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Although you may be distracted by the view of the lake just south of Ambleside, look the other way and you'll see Wansfell Holme on the hill above you. An early Victorian Summer mansion, it sits at the heart of the designed landscape that spreads upwards into National Trust woodlands at Skelghyll. Stand on Jenkyn's Field and look upwards back inland - you'll see the Tall Trees of Skelghyll framing the skyline behind the house itself.
A gap in the Wansfell Holme boundary wall into Skelghyll Woods presented us with an unusual problem.
Apart from its daunting height of 8 feet in places, the wall had been mortared in the original construction at the wall ends or quoins, whereas the rest of the wall had been built as a traditional dry-stone wall.
This had the effect of much of the mortared wall near the gateway staying up while the non-mortared wall adjacent to it had collapsed mainly through shifting foundation stones over many years.
In this image the stone has been cleared back and rebuilding the wall is well on its way.
This image shows the finished result with the rebuilt dry-stone section of wall blending in with the mortared wall.
The mansion framed by the gateway is Wansfell Holme; the owners back in the early 1800's would have had the wall built as a boundary between the woodlands and the fields that formed part of their estate.
The wall is situated along the route of The National Trust Tall Tree Trail.
The owners of Wansfell Holme in the 19th century were avid tree collectors. They planted many conifers in what was once their woodland. The Grand Fir in this image was one such tree and is the tallest tree in the North West, as well as being the tallest Grand Fir in England.


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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son Michael Blosil has died, the entertainer said Saturday.
Osmond said in a statement through her publicist that her family is devastated by the "tragic loss." She did not provide details on the death.
Entertainment Tonight reported on its Web site that Blosil jumped to his death Friday night from a downtown Los Angeles apartment building.
Officers responded to an apparent suicide jump in the area, but the victim was not identified Saturday, Los Angeles Police Officer Gregory Baek said.
"My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time," Osmond said in the statement.
Blosil reportedly left a note which referred to a lifelong battle with depression.
In 2007, Osmond said Michael was treated at a rehabilitation facility, but she didn't disclose the nature of his problem.
Donny Osmond, Blosil's uncle, told Entertainment Tonight: "Please pray for my sister and her family."
Michael is one of Osmond's five adopted children. She also has three other children from two marriages. She divorced Brian Blosil in 2007 after two decades of marriage. She and her first husband Stephen Craig divorced in 1985.
Osmond earned fame at age 13 with the hit song "Paper Roses," and starred with her brother, Donny, on television's "Donny and Marie Show" during the 1970s.
They perform a musical variety show regularly at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The hotel said Saturday's performance was canceled.
Marie Osmond's son dies in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son Michael Blosil has died, the entertainer said Saturday.

subset: commoncrawl


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I love books about female friendship and at the very heart of this book is a friendship that is exuberant, fun and full of life. Actually the whole book is full of that too.The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
Published by Headline Genres: Fiction, Romance, Literary
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Source: Bookbridgr
Buy on Amazon
Set in 1950s London, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets centers around Penelope, the wide- eyed daughter of a legendary beauty, Talitha, who lost her husband to the war. Penelope, with her mother and brother, struggles to maintain their vast and crumbling ancestral home—while postwar London spins toward the next decade's cultural revolution.
Penelope wants nothing more than to fall in love, and when her new best friend, Charlotte, a free spirit in the young society set, drags Penelope into London with all of its grand parties, she sets in motion great change for them all. Charlotte's mysterious and attractive brother Harry uses Penelope to make his American ex-girlfriend jealous, with unforeseen consequences, and a dashing, wealthy American movie producer arrives with what might be the key to Penelope's— and her family's—future happiness.
Vibrant, witty, and filled with vivid historical detail, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is an utterly unique debut novel about a time and place just slipping into history.
First Line of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
"I met Charlotte in London one afternoon while waiting for a bus."
My Thoughts on The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
The setting of this book is fab. It's set in post war England at a time of huge change. Teenagers are now a thing and they are ready to throw off the bad memories of the war and just grab life by the horns and shake it for all it's worth. They've had enough of rationing and death and bad news and now it's time to party and enjoy being young. The moment is everything and that feeling is contagious while you read.
Penelope lives in a huge mansion that is falling down around her family's ears. I was picturing a house like Downton Abbey in my head, a few decades on, badly neglected and in need of a huge money injection. Penelope is slightly awkward, very English and desperately in love with Johnnie Ray, an early rock and singer from America.
And one day, she meets the zany, high-spirited Charlotte. Who flies in to her life like a whirlwind and stirs everything up. I loved the friendship of the two girls; it was sincere and supportive and brought fun and joy to both girls. And both girls just pulsate with youth and romantic ideas and their fandom of Johnnie Ray was hilarious.
So setting, check. Characters, check. But great as those two were, what really shone for me was the writing. It flowed from the page, it was thought-provoking and everything from the language used to emotions evoked just made me live, sleep and breathe the late 1940s and I loved it.
It is also a rollercoaster of a book and it made me laugh and swoon but it also choked me up at times. It has a charming, quirky feel but is well able to hit you in the feels at poignant moments too.
I do have to say, it was predictable and everything wrapped up very neat and tidy. But I had such fun along the way that I didn't mind that in the slightest. There were a few romances and they were sweet but not the main focus of the book. Mostly this is a story of friendship and family and is absorbing and entertaining. It might have a simple theme but it is also an unforgettable read.
So it gets a huge thumbs up. And I can't believe the book is 10 years old, how come no one ever told me about this one before? Peeps, if you know more books like this, shout now, I need them in my life!
|Rating Report
|Did I feel it?
Who should read The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice?
I'd highly recommend this to you if you like historical fiction, books about friendship and strong character development. Fans of I Capture the Castle should also enjoy.
Thanks to Bookbridgr and Headline for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.


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- Note: You can choose your size by waistline (Taking into account your height and weight). Better choose size lager. For example, if you waistline is 90cm, better choose size M. The waist support is adjustable.
1. Posture Corrector – Back Support
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5. Prevents Lower Back Injuries while Lifting
6. Correct posture, keeping your spine aligned and upright at all times.
7. You protect the Lumbar Zone For improper movement.
Waist Trimmer Belt Functions:
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(3) Provides preventive and therapeutic support to lower risk of weightlifting-related injuries
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(5) Suitable for when loads exceed the normal level of training and strength


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Nicolai Fechin
February 23, 2011 § Leave a comment
So far in Media class, we've been learning about Fechin's mark making techniques and how he manages to capture light in very subtle ways in his drawings. It's a challenging experience no doubt to do a master copy of Fechin's work, but it's a challenge my classmates and I look forward to.
However, all that said, who is Nicolai Fechin? So with the wonders of internet, I did a google search and read up on the man himself. Besides his travels and experiences, I was fascinated by the fact that he designed and build his own house in the 1920s. His house still stands today and it is now the Taos Art Museum.
Learn more about him here: http://www.fechin.com/
Values & Shapes
February 17, 2011 § 1 Comment
It's really interesting to see how all classes are related to one another in such a cohesive way. Whether it's figure drawing, sketchbook doodling, drawing perspective, trying to nail design, values & shapes are two things that constantly pop up.
Just understand values, how to control them and get your shapes right, and it seems like everything else will fall into place.
Also, we've been practicing toning in values in Light & Form class. It gets pretty therapeutic after a while just shading and kneading and shading and kneading…
The Secret To Good Proportions
February 14, 2011 § Leave a comment
How simple can you make it?
Sketchbook Lessons
February 12, 2011 § Leave a comment
It's a Saturday afternoon and the sun is blazing
I'm sitting in front of a church and I start gazing
I take out my pencil and I start to scribble
And I pray that it won't start to drizzle
I never noticed how beautiful the sight is
And it's a little sad that people don't notice
But luckily I have my sketchbook with me
So I will always remember what I see
R.E.V.E.R.B. is C.U.
February 9, 2011 § Leave a comment
Let's Go!
February 7, 2011 § Leave a comment
This is the beginning of a new journey for me and the starting point will be at The Art Department. . I am excited and will be updating this blog along the way.


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The Orchidea International Schools started its secondary school program in September 2010 on the basis of the Hungarian National Education Framework. 90% of all classes are instructed in the English language which makes it a unique opportunity for students.
The secondary school program of Orchidea is accredited by The National Ministry of Education and it prepares its students for the Hungarian bilingual final state examinations. Our graduate students can continue their studies at any university abroad. The staff of the secondary school is well experienced and strongly motivated. Many of the team foreign instructors speaking native languages.
Click here for Secondary School web page.


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Like everyone else who eats and drinks, I have a list of certain grubs and sips that are so foul that I won't go near them, and it is a constant source of curiosity for me that other people would -- to the point that some of the grossest edibles are actually quite popular.
Here are five more terrible foods and drinks -- and how we got stuck with them.
See also: - From Oreos to margarine: Five terrible foods -- and how we got stuck with them - Eating a dead horse: Five reasons why horse meat isn't such a terrible tragedy - Terrible tacos and Chocolate Overlord Cake: Denver's new Jack in the Box
5. Frittatas These Italian-style egg dishes are sorta like omelets, sorta like quiche -- and sorta disgusting. I have never had a slice of frittata either in a restaurant or at someone's house that wasn't a messy mashup of half-cooked vegetables; tough, salty meats and overcooked eggs. Most omelets I've had are at least cooked quickly enough to prevent the eggs from burning, and quiches have the benefit of crusts to keep the innards from searing, but frittatas have crackly, brown bottoms that taste bitter and sulfuric -- and the smell of burnt eggs is stanky up there with canned dog food and tunafish farts.
We got stuck with frittatas when the American dining public became interested to the point of mad obsession with rustic Italian favorites sometime in the 1950s. The preparation is rustic, too: They are made by dumping veggies, meat and cheese into beaten raw eggs, the mixture is then slopped into a frying pan, flipped, and duly scorched.
4. Graham cracker crusts I like graham crackers -- who doesn't? They are crispy, sweet rectangles that are good to dip in things, melt chocolate and well-charred marshmallows on, or just eat by themselves. But for some reason when you crush them up with melted butter and stuff them into pie pans, they become something sinister, they become...useless, annoying filler that takes away from dessert fillings like cheesecake. It's frustrating to cut a slice of cheesecake or Key Lime pie and get a couple inches of the good stuff -- and double the amount of dry, crummy graham cracker crust.
We got stuck with graham crackers when Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham invented "Graham bread" in 1829. He wanted something snackable for his vegetarian diet, and at the time commercially produced baked goods were chock-full of nasty additives to get the whitest of white flour appearances possible, and brown breads made with whole-grain flours were considered fit for poor people (my, how times have changed). Graham believed his product was more nutritious, and a cure for alcoholism and sexual urges -- he got the first part right, but the jury is still out on the last two.
3. Water with a hint of flavor Whoever dreamed up making bottled water with just enough flavor to make you want more flavor should be drowned in a giant barrel of Kool-Aid. I get the benefits of bottled water, and I agree with the merits of tasty fruit drinks in bottles as well, but water with just a drop of some sort of fruit flavoring is maddening. Either make it water or make it something else..
How we got stuck with this: I actually tried to discover who invented "hint of" bottled water by searching the magical Internet, and could not find a name (if I had, I would have also sent a strongly worded e-mail message to that person, expressing my displeasure). But I did learn that the history of bottled water is much older than I'd thought. In the U.S., commercial bottled water can be traced back to the 1700s, and it got popular in the early nineteenth century when glass bottles were mass-produced and affordable. The 1800s saw bottles of spring water selling as a more healthy alternative to water from other sources, like wells -- and there was probably some truth to that -- but even in the olden days Americans enjoyed being trendy and drinking bottled water as a status thing. Some things don't change.
2. Geitost cheese People complain about Limburger cheese being nasty (it's actually a rather delicious, savory, washed-rind cheese that has a sharp, acidic aroma but a creamy consistency and meaty flavor). And they wax poetic about geitost -- a creepy, brown cheese that is a breakfast favorite in Norway. And here's where the yuck comes in: This cheese is sweet. Not just sweet, but cloyingly so, and its waxy consistency and sugary, scalded milk taste easily makes it the absolute grossest cheese in existence. It doesn't melt worth a crap, doesn't pair well with anything, and it's a serious disappointment coming from the same wonderful country that also produces Snofrisk -- a delectable goat's milk cream cheese that goes well with everything.
How we got stuck with this: This particular cheese was being produced way back in the day, in a spreadable form, when a Norwegian milkmaid named Anne Haav hit on the idea of adding cream to the cheese to boost the fat and make it sliceable. I read that geitost is nutritionally comparable to milk chocolate, but the chocolate tastes far better.
1. White sandwich bread Yeah, I know that sliced white sandwich bread is supposed to be one of the hallowed hallmarks of traditional American cuisine and all, but I have never liked it because wheat bread is better. Wheat bread -- especially the whole-grain variety -- is superior to white in every way possible. Wheat bread is more dense, tastes nutty, has less offensive crusts, makes better toast, and beats out its white counterpart in the real test: It makes better grilled cheese sandwiches. White bread is dryer, almost flavorless, and is way too spongy.
How did we get stuck with this? White bread has been around longer than Wonder Bread, but Wonder Bread is what propelled it to the level of American cultural icon when, in 1921, it was introduced amidst clever marketing fanfare, and became the best thing since...well, whatever there was before sliced bread. Wonder Bread was also a historical trendsetter as the first commercial bread to be enriched with vitamins and minerals, use open dating and nutritional information on the packaging. In 1986 the company introduced whole grain white, made from albino wheat -- but I don't trust it because it's not brown.
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Wonder Bread was recently bought by Flowers Foods -- owner of Mrs. Freshley's and Tastykake -- when Hostess went belly-up, so sliced white Wonder Bread will probably still be around when our grandchildren shove us all into cut-rate nursing homes. That's when I'll be proudly gumming my whole wheat bread because it will still be better.
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"What do you think of Ted Cruz?" There's an interesting breakfast table question my wife asked a few days ago. Senator Cruz's (R-TX) name seems to be mud here in Washington. An article in GQ called him "The Distinguished Wacko Bird from Texas," a name he happily embraces. He's the darling of "The Tea Party."
Cruz believes Washington is seriously broken, a place where expedient, career-enhancing, and largely unprincipled compromises are the rule of the day. According to the distinguished wacko bird article, Cruz said, "I cannot tell you how many little old ladies clasped my shoulder and said, 'Ted, please don't go to Washington and become one of them.'" "One of them" is code for politics-as-usual members of Congress.
So Cruz has become something of an obstructionist. There are issues over which he digs in the heels of his ostrich skin cowboy boots and simply will not budge, Obamacare being at the top of the list. Cruz told GQ, "Stopping bad things is a significant public service."
While in some cases that is absolutely true, his attitude has not endeared him to either the Republican leadership or old guard Republican Senators. Nor has it made him a favorite among conservative pundits who have been waxing eloquent about the glories of James Madison's principles in the Constitution, the value of compromise, and how Cruz doesn't get it.
As Jonathan Rauch wrote in National Affairs, "At the end of the day, the Madisonian framework asks not that participants like compromising but that they do it — and, above all, that they recognize the legitimacy of the system that makes them do it. It asks them to acknowledge that the compromise-forcing constitutional structure is principled and admirable, even if some particular compromises are not."
Rauch argues that there are some people — in this case "Tea Party" Republicans like Cruz — are ideologically opposed to compromise, a position that is contrary to the core principles of the Constitution.
I agree with what Rauch has to say about compromise. I also agree with Chuck Colson's regular admonitions about incrementalism in politics. Few political victories are won all at once. Success comes from compromising to get something you want and then coming back for more.
At the same time, I have two reservations, perhaps the same ones as the jubilant crowds that greeted Ted Cruz at home in Texas where he's something of a popular hero.
First, there are some issues that strike me as binary, that is, it's hard to see what might be the middle ground between yes and no. On marriage, we're doing our best to dig in our heels against those who want to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples (and more). Marriage in our laws will be exclusively between one man and one woman or it will be whatever. Compromises such as civil unions have been taken off the table by the marriage revisionists leaving no middle ground.
Religious liberty is another binary issue. We either have religious liberty or … or our religious liberty has been compromised. "Accommodation of religious believers" in this law or that bad law is not religious liberty; it's condescension. "Freedom of worship" is not religious liberty since it treats religion as a hobby rather than a worldview. And "religious toleration" only means that you get to choose from a (changeable) government approved list of tolerated religions.
Compromise on the meaning of marriage or on religious liberty is surrender. One side loses; the other side wins.
Now what about Congress's penchant for (addiction to?) spending and running up the national debt? It's certainly not binary — spend or stop spending — but there seems to be a troubling way of life lurking in the background that may be binary.
On example. When the bill to end the government semi-shutdown passed on October 16, it included a $2.8 billion dollar earmark for a project in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's state of Kentucky.
I realize that the project benefits other states too, that it was apparently Senator Lemar Alexander from Tennessee who attached the project, and I'm even willing to believe it will save money. Fine. But isn't it at least tone deaf to include pork in a bill settling a budget impasse brought on by spending too much money in the first place? According to CNN, Senator John McCain quipped, "These people are like alcoholics. They can't resist taking a drink."
Congress appears to many Americans to be more interested in continuing the game — with the same players — than doing the people's work for the people's good while carefully stewarding the people's money.
We need someone who will knock the game over and call attention to the fact that something is out of whack on Capitol Hill. If that's Ted Cruz, more power to him.


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PB: Where does the title "Traders Guns & Money" come from?
A dead rock star and the American show "West Wing". I was thinking of Lawyers, Guns & Money except Warren Zevon who wrote a song of that name refused me use of that title. This was despite the fact that he was actually dead. I am also reliably informed that according to the spin doctor in "West Wing" it is best to do things in three's; apparently people remember them more readily - hence Traders, Guns & Money. I was also hoping that people might mistake the title for Jared Diamond's best seller Guns Germs & Steel - thought it might help sales.
PB: What's the book about?
A form of madness - we call it financial markets. The book's about the weird and wonderful instruments that are traded and sold by people in banks to people in companies and investment houses. Its focus is on this arcane world.
PB: Why would the average person want to read the book?
It's all done with your money - your pension money, the money you deposit with banks, the money of companies whose shares you own. It will help people understand what your money is sometimes used for. This is a world that few people know about and fewer understand. It's a world where a small group of gifted, if rapacious, individuals parlay their knowledge of financial products into wealth, leaving shareholders, clients, regulators, and the tax paying ordinary public to bear most of the risk. In brief, it will help explain why in the words of Goucho Marx "You worked yourself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty."
PB: Can you briefly outline what the book covers?
There is a frame story - a fictitious court case, whose characters can be found prowling the world of derivatives, including the cunning traders, the hapless clients and their wily lawyer. This page turning story illuminates the dangers companies face when handling derivatives (financial weapons of mass destruction). Sandwiched in between this story, the rest of the book describes various aspects of this world. The first chapter - Weapons of Mass Destruction - explains what derivatives are - even my mother understood what a derivative was when she read this. Other chapters describe the different players - Beautiful lies sets out what really goes on banks and True Lies explains what goes on in clients like companies and investors. Show Me the Money explains how money is really made and lost. Perfect Storms describes how most organisations pay lip service to managing risk. It also explains what goes on in different parts of the financial world - like the currently "hot" world of hedge funds and credit derivatives.
PB: Is this book hard to read?
No, it's not a technical book. Traders Guns and Money is part thriller, part expose. It a fun read but it teaches you something about the business. It will show how these markets work. It's also satiric, irreverent and black in its humour - is that too many adjectives?
PB: Any great stories in the book?
The book is a collection of lots of stories. Here's a few:
Story 1
A trader I know thought that it might be useful to have his business cards translated into Japanese. His official title was "Trader- Fixed Income". The Japanese translation was "Trader on Fixed Salary". The card brought strange looks from the bemused Japanese clients. It seemed more than a little was lost in translation.
Story 2
Around 1999, I met an ERM (Enterprise Risk Management) advocate,. Dudley , the head of risk for an investment bank. He wanted to meet me. I had no idea why. I soon discovered that Dudley had reached ERM. It was the "new", best-est thing. It was revolutionary. Dudley was at the forefront. He would give me an example of the problems he was trying to model.
"Let's say our head trader has a complex trading strategy only he understands, yes". I nodded. I didn't think any strategy could be that complex, at least if a trader had put it on. But it was quite likely that no one knew about it. The trader may have not told anyone. "Let's say the trader bicycles to work". I did not think this likely. Traders prefer Porsches. Not wishing to prolong the discussion, I did not disagree.
"On the way to work, he is hit by a bus. His mobile phone is knocked away from him and damaged. He is unconscious. Assume that simultaneously market prices move due to surprise news. This news is vital to the trader's position. He does not know. Nobody knows what to do with his position". I nodded. "That's not all. Assume simultaneously, there is fraud in another bank". I nodded in real agreement. That was very likely. "This bank goes into bankruptcy. It creates a financial crisis. This of course affects the trader's position. He doesn't know of course. He's unconscious". I was hoping he would get to the point soon.
"At the same time, assume there is an accident at a power plant. There is a blackout. The bank's back-up generator fails. The mechanic forgot to check the fuel tank. The bank's computer system goes down. The trader can't get prices or model the risk on his position". I reminded Dudley that the trader was unconscious, maybe deceased. "Exactly", he replied cheerily. It went on.
Eventually after a tragedy of biblical proportions had been outlined, Dudley reached the end. "I am modeling the probability that such an event could occur". For me, it was one step too far in the search for "holistic risk". Risk management seemed to have completed its transformation into pure entertainment. Dudley seemed the epitome of a risk manager who would drown crossing a river that was 12 inches in depth on average.
Story 3
Nero and I marketed together a fair bit. I provided the technical bits. He smoozed the clients. Nero and I were making a pitch for a new structured product with a portfolio manager from an overseas fund over dinner. Dinner was a 3 martini, 2 bottles of French red wine and cigar and brandy affair. I kept looking for a moment to interject and explain the structure and benefits of the trade. I didn't get a chance.
Towards the end of the evening, the fund manager turned to Nero and said: "The girls are coming up to my room, right?" I looked at Nero surprised. "You didn't forget the stuff, it drives the girls wild?" Nero muttered something and carefully steered the conversation in a different direction. After dinner, Nero and I left the hotel. Nero stopped and drew his hand in a cutting motion across his throat. "Remember IBGYBG," he said. "I be gone, you be gone. Got it kid." A week later the portfolio manager was on the phone. "Been thinking about your deal. Like it a lot. Send me a term sheet. I think we can do something there." We closed a juicy trade for $200 million booking profits of over $2 million.
Years later, one of Nero's boys was pitching a deal to a client. Coincidentally, I happened to be a consultant to the customer. During the presentation, I asked some questions. Nothing personal, I was doing my job. The presentation wasn't going to plan. Eventually, the salesman stood up and said: "The product is unsuitable for you. It is intended for someone less sophisticated." I rang and told Nero. He killed himself laughing. True lies, all of them.
PB: Who do you think will buy the book?
Everybody, I hope. I don't think I am going to be the industry's favourite son after exposing its lies and dirty practices. So I am hoping that it's a best seller as I need the money. Joking aside, I think there are a few groups who will buy it. The first is people in banking and finance, whether or not they are involved in derivatives directly. They will find it a wry and entertaining read and may recognize themselves or people they work with. It is also for those who want an accessible introduction to this weird and wonderful world. It will perhaps confirm their worst fears and prejudices about these strange instruments, what they are used for and the people who trade them. It will probably appeal also to people and graduates entering the industry who want to bluff their way through a interview for that high paying derivatives job - it's a great Bluffers Guide to Derivatives.
PB: What makes you qualified to write the book?
Curiously, my working career has coincided with the development of these markets. I have been around them for almost 30 years working on almost all sides of the business - trading, managing and advising. I am almost a living fossil. Also my other technical book are standard references for market practitioners - the last one was 4 volumes, 4,700 + pages, weighed in at 8 Kgs, came in its own picnic hamper and took about 30 cms on your book shelf. In short, others tell me that I am something of an expert here - they tell me I know what I am on about. I have been caught that normal courtesy requires you to always believe what you are told.
PB: Why did you write the book?
Guilt and public service. Guilt because I was part of this world for so long. Public service because I thought others should know about what was going on with their money in this curious world. Also, I needed to explain to my partner, family and friends what I did for a living through all these years.
PB: Finally, any questions that you'd like to ask your readers?
Ask yourself: "do you really know what other people are doing with your money - the savings in the bank, your pension, your insurance policy?" Traders Guns & Money will tell you a little of the truth of what really does go on. You'll probably keep your money under the mattress after you read this.


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What! Another Parable?
Well, perhaps not really a parable. It seems that recently I have come across, in various guises the concept that the essential driving force of humanity or at least individual humans following their descent from the safety of the trees to lift their heads above the savannah was; Is it good to eat? Can I have sex with it? And, will it kill me? From these three elemental interests, it has in various ways been argued that our psychology and social arrangements can be deduced.
Now we all may agree that this is a bit simplistic. On the other hand, if we assume that these or some similar urges prompted our remote ancestors to take up life on the dangerous grassy world of the savannah, then I maintain there are at least two other impulses that at this important moment marked man from the other fauna around him (more if we were to discuss women the more subtle gender. But I will leave that for another day.)
The first is the remarkable facility of humans to confuse images with reality and find some utility in it that we call thought or ratiocination. This I also will not discuss here.
The second unique ability of humans is that when they raised their heads above the swaying frond of grass they also thought, Now who can I get to bring me my food, procure my sex for me and die instead of me if need be.
What, you say it is not separate from the first three but simply a mechanism to deal with them prompted by their confusion of metaphors that we later called thinking. I disagree.
It is distinctly rare in the animal kingdom for any species to behave in that way. Few if any species, for example, sit around and choose one or more members to die for them. Even the noble Naked Mole Rat, when faced with a predator that is too strong for the group to deal with would not send one of their number out to die. Instead one of these heroic if decidedly ugly creatures nobly offers himself or herself for the intruders' dinner.
Humans do not behave that way. Generally, with humans, only someone conditioned by others who prefer not to die, will offer himself instead for their benefit and make the ultimate sacrifice.
Take the examples of the lions and gazelles sharing the same grassy world as the early humans. The lions are hungry. They stalk the gazelles through the grass. The gazelles see them and run away leaving to the lions the slow of foot, the sick and the lame.
Now suppose for some reason the same sickness as humans strike the gazelles and a group of them stop and say to each other. "This is stupid all this running around so that the slowest get eaten by the lions. It is exhausting, it interferes with our grazing and wasteful. Let's choose someone we do not like very much or is not you know, really one of us, hamstring him and leave him for the lions." And so they do just that.
Lo and behold the lions fall upon the surrogate and the gazelles go back to eating the grass.
Now assume this goes on for generations, the Lions lose their hunting skills and become fat and lazy. The clever gazelles realize this and begin leaving a little less each feeding time. After a suitable number of generations the lions beacon little more than the gazelles' pets useless for nothing much more than scaring other predators off; after all, they have little enough of their own food. The gazelles, recognizing a good thing realize that they do not even have to sacrifice one of their own; they could hamstring a Gnu or a Zebra just as well.
Eventually, the lions are controlled and the gazelles increase and eat the Savannah grass until almost none is left but a few clumps here and there as the land begins to turn into a desert. The gazelle leaders meet to try to figure out what to do. They decide, reasonably, that the remaining grass should be reserved for only the leaders and the less successful will have to shift for themselves.
"But," cries one of the soon to be starving gazelles, "it is us the gazelles who turned this paradise into a desert by over eating an overpopulating it and unless we all, gazelles, lions, gnus, and zebras get together all the grass will be gone."
"Ha," laughed the gazelle leaders, "do not be ridiculous, gazelles could not be the cause. Why a thousand years ago this land was a desert, then the rains came and the grass grew and the gazelles and the lions came and made the savannah a paradise through the efforts of the leaders who naturally and rightfully should enjoy the remaining grasslands until the rains come again."
This infuriated the other gazelles and the lions who were listening so much that they attacked the leaders to take the remaining stands of grass away from them, but in so doing the battle destroyed those remaining few tufts grass anyway and the gazelles died and so did the lions.


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The complaint has been that Pete Carroll (of whom I am no fan) blew the Super Bowl by not handing off to Marshawn Lynch on the fateful 2nd down play that ended up being intercepted.
First, it wasn't Carroll's call. It was Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevel's.
Second, there are probabilities at play. Some people are (to paraphrase Cousin Sal) X's and O's, and some are "all about the Jim's and Joe's".
Here's the problem with running on 2nd down:
If you run Lynch on 2nd and he's stuffed, you have to burn your last Time Out. That effectively takes the run off the table for 3rd and (if there's time) 4th down. It cuts your options, and the NE defense would know this.
By saving the TO, it keeps the whole playbook open longer.
There were 26 seconds left when the ball was snapped on 2nd down. If you run Lynch and he's stuffed (and he was 1/5 on 1yd goal line runs this season – he's a Beast, but goal line running is different), you have to call time out to stop the clock.
You then have between 18 and 20 seconds left, but no timeouts on 3rd down; one more run that's stuffed could end the game. A QB bootleg that doesn't get in likely ends the game because it eats too much time to line back up
By passing on 2nd, of the 3 possible outcomes, 2 are good: a likely game-winning TD, an incomplete pass (stopping the clock and preserving the TO) or INT. And an incomplete sets up a 3rd down with the entire playbook still an option. You run Lynch on THIRD, and even if he's stuffed, you STILL have a wide-open playbook on a 4th and goal for the ages.
As the game ended, my issue wasn't the pass call, but rather the pass call into traffic. I couldn't believe they didn't try a fade into the corner for Matthews or Willson across the back at the endline.
As a PS, look at what Russell Wilson saw on that play, via tweet from Rob Guerrera, NBC Sports stats guy – "This is what Wilson saw on the big INT. I would have thrown that, too.".
Pro Football Outsiders Aaron Schatz's conclusion is that Seahawks WR Lockette (#83 above) blew it by not making a more aggressive play on the ball. That play looks like a sure-fire TD. "I think Lockette blew it. He didn't get to the spot. And Christopher Price told me after the game, he talked to (Patriots backup QB) Jimmy Garappolo in the locker room and Garappolo told him that the scout team beat Butler with that exact play in practice. So he knew how to read it and he knew what to do. And unlike in practice he did it. "
If Kearse gets a better jam off the line, he takes out Butler. But he didn't. There are lots of "buts" here, but the point is that Wilson got a good look at what he wanted (but he threw it to the outside shoulder, not the inside, where Butler couldn't have picked it).
You can disagree on the call, but it wasn't a "bad" call by Darrell Bevel.


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Saturday, October 11, 2014
Battling the Snot Monster Day 11
16 comments:
I was worrying about you today. DRUGS! You need DRUGS! Adorable ATC, gotta try that background technique. So glad to hear you're up to decorating this year. xxDReplyDelete
Sorry you're still feeling under the weather....maybe your win at Ike's will help send the snot monster running! Love this little cutie - great background....can't wait to see what's coming...ReplyDelete
Hope you feel better soon. ATC is great, love the colors and the cute image.ReplyDelete
Oh Glo, this is fabulous! Is that the dylusions backgrounds you were doing the other day - I played about yesterday and have a little pile of backgrounds ready to go! Love the stamping and embossing on there and the image is so cute too! mo xReplyDelete
Well she must be thee cutest snot monster I ever did see! Sorry to hear about the loss of your Mom, big hug, sorry you're sick but glad you're getting the best of the snot monster and hope you get to enjoy your decorating! Domino Hugs! LeighReplyDelete
Your snot monster is too cute! Lovely coloring! I hope you kick your own snooty monster far away! Rest up looking forward to seeing more!ReplyDelete
Cute little ATC . Love your Background and this little monster. Just remember this too ( your being sick ) shall pass.ReplyDelete
This little monster is great! I love the colours of your atc. Super job!ReplyDelete
Awesome background! And the image is super cool! Glad you emotionally are up to decorating this year and hope physically the sickness leaves so you can! So sorry for your loss! Lots of love!ReplyDelete
I've been battling my own Snot Monster, so I can sympathize! Hard to be doing blogs when snot monsters are so relentless in their onslaught....ReplyDelete
Fabulous ATC, love the colors and the background. I hope you feel better soon.ReplyDelete
Frightfully good card. I love the colors.ReplyDelete
I wish you were feeling better. Maybe doing some decorating will lift your spirits.
Cute ATC! Hope you get to feeling better!ReplyDelete
this will be a perfect addition to your graveyard. Now get to decoratingReplyDelete
haha the snot monster - sorry it's getting icky for you. Love the card, the bright colours and that fun image :)ReplyDelete
Love your ATC's! Always nice. Sorry to hear that you are at battle with the snot monster. How many different ATC boxes/collections do you have? Would love to trade sometime!ReplyDelete


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Infographic Design
Infographics are used by brands and organisations to connect with consumers, enhance off-site SEO and provide useful content to audiences. Visual content such as infographics that can be easily shared or embedded can improve long form text articles, brighten up a social media feed and give emails the wow factor you need to stand out.
Infographic design doesn't need to be flat and corporate, I pride myself on creating bespoke, creative content that stands out from the crowd.
Creative Content
I specialise in creative infographic design that goes above and beyond to stand out. My designs are frequently picked up by top media organisations, news companies and content distributors looking for unique, creative content. Infographics have moved towards a somewhat generic, 'flat' style of illustration. In my work I try to move away from this, creating styles that suit the specific brief and audience. I take inspiration from editorial design and try to apply the same creativity to digital infographics.
Featured Content
My infographic design work is frequently featured on high authority news websites and blogs. This is good for both brand exposure and off site SEO. It's also a way of promoting what you do by sharing content in a field where you can genuinely add value. Most consumers would rather see a well designed infographic on how to correct your posture than an advert pushing an expensive chair. Establishing yourself as an authority in your subject creates a lasting relationship with your customers / consumers.
How I work
Typically, infographic design work begins with a brief. If you've never made one of these before then no problem! I have several sample briefs prepared that you can use as a template. Just let me know if you would like me to send you these.
Depending on timeline, I will provide sketches or rough digital compositions to ensure that the work is heading in the right direction.
A brief typically contains the copy and research that you have prepared around a chosen topic. If you don't have this then I can help to suggest topics relevant to your subject and we can work on a brief together. I often work in close collaboration with a number of researchers and copywriters so it's never a problem to help you to develop an idea from scratch.
Types of infographic
From massive, definitive graphics to micro-content, the graphics that I produce can be used in any number of different formats. There has recently been a move towards 'micro-content' that is especially useful for sharing across platforms, often alongside an accompanying long tail article.
I have a solid background in print design and an extensive knowledge of the printing process stemming from a background working in a print shop on 4 colour Heidelberg machines. Form brochures to posters, I can help with all aspects of printed infographics and reports.
Clients increasingly come to me looking for interactive web content and microsites. I have been quick to move my business towards supplying these formats and am now proud to be able to offer a range of microsite builds, websites and even ecommerce builds. Having someone reliable that can handle all aspects of the job saves money, time and your email inbox!
Case Studies
Gifographic Design – Shared Parental Leave
This Gifographic was designed for Total Jobs as part of their Inside Jobs Blog Content Strategy. Specialist graphics such as GIFs can really help content stand out as well as giving an extra dimension to the image itself. I designed a series of social media assets and GIFs that were used as part of the media campaign around this graphic and report (also designed by me).
I now work on animations and GIFs for a number of clients as they seek to differentiate their content from their competitors.
The Amazing Extinct Mammals of Great Britain
This infographic was designed for Wilderness Reserve and illustrates mammals that have recently become extinct in the United Kingdom. The illustrations are done in a low poly style. I was responsible for the content, idea and delivery of this infographic. It was turne around over the space of a weekend and was presented to the client alongside a black and white version.
Media pick up was excellent and this graphic was featured prominently on Mashable alongside many others.
50 Classic British Cars
This large infographic was designed for design911.com I worked from the ground up on this one. All illustrations were created by myself in Adobe Illustrator. I was also responsible for sourcing and researching the side views of each car. The illustrations took around a week of solid work to produce. I hope to repurpose and expand on this idea by making this into a series and printing in a wall chart format
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Space Rovers
This is another infographic created for design911. As well as the illustrations, I was also responsible for the copy writing and research. I used data from several sources but fortunately only really need to focus on the incredible repository upheld by NASA.
This infographic was one of the best performing that I have designed. To date it has received over 2 million views on social image sharing site Imgur. As a result of this exposure, it has featured on countless blogs and relevant media publications.
Does Size Matter – The Follow-Up Infographic
This infographic was designed for Total Jobs as a follow-up to a microsite I designed for them. The microsite gathered simple data from a quiz and logged it in an admin section. This gave us access to an impressive amount of data that the team at Total Jobs adapted into a brief for me. I used the same illustration style as the microsite.
Microsites can be powerful tools for data capture and also offer another layer of engagement that sometimes infographics can't provide. Click here to find out more about the microsites that I design and develop.
Interoperable Master Format, print and digital
This infographic design was made for Visual Data Media and takes a slightly more corporate approach than some of the others on my site. This graphic was used to explain what is quite a complex area to their target market through an email, print and social media campaign. Adding a visual aspect to complex subjects can help clarify the information and present it in a more stimulating, engaging manner,
A Minimalist Guide to Diets
This infographic design was created for Nuique.com They supply a range of vegetarian and vegan supplements. I was responsible for the concept behind this infographic, illustration, design and much of the research.
This infographic did excellently on social media and was featured on a number of high authority sites including the Daily Mail and many lifestyle / healthy eating blogs.


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I like coffee. I like making coffee.
So maybe you can imagine how difficult it was for me to learn last Saturday that I don't make very good coffee.
I'm sure the young man to told me so has a different version of this story. I expect he would say he was merely trying to be helpful. In fact, the course he teaches in how to make good coffee is free, so he was not trying to make any money off of me
I think I can get a couple of posts out of this, but, for now, here's what happened:
I was at a local coffee shop, getting beans for home use. When asked if I would like them ground, I replied, "No, thanks, I have a grinder and grind them as I need them."
The very helpful young man serving me responded with an invitation to come to his class where he would teach me how to make better coffee.
As I was sharing this story with my brother Rob, with whom I share a deep appreciation for coffee, I went on a little rant about "who was he to insult my coffee and/or my coffee-making abilities?"
Then I made what I'm going to call the "Jesus leap." I reversed positions with the coffee shop employee when I realized, aloud, that my job could be described as doing with other people's souls what he had done with my coffee-making ability.
Who am I to tell you I can help you take better care of your soul?


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I must begin by apologising for my rude behaviour, that is, not posting on Friday. I have a list of excuses but I'll only say one: I was tired. I am human. I am sorry. Now enough of the melodrama, and on to Sunday's post which will be a ramble/reflection: Why do we keep going?
I watched the latest 007 film on Saturday (and if you have not, I recommend that you do. It's very good.) Since I watched that film in the cinema, I've been thinking about one of its main themes: what is it that keeps us going? Why does Bond, a grizzled old agent, take up his mantle once again and push on despite injury and fatigue? Why doesn't he give in?
Why don't we give in as people? If you're reading this on the Internet, it's impossible for you not to have heard the story of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who did not give in to the demands of the Taliban. She was threatened, her family was threatened, and she did not give in. She has now been shot, but still she has not given in. Is that human nature, to keep going? Or is it instead human to give in? To give in to life's pressures, to give in to sloth and greed and the "easy" route, to hang ourselves in that noose before we push through hell, come what may?
It seems to me that the Western world has a sort-of "give-in" mentality, nowadays. We always want the quickest, easiest way of achieving our goals. It's a disappointingly-often occurrence to hear of that person found dead in their home; that parent who has mindlessly murdered their children and then killed themselves. Our youth do not know how to discuss their problems and this quite often results in them ending their lives. A friend I had in high school did not know how to talk about her problems, and she attempted suicide twice before she got any help. Talking, living, was the harder option, and so it was not her first choice. On the other end, there's my mother. She raised me and my siblings for the most part as a single mother, although she's now been remarried for about three or four years. Things were hard for her. Poor-paying jobs, a family which shunned her, three bawling children, depression–there were days when she got absolutely sick of it all. But she kept on going. Even when she didn't know where our next meal would come from, she kept on going. Perhaps it was her religious faith, or her faith in her children, or her nature. Or just human nature. I don't know. I only know that she kept going. That my friend, with help, has also kept on going.
We all have our problems. Sometimes we give in, sometimes we don't. We can keep going in a case as serious as Malala's, or one as comparatively trivial as NaNoWriMo. A lot of the time, I suppose we don't really know why we keep on going. We just have no reason to turn back, to stop. So we'll just keep going, on and on, until we wake up one morning when our hair's grey and ask ourself why we're still going. And then maybe we'll be wise enough by then to realise how useless that question is, that not everything has an answer, and we'll keep on going.


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Upgrading to a Luxury Home
When you are looking to update your home, you want to make the most out of what you're doing with it. How can you make sure that you're doing it right? Are there ways for you to make sure that you're getting the most for your efforts? And how can you find a solution that isn't going to frustrate you when all is said and done and you're trying to take care of things?
If you are looking for builders that will make your home the best that it can be, while, at the same time, making everything look like the barndominiums waller tx that you have been trying to find, you will find that there are many different things that you need to try and take care of. How can you make sure that you get the most for your efforts? Are there ways to show what you can do and how you can get it done? Luckily, there are a lot of companies that are trying to make sure that you can get what you need without investing a lot of unnecessary money into what you want to do.
Take a look at what's out there and you will start to see why there are so many people who are going to the more rustic look that comes when you're trying to get ahead of the game. You want a more "country" looking and feeling option and you want to make sure that you're getting the most for your money. Check out your options and see what people are complimenting and talking about. Soon, you will be on your way to finding what is going on and how you will be able to get a high quality upgrade to the home that you're currently living in as well.


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The Fretted Frog, a music shop currently located at 1200 N. Alvarado Street in Echo Park, Los Angeles, announced on Thursday that it plans to leave the neighborhood by June, 2014. Established in 2010, the guitar store offers acoustic guitar and banjo instruments, musical accessories, repairs, and music lessons and instructions.
The owners said that the cause of the move was recent problems with traffic and parking in the area, and announced their new location as 1414 W. Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, CA. Their new space will include two instruction rooms, 14 parking spaces and nearly double the square footage they enjoyed for 4 years in Echo Park.
Updated: In an email to customers and fans in June 2014, they updated the date for the new location as being June 6, 2014.
The advertised hours will be Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 9-5. Closed Sunday-Monday.
Fretted Frog Moving Sale
Along with the move, The Fretted Frog announced that it will be putting some of their products on sale, such as Taylor guitars, selected banjos, and amps.
To keep up with The Fretted Frog, visit their Facebook and website.


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In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. -1 John 4:9-11
Molly has now been in Canada a week, so I thought I'd give you all a quick update. She is very busy and still adjusting to life on the reservation, but she is doing quite well. The area is very rural and it is a 45 minute drive to get to "town". She shares a room in the church with a squirrel (whom she has named Hammy), though he mostly reside in the walls. The local people think she has a funny accent, which she finds amusing! She has a great relationship with the missionaries she is serving with in Alberta. They are kind and wonderful people. Molly is really getting to see what the life of a missionary entails. In other good news, they are teaching Molly how to play the piano. She is learning so many things!
As is often the case, there is more work to be done than there are hands to perform it, so she has a full schedule. She is excited to be making connections with some of the girls and is working to develop relationships with them. She was also warmly welcomed into the women's bible study group and will be co-leading the bible study devotionals throughout the summer.
On the other hand, it is a place greatly in need of prayer. She has seen many hard and painful things. There is a lot of darkness and suffering. Please pray her light shines brightly. It is definitely a big adjustment for her. She has had to purchase a locking gas cap, a lock for her suitcase, and she can't have her phone out to use during the day because it will be stolen. Yet, for all these reasons, she is thankful for where God has placed her and she prays for His love, wisdom, and courage.
Thank you to all of you who have prayed for Molly, given her words of wisdom and encouragement, and financially supported her trip! God is at work! 🙂


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The current Drupal process of translating with Gettext PO files, trying to get them into CVS before a release file is generated and then going over hops to update it properly is far from ideal. There are lots of drawbacks, and I started working on a web interface this summer, sponsored by the Google Summer of Code program to improve this situation. Unfortunately the server is not yet ready for prime time (on drupal.org), but there are a number of beta testing servers where some translation teams already try to leverage the cool things this tool offers, so I have lots of feedback on the issue queue.
In the last two weeks, I spent a sizable amount of my free time on improving the navigation user interface, and adding team features to the localization server, which resulted in a huge changeset, and consequently an 5.x-1.0-alpha2 release of the module, which is now available for download.
I put in a lot of thought into designing an interface which is both easier on the newcomers and on the experienced translators, but honestly I focused more on the experienced translators with as easy access to their work as possible, implementing "quick jump forms", direct linking possibility to the translation filter pages, and so on. Note that I am not a professional interface designer, I make plans up as I go along, based on user feedback and my own focus areas.
While there is still lot of room for improvement, I believe this user interface update makes using the application easier. I tried to concentrate on emphasizing the application aspects, but honestly this is not easy when you don't have control over the theme your application is displayed with. I played with adding a web application theme into the mix and requiring that for Localization Server onwards, but then decided that this can be done later if desired. For now the navigation changes can live well with any theme not exactly focused on web applications, but web sites. I see however that in the not so distant future, I might need to tie the interface to a theme, because that allows proper focus on a usable application interface.
Check out some screenshots of how the current interface looks on my Flickr account. Next up is fixing some remaining bugs, as well as new bugs introduced with this navigation interface update and finally improving on the translation interface itself.
Translating what we care about
For World Social Forum 2008 - http://wsf2008.net/ - we have tried to cut down on the number of 11,000 strings or so that we ask volunteer translators to translate into a dozen languages.
In short, we have tried to remove the administrative strings, which we don't care if they are English only.
I created a module to aid this by taking an import of 'unwanted' strings and allowing exports of languages without these strings. This is kept track of simply with a table of lid numbers, so I can see several ways to expose this to a user interface to make it easier for administrators to keep checking off "no, I don't care about that string either." (The first cut in this case was done by going through the whole file and cutting and pasting out what was not going to be seen by regular site participants, and importing that file into what we're calling the 'locale_subset' module. Further strings can be added by this method, but as I get to the point of looking at more sophisticated user interfaces for this functionality to let translators ignore strings, I need ask how this might fit into the tools you keep expanding and improving.)
Should I commit this as a new module, or is there already overlap with the work you are doing, or do you think I should try submitting it as patches to one of the localization-related modules anyway?
Thank you!
Great work! This UI is very
Great work! This UI is very beautiful, thanks!


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According to Perez Hilton.com:
Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight are officially out of Grey's Anatomy!
What took them so long?
Co-star James Pickens Jr. confirmed the actors' departures.
"Yes, she is," Pickens says of Heigl's departure. "Wherever Katherine goes, I wish her nothing but the best."
Of Knight, "He's going too," Pickens said. "He just wanted to pursue other career paths."
But really, now, who didn't see that one coming?
Looks like Grey's is on its way out too!


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Better known for its wines, the perfection of its local spoken French, its cathedral and chateau, the city of Tours France also has a surprisingly rich historical connection with printing and typography. I was in Tours recently and visited the Musee de la Typographie.
It may be small, but it's full of all sorts of different kinds of old printing equipment and tools, typefaces, woodcuts and handmade paper. As one visitor put it:
"Muriel Méchin, the owner takes you on a personal discovery tour of his museum, including printing off some examples for you to take home on a press from the 1800s. I have been to many printing museums, but this is the first I have found that contains compositors tools such as the Moule à Arçon, a hand-held individual character casting device, that was the forerunner of the mechanical Monotype and Linotype machines hundreds of years later.You can actually handle many of the exhibits which most museums forbid.
Muriel has published a very informative book which we were able to purchase; it is chock full of historical information and illustrated with photos and drawings explaining the history of a most interesting industry that goes back many hundreds of years. The museum is free."
Since Muriel doesn't speak English, I sat down with his colleague Jean Louis Maitre to talk about the museum and the fascinating printing history of the region.
If you like English spoken with a thick French accent, you'll love listening to Jean Louis.
For information on visiting Tour, click here.


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Photo: John Autry; Styling: Mindi Shapiro
Fresh herbs give mild-tasting bass vibrant flavor. Make an elegant roasted fish recipe for dinner. Pair with a green salad and a side of rice.
How to Make It
Preheat oven to 425°. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place fish on pan. Grate lemon rind to measure 1 teaspoon; juice lemon to measure 1 tablespoon. Combine rind, juice, oil, thyme, oregano, salt, and black pepper; drizzle mixture over fish. Bake at 425° for 13 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.


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Hi, All!
I'm just jumping into Canvas Data in Tableau, and recognized that the times are five hours ahead of the local time in Canvas, which doesn't match GMT (our first assumption for the standardized time zone). We were trying to recreate Canvas Data Tableau Case Studies' submission time viz and tracked it back to a specific student's reflected submission time in the course vs. what Tableau was reporting.
Regardless, we're curious how others of you using these tools manipulate your data to reflect the time zone you're in, including Daylight Savings Time when appropriate?


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Pro Evolution Soccer 2020: Most Anticipated Game of this AutumnTime: Sep. 9, 2019 From:
Konami will release its latest version of the long series Pro Evolution Soccer on Tuesday, and this year's game will have a completely new name: eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020.
Regardless of what your name suggests, the most important changes in this year's game are not the eSports Department, but the Career Mode and the Master League Transfer System.
Improvements in the game include dribbling delicacy and the introduction of the Inspire function, designed to give players personalities a greater impact on the field.
Scott Wilson of Give Me Sport has classified Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo 94 of Juventus in the demo version of the game. You will probably be the best qualified player in the full game when it is released.
With rival EA Sports focused on the online modes of the FIFA series, Konami has targeted its series to players who prefer career modes with a modified Master League experience.
The most important Pro Evo business card in recent years is the game. The game has a slower approach, similar to a simulation, compared to FIFA. New entrapment animations and subtle dribbling should help defeat defenders more easily, especially if Inspire mechanics is the best positional game in A.I.
The defense also received a boost, with more animations for the final duels and head-to-head clashes. Konami also introduced the option of making a premeditated mistake that could have a significant impact on the way people conduct their defense.


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Subscribe to our e-newsletter mailing list to keep up with NCCCO news and industry headlines.
September 2014—As more and more crane owners around the country are realizing the benefits of hiring crane inspectors whose knowledge and skills have been recognized through through a nationally accredited and recognized certification program, the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) has established an online directory of CCO-certified crane inspectors.
Organized alphabetically by state, the directory lists full contact details for each inspector along with his or her areas of operation and the categories of certification held (mobile, tower, and/or overhead crane). Listing is elective; in other words, certified crane inspectors must indicate their desire to be listed as providing inspection services on a "for hire" basis.
"The directory is designed to serve as an easy reference tool for general contractors and crane owners seeking a qualified individual to conduct a third-party inspection of their cranes," said NCCCO Director of Operations and Program Development, Joel Oliva.
Copyright, 1995-2019. All rights reserved.


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Beautiful silver and abalone together in this rustic little ring set that includes one of my rustic distressed oxidized bands and a sterling silver and abalone stacking ring with a brushed / semi-matte finish. I put these together as an alternative to my brass and abalone ring set, for those of you who prefer silver.
Each set is completely made to order in your size, including 1/2 and 1/4 sizes. Let me know what size you need in the "message to seller" at checkout.
Visit the rest of my shop here: All raw stock for ring making is purchased from refiners who use and sell recycled metals.


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All the news and views fit to consume during your morning grumpy.
1. The Buffalo Cash Mob was held last Friday and it was an awesome success. Over the course of two hours, Chow Chocolat had about 75-80 people pass through their doors to spend between $10-$20 each. The local chocolatier also received a bevy of earned media coverage with broadcast stories on Channel 4 & 7 with Channel 4 doing a live spot during the 5 & 6PM newscasts. Channel 2 had done a story the previous night and Buffalo Business First was also on hand to cover the celebration of a local small business. Many thanks to all of those who attended this event and I'll be incorporating some feedback into our plans for the February cash mob.
If you came, let me know what you thought. If you weren't able to attend, let me know why. Next time, I'm going to encourage our voters to think outside Elmwood and Downtown and branch out into other areas of the city. Perhaps we'll expand the hours or shorten them up to truly make it a flash cash mob.
Whatever we do for the next event, please continue to support Chow Chocolat and the other fine member businesses of Buffalo First. Reward their investment in our community by investing in them.
2. There has been an exceptional amount of talk by Republican Presidential candidates about pre-emptive war against Iran. Sure, we just ended a land war in Asia, why not get into another one, right? They're a threat to Israel! They're islamofascistshomicidebombers! I mean, they hate us for our freedoms!
So, what's the backstory of Iranian-U.S. relations? This video might help.
Yeah, it's our freedoms they hate.
3. In other news from our own burgeoning theocracy in America, 24 states passed 92 restrictions on abortion rights in 2011.
The wave of elections won by Conservatives and Tea Party candidates in states across America in 2010 resulted in a rising tide of right wing theist legislation. No surprise, that.
4. Free ponies for everyone! Zombie preparedness! Time travel research! This is Vermin Supreme and he paid his $1,000 to get on the New Hampshire Presidential Primary ballot. Sure, he wears a boot on his head and seems crazy, but is fully funded time travel research all that different than Newt Gingrich's proposal to conduct mining operations on the moon? This is the only guy on a ballot in New Hampshire who makes Rick Santorum seems sane…well, not really.
5. Thursday will mark the second anniversary of the massive earthquake which killed over 300,000 people and nearly destroyed the entirety of Haiti. The Miami Herald reports on the current state of the nation.
While U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and others vowed that the world would help Haiti "build back better," and $2.38 billion has been spent, Haitians have hardly seen any building at all.
At the time, grand ambitions were voiced for a Haiti rebuilt on modern lines. New housing would replace shantytowns and job-generating industry would be spread out to ease the human crush of Port-au-Prince, the sprawling capital with its 3 million people.
The inability to rebuild is almost as great a tragedy as the earthquake. An eye-opening and discouraging report.
6. Ron Paul, failed ideologue.
Of the 620 bills sponsored by Ron Paul during his long career in the House of Representatives, only four have ever made it to a vote on the House floor and only one of those became an actual law. An analysis by The Washington Post shows that Paul's success rate of 0.2 percent falls far below that of most legislators, as Paul has chosen to stand up for his personal crusades, rather that build coalitions for more popular, but less ambitious, proposals.
His governing style as President would be a lot like the way Carl Paladino promised to govern, lots of bluster, lots of ideology, little sense of leadership and an inability to compromise and make progress. No thanks.
7. Super-PACs will decide who becomes President of the United States in 2012. Sure, we still go out and vote, but the SuperPACs will determine the message to the voters which will inform our votes. What's a SuperPAC, you ask? Oh, let me explain.
The 2010 election marks the rise of a new political committee, dubbed "super PACs," and officially known as "independent-expenditure only committees," which can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions and other groups, as well as individuals. The super PACs were made possible by two judicial decisions. The first was the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commissionwhich held that government may not prohibit unions and corporations from making independent expenditures about politics. Soon after, in Speechnow.org v. FEC, the Federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that contributions to groups that only make independent expenditures could not be limited. Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate directly with candidates or political parties and are required to disclose their donors, just like traditional PACs.
Mitt Romney's SuperPAC played a very large role in his victory in Iowa and each candidate will rely heavily on the unlimited and untraceable monies these groups can spend in the primary and general election. Late last week, Billionaire Sheldon Adelson made a $5MM contribution to Newt Gingrich's SuperPAC in order to fund the SuperPAC's campaign activities and advertising on Newt's behalf. Previously, Adelson would have been subjected to federal campaign contribution maximums, but that's no longer an issue for a billionaire looking to buy a favorable election result.
Republican SuperPACs have raised a ton of money in this election cycle.
More than 80 percent of giving to Super PACs so far has come from just 58 donors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics analysis of the latest data, which covers the first half of 2011. The Republican groups have raised $17.6 million and the Democratic groups $7.6 million. Those numbers will balloon, with American Crossroads, the main Republican Super PAC, aiming to raise $240 million.)
My favorite is the "Restore Our Future" SuperPAC which supports Mitt Romney.
Founded by former aides to Mitt Romney, this group is expected to maintain the minimum legal distance between itself and Romney's official campaign. Romney himself even spoke at a Manhattan fundraiser for the group, though — apparently for legal reasons — he left the room before an explicit appeal for money was made, the Times reported.
America, f*ck yeah!
Fact Of The Day: In 2011, it costs 2.41 cents to make a Penny and 11.18 cents to make a Nickel.
Quote Of The Day: "What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. " – Christopher Hitchens
Song Of The Day: "Little Fat Baby" by Sparklehorse
Follow me on Twitter: @ChrisSmithAV
Email me links, tips, story ideas: chrissmithbuffalo[@]gmail.com


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When I attended the Chairmans dinner at the West Coast Eagles- Adelaide Crows AFL game a few week ago there was a pall of sadness in the room. It was the Crow's first game since the death of their coach Phil Walsh. He had also worked at the Eagles for 5 years and was close to many of the people …
The Power of a Father's Voice – a lifesaving example from Auschwitz
Yesterday (Jan 28th, 2015) marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. More than one million people were killed at Auschwitz, most of them Jews. During ANZAC day, I will be sharing my thoughts on the horror of war. Today, I would like to reflect on an article by ABC reporter Clare Rawlinson, telling the …
How to be a great dad
First seen as an Agenda article in the Weekend West, 31 August 2013, West Australian. Also seen at The Fathering Project
Dads and their daughters
Fathers play a key role in a girl's self image Dads and their daughters As seen in the West Australia, 3 September 2008


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Trading Enterprises showrooms to host exclusive 5-day sale on pre-owned vehicles
Savings of up to AED 20,000 on Honda, Dodge, Jeep and Volvo vehicles
UAE, November 06, 2019: Trading Enterprises, exclusive distributor for Honda, Chrysler, Dodge, RAM and Volvo vehicles in the UAE and Jeep in Dubai and the Northern Emirates has announced an exciting 5-day sale on pre-owned vehicles at its showrooms located in Dubai Festival City.
Starting November 6th until 10th, customers can save up to AED 15,000 on Honda vehicles and motorcycles along with Dodge, Jeep and RAM vehicles. While Volvo customers can save up to AED 20,000 across its pre-owned vehicles. The Al-Futtaim company is also offering customers the option to trade-in their vehicles.
These exciting offers are available at the respective brand showrooms between 9am and 8:30pm. For more information, https://www.facebook.com/Trading-Enterprises-Events-2427036890662768/.
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Saint Matthias School
faith • caring • excellence
Welcome Back!
My Name is Miss DiMarzio and I am so happy and excited to have you in my class! I am looking forward to a challenging and fun-filled year. Sixth and Seventh Grade is an exciting time as students embark upon new adventures in the world of learning. This is a year of important transitions, as well as one in which the aquisition of new skills is accelerated. I hope to instill a love of learning that will last throughout your child's years of schooling and adulthood.
It is extremely important to keep in mind that we will build upon small successes. Each child will progress at his/her own rate, aquiring new skills as he/she is developmentally ready. Therefore, maintaining each child's self-esteem and building a secure foundation for future growth will always remain a priority in our classroom. I am looking forward to working with your child this year and helping him/her acheive their fullest potential. I believe that each child is a unique individual who needs a secure, caring, stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. It is my desire as an educator to help students meet their fullest potential in these areas by providing an environment that is safe, supports risk-taking, and invites sharing of ideas.
I look forward to this fabulous year ahead and working with you to achieve great success! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns.
Warm Regards,
Miss DiMarzio


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Police use water cannons to dispurse the protest in Manila today…
Around 3,000 Philippine protesters urged President Gloria Arroyo to resign today.
Police used water cannons to break up protests in Manila today:
Police used water cannons on Friday to break up a protest by about 3,000 people calling for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign over corruption allegations against her, police and witnesses said.
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The army is on red alert in Manila for any trouble over the weekend, when the country marks its independence from Spain, as rumours swirl that the political opposition is planning a major rally to call for Arroyo to step down.
Protest leaders said 30 demonstrators were injured on Friday after police used the water cannons to stop the crowd marching on the presidential palace.
TRENDING: Portland: Women Defending Police Precinct Attacked by Antifa Terrorists
Police said they had no knowledge of civilian casualties, but said five police officers were injured by stone-throwing protesters.
Police broke up anti-government protests in Manila today. Opposition-fed scandals have so far lacked the spark for big anti-government protests.
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The US is backing Arroyo "unequivocally" at this time against the charges brought up by a former political opponent. Experts have now discredited a tape recording by this opponent, Alan Paguia, saying the tape was doctored:
The United States expressed its "unequivocal" support for embattled President Gloria Arroyo and said there appeared to be no real danger of a coup despite persistent rumors.
The US government however would oppose "any extra-constitutional or extra-legal efforts to any way undermine" Arroyo's government, US embassy charge d'affaires Joseph Mussomeli said.
Arroyo has placed the entire military and police forces on full alert as rumors swirl of a plot against her fueled by opposition allegations she rigged last year's election.
Local media aired what the government described as an illegally tapped and doctored telephone conversation that purported to show Arroyo urging an independent election commissioner to ensure she won the vote.
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Alan Paguia, a former lawyer for former president Joseph Estrada who was deposed in a military-backed popular revolt headed by Arroyo in 2001, has admitted editing and circulating the tape.
The military is going to investigate to find the source of the wire tap on the president:
The Philippine military said Friday that it would investigate its intelligence arm amid rumors that it was behind the wiretapping of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's calls concerning the May 2004 election.
Chief of Staff General Efren Abu told reporters that no specific agents of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces ofthe Philippines (ISAFP) has been pinpointed in particular but "everyone is a suspect."
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The Philippine government early released two compact discs of wiretapped cellphone conversations allegedly between President Arroyo and an election official when she sought assurances of a convincing win in the polls.
President Arroyo addressed charges against her on a radio broadcast Thursday in Manilla.
Family "gambling" charges are also dogging the president:
The President is also facing allegations that her son and brother-in-law, both House representatives, received kickbacks from illegal gambling operators. Both men have denied the charges.
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President Arroyo went on the air Thursday to try to squelch the rumors of the last week:
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday rejected clamors for her to resign and to call a special elections amid fresh allegations that she cheated in the 2004 elections and of her family's involvement in the illegal numbers game "jueteng."
The President said she was given a clear electoral mandate to govern the nation for a full six-year term and would resist moves to unseat her from office.


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My brand started in my parents' garage in Lakewood, New Jersey, where I spray-painted T-shirts and sold them for $10 a pop. I grew that brand to the tune of a billion-dollar retail business. I've built skate brands, hip-hop brands, magazine, and video game brands. I've built brands that people literally tattoo on their bodies--"branding" in the truest sense. But the most important brand that I built was me, my personal guts-to-skin brand.
My philosophy is simple: unlabel. It is also the title of my new book, Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out. In it, I encourage you to channel your creativity, and find the courage and confidence to defy convention so you can better compete. I offer ways to deeply understand yourself and your brand, and to take action so you can create a sustainable business (that really reflects you) over the long-term.
I am a brand, but I am not a label. You too are a brand--whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not. And when I say "un" label, I don't mean it in the nihilistic or negative sense of the prefix, but in the "refuse" sense of the meaning. Refuse to be labeled.
Create your own brand (yourself), then sell it.
I found success--measured in both guts-to-the-skin happiness and billion-dollar companies--only when I scraped off the labels of the gatekeepers, ditched the boxes, and created my own personal, authentic brand that captured the attention of the people who count: the goalkeepers (the ones who vote; the folks with the shopping carts and cash in their wallets).
How people see you, feel you, understand you, and make assumptions about you when you are not in the room are pieces of your personal brand, and this is true whether you're the president of the United States, a priest, or a plumber. Whatever your product or service, you are essentially selling you. Deal with it.
We as a society put things in a certain taxonomy. You're labeled in hundreds of ways by thousands of people. These labeling frameworks help us, as consumers, navigate the world. Without labels, we'd be unable to tell a can of peaches from a can of beans.
Refuse to be labeled, and create a brand that's authentic.
There are all sorts of unintended consequences of being labeled. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself running your business along the lines of the label that society has slapped on your tin can. You'll wear pleated khakis, you'll make your résumé look just like everyone else's, and you'll join the herd of sheep.
Yet even when you try to shake free of the herd, you sometimes end up as a black sheep in an identical herd of black sheep anyway. (Exhibit A: The "rebellious" goth high school kids who all wear the same eyeliner.)
But when you refuse to be labeled, you'll start playing by your own rules. You'll measure yourself by your own standards, not the gatekeepers' standards. You can define the terms of your brand, your creations, and your success. You can be an artist without being a starving artist. You can sell without selling out. But first, you need to create an authentic personal brand that transcends the gatekeepers (the critics, the haters) who want to put a label on you, and which gets right to the goalkeepers. The goalkeepers are the only judges who matter.
Creativity is not divine and branding isn't dirty work.
Forget the haters. They'll say the mere association with a brand or a dollar sign strips you of credibility. And that branding sucks the life out of culture. (My take: That's b.s.)
Creation doesn't have to be the work of the divine. And branding doesn't have to be the dirty work of the Madison Avenue ad man. In this fragmented media culture hyper-enabled by efficiencies of social media and self-publishing, you are a brand. So go ahead and be commercially responsible in your business, and let yourself feel creatively fulfilled by expressing your ideas.
Once you find that balance, you'll see that what makes you a good artist is what will make you a good entrepreneur, too. If you're authentic in the one, you'll be authentic in the other. The labels "they" will project on you simply won't matter. And if you're willing but unable to commercialize your art? That's okay too. You're still an artist.
If you're an artist, live by these words.
Never feel bad about successfully selling your creations.
Never feel bad about creating art you can't sell.
It takes hard work to understand, grow, and nurture the anatomy of a brand. You can't do it on the surface and you can't slap on a Band-Aid when you lose direction or mess up. You have to dig deep and poke around with a scalpel--because your brand is not skin-deep. Labels are skin-deep, but a true, authentic brand is made of blood, bones, and organs. A brand has a heartbeat. Fluids ooze within its circulatory system, chunks of muscle tear and then rebuild, and sweat is secreted to cool the system down. It's made of puss, mucus, ribs, and guts.
The anatomy of a brand, in turn, is defined by its authenticity. And just like a doctor can't describe the wonders of the human body in a pithy one-line description, a brand's authenticity can't be cleanly defined in 140 characters.
I went through the ringer and came out on top.
People can take your job, but no one can take away the brand you've created--and your ability to create again. What happens when you lose your job or your brand, product, or service becomes obsolete?
These aren't just rhetorical questions. I've had to answer them. I nearly lost all control on my company. I struggled with crushing debt. I even thought I might lose my house. I was a media darling and then a media target. But it was okay. I was okay. You'll be okay. Because if you do it right, your brand is still there selling for you. And when you know you can truly create, your brand will help you recover, get a new job, and make it "new." Your brand is your bedrock.
Fight their labels. Ignore their labels. Peel off their labels. Refuse to be labeled by the gatekeepers. Create your own label. Find your swoosh, your Apple, your Rhino. (I'm not talking about making another cool "logo.")
I am a brand. You are a brand. And your brand is…?


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The papillon is a cheerful little breed. Members of the toy group, papillons are named after the French word for "butterfly" because of their large, rounded ears. Regulars on the show circuit, these friendly little dogs require specific grooming to take home a blue ribbon.
Brush the dog from nose to tail with a small pin brush. Papillons have very fine hair that's prone to matting, and frequent brushing untangles the hair before it mats. Loosen mats with your fingers and pick them apart with the edge of a comb to prevent bald spots on your pooch.
Snip away long hairs between the dog's pads. Push the toes apart with your fingers, and trim the hairs level with the pads. Trim the toenails with a pair of sharp clippers, cutting off a little bit of nail at a time to avoid injuring the quick. Imagine your Pap's foot as an inverted "V" with the point centered over her two middle toes. Trim away the hair that falls outside the lines of the imaginary "V" to give the foot the clean, harelike shape outlined in the standard. The hair should resemble the elongated, smooth edge of a rabbit's foot and not the prickly spines of a cactus.
Bathe your dog in the sink: Papillons are small enough to feel overwhelmed in a large tub, so put yours in the sink to keep him calm. Squirt him with dog shampoo, and work it into his hair with your hands. Rinse away lather and spray him with a moisturizing coat conditioner. Paps are a wash and wear breed, so look for a lightweight, oil-free conditioner that make your dog look like a shaggy grease ball.
Pop the dog under a blow-dryer and brush her with a slicker as she dries. When the pap's in the ring, a judge will run her hands over the dog, and her coat should be smooth and free of tangles. According to American Kennel Club breed standards, the coat should be "flowing, straight with resilient quality, flat on back and sides of body" -- so brush the hair straight down as you dry. Brush the ear fringe forward toward the muzzle to give the head its characteristic butterfly silhouette.
Clean up the hair along the dog's hocks. Brush the hair out away from the leg and trim it parallel with the pastern to give the leg a straight, even look. Paps should never be over-trimmed, so snip off just enough hair to make each back leg look straight.
Items you will need
- Pin brush
- Comb
- Round-tipped shears
- Toenail clippers
- Dog shampoo
- Moisturizing coat conditioner
- Slicker brush
- Blow-dryer
- If your papillon isn't as white as you'd like, use a bluing shampoo a couple of days before you show the dog. These special shampoos have lavender tones that neutralize yellows to make the coat appear as white as fresh snow.
- Don't use foreign substances on a papillon's coat. Some show competitors may use chalk or powder before hitting the ring, but they are illegal in many organizations.
Photo Credits
- Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images


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So I just read an article and the contribution of space travel to pesticide, yes pesticide. I won't spoil you and will be linking you to the article by the end of my little article, but it's surprising how far humanity has come and at the same time how great technological achievements have also contributed to the everyday life of people. I am certain that the need to make the contribution to pesticide development was because of the inability of the guys in NASA to just call a Pest Control Company Jackson to clean out something as sensitive as space capsules and shuttles.
This isn't exactly the first time space technology contributed to everyday life if you do a little research everything that made space travel possible went to commercial technology just right after they made it. This is to be expected from an organization that tries to be as transparent to the public as possible, a rare trait for a government organization to have, though they might have not exactly disclosed everything (cue X-files theme).
It's good to know that there are technological achievements made for the purpose of space travel now being used practically. Most of the time the question of "why waste money going to space?" pops up, we could only answer something about it being the "final frontier." This though true and cool, may be not a good enough reason to some people who argue that we have problems here on earth yet to solve.