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One such cream maker is Celtrixa. Its unique formula has brought a storm in the market, as it can reduce mark width and color by up to 75 percent in just 4 weeks.
The internet has made it easy for everyone to access the best things in life. This includes the best cream for stretch marks. A top brand is offering risk free trial of the cream for 4 weeks. You only need to place an order on the site and wait for the shipment to arrive; it usually does, within a short time.
This is one cream for stretch marks which does not require you to visit the store, or even spend money to know if it works. Get the first results within the trial period. For complete results, you may buy the cream after 4 weeks and continue to use until your marks are invisible.


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inverted yield curve(redirected from Inverted Yield Curves)
Also found in: Dictionary.
Related to Inverted Yield Curves: Flat Yield Curve, Normal Yield Curve
Inverted yield curve
When short-term interest rates are higher than long-term rates. Antithesis of positive yield curve.
Inverted Yield Curve
A yield curve in which the long-term yields on bonds are lower than short-term yields. A normal yield curve trends upward because bondholders expect a larger interest rate for a longer investment; however, if a yield curve turns negative, it indicates that the market believes that demand for long-term debt securities is increasing or will increase, which will drive yields downward. Higher demand for bonds usually occurs when investors believe that stock prices will fall. As a result, an inverted yield curve is a highly bearish indicator and indeed is seen as a predictor of a coming recession. An inverted yield curve is the rarest yield curve. It is also called a negative yield curve.
inverted yield curve
See negative yield curve.

subset: commoncrawl


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In this Scannel RFID Journal Series, we will introduce readers on the basics of implementing RFID in your manufacturing process. You will learn the different types of RFID Tags, Readers, etc. and the benefits of implementing RFID. At the end of this three-part series, you will be able to gain further knowledge and be able to identify the key factors in implementing UHF RFID in your manufacturing process.March-2019-SCANNEL-RFID-JOURNAL
- Using RFID (Part 1)
- Using RFID (Part 3)


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'Living in Digital Times' is the CES that CES Doesn't Deliver
There's CES — monstrous, unconquerable CES — and then there are the events within the event. Pepcom and Showstoppers and CES Unveiled. The floor tours during the show. They're all designed to bring CES into focus for exhibitors and journalists.


text: Critics say waterboarding, seen in this simulation, is torture [Reuters] He vowed to find out who authorised the destruction of the tapes, and why congress was not told about it. Hayden said since the interrogations were recorded under one of his predecessors, George Tenet, and the tapes were destroyed under another, Porter Goss, he was not able to completely answer all questions. "Other people in the agency know about this far better than I," he said, and promised the committee he would make those witnesses available. He says congress was notified in 2003 about the existence of tapes of interrogations of two terrorist suspects in 2002 and the intention to destroy them. The CIA destroyed the tapes in November of 2005. When congress was notified and in what detail remains unclear. Multiple investigations have begun into who approved the decision to destroy the tapes and why. White House 'approval' The hearing came as a former CIA agent who led the team that interrogated Abu Zubaydah, suspected to be a senior member of al-Qaeda, said that waterboarding was effectively used to get information from him. Hayden says congress was told in 2003 about the tapes and the intent to destroy them [AFP] John Kiriakou, now retired, said the method was approved at the highest levels of the US government. "This isn't something done willy nilly. This isn't something where an agency officer just wakes up in the morning and decides he's going to carry out an enhanced technique on a prisoner,'' Kiriakou said in a round of television news show appearances. "This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the national security council and justice department.'' Kiriakou said he had no knowledge that the session was being recorded or that the tapes were subsequently destroyed. "He [Abu Zubaydah] was able to withstand the waterboarding for quite some time - about 30-35 seconds," Kiriakou said. "[A] short time afterwards, in [the] next day or so, he told his interrogators that Allah had visited him in his cell at night and told him to co-operate because his co-operation would make it easier on the other brothers who'd been captured. "From that day on, he answered every question. The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks." Waterboarding involves strapping down a prisoner, covering his mouth with plastic or cloth and pouring water over his face so that he inhales water, causing the sensation of drowning. When asked if the waterboarding broke Abu Zubaydah, Kiriakou said: "I think it did, yes. "We are Americans and we're better than this and we shouldn't be doing this kind of thing. "But at the same time, what happens if we don't waterboard a person and we don't get that nugget of information? I would have trouble forgiving myself." Torture debate The CIA, under Hayden, banned waterboarding in 2006 and the Bush administration has repeatedly denied authorising torture. George Bush, the US president, said CIA procedures were safe, lawful and necessary. Human-rights groups say waterboarding is torture. International law defines torture as "an act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him ... information or a confession". When asked about the use of waterboarding, Dick Cheney, said: "Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives? Well, it's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there I was criticised as being the vice-president for torture. "We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in." Hayden is to appear before the House of Representatives' intelligence committee on Wednesday, also in secret. SOURCE: Al Jazeera and agencies


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It's been a while since my last post, so I wanted to post an update since a lot has changed in a few months.
After my time learning at General Assembly was over, I decided to do an apprenticeship program called Future Academy at AKQA, a global digital creative agency who works with clients like Audi, Nike, Activision, and some more that I think I'm not allowed to say.
In this 3-month program, artists/designers/techies come together and work on short sprints with AKQA employees to create new products or opportunities for clients. One of my favorite projects was where we were given an open-ended prompt to create a product that we could concept, prototype, and pitch in a few days. My team and I created a product that helps you never lose a shower thought again. Here's more-or-less how our pitch went:
Do you ever have brilliant ideas in the shower, but forget them as soon as you step on the bath mat? Introducing….STREAM, an Nest-type device that allows you to record a note and transcribes it to Evernote.
I was actually able to prototype this application using a Raspberry Pi (my first time using one!), the Google Cloud API, the Evernote API, a Flic Bluetooth button, and used Python as the language. I have a presentation on my journey in creating it that I might put up.
Here are pictures of my cohort from my fellow future academist Yeoj's camera.
At the end of the program, I had an offer to stay on. So since September, I've been working as an Associate Software Engineer! Currently I'm working on the front-end of the Audi website. I work mostly with JavaScript and SASS at this point (omg, maybe too much SASS for me to handle *z-snap*).
Other happenings that aren't job-related:
- I live in Oakland now. Patrick and I have an apartment with a patio filled with succulents and flowers, and I'm about a five minute walk from my favorite bakery. Life ain't too bad.
- I joined a rock climbing gym. Here's to getting ripped / ripped off soon since I am scared of my regular gym commitment.
- Like most people here, I have the upcoming election in mind more often than I wish I did. I probably tweet about it more than I should. I actually think lately I have *only* been tweeting about it & it has consumed my brainspace. I also have been watching more and more videos of baby animals lately in order to cope, so there is only nonsense in my mind right now.


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Today marks the release of Portico:, a new mini-album from Swedish dream-pop quartet the Mary Onettes. To commemorate the occasion, the band has unveiled a video for single "Naive Dream." The delightfully C86-y jangler is accompanied by images of an exceptionally anguished beach run, some darkly lit projections, and a dude with his head in a campfire. Hallucinate together below courtesy of directors Philip Ekström and Henrik Ekström.
Portico: is out today on Labrador.


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Getting sick with a sore throat, coughing, and sinus pressure is never a welcome event, but I am grateful for the timing of it. Two days after hosting house guests for Ironman Wisconsin and spending the day spectating I came down with a sore throat, which came with all the other agonizing symptoms. It put me on the sofa for four days, away from my bike, running shoes, and goggles.
It forced me to start an extra taper for RedMan Triathlon this coming weekend, adding to the taper crazies. On Saturday I tried to tough out the sickness and run 10 miles. The entire thing felt like the last two miles of a 20 mile training run, just awful. Though physically it was terrible, I was so grateful to be out enjoying the perfect September day. Masses of Badger fans swayed back and forth on the sidewalks yelling at each other and maybe us (John and I), and I got to see my pal Thong & Cape Man on his scooter with a skeleton on his back. The only thing that could have made the day more perfect was if I wasn't feeling so physically lousy!
After our turn around point, we stopped at the building where we had our wedding reception ten years ago. TEN!! We celebrated ten years of marriage with a 10 mile run, margaritas, and a trip down memory lane looking through our scrapbooks. Even the photos that make me cringe make me smile, we have had some really great times together.
On Sunday I woke up pretending I was feeling better, I wasn't. I put on my cycling gear anyway. John and I agreed on 90 minutes in the saddle and hopped onto the Sytennde Mai Run course. Again, physically it felt really tough, but it was such a beautiful morning. Hard not to enjoy!
It was a rough weekend of workouts for me, and it's race week. Back when I signed up I had high hopes of breaking six hours. Now that I'm recovering from a nasty cough I just hope to survive and enjoy the experience. It's my first 70.3 out of state! I'm getting into a van with my triathlete besties, driving for 12 hours, and doing the swim, bike, run thing! Let the taper crazies fly, it's going to be a wild ride!


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The Icon necklace features a large pendant in yellow gold with white enamel engraved blossoms design.
- This item will arrive in a velvet case available in a range of six jewel-toned colors.
- 18k yellow gold
- White enamel
- Clasp closure
- 18" length adjustable to 20"
- Made in Italy
- Gucci guarantees, internally and within its supply chain, respect for standards of social & environmental responsibility in line with its sustainability strategy. Gucci has achieved RJC Certification by meeting the highest ethical, social and environmental standards established by the Member Certification system of the RJC, whose mission is to advance responsible ethical, social and environmental practices, which respect human rights, throughout the diamond, gold and platinum group metals jewelry supply chain, from the mine to the jewelry counter.


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Double You , Bob Sinclair, Whigfield, Alexia, Hermes House Band, Dj Cosmo
Double You aka William Naraine released his newest solo single for 2009. Its called Last Train To London. It is a perfect dance track which brings him back to the roots. I can say that this song sounds revolutionary today.The modern electro beat is mixed with revival synths and bassline similar to his first hits Please Dont Go and We All Need Love.The result is a new version of his original style. Excellent! In the last years Double You recorded many tracks together with different artists like DJ Ross, DJ Meme, Don Cartel, Tom Hopkins and Gino Martini, but we hope that a new album endly will come out...
Paul Van Dyk The world famous DJ from Berlin - Paul Van Dyk released a new single. Its a remix of the classic trance anthem For An Angel . The new version is super modern and it dives very bravely in the deep waters of the electro sound. Its climbing very well now to the top of the club charts. Here are the mixes :
Paul Van Dyk - For An Angel 2009 ( Paul Van Dyk Club Mix)
Paul Van Dyk - For An Angel 2009 ( Spencer and Hill Remix)
Paul Van Dyk - For An Angel 2009 ( Dan Stone Remake)
Bob Sinclar is back! This summer he rocks the discoteques again with powerful dance hits. And it all begins now with the new single Lala Song. Its with a special guest appearance of Master Gee & Wonder Mike from the original 79' Rap Band Sugarhill Gang . Amazing !!! Bob's world tour 2009 is on and the next gig is on Thursday 30th April at Culture Club, Gent (Belgique). More news
Yves Larock The brandnew single of Yves Larock is out. The club hit is called Listen To The Voice Inside and it features again Steve Adwards. This track comes out of the new album Rise Up which included also the hits Rise Up, By Your Side and Say Yeah.
Infos by Music Express
Whigfield Naan (Sannie Carlsson, more well-known for being Whigfield's frontlady) was featured on D-bag's new single Up To The Boy. Info by Karine Sanche
Alexia she recorded for Global One Music a track with Andrea Dianetti the song is called "Come Nessuno"( Like no others) and will be released May 18th 2009.
Hermes House Band the party band from Holland are releasing their new album 'Rhythm of the Nineties' under Universal Music label,on the album are included and the tracks "Please don't go" & "Rhythm of the night" ..
For more infos check Official page
Dj Cosmo after Tiesto, Armin van Buureen and others, Dj Cosmo started his own radio show called "Cosmology" brodcast worldwide live: all Monday 17.00-18.00 CET on danceradio.gr, all Saturday 18:00-19:00 on safariradio.gr,all Thursday 3:00 pm (GMT) on Pure.fm, all Sunday 5:00 pm (GMT3) on trance.cl / Chile, 2:00 pm (EST) Mexico, 6:00 pm Argentina, 8:00 pm (UTC,GMT) U.K, 9:00 pm (CET) Espana weekly on radio-dj.pl.
Publicat de Eurodance Blog No comments:
Tina Cousins, Kim Wilde, Dj Cosmo, Kristine W, Helena Paparizou, Atb
The new remix of Tina is just released in Germany under the name Resource feat. Tina Cousins - Hymn. The project Resource is formed by the ex-Bass Bumpers Henning Reith and Reinhard Raith.
Another new track Cant Hold Back is released on March in the USA.
In April 2009, Tina announced that she has recorded a cover of "Sex On Fire" by the Kings Of Leon but it is slated for a summer release.
More infos and listening of tracks at :
Kim Wilde The all-new Music page on the Kim Wilde's website features all of Kim's albums from 1981 to now. Listen to samples of every song and buy your copies on cd or click to legal downloads of some of the albums. The samples from 'Kim Wilde' and 'Select' are from the new remastered cd's, to be released on Cherry Pop on April 20! Pre-order your copy via the provided links. To reach them visit http://www.kimwilde.com/ .
The next Concert of Kim : April 16, 2009 - Vikingline Cruise ship, Stockholm (Sweden) to Mariehamn (Finland) .
She also will took part in HERE AND NOW TOUR 2009, UK featuring Rick Astley, Kim Wilde, Howard Jones, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Altered Images, Brother Beyond and Hazel O'Connor (14-23 May 2009).
Info By Music Express
Dj Cosmo Thomas Godel aka DJ Cosmo Remixing "Blank & Jones - Where you belong" for more infos about the track you can find here
Kristine W's new single Love is the Look is #2 on the Billboard Club Charts! Thanx to Kristine W
Helena Paparizou (Antique former vocalist) winner of ESC 2005 lunched a new single the track is called "THA 'MAI ALLIOS" and it was released now in Greece . The song can be listen on Helena Paparizou MYSPACE!
Atb lunched his new video "What About Us" more infos about the track you can find here
The track can be found on his new album Future Memories
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What Makes A Stylish Home?
Well, some might argue that it's a great couch, while others may say it's in the attention to detail. However, one thing is for sure, there are people who just seem to know what works and the same goes for their personal style. They are often the people we see on Instagram whose bedroom colour palettes always match their #ootd(outfit of the day) but how do they do it? Well according to Lyz Lynch of mydomain.com, there is an actual list. Time to take notes!
A little predictable? Perhaps, although it has been proven that rooms with plants look and feel a little brighter and warmer. The most aesthetically pleasing ones that you can consider for your home are; Rubber plant, Bromeliar, Prayer plant, Schefflera, The Mother In Law's Tongue, Cactus and of course, Swiss cheese plant and the Rainforest plant. (look them up)
Images: Haarkon, Pinterest
A Luxurious Throw
You know you've seen them and wondered "wow, this blanket looking thing is really cool" and yes, throws are pretty amazing. They add an effortless luxury to living and bedroom spaces. Drape it over your couch or bed to create a look that will bring your space together.
You don't have to be too extravagant. A simple knitted throw does the trick too. Images: Pinterest
An Antique Piece
A touch of vintage to your wardrobe is just as coveted when it comes furniture. Whether it be your aunt's inherited vase or a chair or an ornament that you bought on a trip you took a few years ago, vintage items go beyond just being beautiful because they're priceless too.
Images: Pinterest
Statement Art
Nothing adds personality and colour to a space the way an art piece does. An interesting art piece can really act as a centrepiece of a space where you don't really need much else; invest on a timeless piece that speaks to your taste.
A Bold Piece
Whether it be a chandelier or an unusual table – take a risk and choose something that really shows off your quirky or eclectic side.
A statement can be made in a variety of ways; a colourful couch, a cool chair or a light piece.
Images: Pinterest
Now that you have all this inspiration, we certainly hope that you are excited to make some changes as you usher in the new season.


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Category Archives: nature
just enough
Yesterday was a beautiful fall day in Ohio so we decided to spend it outdoors as much as possible. After my daughters soccer game we went to a local park/campground to enjoy the fall weather and sunshine. I took my Just Enough Ruffles scarf which I just started two days ago and will probably be finished today. I love this pattern because it is really easy to memorize the entire pattern making it fairly mindless knitting, and it is super duper fast. I am knitting it in yarn from my stash which I know is 100% alpaca, but I have lost the label so I am not sure of the brand. I do believe it is three natural colors plied together.
My husband and I enjoyed the weather while the kids played on a nearby playground. It was nice to get away for the afternoon. We found ourselves wishing we had some camping gear and supplies to make some smores.
At the end of the day though we had to return home after enjoying the sunset from the top of the damn.


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Team GB's Nathan Bailey has finished 9th in the men's Olympic gymnastics trampoline competition with a score of 106.795.
Although he just missed out on the final by one place, in his first Olympic Games at just 23 years old, Nathan achieved his aim of making the top 10 and also scored a personal best for his difficult voluntary routine.
The gold eventually went to Uladzislau Hancharou from Belarus (61.745) with Dong Dong from China taking silver (60.535) and teammate Gao Lei the bronze (60.175).
Nathan Bailey: "I don't think I've got a word that truly sums up what it's like out there. The sheer number of people, the crowd going crazy and to be in such a competitive field for my first games it was just an amazing experience out there.
Obviously little bit gutting finishing one place out of the final but I'm still happy I came away in the top 10, that was my aim coming in."
Full results can be found on the official event website.
Olympic gymnastics action continues tomorrow as we see Max Whitlock and Kristian Thomas in the men's floor final and Max and Louis Smith in the men's pommel horse final. Action starts from 6pm UK time.


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WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Mr. Robot Season 1
One of the reasons why Mr. Robot is such a great show is that it has one of the most interesting and unique main characters we have seen in television in recent years. From his psychological issues to his drug usage, Elliot Alderson is a very complex character, one that even psychiatrists have attempted to analyze. So please, bear with me while I try to deconstruct this character and his reasons for acting and thinking the way he does.
Let's start with the most basic information we've got: Elliot is a 28 year old man who lives in New York. His job is very relevant to the story: he's a cybersecurity guy working at E-Corp by day, and a hacker at night. We still don't know where his knowledge on computing comes from, but we do know that it's something that runs in the family (Darlene is a hacker and Edward ran a computer store). Besides that, Elliot's job doesn't require for him to socialize with other people, and, as he explains at some point, hacking is his way of interacting with other people.
This brings us to the most complex aspect about Elliot: his psychological issues. It has been argued that Elliot suffers from social anxiety, depression, insomnia and mania. Sometimes, his anxiety leads to paranoia and, in extreme cases, delusion. Apart from all that, Elliot is also an introvert, often preferring to be alone than being in company of others. He doesn't like to be touched either. I don't think I need to say how important it is to have a main character like this on cable television, especially considering the stigma that society has towards many of these mental disorders. Elliot also does drugs and automedicates. He usually takes morphine and, in some occasions, recreational drugs such as Ecstasy. Fortunately, he does quit on using them, something that was very hard to do.
Far from alienating the viewers from the main character due to his mental condition, Elliot Alderson awakens that "rebel side" that we all have. Whether you spend all day hearting things on Instagram and drinking Vanilla Lattes or reading about conspiracy theories about the US government, I'm sure at some point you have had a moment of doubt about our own existence as a species, whether we're going the right way, or whether we have lost our identities at some point along the way. Are we really free or are we living under the illusion of choice? Are we being sedated by popular culture? Is having our entire social lives on Facebook safe? Etc.
So how does a person like Elliot behave around others? Elliot has very few friends. But the ones he has, matter a lot. One of them is Angela, his best friend from childhood and co-worker. The other was Shayla, his drug dealer and friend with benefits, who was sadly killed. Shayla brought the topic of sex to the table and whether it was possible for a person with social anxiety to have sex with someone other than a romantic partner. Even though Shayla and Elliot were pretty close, I was also surprised to see them hooking up, even if Elliot was high at the moment. It wouldn't surprise me, though, that Elliot was just indulging in self-destructive behavior. Elliot strikes me as the kind of person who wouldn't think of sex as a big deal, but then again, he does hate being touched. He also has a strange relationship with Tyrell, who is the complete opposite to him. The season finale ended in a very big mystery regarding Tyrell's whereabouts and what exactly did he do with Elliot during that time gap, so there's still many things we don't know about what we can expect from their relationship.
He also has his sister Darlene. As a matter of fact, both Darlene and Angela work as the guiding lights in Elliot's life. Not much else is known about his family. We only know that his mother was abusive and that his father, Edward, died from leukemia, presumably caused by ECorp a long time ago. We also know that he got along really well with his father, which is probably the reason why his subconscious chose him to recreate his other identity, Mr. Robot.
Elliot hates society. He says it in this scene from the first episode, he repeats it in several occasions, and he chose the name "fsociety" himself. However, it is very likely that, despite his social anxiety, Elliot doesn't dislike persons, but people. He dislikes mass behaviour and how easy it is to manipulate the masses through media and consumption. Elliot's plan and end goal is basically to create a utopia. Sure, erasing all debt and taking down corporations is something that fsociety is capable of doing as hackers, but that's not going to change the way the entire human race behaves as a society. Let's just say that, once you've hit the "restart" button, there's no guarantee that the "machine" won't repeat the same error again. I'm sure this is something that it's going to be addressed next season after Elliot has figured himself out (if that's even possible at all).
All in all, Elliot is one of the most complex characters on television right now. And that is saying a lot considering that this show has only released 10 episodes so far. Sam Esmail has created something wonderful, from the representation of giving us a mentally ill person as a main character, to the originality of having an unreliable narrator through his internal monologues. Let's just say that I will probably have to write another Character Analysis for this character after Season 2 ends, and I really can't wait for that.


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Echoes of Edinburgh
With complex and thoroughly likeable characters, sparkles of humor, and sweet romance, Echoes of Edinburgh is a winner. Shelby and Harrison experience and instant attraction, but they investigate this possible relationship with care – in spite of the sparks. Author JoAnn Durgin takes the reader on the lively romp through the streets and attractions of Edinburgh, and her descriptions made me want to book a flight to experience it for myself.
I enjoyed this book from start to satisfying end and am happy to award it five stars.


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Millions of workers are trapped in insecure jobs and some of the most disadvantaged are on zero-hours contracts with little hope of escape. This report makes the case that politicians should challenge precarious employment, to raise standards and pay.
Download The Decent Jobs Deficit: The human cost of zero-hours working in the UK
To receive discounts for bulk orders, download the order form and return it to firstname.lastname@example.com
To access the admin area, you will need to setup two-factor authentication (TFA).


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Living in the Shadows
Judge on Trial
How to write a book on the subject of emptiness: that is the task Ivan Klíma has set himself in Judge on Trial. He succeeds very well indeed. When the dust settles—if it ever does—after the convulsions of the past fifty years in Eastern Europe, Judge on Trial will, in my view, be seen as a central testament not only to the horrors of this century, but to the perseverance of the human spirit in the face of tyranny, and to the capacity of art to maintain its autonomy while still serving as witness to social and political events.
Klíma's novel seems all the more remarkable in that it contains no heroics or elaborate formal experiment: he is very different from Solzhenitsyn or Milan Kundera. One English reviewer has described Judge on Trial as "a War and Peace for the Nineties," but Klíma has none of Tolstoy's obsessive particularity or religious preoccupation. Judge on Trial is largely lacking in local color: it might be set anywhere, from Husak's Czechoslovakia to Stroessner's Paraguay, and the spiritual quest its characters are engaged in is not a metaphysical struggle for transcendence but a dogged search for a way to live in the here and now with valor and decency, with care for oneself and for others, and with as little self-delusion as possible. In Adam Kindl, the book's main character, we are presented with an ordinary man caught in an extraordinary dilemma in a nightmare time; it is his ordinariness, and Klíma's refusal to make a hero of him, that impresses us most. Judge on Trial is an epic of the mundane.
Ivan Klíma was born in 1931 in Prague, where he still lives. In the "Prague Spring" during the first half of 1968, when Alexander Dubcek introduced sweeping reforms of the Communist system, including the abolition of censorship, Klíma was the editor of the journal of the Czech Writers' Union. In 1969, a year after the Russian invasion and the reversal of the Dubcek reforms, he went to the United States as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. In the following year he returned home, where he worked at a number of menial jobs; his experiences of this time are recounted in lightly fictional form in My Golden Trades.1 In the years before 1989 his work, including novels, plays, and short stories, was banned in Czechoslovakia, and all his books were first published abroad.
In the novel Love and Garbage, Klíma's narrator has this to say on the subject of writing:
I still believe that literature has something in common with hope, with a free life outside the fortress walls which, often unnoticed by us, surround us, with which moreover we surround ourselves. I am not greatly attracted to books whose authors merely portray the hopelessness of our existence, despairing of man, of our conditions, despairing over poverty and riches, over the finiteness of life and the transience of feelings. A writer who doesn't know anything else…
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Our Mission
The ICATS are Innovation, Curriculum and Technology Specialists for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation. Our primary mission is to advocate for, inspire and empower excellent Digital Age teaching and learning. We work to achieve this mission through our many projects and initiatives as well as through a daily commitment to support and promote the efforts of educators as they shift their pedagogy to take advantage of media-rich learning environments.


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How do you like the idea of Internet being awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2010? The world might see Internet succeed the 2009 awardee US president Barack Obama as it is officially fighting for the world's most coveted prize alongside a Russian human rights group and a Chinese dissident.
It was the Italian edition of the Wired magazine which supported the idea of an inanimate object getting the prize. Wired reportedly nominated Internet for promoting "dialogue, debate and consensus through communication" as well as democracy.
In an article published on Nov 20, 2009, titled 'Wired Backs Internet for Nobel Peace Prize', the magazine said, "The internet has clearly been a boon for news junkies, LOLcats and the makers of goofball videos. But it's also proven to be a powerful international force for peace."
"The internet can be considered the first weapon of mass construction, which we can deploy to destroy hate and conflict and to propagate peace and democracy," Riccardo Luna, editor-in-chief of the Italian edition of Wired magazine opined.
Besides using the instance of Iraq elections to establish how Internet could be used as a 'weapon of global hope', the magazine went on to say how it can be used for terrorism and warfare to prove the power of the media.
Premier endorsers of Internet for Nobel Peace Prize nomination include 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and famous Italian surgeon, known for his contributions to breast cancer treatments, Umberto Veronesi.
So, now that it has been officially nominated, the world has to wait and see if a medium of communication trumps activists and fighters to win the Nobel Prize 2010. The winner will be announced in Oct 2010.


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Unleash The Fury: Release Of Genetically Engineered Mosquitos to Fight Zika Cleared By FDA
On Friday, the FDA released a final environmental assessment of the trial, finding that it "will not have significant impacts on the environment." The project, led by Oxitec, a biotech company that focuses on insect control, calls for the release of thousands of genetically engineered male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The lab insects are bred so that over time they could kill off much of the local mosquito population by passing on a gene fatal to any offspring they have with wild females.
This is not the last hurdle Oxitec faces in turning its dream of disease-obliterating mosquitoes into reality. The company will have to win the approval of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, which plans to vote on the proposal after issuing a survey testing local sentiment of Keys residents this fall. While past surveys have shown the project to have a majority of support, it has also had vocal naysayers. Some fear the environmental impacts that removing the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, a non-native species, might have. Others have more imaginative objections, such as conspiracy theories about the project.
Oxitec's mosquitoes are engineered to include two copies of the baby-mosquito killing genes, overriding natural selection to make it almost certain that their offspring receive the killer gene from dad.That's pretty cool.


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I got 2 Favorite games, which i also own.
Spoiler: Perfect World International(PC DVD)Second game i like was Tekken 5.(PlayStation® 2)
One of my favorite games is Perfect World International(PC DVD), which is a Free MMORPG game which you have to do a lot of quests instandly and keep killing monsters for gathering Coin(s), Items and EX(erience)P(oints) for leveling up.
The game has 3 different way of races, those are : "Elfs Race", "Untamed Race" and "Human Race".
Elfs Race
The Elfs has special ability which the other 2 races doesn't support or have in it's skills tree.
The Elfs has "Cleric" and "Archer" classes available which has their own abilitys.
The "Cleric" Class are the Masters with Healing Powers and other powerups.
One Misterious thing is that the Male "Cleric" uses less MP than the Female "Cleric".
"Archers" are also very good for far distance combat.
"Archers" has also the same Powerups abilitys as the "Cleric" class, except for the Healing Powers which only "Wizard"s and "Cleric"s can have.
Untamed Race
The Untamed Soldiers has also 2 different classes.
One of those is the Female only Untame called "Venomancer".
The "Venomancer"s has the ability to tame Battle Pets for own usage.
Others are not able to control your Battle Pet, until they have special Skills with them.
However, the other Untame Class is the Male only class : "Barbarian".
They are very skilled and Aggresive powered for Close Combat with any kind of Monsters you have to face.
Still they are very easy to kill against 10 levels higher Beasts.(players doesn't matter)
Human Race
Of Course you also have to ability to pick Humans with you as Controlable character.
One of them is the "Wizard".
The "Wizard"s has the ability to have Magical skills for casting any Elemental related types like Fire, Water, Metal, etc.
The other Human class in the Human Race is the so called "BladeMaster".
"BladeMaster"s are the kings in close Combat Encounters and Masters of the Swords and Blades.
"BladeMaster" is the only class which can have overpowered Sword and Blades weapons due to their Class Race("BladeMaster").
System Requirements
Minimum Requirements are :
Operating System - Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
CPU - 800Mhz
Hard Disk - 2.5G available
Graphic Display - 32MB 3D graphics card
Internet Connection
Recommented Requirements:
Operating System - Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
CPU - Intel Pentium4 1.5GHz or higher
Hard Disk - 10.0G HD space
Graphic Display - 256MB 3D graphics card
Internet Connection
More Information
If You want to know a bit more about this free MMORPG game, just pay a visit on http://www.perfectworld.com/ and create your account, download the 2 GB capacity sized Internet Installer and play on after Upgrading your PWI Build.
Be Aware, you might have lag during battles and big Cities/Villages.
However, i still find it a wonderful game, because they almost have events every Weeks/Months.
However, if you want to meet up with me on Perfect World International, than you can find me on the names "_WolfyGirl_"(Female/BladeMaster) and "GuardAngel"(Female/Cleric)
I hope you guys will also come play with all other World Wide Perfect World Players to!
*Note : There is even a Romance and Marriage System percent in this MMORPG game.
Be Aware that you need to pay $30,- real cash(CubiGold) to start the Marriage.
Oh, and if you want to know how Perfect World International looks like, just pay a visit on it's XFire game profile.
Spoiler: Tekken 5(PlayStation® 2)I wonder if others can also tells a little bit about their favorite game(s).
Tekken was always a most populair Fighting game for the PlayStation Console.
I was always very addicted to this game because i love it to fight <3.
No wonder when i have done a fighting sport for 3 years.
However, back to the game...
Tekken 5 knows a lot of new feature which the older versions didn't had.
Like the Characters which are more detailed than never before.
Take a look at Tekken 6, the Generation of Tekken still goes on on the PlayStation 3® Console now.
Still there aren't many improvements between Tekken 5 and Tekken 6.
Most changes are new Characters, Level Designs and Custom Items for creating your own Customized Character.
Tekken 5 also knows the Special Gamemode "Tekken: Devil Within".
Tekken: Devil Within brings you deeping in the history of Jin Kazama which is actually based on a Puzzle Maze which you have to solve before you can fight the bosses.
It's 3D Advanture mode looks so cool that i play Devil Within constandly to keep thinking how to solve those damn puzzle.
One thing : Stage 5 is one of the most annoying stages in that Gamemode.
Because you have to battle True Orge 2 Times as 1st and 2nd Transformation and the Puzzle will really annoy you once you have 2 seperated cubes to disforce the Force Shield which blocks some Doors.
Also keep looking for Broken Walls, Objects and Floors.
However, back to Tekken 5...
It's nothing changed to it's previous fellowed version.
For the PlayStation® Tekken 3 was one of the best serries to far, until Tekken 4 and Tekken Tag Tournament for the PlayStation® 2 showed up and conquered the PlayStation® version with many new Features and more Detailed to Graphics Visions.
Tekken 5 has a Boss known as Jinpachi Mishima, which is the Father of Haihachi Mishima filled with Devil Blood in his Body.
He was the Sponsor of the Iron King Tournament 5 Tourney.
Also Each Character has their own Cut-Scenes.
There isn't much to tell about this game...
So i guess i should put an end on this discussion about my favorite games .
One tiny hint : If you want to unlock Devil Jin, Just play trough the whole Tekken: Devil Within gamemode in Easy or other difficulty(doesn't matter).
After you beat the Devil Within Gamemode, you will receive the message that Devil Jin has been unlocked as Main Character.
Just don't be shy and let your fingers(or toes xD) do all the typing work! ;P
( Sorry for this useless topic.... but i was just bored as hell and wanted to do something.... D: )


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Pity poor John Bolton.
No, really.
The mustachioed diplomat, who once suggested that no adverse effects would be seen if the top 10 stories of the United Nations' headquarters were sheared off, has sought to curb his temper since he arrived at Turtle Bay 14 months ago.
Despite his efforts at self-control, however, confirmation by the Senate—the one thing that would remove the taint of Mr. Bolton's status as a Presidential recess appointment—eludes him still.
Admittedly, even at his most restrained, Mr. Bolton does not seem like a natural fit with the world body.
His first major move after taking up his post—outlining over 400 objections to a draft proposal for U.N. reform, all but destroying months of painstaking negotiations—sharpened his fellow ambassadors' apprehensions about him.
And even as Mr. Bolton has pulled back from such early excesses, his propensity for mischief does not always sit well with other diplomats.
For example: When a Security Council straw poll on the candidates aiming to replace Kofi Annan as Secretary-General was conducted recently, the French delegation handed out identical pens in order to preserve the anonymity of the written ballots.
Mr. Bolton asked whether the pens were the property of France or the U.N. If they belonged to France, he cheerily announced, he would pocket his; if they were the U.N.'s, he expected everyone to hand the pens back in the interests of greater organizational efficiency.
Mr. Bolton's critics, needless to say, were not amused.
But on issues that actually matter—Iran and Darfur being two notable examples—the American ambassador has played a firm but measured role.
On Iran, he has built consensus by emphasizing the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency. On Darfur, he has most recently piloted a resolution providing for the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers through the Security Council.
Back in July, it seemed that Mr. Bolton's temperance had earned its reward. George Voinovich, the Republican Senator from Ohio whose opposition killed Mr. Bolton's confirmation hopes last year, announced via a Washington Post op-ed that he had changed his mind.
Though his judgments on Mr. Bolton were sometimes delivered in the patronizing style of a school principal assessing a troublesome pupil—"While Bolton is not perfect, he has demonstrated his ability, especially in recent months, to work with others"—the endorsement nevertheless seemed finally to clear Mr. Bolton's path through the Senate.
Cue Lincoln Chafee.
In an intervention earlier this month that must have left Mr. Bolton gnashing his teeth, the Senate's most liberal Republican declared that he now had "questions" that needed answering before he could support the ambassador.
Mr. Bolton is back on the hook. Unless he wins Senate approval, his term will run out when the new Congress convenes in January.
(Some creative solutions to his predicament are currently being floated, including the notion that the White House could appoint him as a deputy at the U.N. mission—a post that would not require Senate approval—whilst leaving the top spot vacant.)
The Chafee twist has delighted Mr. Bolton's detractors. Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who has emerged as his chief nemesis, said, "I think the nomination is in deep trouble again, as it should be." Mr. Dodd has threatened to organize a filibuster against Mr. Bolton even if his nomination does get out of committee.
But the justification for such an action is scant. Of course, Mr. Dodd and his Democratic colleagues will disagree with Mr. Bolton most of the time—the U.N. ambassador is a forceful advocate for the administration's deeply contentious foreign policy.
But is that sufficient cause to deny Mr. Bolton an up-or-down vote? Hardly. It is implausible to believe that a Senate rejection of Mr. Bolton would precipitate a White House volte-face and the nomination of a conciliatory multilateralist in the John Kerry mold.
And Mr. Bush, as a two-term President and the head of a party with majorities in both Houses of Congress, can convincingly claim to have earned the right to nominate whomever he wants.
The President should be denied that right only if his nominees exhibit the kind of behavior that places them far beyond the pale. There were genuine fears about Mr. Bolton in this regard last year. But they have not been fulfilled. He has diligently—at times stridently—reflected official policy, but without becoming the human flamethrower some critics predicted.
Mr. Bolton's achievements are modest but solid; his failings are significant but not fatal.
He deserves an up-or-down Senate vote to propel him out of the limbo in which he has already languished too long.


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Protecting minorities is an urgent task of OIC, Arab League
The unanimous adoption by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at its Istanbul summit of a call to respect religious minorities was most welcome although it went relatively unnoticed.
While backing Muslim minorities facing suspicion and prejudice, the OIC endorsed January's Marrakech declaration that called for a "concept of 'citizenship' that is inclusive of diverse groups".
At the end of the summit, the OIC denounced the "oblivion of the centuries of mutual coexistence on the same soil". For the Arab world's minorities, this public support is long overdue.
The recent recapture of Al-Qaryatain, near the central Syrian city of Homs, revealed extensive damage to monasteries by the Islamic State (ISIS). Before its displacement, Al-Qaryatain's Christian community lived peacefully with the town's Muslims.
A Khmer Rouge-style purge of centuries-old communities has been taking place at the hands of fanatical jihadists in Syria and Iraq. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova denounced "cultural cleansing" after ISIS destroyed Mosul's 1,400-year-old Monastery of St Elijah.
Christian communities — Arabic-speaking and with roots going back to the dawn of the religion — have shrunk alarmingly since the cataclysm that engulfed first Iraq then Syria.
A report from three Christian charities and a London university said that in Iraq, the pre-2003 Christian population had fallen from 1.5 million to 200,000-500,000. In Syria, pre-"Arab spring" Christians made up 8-10% of the population of 22 million but this has fallen by almost half.
Behind the stark numbers is a story of wilful and murderous ignorance from extremists for whom difference is a threat.
The "Crusader" narrative, in which Arab Christians are a sort of colonial Trojan horse in the Middle East, ignores centuries of intertwined lives, history and culture.
To indulge the fantasy that Arab Christians are some kind of "other" is to be blind to historical reality. Arab Christian figures have played a fundamental role in shaping Arab culture and contemporary society.
But time may be running out. Research from a UK-based Catholic charity has bluntly suggested that "fear of genocide" could spell the end of Iraq's Christian minority within five years.
Christians — and other minorities, such as Yazidis and Druze — are part of the Arab world. The final end of Yemen's tiny indigenous Jewish population is another unravelling of the tapestry of the Arab experience.
Regional powers that are tempted to play religious or ethnic minorities for their political or imperial advantage are only making the situation worse.
The OIC and Arab League must move beyond resolutions — however welcome — to concrete action.


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Christie could not wait to meet her new stepson, and he was way prettier than she could have ever imagined!
Lil' Brad wasnt too fond of Christie however, peculiarly when he heard her conversing like a gold digger to one of her pals. That type of demeanour was unacceptable!
Before he could chastise her, Christie offered an alternative explanation as to why this could be a great thing for him. If she only married his daddy for the money, who would she drill?
Christie sits her stepson down on the sofa and commences to jerk him off. Brad might as well take advantage of this, so he escorted her to his bedroom and got to bangin!
Damn did that mature mom fuckbox perceive great, and Christies whopping bra-stuffers just added to how fabulous of a sexual practice this was.
Brad even utilized those fat bazoongas as pillows for his post pubescent baby batter.
That fellow has fairly a bright future ahead of him.


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Tag Archives: nurses
Who Actually Follows this Advice?
Who follows this advice? "Studer: What if my boss is the problem?" (PNJ, 5/21/2016) Mr. Studer's advice is ill advised in an at-will employment state like Florida. There is no requirement that an employee can only be fired based on … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Florida, Studer Tagged D.E.S.K., employment, Florida law, hospitals, nurses, Pensacola, Quint Studer Leave a comment


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Cake Tasting Cake And Charging.
Business By thelittlebakeryshop Updated 7 Apr 2013 , 4:53pm by ladyonzlake
How do I handle tastings. In my city there are only 2 cake designers. I am one. The other one does not charge. The other designer undercuts the cake price by about half what the going rate is in our area. I do not charge for cake tastings and I make a lot of cake for tastings but book only a few orders.I honestly don't know how she makes any money with what she charges. I checked prices with 2 high end bakeries in the next town over and decided to be competitive at $3.50 per slice for wedding cake. Customers rave about my cake and they even ask for seconds. I give them seconds and spend about an hour talking about their design and details. I make 6" cakes so the customer gets a feel for a real cake, as apposed to just making cupcakes, and then cut them one small slice and have lots of leftovers. Everyone wants a cheap cake like from Wal-Mart or Costco. When I quote them the price they always say "Well how come so much?" "I can go to Wal-Mart and get a wedding cake for $150. My prices are competitive with the people in the next two towns over and I have even had the cake from the others and everyone says my cake is better. On average I have been making 4 different flavors of 6" cakes for two flavors at tasting and do 2 tastings on the weekend. It's getting expensive to make cake and not book orders. After discussing the details and before I give them the final cost I tell them my policy only guaranteeing the date available once they make a deposit and we discuss all the details upfront like delivery, set up, all the design details, flowers, etc. Then the price comes and they always choke. For instance I had a consult for a wedding cake to serve 150 people and the cake alone was 525 @ $3.50 per slice. Then there was a set up fee and they wanted to rent my fountain which is $40 and the delivery fee was $50 because I was having to drive 35 miles one way to deliver. (There are very few cake designers in our geographical area of 1million residents. When they saw the price of $652 with all the details and tax they said hmmm, we were hoping it would be about $250 total and that they would need to think about it. I am friends with the other designer and I called to ask her point blank what she does in that situation and she said she doesn't have that happen to her ever. People just taste her cake and are willing to pay her $1.75 price. She has booked about 22 cakes for this summer and I have 3. What do other people do? I am considering charging $25 for tastings and if they book I will apply that money to the order. Nobody in the area charges.
Any and all ideas are appreciated.
Thank you.
maybe be more up front when they book the tasting appointment about pricing and budgets--at this point you don't have anything to loose--but people can still be difficult aka brick headed about cakes
'so you're thinking 150 servings, at my base price that's $525--is that within the realm of possibility for your budget?' but still they will book a consult and nearly pass out when you say it again-
another thing i do--instead of a tasting--i make as my gift to b&g two cakes that i deliver with the cake--all boxed and ready to go--two 5" cakes--one for 1st anniversary and one for honeymoon--often the b & g don't get to enjoy the cake so they get theirs 'to go'--and this is a gift--to be granted at my discretion--only once i did not deliver it--payment problems--no gift for you! ;)
i use either cake scraps from leveling or use leftover batter--easy to pop out a couple 4 or 5 inchers
so you might want to offer something like this in lieu of the so far unprofitable cake tasting
just because you're getting married you are not suddenly an expert in cakes/cake flavors --i never liked the idea of a tasting because i'm not interesting in peeps critiquing my cake flavors--no thank you--i'll put my forty years up against your ten minutes any day--besides i'm not changing anything even if they don't like it--and pretty much everybody can distinguish vanilla, chocolate, lemon, strawberry, carrot, banana etc.
i hate tastings ;)
You probably need to start screening these people out before you ever meet with them. I don't set any appointments up unless we both have a pretty good estimate of what their cake is probably going to cost. 9 times out of ten, when we meet, we are just getting specifics down, and I'm collecting money that day. I could never afford to have blind appointments and free cake grabs like that. Nuh uh!
Get the event date first
Get a guest count
Get a general idea of design
Figure out a general quote even if it means calling/emailing back
Then when everyone is on the same page, you can set up an appointment to BOOK the date. Yes, be that forward, "When would you like to come in and book this cake?"
You probably need to start screening these people out before you ever meet with them. I don't set any appointments up unless we both have a pretty good estimate of what their cake is probably going to cost. 9 times out of ten, when we meet, we are just getting specifics down, and I'm collecting money that day. I could never afford to have blind appointments and free cake grabs like that. Nuh uh!
Get the event date first
Get a guest count
Get a general idea of design
Figure out a general quote even if it means calling/emailing back
Then when everyone is on the same page, you can set up an appointment to BOOK the date. Yes, be that forward, "When would you like to come in and book this cake?"
This is great advice!
I don't do tastings to 'see if clients like my cake', but for clients to decide on their flavours, budget is always discussed before hand.
Whether a bride calls or emails, they have to get through my threshold questions before I make an appointment.
When? (Make sure I'm not booked)
how many quests? I only give free consults for weddings over 100 servings. If they are less, I explain they can pay for a consult or forego it and design over email.
Where is the reception? Is it in my area? Sometimes, they are calling from 100 miles away and I'm not delivering that far. This also gives me an idea of budget. If its in a church hall they aren't spending the same as a fancy venue.
If they pass all of that, I book the appointment and send them a form to fill out. They are allowed to pick a number of samples according to how large the wedding cake is. The form requires them to to list their budget. When I get it back, I make sure it fits into my pricing. If its way low, I email them of the actual price for their size or style of cake. I tell them that if they can't raise their budget, we should not meet (but I say it nice). It does save us all some time.
I am very open with all my prices and even have a cake price estimator tool on the website. I also list a page of FAQ's that spell out number of samples, etc. There is all the info so there are no guesses. I make 2 layer 4" cakes for each sample. They cut what they want and take home the leftovers for family to try. It's a pretty good system. I keep extra 4" cakes in the freezer and pull them as needed. I write the flavor on the cake boards in sharpie.
You aren't doing anything wrong with your pricing. You are not screening upfront and that is setting you up for failure and that's making you doubt. If you meet with people that are ready to pay your prices, they will book. My only other suggestions is to roll all the set up and delivery into the pricing. People hate being "nickled and dimed". When I say I include delivery, they love it. Check out my site for all of the details if you want to use any of this. Let those brides get their crappy cake from the other lady. You be the GREAT cake lady!
There are a TON of bakers and cake businesses around here, so I don't book every appointment that I get. But I do screen people, and I turn down more people for appointments than I book. People do shop around a lot, and you're not guaranteed to book the cake at the time of the appointment.
I don't charge for appointments, but most people around here don't. I've heard that people are starting to charge, though, so I think the number of bakers is saturating the market and everyone's tired of the looky-loos. I don't plan on charging, but I do limit tastings to 80+ servings. I also do all of my appointments on one day so that I only bake once and prep once, and each appointment is only half an hour long.
In your case screening is going to help you a lot, but if the only other game in town is undercharging that much that's a different issue for you. You're going to need to start selling why you're different from other people it your area, without directly putting down the other person. Tricky.
I charge a fee for tastings and only do them for wedding cakes. The fee gets credited toward the final cost of their cake once the order is placed. The fee includes just the bride and groom and if they bring an additional people it's an extra $10 per person / max of 6 and this does not get credited.
I've found this weeds out the serious buyers from the tire kickers and keeps them from bringing the world with them to eat free cake. Plus, should something happen where the order gets cancelled or whatever, I've got the tasting fee (and non-ref deposit) to cover my costs.
Over the years I've conducted my tastings in many different ways - from cupcakes, to offering many flavors, to allowing them to select flavors they want to try and struggled to find a format that worked, it seemed like most often they'd pick one of my top three flavors or go with something complete different than what they where trying. Last year (after reading things here on cc) I changed to just offering my three most popular flavors (sometimes I'd throw in another) and that seemed to work just as well if not better than anything else I'd tried and it certainly was a lot easier on me.
Yes, I agree with the other posters. You need to screen your potential clients better. I too always ask about venue, servings, design and budget. I'm very up front with them about my price per serving. I never book a tasting until they have a venue picked out. This does two things for me...shows me they're serious and it allows me to price out delivery at the tasting so they have a total estimate.
It sounds like you offer too much cake for your tasting. Remember, this is a "tasting". I offer 6 cake samples that are 2-3" square and a variety of frostings and fillings for mixing a matching. These are usually made from cakes of the week or month. I freeze them for up to a month so I have them readily available for tastings.
I offer free tastings for 100 servings or more and $25.00 fee for less than that. I do apply the fee to their cake order once it's booked. I everyone's feed back gives you some good ideas and hopefully you'll be able to weed out the less serious brides and clients.
I really feel sorry for that baker who has to bake 22 wedding cakes at $1.75 per serving! OMG! You are not out of line...you are attracting low-end brides and you need to figure out how to weed them out.
I think your problem is less in the tastings and more in how do you market yourself. Let 'cheap-o depot' over there get all the Craigs-list brides and you turn your attention to a more savvy bride market.
How are you promoting yourself?
AI have a website and advertising around town. A banner at a localFamily entertainment center. I did have a booth at a wedding show in the big city near by and that worked. I booked 6 weddings from that. I am also the Quinceanera cake lady in town. It's all coming along. When I sat down and reviewed my calendar i realized i have turned away a lot of cake orders due to summer activites with our family. I turned away 3 wedding cakes in June b/c i have to be in NY that week. Plus another 8 b/c of family camping, a get away werkend with my husband, a family reunion, and a cruise to Alaska that my parents are paying for and taking 30 of us kids, spouses, grandkids family friends, etc. so I don't think my business is as slow as I had thought. I currently have 12 orders from April to Dec. and my phone is still ringing.
You can also skip the fuss over prices.
At the first contact, ask for the event date, location, number of servings AND THEIR BUDGET.
Not enough $$$ in their head for your fair price? Just email back and say "you can't help them, sorry"
i actually don't ask what the budget is right off the bat. Maybe it is going with my dad too often to buy a car, but it feels wrong to me to 'show my cards' to someone who has the power to adjust the price of what I want. I appreciate my customers feeling the same way.
I will however ask them the size cake/servings they want, the rough design (plain buttercream finish, fondant hand painted?) ideas and then give them my base price range with a ballpark of any extras they would want (i usually go a bit high to CMA). If they are surprised or want to talk price in more detail, then I will ask what price range they wanted to stay within, and then offer some options that would maybe be an option. I always try to be respectful of what they want to spend and I feel by letting them make the decision of whether or not I am in their budget it is a bit more tactful than asking and then informing them that I don't do cakes for the number they just said. I also have my base prices on my website, and I think that that helps in informing potential customers as to what the minimum a cake is going to cost before they even contact me.
I don't ask for their budget but I state what my prices "start" at. If in their description it seems like a small cake then what I say is "I'd be happy to do your cake and I am available for your date. My cakes start at $150.00 and $4.50 per serving. Prices increase from there depending on design and flavors chosen". This way they can determine if you're in their price range.


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*But, were afraid to ask
Catchy title.
Ever since what's-her-name in Kentucky refused to do her job as an elected official there have been quite a few posts and articles on both sides of this story.
The funny thing is that there is only one right answer. This is one of those things that is so basic, so foundational to what our country is all about, I am appalled that people running for the Presidency of the United States don't get it right. But, then again, part of the character of this country is that anyone can run for office.
Here's the fundamental principle – We are a nation of laws, not religions. We are bound to uphold the laws and we are entitled to practice religion with freedom. Let me say it another way. Religion is a right of the individual. At the same time, the individual is also a citizen whose citizenship mandates that they live within the law. People have power because of their rights. Governments have power because we have agreed they can enact laws by which we will abide.
For reference, it is the First Amendment to our constitution which guarantees the right to practice whatever religion you want.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Gorgeous. Just absolutely gorgeous. In just 45 words we are granted our individual freedoms. Except for that gun thing. That is in the Second Amendment.
There is a lot written about this amendment and what James Madison had in mind, but it seems pretty self explanatory. And the semicolons are cool.
I could go into how you can trace the First Amendment back to the hypocrisy of the Puritans who were among the first to come the America to gain religious freedom. As soon as they established themselves, they proceeded to persecute anyone who didn't agree with their religion. Indeed, they controlled the government.
They were what we term "bullies". Indeed, when you look back in history just about any government run by a religion ended up being a bully. I could go into it, but I won't.
I could go into how Roger Williams got so fed up with the Puritans that he founded Rhode Island and made it a state that tolerated real religious freedom. He was a staunch believer in the separation of church and state because when religion got embedded in politics, it diminished the religion. So, much of the ideal of the first amendment came from Williams. I could get into that, but I won't.
I could go into the beauty of the Bill of Rights. Do you know what that is? Just in case you don't ('cause Sarah Palin doesn't seem to know), I'll explain. The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments of the US Constitution. They were originally incorporated in the body of the Constitution, but pulled into the amendments because they were different. The Constitution was about the form of the government and how the three branches of the government were to be organized to balance each other out. The Bill of Rights is just that – the most foundational statement of the rights of the individual in relation to the government. How beautiful is that? I could go into how they evolved, but I won't.
I could explain that James Madison and a few others drafted most of the Constitution and then he wrote the Bill of Rights. Many of his ideas had been formed when he was one of the authors of the Federalist Papers, which helped form the government that became entitled under the US Constitution.
Madison was a Theist, like Jefferson. They believed in a God, but not necessarily in religion. Interesting? So for Madison, the separation of religion reason. In his mind, religion would corrupt government. So funny. In our 21st century there are great examples of corruption going both ways. What I get from this is it is men who corrupt, not government or religion. I could go further into this concept, but I won't.
I could go into the first phrase that basically says the government can not proclaim a religion. That is the fundamental separation of church and state. What's cool about it is that it is mandated in the Bill of Rights, which is all about protecting the rights of the individual. In its way, the Bill of Rights puts the individual's rights ahead of the power of the government. And in order to assure that, it says the government can't get into religion. This is the part of the First Amendment that the chick in Kentucky forgot to read. I could go into how this came from that whole Church of England thing with Kings and divorce and beheadings and great plots for movies, but I won't.
I could take a step back and remind all of you that before the US Constitution was accepted we operated under the Articles of Confederation. In short, the Articles were all about states rights and no or very limited federal government. It was a dismal failure. Which makes me wonder why anyone in their right mind thinks we ought to empower the states even more to manage common rights and services, like healthcare and education. Yeah, I don't like big government, but I also would hate having to have a different currency for every state I traveled to. That was the reality back then. Different currencies. What a freakin' mess. I could go into more of why it failed, but I won't.
I could go into how wonderfully those first ten amendments are written. They are all short, to the point, hard to misinterpret (yes, even the gun thing) and foundational. Compare those ten to those that followed and you will truly respect the absolute genius of the Bill of Rights. As a writer they are the greatest example of the power of words and brevity that I can point anyone to. I could review them all, but I won't.
What I will do is state without a doubt that I love our Constitution. I take it personally. Every day I exercise all kinds of freedoms that james Madison guaranteed me and that our Founding Fathers supported. Every day I am grateful that there are 10 churches in or near the small town of 15,000 where I live. They almost outnumber the pizza parlors, but not quite. Pizza is a religion here in New England. I don't go to any of them, but I love that people are free to worship in any way they want. I am grateful that I can write that last sentence and not fear that some zealot is going to put a black bag over my head and…well, you know what I mean.
We are a nation of laws. Those laws guarantee that we have the right to practice whatever religion we want, within the guardrails of civil justice. So, that chick in Kentucky is just wrong. Period. And her lamentations are an affront to my Bill of Rights and the freedoms the generations before me (including my dad who fought in WW2) lived and died for. And that isn't just my opinion. It is a fact. She is wrong. Period.
Take time today recognize how many times you exercise the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights or even just the First Amendment. I think you'll be surprised how much you actually take for granted. Especially on Facebook. Geez.
And, if I may, our greatest freedom is the freedom of movement. So go run and run free!


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Like so many other cooks in America, my life was changed by Marcella Hazan, who died Sunday at the ripe age of 89. She had the good fortune to pass away peacefully at home at the side of Victor, her beloved husband of more than 50 years.
Marcella was the mother of real Italian cooking in America. Just as Julia Child introduced Americans to authentic French cooking, so Marcella did the same for the cooking of her homeland. Born in Italy in 1924, Marcella followed her American husband to the States where she found herself in an incomprehensible food world. Used to seasonal vegetables, fresh from the garden or farmers market, she found instead the old, sometimes wilted abundance of the American supermarket, divorced from season and place. Used to a live or freshly butchered chicken, in America she found them days old, cut up, and wrapped in plastic, "like a coffin," as she once said.
As hard as it is to imagine, in the 1950s and indeed much later, one couldn't easily find extra virgin olive oil in America. One couldn't find parmigiano-reggiano. One couldn't shop at farmer's markets. And one certainly couldn't find a chicken raised on pasture.
Though she had not grown up cooking or even very interested in food, once Marcella found herself married to a food-obsessed husband, she learned to cook the food of her homeland. As she wrote,
Cooking came to me as though it had been there all along, waiting
to be expressed; it came as words come to a child when it is time for
her to speak.
Soon followed cooking classes, taught in her small New York apartment, and then lunch with food writer Craig Clairborne, and then her first cookbook and fame.
The Hazans were able to return to Italy to live, first in Bologna, and later in a historic 16th century restored palazzo in Venice, where Marcella continued to teach classes. She continued to write cookbooks as well, with her 1997 book Marcella Cucina the most beautiful and personal of her many excellent books.
For me, though, it was Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, which introduced me to Marcella Hazan and transformed my life. Working on farms in the late 90s, I found myself with access to produce of the highest quality for the first time in my life. Wanting to cook these vegetables in a way which honored their integrity, I found in Marcella a teacher whose approach to cooking resonated deeply with my own instincts: emphasize the ingredients themselves and not the chef; keep preparations simple; don't be afraid of salt.
The first pasta sauce I cooked was her recipe for a tomato sauce with onion and butter. I was completed unprepared for and amazed by the way the butter transformed the flavor of tomatoes, and I was immediately hooked. Many recipes followed. The first dish I ever cooked for my wife was a vegetable stew with potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers from Marcella. I later converted my wife back from vegetarianism by preparing Marcella's ragu Bolognese. Just last weekend at the restaurant I fried piadina bread filled with ricotta, another recipe from her book. The list goes on and on. Night after night during college and later as a bachelor and newlywed, I cooked recipes from her books, honing my skills in the kitchen. Although I eventually broadened my knowledge by studying other authors and trusting my own instincts, Marcella's books have always been and still are at the heart of my own cooking for my family and for the restaurant.
Above our mantelpiece in the restaurant is a quote from Marcella which expresses how we feel about her and her approach to Italian cooking.
Making time to eat as the Italians still do is to share in their inexhaustible gift for making art out of life.
A few days before her death, I had felt an instinct to write to Marcella to express thanks for all she had given to me. Although she will now never read it, it feels good to have expressed in written form something of what her work has meant to me and countless others.


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From the memoirs of Nosratollah Amini, mayor of Tehran and personal attorney to PM Mossadegh
"The Americans do not have the experience or the psychological insight to understand Persia."
"If only we keep steady, Dr. Mossadegh will fall. There may be a period of chaos, but ultimately a government with which we can deal will come back." -Nancy Ann Lambton, advisor to the British government
"I agree with Miss Lambton. She has a remarkable first hand knowledge of Persians & their mentality." -Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary
Mohammad Mossadegh died in 1967. His government was toppled on August 19, 1953. He lived to be 86 and not once did he apologize or feel remorse for what he had done in defense of his country and his people for he stood by them against all odds.
Mohammad Mossadegh stood for the rule of law and democracy whereas the superpowers did everything to undermine his government. Yes, they were successful in their attempt but as history tells us, he conducted one of the best defense testimonies at The Hague and the United Nations.
Recently declassified information on the Coup tells us that various agencies were involved in this operation. It was not just the Central Intelligence Agency, but elements within the U.S. State Department, the British Foreign Office, and various American, British and Iranian agents.
It is obvious that the toppling of Dr. Mossadegh's government was in the works since 1951.
Asked what these new document reveal, Mark Gasiorowski, a historian of the Coup and professor at Tulane University, said the following:
"The new FRUS documents add a lot of minor detail to our knowledge about the coup, but no major new revelations – certainly nothing like Kermit Roosevelt's memoir or Donald Wilber's history. The new minor details include:
Confirmation that Allen Dulles was a major early proponent of the coup.
The revelation that several early plans for a coup were sketched out by CIA officers and consultants in August and September 1952.
Additional detail on the spring 1953 plot by Court Minister Abolghassem Amini, which was aimed at overthrowing the Pahlavi dynasty.
Some interesting speculation by Roosevelt on how the first coup plot was exposed and broken up on August 15-16."
And he adds, "Since the FRUS volume came out, two documents have emerged that shed further light on the British approach to the US government in the fall of 1952 about carrying out a coup. These documents are cited but not included in the FRUS volume. See: 1953 Iran Coup: New U.S. Documents Confirm British Approached U.S. in Late 1952 About Ousting Mosaddeq.
More interesting than these new details on the coup itself is what the new FRUS volume says about the CIA's TPBEDAMN and stay-behind covert operations, which both preceded the coup and fed into it in certain ways."
On this day, a day that is still fresh in our memory, may I present you with some chapters from the memoirs of my late father who, like many in Iran, was his disciple.
Referring to the military division of the Tudeh Party who had come to him just before the Coup, he told them, and being cautious of the Soviet threat, he said, "I will not arm those who may take up arms against the people and will not hand Iran to the Soviets."
This long interview (16 tapes) was conducted on May 11, 1984 by the late Zia Sedghi as part of the Oral History Project of Harvard University under the tutelage of Dr. Habib Lajevardi. The entire memoir, including another 14 tapes, compiled and edited by Mohammad Amini, will be published soon.
Below is the translation of a few pages. I must say that the entire interview is so rich and so detailed that it was difficult for me to choose. But here are some important chapters:
NA- "When Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh became Prime Minister, I headed the Office of the Ministry of Justice and it was my duty to keep him informed of matters regarding the councils [electoral councils]. I had been sincerely devoted to him for many years. First, I knew of him through the newspapers and the magazine Ayandeh as well as through his speeches and his position against the Qajar regime before the Constituent assembly. Although a man seeking freedom for the people, he firmly believed that a regime change would be against the country's national interest, mostly because Sardar Sepah [the future Reza Shah] was determined to become Prime Minister and later the king concentrating all power to himself. It is noteworthy that even though his [Dr. Mossadegh] mother came from the Qajar family, he was not at all in favor of the Qajars and held firm to his belief.
As he clearly declared in his speech [before the Assembly], he could not find anyone in the Qajar family suited to rule the country. His opposition to Reza Shah was therefore because he regarded Reza Khan's coming to absolute power against the best interests of the country. Anyhow, I came to know him through the press and didn't have the opportunity to meet him in person until he left Ahmad-Abad for Tehran after Shahrivar 1320 [September 1941]. At that time, I was the Prosecutor General of the Registry Office and as soon as he settled in Bagheh Ferdows in Shemiran, I went to visit him and alongside the late Arsalan Khalatbari campaigned for his election, although he did not need us to campaign for his cause.
After the assassination of Razmara, which was decisive, the situation in the country was not normal. Some people talked about Seyed-Zia as a suitable person to be Prime Minister and believed that he would undo the wrongdoings and arrest the criminals. During these talks, Jamal Emami said, though not seriously, why not elect Dr. Mossadegh instead of Seyed-Zia and suddenly the MPs shouted and voted for him and later the senators approved him too. However, Jamal Emami intentionally did not raise the issue for he was not committed to Dr. Mossadegh. Once Mossadegh was elected Prime Minister, people were jubilant, all the more so because he accepted the Premiership only on the condition that the Shah would sign the oil nationalization act which was passed by the Parliament on 29 Esfand of the previous year. The Shah was therefore forced to ratify it and as a result, this act of Parliament became the law of the country. Then, Dr. Mossadegh stayed in the Parliament as long as he could to appoint his cabinet members and have MP's approval votes for them.
ZS- My next question relates to a different period when Razmara became Prime Minister and people began whispering about the oil nationalization. Do you know that there are some rumors about the assassination of Razmara? Apparently Khalil Tahmasebi, a member of the Fadayan-e Eslam [Devotees of Islam], assassinated him, while some believe that the Shah himself was involved in this act of terror.
NA- As far as I know, the Shah did not disapprove of this act, because Razmara was determined to launch a coup against him. This is clear to me. In fact, during Razmara's administration, I was in contact and even very friendly with Dr. Mozaffar Baqa'i. At one point when Baqayi who was the Army Chief of Staff, decided to take action against Razmara, he even hid in my house. One day, I came home and saw a suitcase in the hall. When I asked, "To whom does it belong?," I was told that it belonged to Baqa'i. When I met him, he told me that his house was under surveillance. We went together to Seyyed Mohammad-Sadegh Tabataba'i with whom Baqa'i had maintained good relations. He believed that he could convince the Seyyed to review the Constitution, while the Seyyed himself was drafting regulations of the Constituent Assembly. Later, Baqa'i took refuge in the Parliament and worked against Razmara. One of the people close to Razmara recounted to me that Razmara held secret meetings in his house every Tuesday and on one occasion he described his plan that a bunch of people coming from the poor parts of Tehran should gather outside the Parliament expressing dissatisfaction because of the shortage of grain and bread. Razmara, who had good relations with the Kurds, had already ordered to bring a number of people from the Kurdish region to Tehran and provide them with enough arms to break into the Parliament at the same time, kill or detain some of the MPs and cut the electricity and urban communication. He also planned to detain the Shah with the cooperation of the military police whose chief was one of his relatives. The next day, this guy [who gave me the account] being worried about Baqa'i, intended to give refuge to him in his house for a couple of days until the coup would be over. Passing by a mosque nearby the house of Razmara's father, he was suddenly informed of Razmara's assassination through the newspapers. Later, I cut my friendship with Baqa'i over the actions he undertook against Dr. Mossadegh.
After 28 Mordad, when they took Dr. Mossadegh to trial, one of my colleagues called me with the news that he had seen an article in the newspaper Khandaniha by a Mr. Batmanglidj who was now the commander in chief of the army. He had mentioned my name.
I asked someone to buy the paper for me. It was entitled, "My First and Last Meeting with Mossadegh." The article was full of lies. He had said that on 31 Tir, when he was hospitalized in the same place in Saltanat Abad where Dr. Mossadegh was on trial, a few hooligans had destroyed Shapur Gholamreza's (the Shah's brother) car. Mr. Batmanglidj claimed that had gotten upset so he sent a note to Mossadegh and told him that this was not right and to send someone he could trust that he could talk to. Nosratollah Amini came as his envoy. Through him. I sent a message to Dr. Mossadegh that he should protect the Monarchy and that the Shah represented the nation and that the army is protecting the country. That Kashani was respected and praised by the people as the religious leader of the country and that he should compromise with him. Amini, according to Batmanglidj, went to deliver the message but never brought me a reply from Mossadegh.
The fact was that this very meeting took place not on Tuesday 31 Tir, but on Friday, 3 Mordad. It was not late in the afternoon but early in the morning!
My recollection of the events is clear. I sent a message to Mr. Batmanglidj that your rendering of the meeting [before the Coup] which took place between us was incorrect. I am known to have an excellent memory. I can even tell you the exact time, date and the discussion we had.
Here is how the story went. Upon the suggestion of Dr. Mossadegh who had received a letter from Mr. Batmanglidj, who at the time was in charge of ammunition in the army, I went to see Mr. Batmanglidj. The "secret letter" in his own handwriting was all in praise, begging Dr. Mossadegh to send someone he trusted to meet with him. Obviously, Dr. Mossadegh wanted me to go so I went to see Mr. Batmanglidj. He was trying to manipulate me. He was a feeble person in my opinion and he started badmouthing his brother who was a businessman. He told me "Don't confuse me with my brother. He is no good." Actually his brother was a pretty decent and self-made guy. He told me, "I have nothing much and pointing to the photo of the Shah on the wall, he told me go tell Dr. Mossadegh if he made me the head of the army, I will get rid of this man in one week! He is the emblem of corruption in this country." He actually used foul language which I shall not repeat.
Dr. Mossadegh's reply was, "I have no intention of making him the head of the army. Tell him to go find another job. There are plenty of jobs around. Since you are now sick, why don't you go abroad for treatment. When you come back, we can find you a job." Mr. Batmanglidj went abroad for treatment and when he came back, he was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Physical Education.
During the events of 9 Esfand (when the mob ransacked Dr. Mossadegh's house), it was he who went there and broke down the doors of Dr. Mossadegh's house [on Kakh street]. It was Nader Batmanglidj.
ZS- Mr. Amini, is it true that Dr. Mossadegh was acting during the trial? If you recall he would lock his briefcase with a safety pin and sometimes he would be lying down on the bench pretending that he was asleep. Why did he do it?
NA- Because he was mocking the trial. He was mocking the whole thing. If you recall sometimes he would refer to Azmoudeh as Timsar Khajeh Nouri. He knew who he was but was making fun of him. Kahajeh Nouri was helping Azmoudeh.
ZS- Who were the most trusted people around Dr. Mossadegh? For example, when on the 25th of Mordad, General Nassiri took the abdication order to him, who did he confide in?
NA- On that awful consequential night, a person by the name of Ezam-e- dowleh Ashtiani was on Karaj Boulevard. He called Dr. Mossadegh. It was late at night and usually Dr. Mossadegh didn't sleep early at night. He said that there were tanks and armaments here and something was going on. He said that he thought there was a plan. Dr. Mossadegh asked the security guards to safeguard the house more carefully. Two officers who were trusted by Dr. Mossadegh, Colonel Momtaz and Colonel Parsa, were called in to the house.
Two other people who were part of the security apparatus were Mr. Mehran and Mr. Davarpanah. Mr. Mehran was the son-in-law of Allahyar Saleh. When Nassiri came to present the order, Mr. Parsa and Mr. Momtaz arrested him. The rest of the events is well-known.
Arrest and imprisonment
It is obvious that after the coup on 28 Mordad 1332, Dr. Mossadegh and some of his close friends who were in his house cautiously left for a neighboring house, a building provided for the Point Four Program. First, the late Vejdani, the Supreme Court prosecutor, who sold the house to Dr. Moazami, owned this building. Dr. Mossadegh and Dr. Shayeghan along with others took shelter in this building in the aftermath of the coup. Some of the Mossadegh's cabinet ministers were among them. Seyfollah Moazami, the Minister for Posts and Telegraph, and his wife, Parivash Saleh (Allahyar Saleh's brother) called Sharif Emami by phone, but not revealing where exactly they were. Sharif Emami had certain contacts with powerful people in the regime and was very close to chief administrator of the Point Four Program. Dr. Mossadegh thought it better for him and those around him to surrender themselves to the regime rather than to be arrested by Zahedi's men in a humiliating way. Sharif Emami assured them that no danger would threaten Dr. Mossadegh and his friends. Therefore, it was agreed that a car would be sent for them to take them all to Bashghah-e Afsaran [Officers' Club] where Zahedi had established his headquarters. When Dr. Mossadegh arrived there and came out of the car, a rogue person by the name of Sepehr (not to be confused with the famous historian, Movarekh o-Dowla ye Sepehr) insulted him and spat on him. However, Zahedi received him well, treated him respectfully, and even expressed regrets for what had happened to him. He ordered to provide a suitable place for Dr. Mossadegh, Dr. Shayeghan and Seyfollah Moazami to rest. After a few days, Dr. Mossadegh decided not to stay there anymore. Thus, he and his friends were moved to a garrison house, Lashkar-e dovvom-e zerehi, and it was there that they were carried to a prison.
NA– One day at noon, Dr. Mehdi Mojtahedi came to my house and told me that my friend, or better to say, my leader, Dr. Mossadegh, was a lucky man. I asked him what he meant by that. He said that he was about to write an index of all the famous people of Azerbaijan in Tarikh-e rejal-e Azarbaijan. Therefore, he had gone to Taqizadeh to interview him about his life story. In the meantime, the bell rang and two people, Jamal Emami and Ahmad Faramarzi, walked through the door. They requested a private conversation with Taqizadeh, there was something so secret that Mojtahedi could not be trusted to hear. Then, Mojtahedi stood up to leave the room, but Taqizadeh asked me to stay. Those people said that they concluded that they could not oppose Dr. Mossadegh in the Parliament and had decided to gather a group of people to put him under pressure from outside. They needed a leader and all the opponents believed that Taqizadeh was the right person, so they expected that Taqizadeh would accept this responsibility. Taqizadeh responded that he would not accept such task. They insisted that Dr. Mossadegh was the one who abolished the Senate and dismissed him, forced him to stay home, addressed him as the most treacherous person the world had ever known. However, Taqizadeh, who had a lot of respect for Dr. Mossadegh, firmly repeated his refusal to join them in taking action against him. He continued that Mossadegh had served the country and was the only person who stood firm against the court corruption.
Taqizadeh believed that all the governments since Shahrivar 1320 (September 1941) until Mossadegh's time were unworthy except that of Hakim el-Molk whom he considered an honest man.
Navvab Safavi
NA– One day when I was at the head of the inspection service, I was told that Navvab Safavi was interested in meeting me. I was also curious to see him and knew about his ideas and who he really was. I hesitated to respond and waited until I got Dr. Mossadegh's confirmation. Nevertheless, he warned me that I should be careful not to fall in some sort of trap. Along with my brother, Ali Sadr, I went to the address given to me. I left my brother outside the house and asked him to stand on the street corner and look out for anything unusual. When I met Navvab Safavi and began speaking to him, I was charmed by his conversation and engaging manner. It was probably because of his charm that people like Abd-e Khoda'i and Khalil Tahmasebi became his devotees. Kashani was even associated with Tahmasebi for a time. Anyhow, they were people who devoted their life to a purpose. A lot of stuff was written about this group in the newspapers of the time, although thorough research must clarify their cause and remove doubts about them.
Come Nowruz that same year [1332/1953] Dr. Mossadegh went to Ahmad-Abad, shut the door upon himself, and refused to see anyone. He didn't even attend the Salam [greeting] courtly ceremony. One time I needed to see him, I sent him a note and he set a time to meet. I told him that the people were anxious to see him. He responded that there was a plan underway to kill him. Anthony Eden recounts exactly the same thing in his book, which was translated into Persian by Kaveh Dehghan. Later we witnessed how Kashani left Mossadegh's side. The Shah himself wanted to get rid of Mossadegh, approached everyone close to him, said that they were equal to him and could even take his place. One of them was Dr. Fatemi who dared to relate everything to Dr. Mossadegh. The latter then urged him to leave for a trip for a while, because his life would be in a serious danger by having revealed the Shah's plan.
The Shah played with people and always made sure he played one side against another.
NA- One day I went to Ali Akbar Dehkhoda's house along with Colonel Bozorgmehr [Dr. Mossadegh's trial attorney]. As usual, Dehkhoda sat on his knees on a mattress. When he saw me with an army colonel, he thought that the man was from the military and that he had come to arrest him. A few days prior, they had come to his house and ransacked everything from top to bottom. As usual when I entered his house, I took off my shoes. Colonel Bozorgmehr also did the same but since he had shoe laces, he had to bend down. I went towards Dehkhoda, his wife and step-daughter. They looked visibly upset. I said, "There are still friends among God's enemies." This is Colonel Bozorgmehr, I told him. He is Dr. Mossadegh's lawyer at the trial. Mr. Dehkhoda who was still sitting down, suddenly got up, came towards Bozorgmehr, took his hands and kissed them. "These are the hands that have touched the hands of my mentor!"
ZS- Mr. Amini, what was the relationship between the Tudeh Party and Dr. Mossadegh? What did he personally think of the Tudeh?
NA- He used to call them Tudeh Nafti [referring those who were connected somehow to oil, here meaning to the British]. Dr. Mossadegh firmly believed in freedom and he also believed that all parties should be free. Even when Tudeh newspapers such as Beh suye Ayandeh, Sogand and Mardom would write rants against Dr. Mossadegh and even insult him, he would say, let them write and speak. That is the meaning of freedom. He believed that part of the Tudeh were indirectly helping the British and of course the rest were lackeys of a foreign government, [meaning the Soviet Union].
ZS- Mr. Amini, how was Dr. Mossadegh firm on his ideas? What were his strong points?
NA-The complete sovereignty of Iran and that it should not be influenced by foreign powers. He also believed firmly that the Shah must reign and not rule. In this regard, he was absolutely resolute. It was because of this belief that he lived and in fact lost his premiership.
ZS- Mr. Amini, when you think of Dr. Mossadegh, what strikes you most about him? Not as a politician but as a human being?
NA- The most important thing I remember about him is his humanity. He was so correct, in fact to the point of being obsessively correct. He was correct in his financial affairs, his patriotism. He was very humble. You know that he came from nobility, his mother Najmieh Saltaneh, being the sister of Farmanfarma. His father was the deputy minister of Mr. Hedayatollah. He had grown up in luxury, beginning with a silk-upholstered cradle. But he lived all his life in simplicity. Both him and his beloved wife [a grand daughter of Nasser-i-din Shah] led a simple life until the very end.
*It is noteworthy that even if the Tudeh Party was a megaphone for the Soviet Union, many members of the Tudeh Party were real patriots who were also nationalists. They lived and died for their homeland regardless of their ideology.
*I want to give a special thanks to a friend, M.M., who helped me translate parts of this interview and who wishes to remain anonymous.
Cover Photo: Dr. Mossadegh in Ahmad Abad in exile. Personal collection of Fariba Amini


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