entry.. also How to Build a GD entry presentation!
- Games Day Germany!


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We got our hands on this 1952 MG TD through a multi-car deal for another car. While this car needs some restoration work, it is a decent, original relatively unmolested example. However, with prospective projects stacked up in the garage, we're letting this one go. The eBay Motors auction ends on Sunday, April 22.
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If you've just purchased a house, are in the process of moving, or have recently moved then it's understandable that you might be feeling a little unsettled in yourself. Our environment affects our emotions much more than we realise, and a lot of times people buy a new house with the expectation they'll feel 'at home' straight away, but this doesn't tend to happen instantly, as home is not a place – it's a feeling, and this feeling can take some time to develop.
In many ways, home is a sense of belonging that brings comfort and stability to our lives; whilst it can help to undertake essential maintenance tasks such as double glazing repairs it's important to understand that home is a feeling, not a place, and that feeling isn't something that can be purchased… it's something that will develop over time.
So, if you're feeling a little unsettled and perhaps even homesick, know this is natural, but that it will pass in time.
When you think about it a house is basically a physical commodity in that it consists of bricks and mortar… whereas a "home" is something you must nurture and create… it's not something that comes with the set of keys your estate agent gives you.
One of the best tips with regard to turning your new house into a happy home is to take immediate action with regard to unpacking and setting things up. The best time to get started, of course, is right now… as the longer you leave your belongings in boxes, the longer you will feel unsettled and the more overwhelmed you will become.
Indeed, moving home can feel very overwhelming, particularly when unpacking and the best way to approach this is to chunk it into more manageable segments. For instance, rather than having twenty boxes to get through in one room; separate them out into four piles of five boxes. This way, things will start to feel more manageable and you can then use the power of momentum to help you get more done in less time.
The other factor, is that you want to make your home feel like "yours" as soon as possible. There's a good chance your new house will have remnants of the previous owners tastes and stylistic preferences. There's often a feeling of the house belonging to someone else, when you first move in, and therefore it's important to cleanse and connect with the space. Now, this might sound very "new age" as a concept, but it can be as simple as cleaning the house, yourself, in order to feel like it is yours.
In a similar vein, everyone has certain items they feel a strong emotional connection with and these items hold emotional energy that can make you feel more at home. It's important to fill your home with the energy of "you" so that you can start to associate your new house with being your new home.
In summary, home is not a place it's a feeling and if you've just moved into somewhere new it's going to take a little while for it to feel like home, but by unpacking, cleansing your environment, and putting out belongings that have your energy – you'll catalyse this process.
*This is a collaborative post


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Mitzi is Ironing a DollyDoodles t shirt for one of the boys.
Mitzi likes Ironing t shirts and getting the little creases out.
" Hello Mitzi" says Hattie coming in." I have something for you"
" Oh What? "
" Let's put away the Iron and Board first " Hattie helps with the board while Mitzi puts the iron out of harms way on the side.
" Why have you bought me a present?" questions Mitzi looking at the large shopping bag that Hattie's placed before her.
" It's just a little something to say Thank you for all your help with the modelling of the hats" replies Hattie
Mitzi pulls out a lovely babooshka dress " Oh " sighs Mitzi " It's so lovely and my favourite colour pink!"
" Thank you thank you thank you Hattie " she cries pulling Hattie into a hug.
" That's Ok " mumbles Hattie embarrassed " Careful your'll crush your new dress"
Mitzi holds the dress up excitedly " Look Hattie Isn't it lovely, shall I try it on?"
" What it is , is very pink! " States Hattie " And yes try it on "
Mitzi rushes off.
Within minutes she back , spinning round to show Hattie all of the dress from all angles.
Hattie smiles, secretly pleased that Mitzi loves it.
" Now" warns Hattie " you must not tell the other's that I bought you this for doing the modelling or they will all expect me to buy them dresses ! Anyone else will have to make do with Mum's biscuits! OK? "
" OK " replies Mitzi " But I can say you bought it for me "
Hattie's not sure, she does not want the others to think she's getting soft! " Well Mum paid half so just say Mum bought it and I helped "
" Oh I must thank mum too " says Mitzi.
"Mmm" wonders Mitzi " Do you think Hattie will let me wear my new dress when I model her hats?" She follows Hattie upstairs to check…


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Technical races produce plenty of top-10 results
The national development team saw a lot of racing last week with five Nor Am Cup competitions for the men at Sunday River, Maine, and four womens races at Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec.
Whistlers Michael Janyk was on fire, winning gold and silver in the two slalom events.
On day one, Janyk jumped from second place in the standings to the gold medal with the fastest second run of the afternoon. James Cochran and Ted Ligety of the U.S. Team were second and third.
Whistlers Scott Hume was 32 nd in that race.
Things went just the opposite the next day, with Janyk in first after his first slalom run then slipping back one position after the second run. He earned a silver medal for his effort.
The gold went to Ligety of the U.S., but after that it was almost an all-Canadian top-10.
Julien Cousineau of Lachute Quebec claimed the silver medal, and was trailed by two American skiers.
From Canada, Patrick Biggs, Scott Hume, Ryan Semple, Michael Tichy and Nick Zoricic were sixth through 10th respectively.
In the first of three giant slalom events, Cousineau was solid, moving up from fourth place after the first run to first place overall after the second. Jake Zamansky and James Cochran of the U.S. were second and third.
Ryan Semple, Francois Bourque and Nick Zoricic were fifth, eighth and ninth respectively, and Janyk and Hume were 11 th and 12 th .
The second giant slalom was even better for the Canucks with Semple, Bourque and Cousineau taking gold, silver and bronze. Patrick Biggs and John Kucera wrapped up the top-10 in sixth and ninth.
In the final day of racing, Cousineau and Semple were second and third overall behind Jake Zamansky of the U.S. Hume was 12 th .
Meanwhile the women have earned more than a few medals of their own in a pair of slalom and a pair of GS races at Mont-Sainte-Anne.
In the first slalom, Anna Goodman of Pointe Claire, Quebec, won a bronze for Canada behind Kaylin Richardson and Lauren Ross of the U.S. Anna Prchal was fifth, Jennah Durham sixth and Sophie Splawinski 10 th .
On the second day, Brigitte Acton of Sault-Ste-Marie, Ontario took the gold medal, followed by Richardson and Ross of Team USA. Splawinski moved up to fourth, Prchal was fifth, and Sara-Maude Boucher seventh to round out the top-10.
The first giant slalom saw two Canadians on the podium, Acton in first and Splawinski in second. Prchal was fifth once again, and Julie Rabnett was 10 th .
In the second GS, Acton was solid once again, winning her second gold medal in as many days.
"Im very happy. I kept the same attitude and focus as yesterday, and everything went great," said Acton. "Many of the girls went out in the same section, so I was careful going through there. Now I think the whole team is ready for Europe (Europa Cup competitions), and we cant wait to get there."
Splawinski was third, Prchal fifth (for a fourth time), Jessica Dakers was seventh and Goodman 10 th .


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We envision a world without poverty and hunger, and this starts with ensuring that all children attend school to gain the skills they need to get ahead. Progress over the last several decades has shown us that this is possible. Today, fewer people are living in poverty, and more children than ever (girls and boys) are in school. However, millions remain out of school and millions more are just not learning. Yet, new World Bank research shows that education – and the more the better – can boost incomes while a lack of education can cost trillions of dollars, globally.
Let's look at a few feel-good facts
The absolute number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from over 2 billion in 1970 (the peak of red in the graph below), to 705 million today. This is true despite a burst in population growth.
Proportionally, poverty has declined from 44% of the population to around 10% in the same time period.
The number of out-of-school primary-aged children across the globe declined from 100 million to 63 million between 2000 and 2017.
The number of out-of-school youth of upper-secondary school age fell from 177 million to 139 million in the same period.
The fight for quality education for EVERY child is not over
While recognizing progress, the fact remains that millions of people continue to live in extreme poverty and one in five children and youth is out of school. Moreover, over the last five years, the decline in the out-of-school population has tapered off and remains staggeringly high at 263 million.
Further compounding this bad news is the fact that the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) estimates that six out of ten children are not meeting minimum proficiency standards in mathematics and literacy. That means that 617 million children, two-thirds of whom are in school, are just not learning the skills they need to increase wages, improve their income earning power and climb out of poverty.
In low-income countries, where people could benefit the most from poverty-busting tools, almost 90% of school-aged children and youth are not meeting minimum standards in these foundational skillsets.
So, not only are millions of children still losing out on getting an education, millions more who are in school just aren't learning.
Poverty and education are linked through skill development
This learning crisis is more disconcerting when paired with the fact that study after study, as well as years of anecdotal experience, have shown that education is a crucial factor in lifting people out of poverty. We would even go so far as to say that education – quality education – is a silver bullet and the best poverty-busting tool available.
Research also shows that there is a complex interconnectedness between poverty, education and gender. In fact, the ability of education to improve the lives of women and girls is particularly compelling. Conversely, the cost of not educating girls is massive.
This is why at least half of the beneficiaries of the projects the 60 million girls Foundation supports must be girls.
Stunning new research shows that each additional year of schooling at the primary level can boost a woman's income by up to 19%. Secondary education can double a woman's income and tertiary education can triple it.
In addition to wage growth, education can help the poor find more stable employment opportunities in the formal sector. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the least educated tend to work almost exclusively in highly informal employment, though this falls to 88% for those with at least a primary-level education and 68% for those who have completed secondary school. And women in low-income countries work in the informal sector at a greater rate than men.
Even for some of the most marginalized groups like agricultural workers, education can make a difference. An educated farmer can increase agricultural output by making more informed decisions about adopting new techniques to increase efficiency and productivity, and better adapt to changes brought on by climate change.
On the other side of the scale, a new World Bank report reveals that the economic cost of not educating girls and women through secondary school runs from US$ 15-30 trillion based on lost earnings.
The intergenerational effect of education's poverty-busting impact is crucial
Poverty, though, encompasses more than dollars and cents. It is multidimensional and includes other elements of well-being, such as education, a lack of nutrition, health, housing and a willingness to stand up for one's rights. Poor access to education may be a consequence of poverty, but it also part of the solution.
Educated women are more likely to delay childbirth and, when they do start a family, they are able to make better decisions in regards to nutrition and are more likely to get their children vaccinated. Girls who are more educated are also less likely to get HIV/AIDS.
More education also gives women a greater say in when and whom they marry. Child marriage can trap girls in negative, unhealthy relationships and it perpetuates poverty as young brides, still children themselves, become young mothers.
Further, an educated woman is also more likely to ensure that her own children, girls and boys, go to school, thus breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
So, what is the solution to the large numbers of out-of-school children and poor learning outcomes?
Targeted policies are needed to increase the access and quality of education, and to ensure that schooling actually results in the skillsets needed for progress. To do that, policy makers need access to information and answers to the following questions:
- Who is out of school?
- Where do out-of-school children and adolescents live?
- What are the particular barriers facing children in that community?
- Is there a secondary school within reach of all children graduating from primary school? If not, why not?
- What are the learning outcomes in different communities?
Without answers to these questions (and many more), it is difficult to design impactful policy that will reach those most in need.
We believe that together, by focusing on education, especially for the most marginalized groups, we can make the world a better place with more opportunities for everyone.
To see our posts and to learn about what we do, please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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Dead simple method pumps $300-$500 a day into this guy's bank account (no experience or tech skills needed)
Would you like to get your hands on something amazing?
On a moneymaking method that it's currently making its author between $300 and $500 per day?
Then you're in luck, because I've just stumbled upon a revolutionary CPA method that is not only capable of making so much money, but it's also incredibly easy to use.
In fact, you don't even need to have any prior experience or skills to use this method to make loads of cash.
Everything you need is inside the method itself, so all you have to do is to follow the simple, step-by-step,proven-to- work plan.
So if you're curious and want to make money the easy way, then check out this method here:


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Facility Rentals
Many of our facilities are available for rent. From athletic events to on-stage performances, find what you are looking for here at The Wardlaw + Hartridge School.
|Pool (6 lanes, 25 yards long)
|Turf Fields (2)
| Baseball and Softball Fields
|Tennis Courts (8)
|Plumeri Gym
| Laidlaw Gym
| All Purpose Room (stage, sound system, stage lighting, cinema), seating for 248 / capacity of 300 )
Assistant Athletic Director Megan Teller manages rentals of our facilities; questions can be directed to her at 908-754-1882 ext. 315 or via email at firstname.lastname@example.com
To request a rental, fill out the form below:


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Our mission is to protect land and promote environmental education in coastal Alabama so current and future residents can enjoy clean water and the seafood, wildlife, and outdoor recreation that define our area.
The Weeks Bay Foundation was incorporated in 1990 as a non-profit organization to support the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in its efforts to conserve the pristine coastal area of Baldwin County, Alabama. In 2009, the Foundation became a Nationally Accredited Land Trust. With the support of more than 550 members, generous donors and event sponsors, we have protected more than 7,000 acres of coastline in Baldwin and Mobile counties. This is done through a combination of conservation easements, land donations, and purchases. The land we protect can never be sold to developers and will remain wild forever.
You can help us continue in our mission to protect the land, the water, and the wildlife by becoming a member of the Foundation or by making a one-time or monthly contribution.


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On this day …….. 9th of December 1873
Daniel Lynch a labour working in Euroa had a turn while at work and was found to be suffering insanity. Lynch was taken to Beechworth by train and transferred to Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum on the 20th of August 1871, on admission it was not known where his family was. Lynch escaped on the 9th of December 1873. Lynch remained at large until the 14th of March 1881, when he found him self incarcerated in the Beechworth Gaol on miner charges. Lynch was transferred to the Asylum where he died on the 17th of August 1882.


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Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis and his girlfriend Abbey Wilson are expecting twin girls.
Francis, 40, told US Weekly, "We both wanted girls and we wanted them to be healthy and free of genetic diseases so we chose to do IVF."
Wilson, 26, added, "I have always heard women say you just know when you are pregnant and I totally understand that now. Your body, smell, sensitivity and cravings all change and mine did from day one. I found out shortly after a blood test confirmed the results and called Joe immediately, we were both screaming and so loud with excitement from each end of the phone!"
Francis chimed in, "We chose to have girls. I believe people will finally understand my love, respect and admiration for women. I love girls."
Francis spoke about telling Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick the baby news and revealed, "Kourtney [Kardashian] and Scott [Disick] were the first in the Kardashian family we told and they have already given us so much amazing advice."
Wilson also shared, "Mario (Lopez) and Courtney Lopez took us baby shopping at Bel Bambini, and Mario is now coaching Joe on fatherhood!"
Designing the nursery is already in the plans.
Francis said. "We're hoping for some advice from our good friend, designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard!"


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Campbell Farms takes pride in growing our crops, as if we were the owners of the operations. We have a wide blend of cultures that make up our team of teams that brings the best in the fresh potatoes year-round to you, the consumer!
We feel we use the utmost natural resources to produce the most sustainable crops to the best of our abilities. We are always striving to improve; we want to deliver the highest standard that you the consumer want for "FRESH FROM OUR FARMS".
We wouldn't be able to do this without the support of our owners, the best personnel, a great group of vendors, and most importantly, our valued customers. We, at Campbell Farms, would like to thank all from the North Dakota plains to the fine central sands of Minnesota.
The Campbell family of companies is a fully integrated year-round supplier of fresh table stock, and certified seed potatoes. We are growers, packers, shippers and marketers with operations in North Dakota and Minnesota.
We provide a full range of potato services including contracting, forward pricing, private label packaging, warehousing and corporate account programs.
Campbell Farms is more than just a brand, it is a clear commitment to providing customer and consumer with the highest quality and safety in every order.
Campbell Farms
15111 Hwy 17
Grafton, ND 58237
(800) 222-SPUD (7783) toll free
(701) 352-3116 local
(701) 352-2008 fax


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Yes, couponing is a lot of work. I won't lie to you. And that's the excuse most people use when it comes to using coupons. It's too much work. But to me, work = pay. So let's look at how much coupons "pay" you. I cut our monthly budget $300-$400 a month when I started seriously couponing (I used to just be a "casual couponer"). So I basically get paid $300-$400 a month to coupon. Sounds to me like the "work" is worth it! :)))
So, if your new years resolution is to be a better couponer, the first thing you need to do is organize your coupons!
The easiest way to organize your coupons is a small "coupon-sized" accordion file. This is good for just starting out. Eventually, you'll outgrow your accordian file as you begin to amass large amounts of coupons. (I'll talk about coupon binders later…)
But, to begin with – let's talk accordian files.
Most of them come with either tabbed index cards or they have the plastic slots with pieces of paper to write on and insert. You'll want to organize your coupons by category. Some examples are:
Canned Goods
Cleaning Supplies
Dry Goods
Frozen Foods
Paper Products
You can modify as needed.
Now, with an accordion file there isn't much "organization" you can do past inserting the labels. Each coupon goes behind the label for which it is categorized. You can keep them sorted within each category by expiration date if you wish. Or you can group like brands together. (for example, under breakfast have all the Kellogg's cereal coupons together and all the General Mills cereal coupons together). This may help you when you are looking for a particular coupon.
So pick up a coupon organizer (I had a plastic one I really liked that cost less than $4 from Walmart in the office supply section) and get organized!
Just know that once you get the hang of this, you're going to want to upgrade to a binder. But don't overwhelm yourself just yet! :)))
Happy couponing!


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Nigeria's army says it has arrested the leader of the Islamist militant group Ansaru, a breakaway faction of Boko Haram.
Ministry of Defense spokesman Rabe Abubakar says Khalid al-Barnawi was arrested in the central city of Lokoja on Friday.
The U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward for al-Barnawi since 2012.
Ansaru emerged as a separate group from Boko Haram that year. Both groups aim to establish an Islamic state in Muslim-majority northern Nigeria.
The United States accused Ansaru of kidnapping and killing several foreign workers in Nigeria and killing Nigerian police officers during a 2012 attack on an Abuja police station.
It also said Ansaru has close ties to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, and designated Ansaru as a terrorist group in November 2013.