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0 Daniil Trifonov | Behind the Scenes
So, I'm sitting in my car, trying to decide whether or not it's worth it to try to snap a picture before the light turns green. Smoke from the the Weston Pass Fire is billowing across the road, as numerous construction signs had warned for the last forty miles. Frankly, I'm surprised the road is still open, and that cautioning drivers to "Remain in Vehicle for Forest Fire" is deemed sufficient safety precaution. Eventually the light turns green. About an hour after I pass through, the road will be shut down. By then, I've reached Alamosa, the last large town before the town I'm headed for. I stop here for gas, and I can faintly smell the smoke on the air. Eventually I arrive in Antonito, a tiny town in Southeastern Colorado. There are a few bars and dispensaries, the utterly bizarre Cano castle, and not a whole lot else outside the reason I'm there: the Combres and Toltec Railway Station. After a slight disagreement with Google Maps as to where the entrance to this place actually is, a local points me in the correct direction and I meet up with Clementine Seeley, the producer with whom we've been in contact with. An energetic British woman, she shows me the way to the train where the set decorator and another crew member are ripping apart long strips of a white translucent fabric to fashion into window shades. In the center of the train compartment is the Fazioli. Clementine presents it to me for my approval, and, unsure what to expect, I uncover the piano. It doesn't appear to have any damage, or even any smudges. I take my time inspecting it, as it's really all I'm here to do. That, and to request Trifonov sign the piano and get a photo with him. Satisfied that no harm has come to the piano (indeed, it's flawless), I recover it as Clementine points out the polishing cloth and the supplies the movers had instructed her about. Contented that I'm satisfied with the treatment of the piano, she tells the crew and me that Daniil and the record label people will be arriving in an hour or so. She leaves me in the care of the crew, who are busily trying to convert this Narrow Gauge Steam Engine into something more rustic. Modern amenities such as light switches and outlets will have to be covered one way or another. I don't really have much of a role here, the day before the shoot, and I feel a bit in the way. I debate checking into my hotel early, but I'm afraid I won't be back when Trifonov arrives, so I offer to help, mentioning that my background is in scenic design for theatre. They, kindly, find small tasks to pacify me and chat about the shoot, and about their backgrounds. I help trim stray threads as they rehang curtains, which, originally hung with gaffers tape, keep falling down. We have a few visitors and Clementine pops in and out periodically. The owner of the railroad comes by and tells it's okay to drill into the woodwork if we need to. Everyone except him seems horrified at this suggestion. An elderly conductor stops by to see how things are coming along, dropping off a few lamps for us. We learn as he chats for a bit that he's retired, and just does this because he loves trains. He expresses excitement at the possibility of meeting Trifonov. The crew assures him he will if he's the one driving the train, which he is, as he'll be in the video. He's obviously a big fan and delighted at this news. We make continue to small talk in the hot compartment, and I'm starting to get hungry when the record label people show up, Trifonov in tow. Trifonov is a thin Russian man in skinny jeans and a t-shirt, twenty-seven with straight, chin-length hair and the' scruffy beard popular among millenials. He is the least animated amongst his posse, nodding, eyes keen but with little change in expression. His handlers and his wife (and his wife's yorkshire terrier) all tour the train with Clementine and the other crew. When he gets to the piano, we roll the cover back and he sits down to play for a few minutes. It is incredible. I ask someone quietly if it's okay if I film. She nods, and I realize she's already filming on her phone too.  When he lifts his hands, he nods at the piano without smiling, and speaks for the first time. "It is a very good piano." Then he continues playing. Ten minutes later, apparently satisfied, he lifts his hands from the keys and stops playing. Clementine introduces me to Nikki, Deutsche Grammophon's marketing director, a bright-eyed German woman who explains what the plan for the album and the video shoot is. I'm introduced to his posse of record label people one by one, and finally to Daniil and his wife. He shakes my hand politely, and gracefully brushes off my praise. His wife is tall, dark haired with young almost cherubic features and bambi-eyes; I have been trying to place her since she walked in. Like any Millenial would, I had checked out Trifonov on Facebook, hoping to find some common interest that I might be able to chat about. That had failed miserably, but I was stunned to discover that we had a few mutual acquaintances. Unfortunately, I hadn't kept up with either of them in years. What I did learn, however, was that we had been on the same campus for our respective college education. Where he attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, I had attended Case Western University on the same campus at the same time. So I'm standing there, trying to decide if I had ever actually met Daniil or his wife before or if I was only recognizing them from too much time online, when his wife speaks. Her voice, accented with something that might be Spanish (though I'm not at all confident about this), is what makes it click. I had graduated college a year early and immediately taken a job at Starbucks on campus to supplement the pittance that theatre pays. As a result, familiar faces from campus became familiar regulars. Judith, Daniil's wife, was one of them. She would order hot chocolate almost daily, which was part of what made her memorable to me six years later. Who goes to Starbucks regularly to get their hot cocoa fix? Apparently Judith does. Beyond her always being kind and polite (it is noticeable to customer service staff when you're friendly), and that one time she smuggled the then-puppy Yorkie into Starbucks inside her jacket, I don't remember much about her. The group decides to wrap for the day and Clementine invites me to join them for dinner. As we head over, the smell of the forest fire is still noticeable on the air, and as we walk through the parking lot, we chat about taking pictures of the billowing smoke. Their pictures are amazing, and they explain that they pulled over despite the signs, unwilling to pass up the photos. We meet the rest of the crew in front of one of the town's few restaurants. As we're walking in, I hesitantly ask Judith if she went to Case. She says she didn't, she went to CIM, but asks if I did. I explain that I did, and that I used to be a Barista in the Starbucks on Euclid. She exclaims with what appears to be genuine satisfaction, "That's where I knew you from!"Daniil mumbles something about also drinking coffee, and I make an attempt to place what he might have drank, but Judith spares me, waving his comment away. "You have a beard now and I was there all the time," she tells him, then adds to me, with surprising enthusiasm, "Come, you have to sit with us." And so I ended up sitting across from Judith and Daniil. The restaurant is a standard smalltown Colorado restaurant, the menu boasting green chile, various burritos and steaks, and with a fridge sparingly filled with microbrews that seem more like the leftovers from some event than a regular stock. The production and record people look for gluten-free and vegetarian options on the menu and poke fun at the decor and the mediocre selection of beer, and I'm struck by how New-York and out of place they seem here. The restaurant owner is good-natured and helps the straggling crew members find us in the back, where we have the area to ourselves, away from the rest of the dining room. Judith and I chat about what we've both been doing since college, but it's a struggle to maintain the conversation as, to be fair, we don't actually know each other. We discuss Cleveland and the changes it's undergone in the time since we've all graduated, and what Daniil's traveling has been like. We joke about eating all the chips and salsa before anyone else, as Clementine hand-rolls and distributes cigarettes to other production people beside her. Daniil, for his part, sits stone faced, following the conversations around him, but silent. When someone proposes a toast, he orders vodka. Someone in the party teases him for being Russian and drinking "Wodka" and he takes the bait, insisting that Russians genetics are different, that they can drink vodka like the rest of us drink water. This is the most I've heard him say the entire time, and I'm entirely uncertain whether he was making a joke or genuinely believes this. He seems somewhat solemn, though I'm not sure why, whether its exhaustion from traveling or anticipation for the video, or if that's just how he is. As the meal goes on, the rest of the party begins swapping stories of different SNL parties they've attended. Clementine has been cajoled into telling stories of her cousin Ben, which, eventually I figure out is Benedict Cumberbatch. They take it in pairs to go smoke throughout the meal, and Clementine keeps the supply of hand-rolled cigarettes coming from her place beside me at the table at the table. After a while, I realize why Judith wanted me to sit with them. Despite Daniil being The Talent, outside of Nikki, who chats happily, the rest of the group pays he and Judith little mind beyond ensuring their comfort. We seem to be the only ones not ducking out to smoke. Others in his record posse engage him periodically, and in a conversational lull, the tall, thin gentleman from the record label comes back in from smoking and engages the couple in a conversation about the World Cup. For the first time, Daniil seems energized, speaking animatedly and passionately on the players and teams. The conversation goes on at great length, and Daniil seems a completely different person. I am kicking myself for knowing absolutely nothing about soccer, and listen eagerly but am utterly unable to contribute anything other than nods and an interested expression. Eventually, the record label fellow gets pulled to the other side of the table and Nikki takes his place, replacing the conversation with business and with travel plans for the young couple. Eventually, she manages to break into the conversation at the other end of the table, inquiring for Daniil whether he's allowed to wash his hair. He had originally been told he could shower but not shampoo, and he wanted to know if this was still the case. The stylist, who wanted him looking grungy for his role as a stow-away, considers for a while, and someone suggests over their beer that they do his hair to match his wife's dog's tiny ponytail. Judith, delighted at the proposition, immediately produces hairties from somewhere and pulls Daniil's shaggy hair into two pigtails, sticking out at 45 degree angles from his head to roars of laughter. Though he didn't smile, he didn't protest at all, and even picked up the Yorkie to pose stoically for photos. (It seems unfair to let the photo out on the internet, but it did prove to me that under Daniil's solemn exterior is a pretty good sense of humor.) A good while after the meal has ended, Daniil and Judith decide to retire, and I excuse myself as well. Judith asks if I'm staying in the same hotel, and I explain that I booked late and am staying in nearby Alamosa. We say our farewells for the night, and I'm given a calltime to meet Daniil and do the photo-op with the Fazioli, and get in my car. The next morning, I arrive early and help with a few finishing touches—gathering wildflowers for glasses in the windows (I don't think these survived the trainride) and the like. A new rug, borrowed from the hotel lobby, has appeared. I feel very in the way and someone (perhaps trying to figure out what I'm still doing there) assures me of the distance between the piano and the back of the train and shows me the blocks they have to keep the piano from rolling. The brakes are engaged on the casters, so I'm not terribly worried, but I thank him nonetheless. Daniil arrives in costume, which has to be ridiculously warm. It's already getting hot in the July sun, and he's dressed in a woolly-looking turn-of-the-century suit. He removes his jacket and he and Judith huddle over a cellphone, watching the World cup, as the set decorator finishes dressing the car, and the crew load up their camera equipment and snacks for the day. After a little while, Daniil's prompted by his people to go into the piano-car and he tears himself away from the screen. As he begins warming up, playing with the orchestration on a speaker hooked to a laptop, his wife settles in the same car, still watching on her phone. She gives him regular updates, and periodically, he looks up from the piano to ask what's happening when she reacts, frequently turning to look over his shoulder at her as he continues to play.  Eventually, the train is getting ready to depart, which is my cue to leave. I'm invited to stay for the entire ride, but I have a conference call and know enough about film to know that I'd just be an extra body in the way. We do a photo op, Daniil stiffly nodding. He seems just as uncomfortable with this as I am, but humors us all. A handful of pictures later, and my job is done.  They reassure me that Daniil will sign the piano plate at the end of the day. The director doesn't want his signature in the shot. This strikes me as funny, as the piano itself is an anachronism—Fazioli first started production in 1982. I thank them all, they thank me for the piano. I hand along our card, assuring them we're more than happy to provide a piano to Daniil anytime. I praise him again, wish them luck with the shoot, and head back to Denver.
0 Why We Walk for Alzheimer's Disease
Although we support many foundations and charitable organizations, the Alzheimer's Association's Walk is one near and dear to our hearts. This year, our team Woods Mosaic has raised $3,330 so far to benefit Alzheimer's research. Pop, known to his customers as Chuck or Charles, passed away from Alzheimer's disease almost six years ago. We walk to honor his memory. My father, Charles Woods, passed away on Saturday, October 27, 2012 at the age of 86. He was an amazing man. Born in Denver on December 6,1925, he was a fourth-generation Coloradoan. His father was a piano man, as were his grandfather and great-grandfather. Advertisements for Woods and Son Music Stores in Longmont date back to 1885. My dad grew up during the depression and developed a strong work ethic very early in life. At seven years old, he worked repairing wire milk crates for a local dairy for half a penny each. By the time he was in the seventh grade, he got a job loading the coal furnace and sweeping out the classrooms of Grant Junior High School before the other students arrived. He had to be there by 5:00am. He held that job through high school. At 16, eager to join World War II, he finished high school early to attend aircraft mechanic classes at Emily Griffith Opportunity School. He received his diploma and was off to war at 17 years old. He spent the war on Guam as an engine specialist for the B29 bombers. When the war ended, he returned to Denver and married Frances, his high school sweetheart. He set to work learning the art of tuning pianos. When it was time to take over the tuning business, his father's clients would ask him if he was as good as his dad. He would reply, "I'm better". He soon gained a reputation as the best tuner in Colorado. He tuned 1000 pianos a year for 50 years. A true artist - he loved his work and his customers could feel it. He struggled patiently to teach me to tune, repair, and rebuild pianos. When I realized that I did not like tuning pianos, I finally worked up the courage to tell him. He just said, "Well, why would you want to spend your life doing something you don't like? Have you ever met anyone who was good at something they did not like?" Fortunately, I loved restoring old pianos and he encouraged me to pursue that part of the business. I have had a great career in the piano business and I owe it all to him. He was a fiercely independent man. He could never have worked for anyone else. He and my mom, Frances, raised seven kids (six boys and one human, as he put it) all on the efforts of one incredibly hard-working piano man. When he was not working, he loved road racing his sports cars, playing volleyball and, of course, music. He had a great sense of humor and an unfortunate affinity for bad puns. He leaves behind a loving wife of 67 years, 7 children and their spouses, 15 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren, and a legion of loyal customers. Many, many of whom became his friends and are now my friends. He will be deeply missed. The legal name of my company has always been, and will continue to be: Charles C. Woods and Son Inc. ~ Joe If you would like to join us in supporting Alzheimer's Association, click here.
0 9 News Visits Us - Where in the Town is Gregg Moss
Years ago, we were interviewed by Gary Shapiro. This summer Gregg Moss stopped by to chat with us on a segment that features local small businesses. A lot has changed in that time, but our respect for the craftsmanship and beauty of pianos is just as strong as it always has been.
My first exposure to Blüthner pianos was at the NAMM show in, I think, 1996. I was really taken by the quality of the instruments. I stopped into their booth and met Ingbert Blüthner and his son, Christian, for the first time. They told me that the Onofrio Piano Company of Denver had just taken on the line. A few weeks later, a brand new ebony polish Model 4 Blüthner was delivered to Onofrio's store on south Broadway. Months went by, and every time I happened by their store, I would tease Joe Onofrio. I would tell him how beautiful the Blüthner was; that it was, by far, the best piano in the building; and that, "You morons can't sell it". Well, about a year later, Onofrio called me and said, "OK, Superman, let's see you sell this thing". So he sent it out to my shop. We did our usual prep work on the piano and put it on the floor. About ten days, later a customer traded in a Seiler that I had sold them to upgrade to the Blüthner. When the warranty papers were sent in, the representative for Blüthner called Onofrio and congratulated him on the sale. He asked him which model he would like to order next. Onofrio told him, "You are talking to the wrong Joe". He explained what had transpired and put him in touch with me. I was the Colorado Blüthner dealer from then on and sold ten Blüthner Grands the first year! At that point, I wanted to name one of our new Aussie pups Blüthner, but the kids insisted she be called Diamond instead. (Pictured above: Diamond "Bluthner" Woods)


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Friday 26 January 2018
Yesterday's (25 January) blockade of the Port of Calais by French fishermen showed how disruption to cross-Channel traffic after Brexit could have a serious impact on the UK's trading relationships, says the Freight Transport Association, the only organisation which represents the whole logistics industry.
With more than 10,000 vehicles passing across the Channel to Calais from the Port of Dover every day, any delays incurred at the point of departure will have a significant effect on the UK's supply chain, as well as an impact on traffic flows in the South East and further afield, according to Pauline Bastidon, Head of European Policy at the FTA:
"The Calais-Dover route is a vital one for the successful passage of trade between the UK and continental Europe, and any delays at the ports have a knock-on effect which affect the country's ability to continue trading effectively. From raw materials to food products, finished goods and even medicines, Calais is the gateway to Europe for many UK businesses and vice versa. Under current trading arrangements, trucks can roll onto and off ferries without delays, but even the shortest of stops, to undertake customs checks or declarations, could generate knock-on delays and disruptions and have a serious impact on traffic and trading relationships. A mere extra two minutes to process a lorry would cause queues of over 17 miles at Dover."
With 2.6 million vehicles passing through the Port of Dover every year, representing almost 20% of the UK's total trade, FTA is concerned that post-Brexit border checks do not hold traffic at the port:
"The speed and simplicity of the movement of vehicles through the ports of Dover, Calais and Dunkirk is something that cannot be taken for granted," continues Ms Bastidon. "Even the smallest of delays could have significant ramifications for traffic flows as well as the supply chain, and it is imperative that post-Brexit controls take place away from the borders to protect the current frictionless trading arrangements. The trading doorway for British firms needs to stay as wide open as possible."
In addition to trading delays for British businesses caused by the blockade of the port, FTA is also concerned of the impact that queues of waiting freight vehicles could have on traffic movements across the South East, and further afield:
"The Operation Stack solution should only be used as a temporary fix for traffic delayed at the coast," continues Ms Bastidon, "and should not be a full-time answer to ease congestion in and around Dover. It is still unclear what capacity the government's proposed emergency parking area at Manston Airfield may have, despite being earmarked for use in the event of border problems & disruptions post-Brexit. A typical day's traffic through Dover would stretch from the coast to Stanstead Airport via the M25 – could Manston cope with that level of traffic?
"Whether using Manston or Operation Stack, freight operators need to be certain that every effort is being made to keep delays to a minimum, and traffic will be able to move freely to and from the port of Dover, as well as across the South East and onto the rest of the UK's strategic road network. The logistics industry needs a reassurance that it will be able to continue to keep Britain trading after Brexit, whatever the stresses on the supply chain. British industry and consumers depend on it."
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Complete Gaming Rig Competition
u wan dis?
Published: 2nd January 2018 | Source: OC3D Forums | Price: |
OC3D Gaming Rig Competition
Fancy a chance to win a complete MSI & OC3D themed gaming rig? Of course you do! We have built this rig in our own colours and even given it a few custom touches to make it unique. We think the few bits we have painted have really helped tie the whole build together. What do you think?
Massive thank you to Kingston HyperX, OCUK, MSI and Anidees for helping make this competition possible.
AMD Ryzen 5 1600
MSI Tomahawk Arctic AM4 Motherboard
Kingston Savage 480GB SSD
Kingston HyperX Fury 32GB
Anidees Crystal White
Superflower Leadex White 650W PSU
Superflower Red and White Cable Kit
HyperX Alloy EliteHyperX Pulsefire FPS & Fury SHyperX Cloud Revolver S
Head over the page to find out how you can enter.......
Most Recent Comments
Ugh.... hint much.Quote
Corsair white PSU. Don't really like the white motherboards. So a formula motherboard would be nice, it's RGB . Then maybe custom white watercooling. Quote


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This is the first overseas retreat when the two departments came together (ICT and IT).
There were several objectives set out for this trip: Learning Journey (both technology and culture) and more importantly, bonding.
The highlight of the trip - It's the PEOPLE! Looking back, while the 2 departments would have lunch together once in a blue moon, nothing beats spending time to move around and learn from (and about) each other! Though we spent more than 75% of the time inside the car and the aging body aching for the whole of next day - I guess the company has made it worth the trip :)
Thanks for making the trip possible!
Click HERE to see the blog.
This site briefly documents my journey around the globe... It has been exciting... each time, an eye-opener when we bother to know the place, the people, the culture better... each time, it shortens the distance between myself and the entities I come in contact with...
2017 March 14: Head north, Melaka! 北上马六甲
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Useful Links (for Travelling)
One day, somebody asked, "You travelled so often. What are the airlines that you've tried." I've never counted until today...
- Air Asia
- Air China (China)
- American Airlines
- ANA (All Nippon Airlines)
- Asiana Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- China Airlines (Taiwan)
- Delta (USA)
- Druk Air (Bhutan)
- Lufthansa
- Emirates
- Garuda Indonesia Airline
- Japan Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Malaysia Airlines
- Northwest Airlines
- Qantas Airlines
- Royal Brunei Airlines
- Scoot
- Silk Air
- Sri Lankan Airline
- Singapore Airlines
- Thai Airways
- Turkish Airlines
- United Airlines


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Rhett was 1 of 3 country CDs to make the Billboard top 10.
Rhett scored his first chart topper on the Billboard 200 chart with "Life Changes."
The disc earned 123,000 equivalent album units for the week ending Sept. 14, according to Nielsen Music. Rhett earned 94,000 in traditional album sales.
Jason Aldean had the last country disc to go to the top with "They Don't Know" on Oct. 1, 2016.
Rhett scored his best sales week ever for an album. His previous high was 63,000 with "Tangled Up."
Dustin Lynch's "Current Mood" debuted in seventh with Kip Moore's "Slowheart" 10th with 36,000 and 29,000 units respectively.
The charts will be released on Tuesday by Billboard.


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In this episode of Better Love and Sex, Devi speaks with Sensual Provocateur, Lady Viktoria about the relationship between Tantra, Kink & Bondage. Get the inside scoop on sensual BDSM play. Listen in Feedburner Listen in iTunes We discussed: 1. What … Continue reading
Men and Their Hero's Journey
In this episode of Better Love and Sex, Devi speaks with author Tony Rezac about his latest book for men. This book was born out of the past 10 years of Tony's involvement with men's groups. First with The Mankind … Continue reading
Racism and Sexuality
In this episode of Better Love and Sex, Devi speaks with Sexual Educator, Rakhem Sekhu about how institutionalized racism impacts the sexual experience of people of color in America. Listen in Feedburner Listen in iTunes We discussed: What is Racism … Continue reading
Healing the Masculine
In this episode of Better Love and Sex, Devi speaks with Zat Baraka and Robert Kandell. Zat is a unique and highly sought after teacher, coach, and speaker in the men's personal growth and spiritual growth movement. Robert is an expert in … Continue reading
Great Oral Sex Pt.3-Tongue Strokes, Semen Retention Questions & Female Ejaculation Techniques
Listen in on iTunes and Subscribe!
Another date night with Devi where she answers YOUR questions about sexuality, pleasure, intimacy, and relationships.
In this episode, Devi continues with how to give great oral sex, part 3. tantalizing tongue strokes, semen retention questions answered such as – HOW to orgasm without ejaculating, and proper technique for inducing Female Ejaculation.
Send your questions to deviwardtantra.com
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BDSM & 50 Shades of Grey. Are They The Same Thing?
Listen in on iTunes and Subscribe!
There's a lot of buzz about 50 shades of grey, but does it truly give an accurate representation of BDSM, or is it perpetuating inaccurate information about that lifestyle choice?
Listen as Devi and Sex in Words Founder, Jon Pressick as they discuss the in's and out's of BDSM, the 50 Shades Series, and what you should know about the parallels between the two.
Jon Pressick is the sexual community's gadabout. Some days he's the new editor of the Best Sex Writing series. Some days he's hard at work writing about sex news, sex bloggers and erotica on Sex in Words. Some days he's one of the hosts and the producer of Sex City. Some days he's a proud parent and partner. What is he doing all of the days? Thinking about sex!
Find out more at:
Twitter: @sexinwords
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sexinwordsblog
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What's Love Got To Do With It? Lifting the Lid on Romance
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Devi speaks with Barry Selby, The Love Confidant and Author of 50 Ways to Love your Lover.
Listen Live and discover:
- The trap of online dating
- Why do the faces change but the experience stays the same?
- It is not about the other person (objects in the mirror are closer than they appear).
- Relationship rebound vs. make-up sex.
- Having sex all day (the art of foreplay).
- Having better sex by being apart (polarity is the magnet).
- What to talk about after sex
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Sex Positive, BDSM & Alternative Lifestyles
Devi speaks with alternative lifestyle and sex positive expert, Jon Pressick about BDSM, sex positivity, and alternative lifestyles. Jon Pressick is the sexual community's gadabout. Some days he's the new editor of the Best Sex Writing series. Some days he's … Continue reading
Is Porn Addiction Real
Devi speaks with No Fap founder Alexander Rhodes about his movement to help men disconnect from porn and reconnect with their partners. Defying the popular myths that regular porn use does NOT effect a man's relationship to women, Alexander shares … Continue reading
Is Circumcision Male Genital Mutilation?
Devi speaks with Matthew Hess on what circumcision is, how it began, the functions of the foreskin, what's lost after circumcision and his movement to end male genital mutilation! Matthew Hess is president of MGMbill.org, a San Diego, California, based … Continue reading


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A few months back, I showed you guys how to make a delicious, and slightly habit-forming brunch appetizer: an Everything Cream Cheese ball with bagel chips. Ever since, I've really wanted to make a sweeter version of that bagel and cream cheese combo. Blueberry lover that I am, I knew I wanted to invite a blueberry bagel to the party. Naturally, my next thought was a lemon pairing since the two are a match made in heaven.
I know there are plenty of lemon enthusiasts among us, but I would be willing to stick my neck out for the humble bagel to claim the lemon is a sidekick to the starring blueberry, and not vice versa. What do you think? Which of the two stands in the spotlight? Or are you just here for the cream cheese?
I would like to point out that the consistency and thickness of this cheese ball can be finicky if you're not careful. If you're like me and hate measuring ingredients, I recommend taking the few extra seconds to follow this recipe closely. If you add too much powdered sugar and it will be loose and sticky. On the contrary, if you don't add enough, it won't have the subtle sweetness we're looking for. If you add too much lemon juice it will be thinned out and won't hold its shape like a rich cream cheese spread should. I was sure to come up with proportions that lend just the right amount of sweetness and lemon flavor while still maintaining a nice thickness. It will do especially well if chilled overnight.
Lemon Poppyseed cream cheese ball
2 8 oz. sticks room temperature cream cheese
½ c + 1 Tbsp powdered sugar, sifted
Zest of 2 lemons
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp powdered lemon zest (optional)
1 ½ tsp poppy seeds
¼ tsp table salt ( or ½ tsp kosher salt)
Crunchy coating:
¼ c Panko breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp. butter
1 ½ tsp poppy seeds
2 Tbsp coarse sugar (like Sugar in the Raw or sanding sugar)
Other Ingredients:
Blueberry Bagels
Granny smith apple slices, tossed in lemon water
Using a stand mixer, electric hand mixer, or mixing by hand, slowly cream together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Mix in lemon zest and juice, poppy seeds, and salt. Once thoroughly combined, scoop out mixture onto a sheet of cling wrap and wrap into a ball shape. Place in a small bowl to help hold the shape, and refrigerate at least 4 hours, though overnight is recommended.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a skillet on medium heat and add Panko. Stir every 3 minutes until breadcrumbs are golden brown, and remove from heat. Transfer breadcrumbs to a medium-sized mixing bowl and allow to cool. Once cooled, stir in poppy seeds and coarse sugar. Cover bowl with cling wrap and set aside.
Turn oven's broiler on low. Slice blueberry bagel into thick coins, about ½" thick. Place slices on a baking sheet and toast under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Toasting one side gives a nice crunchy-soft texture contrast. For a crisper chip, flip the slices over and toast the other side another 2 minutes, then remove from oven. These can be served room temperature or warm.
Lastly, retrieve the chilled lemon cream cheese from the refrigerator, and unwrap. Roll the cream cheese ball in the Panko coating mixture, covering the cream cheese as much as possible, while also shaping out cream cheese into desired spherical shape. Place on a serving platter and surround with apple slices and blueberry bagel chips.
I recommend serving this as an appetizer before brunch, but it can also be a refreshing snack or even a dessert. It will go great with my Mango Sorbet Mimosas!Add to Favourites


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Al Barna is a San Francisco photographer whose work has been shown at the deYoung Museum, the Legion of Honor Museum, and the Rayko Photo Center.
His photographs have been featured in The Sun magazine, CA Modern magazine, Society for Commercial Archeology Journal, Shots magazine, Slate.com, FastCo.com, 99PercentInvisible.com,
and AtlasObscura.com.
contact for print and reproduction inquiries
© 2016 Al Barna
site design by


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Dear Nélida,
It is with great sadness that we learned of the tragic and untimely death of Raúl Leis. So many active years should have still lain before him, years that he would have lived to their fullest with so much energy, so much creativity, so much humour, and so much vision.
At the German Association for Adult Education we came to know Raúl from the very beginnings of the Latin American Council for Adult Education, CEAAL, whose work we have always supported. We value the tremendous contributions he made toward furthering the work of the Red de Comunicación Popular which he promoted with such enthusiasm alongside Mario Kaplún. And we hold him in high esteem for the role he played during the difficult times of dictatorship and oppression in the founding of one of the main pillars of the civic engagement movements in Latin America, the Centro de Acción Social Panameño. With Raúl's support, CEASPA has gone on to become a mainstay in the network of Latin American popular education. He made invaluable contributions toward building the Alforja network together with other prestigious organizations such as IMDEC in Mexico with Carlos Nuñez, SERJUS in Guatemala with Manolo García, and CEP in Costa Rica with Oscar Jara.
When Raúl offered his services as Secretary General of CEAAL in 2004, and when he was re-elected to the post by the VII General Assembly in Cochabamba in 2008, we felt reassured knowing that the largest network of Popular Education in Latin America would be in the capable hands of a person with such a vast range of experience in management and leadership, a man of knowledge, wisdom, and commitment. Our confidence was not misplaced.
But besides being a man of education who was versed in the art of administration, communication, and policy-making, besides his strong sense of commitment and solidarity with the people of rural and urban Latin America who are oppressed, excluded, and marginalized, Raúl, as we came to know and appreciate him, was a man of letters with a passion for history, literature, theatre, and poetry. He has left us a remarkable legacy.
CEAAL has lost a great leader. On the other side of the ocean, and in another world, we have lost a loyal and reliable partner, a valuable advisor in the field of international cooperation, and an unforgettable friend.
Roland Schwartz
Director DVV International
You can search for articles in our article index (sorted by authors, issues, year, regions and countries). It also provides a full text search.
The journal Adult Education and Development is distributed free of charge in English, French and Spanish. If you wish to receive the journal, please subscribe here.


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Are you ready to build that pool of your dreams? Make your backyard an experience that everyone loves to be a part of. From basic pools to complex pools that include beautiful waterfalls, Altered Grounds is your answer. Our professional staff will come out and listen to your goals and wishes of your project and then work with you to make it a reality.
There are many pool installers in the St. Louis and Southern Illinois area but many come and go. It is important to go with a first-class company to ensure there are no hiccups during the process. All homeowners including us, have horror stories of paying a contractor to do work but they either never show up or do a job that was less than promised. This doesn't need to happen to you. Work with the professionals at Altered Grounds. We are not some fly-by-night company, we have grown up in this area and raised our families.
We service all of St. Louis and Southern Illinois including the following locations:
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Top 5 Benefits of Owning a Pool
Let's face it, everybody dreams of owning a pool. Your dreams can become a reality. We asked past clients why they love their pool so much. Below are the top five reasons:
Increase family time
Quick and easy stress relief
Fitness and water therapy
Increased home value
Friends and family will love hanging around


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If you have been a victim of domestic violence or have reason to fear abuse or violent treatment on the part of your spouse, significant other, a family member or even a roommate, you may be able to obtain a domestic violence restraining order. With an order of protection in place, you will be able to experience a degree of relief in knowing that the abuser is legally prohibited from contacting you or coming anywhere near you. He or she will have to surrender possession of the shared home to you, you can secure temporary child custody and perhaps support payments, and the abuser will be prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm.
Unfortunately, the process of obtaining a domestic violence restraining order is not as simple as it might be. Many people who go to court in an attempt to secure an order are denied in their requests, while in other cases a temporary order is overturned when it ought to be extended and converted into a permanent order. You have too much at stake in the situation to take any chances with the outcome, and it is in your best interests to work with an experienced Torrance divorce lawyer.
Come to Patricia Barberis, A Law Corporation for help. Our founding attorney, Patricia Barberis, has recently authored a guide to getting a domestic violence restraining order. Take the time now to read through the guide to learn about the process and get a better idea of what to expect in your own case. Then, contact us for an initial consultation and to take the first steps in your case.


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- "After being admitted to Petersburg, Kentucky's Creation Museum as a ticketed, paying customer seeking to witness firsthand the power and glory of their 'Date Night,' it didn't take long for the museum to show its true colors…When pressed on the issue, McDonald said that an 'un-Christian' couple like Joe and Brandon would upset the evening for everyone, and, as proof, the museum's website explicitly stated that couples like Joe and Brandon would not be allowed entry. (For the record, it does not)." [LEO Weekly]
- "Chris Thienenman's deal with the folks at Cracker Barrel has taken yet another twist. After jumping through flaming hoops for the neighbors, the city and the people running the company, Thieneman says the restaurant chain is now demanding city tax credits to build the project in Valley Station. If newly-elected Greg Fischer doesn't come of his wallet, the ol' hacks at Cracker Barrel will balk on the deal." [The Valley Report]
Photo: Courtesy Cracker Barrel


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CANCELLED - Faculty Recital with Jessica Maxfield
Classical saxophonist Jessica Maxfield presents her first faculty recital since joining the Winds & Percussion faculty in 2017, with pianist Akina Motoyama. The performance will include works by two USC Thornton faculty, Sean Friar and Andrew Norman, as well as pieces by Edison Denisov and Florent Schmitt.
This event has been cancelled. Please check music.edu.edu/events for rescheduling details.
Free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served, and RSVPs are not available.
Get tickets


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Ian Mood ( b. 1973 )
Furlong Mills and Kilns by Ian Mood
Oil on board. Original by Ian Mood.
Titled Furlong Mills and Kilns 2018
Signed on reverse.
Framed size: 44.5cm x 34.5cm or 17.5" x 13.75"
Image size: 40cm x 30cm or 15.75" x 11.75"
Part of a collection of painting by Stoke on Trent born artist Ian Mood called Common Ground. This painting is also included in catalogue published alongside the collection of paintings.


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Holder for HK 10 cm Clocks and Weatherstations
In Stock
We will send you an e-mail when it is in stock online.
Fill in the fields below, and we will contact you to arrange a special order of this item.
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Henning Koppel was one of the most prolific and influential Georg Jensen collaborators. During a career that spanned five decades, he was responsible for creating much of what we have come to think of as Danish design.
In keeping with his reputation as the father of functionalism, Koppel created a number of clocks and weather stations whose sleek shapes were perfect for indoor or outdoor use. The new HOLDER can be used with any of the 10cm items and is an easy way to bring Koppel's signature style to any shelf, desk or table top.
The HOLDER lets you display Henning Koppel's clocks, barometers, hygrometers and thermometers on any surface.
Note: Fits clocks and weatherstations produced since 2007.
- Item number: 3587549
- Materials: ABS plastic
- Measurements: H: 98.1 mm / 3.86 inches. Ø: 66 mm / 2.6 inches.
- Design year: 2010


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How Rhode Island Is Leading the Way in Student-Centered, Personalized Learning
As more schools, districts, and states implement personalized learning strategies, the focus has shifted from plug and play technology solutions to rethinking the structure of the classroom as we know it. So, how are states moving forward with personalized learning initiatives?
In this podcast series, Student-Centered Pathways to Student Success, we'll explore the benefits and challenges that come with this movement towards personalized learning.
In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act transferred a large amount of decision-making powers from the federal government to individual states, giving states more freedom to experiment with innovation and technology in education. In 2016, Rhode Island took full advantage of this newfound freedom with the Rhode Island Personalized Learning Initiative. Today, Rhode Island has become recognized as a leader in student-centered, personalized learning in the United States.
So, how is Rhode Island leading the way with personalized learning? To find out, we spoke to Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Ken Wagner.
Commissioner Wagner says that the impetus for personalization starts with the urgent need to innovate. And naturally, this need to innovate is driven by the demand to equip students with the tools they need to succeed in the workforce.
"So to me, the standard argument about where our education system is falling short is the standard argument for why we need to do things differently with an innovation agenda," says Wagner. "We're losing kids not just in high school. We're losing kids in second grade, third grade, because they're disengaging because the system just doesn't make sense to them. And by the way, the kids that we're losing are disproportionately students of color, first generation college, kids living in poverty. And because the poor outcomes disproportionately affect certain students, we need to innovate in order to get better equity."
Wagner asserts that every school system has a responsibility to build educational foundations, which include the more traditional core subjects. Yet once those foundations are established, there's still a long way to go to get students engaged in learning, and to prepare them for their futures.
"Once students have those strong foundations, they start to individuate and they are who they are," says Wagner.
"They have strengths, interests and passions. And our system can't be one size fits all. It needs to adapt to the strengths, interests and passions of our students. Not just because it's trendy—and it is—student centered learning is one of the trends right now to talk about. But one of the most difficult things in the world to do is, how do you engage a reluctant learner? And the answer is you can't. Or you can't do it well. You have to find a way to turn a reluctant learner into an eager, engaged learner. Then the difficulty of educating a student flips. When you have a student who wants to learn who's totally enthused about what they're learning, you can't stop them from learning."
Commissioner Wagner goes on to say that in order for the student to be most engaged, the student needs to drive their own learning process. He notes this is one of the main driving factors for the shift from teacher-centered to student-centered learning.
"So I think the big problem that we're all trying to solve around the term personalized learning is how do we put the student at the center of everything that we do," says Wagner.
In Rhode Island's capital city, the diverse needs of the student body make the call for personalization even stronger, says Providence Superintendent Chris Maher.
"We really value our diversity," says Maher. "And everything we do here is centered around continuous improvement and equity. So we're always trying to get better and we're always trying to give students what they need and not give every student the same thing."
Because of this focus on continuous improvement and equity, Providence is a ripe testing ground for innovations that meet these goals.
"So with the support of the mayor and the city—personalized learning is one of the areas that we've focused on. Technology is a real part of it, especially in a place like Providence that has been traditionally so underfunded. Such a poor district in a poor city."
These changes could help bridge the achievement gap for Providence.
The Rhode Island Commissioner of Education and Providence Superintendent present a solid argument for individualized, student-centered instruction. But what are the criticisms of personalized learning?
Superintendent Maher says that a lot of the criticisms stem from inadequate implementation.
"When I look nationally, I see a lot of blowback against personalized learning," says Maher. "And when I look at it and I look at the details it's almost always about implementation."
"There was an article about a school in Brooklyn that made a lot of waves I think in the education circles recently and they were using the Summit model. And they were protesting, the students and the teachers against the summit model saying that it took away their identity and this and that. And you know for us, actually, personalization is a way to increase identity, if you're doing a lesson right. Whereas historically, maybe you would give your class a list of historical figures to write about that was four, five people long. You can now give them broad parameters using technology and say 'find yourself in one of these people and write about them.' And you can totally personalize a lesson and let students bring back so much more information and do so much more research."
The superintendent himself was once a skeptic.
"Well I'll be honest with you—before I came here I did not have a very high opinion of personalized learning," says Maher. "Because the way that it'd been introduced to the education world—I mean I've been in an education working pretty much exclusively with inner city high poverty districts my whole life. And you see a different fad in trying to improve the outcomes in those districts every few years."
Yet when he came to the Providence public school district, the teachers convinced him that personalized learning was more than just a fad.
"When I came to Providence, one of the first things I did was talk to as many teachers as possible. And in talking to teachers, one of the questions I would ask is, 'What's the best professional development that you've gotten as a teacher from the district in your career, recently especially?' And an overwhelming number of them talked about some of the personalized learning professional development that they'd received."
"And I was like, 'Wow, I really need open my eyes around this.' And so I dug in a little deeper, and realized that we had a couple of very small pilot programs here that were seeing some results with. And it kind of turned my mind around."
Commissioner Wagner says that personalized learning is often "conflated with the idea of technology-enhanced learning," which leads to concerns about overuse of devices in the classroom.
"Now some folks want to say the two are exactly the same," says Wagner, "You can't possibly do student-centered learning unless you are also doing device-based learning. And that's where you start to lose people. You start to lose some teachers if you just categorically equate the two. And quite frankly, you start to lose students and families. We're already starting to see some complaints, 'I don't want my kid just sitting in front of a computer all day I want them to have meaningful engagement with a teacher.' So we have to pay attention to those concerns."
While technology can be a valuable tool, the commissioner says it must be used to support teachers, not replace them.
"How do we leverage technology to produce the best value add—so we can engage our students, and we can leverage the talents of our teachers in the way that they'll be most impactful? To me, the exciting thing about introducing more modern technology into the learning equation is we can start to use our teachers less as just straight disseminators of information and more as high level problem solvers and guides, coaches, in the student acquisition of metacognitive skills and basic skills, and really applying their knowledge. Teacher as coach is something that we've been talking about for a very long time, and technology allows us to do it at scale in a way that isn't always possible when you don't have the technology in place.
So, what are the challenges when it comes to creating a more individualized, student-centered education system? Commissioner Wagner says one of the major challenges comes from focusing less on what the district is able to supply, and more on what is in demand from students and families.
"Education typically focuses on supply," says Wagner. "We can supply this—We can supply teachers. We can supply textbooks. We can supply buses, whatever. And when you're anchored in supply, you focus on improving the quality of what we know how to supply. We're trying to flip that and focus on demand. What are people demanding?"
He explains there are two parts to this. One, is having conversations with teachers, students, and parents to find out what they need. The other part is spreading awareness about new research and innovations, so those affected the most are propelling the changes.
"The challenge with personalized learning is to create a demand for doing things differently. So we have to talk with people and convince people, students, families teachers, the public, elected officials and so on, that this work is worth shifting. To create demand for it. Because education is also famous for chasing the latest shiny new thing the latest fad—zigging over here, zagging over there. The only way to build sustainable changes in the way we do education is to focus on that demand."
Superintendent Maher says that another of the biggest challenges to individualized education in the classroom is the time it takes to really implement effectively.
"I'm a big Harry Potter fan," says Maher. "And you know, I joke with teachers. Like, differentiate is not a spell you can just use in a classroom. Differentiation is really hard. You don't just wave your wand and it happens. And there are limits to it. And I think that it comes from a good place. Like we want kids in diverse classrooms right. We want kids that have different strengths around each other. It's part of what's so powerful about public education. But I think that we ask them to do too much sometimes."
Maher says that in order to support teachers in this work, it is important that districts provide the proper resources, like professional development. And the professional development for personalization must have a focus on equity and cultural sensitivity from the get-go.
"You have to have equity as part of any work that you do," says Maher. "But we're having conversations around personalization has to do with identity. And we have a district that is around 80 percent white teachers and only 8 percent white students. But if you're going to personalize instruction, you're going to talk about the student's ethnicity and background in a way that you might not otherwise do if you're just teaching out of a textbook. And so we need to have also professional development for our teachers around how to have those conversations in ways that are supportive to students in a way that will empower them."
While the district's focus may be on professional development and providing enough resources for teachers, the state must focus on adding value to the process through policies or regulations that support innovations. Yet the state has to be careful about the way they approach these changes, in order to support classrooms and standards without taking away the flexibility educators need to create more individualized learning.
"The typical state approach is the state leads something or mandates something. The best way to ruin a good idea in education is for the state to say that this is required. This is something you have to do," says Wagner.
"So we've been very much involved. We've been very much watching the work that's been happening but we've also very deliberately been standing somewhat on the side and asking the question where can we add value. Not where do we assert control. We can add value by convening a convening is necessary. We can add value by aligning our regulatory structures to the interventions that people want to do in schools and classrooms."
In Providence, the district is trying to expose schools to new programs, so educators and families can formulate their own opinions and share feedback with the district prior to wide-scale implementation.
"And one of the ways that we really adopted personalized learning as a district is through our site-based, school decision making policy," says Superintendent Maher.
"So we haven't said to schools 'You have to use Summit,' or 'You have to use Highlander.' What we've done is we've exposed schools to these programs within our district and in other places. And oftentimes it's better to say 'Hey look, this is happening in Rhode Island or 'Hey look, this is happening in our district. You can do it too.' Because whenever you say 'oh this is happening in a charter school in California in the Bay Area.' The first thing people say is 'Well they have different kids and they have more resources and they have more technology.'
In order to create a fair test of new programs' effectiveness for Providence students specifically, the district is testing out different methods of personalization in the Providence schools that want and need them the most, says Superintendent Maher.
"So we've found places here where we've been able to seat it, where teachers are wanted it, where principals wanted it, where they've shown signs of success. And then we've been intentional about giving our other school leaders and teacher leaders opportunities to see it in action. So that's one of the reasons that we've had success in getting it to the scale we've had so quickly."
So without taking away flexibility from teachers, where can the state have the biggest impact in supporting these changes? Commissioner Wagner has a few ideas.
"I think the state can add some value by creating kind of pre-vetted lists of products and service providers that have demonstrated some value," says Wagner. "And then make it easier for districts when they struggle with procurement decisions to make purchases off those kind of pre-vetted lists if they choose."
Wagner goes on to list other ways that the state can be involved in forwarding this pursuit of innovation.
"The state can also participate in…national standards models, to help insist that when vendors do business in the space within the state, that they're doing business in accordance with interoperability standards around data storage or around how platforms and software systems talk to each other. We're doing some of that. We're plugged into some of those networks. But there's still a lot more work that has to happen."
Commissioner Wagner also notes that the standards in question might not look like the standards of yesterday.
"Our student graduation requirements are no longer tied to seat time, it's completely compatible with competency based progression for students. Now that work hasn't been done. Designing what competency-based progressions look like for students. That's hard work. That work hasn't been done, but the regulatory structure has been set up. So when that work is done, we won't have to go back and change the [regulations]."
In addition, the state has removed many regulations to open up flexibility for personalized instruction.
"Similarly, even though we have our traditional graduation requirements you know, four math, four English, those kinds of things. We also removed any regulatory requirements, they need to be discrete content subjects so we've completely removed any regulatory barriers to integrated learning structures. So everything on the student side is set up to allow for education to move from a lock-step progression of age and grade, to a competency model slicing up knowledge into discrete subject matters into more of an integrated model. And viewing education as happening in a locked schoolhouse into an embedded, contextualized broader learning environment that includes you know service learning opportunities, work-based learning opportunities and so on."
Wagner also notes that personalized instruction shouldn't just lead the way students learn in the classroom—it should also spread to the way teachers are trained.
"One size doesn't fit all for students applies to teachers," says Wagner. "70 percent of the teachers across the country tell us that their ongoing professional learning is terrible because it's one size fits all. It doesn't match what they actually have to do. Everything that we've said about students applies just as much to teachers."
Superintendent Maher sees personalized learning as a way to increase identity, and to help every student reach their maximum potential.
"The biggest challenge I think we have in this country is we hold far too many children to far too low expectations," says Maher. "And so how do you change that? And personalization opens the door for that, right? Because if you're actually doing it really well, you're meeting every kid where they're at."
Yet incorporating more aspects of personalization isn't enough—it must be a complete overhaul of the way the classroom is run.
"If you're doing this the right way, you're fundamentally changing your approach to instruction in many cases. And that's a big deal."
So what does personalized learning look like in practice? Stay tuned for the rest of our series to find out.
This podcast episode is brought to you by Teach Plus. Teach Plus is a nonprofit organization designed to empower excellent, experienced teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students' success. To learn more about Teach Plus, visit teachplus.org.
Hannah Nyren
Hannah Nyren is the General Manager of EdTech Times. A Texan by birth but a Bostonian at heart, Hannah is an educational writer, AmeriCorps alum, and one-time StartupWeekend EDU (SWEDU) winning team member. She started her career at a Pearson-incubated edtech startup, but has since covered travel, food & culture, and even stonemasonry in addition to education.


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DNA035 It's a school uniform and a choir gown all in one! 1 cel w/pencil sketch $25.00
DNA030 Downy always gets my gauntlets unbelieveably soft! 1 cel w/pencil sketch (hands & eyes only) (paint is cracked in the lock of hair near her hand) $95.00
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DNA001 Why is Kotomi blushing? Did she break a world record.....or just wind?, 1 cel $35.00
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Questions? Comments? Contact us at: vigotonefan at hotmail dot com (no spaces and substitute the at & dot with the proper symbols).


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We have had look at numerous Baan Training document, but none of them explained in terms which are easy to understand and easy to grasp for the Baan Technical Consultant / Baan Developers. Most of the documents speaks on vague topics and doesn't have the right examples to support the different concepts available.
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The following ERP LN Technical Ebook's are available
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Written by Kelsea Lee for Time + Tide Africa – Lower Zambezi, South Luangwa
For many safari goers, sighting the elusive nocturnal species presents the greatest sense of satisfaction. It's the luck of the draw, but there's a real sense of accomplishment when you happen to cross paths with one of these denizens of the dark. As your guide's spotlight passes over those telltale porcupine quills or the elongated snout of an aardvark, it's thrilling in a way that a daytime sighting just isn't. They're not creatures of the same world as you. They thrive in the inky blackness of night and find no pleasure in stretching out in the sunshine for a midday nap. They'd much rather greet the day long after the sun has sunk below the horizon and the colour has faded from the land.
Part of the challenge with spotting nocturnal wildlife is that we're asleep during their most active hours. But what if there was a way to see these mysterious creatures without having to stay up ridiculously late or without even having to go on a game drive? Look no further than the new Chongwe wildlife hide.
Overlooking a naturally created waterhole, the hide is the perfect place to wait for some once-in-a-lifetime nocturnal sightings. After finishing dessert, head over to the hide and settle onto one of the comfortable stools – don't forget to adjust your camera settings.
You peer into the darkness, listening to the impossibly loud croaking frogs and chirping insects. From beneath the cacophony, a shuffling, grunting noise emerges. Something is out there. But what? It's pitch black and you can't see anything. "Get ready", your guide will say. You steady your camera, aiming it into the wall of darkness outside the hide.
He quickly flicks on the powerful spotlight, flooding the waterhole with yellowy light and illuminating the owner of the shuffling grunts.
It's a porcupine!
No, wait – it's two porcupines!
And they're fending off a hyena!
The porcupines face each other, their snouts nearly touching so their black and white quills form a protective barrier. They rotate in a tight circle, constantly manoeuvring to fend of the hyena's advances. The porcupines grunt indignantly and the hyena has a bemused look on his face. What a sighting! Cameras click and flashes go off, capturing each rare moment in time. Afterwards you flip through them, choosing your favourites and commending your fellow photographers on their snaps.
The daytime sightings have been fantastic too. Big herds of elephants regularly stop by for an afternoon drink, and there's no end of antics with the warthog, impala, waterbuck and baboons that hang around. Designed to look like a termite mound, it is spacious and comfortable inside. Soft lounge chairs are available for downtime between sightings, or for those less inclined who just want to relax with a drink in hand while their companions take photographs.
Though it's brand new, the Chongwe hide is already proving itself a worthy part of any safari experience. Nearly every night there have been porcupine sightings – who knows what else the bush will serve up next.


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On June 19, Advocata Institute and Echelon Magazine's Think series hosted Singaporean economist Razeen Sally at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute to speak on 'Capitalism in Asia and what it means for Sri Lanka'.
The Avocado Collective attended and distributed leaflets challenging Sally-Advocata's neoliberal worldview, much to the bemusement of event organisers. Our article below attempts to provide a more robust intervention.
Sally, Schumpeter trumpeter
Singapore Sally sallied forth with the ideas of Austrian political economist Joseph Schumpeter as a smokescreen for his geopolitical worldview, which we will outline later.
Schumpeter, keenly aware of the crisis-ridden DNA of capitalism, popularised the term 'creative destruction' to explain how periods of growth destroy old industries while creating new ones. He argued that monopolies created during growth periods are necessary to stimulate innovation from below. Thus, new monopolies replace the old.
While perhaps true for the period leading up to what Lenin and Schumpeter's contemporary Rudolf Hilferding called 'monopoly capitalism', monopolies today actively inhibit innovation. For example, powerful lobbying by international fossil-fuel companies stunts sustainable energy innovation. Corporations also reinforce their monopolies by buying out smaller innovators.
Most importantly, history shows that innovation is driven by publicly-funded research and development – at universities and even the military, as the example of the Internet demonstrates – not by private entrepreneurship. There is no private innovator not educated by public funds and no innovator innovates alone. Innovation is social, not individual.
Singapore Sally's private appropriation of Schumpeter's creative destruction argument is silent on the question of jobs. For workers, the key question is whether displaced labour will be given access to the necessary education, healthcare and social safety nets to ensure transition to new jobs – if they are indeed created.
Will private capital provide this? Does it want to?
China, US and pursuit of stability
Singapore Sally's talk eventually coalesced into a chilling geopolitical worldview: 'Clash of Civilizations' redux, stoking neoliberal anxiety over China's economic rise. Here we attempt to debunk a few of his claims:
1. Pax Americana, i.e. the US imperial ambitions after World War II, provided "Asia with a stable security environment because of the US leadership".
We wonder what CIA manuals Sally reads to proclaim that the US is "the balancing power of Asia". The strategy of the US militarism in Asia has not been to promote stability but to pursue the US economic interests and to oppose states experimenting with alternative economic systems.
Early US interventions in Asia grabbed the Philippines (from Spain), South Korea (from Japan), Vietnam (from France) and Indonesia (from the Dutch). Each of those sparked independence movements, which were crushed by the US, resulting in millions of civilian deaths and millions more in other Asian countries (from Iraq to Cambodia). Is this Singapore Sally's idea of stability?
Rather than stabilising Asia to enable economic self-determination, the US has directly destabilised independent Asian states. For example, the CIA provided intelligence to Indonesian death squads massacring a million people, installing a dictatorship. The CIA also armed and trained the Taliban in Pakistan to overthrow a secular progressive government in Afghanistan.
The US bases, nuclear hardware and hundreds of thousands of soldiers are found across Asia: in Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and more. This inhibits regional integration (like the peaceful reunification of Korea) and heightens military tensions (in attempting to encircle China).
Far from an innovative liberal analysis for developing capitalism in Asia, Singapore Sally serves up an 'achcharu' of conventional US propaganda based on a world order that exists only in the fevered hallucinations of the Cold War-era conservatives
2. "America must rediscover its rightful role as leader of the world."
Neoliberalism – Sally's preferred poison – argues against hierarchical political rule, calling for healthy competition in a "free market of ideas". Isn't it contradictory then for Sally to "advocata" a unipolar world with a single global "leader" (or hegemon), whose track record includes dozens of assassinations, coups, bombings and outright invasions of sovereign countries?
Even accepting the questionable need for a stabilising superpower, there is little evidence suggesting the suitability of the US for this role, given its historical intolerance of competing economic systems and blatant disregard for international law – including human rights.
The current US political climate proves that expansion of empire has come at the cost of its collapsing republic. After decades of US-led globalisation, migrating production caused vast unemployment and declining wages in the US hinterland that helped bring Trump to power – who is now opposing the TPP, NAFTA, FTAA and other free trade accords in favour of 'America First'.
In the long term, the US global leadership has fattened the wallets of tax-evading corporations while impoverishing people in the US – and Singapore Sally must think us foolish to believe the same US is going to be nice to our people.
3. Sally doubts "China's ability to lead Asia as successfully as America with stability and growth" and says Sri Lanka should stick with its "civilisational friends in the US, UK and India".
What a "civilisational friend" is only Singapore Sally knows! Is he implying that China is not a (5,000-year-old!) civilisation and an older friend of ours than the West?
We must not buy into the zero-sum game pitting China against the US "leadership". Sally's view of Chinese foreign policy reveals not scholarship but classic 'Yellow Peril' racism. His desire to uphold a particular political-economic system leads to a distortion of Communist Party of China (CPC) decisions.
Sally assumes the CPC liberalised its consumer market to appease a growing middle class but kept land and finance nationalised in order to maintain authoritarian rule. Firstly, he neglects the role of the CPC's control over land and finance in shielding China from the 2008 recession. Secondly, he neglects how an open Chinese consumer market helped stabilise the post-recession global economy by providing the US and European producers with new markets to sell their products.
Like every country, China is driven by self-interest (we should be too)! At a minimum, Chinese foreign policy displays a desire for international stability and diplomacy. Sally fears that Sri Lanka will become a Chinese vassal state but Chinese credit – unlike the US, IMF and World Bank – comes without conditions. This means that economic decision-making is retained by sovereign states and their citizens.
Capitalism in Asia and what it means for the US
Far from an innovative liberal analysis for developing capitalism in Asia, Singapore Sally serves up an 'achcharu' of conventional US propaganda based on a world order that exists only in the fevered hallucinations of the Cold War-era conservatives.
In whose benefit are the economic policies being prescribed by Razeen Sally and his sponsors at Advocata, Echelon and the Institute of Policy Studies? The Sri Lankan worker crippled by inflation, debt and rising costs of living or the speculative multinational? Are these policies designed to enable Sri Lanka's economic rise or are they merely an attempt at stalling the decline of the US Empire?
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CES 2012 has kicked-off, and already the gadgets are streaming in. Today, Toshiba announced what they claim is the world's thinnest tablet – at 7.7mm thick. In contrast, the current tablet leader, the iPad 2, rounds in at 0.34″ thick (8,636mm). Now, we can argue all we want about these small numbers, but what does this really mean for the way forward regarding tablets?
I wrote recently that we can expect a new version of Gorilla Glass – the glass that's used on most smartphones and tablets – at this year's CES. This new glass is set to enable thinner device designs, and it could mean that the tablet wars of this year will be largely focused on the thickness of devices.
Now, while it may be thin, does this new gadget prove a lethal competitor to the iPad? I don't think so. Whilst form factor is an important aspect, it's the user experience that counts the most. And so far, Apple has the best of the lot.
Toshiba isn't the biggest company in the tablet sector, and the Excite X10 seems to be their firm foray into this hotly contested arena. The device is expected to use the Honeycomb variant of Android.
The Excite X10 is perhaps their best tablet offering to date, and if anything, it gives us a shadow of an opinion on what we could expect when Apple replies later this quarter with the expected iPad 3.
I'm a young writer from South Africa, chronicling the changing tides in the ever-flowing river of technology. Focusing mainly on Apple-related technologies, I enjoy sharing my opinion and giving a few tips and tricks here and there on the latest and greatest from 1 Infinite Loop. I'm an avid blogger, and an even more avid reader.


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At Westwind Medical Associates, Dr. Mina Haidarian provides a broad range of women's health services in El Paso, Texas. From menstrual problems to menopause, cancer screening to contraception, Dr. Haidarian will take the time to address all your questions and concerns and discuss the best treatment option based on your unique needs. Our comprehensive women's health services include:
For personalized women's health care in El Paso, Texas, call Dr. Mina Haidarian at (915) 845-4600 to make an appointment, or you can use our convenient online appointment request form.
Learn more about common conditions and treatments in our Patient Education library.
Protect Your Heart: Hold the Salt and Hold the Sugar


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Did you know that babies develop from the torso outward? That means they learn how to move their arms and legs before their hands and fingers.
So if you see your baby reaching, grabbing or pinching at things, this is good news! That means they are developing fine motor skills -- and one step closer to eating solid foods.
You can help your baby develop fine motor skills by watching out for and encouraging these signs:
Reaching: When your baby sees something he wants, he may reach for it. His eyes can focus on what he wants, but it takes a lot of control for his arms and hands to actually get it. Cheer your baby on!
Holding: When your baby grabs what he's reaching for, he'll likely drop it the first few (or twenty) times, but you can help your baby keep trying by placing things in his hand that he can practice holding on to.
Noticing Textures: As your baby gets better at holding objects, he will use his fingers to feel it, noticing any bumps, rough spots, smoothness, or other textures. Toys or blankets with textures will help encourage baby's curiosity about the things around him.
Hand-Eye Coordination: Why do babies put everything in their mouth? (Including that dirty piece of dog food from the floor?) They are practicing eye-hand coordination, using their eyes to focus, little finger muscles to grasp and arms to move things to their mouths. This skill will be helpful when they try to feed themselves.
Once your baby can sit up unassisted, Cheerios or any toasted O or puffs for babies are perfect for baby to practice all of these fine motor skill builders. All you have to do is put a handful on the highchair tray and let baby have at it! Watch baby reach, hold, explore textures and practice putting them in his mouth.
Do you give your baby Cheerios to practice fine motor skills?
Image via abbybatchelder/Flickr


text: Lord Hutton will summon all players in the Kelly affair. Opening his independent investigation in London, Lord Brian Hutton said he proposed "at some stage" to summon Blair, who is facing his gravest political crisis after the suicide of government scientist David Kelly. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, Blair's close aide and powerful media strategist Alastair Campbell, and BBC board of governors chairman Gavyn Davies will also be asked to appear before the probe. "At some stage in the course of the inquiry I propose to ask the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Geoff Hoon, to give evidence of their knowledge of the discussions which took place and the decisions which were taken in relation to Dr Kelly," Hutton said. Blair may be forced to cut short his holiday in Barbados The former chief justice in Northern Ireland made clear that the opposing sides in a row which has dominated British politics for weeks would not be allowed to use the inquiry to try to prove their cases. Opposition politicians have called for the inquiry to examine the way the government presented intelligence in the run-up to the US-led war launched on March 20 against Saddam Hussein. New revelations Hutton, one of Britain's most senior jurists, limited himself to saying: "I sit to investigate the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly's death." Kelly was an expert on chemical and biological warfare and a former UN arms inspector in Iraq, whose body was found July 18 in woods near his home west of London with a slit wrist. Hutton revealed that the scientist had heart disease and said, without giving details, that he was found with four electro-cardiogram electrode pads on his chest. "It is clearly important that I and the public should have a very much more detailed and fuller picture of the facts", the judge added. Dossier doubts Kelly had been identified as the source of a BBC report claiming that Blair's government had "sexed up" a September 2002 dossier on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The 50-page file notably included a claim that Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons in as little as 45 minutes. According to the BBC radio report, that assertion was inserted despite reservations among intelligence chiefs. Vigorous denials from Downing Street of the BBC story escalated into a heated row between the government and the public broadcaster. Kelly took his life after a parliamentary grilling With Kelly's funeral to be held next Wednesday, Hutton - who has already met the scientist's widow - said his inquiry would resume on August 11 at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London. One of the first witnesses, he said, would be Andrew Gilligan, defence correspondent of BBC radio's Today programme, who aired the controversial report on May 29, a week after he met Kelly. Blair, who ordered the Hutton probe last week, has said he will "cooperate fully" and indicated he would cut short his holiday in Barbados to appear if summoned. Minute's silence With the press asking questions about how Kelly was publicly identified and whether the government was partially to blame for his death, Blair strongly denied that he authorissed the leaking of the scientists' name as the source of the BBC report. Hutton said that he would investigate how the name of Kelly, said by his family to have been under unbearable pressure over the affair, came to be put in the public arena. Friday's inquiry opened with a minute's silence in memory of Kelly. Hutton, silver-haired, plum-voiced and dressed in dark suit and tie rather than the gowns which British judges usually wear in court proceedings, stood with his head bowed. SOURCE: Agencies


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What do you LOVE about the Swinging Lifestyle?
One of our competitions on Adult Match Maker asked members to tell us what they loved about the swinging lifestyle. We thought some of the responses were too good not to share.
Enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.
- The best part of the lifestyle is the honesty and trust we have developed with each other as partners, with no secrets between us, nothing is taboo or off limits as long as we discuss with each other first, this has led to us having some lifelong friends some wonderful pleasurable times and fulfilling our fantasies.
- Entering into this lifestyle a little later in life at the age of 40 has allowed me to grow so comfortable with my own sexuality and femininity!!
- The friendship and closeness of the swinging community, plus the strength it has formed within our 25 year relationship.
- Having my wife naked with two guys kissing and touching her gently and softly and watching her moan for him as she does for me.
- It has made me a more sexually aware and confident women, my relationship with my husband is more loving and sex crazed than it has been in our life of 30 years together, love it!!!!
- Reinventing myself is the best part of swinging. I experience new people whilst exploring different parts of my personality, and letting go.
- The sexual freedom mostly. The ability to explore with a partner, someone you trust is pretty erotic. It is a sexual adventure.
- Swinging to me is the most liberating thing a woman can do sexually, swingers don't judge you by your size age you are all equal
- The sexual tension and build up between ourselves prior to meeting up with couples.
- Like minded sensual sexual people have the confidence and articulation to take on the world and share their bodies. Sharing is bliss.
- We find our swinging lifestyle has kept us young and feeling vibrant. It enhances our marriage and we have a mind blowing sex life.
- Watching my wife. Enjoyed this pleasure at the Couples Club and with some AMM gentlemen. Very erotic watching her lose her inhibitions and exploring her sexual horizons.
- The intense natural high and how that makes all your senses come alive.
- In a weird way, we feel it brings us closer together. Such erotic passionate moments make us feel so close and sexy.
- The excitement of meeting new people who are out to enjoy life as much as us without being judged for doing so.
- For me personally most of the people in the lifestyle are non-judgmental, doesn't matter age, race, weight, height, sexual experiences. Very open minded lifestyle.
- Letting go and embracing who and what you are at a base level.
- We enjoy the sexual energy of being with another couple. We like to watch each other being pleasured by another
- Living out your wildest of fantasies with the one you love, and others...
- We love the fact that we can just be ourselves, and enjoy that openly with others who feel the same.
- The thrill of the unknown and the endless possibilities the lifestyle provides.
- The erotic experiences that a couple can share with another couple. It brings a new heightened level of sexuality to a relationship. Watching and being watched. The hidden voyeur within.
- We find that swinging is like a thrill an overpowering sense of eroticy and freedom of trust and lust for the sexual senses.
- Meeting new people - it is like having sex for the first time over and over - and we make some great new friends.
- In long-term loving, but perhaps sexually flagging relationships swinging stimulates enjoyment of each-others' sexuality in offering sensuality, sexcitement, anticpppppation and nonthreatening mutually erotic pleasure.
- Swinging feeds my desire for intimate contact with other women but gives me the warmth, security and friendship you can find only in a relationship.
- The fantastic heightened feelings you have for your partner for days after a night out.
- Enjoying the moment whatever that maybe, flirting, sensual, erotic playtime. Knowing we are both free to express and enjoy whatever we desire.
- It is erotic, a turn on and pleasurable when down with the right people. Anne & Tony
- The excitement of meeting new people, watching your partner getting pleasured by others, the chance to learn new and exciting ways of having sex.
- The swinging lifestyle is a way of keeping you young and feeling alive not matter your age.
- It's sharing my wife with another man, and watching her at her peak of climax, and seeing the sheer pleasure on her face.
- Swinging gives us the opportunity to meet lovely new people and then explore them without clothes on!
- I love to watch and hear my wife enjoying the company of others and expanding our great sex lives.
- The respect that others give each other and the sheer enjoyment all seem to obtain from those gatherings. Should be more of them.
- Strangely enough, the more sex I have with other men, the closer I feel to my husband. I can't explain why. It is what it is.
- The adrenalin that runs through our bodies in anticipation of what the night has in store for us and for all participants involved.
- I love seeing my partner be touched by another couple as nothing turns me on more
- After 20 years of marriage, getting back to the hotel after a party like Saints, we fuck like we were 18 again. So sexy
- Looking into your partners eyes while they are being pleased by others! Those lusty looks and cheeky smiles...mmmmmmm
- Being in the presence of like-minded, open gorgeous people, women especially. Watching another couple is very appealing.
- The intrigue - you never know who you will meet or what you will get up too ;)
- The swinging life style is exciting and adds a new dimension to sex and helps push the boundaries of mundane sex with the added excitement of new partners
- I love the secrecy to this lifestyle, no-one knows who or what you do by day or night or how you do it.
- Seeing my partner enjoying the pleasures of someone else and giving someone else pleasure - it's so hot.
- The social aspect where we can talk frankly with other couples without fear of judgement like we would from our 'vanilla' friends.
- We find the thought of watching and sharing each other with others or in front of others, highly arousing, as well as sexually freeing. In monogamous relationships there are not any options when meeting new horny people to play openly and honestly but swingers appreciate the open-mindedness and the positive attitudes towards sexual expression that is not available in vanilla relationships.
- The best part is that we get to express ourselves sexually together, to share our sexual appetite with others, with the need to be secretive.
- For me swinging is social, meeting great people that want to play with one another too. What better way to have some messy adult fun.
- Swinging is honest caring people open to sharing there all, seeing my wife totally involved & orgasmic is, enjoying new loving cpls, doing taboo things
- Meeting new people and sharing the spark of hot and sweaty sex with like minded people can only be a good thang!
- Enjoying the freedom of our sexuality with other like minded people, the chance to explore and enjoy different thrills and pleasures.
- Seeing people in their most vulnerable, most sexual, most open and engaging times in their life. This allows me to see raw human nature.
- I love that it's a secret none of our friends know about and that you can still be completely in love and happy but enjoy share your partner which in turn spices up everything tenfold.
- The look in her eyes as she's in a state of euphoria with anticipation of another man's huge cock bringing her to orgasm...again!
- As a woman it's most invigorating because girls get all the attention for me its as much empowering as its a turn on.
- The excitement and experiences that others bring to enhance the whole sexual journey, and the openness one experiences.
- We love seeing each other live out their fantasies and then be able to go home together to our normal loving live.
- Like minded sensual sexual people have the confidence and articulation to take on the world and share their bodies. Sharing is bliss.
- A woman allowing herself to be centre of attention and letting herself be pleasured without caring about being labelled a 'slut'. Accepting, enjoying & loving her body and letting others love it also.
- The opportunity to experience different (and multiple) sexual partners is highly erotic and appealing.
- That no experience is ever the same, each time it is different and more pleasurable than the last
- The tense anticipation beforehand. The intense gratification of shared lovers. The sense of satisfaction as you depart friends...
- I find the thrill of being spoilt by multiple people and in return spoiling them. The enjoyment of the unexpected.
- I love the certainty and comfort of a possessed man, married, partnered or boyfriended. A swinging lifestyle gives excitement, some giddy uncertainty but above all the choice to be dispossessed and free (until reality interferes anyway).
- It's the meeting & playing with new people, you don't have to stick with them but you can try them out!
- I love being able to see my partner with other people, it's like live porn and it lets me know how hot he looks when we are having fun.
- I enjoy my new erotic life, away from normal everyday life. It makes me feel like a real woman.
- To have the support and security knowing my man fully supports my Bi-sexual side so i can be a whole woman and not a pretender.
- Ability to be versatile in sexploration without having to suppress lustful desires or hide away from the partner.
- The fact that you can move within the swinging lifestyle circle without being judged ... Everyone is so open and friendly and very accepting. Loving my new lifestyle...
- The intense adrenalin of anticipation on meeting and the psychological acceptance and taboo of experiencing your loved ones interactions during play ;)
- Making new friends that don't judge you n take u on face value. We are all equal and beautiful in our own way!!
- Being able to enjoy the absolute truth of your sexuality with like minded people, it is the most enjoyable sexual experience I have had in my life.
- The main things I enjoy most about swinging is live sex is so much better than porn and having sex with different men, awesome fun.
- The thrill of being with several men at once....men you will never see again...sexual freedom and liberty in an anonymous situation.
- The pure trust and respect for a couple to continue to stimulate themselves sexually with a committed relationship.
- The suspense that leads up to walking in a room full of people knowing you can have anyone in that room.
- Watching my boyfriend enjoy and pleasure another woman in front of me because he's so damn good at it and I love watching her come!
- The thought of having sex, whilst others are having sex, is an incredible turn on. I love the idea of freedom as a swinger.
19 Comments
Freespiritb74More than a month ago
Just getting wet thinking about our first couples hook up, (still yet to happen).
Bring it on........mmmm
cuddlypairrbackMore than a month ago
My wife and I both love it. The key to all of it is trust and communication. We also both play as singles, but nothing is done without the other partner knowing. It makes me so horny and excited knowing she is with other guys but comes home to me.
Upinarms85More than a month ago
I think its amazing, I liked to watch her with other guys or listen on the phone n stuff like that. I love watching her enjoying another man, slow n passionate, sensual n lots of kissing, nof course hard n rough as well. All depends on the situation n guy/guys, I've being told to sit on the floor n b quite, I kiss her inbetween her giving head, she loves to have me clean her up afterwards. I have seen her go home with guys from pub n sometimes she calls so I can listen n sometimes she calls to pick her up after,
serg685More than a month ago
I did enjoy the swinging but I didn't know what my ex was capable to do with other guys,we didn't have many partners but she enjoyed making love and not just having a plain fuck,,I realized even though she didn't wanted to do it a lot of times whenever we had done it ,,,my God I couldn't believe my eyes.
Obviously that didn't help the marriage but my advise to the swinger couples,,be careful u can get burn can go either way.
davo1999More than a month ago
Wow That is pretty heavy ! Dave
johnandaimeeMore than a month ago
Swinging has turned a bad marriage worse. Regretfully one of the most stupid things I have ever done in my life. Have not only made my husband more distant but has destroyed our sex life. He can't even bring himself to touch me after finding out what I have done.
Was the sex worth it? Yes. Was destroying the family? No. We have lost 20 years of trust for what was a few hours with a few big dicks.
AMM.EditorMore than a month ago
Swinging won't fix a bad marriage, the partnership needs to be loving and with both partners trusting each other. It sounds like you had an open relationship but hadn't negotiated and agreed on boundaries which is essential in a swinging relationship.
Account ClosedMore than a month ago
That sounds like you weren't on the same page to begin with :(
How awful :(
I've often thought this is what happens :(
Leolady727More than a month ago
My ex & I got into "the lifestyle" in the 70's - it''s a great way to meet like-minded people and explore your sexuality. I was able to fulfill my fantasy of being with another woman (and have done so many times since. You DO need to have a strong relationship, with no jealousy or possessiveness.
chatmanado 1More than a month ago
Just another way to meet new friends, nothing to hide & better to have affair.
AtomicCoupleMore than a month ago
This is such a well written article.
This lifestyle appeals to sexually aware, trusting, connected couples. Inhibitions are challenged and we learn to surrender and share our fantasies. As a couple, sexual encounters enhances our intimacy, heightens and fuels our desire for each other. Sex is good. More is better.
questionalwaysMore than a month ago
just have to find the right people to share it with
newcouple109More than a month ago
very hot to read just wish my wife would try it couple time we met some couples to try but wife has changed her mind as the men was very pushy such a shame
AtomicCoupleMore than a month ago
It's a shame they have ruined it for her. You need to step it up. Don't allow men to make your wife feel uncomfortable. I'd they are being pushy... Walk away. If she knows you won't stand for this behaviour, she may be more willing to give it a go.
Leolady727More than a month ago
You really need to spend a bit more time talking to people before you meet - you can soon sort out who's going to be pushy.
Account ClosedMore than a month ago
Well you need to respect that. You shouldn't have allowed that to happen nor she she. Maybe it's just not her thing :)
funtwo13More than a month ago
Swinging should be a shared experience. Are you sure that your wife is really ok with the notion? Sounds like she is a bit more than the usual 'nervous' that comes with meeting a new potential sex partner. Maybe spend a bit longer researching & learning together - baby steps. In my experience (female), it is rare to find a pushy male & if we did, hubby would have me out of there - pronto! (LOL - unless I was in the mood for something a little 'pushy').