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A Leading Health Care Equipment’s Manufacturer from Spain having 5000+ Clients in India Since 2003, wanted to have one Software which will manage their customer issues seamlessly with 150+ service engineers across India Requirement: Customer Supply health care equipment’s and lab equipment’s to all the hospitals and labs all over India, importing from Spain. They are having 150+ service engineers and 5000+ clients, they wanted to automate the entire support process and manage their service engineer’slocation through mobile app to improve customer satisfaction and provide a world-class service to their clients by attending tickets on time. Solution Provided: RSoft Team went to their business directly and sat with them to understand how they run their business. We clearly recorded each and every step of their business and created a flow of process and confirmed the same with the client. Within 15 days we were able to incorporate the flow in the web view and made them use the software and took their suggestions. In another few days they completed the suggestions and started working on the mobile application based on the web software. In another 15 days mobile application was completed and started the implementation with their managers. In a week we took down all the improvement areas and suggestions and implemented to the PAN India staffs. Now they are able to manage their trouble tickets as per their SOP. Gap between the raising tickets and forwarding to the right department has been removed and automated. As it’s a healthcare it’s critical to address the issues on time, now customers are happy as they get clearly automated SMS and Email as soon they report any issue. From the company side they are able to see whether the customer or equipment is under warranty or expired in a matter of seconds, which helps them to assign the tickets to the right person immediately. Their customers also get the updates on their issue and when it will be fixed. They get to know who is the technician going to visit the customer and at what time. Now service engineers can request for spares from the clients place and know the status of the spares they have requested. Once the service is over they get feedback on the issue how it was handled which gives the management a good grip to maintain the customer satisfaction levels. If any critical complaints are recorded, it is escalated to the maximum level possible to address the issue. Now the company is able to see which client’s place their engineers are currently serving, how many clients they visited on daily basis, handle issues on the priority basis. “We were having concerns from our customers in terms of support, after which we decided to automate our entire support process. We had enquired online for software, but no one turned up for days. Only RSoft called us instantly after the enquiry and visited our office the next day. We took 10 days to compare the quote with other vendors, which we felt we wasted time. RSoft was comparatively having all features we need, priced reasonably and also provided good support since we enquired. Almost all vendors who did not even come to our office or understand our requirement quoted double than RSoft, so we whole heartedly decided to go with RSoft after taking confirmation from our Spain head office. RSoft knows what we wanted in the initial discussion itself, they noted down exactly everything we discussed. And in a month we are ready to go live which no one provides in the market, as almost everyone quoted 4-6 months for the same requirement. Now customer’s issues are addressed on time and engineers are providing transparent support as they know after every ticket there will be feedback on the same. All our senior management including the investors from Spain were happy with software and we want to automate other sister concerns also. Now we are showing this as our unique selling point comparatively with other providers. I recommend RSoft for all companies as they are 100% secured and understanding our requirements and coming up with a solution. Now we are future ready!!!” Mukesh Get a full view of your leads in the sales pipeline and make the right move at the right time. Add quick tasks in a click and drag and drop deals towards closing for a more organized lead management process.	4,430
Question: I struggle when it comes to relationships and have made poor choices in the past because I can’t stand being alone. I have been researching this and wonder if I have a dependent personality? Michelle’s Take: Always in a relationship or looking to be in one, an individual suffering from dependent personality disorder (DPD) is terrified of being alone. While actual behaviors vary, there are some common patterns associated with dependent personality disorder. Individuals exhibiting five or more of the following eight indicators potentially meet diagnostic criteria: 1) Has difficulty making decisions without advice and reassurance 2) Needs others to assume responsibility for major areas of their life 3) Has difficulty expressing disagreement because of fear of losing approval 4) Has difficulty initiating projects or doing things on their own 5) Goes to excessive lengths to gain support from others 7) Urgently seeks out a new relationship when an old relationship ends 8) Is preoccupied with fear of being left to take care of themselves As a case example, a client I will call Susie was in her third marriage when she came to counseling. Her new husband was making all the parenting decisions for her two teenage children from a previous marriage. Upset by this, she felt helpless to express her own parenting opinions for fear of ruining her new marriage. Work and friendships created additional challenges for Susie. She avoided applying for promotions for fear of working in a new department and had few friends due to what she referred to as “being clingy”. One night at the end of a session, Susie asked for advice over what she should cook for dinner and commented, “I know you must think I am so stupid. I can’t even come up with dinner on my own. Why is it so hard for me to make simple decisions?” Susie wasn’t stupid but she was dealing with dependent personality disorder. What causes dependent personality disorder? Researchers and clinicians do not conclusively know. What is interesting, however, is the variability found among children growing up in the same family. Not exclusive to DPD, it is common to find that siblings raised in the same household often are not similar. Many reasons including birth order, personality type, relationship with parent(s) and even self beliefs are likely factors that account for these differences. One theory specific to DPD is that both overprotective and authoritative parenting styles can contribute to the development of this disorder. The logic is something along the lines that overprotective parenting leaves a child feeling incapable of making decisions and caring for themselves. With authoritative parenting, a child is trained to respond to authority figures without developing independent thinking skills. In either case, developing dependent traits is understandable given the environment. How do you treat dependent personality disorder? Here are three steps to consider: Step 1: Accurately Assess. Schedule an appointment with a physician to rule out physical illness. Follow this up by locating a mental health specialist to visit and talk to about concerns. While temping to self diagnosis, a licensed professional has objectivity and training to help you arrive at a valid assessment. Step 2: Consider Therapy. Therapy is an excellent starting point for an individual and their family to begin understanding this disorder. A good therapist can help a client identify behaviors and thoughts that are feeding the disorder. Step 3: Make Small Changes. For Susie’s treatment, she was encouraged to practice verbally communicating when she had a differing opinion. She started this activity with people she felt safe around and then expanded her comfort zone. She began charting the number of times she asked for validation and reduced the frequency of this behavior. She protected alone time every week even though it initially created incredible discomfort. And I am happy to report, she even became better at making dinner decisions. If you think you suffer from dependent personality disorder, know that it is treatable. P.S. Your comment can positively add to this discussion. Please share how dependent personality disorder has effected your life and any tips you have learned.	4,338
By mile 16, I wrote an irrational list of things I hated which included cold air touching my face and the person who made me laugh leading me to pee lightly on myself. Any person who reads enough ramblings from me will notice that I love running no more than 4 times a week. On the fifth day, I want to murder everything moving. Despite it all, I find myself signing up for races at 2AM like I'm on QVC because that's how I avoid midnight snacks these days. I'm almost certain this is how I signed up for the New York Road Runners' Knickerbocker 60K. Somehow I managed to develop amnesia for the third time and thought running 37.2 miles two weeks after the New York City Marathon was a GREAT idea. If I could complete my first 100K last year six days before the NYC Marathon and do this race two weeks after, what could possibly go wrong this year? Every. Single. Thing. How to Gracefully DNF Races Most people sign up for races with a 90 percent certainty that they will finish; I'm not most people. If it feels like it's been a long time since I've wrote anything consistent here, that would be painfully accurate. There's not one particular reason that I can give you but I can throw out a few: My 2019 schedule was built for an endurance nutter like me; I underestimated how busy I'd be as a full time sponsored athlete; Shitty comments from random fuckers I don't know on the internet made me reevaluate posting regular updates on here -- or anywhere. Through one on one interactions with people in the running community and with loved ones reminded me about the reasons why I constructed this crazy website Running Fat Chef and it damn sure wasn't for internet fame. I truly love blurbing about the highs, lows, unstable moments and adventure that comes with fitness, particularly running. By having a honest heart to heart with myself, I buried myself under a blanket, wrote down a list with my insecurities, rolled it into a shape of a blunt and decided to say "fuck all of that shit-- I'm writing again." With that said, let's talk about my 2019 highs and lows before the year is out -- and let's start with my DNFs. My inbox is typically filled with questions about marathon training but I traded them off for 'WTF is an ultra marathon and who would want to do such a terrible thing' -- I do but maybe I'm nuts. How many of you found yourself sucked into the world of marathon training because someone said something like "if you can do XX, you can be a marathoner?" Yep -- that's definitely how I got sucked into this vortex called marathon training. I have to admit that I cannot blame anyone for engulfing into ultra marathons. While training for my first NYC Marathon in 2015 - second marathon to the Rock n Roll DC - I started going taper crazy and signed up for the New York Road Runners' 60K that took place two weeks later. In hindsight, I realized I must've lost my fucking mind and purged all of my happy pill after mile 29 inside of a port-a-potty somewhere around loop 6. You have no idea how much you hate life, happy spectators enabling your neurotic addiction to medals and how broth tastes like unicorn tears after experiencing sodium deficiency until you do one of these things. Long story short, I made it across that finish line that day. I came in at 9 hours, 47 minutes and 22 seconds and vowed to never touch one of these things again in life. Like all endurance runners, we're full of shit when we're not letting it off into the wilderness or some random café. Most people know about marathons but what the hell is an ultra marathon -- and why would I even want to do it? Runner's Remorse: WTF Did I Sign Up For? Wake up. Brush my teeth. Wash my face. Take a shower. Get dressed. Sign up for 10 races. Grab a coffee. Freak out. Ask myself WTF did I just do. Pour Devil's Springs Vodka into coffee. Rinse, wash, repeat. I've done my share of relatively dumb shit -- I'm not sure if I'd count my race calendar as one. To people who aren't ultra runners or enjoy the stark feeling of dancing with death by blisters may look at me rather strange. After fixing up this website to make it look like an adult who cares about their life actually blurbs here, I realized that I signed up for a shit load of races this year -- some that's not even on the website calendar as of yet. I'm looking at a minimum of ten marathons, a 50 miler, one TransRockies Run that total 120 miles with a 20K climb over the course of six days and yeah, I'm massaging the thought of signing up for a 100 miler. Perhaps I did fall short on a special sort of stupid but I love it. It doesn't stop me from asking myself what the fuck did I just sign up for each and every time. For my pretentious ass bio, check out the about me page but for anyone interested in who I really am, make me a good meal at your house and I'll tell you a dope ass story. If you want to donate to my one woman operation, please feel free to donate below. All funds will help me keep the blog running smoothly.	5,225
These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view Feed 19t These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees. Add to cart Quick view These silos are most often chosen for storing fodder for poultry, pigs and cattle. Such a silo is erected without a building permit, only a construction notification is required (up to 7m high). It is made of corrugated sheet, which stiffens the structure of the tank and ensures resistance to dents. As standard, this silo is equipped with a 100 mm pipe for loading through the feed wagon, which is connected to the silo through a universal hydrant terminal. We use cast iron elbows with a 4 mm wall, thanks to which there is no possibility of chafing the pipe. Hydrant couplings are attached to the pipes with a thread. Our silos can be used in the most extreme conditions, from - 30 to + 70 degrees.	9,700
An internationally acclaimed organizational strategist, Sherry Schiller helps corporate, public, and nonprofit leaders navigate change, build constructive cultures, and unleash their organization's potential. Wednesday, July 9 I recently volunteered at a summer camp for 100 kids ages 4-15 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The Tilghman Area Youth Association, "TAYA", hired a “circus yoga” troupe that is based in Vermont to come down and work with the volunteers and kids. I learned so much, had fun, and was exhausted—but wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything in the world. Here are some of the practices of successful circuses I learned that your organization can use, even if you don’t think of your workplace as a veritable circus: No, I don’t mean in the Darwinian sense. I observed that the circus folks gave every kid the chance to try out all of the activities in the first two days of the week-long camp, including acrobatics, pyramids, tightrope walking, juggling, plate spinning, etc. Then each child got the opportunity to select two “acts” to perfect during the last three days of the camp, which culminated with an evening performance for the community. It was fascinating to watch the kids during the first two days, as they tried out activities that called to them. Allowing your work team members to try out different roles and have a voice in determining which roles they will fill can have the same magical results that the kids experienced at circus camp. Once the kids had selected and been assigned to their acts, they suddenly adopted and embraced these roles as their identity because, having selected these roles, they were more deeply committed to succeeding. To a child, the acts they selected were some combination of their interests and natural talents. What was surprising is that those kids who selected something they were interested in, but for which they didn’t have a natural talent, stretched themselves beyond what one would expect is possible in one short week. One young lady, who struggled in the beginning, having her heart set on being a tumbler and acrobat, inspired adults and other kids as she continued to practice until she was amazingly good. Everyone could feel the pride she emanated. When was the last time the managers in your organization joined in on the work of those they manage? One of the circus rules was that everyone had to participate; nobody, including adults, could sit on the sidelines. This ground rule created the sense of all of us being one team. In spite of obvious age, size, and talent differences, we all tried, failed, and tried again as we learned skills out of our daily comfort zones. How would your work group be strengthened if it adopted the “everyone’s in” ground rule? I’m betting that the sense of being connected to one another would grow exponentially. I’ve heard the slogan, “Practice makes perfect,” but the circus yoga mantra, “Practice IS Perfect,” was a new one for me. It took me several days to really appreciate its subtle difference and power. Their belief is that the mere act of practicing something is itself perfection. Malcolm Gladwell has documented this very notion, and I’ve understood it intellectually for years. Not until I experienced and observed the ongoing act of practice for our circus performance did I understand that, at a certain point, repetition is an even greater contributor to success than raw talent. Someone who is driven to master something they are interested in by practicing it is more likely to excel than the person with raw talent who doesn’t use it. Let’s hear it for the tortoise winning his own race, regardless of what the hare is doing! Stylin’ The circus folks taught the kids to end every act with a pose, facing the audience with a big smile for a silent count of three. They called this, “Stylin’,” and said it is one of the most important aspects of a successful act. If you look as if you’re having fun, your audience will feel the same. This was perhaps the most difficult lesson for some of the kids whose life experiences have led them to look down with shoulders slumped. Creating their own personal pose of confidence was possibly the greatest take-away some of these kids may have learned at circus camp. It certainly made me think about how many workplaces beat the spirit out of their people instead of infusing them with joy-filled confidence, which is just as contagious in a positive way as deflating messages are in a negative one. My work with organizations has always been about purpose and harmony—which were the beautiful underpinnings of the circus camp experience. Everyone involved understood that our common goal was to pull off the most amazing circus performance possible by Friday night. The kids knew they’d have family members in the audience, and wanted their families to be proud of them. Sets were painted, scenery sewn, programs printed, and acts pulled together around an Eastern Shore-themed story, and the energy surge as the week progressed was palpable. Once the school gym was filled, the music began, and the curtain went up, everyone moved through his or her paces like a troupe that had performed together for years. It was clear that, just like adults, kids get a deep of satisfaction from knowing their shared goal and then understanding their personal role in achieving it. We all worked hard and had fun doing it. Isn’t that what every workplace should feel like? For more information about TAYA, please visit their website at www.tilghmantaya.com. Amazon users may donate 5% of their purchases to TAYA by going to www.smile.amazon.com. Posted by Sherry Schiller, Ph.D., at 12:34 PM Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Sherry Schiller, Ph.D., is an organizational coach and strategist. She develops strategic solutions for overcoming obstacles that prevent organizations from achieving sustained success, and can work with your organization to eliminate the gap between desired performance and current reality. Schiller Center website >> Connect with Sherry Want to contribute a comment to one of Sherry's posts? Just click the "comment" link below the posting.	6,399
Whether you're looking for weeknight meal inspo or plain old life inspiration, Samah Dada, the creator behind Dada Eats, is our go-to gal. In addition to being named one of Fortune's 25 Top Creators in 2021 for her incredible food photography and recipe creations, the California native has hosted two seasons of her TODAY Show segment, #Cooking, released a best-selling cookbook called Dada Eats: Love to Cook It, invests sustainably, and contributes to a number of food security organizations. Article continues below advertisement That's why we were completely honored to speak with Dada via email — she shared the inspiration behind some of her all-time favorite recipes, a number of useful sustainable kitchen hacks, and more in Green Matters' latest Green Routine. Source: Brendan Wixted Article continues below advertisement GREEN MATTERS: Tell us your story of going plant-based. SAMAH DADA: Growing up as the daughter of Indian immigrants, I never had to learn to love my vegetables. I always ate them beyond willingly, thanks to my mom whose chana masala, varying types of saag, and other Indian vegetarian dishes were always placed on our dinner table. When I started DADAEATS, I was always interested in paying attention to ingredients, opting for a minimal approach when developing recipes. I’d swap refined flour for almond, reveling in the fact that the only ingredient in the latter was, well, almonds. I looked to coconut sugar to sweeten my desserts, and dates to create caramels. I loved being able to create more with less by maintaining a strong focus on whole, real ingredients. Because of this accidentally plant-based way of cooking and eating, I fell into a space that I know will continue to expand as the years go on. My ethos has also allowed my recipes to be more inclusive for a wider audience, which has been one of the most important results and joys of my work. GM: When did you first start cooking? Who or what is your biggest cooking inspiration? SD: I’ve always found myself in the kitchen from a young age, even if that was mixing up some mac ‘n cheese with that (suspect) orange powdery substance (I know, perhaps it’s generous to call this “cooking”) of my youth. But mostly, and most prominently, it was my reverent observance of my mom who would cook Indian food nearly every single night for my family. Dinner together, at the table, was not something you could opt out of in my household, and we’d wait until everyone was seated at the table before scooping up fluffy basmati rice, spooning dal and vegetables, and tearing roti to pinch up vegetables with our fingers. I was always amazed by how seamlessly she would toss ingredients into the pot, relying on nothing but her eyes and andaz (which translates to something to the effect of “your own style,” in Hindi) to conjure up beyond delicious dishes in no time. The women in my family are my biggest cooking inspirations – whether it’s my mom and the impact she’s had on my recipes and life in general, my aunt (who I call Amiya) who was a restauranteur in Australia and who serves as our family’s home cook compass, and my grandmothers Nanu and Dadi who have imparted nostalgia into many of the dishes I create today. Article continues below advertisement GM: Do you have an all-time favorite recipe? If so, what is it? SD: You already know what I’m going to say… that would be like picking a favorite CHILD! But I’ll give you one of my most popular recipes, which is my Cookie Dough Caramel Bars! They are these insanely delicious no-bake bars with a chewy cookie dough base, a peanut butter caramel, and smooth chocolate on top. I made these on the TODAY Show earlier this year and they were a crowd favorite. A post shared by Samah Dada (@dadaeats) Article continues below advertisement GM: What inspired you to start documenting your plant-based eats? SD: In 2015 I took an internship in New York at CNN to work in broadcast journalism. While living in New York for the first time that summer, I was completely taken aback by the culinary scene of the city, quite literally eating everything I could in my time off work. I started DADAEATS that summer, as a way to document the food I was eating, purely to do something with the hundreds of photos of food that were clogging up the camera roll on my phone. Since that moment, I am so grateful and humbled that DADAEATS has grown into something I never knew was even possible. GM: What's something you would tell someone who is new to plant-based cooking? SD: I’m not one to preach that anyone should live a certain way or eat a certain way. But I do think that being open and curious to plant-based food instead of falling into the stigma that it’s just a plate of lettuce, or steamed broccoli, is so helpful. Not just to the advancements in the industry, but also to the work of those like myself who are trying to shed light on the diversity and depth of plant-based cooking and eating. Staying curious, trying a new plant-based recipe instead of the one you’ve had on repeat for months may spark something in you to experiment in your own kitchen. I also like to focus on adding things into my life rather than subtracting – so if you can add a plant-based recipe here and there, instead of dreading the thought of replacing or removing ones you know and love, all the better! My new TV show for Peacock and The TODAY Show, #HOWTOEATPLANTS, sheds light on the many advancements in the plant-based culinary world that may excite you to try something new. Article continues below advertisement A post shared by Samah Dada (@dadaeats) GM: Can you tell us about any sustainable practices you've implemented in the kitchen? SD: On one of the episodes of my show #HOWTOEATPLANTS, we shed light on no-waste and low-waste cooking and shopping, which has always been an extremely important part of my work in the kitchen. Sharing with my audience that you can make a pesto out of broccoli stems or roast an entire cauliflower (stalks and leaves included) to make a pasta Alfredo are pieces of culinary knowledge that reduce waste and empower people at home to use what they have and throw less away. I also like to make it a fun challenge to use up the forgotten zucchini in my fridge or eggplant that’s been staring at me for a little bit too long in a unique recipe before I go for another grocery shop. By using what I have first before opting to purchase more is not only just better for the planet, but also a more affordable way to eat and live. Encouraging and supporting the reduction of food waste especially in the kitchen is a crucial part of my mission and one I will continue to advance and champion. Article continues below advertisement GM: What is one easy way someone could live more sustainably? SD: Start small, and add one plant-based recipe into your week! Just ONE. It could be an easy blender pasta, a dal, or a creamy soup. The act of cooking with healthy and natural ingredients will empower you to open up a new world in your kitchen, and life. "Green Routine" is a series from Green Matters that invites notable people in the environmental space to share the efforts they make to live more sustainably. More from Green Matters HGTV's Jeremiah Brent on His New Grove Co. Line and “Green Routine” (Exclusive) Latest Green Routine News and Updates CONNECT with Green Matters Link to Facebook Link to Twitter Contact us by Email © Copyright 2022 Green Matters. Green Matters is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.	7,987
You have such a solid sound with comparisons to Trophy Eyes, Bring Me The Horizon and the likes. How does it feel to being compared to these legends? We are all big fans of both these bands, we draw a lot of inspiration from BMTH. To be compared to these heavy weights is unreal for us, we are very humbled. What do you think makes you stand out from other bands? We pour ourselves and our lives into our songs, everything that we have written is based on actual events.. We believe this makes it much easier for listeners to relate and connect with our music. Your next single ‘Crawling” is set for September 6th and what a cracker it is. Can you tell us about the writing process for this single? Is it a full band collaboration or do you have a main writer etc? Our singer/guitarist Paul Bakker is the engineer behind our songs, he will usually put together an idea whether it be the shell of a song musically, or with melodies. Then we revise as a band and add the final touches. Our good friend Mikey Hounslow also plays a vital role in producing music with us. How did the band get together? For a relatively fresh band, you certainly have a definitive sound and supported some absolute legends in the industry already. How did it all come about? Glass Tides formed back in late 2017. The 4 of us all went to high school together and have been best friends since we can remember, having played in different bands growing up, we finally decided to go back to basics and have some fun, Glass Tides was born. How did you come up with the name “Glass Tides” Completely random haha What can we expect to hear on your first full album set to be released on 17 January 2020? Oh boy, it’s a rollercoaster of emotions. The sound is very evolved from our previous releases, but still with the raw emotional vibe. We really dug deep lyrically, which was challenging, but very therapeutic to get out. We feel like we took a turn into a heavier direction, but there are also songs with a real mellow vibe as well. Where is your favourite venue to play and why? JIVE. It’s a quirky Adelaide venue. We held our very first show there and just love the vibe, the stage size is good and the sound is always really solid. The drinks are also cheap as fuck What has been a major highlight in the bands career thus far? Has to be playing an Adelaide festival “Hotter Than Hell”. We were lucky enough to play along side Spiderbait, Magic Dirt and Bodyjar. We also played beer pong with the legends in Bodyjar backstage! What does the future look like for Glass Tides? What’s next? Our dream is to get over to the States and start touring, as well as consistently releasing good music and connecting with our listeners. Glass Tides are a five-piece emo/rock group from Adelaide, Australia. Wasting no time establishing themselves nationwide, supporting artists such as Thrice, Circa Survive, Spiderbait, Body Jar, Young Lions more. The group’s unique mix of heavy/emo music accompanied by the passionate and raw vocals has ignited excitement around the world upon their establishment in late 2017. Along the way, the group has released two EPs, Thoughts (2017) and My Descend (2018), and will be dropping their first full-length in January 2020.Emo-pop is alive and well in 2019, and Adelaide five-piece Glass Tides are well on their way to heading its resurgence with their infectious and dark new track “Crawling”. A powerful song that reflects on dark times in your life, when all seems lost, the track crawls in and implants itself into your mind. This dynamic song is set to leave its every listener wanting more from the band, serving as the perfect taster ahead of the release of the band’s full-length album release set for release on the 17th of January 2020. Inspired by Bring Me The Horizon and The Used, “Crawling” explodes into its massive chorus, with catchy, pop-like melodies sung with angst and aggression. Please follow and like us: About Post Author Playing a variety of instruments (in an extraordinarily mediocre way), I discovered that my talent for photography and writing were better than my playing ability. Combining my two passions was a better creation than some of the songs I have written. Lover of music and anything I can bang my drumsticks to! Available for band tours, gigs and everything in between. See author's posts Recent Posts Gallery: Hanson, The Forum Theatre, 16 November 2022 Archives Select Month November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018	5,330
Finance and Buyouts Pricing In this episode we’re talking about User Journey Mapping. What is it, and how does it help us build better digital products? Vitaly talks to expert Stéphanie Walter to find out. Vitaly: Yay. It’s Friday. Does Friday usually mean pizza day for you? Stéphanie: Yeah, pizza or Indian food as well. Vitaly: Okay, that sounds wonderful. Well, Stephanie, it’s always such a pleasure to see you. I know that you spoke at the Smashing Cup Barcelona, I think a while back. It feels like it was, yeah, I don’t know, 150 years ago. So I always learned so much from you. So maybe it’s a good idea to start by just asking you to share a little bit of your story. So how did you even end up getting into this? I know that much of your time is spent around Enterprise UX, but eventually you had to go through a lot of different things and I know you did a lot of different things throughout your career to get there. So maybe share a little bit about your background and your story. Stéphanie: So I have a master degree in design and languages. It’s a little bit strange. It’s both. It’s a degree where you learn how to build website and how to translate them basically. And after that I decided to do an internship in Germany. So I was working for a company and I think I finished what I was supposed to do in three months instead of six. So they said, hey, do you want to do mobile apps? I was like, yeah, I’ve never done that, but sure. So I got interested and at the time there was not a lot of documentation on mobile and native design, but there was something on Apple guideline and it was called Human Computer Interaction, something like that. So it kind of drove me into HCI and UX design. So we had usability class at the university. We had kind of a few hours of how do you do usability tests, but that was basically it. Stéphanie: And then during my internship I discovered UX design. I thought like, oh, this is actually what I want to do. It’s quite interesting, understanding user needs and really building products and services that try to fit and match those needs. So I worked in Germany, then I went back to France to work for a web agency and I said, yeah, if I’m going to leave the agency, I’m going to leave France. So this is basically what I did. And I got hired at the University of Luxembourg as a researcher assistant in the Human Computer Interaction Department. So it was very interesting to work in an academic place. And after that I decided to go back to private sector, and I was lucky I worked with a company that had a lot of different contracts in a lot of different areas, and this is really when I started specializing in Enterprise UX because they were doing a lot of things that were either B2B or B2B to C, but it was always ugly complex dashboards and a lot. Vitaly: This sounds exciting stuff, isn’t it? Stéphanie: Yeah, I remember I had to help with the design of a form that was for Luxembourgish customs, and the form was so complicated in terms of levels that I printed it on a piece of paper and I just drew lines to understand the hierarchy and information architecture of that. And it’s a little bit complicated because it’s like you have to have a number and all the numbers stacks up. So if you have the tax number, every single digit means something. So it’s like apples that were harvest between October and November in specific countries in Europe that are designed to become cider, all of that, it’s a number. Vitaly: Well that does sound like a very exciting exercise in design. Stéphanie: Crazily complex. But I have eight levels, we have six levels in html, H1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. What do we do? Vitaly: But then look at that, you have established itself as an expert in helping other people harvest apples, but instead of decided to jump more into design and UX work. Stéphanie: So it was a lot of different really, really cool stuff around that. And I was like, yeah, you know what? I’m never going to be a fancy designer, like those designer who do amazing website for marketing campaigns or I don’t know, I know a lot of people who do really cool stuff around the museum and things like very immersive. I was like, yay. I like complex challenging, super heavy information architecture and solving problems for people who have to work with a tool on a daily basis. And I was like, okay, I think this is kind of the kind of challenge that I like and I want to keep on working on that. Vitaly: That’s interesting. So it’s always kind of fascinating story to me because I think that we have a lot of articles about designing a perfect button and picking the right icons and making responsive tables and navigation, things like that. But when I dive deep into this really, really complicated world of enterprise applications or multi-level like six, seven levels of navigation and I don’t know, 20, 25 multi form pages with PDFs integrated and all of that, I’m wondering, I mean I know that this is your life, most part of it. I’m wondering at this point, do you think that the world in which we’re living in, the enterprise world, is undiscovered? Are there a lot of books, articles, resources on that? How do you feel in that world? Stéphanie: Honestly, there’s not a lot of content that specifically talked to that. And I don’t know why. Maybe because NDAs and things like, that’s a lot of stuff that you can’t show in those areas. Also, let’s face it’s not fancy. No one wants to see an interface that is supposed to help you optimize track driving through the area or something super complicated. So it’s not self explanatory. So a lot of people, they don’t put those on the portfolios because today there’s still this idea that you need some wow stuff in the portfolio. So I think there’s a lot of people around here that actually work in enterprise UX with complex software like that, but there’s not a lot of content about it. But why is a mystery to me. Vitaly: Well, you are changing that. I think in many ways it’s just the fact that what really surprises me really is that we see a lot of case studies about portfolio designs, about immersive campaigns, like you mentioned, things related to branding, I don’t know, big redesigns that happen in big companies and so on. But not necessarily about those things, which are, I don’t know, insurance companies and truck configurators and whatnot. So that’s kind of always challenging for me. But I also want to ask you maybe on another side of that, when you think about enterprise UX, I think that many of us listening this later or in years from now, maybe still will be thinking about long meetings, long deadlines, complex workflows, a lot of legacy. Is that enterprise UX or how would you describe it? How would you define it? Stéphanie: It necessarily depends. You can arrive on a project where they have nothing and then there’s no legacy. You build from the ground, but you still have a lot of meeting because the business is complex. So you need time to understand the business. You also need help to, you can’t really go around those meetings because they are usually kind of useful to help you understand exactly what is going on. But then, yeah, it depends. Legacy is one problem. Another problem that I see and foresee in the future is depending on when we are those Gartner, Bloomberg and all of those big company, they either tell people that they need to internalize the team and then you need to do in-house developments. So you have a bunch of developer who will develop the enterprise, product often without designers. Stéphanie: And then a few years later, Gartner goes like, no, you know what, no. Package the new thing. So stop having an internal IT team, buy packages, and then everyone decides to buy package. And then there’s a new wave from, I don’t know, Gartner, Bloom, whatever, Harvard Business Review, those people that big company listen to. And they say, yeah, no, let’s go hybrid, let’s do something like a package. But then the package is the business web services, and then you can still do the UI, the front ends. So this cycling through, and it’s really, really funny because if you worked in such industry for a few years, you’ve seen the waves of Oh, let’s build everything internally. Oh, let’s build a package. But look, the business is so complicated. We bought a package and now we discover doesn’t fit our need. I think we need to rebuild something internally and then, but building things internally costs a lot of money. So let’s package. It’s kind of every few years it comes around. Vitaly: I think it’s also related to the fact that there is just a lot of layers and with every layer comes a bit of politics involved and everybody has their own interests and KPIs and goals. And I’m wondering how do you even operate in this kind of environment? I mean, you must have very strong governance, very strong guidelines, and very strong buy-in from the top. The reason why I bring this up is because your work has been known for being you focus very much on accessibility, inclusive design, user-centric design. But then at the same time, if you have all the different layers of politics and all these different layers of business decisions, which in some situations might be more important even than the user research part, how do you even navigate that space? Do you find this or is it maybe the case that now in 2023 or ’22 still when we’re recording this, that UX is kind of a part of what we do, that it’s understood by stakeholders? Stéphanie: I think it’s that bad. The way we do it is we navigate around the mess. Basically. We try to stay away. And I am lucky, I work with amazing people who actually shield the team from all the political stuff. So I have people working with us who try to deal with that so that we on the team can do our daily job. And also I think I’m lucky because my manager understands, I’m my manager. The person I’m referring to understands what is UX design and why it’s useful. So they will fight basically for me to have some time to talk to the users. But I’m super lucky in the place where I work, I think we are the only project that’s actually able to have a very user centered approach. And in a lot of area in enterprise UX not everyone is that lucky. Stéphanie: In a lot of places you have analysts will ask to the user what do they want, and then the users are expected to provide a solution and then the person will just write a technical ticket saying the user wants an export to Excel. Well, if you go there and you’re like, you talk to the user and yeah, but today you don’t have an export to Excel button, so what do you do? And the user shows you the table, they will copy paste the whole table, paste it in Excel, and then you’re like, okay, so it’s in Excel, what do you do now? And then the person goes into one of the column that is the status of something. So it’s either active or inactive, and she just removes all the inactive from the table and she’s like, so we have an analyst that is writing a story saying the user needs an export to Excel button, but the user doesn’t need an export to Excel button in this very specific situation. She needs to remove all the inactive stuff from the screen. Stéphanie: And yet the export to Excel is the solution she came up with because this is what she does today. But we could also maybe have filters in the browser directly on that table, modern tables and things. So the user need here is not to export to Excel, is to clean up some stuff on the screen and then you come here and you’re like, yeah, but actually no, we are not going to do the export. We will do the export to Excel for other reasons because it’s needed. But for this specific user need, it’s not an export to Excel that we will provide a solution is a filter on the table. Stéphanie: And unfortunately in a lot of places you have this kind of old school analysis where they will go to people, ask them what they want and then IT will implement it and hopefully find a place somewhere in the screen in a corner to put that button or that feature. So yeah, it’s really, really complicated. But I think at the same time, a lot of people like me are starting to have this kind of change and pushing things forward, but then you don’t make friends all the time, then the old school people are not super happy about you coming and saying, wait a minute, that’s a weird requirement. Can we talk about that and really try to understand what’s going on here? Vitaly: For me, it’s also just really this interesting part because I feel like in a way everything is a little bit of a fight. Sometimes it’s a bigger fight, sometimes it’s a smaller fight. But one thing is even those little things like discovery, I can imagine that it might take, I don’t know, literally months to just discover what are the user needs, how do we make it work? And then apply the good old UX process to it. Maybe you could describe your UX process in general for those kind of projects. Is it just regular way how we do UX or do you have to adjust, do something else? Maybe some methodologies work better than the others? What has your experience been so far? Stéphanie: So for me, it’s actually faster I think because here I work with my users are the people who work for the bank I work for. We don’t work in the same department, but for recruiting user for tests and things like that, it’s actually easier. I can have a list of the people who use the tool. So in this specific case for me, discovery really, it actually goes a little bit faster because we lose less time in the recruitment. Also, when you go to the people and you say, we are going to talk about the tool that you use in order to improve it. Most of the time people are super happy to talk to you, even if they have a lot of things to do, they’re happy to be invested, that you take time to talk to them to get invested in the project. And it’s a tool they use on a daily basis. Stéphanie: So I think in my specific case, but here you have to understand the context is I work in the IT department internally, and we provide tools for the users. So I’m not working for a SaaS company that provides B2B employee tools that they resell. So here it’s very specific context and for me it’s actually easier in this case. But for the process, what we have is, so we are redesigning a tool. So we have some basic data, which is server logs that say, okay, how many people visited this page? But then that’s kind of the baseline to say if we migrate some pages, we should migrate first the one that were visited the most. And we have kind of two streams, we have the pages visited the most, and also we have things around user tasks. Stéphanie: So the user, they need to do some things in the whole process of loan at the bank. So to give you some context, the bank is lending money is just that it’s a European investment bank. So they’re lending money to other countries, to other banks. So it’s not a loan for your car, but it’s kind of has the same principle. You need to build a project, you need to explain what you are going to do with the money, how it’s going to be used and stuff like that. So there’s a lot of different steps and there’s a lot of tasks and activities around that. So a lot of the things we do is we start with the user tasks. So sometimes people ask me about personnel and I’m like, yeah, if I do personnel, if I have 300 of those, and for me, it doesn’t matter if the person is an assistant, a lawyer, an engineer, or we don’t discriminate based on personnel, we discriminate and we do the user research on specific tasks and then we’d check what type of user needs to do this task at which step of the process. Stéphanie: And in the discovery phase, we will involve the different users from different department who will have to perform this task. We do a lot of interviews. So usually we have kind of interview script where, so I prepare my research plan with the objective of the research, then I write my questions to kind of understand what people are doing. Often it’s kind of open interview where you will ask a few question and then you will connect topics that will go around. Sometimes we go way beyond the research that we’re currently doing, but you’re like, yeah, we’re going to write this down because eventually we will tackle the other topic that the person is currently talking about. So I’m just going to write it down and then take a note that whenever we tackle that specific topic, oh, that’s a user, I can also talk to you to about that. Stéphanie: So we do a lot of interviews. We do some kind of light shadowing where we ask people to show us to share their screen where we’re working on a specific feature or page. We would be like, okay, then show us where do you go? How does it works? We do a lot of, it’s not really observational. Yeah, it’s kind of observational studies, but with screen sharing. So we are not observing them work as in they do the daily basis, we’re behind them, but we ask them to show how do they perform a task or an activity so that we can get a better understanding of that. And I’m also working a lot with business analysts to understand the business processes because this is super complicated and I can’t know it all by heart to start with. So yeah, mostly discovery interviews. Then we will do some prototype, what needs a big feature and some usability testing on those prototypes. Stéphanie: What we do is if it’s not such a big feature, we would sometimes just do a design, implement it, and then ask feedback on the implemented version. If it’s something we are pretty confident about and we know we may not have too many user issues or too many question about that, then we will implement it and ask questions or do some light testing once it’s implemented. Stéphanie: Add then what we did is we onboarding new users and we gave them the user diary, which is an Excel sheet because I work for a bank. So the idea was they use the new interface for a month to see if anything is missing, if there’s some things they don’t understand. And for a month they have this diary where they can log every time there’s something that prevents them from doing their job, whether it’s a bag, a content missing, a feature or something, they put it in the diary log and then we check those diary. We usually come back to them with specific question about certain area. And then we keep on improving the product. So we are not just doing kind of discovery before launching a feature. We also do a lot of back and forth once something is launched and then, yeah [inaudible 00:21:05]. Vitaly: That sounds fantastic. Stéphanie: Yeah, we support people. So we don’t do the training unless someone asks us to. But every department basically has some support people who are helping the user with different tools, including our tools. So what I usually do is I attend those smaller training sessions because it’s quite interesting also to see how people react the first time they see the interface, what are their questions, stuff like that. So we collaborate a lot. It takes a tremendous amount of time because then it’s one hour meetings where you just sit and listen and watch what the people are doing. So in terms of time, it takes a lot of time, but it also helps gather interesting data. Vitaly: Do you also use of a speak aloud protocol when people are going through tasks or you just observe mostly how people deal with, I don’t know, with an interface kind of competing the tasks? Stéphanie: No, we ask them to speak aloud, so we explain what speak aloud means. Because if you’re not UX, you might not mean. Vitaly: Yes. Stéphanie: So we try to make people feel comfortable. So some people are amazing at that. They will just tell you what everything that is going on in their brain where they click, what’s weird, and some people even after you told them, please feel free to explain to us what you see on the screen, what’s happening in your mind, why do you want to click somewhere? All of that. They will still just click and say nothing. So we trying to nudge them like, oh yeah, then when they stopped you just say something like, “Oh, you stopped. What is happening? Can you explain us why?” So we try to nudge them without kind of helping them, but yeah, it’s not academic research. Vitaly: Yeah, yeah, I understand. But do you feel, Stephanie, at this point, after all these interviews, that you can actually read people’s minds when they start clicking around or tap on buttons and so on? Can you just predict what people are doing or do you feel like it’s always almost a miracle? Surprises are always in there. Stéphanie: Depends on the people. Some stuff you can kind of predict, especially when we test some of the older things that were developed years ago, we kind of anticipate the issues, but no, sometimes on the new things, we have interesting results and you’re like, yeah, actually that makes sense. We should have thought about this. That’s a really good idea. We will do that. We had a column with the name of the person, and we have a place where you have the team member for a specific project. And in the team place, what I did, I put mail to on everyone’s name. So you click on it auto fills an email with the name of the project nicely, the introduction. And people are super happy about that because then they don’t need to copy paste the email of the person anymore. They do all of that. Stéphanie: And then I have another page where I have the name of the person, I didn’t even think about putting the link there, and the user was like, “Yeah, but we have the link on the teams here. We have also name. Why is it not there?” Ah, actually, yeah. Vitaly: That makes sense. Stéphanie: That makes a lot sense. So it’s easy to develop. So yeah, quick win. Definitely. Yeah. Vitaly: Yeah. Excellent. Well, one thing that surprised me is that you wrote this entire book about customer journey maps and you published customer journey maps, but you did not mention customer journey map as a part of your workflow. Does it not quite fit, or is it just something that you do for other projects? Stéphanie: Because customer journey map for me is that research method is a tool that you build based on the research. So basically some of the interviews, we worked on a project that was people have to validate tasks, and we actually build a customer journey map for that. But basically we did some interviews and the customer journey map was kind of an artifact kind of result of the user interview. So no, I use customer journey maps a lot, but it’s as if I’m say I and I didn’t learn to mention that I do word frames. To me it’s the kind of same thing. Stéphanie: It’s not building a customer journey map to build a customer journey map. You are basically doing some research and sometimes you present it as a customer journey map, sometimes as a report, sometimes as an empathy map. But yeah, definitely we have this amazing customer journey where one of the trigger is human notification. And it always makes me laugh so much, which is they have a lot of email and all of the stuff for notification, but kind of the biggest notifications at some point, an assistant picking up the phone and saying, “Hey look, you need to validate this before six tonight. Could you please do it?” So we have this whole journey with human notification in the middle, which is quite funny. Vitaly: Well, that’s the enterprise world for you, I guess in some way or the other. I’m also wondering now I can only imagine that it takes quite a bit of time to even work in this space, but then you always find time to, I don’t know, read a lot apparently, because every time I jump into LinkedIn or on a blog, it’s just an incredible wealth of resources all around things from CSS to UX to freebies, goodies, whatever, everything. So how does that work? Where do you find all of the stuff? Do you just spend time, I don’t know, during your pizza experiences by reading articles all around design front and then UX. Stéphanie: Okay, so the big secret is most of the articles, I don’t read them, I listen to them. Stéphanie: No. I listen to them. Vitaly: Oh, so you listen to them. Vitaly: Please share details. Stéphanie: Which means in Firefox you have, I think it’s called Reading Mode, but you can ask Firefox to read the article to you. So usually a lot of the super long in-depth articles, I don’t have the patience to read them on a screen, so I will just put the headset on my ears and then I will listen to the article while cooking, cleaning the dishes, doing [inaudible 00:27:34] for the moving of my flats and stuff like that. So yeah, that’s the secret. It’s like I’m multitasking and often I’m listening to the articles while doing manual labor that doesn’t need my brain. Vitaly: Right. But I assume that compiling the list of links and writing on LinkedIn is done manually. Stéphanie: Yeah, yeah. I have actually where it is basically, I can schedule things on LinkedIn and Twitter at the same time, so it makes it a little bit easier. It just allows me to post, so I enter it once. Sometimes I need to check for the handles because the tool is able to get the Twitter handles, but not the LinkedIn handles. So if I post something on LinkedIn, I need to tag someone, I need to go back to the post and edit it, which is a little bit annoying. And also sometimes I will not read anything for a whole day and just read, I don’t know, 10 articles during the weekend. And I don’t want to annoy people with an article during the weekend, so will just schedule the post so that it’s not kind of overwhelming and posting everything at the same time. So yeah, organization and having an AI. Vitaly: So I think that- Vitaly: I think that enterprise world taught you how to be very well organized, but I’m sure that you’ve been organized even before that as well. I can almost hear some people in the back asking, “But I’m interested in getting into enterprise UX.” So maybe kind of jumping back on quickly to the topic, I’m wondering are there particular roles, skills that you think are absolutely important to be able to comfortably navigate that enterprise UX space? Or is it just the regular UX work, just more challenging? Stéphanie: I think definitely information architecture and the ability to make sense of a lot of data and kind of organizational skills as on information in UI level, because you will get a lot of information thrown at you in enterprise. The business is so complicated that you need to make sense of all the mess. And there’s an amazing book that I think it’s called Making of Sense of the Mess, Abby Covert. She wrote a book on information architecture and she wrote a second book on diagrams, which I really like as well. And so yeah, I would say if you want to work in enterprise UX, it’s definitely being able to not be scared of the complexity because you will get a lot of complexity to deal with on a daily basis. And then, yeah, information architecture is one of the biggest skills at some point to make sure that you arrange the content in a way that makes sense to the user. Stéphanie: You cannot comprehend all the complexity of the business behind that. Yes, but it’s a bit tricky. Also, I think you need to understand that you might need to let go of all the UI principle that are taught in mainstream articles, like make the font bigger and put some more white space. And no. I have places who wants a small font, they want as much data as possible on the screen, they don’t want to scroll. So if you could condense everything on one single screen. So all these fancy article that say, yeah, big font size are trendy there, it’s like, yeah, sure on blogs and marketing websites, but in my world, nah. Vitaly: Yeah. So I can only agree with you on that because I think in many ways what my job has been is really trying to keep as I’m really literally also show as much information as possible in given place. And then of course you have a table with filters, with sorting, with multi sorting, with all those things, and they all have to be visible and then you need to add some batch actions on top of that and export features and whatnot. And then it has to kind of in some way or the other, work on mobile as well. Stéphanie: So this is a very different world for sure. So I think it would definitely be a good idea to see, just to be able to explore or see more case studies and work done in that world as well. But I heard that enterprise UX actually is just one part of your story because you are also interested in other things like for example, illustrations and graphic design. And on your beautiful blog, you also of course have your beautiful illustrations, and every now and again one can see your illustrations, but do you even have time for it now that you are so, I don’t know, so deep dive into this messy world of tables, filters, forms, and all of that. Do you have time for your beautiful graphic design illustration work? Stéphanie: Yeah, usually in the evenings or weekends when I have a topic that I’m interested in too. This is also why I could not be a professional illustrator because I don’t know, how do you illustrate something someone else asks you to do? So all the illustration I’m doing is just like, yeah, I have this really fun idea and I’m going to draw it, and that’s basically it. So I would not be able to have someone tell me, oh, could you do an illustration on that on that, so I admire illustrator who are able to do that work for other people and stuff. For me it’s kind of just a hobby and just having fun illustrating kind of funny things. Stéphanie: And also I blame Instagram, they have this Domestica advertisements. So Domestica is a website where you can learn a lot of art, craft and stuff. Really like this illustration, I think the pottery, how to build furniture out of wood. I’ve done some courses on that. So it’s really all the creativity stuff and sometimes they’re pushing me advertisement on my Instagram’s like, “Hey, do you want to do a new class on [inaudible 00:33:37] illustration? I was like, “Damn it.” Vitaly: Right? Vitaly: But it’s unlikely that you’re going to give up your wonderful world of enterprise UX for that. Will you? Stéphanie: No, no. Yeah, I prefer, I think it’s kind of tough to be in enterprise UX because there’s a lot of politics and so it’s very, very demanding. But artist world, illustration world, then this sounds even worse with everyone thinking they can just do whatever they want. Copyright issue, content theft AI as you know who are fed by styles of a specific artist and you can create- Vitaly: Well who knows Stephanie, maybe at some point we just waiting for a startup to be building an enterprise AI constructor bot something using mid journey and whatnot. Stéphanie: I don’t see that. But that’s the same as a package. And everywhere where they bought a package, I saw it fail. Either it didn’t work or you end up with some users super frustrated. In one company they bought a package and they could not have it involved anymore because the company went bankrupt and they basically repurposed some of the labels. So it’s like, okay, this label is something, but it does something completely else. And everyone knows that if you want to do that, you need to click on this label that has nothing to do. But they can’t change the label. Vitaly: Oh well I think it sad. Vitaly: A little bit skeptical. I can tell from your voice and from the way you answer that question, well, but I’m wondering if your students challenge you because of course you also teach for University in Strasbourg and also online and you also provide mentorship. And not only do I wonder just how do you find time for it all, but I understand that one, I mean for me it’s kind of the same story. I always kind of make time for it. It’s not about finding time, it’s kind of making time for it. But I do want to ask at this point, what is for you, the most rewarding part about this? I can tell that of course, you’re very passionate about disability and design interface design and the world of enterprise UX one can tell of course as well, I think it might be a little bit difficult to convey to students all the difficult part about enterprise UX and how to apply UX work in enterprise UX setting. Or are you teaching something that’s maybe a little bit more just general UXy? And again, just the experience. What would be the most rewarding part for you of taking time to do this? Stéphanie: So I am teaching mobile usability and UX design applied to mobile and responsive design. So it’s not specifically enterprise UX, but the cool thing is I’m teaching a framework which helps people build products and services with reusable components. And I think that’s the interesting part because then the students are super happy that I’m providing a framework to help them deal with the complexity. And sometime they will be like, yeah, I’m not sure where the teacher is going with this framework. But then after they started working, they’re like, oh, I remembered your course. And then I used that framework and it totally helped me kind of make sense of the mess and stuff. So I have a very small part of my course that is dedicated to information architecture and how to build reusable components for responsive web design. So components that can adapt to different screen sizes or that you can reuse in a big area in a smaller area. Stéphanie: So I’m not going in all the media query and container query detail, that would be the technical part. But basically I’m preparing designers to be ready for that. And I had a lot of feedback that was like, “Oh, I went back to work on Monday and I reuse what you taught us.” And I think this is what drives me, the best feedback you can give someone who is teaching a workshop is on Monday morning, I was able to apply something I learned from you last week, which is amazing because then you really made a difference in that person’s work. So I think it’s the same for students. I’m like, I’m pretty sure that they are not super convinced that everything I’m teaching them today is going to be useful, but at some point later in their career, they will remember, oh yeah, we didn’t know how to decide if we needed to build a mobile or native app. Stéphanie: But then we remembered was Stephanie said about starting with the user need and checking what makes sense based on the user needs, so user need first, and then decide on the technology instead of deciding technology and try to feed the user need into that technology, which makes very little sense. So it’s often about, but it’s the same for some of my classes. While you are in the class, you’re like, yeah, okay, it’s interesting, but I’m not sure if I’m ever going to reuse that. And then a few years later, you’re working. I like, huh, yeah, actually that was very useful. Vitaly: That is indeed I’m sure, a very rewarding experience. I think it’s always just getting some sort of a feedback from people who, I don’t know, read something that you posted or found something useful. And all this is in many ways kind of the fuel of motivation to keep going and explore and keep exploring and keep growing. But also, actually one thing that I ask myself a lot based on that, every time it comes to a point where I realize, okay, well these are some bits of knowledge that I’ve gathered and I presented maybe, and then somebody learned from that, I always try to look back and see when did I learn that actually? Or how did I learn that? And how did it evolve over time maybe. So the question that I’m thinking of at this point is when you look back at your career, what do you wish you would’ve told yourself 10, 15 years ago? Or what do you wish you, I don’t know, how would you wish you would have structured your career? Or do you feel comfortable where you are? Do you feel like you would’ve done something a little bit differently, looking back? Stéphanie: I would’ve loved to have more psychology. I have this whole thing on, we created some [inaudible 00:40:25] on cognitive biases of years ago with a trend and it’s kind of blown up. I have people in different institutions and in some company using it to help their colleagues understand cognitive biases. And definitely I think I would’ve liked to have a little bit more background in psychology, cognitive psychology, behavioral psychology, also as a UX designer. But at the same time, I think when I was a student, this kind of UX career path didn’t really exist per se. So in France you had something called ergonomic, which is an issue with ergonomics. That’s my problem. Ergonomics. Ergonomics is chair and posture and how do you make sure physical, but ergonomy in French is both, it’s either the chair, but it can also be the usability part. Stéphanie: So it’s a tricky word to translate. So there’s some master degree that in psychology that you prepare you to become an ergonomist in the English version of the world, which is you go to the people, you observe how they work and then you try to help them with postures or moving around things, but also adapting their workspace and adapting the processes and stuff like that. And it’s kind of linked to mastering, is it mastering? No, it’s a license. So it’s a bachelor in psychology in France, but this is not your design again, it’s something else. So I wish I had kind of more of a background in that. So now I’m trying to compensate with some online learning, some books and a lot of that. But yeah, definitely I would say if you want to become a UX designer and really if you are interested into that, having a little bit of background in how does the human brain work when it comes to memory, how do we learn, how do we perceive information, all of that can be very, very helpful. Vitaly: I remember the last one that would be, that’s always something I ask because who knows who is going to listen to this podcast at some point, well, this year or in a few years. Is there a particular dream project that you ever wished or always wished you would be working on? I mean, you are working on some pretty complex environments and projects already, but if you had to pick your battle, what would be one of the really interesting products, companies, challenges, dream projects that you ever wished you could work on? Stéphanie: I don’t know honestly, but I think something around maybe service design or more having stuff built in to not only the UI but also the whole service around it. So maybe connected houses or kind of helping in different area, maybe working on some tools in factory for instance. I would love to do that, go there, observe how do people work, and then optimize the tool to help them in their daily job. So kind of a mix between a little bit of interface, but also a lot of work around service design, process design, things like that. I think this would be cool. I’ve seen some that Airbus, a plane company was looking for an intern and was like, oh gosh, I would’ve loved to be a York’s intern for Airbus when I started. Because I think it’s working on the cockpits and the UI interface of a plane. That must be something quite challenging and quite fun. Vitaly: You do a good challenge, one can tell. Wait and see, wait and see Stephanie, wait and see, who knows. Well, so we’ve been learning today what enterprise UX is, but maybe as a final word from you Stephanie, what have you been learning recently? You’ve been publishing, linking to all the articles and mentioning all the tools. What were some of the really interesting things that you learned recently? Stéphanie: I think I shared it last week. Gary Reid had a super interesting take on [inaudible 00:44:44] 3.0 and the need or not need of interfaces. A lot of interesting thought on how Web3 is not accessible and not open at all, even if people are trying to tell you that it’s open and easy. So yeah, I really like that her take mixing what’s coming in the new work and kind of accessibility in the future and how we will include human being in different experiences. That is something that I really like that talk that she gave because it’s really cool to try to imagine and foresee the future in a not bullshit way, because it’s the end of the year. We will get the trends for next year and it’ll be all bullshit. But her talk is actually, it sound did grounded on reality. So that was really, really cool. Vitaly: Yeah, that’s interesting. I’m very excited actually about this plethora of articles around all the cool and important and less important digital trends in 2023. Always look at them and then think, huh, let’s see how well we or better we have become in predicting the future. It didn’t look very good over the last decade or so at all. Well if you, dear listener, would like to hear more from Stephanie, you can find her on Twitter where she’s @WalterStephanie and on LinkedIn where she’s Stephanie Walter Pro and on her website StephanieWalter.design, Stephanie will also be running a workshop on designing better products for Smashing Workshops. So please drop in if you have time. I totally forgot to ask about that, Stephanie, but is it true that you are running that workshop? Stéphanie: Yay. I hope so. It should be a lot of fun. It should be about dealing with complexity of product, giving people, again, a framework to help them. And I hope they will be happy and find something that will help them deal with complexity on the work on the Monday morning also- Vitaly: Oh, you do like complexity? Vitaly: Excellent, excellent. So that sounds very, very good. So please do join us on November 28th and December 12th where we’re going to dive in into designing by the products with Stephanie. I’m very excited about that. Well, thanks for joining us today, Stephanie. Do you have any parting words or wisdom that you would like to send into the universe by people who actually manage to listen to the very last sentence of this podcast? Vitaly: We all are. Stéphanie: Stay safe maybe. And yeah, I think stay safe is still something we need to make sure, even if the pandemic seems to be a little bit over. Yeah, stay safe. Related posts: Finahost Online Solutions takes pride in creating and growing amazing startups that solve customer problems.	43,390
94.705. Tax, how imposed — ballot form — rate of tax — boundary changes, procedure — retirement of bonds necessary to terminate tax, when. — 1. Any city may by a majority vote of its governing body impose a sales tax for transportation purposes enumerated in sections 94.700 to 94.755, and issue bonds for transportation purposes which shall be retired by the revenues received from the sales tax authorized by this section. The tax authorized by this section shall be in addition to any and all other sales taxes allowed by law. No ordinance imposing a sales tax pursuant to the provisions of this section shall become effective unless the council or other governing body submits to the voters of the city, at a city or state general, primary, or special election, a proposal to authorize the council or other governing body of the city to impose such a sales tax and, if such tax is to be used to retire bonds authorized pursuant to this section, to authorize such bonds and their retirement by such tax; except that no vote shall be required in any city that imposed and collected such tax under sections 94.600 to 94.655, before January 5, 1984. The ballot of the submission shall contain, but is not limited to, the following language: (1) If the proposal submitted involves only authorization to impose the tax authorized by this section, the following language: Shall the city of ______ (city's name) impose a sales tax of ______ (insert amount) for transportation purposes? If you are in favor of the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "YES". If you are opposed to the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "NO"; (2) If the proposal submitted involves authorization to issue bonds and repay such bonds with revenues from the tax authorized by this section, the following language: Shall the city of ______ (city's name) issue bonds in the amount of ______ (insert amount) for transportation purposes and impose a sales tax of ______ (insert amount) to repay such bonds? If you are in favor of the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "YES". If you are opposed to the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "NO". If a majority of the votes cast on the proposal, provided in subdivision (1) of this subsection, by the qualified voters voting thereon are in favor of the proposal, then the ordinance and any amendments thereto shall be in effect. If the four-sevenths majority of the votes, as required by the Missouri Constitution, Article VI, Section 26, cast on the proposal, provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection to issue bonds and impose a sales tax to retire such bonds, by the qualified voters voting thereon are in favor of the proposal, then the ordinance and any amendments thereto shall be in effect. If a majority of the votes cast on the proposal, as provided in subdivision (1) of this subsection, by the qualified voters voting thereon* are opposed to the proposal, then the council or other governing body of the city shall have no power to impose the tax authorized in subdivision (1) of this subsection unless and until the council or other governing body of the city submits another proposal to authorize the council or other governing body of the city to impose the tax and such proposal is approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon. If more than three-sevenths of the votes cast by the qualified voters voting thereon* are opposed to the proposal, as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection to issue bonds and impose a sales tax to retire such bonds, then the council or other governing body of the city shall have no power to issue any bonds or to impose the tax authorized in subdivision (2) of this subsection unless and until the council or other governing body of the city submits another proposal to authorize the council or other governing body of the city to issue such bonds or impose the tax to retire such bonds and such proposal is approved by four-sevenths of the qualified voters voting thereon. 2. No incorporated municipality located wholly or partially within any first class county operating under a charter form of government and having a population of over nine hundred thousand inhabitants shall impose such a sales tax for that part of the city, town or village that is located within such first class county, in the event such a first class county imposes a sales tax under the provisions of sections 94.600 to 94.655. 3. The sales tax may be imposed at a rate not to exceed one-half of one percent on the receipts from the sale at retail of all tangible personal property or taxable services at retail within any city adopting such tax, if such property and services are subject to taxation by the state of Missouri under the provisions of sections 144.010 to 144.525. 4. If the boundaries of a city in which such sales tax has been imposed shall thereafter be changed or altered, the city clerk shall forward to the director of revenue by United States registered mail or certified mail a certified copy of the ordinance adding or detaching territory from the city. The ordinance shall reflect the effective date thereof, and shall be accompanied by a map of the city clearly showing the territory added thereto or detached therefrom. Upon receipt of the ordinance and map, the tax imposed by sections 94.700 to 94.755 shall be effective in the added territory or abolished in the detached territory on the effective date of the change of the city boundary. 5. No tax imposed pursuant to this section for the purpose of retiring bonds issued pursuant to this section may be terminated until all of such bonds have been retired. *Word "thereon" does not appear in original rolls. Click here for the Reorganization Act of 1974 - or - Concurrent Resolutions Having Force & Effect of Law In accordance with Section 3.090, the language of statutory sections enacted during a legislative session are updated and available on this website on the effective date of such enacted statutory section.	6,218
How many ounces is a bourbon glass? The standard pour for a whiskey neat or scotch on the rocks is 2 ounces or 59 milliliters. You can use a tall shot glass because it carries exactly 2 ounces, or you can practice free pour by counting to 4 seconds as you pour on your whiskey glass. How many Oz is a glass of bourbon? 1 Classic Glasses are 10 oz capacity. They make a great choice for sipping whiskey on the rocks or your favorite cocktail mix. How much bourbon is in a glass? To recap, one full-sized (750 ml) bottle of whiskey equals: 25 one-ounce shots. 16 one-and-a-half ounce shots. 12 two-ounce shots. How many shots are in a bourbon glass? Neat drinks are about two ounces, not chilled, there are no extra ingredients (even ice) and no, you can’t order an Irish Car Bomb neat. Brandy and whiskey are the most popular spirits to drink neat. High-quality spirits of any kind are commonly enjoyed neat as well. How many ounces is a bourbon glass? – Related Questions Is glass okay in microwave? Glass and glass ceramic cookware is microwave safe as long as it doesn’t have gold or silver rims. Glass cups may or may not be microwave safe. … Avoid microwaving cold food-containers, such as butter tubs and whipped topping bowls. These can release chemicals into food when exposed to high heat. A broken burner can easily be swapped out with plug-and-play simplicity. But with a glass top stove, replacing a broken burner is much more challenging. … You’ll need to get underneath the glass and remove the attached element in order to troubleshoot or replace it. Can i put frozen glass in the microwave? Do not put frozen synthetic glass inside the microwave as well. The energy sent out by the oven do not react with the glass, but placing a frozen synthetic glass container can increase the movement of molecules go faster which will result into cracks or explosion. See also How do plants trap carbon dioxide? How to drink from a wine glass? Hold all stemmed wine glasses (red, white, etc) towards the base of the stem between your thumb, forefinger and middle finger. You’ll find that your other fingers will just rest on the base naturally. Don’t worry, it’s totally socially acceptable to swirl your wine. Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The Gorilla Glass 3 with Native Damage Resistance (NDR) technology was announced back in 2013. The glass is a thin sheet of alkali-aluminosilicate that makes the glass tougher and scratch resistant. With the improved damage resistance, the glass can survive pressures, deep cuts and scratches. Can you glue glass tiles to a mirror? Cut wood strips the same height as the tile and glue them to the base. Then apply mirror adhesive. Also run mirror adhesive around the inner edge of the tile—just a thin bead so it won’t squeeze out around the mirror. Where is sight glass on ac? In a system with an expansion valve, a sight glass is usually fitted in the liquid line immediately after the filter drier.In theory, the sight glass can be fitted at any desired location on the liquid line. However, placing it close to the expansion valve is especially advisable. Why do bearded dragons sleep on the glass? If your bearded dragon is sleeping with his or her belly pressed up against the glass while standing on their hind legs, he or she could be trying to cool their internal body temperature down due to their tank being too warm or not having proper gradience. How to drill sea glass for jewelry? Set the speed of the rotary tool to low, use your finger to hold the sea glass under the water. Begin drilling at an angle – this will stop the drill bit from skidding out of position). Then continue to drill vertically using light to medium pressure, allowing the drill bit to go at its own speed. See also How have acrylic nails evolved over time? Can a dog die from eating glass? Thankfully, dogs don’t typically choose to eat glass, but mistakes and accidents do happen. … However it happened, there’s a chance your dog ate glass, so now what? If the pieces are small they’ll most likely pass through their GI tract just fine. Is glass of wine good for pregnancy? Medical professionals advise against drinking wine and other types of alcohol while pregnant because of the risk of its harmful effects on the developing fetus. Can i use glass mosaic tile for shower floor? You can use glass mosaic tiles on your shower floor knowing that it is waterproof and that it will not get stains, no matter how much time you spend on the shower. The short answer is yes—but there are a few rules you should follow. When using Pyrex or any glass bakeware or cookware, you should avoid extreme temperature changes—very cold dishes shouldn’t be placed in a hot oven, and vice versa. Sudden changes in temperature may cause the dishes to shatter or break. How to get soap scum off glass showers? For daily cleaning, mix one cup of distilled white vinegar, one cup of water, and one tablespoon of dishwashing detergent in a spray bottle. After a shower, spray the solution on the glass and allow it to work for several minutes, then rinse with hot water. Use a squeegee to remove water or dry the glass completely. Is glass a prequel or sequel to split? Glass is a 2019 American superhero film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also produced with Jason Blum, Marc Bienstock, and Ashwin Rajan. The film is a crossover and sequel to Shyamalan’s previous films Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016) and the third and final installment in the Unbreakable trilogy. What paint do i need for glass? At least three types of paint may be used on glass: acrylic enamel, acrylics marked as suitable for tile or glass, and specially formulated solvent-based paints. Your local store is likely to carry a range of options (view example on Amazon). See also How long it takes to replenish blood after donating? Can you put glass tray in the oven? The answer is, you can put glass in the oven, microwave oven or toaster oven if it’s oven-safe-glass. … Any oven safe glass or tempered glass is made heat resistant to withstand the high oven temperatures we use for cooking and baking, so it’s good to go! Can you cook in a glass bowl in the microwave? Glass and glass ceramic cookware is microwave safe as long as it doesn’t have gold or silver rims. Glass cups may or may not be microwave safe. … Avoid microwaving cold food-containers, such as butter tubs and whipped topping bowls. These can release chemicals into food when exposed to high heat. How do you smoke a glass blunt? It is extremely easy to fill up and use this glass blunt. All you have to do is fill it up, apply the cap, and screw the blunt in a counter-clockwise motion. It really is as simple as that! Which glass is used for making spectacles? Crook’s glass consists of Cesium oxide. It is also used in the making of Spectacles as it absorbs UV rays. Do you need a screen protector with corning gorilla glass? So yes, Gorilla Glass does need a screen protector. … This way you can leave it to Corning to keep your phone drop safe from cracking and screen guards to keep your phone scratch free and looking brand new. Similar Questions: What glass for single batch bourbon? Why are bourbon glass slant? What type of glass should bourbon be served in? How much sugar is in a glass of bourbon? How big is a bourbon glass? ← Previous Post Next Post → About The Author Hi, I'm Jacqui. As a young girl, I was always fascinated by the world around me. I loved discovering new things and learning as much as possible. So it's no surprise that I eventually became a teacher. I believe that everyone should have free access to a wealth of information, which is why I started my blog jacanswers.com. Here, I share my insights on a variety of topics with readers from all over the world. My hope is that through education and understanding, we can all work together to build a better tomorrow.	8,044
One of the biggest days in your life is your wedding. The entire fanfare, the people, music, food – It all revolves you and your spouse. It is the day when you are completely allowed to be selfish, to have everybody wait on you. Simply put – it is your day. And since it is … Continued One of the biggest days in your life is your wedding. The entire fanfare, the people, music, food – It all revolves you and your spouse. It is the day when you are completely allowed to be selfish, to have everybody wait on you. Simply put – it is your day. And since it is your day, maybe you should think about trying something different, something that’s all you. What about destination weddings? Destination weddings are all the rage nowadays. They can make the entire wedding feel extra special, and adds a pinch of exoticism or a cosmopolitan feel to the entire event. So, if you want to check out the best wedding destinations out there, just read the article below. Located in the beautiful British Virgin Islands, this place is a beautiful Caribbean dream. We suggest you get married right then and there on the beach, looking over the Caribbean bay. Have delicious, native food served to your guests, surrounded by nature, warm sunlight, and a cool breeze. This island is 850 acres of untouched nature, and pure, wild tropical beauty. In the days surrounding the wedding, you can go snorkelling, sailing, play tennis, or go on hikes. The actual ceremony can be held, as we’ve said, on the beach. However, you can also get married in the local hotel garden as well. You can tie the knot in the beautiful Maldives, in a luxury spa resort. Found on the island of Dhigu, found in the South Male Atoll, you have beautiful beaches and a gorgeous coral reef. There you can spend your day’s snorkelling or scuba diving, the resort gives you a beautiful view, among many other luxurious. You simply must watch the sunset from the outdoor swimming pool. You’ll notice that there is a gorgeous dining area looking out over the water. Get pampered in the spa while looking through the glass floor, observing the wonderful marine life. Rent out a villa, or find some room on the beach, and celebrate your big day here. Our next beautiful getaway can be found in Bali. The Anantara Seminyak Resort is a full-suite getaway found right at the edge of the ocean, on the coast of beautiful Bali. With a rooftop lounge, a spa, an SOS Supper club, you will definitely not be in want of luxury at this place. Private balconies, Jacuzzis for two, and huge windows make you feel like royalty. Trust us, if you’re looking for things to do on honeymoon in Bali, or even get married there, you have come to the right place. This entire resort has 59 luxury suites, and it provides you with Balinese massages. You’ll get soothing body treatments, scrubs, facials, aromatherapy… Furthermore, a wonderful restaurant with fresh seafood will give you the best experience money can buy. Ah, beautiful Hawaii. Is there any better place to say “I do” than on the beach, looking out at the Pacific Ocean? Get married right then and there on the beach. And you can spend your added time there by walking through the 20 acres of beautiful, lush tropical gardens that surround the hotel. Along with a multi-level pool, a courtyard with tiki torches, fire pits, a sitting area and just a feel of warmth and comfort, you will not miss out on luxury here. Have some drinks at the beach bar, a meal at the open-air restaurant, and enjoy the pristine nature. Now how can one talk about destination weddings without mentioning the Bahamas? And one of the best places you can go to is the Atlantis Paradise Island. This amazing place gives you a great selection of activities, from visiting the huge Mandara Spa, to checking out lagoons that are filled with gorgeous marine life. Furthermore, you can have fun at the waterslides, the sandy bays, and look over everything from rooms with amazing views. You can have your ceremony anywhere you’d like, right in the middle of tropic luxury. Then, after the ceremony, you can all have even more fun on the island. The right destination for your wedding will make you the talk of the town. Celebrating your special day with your loved ones in a beautiful resort will make it all the more memorable. So, what are you waiting for? Pack some sunscreen, a beach towel, and your wedding dress, and get ready to go! Published June 12, 2019 Share this post Stella is an art historian, traveler, conscious consumer and a proud mother. When she is not trying to improve the things around her (and herself, for that matter), she likes to lose herself in a good book.	4,853
Although Jakarta is a modern metropolis with luxurious air-conditioned shopping malls and clean well-stocked supermarkets the city also has many traditional markets that are an integral part of its character. Many Indonesian housewives still prefer to buy produce at the local market as generations of women in their families have done before them. Jakarta also has markets specializing in items such as gold, gemstones, ceramics, textiles, flowers and birds. Markets of all sizes can be found throughout the city and the Indonesian name for market, pasar, has found its way into many Jakarta place names (Pasar Minggu, Pasar Senen, Pasar Rebo, Pasar Jumat, Pasar Baru, Pasar Rumput, etc.). Jakartas market authority, PD Pasar Jaya, is in charge of managing the formal markets usually housed in large, two or three story buildings. Items sold at traditional markets include fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry and fish, bean curd (tahu) and soybean cake (tempe), spices, dry goods and household items. There may also be kiosks and stalls selling gold jewelry, textiles, clothing, stationery, toys, electronic goods, plastic goods, household appliances, cosmetics, medicine and jamu (traditional herbal medicine). For a detailed description of the wonderful variety of Indonesian produce that can be found in local markets please refer to the book A Jakarta Market published by and available from the American Womens Association (Phone: 718 1877). This illustrated guide book can also prove useful when you are wondering what kind of fruit or food it is that you have noticed while shopping at your regular supermarket. Some expatriates ask their cooks to buy local fruits and vegetables at the markets in order to take advantage of lower prices. Its a fascinating cultural experience to wander through a traditional market and experience for yourself the colorful sights, smells and sounds. Prices are always negotiable, however as a foreigner you would find that the asking price would be higher and you would have to bargain skillfully to get a good price. If you visit a local market it is appropriate to dress modestly but comfortably as it is sure to be hot and crowded. Wear a minimum of jewelry and take good care of your purse. It is best to shop early in the morning when the produce is fresh. A general market that is easily accessible for most expatriates is Pasar Mayestik, on Jalan Kyai Maja, Kebayoran Baru. The name Mayestik comes from the former ˜Majestic cinema that was located here. The market building is currently undergoing a major reconstruction and the general market is now in a cramped temporary building. At Pasar Mayestik there are many tailors and stalls selling textiles and sewing supplies, as well as stationery supplies and household goods. Many larger shops selling fabrics, electrical appliances and household goods surround the market. Another market specializing in textiles is Pasar Tanah Abang on Jalan H. Fachrudin, Tanah Abang. This famous market“ the largest garment shopping center in southeast Asia“ sells to both retail and wholesale customers and offers cheap prices for fabrics, batik, clothing and sewing supplies. The stalls are closely packed and the area is notorious for pickpockets, so take extra care. Part of the Tanah Abang market was destroyed by fire several years ago and many traders moved to the south west of the city to Pasar Cipulir on Jalan Ciledug Raya, Kebayoran Lama. Similar goods with cheap prices can be found here. Many textiles are also available at Pasar Baru (New Market), Jalan Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta, and in particular furnishing fabrics and curtains, as well as carpets, sporting goods and musical instruments. Pasar Baru is the center for Jakartas Indian community and a wide variety of Indian foods and spices is sold here. Pasar Pagi (the name means Morning Market) on Jalan Mangga Dua, Kota, is crowded with kiosks selling fake designer handbags, clothes, shoes, watches, CDs, VCDs and DVDs. Pasar Glodok, at the corner of Jalan Gajah Mada and Jalan Pancoran, Glodok, is a large complex specializing in electronic goods and appliances. Nearby on Jalan Kemenangan is the Chinese wet market called Pasar Kemenangan, which has a fascinating array of Chinese cooking ingredients such as sharks fins, birds nests, live eels, snakes and frogs, Chinese medicine and local jamu,incense sticks and other paraphernalia used in worship at the Buddhist temples. Further north near the harbor is Pasar Ikan (Fish Market) at Jalan Pasar Ikan, Sunda Kelapa. As its name implies this is a wholesale fish and seafood market, butit operates only very early in the morning. Surrounding kiosks sell nautical equipment, tools, rope, seashells and curios. There was previously a large and wellknown ceramics market, Pasar Keramik, at Rawasari, Central Jakarta, however many of the sellers had to relocate due to road developments. Some of the kiosks have reopened beside Jalan Jend. Ahmad Yani, also known as Jalan Bypass, and others moved to Jalan Percetakan Negara. The sellers offer a range of mostly imported ceramics, pottery and chinaware as well as some other household items. Another specialist market is the gemstone or rock market, Pasar Rawa Bening or Jakarta Gems Center in Jatinegara, East Jakarta. Hundreds of stalls are housed in this three-storey airconditioned building making it one of the largest and most comprehensive markets for gems and precious stones in Southeast Asia. Precious and semiprecious gems and attractive stones are displayed for sale in rough form or cut and polished. You can design your own jewelry and have the gems set in gold or silver. If you are not an expert gemologist it would be a good idea to ring a friend who speaks Indonesian and has some knowledge of gems to make sure that you are not paying high prices for fake gems. Ceremonial daggers called keris can also be found in this market as well as a range of mystical and religious paraphernalia. In central Jakarta Pasar Cikini is a wellknown market located on Jalan pegangsaan, Menteng, just across from Cikini train station. It offers good quality fruits and vegetables and other foodstuffs and also specializes in rattan baskets. Pasar Cikini has many gold shops in a separate building adjacent to the general market. There is also a flower market (Pasar Kembang) nearby on Jalan Cikini Kramat, offering loose flowers and floral arrangements as well as florists equipment and baskets. Pasar Bunga Rawa Belong in Jalan Palmerah, West Jakarta is a flower and ornamental plant promotion and marketing center. The best time to visit is very early in the morning, before 7 a.m. when there is a huge selection of fresh lowers and plants to choose from. You can also find fertilizer, pesticides and a arge range of gardening equipment. Another market that requires an early morning visit is the cake market or Bursa Kue Subuh in Senen, Central Jakarta next to the Senen bus station, which operates at night and up to 8 a.m. Your early morning rising will be rewarded by the sight of a colorful array of all kinds of local traditional cakes as well as more western style cookies and pastries. At this hour the delicacies will be fresh and ready for consumption. Not far from Blok M in Kebayoran Baru is Jalan Barito where there are stalls selling fruit and fruit baskets, and further along is the bird market where you can see birds for sale, bird cages and bird seed and even small animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and monkeys. Quite often endangered species are offered for sale illegally and you are strongly advised not to purchase any of these animals. A similar bird market (Pasar Burung) can be found at Jalan Pramuka Raya, East Jakarta. This is probably the largest wholesale and retail bird market in Asia with both local and imported birds being offered for sale. If your hobby is ornamental fish you will enjoy Pasar Ikan Hias (Ornamental Fish Market) on Jalan Sumenep in Menteng where you can find freshwater and marine fish, fish food and all sorts of aquarium equipment. This market is especially busy on weekends. All of these markets certainly offer a glimpse of Indonesian daily life and you will find that a visit to a market with a friend, your family or a group organized by one of the local clubs will be an entertaining and interesting experience. 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It is here that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776; the Articles of Confederation, uniting the 13 colonies, were ratified in 1781; and the U.S. Constitution, outlining the nation’s basic laws, was adopted in 1787. The Great Essentials exhibition in the west wing of Independence Hall displays the original inkstand used to sign the Declaration and the Constitution. While the U.S. still makes up a sizable chunk of world travel, new data measuring 2017's first seven months of international travel to the U.S. from the U.S. Commerce Department indicates a dip of 4 percent year-over-year. The gut reaction, of course, is to point to a "Trump slump." But what are the major influencers on international travel from an academic point of view? Curious, we reached out to Robert Li, Director of the U.S.-Asia Center for Tourism & Hospitality Research and professor in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University, for some insight. The data, coming out of Davos, shows a decrease in international travel to the U.S. in 2017--after already losing travelers in 2016. And, mostly, [the common narrative attributes this] to a "Trump slump." But does politics have this kind of effect on other countries' tourism industries, or is this a uniquely American problem? The world is full of questions that deserve answers no matter how embarrassed, time-crunched or intimidated we are to ask. With Infrequently Asked Questions, we set out to answer those shared curiosities. Have a question you want answered? Send an email to [email protected], and we’ll find an expert who can give you the answer you’re craving. As a general observation, tourism is a fairly fragile industry, vulnerable to all different kinds of external impacts, including political issues. We have seen numerous examples where a negative political climate or controversial message caused a decrease in tourist arrivals. Why do you think it is that the United States' viability as a destination [might be] reliant on, say, who is president rather than what national parks or cultural amenities we have? This isn't a new problem--George W. Bush infamously had a horrible international reputation. I don’t necessarily agree with that assumption. I believe all of these [factors]--from visitor-friendly policies to natural and cultural resources--are important. Or, at least, I have not seen any studies showing which is more important. And they are all part of a country’s destination image, which ultimately determines our appeal to international tourists. With that said, presidents’ and politicians’ support are crucial to the prosperity of tourism. The Obama administration was quite supportive of tourism--e.g., the Travel Promotion Act was signed into law in 2010, which created Brand USA, the country’s national destination marketing organization. And more countries joined the visa waiver program, etc. The number of international travelers entering the U.S. each year between 2009 and 2016 grew by more than 40 percent, which I believe was not a coincidence. Are there other moments in history when politics or current affairs might've influenced travel? The U.S. travel industry is no stranger to downturns, most notably the remarkable impacts of 9/11 on U.S. tourism. • The link between politics and travel is, from a data standpoint, tenuous. But there is some indication of a connection between current affairs and travel--see: 9/11. • Between 2009 and 2016, international travel to the U.S. increased by 40 percent. • U.S. cities, specifically New York and Los Angeles, are working overtime to remind international travelers that the U.S. is open to everyone. • China has emerged as the U.S.' No. 1 source market for tourism spending. Does the hospitality industry, at-large, have any kind of cohesive messaging for persuading international travelers to come here? Is there any tangible advertising or messaging happening in other countries, and how is it decided what countries to advertise to if so? I believe the American travel industry is putting great efforts to tell the world that this country continues welcoming international tourists from all over the world. After all, diversity and hospitality are part of this country’s identity. Last October, in the Market Outlook Forum, an annual industry get-together discussing the latest trends and issues in tourism, we heard a great deal of discussion on this. Several destinations have taken actions on this. After all, diversity and hospitality are part of the defining characteristics of this country. For instance, New York recently launched a campaign designed to “counter negative rhetoric and remind the world that New York City is open for business." The campaign slogan is “New York City — Welcoming the World.” Los Angeles’ new ad campaign has a tagline for tourism: “Everyone is welcome.” They target people who are looking for a very authentic experience. What are some usual deterrents for folks traveling to a country? Security? Ease of transportation? Do we spend more money when the weather's bad? Should I care about Bitcoin? Why do banks close so early? There are many potential travel constraints, such as financial issues, e.g., unfavorable exchange rates; lack of accessibility, including visa policy, international direct flight, language barriers, in-country transportation, etc.; distance that's geographic or cultural; natural disasters, etc. Safety and security are almost always the No. 1 priority for tourists. This could range from conflicts and corruption, terrorism, hostility, to war. What country has the largest number of visitors to the U.S.? Has that changed much through the years? What are people typically traveling here for, in terms of attractions? Canada is the U.S.’ No. 1 source market in terms of visitation or number of visitors. The most notable change in recent years is China’s rapid rise as a key source market. China is now the country’s No. 1 source market in terms of tourism spending. The National Travel and Tourism Office releases statistics on this. It appears, as of July 2017, most countries in the U.S.’ Top 20 source markets have seen a decline. Destinations and attractions tourists visit vary substantially among countries. But international tourists, particularly first-timers, usually like the iconic attractions, from the Statue of Liberty to Yellowstone, from Independence Hall to Disney. Anything you would like to add? Tourism is not just important for the tourism industry. Considering the ripple effect of international tourist spending, tourism has profound impacts on our society’s economic and socio-cultural well-being. Globally, international tourism is growing fast, and many countries are stepping up their game in tourism competition--see: Australia’s Super Bowl ads for one example. It is indeed disquieting that the U.S. is now facing a very sharp drop in foreign travelers. Read more Tourism Politics North Philadelphia Temple Infrequently Asked Questions Featured A Big Tax Write-Off for Small Business: What is IRS Section 179? ‘The Nutcracker’ enchants this December Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. 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Judaism teaches, “He who saves one life, it is as if he saved an entire world.” We place an enormous value on each and every life, from the strongest to the weakest, the richest to the poorest, and the youngest to the oldest. Every life is precious, and each person is priceless. In my work with The Fellowship, I regularly travel to the former Soviet Union (FSU). The people who we help there have no one else looking out for them, no one else to provide the lifesaving aid that they desperately need. Not many people know about these elderly Holocaust survivors. It is hard enough to locate them, let alone travel to their small, remote villages to provide assistance. It is so easy for these Jews to fall through the cracks — and they often do, living their final days in poverty and loneliness. However, as my dear father, Rabbi Eckstein, taught me, we must make our greatest efforts to sustain these lives, because each one represents an entire world. Every time that I travel to the FSU, I am a little bit nervous. Some of the harsh realities that I encounter there are difficult to witness. My journeys are never easy. I don’t stay in big cities like Kiev or Saint Petersburg, but small far-flung villages that feel like a third world country. I travel for hours, sometimes on unpaved roads, to reach the small villages where The Fellowship has located Jewish people in extreme need. On one of my trips, I visited an elderly Holocaust survivor named Olga who lived in one of those villages. After the Holocaust, when she learned that her entire family had been wiped out, she decided to move back to the village where she was raised and to live the rest of her life in isolation. It was in the middle of the winter, and I was freezing even though I had a warm coat and hat. When I got to Olga’s home, I was shocked to learn that this elderly and frail woman was living without heat. Her wood-burning stove – her only source of warmth – was broken. The only food in her house was a jar of pickled beets with maggots in it. Her only water had been drawn from a well before the winter. It was in a bucket, frozen solid and unusable. Olga was lying in her bed, tired and weak. It looked as though she would not live much longer. Until that winter, we had never heard about Olga or her situation because she had always been able to survive on her own … barely. She planted her own vegetables and pickled them for the winter, cut wood for her oven, and drew water from the well. This was the first winter that she could no longer make it on her own. On behalf of The Fellowship, I brought Olga a new oven and plenty of food. I explained to her that they were donated on behalf of Christians around the world who love her. Olga cried in relief – both because she so desperately needed the food, and because it came from people she never met, people who wouldn’t let her slip through the cracks. Olga told me that this was the first time in decades that she did not feel forgotten. Even though she was over 90 years old, Olga still referred to herself as an orphan. The trauma of seeing her parents killed, and the sorrow of living her life forgotten and alone, still haunted her. She was overwhelmed by the love and support of the Christian community for an elderly Jewish woman like herself. Olga’s story is not at all unusual. There are literally tens of thousands of elderly Holocaust survivors all over the FSU who are all alone and in desperate need of help. Will we get to all of them before it’s too late? I don’t know. But I can promise that we will never stop searching and caring for these forgotten Jews. They mean the world to us. With blessings from the Holy Land, Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Bless God’s people and help provide them with lifesaving essentials before it’s too late. Stay Connected Stay informed about issues affecting Israel, the Jewish people, Jewish-Christian relations, receive daily devotionals, and more. Stay informed about issues affecting Israel, the Jewish people, Jewish-Christian relations, receive daily devotionals, and more.	4,176
Hi. My name is Sweet Magnolia, although some people call me Magnolia, or Maggie, and I’m very beautiful. Just look at my picture! Even though I have powerful haunches, I was never a racing dog. My mother was, but then she was injured, so her owner turned Mama into a brood bitch. I heard that Mama didn’t do very well with her first litter of puppies, so her racing owner gave her to a local university for research. The doctors found out that Mama was pregnant again, and took her out of the study, let her have her puppies (including ME!) and found mom and pups private homes. I don’t remember a whole lot from my early life, but I remember going from one home to the next for the first couple of years. And then my first permanent human mom came all the way from Michigan to Alabama to adopt me. I lived with First Mom for 5 years. I thought I would be with her forever! But one day she got sick, and then she got sicker and one day she left and she never came home. A week or so later Second Mom came with a friend and took me away. I love Second Mom, but I have kind of a hard time getting along with other dogs because I was an only dog for so long, and my foster family already has three dogs (and two cats!). I did go to another home once, for a couple of weeks, but that mom had to go to work every day, and there were no other dogs (well, they ARE company, even if they are annoying!) and I became very anxious and depressed. I know that I could be happy in a new home if my people would just stay home with me more, and not have any other dogs (although cats are okay) and if they would love me and pet me and throw toys for me and let me sleep on the couch during the day and on the bed with them at night and never make me go to a different room from them. And if they’ll be patient with me while I adjust to my new home. I’ve been through so much since First Mom left in September, I think it would break my heart to go to a new home just to have to leave again. Second Mom is teaching me to sit, stay, wait for her okay to eat and she’s trying to teach me to shake, although I don’t see the point in that. She laughs at me when I smile at her and chatter my teeth and when I play with the ball like I’m a puppy again. And, don’t tell Daddy, but Second Mom says I’m really good to take a nap with! UPDATE: Maggie has found her forever home with the Jacobson family! Final Update: Sweet Magnolia was born September 6, 1994 as the product of an accidental breeding. The names of her dam and sire are unknown. Here is her story as we know it. Hi. My name is Sweet Magnolia, although some people call me Magnolia, or Maggie, and I’m very beautiful. Just look at my picture! Even though I have powerful haunches, I was never a racing dog. My mother was, but then she was injured, so her owner turned Mama into a brood bitch. I heard that Mama didn’t do very well with her first litter of puppies, so her racing owner gave her to a local university for research. The doctors found out that Mama was pregnant again, and took her out of the study, let her have her puppies (including ME!) and found mom and pups private homes. I don’t remember a whole lot from my early life, but I remember going from one home to the next for the first couple of years. And then my first permanent human mom came all the way from Michigan to Alabama to adopt me. I lived with First Mom for 5 years. I thought I would be with her forever! But one day she got sick, and then she got sicker and one day she left and she never came home. A week or so later Second Mom came with a friend and took me away. I love Second Mom, but I have kind of a hard time getting along with other dogs because I was an only dog for so long, and my foster family already has three dogs (and two cats!). I did go to another home once, for a couple of weeks, but that mom had to go to work every day, and there were no other dogs (well, they ARE company, even if they are annoying!) and I became very anxious and depressed. I know that I could be happy in a new home if my people would just stay home with me more, and not have any other dogs (although cats are okay) and if they would love me and pet me and throw toys for me and let me sleep on the couch during the day and on the bed with them at night and never make me go to a different room from them. And if they’ll be patient with me while I adjust to my new home. I’ve been through so much since First Mom left in September, I think it would break my heart to go to a new home just to have to leave again. Second Mom is teaching me to sit, stay, wait for her okay to eat and she’s trying to teach me to shake, although I don’t see the point in that. She laughs at me when I smile at her and chatter my teeth and when I play with the ball like I’m a puppy again. And, don’t tell Daddy, but Second Mom says I’m really good to take a nap with! I’m so lucky! A nice man inquired about me, and Second Mom told him all about me. She says she told him all the good things and she told him all the bad things, too. What bad things? Second Mom and two other human ladies and I visited The Man today. He is very nice, and I like his home and his big yard. He asked lots of questions; I heard the human ladies saying he had researched greyhounds more than any other adopter, and had written out his questions. They sounded very impressed. And he likes me! I can tell. Still, I went home with Second Mom, which is just fine with me, because I love her. The Man came over today, and he and Second Mom talked a lot and filled out lots of papers and guess what? I went home with him! I love Second Mom, but The Man lets me sleep in bed with him, and share the couch with him. I think I’m going to like it here. And he is home a lot! He does something they call “work from home” in the mornings. The Man took me “fishing” with him and his friends! I had a very good time. We went out on the water on something they called a pontoon boat. I got to lie in the sun a lot, and there was even a roof on poles, so I could go into the shade when I got hot. They gave me a fish. Well, that was boring. I just put my head down and went back to sleep. The Man also takes me places in the car. I really like that! We visit his friends, and they all give me lots of love and attention. Sometimes they come to our house, too. The weather is getting cold now, the leaves have fallen off the trees, and that white stuff they call snow falls sometimes. I hear people talking about something called “Christmas.” But I don’t feel very well. I have a cough, and sometimes stuff comes out of my mouth when I cough. The man took me to that clean, shiny place they call the “vet” and after a human lady poked at me and put that thing connected to her ears all over me, she and The Man talked. They gave me something nasty tasting, and The Man took me home. I’m glad to be home! I’m still coughing, so The Man took me to that place again, and they made me stand still up against a wall while something buzzed. Then they showed some weird plastic sheets to The Man. He seemed very upset. He had water running out of his eyes. They are still making me take the nasty stuff, but The Man brought me home again! I love my home. I like sleeping with him, and sitting on the couch with him. We watched the box with moving scenes in it tonight. The Man said we were watching movies, his favorite Christmas movies. Okay. I can do that. And he talked to me for a long time, about all the fun we have had since I came to live with him, and how much he loves me. Wow, has it really been only six months since I left Second Mom and came to live with The Man? It has been a wonderful six months! As soon as I feel better, maybe he will take me “fishing” again. I’ve been so lucky. First Mom loved me; Second Mom loved me and now The Man loves me, too. I can’t wait for the weather to get warm again so I can lie under a tree and watch The Man do what he calls “mowing the lawn,” something I don’t understand at all. And we can have picnics and, oh, I do hope he takes me “fishing” again. On December 26, 2002 Sweet Magnolia, at eight years of age, was humanely euthanized. She had lymphoma, with a huge, inoperable tumor in her chest. She is sorely missed. Borrowed from heaven dances Deceased: 12/26/2002 Been there, done that! If you would like to contact other people who have adopted hounds from GEM, please email us and we will gladly provide you with names and email addresses. Found one you like? If you think you have already found a greyhound you would like to consider, complete our online application for adoption. If you prefer NOT to apply online you may request a printable application in PDF format click here. You will need Adobe Acrobat reader to print this application. After you complete the application, mail it to GEM at: The Greyhound Inmate Experience (TGIE) is a nonprofit prison program. Our purpose is to provide trained and socialized retired greyhounds for family adoption and to educate the public of the redemptive and rehabilitative benefits of the program. Every 10 weeks twenty greys enter the program and are cared for and trained by forty specialized inmate dog handlers. This all inspiring program touches the lives of everyone connected to it and we are proud to partner with GEM To learn more about T.G.I.E. visit their web site at www.tgie-greyhounds.org We are a non-profit, pro racing, Greyhound adoption organization. We serve Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Washtenaw Counties and beyond to encompass the entire Southeastern Michigan area. If you’re considering adopting a retired racing greyhound, or you already have one, we would love to hear from you. We welcome everyone.	9,997
As we’re sure you already know, Final Fantasy 7 is getting a HUGE makeover and we have the scoop! Check out these new screenshots that show how Midgar and the rest of the world we loved have received a makeover. These screenshots look GORGEOUS! We can’t wait for this game to come out so we can relive our childhoods in glorious HD. Shinra has no idea what’s coming! Square Enix never ceases to amaze Final Fantasy fans. In recent years and even as far back as the original Final Fantasy games, they brought us great music, artwork, stories and most important of all, evolving game play. The latest game in the series, Final Fantasy XV, is currently in development for Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Final Fantasy XV is set to simultaneously release all over the world on September 30th, 2016. The release date was reveled at a special event on March 30th, 2016 in Los Angeles California. The newest installment in the Final Fantasy world brings us closer to reality within our Fantasy. Final Fantasy XV will be an action role-playing game, which will bring real world decision-making and interactive environments to players. The world will have weather patterns, a day and night cycle, and grand battles around every corner to keep players on their toes. The story is an epic adventure, which we hope doesn’t disappoint fans of the previous games. This adventure is a path to discovery. You are the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Lucis, Noctis. The imperial army has taken your homeland and its up to you to take it back! Joined by your closest and most trusted friends, you will take the wheel and experience a voyage like no other! Traveling through the gorgeous world of Eos, you will be encountering larger than-life beast and unforgiving foes. In order to accomplish your main task, let alone survive, you will have to learn to master the skills of weaponry and magic. You can also channel the mystical power of your ancestors to help you warp through the air in thrilling combat. The story will be much longer than previous games. In a 2015 interview the game’s director Hajime Tabata told us that due to the increasing amount of content being added to the game, it’s unlikely players would be able to complete the game within 40 hours. In March 2016 it was confirmed that the game would take 50+ hours to complete, and that’s only counting the main story. The more content the better! The battle system is called the Active X Battle system. (Created by director Hajime Tabata, which is said to be similar to the battle system used in Final Fantasy Type –O) Battle is seamless with no load times necessary. They will take place in real time environments using all regions of the field from up-high on top of buildings all the way down to the streets. This means players will have to utilize the entire environment to fight and defeat their enemies. Deciding on taking out an enemy limb or crippling them can decide the outcome of battle so a good deal of thought and strategy will come into play. Get your camping bags and tent ready because camping out will be an important part of the game. Camps will be safe heavens in the world of Eos and make the ideal headquarters when exploring unknown territories. Using a camp to rest progresses time to the next day. The player must have their party rest because it’s crucial to their health (status buffs) and they must also eat to grow. Different meals affect different stats and if the player goes over 3 days without sleeping their buffs will decrease. Get used to sleeping under the stars! These “real world” implications within Final Fantasy XV create a much more personal attachment to the player’s party than that of previous games. Players will have to pay close attention to their party members if they want to keep them as effective as possible. Stay tuned for more Final Fantasy XV previews in the coming weeks! Check out these screenshots from some of the latest Final Fantasy XV footage! We’re very interested to see how the car works itself into the gameplay. We are also ecstatic that it seems this will be much more of an open world compared to the on-rails “hallways” that plagued Final Fantasy XIII.	4,309
Holocaust survivor Anneliese Nossbaum returned to Auschwitz for a final reckoning. It was the last journey of her life. Saturday, November 26, 2022 Sign in Special offer Keep reading by creating a free account or signing in. Subscribe\|Support Local News Keep reading by creating a free account or signing in. Share on Facebook Holocaust survivor Anneliese Nossbaum returned to Auschwitz for a final reckoning. It was the last journey of her life. For Holocaust survivor Anneliese Nossbaum, of Jenkintown, true healing began when she decided in 1971 to talk openly about her experiences in concentration camps. Over the years, she spoke to thousands of students. She died Monday at age 91. After taking a charter flight form Newark, New Jersey to Krakow, Poland, Holocaust survivor, 91-year-old Anneliese Nossbaum, arrives at the Hotel Stary in the Old City on January 26, 2020. She traveled to Poland for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. (Lauren Schneiderman/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)Read moreLauren Schneiderman / Staff Photographer by Jason Nark Updated Mar 25, 2020 There’s a myth that birds don’t sing at Auschwitz, that it’s too sad, too haunted for such simple moments of beauty. Anneliese Nossbaum survived that hellish place, though. She forged a new life in the United States, found her voice, and spoke to thousands of students about the Holocaust. Anneliese told me she loved music. When her father, a cantor, sang in their synagogue in Bonn, Germany, she thought he was singing only to her. She enjoyed the Nazis’ music when they paraded past her home, too young to know any better. In late January, when I last saw her, she sang “Hatikvah,” the Israeli national anthem, by a gas chamber in Auschwitz-Birkenau, wiping tears from her eyes with her red mittens. So I’d like to think the robin that sang Tuesday afternoon was singing for her. The bird sat far atop a wide, old oak tree that grew between the headstones in Montefiore Cemetery in Jenkintown. Its branches cast shadows on Anneliese’s plain, wooden casket. Her family stood under a tent beside the grave, trying to stay six feet apart from one another in this new, surreal world. "Anneliese was smart. She was sensible. She was passionate. She was down-to-earth,” Rabbi Adam Wohlberg, of Temple Sinai in Dresher, said to them. Anneliese Nossbaum died early Monday morning at the Abramson Center in North Wales, having fallen ill within weeks of returning from the trip of a lifetime, her final reckoning with Auschwitz. She was 91. She left behind a son, Jeffrey; his wife, Jan; and their two daughters, Hannah and Mayah, all there Tuesday for the burial. Daughter Ivette Maoz and her husband, Netzer Maoz, were there, too. Their children, Edan and Ma’ayan, watched the small graveside service through a video chat, one quarantined in California and the other in Arizona. She was laid to rest with her husband, Martin Nossbaum, who died in 2010. Jeffrey and Ivette both marveled at their mother’s life, a few moments after her casket was lowered. “She taught us to be kind, to think of others,” Ivette said. Jeffrey reiterated that. “What amazes me is that despite all her hardships, she always put others first,” he said. Anneliese had always lamented that the Nazis ended her education so soon. Jan Nossbaum has been working hard to secure an honorary doctorate from a local university for Anneliese. They told her recently that it was happening. “Dr. Nossbaum,” they whispered. It was one of Anneliese’s last smiles. Inquirer videographer Lauren Schneiderman and I first met Anneliese on a rainy Tuesday night in January when we went to her rowhome in Jenkintown for the first of several interviews with her and the family. We wanted to get to know them before we all flew to Krakow, Poland, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Red Army’s liberation of Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 1945. Beth Razin, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, had recommended her as one local survivor who was returning. “Anneliese Nossbaum was truly an inspirational woman, sharing her experience of her survival during the Holocaust with thousands of students and adults over the past years,” Razin said after learning of Anneliese’s death. The Nossbaums ordered four large pizzas for us that night. They were funny, warm, and open, particularly Anneliese, still whip-smart and sharp at 91. We stayed until about 10:30 p.m., and on subsequent visits, Anneliese continued her quest to feed Lauren and me. “So, I guess you want me to start from the beginning,” she said to us. She was born Anneliese Winterberg on Jan. 8, 1929, in Guben, Germany, the only child of Siegfried and Irmgard Winterberg. On Nov. 10, 1938, Nazis and civilians burned down her synagogue during Kristallnacht. In 1942, her family was moved to Theresienstadt, a hybrid concentration camp and ghetto established by the SS in the former Czechoslovakia. Her father died at a satellite camp of Dachau, Germany, in 1944. Anneliese was taken to Auschwitz on Oct. 10, 1944. Her aunt, Anita Lewinski, was born with a hip deformity and the Nazis sent her to die immediately. Anneliese and her mother went to have their heads shaved. Later, they were moved to Mauthausen, a concentration camp on the Danube River that was liberated by the U.S. Army in the spring of 1945. Her mother died shortly after of tuberculosis. Anneliese came to the United States alone, at 17, on a ship. The first thing she did in New York City was eat a peach. She met Martin Nossbaum, a civilian equipment specialist for the military, and had two children, living first in Mount Airy, then in Jenkintown. Her inner world was difficult, still haunted by Auschwitz, the memory of seeing her Aunt Anita disappear among the doomed. Her true healing began in 1971, when she decided to talk openly about the Holocaust. She started with one of her daughter’s classes, her voice and conviction growing stronger each time. Josey Fisher, director of the Gratz College Holocaust Oral History Archive, was a friend of Anneliese’s for decades, inviting her to speak to her undergraduate classes for hours. Fisher noticed something both Lauren and I could plainly see in Poland: She never seemed to tire. “Anneliese was willing to stay as long as students asked questions,” Fisher told me. “The intimacy of the classroom matched Annelie’s [one of her nicknames] willingness to go deeper into her story. She encouraged difficult questions, and the students were blessed with her full, honest responses. One student asked if she could communicate with her privately, and Annelie agreed — she invited the student to her home.” During a survivors dinner in Krakow, I watched Anneliese from afar. She looked so happy with her family, and they idolized her. It seemed silly, as a journalist, to get so emotional about it, but I did. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a grandmother in 20 years. I asked Anneliese If I could take her picture, so I could send it to my family. Lauren was far busier than I was that night, trying to take both photographs and video in a dining room crammed with hundreds of people. Still, I saw her smiling with Anneliese from time to time and knew I wasn’t the only one who felt so attached to her, so in awe. “I didn’t know Anneliese for very long, but throughout the time I spent with her I was impressed by her strength and grace," Lauren told me. "She was an inspiration. And I am so grateful to have met her, have been inspired by her, and had a chance to listen to her stories, many of which I will never forget.” Two days later, on a dreary Tuesday afternoon, Lauren and I stood with the family by railroad tracks in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Anneliese gave everyone a piece of chocolate, as her Aunt Anita had done there in 1944, before they were forced off the train. Journalists aren’t supposed to take things from subjects, but Lauren and I took a piece of chocolate, too. She was more than a subject, and both of us stood by her casket this week, in a cemetery where birds sang. The family asked that donations in her name be made to the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center. A memorial service will be held once the world’s in a safer place, they said, and everyone can hug. Published March 25, 2020 I write stories about rural and exurban areas, the places where development meets farmland and farms meet the great outdoors.	9,010
We have all been saddened by the Newtown, Conn. tragedy. The President of the United States tonight gave an address in an attempt to comfort those who are grieving. As a parent who is grieving the loss of my only daughter, I want to give a word of personal advice about the difficulty of comforting those who mourn. First, We all go through a process of guilt, blame, anger, frustration and the inevitable questions: "Why?" "Could I have done something?" "Was it my fault?" Life will never be the same for us. This Friday will be exactly three years since she passed away, and I still think about my daughter every single day and cry often. There is a big heartache that will never go away. Secondly, we do not want to hear something funny. It will not cheer us up. For two years after my loss, I could not listen to music; I could not bear to hear anything cheerful; I did not want to hear mindless dribble from people. Silently, I ask myself: "Can't these people see that I am hurting?" Thirdly, do not ignore us. I have had people just look at me when I talk about my pain. I realize that only those who have gone through it fully understand the agony, but your silence makes me wonder if you think I was somehow responsible. Those who mourn need friendship more than ever. Don't let them become isolated. It is not good. Reach out. Listen to them. Let me cry if I need to. The one thing I need is support. God forbid, but you may need it someday yourself. Leave a Reply. The author Dr. Jack Warren was born in Floydada, Texas, in 1938, the son of a Baptist pastor. His family moved to Fort Worth when his father enrolled in the Seminary in 1949. He was in the first class graduating from L.D. Bell High School, Hurst, Texas, in 1956. He attended Arlington State College (now University of Texas at Arlington), Arlington Baptist College, Bible Baptist Seminary, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and received a Doctor of Divinity Degree from Landmark Baptist Theological Seminary.	1,996
Opinionated Commentary on Law, Politics, Economics, and More from Michael Dorf, Neil Buchanan, Eric Segall, and (Occasionally) Others Friday, November 22, 2019 by Neil H. Buchanan After this week's Democratic presidential debate, a very stern columnist for The Washington Post chastised Senator Bernie Sanders for giving the wrong answer to Rachel Maddow's question about recent chants of "Lock him up!" at various gatherings, including at some Sanders rallies. Stephen Stromberg instructed us as follows: "The right answer is: 'It is understandable that people are frustrated with President Trump. But everyone else should resist stooping to his level. I wish people would not do Trump-like chants at my rallies.'" But Sanders "bomb[ed] the ‘lock him up’ test," said Stromberg, by instead saying: "Well, I think the people of this country are catching on to the degree that this president thinks he is above the law. And what the American people are saying is: Nobody is above the law." Or, as Stromberg characterized it: "Instead, Sanders essentially said, “Well, people think the president is a criminal.'" Remember, this was the WRONG ANSWER. There is but one acceptable answer, and only if Sanders had said the right words -- "Hey guys, I wish you wouldn't go low like Trump's voters" -- would he have aced the test. There might be reasonable disagreements about how one feels about "Lock him up!" chants, but this is silly. What is going on? One of the odd things about writing multiple columns per week is that it is all too possible to forget what one has written. This can take many forms, the most common of which is to repeat an argument (not on purpose) that I have made in a previous column, which can cause a moment of embarrassment when I am reminded of the previous column. Because arguments often need to be repeated and reformulated, however, this is not necessarily a bad thing even when it is inadvertent. A different form of too-many-columns-to-remember amnesia is simply forgetting about a column entirely. A month or so ago, I was having a conversation with Professor Dorf and started to make what I thought was a very important point. Cutting me off (politely), he responded: "Yes, you wrote your column on that subject last week." Duly chastened. Earlier this week, I was glancing through the "dashboard" for this blog, and I noticed that I had fairly recently written a column about the possibility that we would soon hear "Lock him up!" chants at Democratic rallies. The publication date was August 6, which is notable because it was before the incident at Game 5 of the World Series in which Washington Nationals fans spontaneously booed Donald Trump and then began the fateful chant. Indeed, August 6 was long before anyone thought that the Nationals could possibly make the playoffs, much less beat the Dodgers or Astros. In turn, it was almost three months before the good feelings about the Nats' surprise win were summarily trashed when a player donned a MAGA hat at the White House and smiled while Trump hugged him. Time flies. After that audience chant at Game 5, Senator Chris Coons reached for the smelling salts and penned a reprimand for The Washington Post: "‘Lock him up’? We’re better than that." To be clear, I quite like Coons, whom I knew when he was in college (during which time he had an admirable moral epiphany and changed from being a Reagan-loving young conservative to a moderate Democrat), but this op-ed is an all-too-predictable example of the infuriating tendency among a certain type of Democrats to over-criticize themselves and doubt everything that they and their supporters do. And although Coons's op-ed was not as annoyingly judgmental as Stromberg's (because being aggressively judgmental would itself be something that Coons would condemn), I have to say that Coons was doing something worse in his op-ed. That is, whereas Stromberg was at least directing his ire at a specific person who most likely has the stature to make the chants stop, Coons was simply scolding a group of people who organically started to do something that they clearly enjoyed. While there is nothing wrong with expressing the hope that groups will act in various ways (and not in other ways), the "we're better than this" formulation struck me as classic concern trolling, which I have never liked because it allows an author to pretend to be concerned about form rather than substance (and is also smarmy, smug, and/or unctuous -- take your pick -- to boot). "I agree with you that he's a criminal, guys, but do you have to be so in-your-face about it?" In any case, because I honestly do not remember writing my August 6 column, I also do not remember what motivated me to write it. In it, I made no references to any recent incidents, so maybe I simply had one of those moments when I anticipated something that was all but inevitable. No matter the reason for writing the column, however, I have to say that I quite agree with the oddly familiar stranger who wrote it. In particular, I still see no reason why sarcasm should not be part of the arsenal in a political campaign. The reason that people at Nationals Park joined in the chanting, after all, was surely because they liked the wicked joke that it contained. "Your crowds chant 'Lock her up!" all the time without the slightest hint as to what crime Hillary Clinton supposedly committed, and after she was exonerated by a full investigation. You were not indicted because the Justice Department said you cannot be indicted; but that doesn't mean you won't eventually go to jail." Of course, Coons and Stromberg (and other concerned souls) argue that it is bad for partisans to call for their opponents to be jailed, because (in Coons's words) "in the United States, we don’t simply lock up politicians we disagree with, and we shouldn’t chant about wanting to either." As I wrote back in August, that is simply an inane way to think about this, and it is indeed an especially dishonest example of false equivalence. Again, the anti-Trump chants can only be understood as a direct response to the Trump crowds' chants for the last three-plus years. And I say that not in the sense that "they did it first," but in the essential sense that the anti-Trump version is -- to repeat -- a response to years of howling mobs calling for banana republic-style political hit jobs. A response, that is, that says: "Yes, there honestly is a time when it is essential that one's political opponents go to jail, and that time is when they are actually guilty of crimes." As my doppelgänger noted in August, it is of course possible to add a bunch of qualifiers about the circumstances under which Trump should be locked up, but he/I then argued that any such "qualifiers -- if he really did it, if a jury of his peers finds him guilty after due process is provided -- are implicit in a way that simply is not present in the ravings of Trump and his supporters," concluding: "Based on everything we know, Donald Trump has committed multiple crimes, both before and after the 2016 election. If the facts as we know them are true, and if he is properly prosecuted, and if he is found guilty by a duly-empaneled jury, then he should go to jail. And short-handing that statement would not be proof that a speaker was just as bad as Trump." Maybe Stromberg is right that Sanders should urge his supporters to take a higher road. On the other hand, Sanders did not say that he approved of the chants. As Stromberg described it, after Sanders explained that Americans are unhappy that Trump thinks he is above the law, Sanders "pivoted to talk about how the country would unite around his agenda." That does not sound like someone who is inciting his crowds to revel in un-American political thuggery. Instead, it sounds like someone who thinks that Maddow's question was frankly an attempt to create a distracting issue out of thin air and that there are better ways to spend one's allotted 75 seconds. Would I start such a chant or join in, if I were at a rally? Probably not, but so what? This chant is something that actually makes an important point, which is that the true lawbreaker is Donald Trump. People like Stromberg and Coons can gnash their teeth and wish that Democrats' supporters were all better behaved girls and boys, and maybe that truly would convince centrist voters that it is not true that both sides are the same. At the very least, however, it is essential not to slander the chanters by claiming falsely that they are making the same immoral argument that Trump's voters are making. Trump should be impeached, convicted by the Senate and removed from office, and then indicted and given due process in a court of law. Based on everything that we know, he would then be found guilty by any jury that looks fairly at the law and evidence, at which point he should be locked up. That is not, contra Coons, wanting to "simply lock up politicians we disagree with." It is wanting to lock up people who have (brazenly and without remorse) broken the law. That sounds very American to me.	9,145
Provides details about our range of products and services including: consulting services, market intelligence services, market forecast reports, oil and gas maps and mapping packages and data subscriptions. InfieldMaps online interactive mapping system offers optional layers, both geographic and infrastructure specific and allows the user to interrogate these layers to create custom maps of offshore field developments globally. Model which assesses the breakeven economics of future offshore oil and gas fields/developments. Oil price and discount rate sensitive. Useful for: ranking project viability, decommissioning overviews, infrastructure EPIC Capex overview. Infield Reports provides an easily accessible sector-specific overview, highlighting key themes, regional capex trends and companies active within the market over a ten year historical and forecast timeframe. Online business intelligence dashboard which increases the analytical value of our reports and trackers by delivering them via an interactive system that dynamically updates its views based on user choices. Rigs by Manager Drill Ship Deepwater Ultra-deepwater Deepwater Ultra-deepwater High Spec Rigs by Manager Utilisation Infield Systems provides; data, forecast reports, mapping, business advisory, transaction support and commercial due diligence products and services to the offshore oil, gas, renewable energy and associated marine industries. Username Password Can't get access? \| Careers \| Log In Rigs by Manager Drill Ship Deepwater Ultra-deepwater Deepwater Ultra-deepwater High Spec Rigs by Manager Utilisation Diamond announces new wave of rig retirements and stacking activity Diamond announces new wave of rig retirements and stacking activity 04 May 2015 Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (“Diamond”) today released the company’s updated fleet status report alongside its financial results for Q1 2015. Diamond announced a further wave of rig retirements and cold stacking amid the current downturn in the drilling market. The offshore rig manager retired three semisub units, the Ocean Worker, Ocean Yorktown and Ocean Saratoga. The three retired units had an average age of 37 years. Meanwhile Diamond also cold stacked the Ocean Star, Ocean Princess, Ocean Nomad and Ocean Spur. Diamond has been one of the most active rig managers in terms of stacking and retirement activity thus far in 2015. Salamander Energy plc announces that drilling operations on the North Kendang-2 exploration well (NK-2) in its operated South East Sangatta PSC have now been concluded. The well reached a total depth of 2,569 metres true vertical depth sub-sea and encountered two hydrocarbon bearing intervals, one of which was the primary objective zone of high pressure encountered in the North Kendang-1 (NK-1) well. This was successfully penetrated in NK-2 and comprised a 2.5m gas condensate bearing sand. In addition, a 10.5m gas bearing sand with oil shows was encountered at a shallower depth. This sand is at the same stratigraphic interval that flowed 6,000 bopd on test in the South Kecapi-1 DIR/ST well in the Bontang PSC. The volume of hydrocarbons encountered is considered to be sub-commercial and the NK-2 well has been plugged and abandoned. Costs related to the NK-1 well control incident, and to drilling the NK-2 well to this same depth, are covered under the Company’s insurance policies. This well concluded Salamander’s drilling programme in the North Kutei and the ‘Ocean General’ rig has now been released. Statoil has decided to invest USD1.5 billion in the Stampede development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, which is expected to begin production in 2018. Statoil owns 25% of Stampede, which is operated by Hess. Total project costs are expected to be approximately USD6 billion. Stampede, a new project named from unitizing the former discoveries of Knotty Head and Pony, is located approximately 350 kilometers (215 miles) from New Orleans, Louisiana at a water depth of more than 1,000 meters (3,500 feet). The reservoir depth is 9,100 meters (30,000 feet). Stampede consists of Green Canyon Blocks 468, 511 and 512. The reservoir contains approximately 350 million barrels of recoverable oil. Stampede’s development plan calls for six subsea production wells and four water injection wells from two subsea drill centers tied back to a tension leg platform. Gross topsides processing capacity for the project is approximately 80,000 barrels of oil per day and 100,000 barrels of water injection capacity per day. Drilling is expected to begin in Q4 2015 and will be performed by two newbuild drillships; the Ocean BlackLion and Ocean BlackRhino. 4 Nov 2014 Seadrill sells drillship to MLP Seadrill Partners Seadrill Limited (Seadrill) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Seadrill Partners pursuant to which the Company will sell to Seadrill Capricorn Holdings LLC, Seadrill Partners' 51% owned subsidiary (Capricorn Holdings), all of the ownership interests in the entities that own and operate the drillship, the West Vela (the Vela Acquisition). The Vela Acquisition, which is expected to close within 3 days, will be accomplished through a series of purchases, contributions and assumption of debt. The West Vela is a 6th generation, dynamically positioned drillship delivered from the Samsung shipyard to its current customer, BP, in November 2013. The West Vela is expected to carry out operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico until the end of its contract in November 2020. The implied purchase price of the Vela Acquisition is USD900 million, less USD433 million of debt outstanding under the existing facility financing the West Vela. Based on Seadrill Partners' 51% ownership of Capricorn Holdings, its portion of the net purchase price after debt will be USD238 million. 3 Dec 2014 Petrobras discovers gas at Orca-1 in Colombia Ecopetrol S.A. has announced that the Petrobras operated Orca-1 exploration well has successfully discovered hydrocarbons. The well is located 40 kilometers north of the coast of Guajira province. This is the first discovery in deep waters of the Colombian Caribbean. The Orca-1 well was drilled within the Tayrona block and has as its operating company Petrobras, with a 40% stake, in partnership with Ecopetrol (30%) and Repsol (30%). The Tayrona block was the first contract granted in 2004 by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos) for exploration in the Colombian Caribbean. The well reached the expected depth of 13,910 feet (4,243 meters), in water depth of 2,211feet (674 meters). Drilling was completed in September and showed the accumulation of natural gas at a depth of 12,000 feet (3,657 meters). Orca-1's results confirm the hydrocarbon potential of this Colombian frontier basin and demonstrate the capacity of the petroleum system in the deep part of the offshore basin. Following completion of this phase of exploration and initial tests, in-depth technical studies will begin to determine gas potential of the discovery. Ecopetrol is currently a participating partner in 13 offshore blocks in the Colombian Caribbean. A drilling campaign is planned for this basin that will include two wells in 2015 and two or three additional wells in 2016 with its partners. 9 Feb 2015 Diamond Offshore (“Diamond”) has announced that the company has decided to stack a further two jackup rigs and another semisubmersible rig, doubling its total of cold stacked units. The units being cold stacked are the Ocean King and Ocean Titan both which will be stacked immediately in the US GoM as well as the Ocean Worker, which will arrive in the US GoM on the 2nd March 2015 and will being stacking preparations. The news that Diamond has chosen to stack these units follows the company’s decision to retire six units in December 2014, as it looks to react to the depressed offshore drilling market. Diamond struck by contract termination calls Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (“Diamond”) today released its 10-K form to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The release contained news that the company has received contract cancellation/terminations for six of its operational rigs in Brazil, UK and Mexico. Petrobras notified the company of its intention to terminate the Ocean Baroness’ contract with immediate effect in Brazil. Whilst on the 12th February 2015, Dana Petroleum gave notice to Diamond that it intended to terminate the drilling contract for the Ocean Nomad semisub, currently operating in the UK. However, the largest cancellation/termination notice came from Pemex who informed Diamond that it intends to terminate contracts for the Ocean Ambassador, Ocean Nugget and Ocean Summit as well as cancelling the future contract for the Ocean Lexington. Diamond highlighted in the release that the company is currently in discussion with each of the three operators regarding the proposed terminations and cancellations which if exercised could result in a significant decrease in revenue for the rig manager. The Levitt-1 exploration well is targeting an unrisked gross prospective resource best estimate of 220 mmbbls in the Legendre and North Rankin formations. The well is positioned to receive migrating hydrocarbons from the oil mature Early Jurassic source kitchen located in the central and eastern side of the permit. 7 Apr 2015 INPEX CORPORATION (“INPEX”) announced today an oil discovery at the Bestari-1 exploration well in Deepwater Block R where preliminary findings point to an approximately 70m column of oil-bearing sands across multiple horizons. INPEX has a participating interest in Block R through its wholly-owned subsidiary, INPEX Offshore South West Sabah, Ltd. Block R located offshore East Malaysia covers an area of 672km2 with a water depth ranging from 100m to 1,400m. INPEX currently owns a 27.5% participating interest in the Block, where it conducts exploration activities alongside operator JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (“Deepwater Sabah”) Limited, PETRONAS CARIGALI Sdn. Bhd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petronas, and Santos Sabah Block R Limited, which own participating interests of 27.5%, 25% and 20%, respectively. Moving forward, INPEX and its partners will analyse and evaluate the data retrieved from the well, and proceed with plans to drill two exploratory wells to assess the possibility of new oil and natural gas deposits. Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (“JOGMEC”) is to cover up to 50% of exploration expenditures incurred by INPEX Offshore South West Sabah, Ltd. through equity capital. Chevron announces gas discovery in Australia Chevron Australia Pty Ltd announced today further drilling success in the Greater Gorgon Area located in the Carnarvon Basin, a premier hydrocarbon basin offshore northwest Australia. The Isosceles-1 exploration discovery well encountered approximately 134 metres (440 feet) of net gas pay in the Triassic Mungaroo Sands in 968 metres of water (3,175 feet). The well fulfilled the second year work commitment in the exploration program. It is located in the WA-392-P permit area approximately 95 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of Barrow Island, off the coast of Western Australia. “This discovery is a continuation of our exploration success and further positions our company as a key supplier for future liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Melody Meyer, president, Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Company. Roy Krzywosinski, managing director, Chevron Australia, said: “This discovery in the Greater Gorgon Area is an important addition to our portfolio and highlights the industry-leading results of our exploration program in Australia.” Chevron Australia is the operator of WA-392-P with a 50 percent interest while Shell Australia and Mobil Australia Resources each hold a 25 percent interest. 4 May 2015 Apache negotiates rate reduction for final two months of future contract Apache Corporation (“Apache”) has negotiated a reduced dayrate with Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (“Diamond”) on its future contract for the Ocean Monarch semisubmersible drilling rig. The unit which is expected to begin its 18 month contract in Australia for Apache in June 2015 will see its dayrate reduce from USD410,000 to USD350,000 for the final two months of the 18 month contract. 13 May 2015 'Ocean Victory' arrives in Trinidad for BP contract BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC (“BP”) has announced that the Ocean Victory semi-submersible drilling rig, owned and operated by Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (“Diamond”), has arrived in Trinidad and Tobago after mobilising from the USA. The unit will now take on personnel, equipment and supplies, before moving to the offshore location of the Juniper field located 50 miles off the south east coast of Trinidad, where it is expected to commence drilling operations in mid-May. The Juniper project is BP’s first in subsea field development in Trinidad and will have a production capacity of approximately 590 million standard cubic feet a day (mmscfd). First gas from the facility is expected in 2017. The rig, which is capable of drilling to total depths of up to 25,000 feet, and in water depths of up to 6,000 feet, is under contract for an initial term of two years. It is expected to drill 5 subsea wells which will be tied into the Juniper platform. Ocean Victory has travelled 2,168 nautical marine miles in 23 days from Mississippi, US. This will be the third rig in operation on BP’s offshore facilities in Trinidad, joining the SKD Jaya and the Rowan EXL II. Levitt-1 well spudded in Australia Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (“Karoon”) is pleased to announce the commencement of the high impact Levitt-1 exploration well in WA-482-P Carnarvon Basin, off-shore Western Australia. Levitt-1 spudded at 1230 AEST on 4th July 2015. The shallow hole section has been drilled 73 metres, in a water depth of 1,163 metres to the current depth of 1,262 mRT and the conductor casing has been set. Preparations are underway to commence drilling in the 17-1/2” hole section later today. The Ocean America semisubmersible drilling rig is being used to drill the well which is targeting a net unrisked prospective resource best estimate of 110mmbbls (gross 220mmbbls). Total depth is expected to be reached during early August. Global Maritime Deep Sea Mooring has been awarded a contract for the provision of mooring and rig positioning services for the Australian oil and gas company Quadrant energy. Under the contract with Quadrant Energy, Global Maritime Deep Sea Mooring will perform mooring and rig positioning services for both semi-submersible and jack-up operations on the Northwest Shelf, Australia. The contract will begin with Quadrant Energy’s use of the Ocean America for drilling operations on the Levitt-1 well. 8 Jul 2015 Global Maritime Deep Sea Mooring has been awarded a contract for the provision of mooring and rig positioning services to the Australian oil and gas company Woodside. Under the contract with Woodside, Global Maritime Deep Sea Mooring will perform mooring and rig positioning services for semi-submersible drilling unit Ocean Monarch, which is drilling at the Julimar field on the Northwest Shelf, Australia. Mobilisation and offshore operations commenced in May 2015. “Winning this contract confirms the importance of flexibility and local presence, with availability of equipment and personnel. We are very pleased that our unique advanced technologies and equipment specifications are highly appreciated by key industry players”, says Managing Director Barry Silver in Global Maritime Deep Sea Mooring Australia. “This is our first contract with Woodside, and we look forward to developing a close cooperation going forward”. Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (“Karoon”) is pleased to announce that the Levitt-1 exploration well in WA-482-P Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia was drilling ahead in the 12-1/4” hole section at a depth of 2,918 mRT. Since the 6th July 2015 Progress Report No 1, the 17-1/2” hole section was drilled to a depth of 2,099 mRT where the 13-5/8” casing was run and cemented in place at 2,094 mRT. Blowout Preventer installation and testing was then completed, the casing shoe drilled out and drilling ahead commenced in the 12-1/4” hole section. The Ocean America semi-submersible drilling rig is being used to drill the well which is targeting a net unrisked prospective resource best estimate of 110mmbbls (gross 220mmbbls) . Total depth is expected to be reached during early August. Levitt-1 is designed to test the presence of a working petroleum system generating from the Wigmore sub-basin. Quadrant Energy comes up dry at Levitt-1 Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (“Karoon”) announced that as of 19:30 AWST on 8th August 2015, the Levitt-1 exploration well in WA-482-P Carnarvon Basin, off- shore Western Australia reached a final total depth of 4,929 mRT. No hydrocarbons shows were noted while drilling and petrophysical analysis of LWD data indicates the good quality reservoir of the Legendre and North Rankin formations to be water bearing at this location. Since the June 2015 Quarterly Report, announced 31st July 2015, the 9-5/8” casing was run and cemented in place. The 8-1/2” hole section was then drilled 504 metres from 4,425 mRT to TD. A wireline logging program is now underway. Once the wireline logging program is complete, the well will be plugged and abandoned, completing the current exploration drilling program in WA-482-P. Karoon has a 50% equity interest in WA-482-P and is carried for 90% of the cost of the well. Joint venture partner, and operator Quadrant Energy Australia Ltd has the remaining 50% interest. The net cost to Karoon is expected to remain within the USD5 million budget. 2 Nov 2015 As announced in Diamond Offshore’s November fleet status report, the company has agreed to terminate the drilling contracts on the Ocean Clipper and Ocean Alliance early and add 875 days to the end of the current term of the Ocean Courage at the rate of US$380,000 per day. The agreement has now been approved by Petrobras. Diamond Offshore is now finalising the amendments to the drilling contracts. 2 Nov 2015 Ocean Clipper to be Retired According to Diamond Offshore's fleet status report, the Ocean Clipper has been retired and is now preparing for exportation from Brazil. The asset is due to be scrapped. The remaining contract term on the Ocean Clipper has been added to the Ocean Courage. Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE:DO) today announced initiation of a major upgrade of the Victory-class semisubmersible Ocean Endeavor for ultra-deepwater service. The modernized rig will be designed to operate in up to 10,000 ft. of water and will be the most capable of the Company's upgraded Victory-class units. The project is budgeted at $250 million including capitalized overhead and interest, spares, testing and delivery, mobilization to Singapore, and all other associated expenditures. Delivery is expected in approximately two years. The Ocean Endeavor will be fully outfitted for 8,000-ft. moored operations upon delivery and in certain applications will be capable of deploying a 12-point mooring system. In addition, the rig will have increased crew quarters' capacity, over 6,000 tons of operating variable deck load, and more than twice the useable deck space compared to the design of the previously upgraded Ocean Rover and Ocean Baroness. The Endeavor will employ the same Tripsaver(TM) technology that is at work on the Rover and Baroness, which provides for significant drilling efficiencies. "We have made the decision to move forward on the Endeavor upgrade based upon our confidence in the strength of the market," stated Diamond Offshore President and Chief Operating Officer, Larry Dickerson. "The modernized Endeavor will expand our 5th Generation semisubmersible fleet to four units, enhancing our ability to serve both the exploration and development needs of our customers. The estimated construction cost of this unit is significantly below new-build costs, and the relatively short construction schedule represents a large delivery advantage over new builds." The Endeavor, currently cold stacked in the Gulf of Mexico, will be mobilized to Keppel-FELS Ltd.'s shipyard in Singapore. Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the world’s largest shipbuilder and a leading offshore facilities manufacturer, today announced it delivered Ocean Greatwhite, the world’s largest semi-submersible drilling rig, to Diamond Offshore, a Houston-based drilling contractor on July 15. The delivery installment worth 460 billion won ($395 million) HHI received from the client will help improve HHI’s cash flow. Ocean Greatwhite, measuring 123 m in length and 78 m in width, is capable of operating in waters up to 3 km deep and drilling down to a depth of 10.67 km from the sea surface. The rig will be chartered to BP for operation in the Great Australian Bight from October this year. HHI won the order worth $630 million to build the rig in 2013 and has delivered four other drillships to the US-based drilling contractor so far. An HHI official said, “The close cooperation between Diamond Offshore and HHI on the basis of mutual trust is what made the delivery of Ocean Greatwhite possible.” 8 Aug 2016 DNV GL has welcomed the world’s largest semi-submersible drilling rig into class recently. Ocean Greatwhite is 123 metres long and 78 metres wide and was delivered at Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea. Owned by the Houston-based drilling contractor Diamond Offshore, the rig will be chartered to oil major BP and will operate in the Great Australian Bight. The rig is to be a new design MOSS CS60E high specification state-of- the art semi-submersible drilling unit suitable for operations in harsh environments, which is the first MOSS CS60E and the largest rig in the world. “The Ocean GreatWhite is a unique rig purposely built for drilling in harsh environments,” said Karl Sellers, SVP Technical Services at Diamond Offshore. “HHI and DNV GL were integral in helping us get this rig to market as we prepare for the drilling project in Australia with BP.” “We have a strong relationship with both DNV GL and Diamond Offshore – and it is thanks to this good cooperation that the project went so well. We are proud to deliver the first drilling ship of this size and look forward to many more projects on this scale,” Youngseuk Han, Senior Executive Vice President at HHI said. “We will keep moving the boundaries of technology by completing following large-scale and innovative projects.” “Ocean Greatwhite is capable of operating in depths of up to 3000 metres and can drill down to a depth of 10,670 metres. It represents the state of the art in the semi-submersible sector and we are very pleased to have been asked to contribute our expertise to this project,” says Paal Johansen, Vice President and Regional Director, Americas at DNV GL. Ocean Greatwhite is also the first new-build rig to receive the DNV GL Integrated Software Dependent Systems (ISDS) notation. ISDS are systems whose performance is dependent on the overall behaviour of their integrated software components. DNV GL’s ISDS standard helps owners and operators minimise software integration errors and delays in projects involving complex integrated systems. The certification ensures that software and integration issues are identified and resolved early on during the project design stages. It also represents a new approach to verification, as it emphasises a review of the working methods and processes that lead to the delivery the systems, rather than simply focusing on the final review of documents and installations to ensure they meet product requirements. Industry data suggests that high specification mobile offshore drilling units may experience 30 per cent down-time during their first years of operations, which makes a systematic framework for ensuring that ISDS achieve the required reliability, availability, maintainability and safety essential. “We expect that the operational performance of Ocean Greatwhite will demonstrate how the ISDS notation can contribute to increasing the reliability of the complex systems onboard,” adds Paal Johansen. DNV GL’s ISDS teams in Korea, Norway, and the USA all contributed to the project. DNV GL also provided advisory services to HHI on the integration of the various systems throughout the newbuilding process. 19 Oct 2016 Historic Bedout Sub-basin flow test Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (“Carnarvon”) (ASX:CVN) advises that the Roc-2 well test successfully flowed gas and condensate to surface over the course of a sustained test program. Quadrant Energy, as operator of the permit, undertook controlled flow test operations in the Roc-2 well. The well flow tested at rates up to 51.2 million scf per day of gas and 2,943 barrels of condensate per day, that is approximately 11,500 barrels of oil equivalent* per day. These rates were achieved through an approximate 1 1/2” choke and were equipment constrained flow rates; meaning the well flowed at the maximum rate possible in the equipment being used. Testing operations were undertaken at controlled flow rates to enable the monitoring of the field including reservoir pressures, gas and condensate ratios and the presence of other substances such as CO2, H2S, water and sand. Encouragingly, there were insignificant levels of these other substances in the gas and condensate recorded during the flow test. Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (“Carnarvon”) (ASX:CVN) is pleased to inform shareholders that operations at the Phoenix South-2 well have been safely completed and the rig has now left the drilling location. The well drilled an estimated 39 metre hydrocarbon-bearing zone between approximately 5,176 and 5,215 metres with significant gas influx and elevated reservoir pore pressures. The well was unable to assess as much as 185 metres of additional potential hydrocarbon bearing Caley reservoir beneath 5,215 metres due to the higher than anticipated pressures being encountered. The higher formation pressures encountered typically support both larger volumes and higher gas and condensate flows rates over a given reservoir. An update on volume estimates will be provided once Carnarvon has had an opportunity to assess all of the information obtained from the well. These results are expected to have a positive impact on volumes assessments in the Phoenix South Caley Sandstone. The joint venture will also assess the results of this well for the purpose of considering the future operations in this area, including quantifying the resources identified in the Phoenix South Barret and Caley Sandstone formations. Unfortunately, the subsurface conditions in this well did not allow for the well to be suspended in a way that would allow for re-entry at a later date. 29 May 2013 Diamond Offshore Drilling has announced that the company has ordered a newbuild harsh environment semi-sub rig from Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. The unit will be built to Moss Maritime's CS-60E design and the total construction cost of the project is valued at US$755 million with completion after November 2015. The unit has also been awarded a contract for drilling operations for BP in Australia upon delivery for an initial three year period with a dayrate of US$585,000. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Statoil Petroleum AS a drilling permit for well 25/9-4, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Well 25/9-4 will be drilled from the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility at position 59°25’24.4” north and 2°47’15.0” east. The drilling programme for well 25/9-4 relates to drilling of a wildcat well in production licence 628. Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator with a 50 per cent ownership interest. The other licensees are Petoro AS with 20 per cent, Repsol Exploration Norge AS med 20 per cent and Petrolia Norway AS med 10 per cent. The area in this licence comprises parts of blocks 25/6, 25/9, 26/4 and 26/7 in the central part of the North Sea. Production licence 628 was awarded on 3 February 2012 (APA 2011). This is the first exploration well to be drilled in the licence, and the second within the licence area. Wildcat well 26/4-1 was drilled with BP as operator in 1987. The permit is contingent upon the operator securing all other permits and consents required by other authorities prior to commencing the drilling activities. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Statoil ASA a drilling permit for wellbore 30/9-25, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Wellbore 30/9-25 will be drilled from the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility at position 60°20’06.20’’N and 02°47’47.5’’E following completion of the drilling of wildcat well 16/2-18 S for Statoil ASA in production licence 265. The drilling programme for wellbore 30/9-25 concerns the drilling of a wildcat well in production licence 104. Statoil ASA is the operator with an ownership interest of 49.3 per cent. The other licensees are Petoro AS (33.6 per cent), Total E&P Norge AS (14.7 per cent) and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (2.4 per cent). The acreage in this permit consists of the blocks 30/9. Production licence 104 was awarded on 1 March 1985 (the ninth licensing round on the Norwegian shelf). The permit is contingent upon the operator having secured all other permits and consents required by other authorities before the drilling starts. 1 Jul 2013 The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Statoil Petroleum AS a drilling permit for well 16/2-18 S, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Well 16/2-18 S will be drilled from the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility at position 58°49’56.6” north and 2°27’51.2” east on the Johan Sverdrup discovery. The drilling program for well 16/2-18 S relates to drilling of a wildcat well in production licence 265. Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator with an ownership interest of 40 per cent. The other licensees are Petoro AS with 30 per cent, Det norske oljeselskap ASA with 20 per cent and Lundin Norway AS with 10 per cent. The area in this licence consists of part of block 16/2 in the central part of the North Sea. Production licence 265 was awarded on 24 April 2001 (North Sea Awards, 2000). This is the 13th well to be drilled within the licence area and the ninth exploration well in PL 265 on Johan Sverdrup. The permit is contingent upon the operator securing all other permits and consents required by other authorities before commencing drilling activities. Statoil gains approval to drill Johan Sverdrup appraisal well 16/2-17 B The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Statoil Petroleum AS a drilling permit for well 16/2-17 B, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Well 16/2-17 B will be drilled from the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility at position 58°48’15.92” north and 2°31’46.03” east on the Johan Sverdrup discovery after completing the drilling of appraisal well 16/1-17 S for Statoil in production licence 265. The drilling program for well 16/2-17 B relates to drilling of an appraisal well in production licence 265. Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator with an ownership interest of 40 per cent. The other licensees are Petoro AS with 30 per cent, Det norske oljeselskap ASA with 20 per cent and Lundin Norway AS with 10 per cent. The area in this licence consists of part of block 16/2 in the central part of the North Sea. Production licence 265 was awarded on 24 April 2001 (North Sea Awards 2000). This is the twelfth well to be drilled in the licence area, and the eighth appraisal well on Johan Sverdrup in PL 265. The permit is contingent upon the operator securing all other permits and consents required by other authorities before commencing drilling activities. Statoil, operator of production licence 104, is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 30/9-25. The well has been drilled about six kilometres south of the Oseberg Sør facility, and about 130 kilometres west of Bergen. The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Tarbert formation). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Draupne and Heather formation). Traces of petroleum were encountered in the Tarbert, Heather and Draupne formations. The well is classified as dry. Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. This is the 26th exploration well in production licence 104. The licence was awarded in the 9th licensing round in 1985. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 3220 metres below the sea surface and was terminated in the Ness formation in the Middle Jurassic. Water depth at the site is 100 metres. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned. Well 30/9-25 was drilled by the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility, which will now proceed to production licence 272 in the northern North Sea to drill wildcat well 30/11-9 S, where Statoil is the operator. Statoil hits oil at Cliffhanger North prospect well in Norway Statoil Petroleum AS, operator for production licence 265, is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 16/2-18 S. The well has been drilled 9 km west of discovery well 16/2-6 and about 3 km west of appraisal well 16/2-14 in the North Sea. The primary exploration target of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks of Jurassic Age at basement height (Utsirahøgda), and the secondary target was to examine the reservoir properties in weathered/fractured basement. While the well did not encounter reservoir rocks of Jurassic Age, it did encounter a 15 metres oil zone in weathered/fractured granite in the basement. However, no oil-water contact was established. The oil in the basement is not in communication with the Johan Sverdrup discovery. Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been conducted in the upper part of the basement. Mini DST was conducted in weathered/fractured basement and showed that the reservoir had poor production properties. This is the 13th exploration well in production licence 265. The licence was granted in the North Sea Awards 2000. Well 16/2-18 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 1948 metres below the sea surface and was completed in in basement rocks. The sea depth is 112 metres. The well was permanently plugged and abandoned. The well was drilled by the drilling facility Ocean Vanguard, which will now drill wildcat well 30/9-25 in production licence 104 where Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator. Statoil in North Sea oil and gas discovery Statoil Petroleum AS, operator of production licence 272, is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat wells 30/11-9 S and 30/11-9 A. The well was drilled about 13 kilometres southeast of the 30/11-8 S discovery and about 35 km south of the Oseberg Sør installation in the North Sea. The primary exploration target for well 30/11-9 S was to prove petroleum in Upper to Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (lower part of the Heather and Tarbert formation). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Middle Jurassic (Ness and Etive formation). The well encountered gas in a net 90-metre column in the lower part of the Heather formation and in the upper to middle part of the Tarbert formation, both with reservoir properties as expected. The Ness formation was aquiferous and the Etive formation, which lies under the Ness formation, was therefore not explored. The primary exploration target for well 30/11-9 A was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Tarbert formation). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Ness and Etive formation). The well encountered oil in a net 40-metre column in the lower part of the Heather formation and the upper part of the Tarbert formation, both with reservoir properties as expected. The Ness formation was aquiferous and the Etive formation, which lies under the Ness formation, was therefore not explored. Preliminary estimates indicate that the size of the discoveries is between 3 and 7 million Sm3 recoverable oil equivalents. The wells were not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition was carried out. The licensees in production licence 272 will assess the discoveries together with other discoveries in the production licence. Wells 30/11-9 S and 30/11-9 A were drilled to respective vertical depths of 3637 and 3646 metres below the sea surface, and both were terminated in the Ness formation in the Middle Jurassic. The wells are the second and third exploration wells in production licence 272, which was awarded in the 2001 North Sea Awards (NST2001) in 2002. Water depth is 110 metres. The wells will be permanently plugged and abandoned. Wells 30/11-9 S and 30/11-9 A were drilled by the Ocean Vanguard drilling rig, which will now proceed to production licence 628 in the North Sea to drill wildcat well 25/9-4, where Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Statoil Petroleum AS a drilling permit for well 16/2-19, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Well 16/2-19 will be drilled from the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility at position 58°54’12.3” north and 2°29’37.8” east in production licence 265 in the central part of the North Sea. The drilling programme for well 16/2-19 relates to drilling of an appraisal well in production licence 265. Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator with an ownership interest of 40 per cent. The other licensees are Petoro AS with 30 per cent, Det norske oljeselskap ASA with 20 per cent and Lundin Norway AS with 10 per cent. The area in this licence consists of part of block 16/2. The well will be drilled about 2.1 kilometres north to northeast of the 16/2-12 well in the Geitungen segment on Johan Sverdrup. Production licence 265 was awarded on 24 April 2001 (NSA 2000). This is the 14th exploration well to be drilled within the licence area and the 10th exploration well on or near the 16/2-6 Johan Sverdrup oil discovery. The permit is contingent upon the operator securing all other permits and consents required by other authorities prior to commencing drilling activities. First Syn-rift Discovery Announced in the Deepwater Angola Pre-salt Cobalt International Energy, Inc. ("Cobalt") (NYSE:CIE) in partnership with the National Concessionaire Sonangol and the Block 21 partners announces the first discovery in the Syn-rift interval in the Bicuar #1A Pre-salt deepwater exploratory well offshore Angola. The well was successfully drilled to a measured depth of 5,739 meters and encountered approximately 56 meters (180 feet) of net pay from multiple Pre-salt intervals. Results of an extensive logging, coring and fluid acquisition program confirmed the existence of both oil and condensate in multiple intervals. No free gas zones or water contacts were observed. All well data was collected via open hole logging technology. This is Sonangol’s and Cobalt’s fourth deepwater Pre-salt discovery offshore Angola. The Bicuar #1A well is of particular significance as it is the first discovery of mobile hydrocarbons that have been tested in the deeper Pre-salt Syn-rift reservoir. After running production casing, the well was temporarily abandoned. Following full processing and integration of all subsurface data collected from the well, the Block 21 partners will evaluate any additional activities necessary to assess Bicuar’s commerciality. The Bicuar #1A well was drilled to total depth in only 59 days, approximately 63 days ahead of schedule. Cobalt, as operator, owns a 40 percent working interest in Block 21. Partners include Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção, S.A., Nazaki Oil and Gaz, and Alper Oil Limitada. “The Syn-rift discovery in Bicuar validates the presence of a viable seal and trap with quality reservoir rocks in the deeper reservoir section,” said James Farnsworth, Cobalt’s Chief Exploration Officer. “These characteristics have been present in similar features in the Campos Basin of Brazil and will be key to expanding the potential of the broader Angola Kwanza Basin Pre-salt. We are also excited with how quickly Bicuar 1A was drilled, while never compromising our commitment to safety and environmental protection. Continued performance of this type would allow us to drill wells at nearly half the cost we had anticipated.” 10 Dec 2012 Salamander announces the commencement of its exploration drilling programme in the North Kutei basin, East Kalimantan, Indonesia with the spudding of the South Kecapi-1 DIR and DIRA exploration wells in the Bontang PSC. Salamander has a 100% operated interest in the Bontang PSC. The South Kecapi-1 DIR well will be drilled to a depth of approximately 2,450 metres total vertical depth sub sea (‘TVDSS’). On completion it will then be sidetracked approximately 1.5 km to the west with the South Kecapi-1 DIRA being drilled to a depth of approximately 2,100 metres TVDSS. The South Kecapi-1 DIR/DIRA wells are targeting gas and oil pay in a series of stacked Pliocene – Upper Miocene sandstone reservoirs. The combined mean pre-drill estimate of prospective recoverable resources is approximately 275 Bcf and 20 MMbo. The wells will be drilled by the Ocean General semi-submersible rig in a water depth of 388 metres. On completion of the South Kecapi-1 DIR/DIRA wells the rig will move to the South East Sangatta PSC to test the North Kendang prospect. 4 Feb 2013 Salamander Energy plc announces that the South Kecapi-1 DIR/ST exploration well (“SK-1”) in the Bontang PSC has been completed as an oil and gas discovery. South Kecapi is the first well in Salamander’s multi-well programme in the North Kutei basin. SK-1 discovered a combined 40 m of net oil and gas pay in high quality stacked Pliocene channel sandstones. A drill stem test (“DST”) was conducted within one of the well’s primary targets; a well-developed, Pliocene-age channel sandstone, which flowed light oil at a rate of c. 6,000 barrels of oil per day (constrained by testing equipment) and 8 MMscf per day of gas. The well is being plugged and abandoned as an oil and gas discovery. SK-1 was drilled using the Ocean General semi-submersible rig, reaching a total depth (“TD”) of 2,102 m true vertical depth sub-sea (“TVDSS”). Higher pressures than anticipated and numerous gas kicks were encountered throughout the early Pliocene section which is believed to be indicative of a hydrocarbon-charging system that is extremely active. Salamander announces the spud of the North Kendang-1 exploration well in the South East Sangatta PSC. Salamander has a 75% operated interest in the South East Sangatta PSC. The North Kendang-1 well will be drilled to a depth of approximately 2,600 m total vertical depth sub-sea ('TVDSS'). The North Kendang-1 well is targeting gas and oil pay in a series of stacked Pliocene – Upper Miocene sandstone reservoirs. The combined mean pre-drill estimate of prospective recoverable resources is approximately 770 Bcf and 91 MMbo. The well will be drilled by the Ocean General semi-submersible rig in a water depth of 465 metres. On completion of the North Kendang well the rig will return to the Bontang PSC to drill the Bedug prospect. The Bedug location is 4 km east and 500 m up-dip of the recent South Kecapi oil and gas discovery. Salamander Energy plc announces that the North Kendang-1 exploration well ("NK-1") in its operated South East Sangatta PSC has been suspended as a potential gas discovery. The rig is now being mobilised to the Bontang PSC to drill the Bedug-1 exploration well, the third well in Salamander’s multi-well programme in the North Kutei basin. The Ocean General semi-submersible rig spudded the NK-1 well on the 10th February 2013; to date the well has been drilled to 2,535 metres true vertical depth subsea ("TVDSS"). The well drilled through a predominantly shale-prone section throughout the Pliocene. On reaching what is prognosed to be the first Upper Miocene reservoir target at 2,533 metres TVDSS, the well took a significant kick from an influx of high pressure hydrocarbon gas into the well bore at a wellhead pressure of circa 4,000 psi. As a result of encountering high pressure gas, the well experienced operational challenges ultimately leading to its suspension before evaluating the reservoir section. The gas has been sampled and is being analysed with initial results pointing to a wet gas, while pressure data indicate a potentially significant column height. Salamander is reviewing the option to return to NK-1 as part of the current drilling campaign, in order to drill ahead and evaluate the Upper Miocene section. NK-1 is the second well in Salamander’s multi-well programme in the North Kutei basin and follows on from the oil and gas discovery at the South Kecapi-1 well announced in February. Salamander announces the spud of the Bedug-1 exploration well in the Bontang PSC. Salamander has a 100% operated interest in the Bontang PSC. The Bedug-1 well will be drilled to a depth of approximately 2,050 m total vertical depth sub-sea ('TVDSS') and is targeting gas and oil pay in both Upper Miocene and Lower Pliocene channel sands on the crest of the Bedug structure. The well is located to the East of the Angklung-1 gas discovery and 4 km East and 500m up-dip of the recent South Kecapi-1 ST oil and gas discovery. Bedug-1 will be drilled by the Ocean General semi-submersible rig in a water depth of 460 metres. 23 May 2013 Salamander announces that the Bedug-1 exploration well in the Bontang PSC has been concluded as a gas discovery[i]. Bedug-1 was drilled using the Ocean General semi-submersible rig, the well reaching a total depth (“TD”) of 1,693 m true vertical depth sub-sea (“TVDSS”). The well encountered a gas-bearing sandstone interval of 5m thickness in the Lower Pliocene BT40 primary target as confirmed by log data. Within the BT45 primary target, the interval of well-developed sandstones from which oil was tested at South Kecapi were found to have thinned out on the crest of the Bedug structure. However, with these thinner sandstones containing strong oil shows, the potential for a commercial oil discovery remains and further investigation of the up-dip extent of the South Kecapi oil discovery is warranted. After deepening the well into the top of the BT50 target interval, Bedug-1 experienced a high pressure kick that came from a severely over-pressured 5.5m thick sandstone. Both log and pressure data have demonstrated this reservoir to be gas bearing, with log data from additional underlying thinner bedded sandstones also interpreted to be hydrocarbon-bearing. However, due to increasing formation pressures the well had to be suspended before fully evaluating the BT50 interval and without reaching the BT65 and BT80 targets. Based on the pressure profile in the well it was concluded that the deeper objectives could not be drilled and evaluated safely with the equipment available on the rig. This also precluded the drilling of a side-track down-dip to further evaluate the oil bearing BT45 interval. Completion of the Bedug-1 well concludes the current phase of Salamander’s multi-well programme in the North Kutei basin. This campaign has yielded the South Kecapi oil and gas discovery; the Bedug gas discovery; and wet gas at North Kendang which experienced a high pressure kick. Work is on-going to evaluate the commercial potential of the discoveries made to date, and Salamander intends to re-drill the North Kendang well (which, as announced on 22 May, is subject to an insurance claim). In parallel, new well data is to be integrated into a technical assessment of the Bontang and Southeast Sangatta PSCs, which both retain a significant undrilled inventory of prospects. Sterling Energy Plc, the AIM listed oil & gas exploration and production company (AIM: SEY), is pleased to provide the following update for the Ntem Concession, offshore Cameroon. The operator, Murphy Cameroon Ntem Oil Co. Ltd (“Murphy”), has confirmed that drilling operations have commenced on the Bamboo-1 well using the Ocean Confidence, a fifth generation semi-submersible drilling rig. The well, located approximately 56 kilometres from the coast of Cameroon, has an estimated target depth of 4200 metres true vertical depth sub-sea (TVDSS) and will be drilled in a water depth of approximately 1600 metres. Drilling operations are anticipated to take approximately 60-70 days. Sterling Cameroon Limited (“Sterling”) has a 50% non-operated working interest in the Ntem Concession. Murphy will pay Sterling’s share of the costs for the drilling of the Bamboo-1 well. The Bamboo prospect is a basin floor fan target within the highly prospective Upper Cretaceous play. A series of stacked fan targets have been identified and will be intersected by the Bamboo-1 well with the primary objective estimated to have a mean un-risked, gross prospective resource of 422 million barrels of oil and 170 billion cubic feet of gas, a total of some 450 million barrels of oil equivalent. Lundin Petroleum AB's (Lundin Petroleum) wholly owned subsidiary Lundin Norway AS (Lundin Norway) is pleased to announce that Statoil Petroleum AS (Statoil) has commenced the drilling of exploration well 16/2-12 targeting the Geitungen structure. The well is located in licence PL265, between the Johan Sverdrup discovery and the 16/2-9S Aldous Major North discovery in the Norwegian North Sea. The main objective of the well 16/2-12 is to prove the presence of oil bearing Jurassic sandstones similar to the Johan Sverdrup discovery. The planned total depth is 2,060 metres below mean sea level. The well will be drilled with the drilling rig Ocean Vanguard and the duration is expected to be 40 days. Lundin Norway holds 10 percent interest in PL265. Partners are Statoil (operator) with 40 percent interest, Petoro (30 percent) and Det norske oljeselskap ASA (20 percent). Lundin Petroleum AB (Lundin Petroleum) is pleased to announce that drilling of exploration well 16/2-18S in PL265 west of Johan Sverdrup has commenced. The well will target the Cliffhanger North prospect, located in the North Sea sector of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The well is located in PL265 west of the bounding fault of the Johan Sverdrup discovery and north of the previously tested Cliffhanger South segment in PL265. The main objective of the well is to investigate the presence of Jurassic reservoir and the quality of fractured and weathered basement approximately 3.2 km south-west of well 16/2-14 (Espeværhøgda) and 4.9 km north-west of 16/2-17B (Cliffhanger South). The planned total depth is approximately 1,970 metres below mean sea level and the well will be drilled using the semi-submersible rig Ocean Vanguard. Drilling is expected to take approximately 40 days. Statoil Petroleum is the operator of PL265 with 40 percent interest. Partners are Petoro (30%), det norske oljeselskap (20%), and Lundin Norway (10%). BP adds two drilling rigs in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico BP today announced it has added two drilling rigs to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, bringing its fleet to a company record nine rigs as it continues to develop its strong portfolio of assets in the key U.S. offshore basin. One of the rigs is a new ultra-deepwater drillship known as the West Auriga that is under long-term contract to BP from Seadrill Ltd, a leading international offshore drilling contractor. The vessel, capable of operating in up to 12,000 feet of water, has begun development drilling work at BP’s Thunder Horse field. The other is a reconstructed drilling rig on BP’s Mad Dog oil and gas production platform. It replaces the original rig on the platform that was badly damaged and left inoperable by Hurricane Ike in 2008. With the new, state-of-the art rig, the platform recently resumed development drilling at the massive Mad Dog field complex. “The addition of these two new rigs reflects the vital importance of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to the future of BP,” said Richard Morrison, Regional President of BP’s Gulf of Mexico business. “It also clearly demonstrates BP’s commitment to the American economy and U.S. energy security.” BP currently anticipates investing on average at least $4 billion in the Gulf of Mexico each year for the next decade. The company plans to concentrate future activity and investment in the Gulf on growth opportunities around its four major operated production hubs – Thunder Horse, Na Kika, Atlantis and Mad Dog – and three non-operated production hubs – Mars, Ursa and Great White – in the deepwater, as well as on significant exploration and appraisal opportunities in the Paleogene and elsewhere. BP is also advancing a strong pipeline of future development projects in the deepwater Gulf. In April, the company started up the Atlantis North expansion, the first of seven additional wells to be tied back to the existing Atlantis platform. At Na Kika, another field expansion is planned, following the successful startup last year of the Galapagos development, a subsea tieback to the Na Kika production facility. BP is also pursuing plans for a second phase of the Mad Dog field. Statoil Petroleum AS, operator of production licence 628, is in the process of concluding the drilling of wildcat well 25/9-4. The well was drilled about 25 kilometres east of the Jotun field in the central part of the North Sea, and about 138 kilometres west of Haugesund. The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Hugin and Sleipner formations). The well encountered an approx. 19-metre thick Hugin formation, of which approx. 15 metres had relatively good reservoir properties, and a Sleipner formation of about 31 metres with relatively poor reservoir properties. The well is dry. Data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. The well is the first exploration well in production licence 628, which was awarded in APA 2011. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2397 metres below sea level, and was terminated in the Sleipner formation in the Middle Jurassic. The water depth is 116 metres. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned. Well 25/9-4 was drilled by the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility, which will now proceed to the 16/2-6 Johan Sverdrup oil discovery in production licence 265 in the central part of the North Sea to drill appraisal well 16/2-19, where Statoil is the operator. Pan Pacific Petroleum (Vietnam) Pty Ltd has been advised by the Operator of the Block 07/03 Production Sharing Contract, Premier Oil Vietnam South, that 07/03-CD-1X, the Silver Sillago exploration well being drilled by 'Ocean General' drilling rig has reached a measured depth of 3537m BRT (below rotary table) without encountering oil or gas and TD (total depth) has been declared at this depth. The well, which evaluated a tilted fault trap similar to the Cá R?ng Ð? (CRD) structure, encountered sandstones in the main objective sequence as prognosed, but no hydrocarbons were present. Preparations will now be made to plug and abandoned the well as planned. Lundin Petroleum AB (Lundin Petroleum), through its wholly owned subsidiary Lundin Norway AS (Lundin Norway), is pleased to announce that the appraisal well 16/2-19 has commenced in the Statoil-operated PL265 on the Johan Sverdrup discovery, located in the North Sea sector of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The well is located in PL265 in the northern part of the Johan Sverdrup discovery. The main objective of the well is to investigate the Jurassic presence, reservoir thickness, quality and distribution on the north-eastern edge of the discovery 2.2 kilometres north of appraisal well 16/2-12 and 3.2 kilometres south-east of appraisal well16/2-9s. The planned total depth is approximately 1,990 metres below mean sea level and the well will be drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig ‘Ocean Vanguard’. The drilling operation is expected to take approximately 45 days. Statoil Petroleum is the operator of PL265 with 40 percent interest. The partners are Petoro (30%), Det norske oljeselskap (20%), and Lundin Norway (10%). Statoil receives approval to use 'Ocean Vanguard' to drill pilot hole on Johan Sverdrup Statoil has received consent to use Diamond Offshore’s ‘Ocean Vanguard’ semisub for drilling a pilot hole at 16/2-U-7 in the Johan Sverdrup field. Johan Sverdrup is in the North Sea, about 36 km south of the Grane field, 56 km north-east of the Sleipner field (Sleipner Øst) and about 144 km west of Utsira municipality in Rogaland county. The rig's planned position during drilling of well 16/2-U-7 is 58.50098” N 02.33167” E, with water depth at the site approximately 115 metres. Drilling is planned to start during March 2014 with an expected duration of 7 days. Ocean Vanguard is operated by Diamond Offshore with operations offices in Stavanger and technical and operational support from the company's office in Aberdeen.The facility is registered in the Marshall Islands with Det Norske Veritas as the classification society. Ocean Vanguard was built in 1982 and received Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in July 2004. Seadrill agrees to sell 'West Auriga' drillship to Seadrill Partners LLC Seadrill Limited (Seadrill) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Seadrill Partners LLC pursuant to which Seadrill will sell to Seadrill Capricorn Holdings LLC, Seadrill Partners' 51% owned subsidiary ("Capricorn Holdings"), all of the ownership interests in the entities that own and operate the drillship, the ‘West Auriga’. Seadrill will own the remaining 49% interest in Capricorn Holdings. The acquisition of the ‘West Auriga’ drillship, which is expected to close within 30 days, will be accomplished through a series of purchases, contributions and assumptions of debt and is subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.The ‘West Auriga’ is a 6th generation, dynamically positioned drillship delivered from the Samsung shipyard to its current customer, BP, in October 2013. The drillship is expected to carry out operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico until the end of its contract in October 2020 at a dayrate of US$565,000 per day, excluding approximately $37,500 per day payable by the customer over the term of the contract relating to mobilization, variation orders and other special and standby rates. The implied sale price of the drillship is US$1.24 billion, less US$443.1 million outstanding under the facility related to the ‘West Auriga’. In addition, Capricorn Holdings intends to issue a US$100 million zero coupon limited recourse discount note to the Company that matures in September 2015. Upon maturity of such note, Seadrill Capricorn Holdings LLC will repay US$103.7 million to the Seadrill. Based on the Seadrill Partners' 51% ownership of Seadrill Capricorn Holdings, its portion of the net purchase price after debt will be US$355.4 million. Pan Pacific Petroleum (Vietnam) Pty Ltd has been advised by the Operator of the Block 07/03 Production Sharing Contract that the plugging and abandonment of the 07/03-CD- 1X exploration well drilled using the 'Ocean General' drilling rig has been completed and the rig has been released. 7 Feb 2014 QGEP announces result of Atlanta well test in Brazil QGEP Participações S.A. ("Company") announced on February 5th the conclusion of the drilling and testing of the first horizontal well (7-ATL-2HP-RJS) of the Early Production System (EPS) of the Atlanta Field. Located in Block BS-4, Atlanta is a post-salt oil field 185 km off the coast of the city of Rio de Janeiro in the Santos Basin in water depth of approximately 1,500 meters. The well was drilled to a horizontal section length of 750m and a diameter of 9.5 inches. It encountered a very high porosity sand reservoir, with average porosity of 38%. The horizontal part of the well was then cased with screens and packed with gravel, which will maximize oil productivity while preventing the movement of reservoir sand into the borehole and production equipment. A Drill Stem Test (DST) was then successfully performed with two different flow periods, the first one more restricted in order to collect bottom hole samples of oil and gas, and the second flow with less restrictions. The two flow periods produced flow rates of 1,250 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and over 5,000 bopd, respectively. These flow rates were subject to considerable constraints associated with the DST set up and limited capacity of the surface facilities, such as storage, short term flaring limitations and low capacity electrical submersible pump (ESP). Furthermore, the test confirmed a Productivity Index (PI) higher than was estimated during reservoir simulation studies. These excellent results obtained with the drilling, completion and DST indicated that production rates of this well, once brought onstream under normal operation conditions and equipped with a full capacity ESP, will be closer to the high end of estimated 6,000-12,000 bopd range. The results of the tests also confirmed the expected characteristics of the reservoir and the oil, with high permeability and 14º API. As laid out in the development schedule for Atlanta, the Consortium will initiate immediately the drilling of the second horizontal well of the EPS. In the coming days, the Company will launch the bidding process for FPSOs of different capacities, covering both potential scenarios: continuing with the EPS or proceeding directly to Full Development. The decision on which FPSO will be hired will be based on the results of the tender and the impact on the economics of the project. In both scenarios, first oil at Atlanta is expected in late 2015 or early 2016. "Production test results came in at the high end of our expected range, confirming the potential of the Atlanta Field," said Danilo Oliveira, QGEP’s Production Director. "Our experienced team used cutting edge techniques and equipment, to carry out a highly successful test, demonstrating the technical know-how that we have built within QGEP. We will continue to apply this know-how as we develop the Field." Queiroz Galvão Exploração e Produção S.A. is the operator of the Block with a 30% ownership; other consortium members include OGX Petróleo e Gás S.A. (40%) and Barra Energia do Brasil Petróleo e Gás Ltda. (30%). BP has chartered Diamond Offshore Drilling’s (Diamond) ‘Ocean Victory’ semisub rig for drilling off Trinidad. The ‘Ocean Victory’ will begin its two-year firm contract with BP in April 2015, working at a dayrate of US$398,000, with an additional one-year extension option. The unit is currently ready stacked in the USA and is being actively marketed by Diamond, following its completion of a contract with Stone Energy in February 2014. BP currently has two rigs under contract in Trinidad, the ‘Rowan EXL-2’ jackup which has been drilling on the Savonette Field and SapuraKencana Drilling’s ‘SKD Jaya’ semi-tender rig. Statoil receives consent to drill with the 'Ocean Vanguard' Statoil has received consent to drill exploration well 25/8-18 S in production licence 169 in the North Sea. The well is to be drilled by the ‘Ocean Vanguard’ mobile drilling facility. The earliest start-up is April 2014 with a drilling duration of approximately 40 days, depending on whether a discovery is made. Water depth at the site is 129 metres. The well is in the North Sea, 12 km north-east of the Grane field and about 164 km from the nearest land, which is Utsira. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Statoil Petroleum AS a drilling permit for well 16/2-19 A, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Well 16/2-19 A will be drilled from the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility in position 58°54’12.3” north and 2°29’37.7” east in the central North Sea. The drilling program for well 16/2-19 A concerns the drilling of an appraisal well in production licence 265. Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator with an ownership interest of 40 per cent. The other licensees are Petoro AS with 30 per cent, Det norske oljeselskap ASA with 20 per cent and Lundin Norway AS with 10 per cent. The area in this licence consists of part of block 16/2. The well will be drilled 2.1 kilometres north to northeast of well 16/2-12 in the Geitungen segment in Johan Sverdrup. Production licence 265 was awarded on 24 April 2001 (North Sea Awards 2000). This is the 15th exploration well in the licence area and the 11th exploration well in or near the 16/2-6 Johan Sverdrup oil discovery in licence 265. The permit is contingent upon the operator having secured all other permits and consents required by other authorities before the drilling starts. 8 Apr 2014 Sterling Energy Plc, provides the following update for the Ntem Concession, offshore Cameroon. Bamboo-1, the first exploration well to be drilled on the Ntem Concession commenced operations on 9 February 2014 and Murphy Cameroon Ntem Oil Co. Ltd (“Murphy”), the operator with 50% working interest, has confirmed that the well, located in 1,600 m of water, has reached a total depth of 4,747 m and evaluation operations have been conducted. The well was designed to target a series of stacked Cretaceous aged, basin floor submarine fans, the main target being the Bamboo fan. The well encountered all pre-drill targets, however analysis of the data indicate that no commercial hydrocarbons were found and the well will now be plugged and abandoned. The data from the Bamboo-1 well will be analysed in detail and the results used to update the assessment of the remaining prospectivity of this large deep-water block that covers some 2,319 km2. The current phase of the Ntem concession runs to April 2015, with the option to extend the exploration term by a further two years. Sterling Cameroon Limited (“Sterling”) has a 50% non-operated working interest in the Ntem Concession. Murphy, under the terms of the farm-in agreement signed in 2011, will pay Sterling’s share of the costs for the drilling of the Bamboo-1 well. Statoil granted drilling permit for well 25/8-18S The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Statoil Petroleum AS a drilling permit for well 25/8-18 S, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Well 25/8-18 S will be drilled from the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility at position 59°15’1.12” north and 2°37’0.59” east of the Grane field in the central part of the North Sea. The drilling programme for well 25/8-18 S relates to the drilling of an appraisal well in production licence 169. Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator with a 57 per cent ownership interest. The other licensees are Petoro AS with 30 per cent and ExxonMobil E&P Norway AS with 13 per cent. The area in this licence consists of parts of blocks 25/8 and 25/11. The well will be drilled 0.7 kilometres southeast of wildcat well 25/8-4. Production licence 169 was awarded on 1 March 1991 (supplement to the 13th Round). This is the 14th exploration well drilled within PL169. The permit is contingent upon the licensee securing all other permits and consents required by other authorities before the drilling activity commences. Diamond Offshore’s (Diamond) midwater semisub the ‘Ocean Quest’ has been contracted for a 10-well contract in Vietnam with Petrovietnam Exploration & Production (PVEP). The unit is expected to begin work in late April 2014, garnering a dayrate of US$198,900 for the contract, which runs into December 2014. The ‘Ocean Quest’ has been stacked in Malaysia since the end of November 2013, following on from the termination of its previous drilling contract with OGX in Brazil. Diamond also announced the signing of a single well contract for the ‘Ocean Monarch’ in Indonesia with Total, alongside two 1-well extensions for the ‘Ocean Saratoga’ and ‘Ocean Princess’. Premier strikes oil at Kuda Laut Premier Oil (Premier) today announced that company’s Kuda Laut-1 exploration well in Tuna PSC (Premier operator, 65%) offshore Indonesia has discovered 183 feet of net oil-bearing reservoir and 327 feet of net gas-bearing reservoir. Oil and gas samples have been recovered to surface. Following completion of evaluation operations, the well will be side-tracked to drill the Singa Laut prospect in the adjacent fault block. The results of this side-track are expected in late May and will be incorporated with the results from Kuda Laut to assess the extent of discovered resources at that time. Premier spudded the Kuda Laut-1 well using Diamond Offshore’s ‘Ocean General’ semisub, which will now drill the well at the Singa Laut prospect. Separately, drilling continues at the Ratu Gajah-1 exploration well in the Natuna Sea Block A PSC (Premier operator, 28.67%) with results expected in May. Det norske oljeselskap ASA is as partner in production licence 265, in the process of completing drilling of appraisal wells 16/2-19 and 16/2-19A in the Johan Sverdrup oil discovery. The objective of the wells was to examine the extent and properties of the reservoir rocks in the northernmost part of the Johan Sverdrup discovery. Well 16/2-19 encountered six metres gross oil-bearing sandstone of medium to good quality assumed to constitute part of the Statfjord Group. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,024 metres and was terminated in basement rocks. The license partners decided to drill a 1,000 metre sidetrack well (16/2-19A) towards the southwest in order to clarify the northern extent of the sandstones of the Draupne Formation, constituting the main reservoir on Johan Sverdrup. Here, a 12 metre gross oil-bearing sandstone/siltstone interval of medium good reservoir development was encountered in the Draupne formation. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1,971 metres and was terminated in basement rocks. The well results will be incorporated into the Johan Sverdrup field development work. The licensees in production licence 265 are Statoil (operator, 40 percent), Petoro AS (30 percent), Det norske oljeselskap ASA (20 percent), Lundin Norway AS (10 percent). 2 May 2014 Statoil Petroleum AS, operator of production licence 265, is currently completing the drilling of appraisal wells 16/2-19 and 16/2-19 A on the 16/2-6 Johan Sverdrup oil discovery in the central part of the North Sea. The discovery was proven in production licence 501 in the summer of 2010. Appraisal wells 16/2-19 and 16/2-19 A were drilled 2.1 kilometres north of well 16/2-12 in the northwestern part of Johan Sverdrup. The objective of well 16/2-19 was to investigate the extent, thickness and properties of Jurassic and Upper Triassic reservoir rocks, as well as the oil/water contact in the Geitungen segment on Johan Sverdrup. The well encountered a six-metre oil column in assumed Lower Jurassic to Upper Triassic sandstone with good reservoir properties. Twelve metres of silty sandstone without reservoir qualities were also encountered. Oil/water contact came in about as expected. The objective of well 16/2-19 A was to investigate Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks and reduce the uncertainty of the resource estimate for this segment by placing the well higher in the structure, 1 kilometre southwest of well 16/2-19. The well encountered a 13-metre gross oil column in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks, three metres of which were in sandstone with very good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was not encountered. Comprehensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. Multiple small-scale formation tests were carried out and the best, carried out in Upper Jurassic sandstone in 16/2-19 A, showed good flow properties. Both wells contained mobile oil in assumed Lower Triassic/Permian carbonate rocks with poor flow properties. The results from the wells will be incorporated in the work with the Johan Sverdrup field development. These are the 14th and 15th exploration wells in production licence 265, and the 10th and 11th drilled on or close to Johan Sverdrup in licence 265. The licence was awarded in 2001 (NSA 2000). Wells 16/2-19 and 16/2-19 A were drilled to vertical depths of 2024 and 1971 metres, respectively, below the sea surface, the latter with a measured depth of 2348 metres. Both wells were terminated in bedrock. Water depth at the site is 116 metres. The wells will be permanently plugged and abandoned. The wells were drilled by the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility, which will now drill well 16/2-U-7 in the same production licence, where Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator. 16 May 2012 Fairmount Alpine Towed Rig Ocean Whittington to Gulf Fairmount Marine’s tug Fairmount Alpine has towed the rig Ocean Whittington from offshore Belem, Brazil, to offshore Galveston, US. For this job Fairmount Marine was contracted by the rigs owner, Diamond Offshore Drilling, for which Fairmount has performed a series of towages in recent years. Ocean Whittington is a semi-submersible drilling rig for deep water operations. The rig has worked offshore the northern Brazilian coast since 2009. To tow the rig to the Gulf Fairmount Marine mobilized tug Fairmount Alpine, which was in South Africa after performing escort services for bulk carrier Vale Beijing. When Fairmount Alpine arrived at the location of the Ocean Whittington offshore Belem, she was requested to perform heading control duties to the rig prior the start of the towage. Upon readiness of the Ocean Whittington the convoy departed for the journey towards offshore Galveston. The tow over a distance of 3,625 miles was performed by the Fairmount Alpine with an average speed of 7.8 knots. 23 May 2013 Ocean Patriot rig has commenced mobilisation to the Galoc oil field for the Phase II development Nido Petroleum Limited (‘ASX:NDO’ or ‘the Company’) is pleased to advise that the Operator of SC 14C1 (Galoc Production Company W.L.L, a wholly owned subsidiary of Otto Energy Ltd, ASX: OEL) has informed the Company that the Ocean Patriot rig has commenced mobilisation from Singapore and is currently under tow with the tug Pacific Battler. The rig is expected to arrive at the field location in early June. Phil Byrne, Managing Director commented, “The departure from Singapore of the ‘Ocean Patriot’ rig to the Galoc oil field in SC 14C1 to commence the Phase II development project is a major milestone for this project and for the Company. I am very pleased to see the Phase II project enter the operational phase of its life cycle which will result in the drilling of two new additional horizontal development wells into the field. Galoc is the company’s cornerstone asset, and the Phase II development project is strongly aligned with the company’s strategy of focusing on building its reserves and production base and I look forward to the commencement of Phase II production in the fourth quarter this year”. Otto Energy Limited (“Otto”) (ASX:OEL), as operator of the producing Galoc oilfield joint venture offshore the Philippines, provides the following update on the Galoc-5H and Galoc-6H drilling campaign in SC14C, part of the Galoc Phase II development approved in 2012. Otto is pleased to advise that at 1300 hours on 4 June 2013, the Ocean Patriot semi-submersible drilling rig commenced drilling the Galoc-5H and 6H development wells. Drilling is expected to take approximately 115 days including the flowing of the wells for clean-up. The forward plan is to drill the 36" (914 mm) hole to 392 metres and install the 30" conductor prior to drilling the 171/2" (444 mm) hole to 950 meters. Successful conclusion of the Galoc-5H and Galoc 6-H drilling phase Otto Energy Limited (“Otto”) (ASX:OEL), as operator of the producing Galoc oilfield joint venture offshore the Philippines, provides the following update on the Galoc-5H and Galoc-6H drilling campaign in SC14C, part of the Galoc Phase II development project approved in 2012. During the period from 0600 hours (AWST) on 11 September 2013 to 0600 hours (AWST) on 18 September 2013, drilled the G-5H well 8½” hole horizontally to a final total depth of 4,497 metres and commenced running the completion liner and assembly. This marks the successful conclusion of the major drilling activities of the Phase II project with remaining drilling rig based operations being for well completions and installation of subsea trees. The G-5H and G-6H wells have been drilled to a combined total of 3,177m through horizontal reservoir section within which a significant 1,645m of net oil pay has been encountered. Data recorded during drilling shows high reservoir permeability in both wells which suggests good production deliverability will be achieved. Well deliverability will be confirmed when the wells are flowed to surface in the coming weeks for the well clean-up operations. Planned upgrades to the FPSO Rubicon Intrepid, which will process the additional Phase II production, have also been successfully completed this week according to schedule. Delivery of subsea equipment and mobilisation of installation vessels are all on schedule to allow final tie-in work to be completed consistent with planned first oil from the G-5H and G-6H wells in November 2013. Galoc-5H well successfully tested During the period from 0600 hours (AWST) on 9th October 2013 to 0600 hours (AWST) on 16th October 2013, the subsea tree installation, well clean-up and flow test operations were successfully completed. The Galoc-5H well has successfully flowed oil to surface from the Galoc Clastic Unit (GCU) with the well flowing at a rate of 6,300 barrels per day (“bopd”) on a 64/64” choke setting with a flowing tubing pressure (“FTP”) of ~830 psi. Operations were conducted via the drilling rig “Ocean Patriot” and oil was flared at the location. The initial oil deliverability potential from Galoc-5H under normal field operating conditions is expected to be between 8,000 and 12,000 bopd with final operating rates to be set according to optimum facility and reservoir management constraints. The results from this flow test are in line with the forecast overall field production rate of 12,000 bopd to be delivered once Phase II is brought in to production in late November 2013. The forward plan is to move to Galoc-6H, install the subsea tree and commence clean-up and flow testing prior to releasing the rig. 4 Nov 2013 During the period from 0600 hours (AWST) on 21st October 2013 to 0600 hours (AWST) on 4th November 2013, the Galoc-6H well was secured and the drilling rig Ocean Patriot pulled anchors, demobilised to Singapore and is now off-hire. This marks the successful completion of all drilling activities of the Phase II development. The construction vessel arrived in the Galoc field area on 1st November 2013 and has commenced installation activities to connect the Galoc-5H and Galoc-6H wells into the FPSO Rubicon Intrepid. It is expected that these offshore installation activities will be completed before the end of November 2013 resulting in the first oil being produced from the FPSO Rubicon Intrepid. A further update will be provided upon the completion of the installation and commissioning activities in the field. Keppel FELS adds US$300 million to order book with new contracts Keppel FELS Ltd (Keppel FELS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M), has secured a contract to upgrade the semisubmersible Ocean Patriot for Diamond Offshore. Keppel FELS will undertake the fabrication and installation of four 24-foot diameter stability columns and new lower hull inboard pontoon sponsons as well as upgrade the living quarters. Work on Ocean Patriot is expected to commence in June 2013 with redelivery at end 2013. When completed, the semisubmersible will be chartered to Shell for work at the Fram field in the UK North Sea. Rig charter awarded A one-year charter worth some NOK 350 million for the Ocean Vanguard drilling rig has been placed by Statoil with US contractor Diamond Offshore. “It will primarily be used for exploration in the North Sea and the Halten Bank area of the Norwegian Sea,” says Tor Gunnar Gloppen, rig deployment manager in Statoil’s rig management unit. “This charter involves a formalised drilling rig collaboration between four operator companies.” Ocean Vanguard is currently drilling for Eni off mid-Norway, with this assignment scheduled for completion by the end of the year. The rig is then due to make a brief yard stop before being ready to start drilling for Statoil in the New Year. Its first assignment will be to drill two exploration wells in the Tampen area of the North Sea, on the Gullfaks and Vigdis fields respectively. Registered in the Marshall Islands, Ocean Vanguard was built at Brevik in Norway in 1982 and is a third-generation rig. It has been designed to drill to a maximum depth of 7,600 metres (25,000 feet) in waters up to 450 metres (1,500 feet) deep. According to Mr Gloppen, Ocean Vanguard is the only Diamond Offshore rig operating off Norway at the moment. Oil strike near Vigdis An oil discovery has been made by Statoil in the M5 structure in the Tampen area of the North Sea, which will be produced through the installations on the group’s Vigdis field just to the north. Exploration well 34/7-D-4 H was drilled to a total measured depth of 4,572 metres from Ocean Vanguard, with oil proven in Brent Group rocks dating from the Jurassic. To optimise production from the area, a sidetrack was immediately drilled from this well as 34/7-D-4 AH to a total measured depth of 4,400 metres. Plans call for the well to be completed for production by the Borgland Dolphin rig during October before it is brought on stream. “It’s too early to say anything about the size of this discovery,” says Elin Loktu Rosnes, manager for the Tordis/Vigdis subsurface department. “But even minor volumes will be economic to produce since we already have established infrastructure in this area.” The M5 structure lies in production licence 089, where the water depth is around 251 metres. Vigdis has been developed with subsea templates tied back to Statoil’s Snorre A tension leg platform, with wellstream transfer in two pipelines. Operator Statoil has 28.22 per cent of PL 089. Its partners are Petoro with 30 per cent, Hydro 13.28 per cent, ExxonMobil 10.5 per cent, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge 9.6 per cent, Total 5.6 per cent and RWE-Dea 2.8 per cent. Rig contract with Diamond extended Statoil is extending the charter contract with Diamond Offshore Netherlands BV for the Ocean Vanguard drilling rig. The contract is worth NOK 1.8 billion. Lasting for two years, the contract includes an option for Statoil to extend the contract. The contract takes effect in April 2008. The rig will mainly be used for exploration drilling in the North Sea and in the Halten/Nordland area of the Norwegian Sea. ”We are very pleased that we have secured Ocean Vanguard for another two years. This will make it possible to maintain the high exploration activity on the Norwegian continental shelf for a long time,” says Tim Dodson, senior vice president for exploration in Statoil. The Marshall Islands-registered semi-submersible Ocean Vanguard was built in Brevik, Norway in 1982 and is a third-generation rig. It is designed for drilling in water depths of down to 450 metres (1,500 feet). The drilling depth is stated to be maximum 7,600 metres (25,000 feet). The rig has been chartered by Statoil since 2004. Ocean Vanguard is currently drilling a well off Mid-Norway for Shell, which Statoil has a rig collaboration with. Valkyrie well disappoints A wildcat on the Valkyrie structure close to the Statoil-operated Norne field in the Norwegian Sea has been completed without yielding commercial hydrocarbons. The Norne production ship ranks as one of the most profitable units on the Norwegian continental shelf, and great expectations have been aroused for continued development of the area. Oil was found two years ago in the Linerle and Falk structures, and a discovery in Valkyrie would have further strengthened the local resource base. It might also have justified a separate infrastructure, so Jostein Gaasemyr, operations vice president for Norne, is very disappointed by the results of the latest well. “We’d hoped to prove substantial reserves,” he says. “We’ll now be going through the well data in order to take a new look at our strategy for the whole area.” The wildcat has now been permanently plugged and abandoned, and plans call for another exploration well on the Valkyrie structure early next year. This formation is located just over 25 kilometres north-east of Norne in production licence 128, and 2.7 kilometres south-east of the Linerle discovery. Drilled to a total depth of 2,248 metres, the 6608/11-5 exploration well terminated in Triassic rocks. It aimed to prove hydrocarbons in Lower Jurassic and Upper Triassic sands, but only traces were discovered. The drilling operation was conducted from Ocean Vanguard, which has now been taken over by Shell for a well in production licence 93 close to Draugen in the Norwegian Sea. 15 Nov 2007 Duster in Bjørk prospect Drilling of the wildcat 6608/8-2 in the Bjørk prospect north of the Norne field has been completed. No hydrocarbons were proven in the well. StatoilHydro is operator for production licence 352, the Bjørk prospect in block 6608, 33 kilometres north of the Norne field in the Norwegian Sea. The well did not reveal hydrocarbons and has been classified as dry but several reservoir zones were discovered in Cretaceous rocks. This was the first well in PL 352 which was awarded in the APA of 2004. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,809 metres below sea level and was terminated in Triassic rocks. The well has now been plugged and abandoned. “The Bjørk prospect has been defined as an exciting drilling target for quite some time,” says Ørjan Birkeland, StatoilHydro’s exploration vice president for infrastructure in the north. “We had hoped to find oil in Cretaceous sandstone,” says Mr Birkeland. “The sandstone rocks were well-developed but unfortunately did not contain hydrocarbons. The operation was carried out in a safe, efficient and environmentally acceptable manner. The results from the well will now be used to gain a better understanding of the exploration model.” The well 6608/8-2 was drilled by the Ocean Vanguard rig in 337 metres of water. The rig is now to go to a shipyard for a classification survey. Drilling of an exploration well in the Gamma prospect in the Norwegian Sea has been concluded. A tie-in of the gas discovery to the Åsgard field will be considered. Rich gas was proven in the Fangst group of middle Jurassic age. According to preliminary calculations the find is in the order of 2 to 3 GSm3 of recoverable gas. Gamma is located eight kilometres southeast of the Mikkel field on the Halten Bank. The exploration well is one of several similar prospects in the Norwegian Sea, and the find helps increase the understanding of the underground in this area. “The results strengthen our belief in the further potential of the area near the Midgard and Mikkel fields, and more wells will be drilled in the next few years,” says Ørjan Birkeland, manager for exploration activities in areas close to existing fields in North Norway. The exploration well was drilled to a total depth of 2,508 metres below sea level, and concluded in rocks of middle Jurassic age. Formation testing of the well has not been performed, but extensive data gathering and sampling have been carried out. The semi-submersible drilling rig, Ocean Vanguard, has drilled in the Gamma prospect. The well will be plugged and abandoned, and the rig will continue to the Alve find in the Norwegian Sea to drill an exploration well. 8 May 2008 Gas and condensate discovery in the Norwegian Sea StatoilHydro has confirmed the existence of gas and condensate on the Alve field in the Norwegian Sea around 16 km southeast of the Norne field. Based on a preliminary estimate, the discovery includes three to five billion cubic metres of gas. A thin oil zone was also proven below the gas. ”The find is encouraging and supports our firm belief in other opportunities we are evaluating in the vicinity,” says Ørjan Birkeland, vice president for infrastructure exploration north. Extension drilling was carried out in this production well. Due to come on stream in January 2009, it is the first production well on the Alve field. The purpose of the exploration extension was to prove hydrocarbons in a reservoir located deeper in mid-Jurassic rocks than the resources proven in previous exploration wells on the Alve field. Gas and condensate in sandstone of mid-Jurassic rock were proven during the extension drilling. The drilling of well 6507/3-5S has been completed, and the well will be temporarily plugged. A completion of the previously proven reservoir is planned for the autumn of 2008. The gas is to be transported to the Norne field. The licensees will evaluate how the additional resources proven in the extension drilling can be recovered. Formation testing was not performed in the well, but comprehensive data collection and sampling have been carried out. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,834 metres below sea level, and was completed in lower Jurassic rocks. The water depth is 368 metres. The Ocean Vanguard drilling rig is leaving the location to drill an exploration well for StatoilHydro on the Irish continental shelf. The partners in PL159B are StatoilHydro (operator) with an 85 percent interest and DONG with a 15 percent interest. Lower rig hire rates The contracts have been signed with Diamond Offshore for the hire of Ocean Vanguard and with Saipem for the hire of the rig Scarabeo 5. “In December last year we announced that we expected the market to revert to the lower 2006 level and now it has responded to our expectations. We are pleased to have gained more reasonably priced rig capacity so that we can further develop the shelf,” says Anders Opedal, Statoil’s senior vice president for Procurement. The Ocean Vanguard deal is valued at USD 382 million. It has duration of three years with a one-year option. The deal for Scarabeo 5 is valued at USD 437 million and also has a three-year duration and one-year option. These rates set a new price level for rigs in the exploration and completion segment. “The two rigs are well known for their contributions to our operations on the shelf. The flexibility provided by these rigs in terms of conventional drilling, completion, high pressure, high temperatures and deep water are in line with our plans for exploration and production in the future,” says Øystein Michelsen, Statoil’s executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway. New gas find in the Norwegian Sea Gas has been proven by StatoilHydro in exploration well 6507/3-7 Idun North in the Norwegian Sea. Currently being completed, the well is located two kilometres northwest of the Idun find and 12 kilometres north of the Skarv find. The well was not formation tested, but extensive data gathering has been carried out. “StatoilHydro and its partners in the production licence will consider tying the gas find back to the production vessel for Skarv and Idun when it is in place,” says Nygård. This is the first exploration well in the carved out production licence 159D. The licensees are the operator StatoilHydro with a 60% interest and E.ON Ruhrgas with 40%. In the original production licence 159 six exploration wells have already been drilled. Well 6507/3-7 was drilled at a water depth of 377 metres by the Ocean Vanguard rig. Drilled to a vertical depth of 3,833 metres below sea level, the well was concluded in the Åre formation of the lower Jurassic age. The well is being permanently plugged and abandoned. Oil and gas discovery in the Norwegian Se An oil and gas discovery has been made by StatoilHydro in the Nona prospect ten kilometres south east of the Åsgard field in the Norwegian Sea. Based on preliminary calculations the size of the find is between 13-31 million barrels of oil and 1-2 billion standard cubic metres of gas. “The Nona discovery further confirms the good results achieved by infrastructure-led exploration on the Halten Bank,” says Sivert Jørgenvåg, StatoilHydro’s head of infrastructure-led exploration on the Halten Bank. In his view it is still possible to make new finds in the area. “Thorough mapping and evaluation of the area have been the key success factors and also form the basis for further exploration activities,” says Jørgenvåg. The well was not formation tested, but extensive data gathering and sampling have been carried out. A development of the discovery involving production via the existing infrastructure will be considered. 28 May 2009 Gas has been discovered by StatoilHydro in the Harepus prospect in the Norwegian Sea. Located in Middle Jurassic rocks, the Harepus discovery lies seven kilometres south of the Mikkel field. No formation testing has been done, but extensive data and cores have been collected. “Preliminary calculations indicate 0.5 to one billion standard cubic metres of recoverable gas,” says Sivert Jørgenvåg, head of infrastructure-led exploration on the Halten Bank. “A tie-back to Åsgard together with the Gamma discovery made in the same licence in 2008 will be considered.” The discovery well was drilled in 247 metres of water to a total depth of 3,162 metres beneath the sea surface and terminated in Early Jurassic rocks. It will now be permanently plugged before Ocean Vanguard leaves the location to drill an exploration well for StatoilHydro on production licence 159D in the Norwegian Sea. Keppel secures US$85 million rig upgrade from repeat customer Keppel FELS Ltd (Keppel FELS), a unit of Keppel Corporation Limited through Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has secured a contract from Diamond Offshore Services Company, a subsidiary of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (Diamond Offshore), to upgrade semisubmersible rig Ocean Endeavor for US$85 million. Completion of the upgrade is scheduled for fourth quarter 2006. Ocean Endeavor will be capable of drilling down to 35,000 feet and be fully outfitted for 8,000 feet moored operations, with design capabilities to operate in up to 10,000 feet of water. In addition, the rig will have increased crew quarters to accommodate up to 140 personnel, over 6,000 tons of operating variable deck load and increased usable deck space. Mr Larry Dickerson, President & COO of Diamond Offshore, said, “Keppel FELS comes with a proven track record of consistently delivering complicated upgrades on time and on budget. “We chose their yard because of the expertise and experience they demonstrated in the previous upgrades of our Victory-class semisubmersibles Ocean Baroness and Ocean Rover. “We are pleased to once again be embarking with them on a major rig upgrade.” In recent years, Diamond rigs upgraded or repaired at Keppel O&M yards include Ocean Baroness, Ocean Rover, Ocean America, Ocean Winner, Ocean Sovereign, Ocean Heritage, Ocean Tower, Ocean Warwick, Ocean Spartan and Ocean Spar. Ocean Endeavor is expected to arrive at Keppel FELS in May 2005 for the upgrading. 3 Apr 2006 Keppel undertakes US$102 million upgrading of fourth semi for Diamond Keppel FELS Ltd (Keppel FELS) has secured a contract from Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (Diamond Offshore) for the major upgrading of semisubmersible rig (semi) for US$102 million. Ocean Monarch will arrive at Keppel FELS in mid 2006 for the upgrading and is expected to be operationally ready in the fourth quarter of 2008. When completed, Ocean Monarch can operate in up to 10,000 feet of water in a moored configuration. It will be among the most modernised and competent of Diamond’s fleet of upgraded Victory-class semis. This semi is the fourth in a series of fifth generation Victory-class upgrades that Keppel FELS has undertaken for Diamond Offshore. The first three semis are Ocean Baroness, Ocean Rover and Ocean Endeavor. Ocean Endeavor is currently undergoing upgrading works at Keppel FELS and is scheduled for completion in fourth quarter 2006. Keppel FELS is currently undertaking the construction of one jackup rig for Diamond Offshore. Its sister company, Keppel AmFELS is also building a jackup rig for the same customer. Both rigs are of the proprietary KFELS B Class jackup design by the R&D arm of Keppel. Keppel AmFELS to Construct and Upgrade Deepwater Semisubmersible for Diamond Offshore for US$150 million Keppel AmFELS LLC, a US wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has secured a contract from Diamond Offshore to construct and upgrade a moored semisubmersible rig with delivery scheduled for 3Q 2013. The estimated shipyard contract price is approximately US$150 million. The rig, to be named Ocean Onyx, will be constructed from an existing hull from a Diamond Offshore cold stacked unit, which previously operated as the Ocean Voyager. Keppel AmFELS' scope of work on the Ocean Onyx includes the reconstruction of the rig, installation of advanced equipment such as a modern drilling package, and installation of sponsons to the pontoons to enhance the stability of the rig in deepwater. The rig will be designed to operate in water depths of up to 6,000 feet and will have a variable deck load of 5,000 long tonnes, a five-ram blowout preventer, and quarters capacity for 140 personnel. Small oil discovery in the Tampen area A limited oil column was proven during drilling of an exploration well on the Omega Nord prospect six kilometres north-east of the Snorre field in the North Sea. However, the reservoir qualities of the sand and shale rocks were below expectations and the find is probably not commercially viable. The purpose of the exploration well was to confirm the presence of petroleum in upper Triassic reservoir rocks in the Lunde formation. We have achieved good results in infrastructure-led exploration the last few years, but this well did not produce the results we had hoped for, says Tom Dreyer, head of infrastructure-led exploration in the North Sea. Drilling of the exploration well is now concluded. No formation test was performed in the well, but extensive data gathering and sampling were made. This is the 12th exploration well in production licence 057, which was awarded in the fourth licensing round in 1979. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,940 metres below sea level and was completed in the lower part of the Lunde formation. Water depth in the area is 385 metres. Exploration well 34/4-12 S was drilled by Ocean Vanguard, which will now drill exploration well 34/4-12 A in Snorre Unit from the same rig position. The licensees in PL 057 are: Statoil (operator) (31.0%), Petoro AS (30.0%), RWE Dea Norge AS (24.5%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS (9.6%) and Hess Norge AS (4.9%). 7 Apr 2010 Oil and gas discovery just north of Norne Statoil has found oil and gas in the Fossekall prospect just north of the Norne field in the Norwegian Sea. The proved recoverable resources are provisionally estimated at between 37 and 63 million barrels of oil. The volume of associated and free gas is estimated at between 1-3 billion standard cubic metres of gas. ”I am pleased that we have made yet another discovery in the area north of the Norne field,” says Geir Richardsen, Statoil’s head of exploration for acreage close to the infrastructure in the Norwegian Sea. Last year Statoil discovered oil on the Dompap prospect, which also lies north of the Norne field. “These discoveries demonstrate that also the deeper, western parts of the Norne area remain prospectable. This may well have a bearing on our field longevity work,” says Richardsen. Together with its partners the company will consider developing the discovery through a tie-in to Norne, where the storage and production ship Norne receives production from seabed templates. Norne is also linked to the gas infrastructure on the continent by means of the pipeline systems Norne gas export and Åsgard transport via Kårstø in Rogaland. The partners on the PL128 licence are: Statoil (operator, 63.95%), Petoro AS (24.55%) and ENI Norge AS (11.5%). Statoil has proven the existence of oil in a well in the Tampen area in the north-eastern area of the Snorre field in the North Sea. The purpose of the Statoil-operated well was to prove petroleum in the Upper Triassic reservoir rocks that belong to the lower parts of the Lunde formation. The find has been named Lower Lunde, and its size has been estimated to be between 6 and 19 million barrels of oil equivalents. The well formations are of good reservoir quality. The well was not formation tested, though samples were taken and data collected. “Together with the other discoveries on Tampen in 2009 – such as Vigdis Nordøst, Pan/Pandora and Titan – the Lower Lunde find will help maintain production from the major fields in the area during coming years,” says Nicholas Ashton, who is head of infrastructure-led exploration in the Tampen area. The Snorre Unit licensees will consider tying in production from the find to Snorre. Snorre Unit, formed in 1988 around the Snorre field, covers parts of production licences PL057 and PL089. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned. Well 34/4-2 A was drilled by the Ocean Vanguard rig, which will now proceed to production licence PL128 in the Norwegian Sea to drill the Fossekall prospect et on exploration well 6608/10-14 S, where Statoil is operator. 10 May 2011 Oil discovery in the North Sea Oil has been proven by Statoil and its partners Det norske oljeselskap ASA and Svenska Petroleum Exploration AS on the North Sea Krafla prospect. The well is located in block 30/11 around 26 kilometres south of the Oseberg South field. Based on preliminary calculations the size of the discovery is between 12.5 and 56.5 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. ”Statoil has had great exploration success in mature areas during the last years,” says Gro Gunleiksrud Haatvedt, Statoil’s head of exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). “The North Sea is a strategically important area to Statoil, and this discovery on Krafla confirms once again that the company can still find interesting volumes close to established infrastructure.” ”These discoveries can quickly be put on stream and help extend the life of our installations,” she says. Drilled by the Ocean Vanguard rig the well proved a column of around 200 metres in good quality reservoir rocks. ”Previously six exploration wells have been drilled in block 30/11 without commercial success, so we are very pleased that Statoil seems to have made a fast track discovery in our first operated well in this license,” says Tom Dreyer, exploration manager for the Northern North Sea. “Although data collection is still ongoing, the results so far clearly indicate that this is an oil discovery. If this is the case then we have unlocked the exploration potential of this area and have several follow-up opportunities.” When the Krafla well is completed, the Ocean Vanguard will start drilling the planned sidetrack well on Krafla West, which is located west of the recently drilled well. The find will probably be developed and produced by tie-back to one of the subsea installations in the Oseberg area. The licensees in PL035/PL272 are: Statoil (operator) (50%), Det norske oljeselskap ASA (25%) and Svenska Petroleum Exploration AS (25%). New oil discovery on Utsira High Statoil has made an oil discovery in the Geitungen prospect on Utsira High in the North Sea together with partners Petoro, Det norske oljeselskap and Lundin. Exploration well 16/2-12 drilled by the drilling rig Ocean Vanguard has proven a 35 metre oil column in a high quality reservoir dating from the Jurassic period. Statoil estimates the volumes in Geitungen to be between 140 and 270 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents (o.e.). Oil was also proven in the basement rocks. This is regarded as a possible upside in connection with the development of the area/discovery. "A new oil discovery in the Johan Sverdrup area, in the mature part of the North Sea reinforces Statoil's faith in the exploration potential of the Norwegian continental shelf, and demonstrates that we deliver on our strategy of revitalising the NCS with high value barrels," says Gro Haatvedt, senior vice president exploration Norway in Statoil. Geitungen was drilled approximately three kilometres north of the Johan Sverdrup discovery and was defined as a separate prospect in the licence PL 265. Well data indicate that there probably is communication between the two discoveries. "The Geitungen discovery will be included in the on-going development work for the Johan Sverdrup field. The discovery should therefore be seen in relation with the on-going appraisal program in Johan Sverdrup to narrow down the volume range and uncertainty", says Øivind Reinersten, Statoil VP for Johan Sverdrup field development. There is an extensive appraisal program going on in the Johan Sverdrup discovery, both in PL265 operated by Statoil and PL501 operated by Lundin. Statoil as pre-unit operator plans to communicate a volume range for the Johan Sverdrup pre-unit at a later stage. "Statoil aims to capture the full potential in the greater Utsira High area. In APA2011* we secured new promising acreage both north and south of Johan Sverdrup. We are currently working to improve seismic imaging of the greater Utsira High and have ambitious drilling plans with about 8-12 wells scheduled for 2012-2014", says Haatvedt. Following completion of well 16/2-12, the Ocean Vanguard drilling rig will move to Johan Sverdrup to drill two appraisal wells in the central and southern parts of PL 265. Well 16/2-12 is the eighth well in production licence 265. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2045 metres below sea level at a sea depth of 115 metres. Statoil is operator for production licence PL265 with an ownership share of 40% interest. The licence partners are Petoro AS (30%), Det norske oljeselskap ASA (20%) and Lundin Norway AS (10%). Statoil releases 'Ocean Vanguard' immediately Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (Diamond) announced today that a subsidiary has received notice of termination of its drilling contract for the mid-water semisubmersible ‘Ocean Vanguard’ from Statoil ASA (Statoil), its customer for the rig. The contract was providing a dayrate of approximately USD454,000 and was estimated to conclude in accordance with its terms in late February 2015 howver, Statoil has acted to cancel the contract nine months in advance of this. Diamond Offshore disputes Statoil's basis for terminating the contract and intends to defend its rights under the drilling contract. The ‘Ocean Vanguard’ was supposed to drill the highly publicised Apollo prospect in the Hoop area of the Barents sea however, Statoil instead chose to drill the prospect using the ‘Transocean Spitsbergen’. Salamander announces the spud of the North Kendang-2 exploration well (NK-2), a re-drill of the North Kendang-1 (NK-1) well in the South East Sangatta PSC. Salamander has a 75% operated interest in the South East Sangatta PSC. NK-2 will be drilled to a depth of approximately 2,878 m total vertical depth sub-sea (TVDSS) in order to evaluate the Upper Miocene section. The ‘Ocean General’ semi-submersible rig owned by Diamond Drilling, which has now been fitted with managed pressure drilling equipment to enable it to manage the anticipated pressure regime, will be used to drill the NK-2 well. NK-1 was drilled to 2,535 m TVDSS when it encountered a high pressure wet gas kick in the Upper Miocene, which led to it being plugged and abandoned on 13th April 2013. Costs related to the NK-1 well control incident, and to drilling the NK-2 well to this same depth, are covered under the Company’s insurance policies. ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation and OMV Petrom (OMV Petrom) announces commencement of drilling at Domino-2 in the Neptune deepwater block in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea. Data collected during the drilling program will be used to assess the size and commercial viability of the reservoir gas exploration well discovered Domino-1, in 2012. "If the discovery proves to be commercially viable, ExxonMobil will use its global expertise in deep water exploration and expertise in project execution to ensure resource development in a safe, responsible to the environment and in a timely manner" said John Knapp, CEO of ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania. As operator for the block deep Neptun Romania ExxonMobil brings vast experience and the latest technology with a long history of safe drilling deep wells throughout the world. "We will use the experience of over 40 years in the shallow waters of the Black Sea to contribute to the success of a pioneering project and Neptune Deep" said Gabriel Selischi, OMV Petrom Executive Board member responsible for Exploration and Production. "We are committed to investing significantly in exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons to ensure domestic oil and gas resources for Romania." Domino-2 is located approximately 200 kilometers offshore and is being drilled drilled in waters with a depth of about 800 meters by the ‘Ocean Endeavour’ semisub. Diamond announces new 'Ocean Onyx' contract and sale of 'Ocean Spartan' Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (Diamond) has announced the signing of a new contract for its recently rebuilt ‘Ocean Onyx’ semisub. Upon completion of its current contract with Apache in the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM), the unit will head to Trinidad to drill a single firm well for BG International, earning a dayrate of USD390,000. Diamond also announced the sale of the ‘Ocean Spartan’ jackup, the unit has been sold to India’s Mercator Limited (Mercator) who do not plan to use the unit for drilling operations. Mercator are believed to have purchased the 34 year old jackup rig for USD12 million. Meanwhile Diamond also announced delays associated with the delivery of two of its newbuild drillships, the ‘Ocean BlackHornet’ and ‘Ocean BlackRhino’ which were due for delivery in Q3 2014 are now expected to be delivered in Q1 2015. This account is registered to: I confirm that I am and that I am authorised to access the InfieldLive company account. I hereby accept Infield Systems Limited Standard Terms and Conditions of Business. 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This is… Read more We are blessed with own baby by surrogacy Bringing a new life into this world is a major decision in every couple’s life, however, all their dreams break into pieces when the women are unable to get pregnant after having regular unprotected intercourse for more than 12 months. The same happened with me and when I consult with my gynecologist then she told me it’s difficult for me to get pregnant because the eggs which were produced by me are not healthy enough for fertilization then my sister take me to FCN and discuss my case with the fertility expert. They suggest me the egg donation program where the donated eggs from other women will be fertilized with the sperm of my husband and then the resulted embryo will be implanted into my uterus in order to establish the successful pregnancy. My all credit goes to FCN team for givi… Read more Word’s can’t express how grateful and wonderful feeling it is to give a birth to a new life when you are not able to conceive naturally and no treatment is working. But FCN made it possible for us in achieving the greatest possible gift an infertile can get. All the credit goes to the team of expertise of FCN, nursing staff and the others and we are very thankful to FCN for this. Kudos… to you Guys. When I and my husband start planning for a baby and we met our gynecologist then she told me that I am not able to carry a baby in my womb due to medical illness and if I to conceive than it could affect the health of the baby as well. We both were very scared and lost all our hopes of becoming parents of an own baby. Then someone suggests me FCN clinic in Nepal where happiness born every day. We visit this clinic and find the warmth in the atmosphere. The fertility experts including other staff members are very cooperative and supportive and after a proper examination they suggest me the best fertility treatment which is surrogacy where the eggs of other women is used and fertilized with my husband’s sperm and then implanted into the uterus of another woman who is gestational surrogate … Read more Surrogacy We greatly thanks to all the fertility experts and other staff members at FCN who made pregnancy possible for us when all other clinics refused to treat the infertility factor for us. You guys offered the best treatment which is Gestational surrogacy where the fertility experts of FCN used my own eggs and my husband sperm for fertilization and implant the same into the uterus of the Gestational surrogate mother and also we thank gestational surrogate mother who carries the pregnancy in her womb for 9 months for us and delivers our baby without any hassles. In this way, we get our own biological child and also the charges at FCN are very reasonable for the infertility treatment as compared with other fertility clinics and also the team members at FCN are very supportive and coo… Read more I have great contentment in the bottom of my heart regarding my decision to take the treatment of infertility under the team of experts from India and Nepal in FCN. You guys provided the best treatment along with the best packages offered by you and the emotional support you provided which can’t be expected anywhere else. A big thanks to you FCN from the bottom of my heart. Well done FCN. Thank you FCN for giving us such a wonderful gift of our life and allow us to enjoy the journey as parents of an own baby. This cannot happen without your support and efforts. It was difficult for me to come over from the cause of male infertility factor, however, FCN and team makes it possible when all other treatments were failed for me to become a father of an own child. All my credit goes to fertility experts at FCN including other staff members who helped me and provide me the best personal and medical care and the result of which is that today me and my wife enjoying our phase of parenthood happily. Thank you Guys for your support Jatin Grover We can’t express our feeling in words that how wonderful experience is to give a birth to new life when you are unable to conceive due to the cause of infertility and all other treatments were failed to achieve the successful results for you. We want to personally thanks to all the team members at FCN to make the pregnancy possible and allow us to live a life as parents of an own baby by using the latest and modern technology equipment. I cannot thank the FCN team enough; it certainly helped to make our life very special. My all credit goes to FCN team and I wish them all the success in their life. Thanks for changing our life Mrs. Anupama Bista It was never in our expectations that after so many years we at some point of life would have the possibility to be a parent of someone.FCN gave us a ray a hope and also did it best and thus giving us the gift of parenthood .The heartiest Thanks to the compassionate and passionate team of FCN and continuously delivering the best results to the patients from the India and Nepal at its clinics. We have tried so many fertility treatments but all were failed at the time of fertilization and we are unable to understand that what is happening. We lose us all hope and health condition of my wife is going down day by day. Then my brother told me about FCN and its success rate. We visited there but many things were going in our mind. The time we enter FCN we found the warmth in the environment and positive energy around us. We met the fertility expert and she diagnoses my wife and come to conclusion that the reason for failed fertilization is the cause of infertility with which my wife is dealing but they told us that not to lose our hope because they have various treatments to treat infertility if one treatment will not work they will go for another one to fulfill our dream. Thanks to … Read more Δ In Nepal, the surrogacy practice is banned since 2015 therefore one cannot choose this treatment to have a child; however, if you are looking for IVF in Nepal or Surrogacy option in abroad, we are there to assist you with the best and legal surrogacy option in UKRAINE, GEORGIA, USA, and IVF in Nepal. Kindly contact our support team for more details.	7,090
Neil Armstrong, American astronaut and first man to set foot on the moon died this week. Many have eulogized him for his capability, his tenacity and his reluctance to seek out the spotlight. He certainly had all of those qualities. Because of who he was and what he did, people listened to what Neil Armstrong had to say over the years, especially about what it was like to be part of the American space program in the 1960’s. Much that he said was recorded, and this is what he had to say about the work ethic of the tens of thousands of men and women who helped to extend our footprint into the new frontier of space during that era. (The quotation is from NASA’s Oral History Project): When I was working here at the John Space Center, then the Manned Spacecraft Center, you could stand across the street and you could not tell when quitting time was, because those people didn’t leave at quitting time in those days. People just worked, and they worked until whatever their job was done, and if they had to be there until five o’clock or seven o’clock or nine-thirty or whatever it was, they were just there. They did it, and then they went home. So four o’clock or four-thirty, whenever the bell rings, you didn’t see anybody leaving. Everybody was still working. The way that happens and the way that made it different from other sectors of the government to which some people are sometimes properly critical is that this was a project in which everybody involved was, one, interested, two, dedicated, and three, fascinated by the job they were doing. And whenever you have those ingredients, whether it be government or private industry or a retail store, you’re going to win. Those Space Center workers were “interested” because they were part of something bigger than themselves, “dedicated” because they were working for something they believed in deeply, and “fascinated” because they couldn’t believe their good fortune to have jobs that brought them both. That’s the kind of work I’m writing about on these pages—work that all of us can do and should do, but usually aren’t doing. Why do you think that’s so? Why aren’t more of us working for our hopes and dreams, fascinated by the possibilities? And what does that says about our future? Filed Under: All Posts, Being Part of Something Bigger than Yourself, Being Proud of Your Work, Heroes & Other Role Models Tagged With: grounded, more than a living, Neil Armstrong, productive, role model, seize the future, Thinking differently about your work, visualize, work that matters Tenacity with a little playfulness thrown in can be a powerful combination when you’re looking for—and finally doing—the work of your life. If you were armchair running, swimming, paddling and shooting your way through the Summer Olympics like I was, I think you’ll agree: they gave us a lot to chew on when it comes to tenacity and playfulness. Take gymnastics, for example. Or platform and springboard diving if you prefer. What’s so excruciating about watching these competitions is how often tight plus nervous ends in a lost opportunity. On the other hand, all you have to do is recall gymnast Gabby Douglas’ all-around performance to appreciate what can happen when tenacity makes room for playfulness. As soon as Gabby’s smile said “I’m enjoying myself,” the rest was pure magic. Sometimes playfulness is integral to the moment, as it was for Gabby and the purposeful individuals in my last post, The Power of Laughter at the Most Serious Times. Other times, playfulness follows the tenacity like a sigh of relief, and changes the whole meaning of the story. As the Olympics rolled into their closing ceremony, the pageantry marked a triumphant end to what had been a long, hard year for London. You’ll recall the scenes exactly one year ago, when thousands of rioters smashed windows, looted stores and torched parts of the City. One of those looters burned down much of the 144-year old House of Reeves furniture store in the borough of Croydon. In the days and weeks that followed, the 5th generation Reeves brothers and their 81-year old father came to embody Britain’s World War II motto “Keep Calm and Carry On,” as they struggled mightily to put their business back together. While the media was busy debating whether the riots represented class struggle or opportunistic criminality, the community summoned up its better angels to coalesce around the Reeves family as they got back on their feet. The lifeline extended to the family included over 4000 photographs from young people, holding up statements of encouragement and denying the hooligans the last word. When their new showrooms opened this week, Trevor and Graham Reeves sat on a sofa outside their store, playfully gesturing to their storefront, which they had wallpapered with all of those photographs. It did more than express their gratitude. It provided a moment of effervescence: the grace note after a very hard year. Having the tenacity to find and do work that expresses your values can be serious business. When you can laugh at yourself and the odds you’re facing along the way, and celebrate what you achieve with playfulness, your path will be easier, the crowds pulling for you larger, and the story you’re writing far more impactful. Filed Under: All Posts, Using Humor Effectively Tagged With: community, connected, goals, in sync, influence, work that matters Vocational Training July 20, 2012 By David Griesing 3 Comments Anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978) once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” People who go on to make a real difference have one thing in common. They have prepared themselves for it by becoming more “thoughtful” and “committed.” The process begins by developing your value awareness, discussed in the last post. While our schools can provide an ideal environment for deepening your understanding of your values, values training can be undertaken at any time or place in your career. So can planning for the transition from where you are today with your work to where you want to be. You plot your course to energizing and fulfilling work by making a plan, and then following it. I learned about personal business planning from a mentor in the venture capital community early on in my career. I was getting ready to launch a start-up, and kept talking to him about how I wanted my business to help people. He pulled no punches when he said at the time: “make your money first, and once you make enough of it you can do all the helping you want.” My expression then (and after similar exchanges) must have told him I was unconvinced. As a last resort, he suggested I prepare a personal business plan to get a better grip on my motivations. Maybe that exercise would straighten me out. Well it did, but not in the way he intended. Values are your fuel The deeper I got into this planning exercise, the more my initial goals were confirmed, and the clearer my future direction became. What did I most want to do and why? What am I “best at,” and what were the most revealing demonstrations of the “highest and best” roles I had played—both at work and outside of it? The goal of the plan was the job I was seeking. To identify it, I needed to know why it was the right job for me. In other words, that I’d be accomplishing something I felt was important and that I’d feel fulfilled at a very basic level while doing it. While this required familiarity with my principles and improved “value awareness,” it also required identifying real world opportunities where my values could fuel my work. What was my right job? Could I find it or would I have to create it? This required research. What are people I admire doing? How did I see myself helping people? What is the work that’s already being done to help in this area, and where are the opportunities for me? What do I need in terms of salary and job security? Questions like these: I needed to find answers to all of them. My skills would be my work tools. For me, advocating, organizing, visualizing, problem solving, all were on my skill list, so I had to come up with examples of each that demonstrated my qualifications for the work I wanted to do. I needed to take my best shot proving the first part of the equation: that I could do it. Experience (the flipside of the equation that said “I had done it—or something like it—already”) would be described in terms of roles I had played. Times when I had had some success as a coordinator, prime mover, creator, or gatherer of resources to get something done—often after work, since many of us spend more time excelling in our personal lives than we do in our working ones. Planning plots your course Skills and experience: two different ways to illustrate what I had to bring to the party. A personal business plan aims at lining up what you’re best at and what you’ve done in your life that you’re most proud of in order to demonstrate your suitability for a job that will bring you similar measures of pride and satisfaction. Instead of trying to shoehorn yourself into a job you don’t want to do, you are actively pursuing work that you have already been getting ready to do during the most centered and accomplished moments of your life. That may well be your definition of work that matters. As such, it is work that is worth striving for. Learning how to become more “thoughtful” about the work you should be doing, and more clearly “committed” to its goals has everything to do with preparing yourself for it. Personal business planning is a valuable way for you to become more thoughtful about your work. (I’ll be talking about values and education at the #140edu conference, which is taking place at the 92nd Street Y in New York City later this month. Join me by registering today.) Filed Under: All Posts, Building Your Values into Your Work Tagged With: Margaret Mead, personal business plan, preparation, value awareness, work that matters July 5, 2012 By David Griesing 1 Comment We all want to do work that matters. But, as often as not, you won’t find that kind of work in the want ads. It’s rarely work that somebody else gives you to do. As often as not, you need to give yourself the kind of work that will change the world. Early on in my forthcoming book WorkLifeReward: Following Your Values to Fulfilling Work is the line: If you want the world to be a better place, you need to help it become that better place. The main way to do so, of course, is through the work you do. So if you don’t think the work you’re doing—that is, your selling whatever it is that you’re selling today—is making the world into the kind of better place you want it to be, maybe it’s time to think about working at something that will make that kind of difference. These posts are about encouraging you to think differently about your work. They aim to raise what I call “value awareness,” so you have a clearer view of the color and texture of the better world you’d like to encourage with your efforts. Sometimes they aim to help you become the most effective spokesperson you can be while striving to achieve your goals. And sometimes the discussion here is about ways to make the productive work you want to do easier. This post is about one of those booster rockets. Something has gotten a lot easier. Creating a business model for a better world, where you and your co-conspirators are doing work that matters, takes energy, creativity, vision, tenacity, luck. And it takes money that either you provide, or that people investing in your vision of a better world put in your hands. In the good old days the money came almost exclusively from your own bank account or from friends and family. (It was the era when those who already had money were usually the ones making more of it.) On top of that, only a tiny percentage of new ideas—whether promising to change the world or not—managed to find venture capital. So if you or a rich uncle weren’t providing the cash, even your brilliance, best intentions and limitless energy were often not enough to overcome the funding constraints all new companies that produce work need in order to survive. But there’s some good news. It’s a brand new day! Today, crowdfunding websites give you the ability to make a direct appeal to individuals or groups who may be interested in supporting what you’re doing—because your kind of work is work that matters to them too. You tell your story. You identify your goal. The crowd decides whether to invest in it. Usually harvested in small dollar amounts, it is hundreds, even thousands of small investments funneled through the crowdfunding site that can put the financial fuel in a new company’s tank. As an entrepreneur, you promise to give your investors a tangible return on their investment. It could be a letter from a grateful child your company has helped, a picture of the tree planted “because you invested,” or, if you are producing a brave new product or service, periodic updates on solutions to problems no one had gotten around to tackling before. For providing the conduit between you and your new investors, crowdfunding websites like MicroVentures, peerbackers, and IndieGoGo are generally paid a small percentage of what you collect—sometimes as little as 5%, when you hit your fundraising target. What’s news this week (according to the Wall Street Journal) is that crowdfunding has its first “poster child.” The Cinderella story is about how a little company called Pebble Technology developed a “smart” wristwatch that can display apps and connect to your smart phone to notify you about incoming tweets and Facebook updates. But 26-year old Eric Migicovsky was almost out of money, living and working with his only employee in a rented condo, and ready to call it quits. He took his case for financing the manufacture of his smart watch to crowdfunding site Kickstarter, looking for $100,000. The ROI: everyone investing $115 would get one of his watches. In its first 28 hours on Kickstarter, Pebble raised more than a million dollars. By mid-May, it had taken in a total of $10.27 million from 68,929 people! Now Eric’s problems involve things like working with a manufacturing facility in China to produce all those watches. But it also looks a lot like his work dream has become a reality. Everybody needs to make a living. What sometimes seems like the impossibility of getting both a paycheck and fulfillment from your work makes many of us reluctant to leave our paychecks for work that gives us the opportunity to make a living and to truly live. Crowdfunding is reducing that risk. Filed Under: All Posts, Being Part of Something Bigger than Yourself, Entrepreneurship, Introducing Yourself & Your Work Tagged With: business models for a better world, crowdfunding, fulfillment, more than a living, productive work, social entrepreneur, Thinking differently about your work, work that matters Recipe We all like feeling rewarded for work that makes things better. Many of us are finding this kind of satisfaction in social benefit games. At the same time, we’re also learning how to bring transformative change into the world by getting some practice first. Your rewards include feeling good about yourself because of all you’re accomplishing and the abilities you’re developing while doing so. In social games like WeTopia, you reap other rewards too. There is pride in the growing productivity of your community, empowerment from your ability to support those in need, and your own increasing prosperity. Games like this also bring the best ingredients of the for-profit and non-profit worlds together. They give you the virtual experience of work where you can do well by doing good. They stir your imagination, and get you thinking about new kinds of work that you could be doing right now in the real world. On the other hand, it’s disquieting to feel that someone is “behind our screens” watching us and gaining insights about human behavior because of how you, me (and millions like us) are playing these games. These social scientists and marketers are looking at how we respond to different sounds, colors and kinds of movement. They are even changing the variables we encounter in these games while we’re playing them to see if we do things differently or faster or better. What’s going on here, and where is the upside for us in this kind of scrutiny? Kristian Segerstrale is an economist and co-founder of a company called Playfish that makes on-line games. In an interview, he described the difficulty social scientists have traditionally had gaining reliable information from behavioral experiments because they can’t control the variables that exist in the real world. By contrast, in virtual worlds: the data set is perfect. You know every data point with absolute certainty. In social networks you even know who the people are. You can slice and dice by gender, by age, by anything. Segerstrale gave the following by way of example. If your on-line experience requires buying something, what happens to demand if you add a 5 percent tax to a product? What if you apply a 5 percent tax to one half of a group and a 7 percent tax to the other half? “You can conduct any experiment you want,” he says. “You might discover that women over 35 have a higher tolerance to a tax than males aged 15 to 20—stuff that’s just not possible to discover in the real world.” What this means is that people who want to sell you things or motivate you to do something are now able to learn more than they have ever been able to learn before about what is likely to influence your behavior. Being treated like ingredients to be “sliced and diced” has risks for us, but also possibilities. None of us want to relinquish our freedom and become automatons, manipulated into doing what others want us to do. We do well to remember national experiments in social engineering, like the tragedy of the Cultural Revolution in China and the choreographed death spiral in North Korea. But we also need to recognize the potential in this brave new world for good. The behavior of millions of men and women whose voices had never been heard before was changed by lessons learned on-line, ultimately producing the Arab Spring. The behavior of individuals facing repression every day in places like Iran and Syria is fortified by the virtual support of those who are struggling with them. Your behavior, and the behavior of millions of people who are playing these social games, is being shaped and reinforced in similar ways. It is a training ground for changing the real world with new and better kinds of work. Social benefit games are giving us a recipe for transformation—and the ingredients are getting better all the time. Filed Under: *All Posts, Building Your Values into Your Work, Entrepreneurship Tagged With: better world, business models for a better world, change the world, fulfilling work, harvest, productive work, social benefit, social benefit games, social entrepreneur, visualize, work life reward, work that matters, yield Join all the others who have new posts, recommendations and links to explore delivered to their inboxes every week. You can read all published newsletters via the Index on the Subscribe Page. 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This is my personal sketchbook. Little will be explained in words, but you are warmly welcomed in to peruse my scribbles. For longer explanations and more considered artwork have a look at my main blog nancyfarmer.wordpress.com, and my main website www.nancyfarmer.net I am a professional artist who is very bad at getting round to sketching- simple, brief observation of life… and cats. Which is a shame, because that sort of thing is very good practice for the eye and the brain. Recently I moved out of the dark ages with respect to my phone and I finally have one that can do everything, including make little sketches with (it’s a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 if you are interested). And the most curious thing happened: I began actually sketching with it on a daily basis. This has never happened with a real sketchbook made of paper for many days in a row, ever. So, in an attempt to keep this up, I began posting the sketches first to facebook to share with friends and then, not wanting to overload my ‘proper’ blog with sketches I hope to keep a daily sketchbook online here. Digital sketches are not real and tactile, I will admit, but what may not seem worth carrying round a sketchbook for can be a worthy subject for an enlightening and entertaining little digital scribble. And, more to the point, these subjects stand a chance of actually getting sketched, if I have the means handy to do it. And they all feed in, in the end, to my ‘proper’ artwork, which is not very proper at all and largely drawn from my memory and imagination. ‘Cat-of-the-Day’ was the title I gave the first digital of my sketches of cats that I posted online. My artwork is figurative – I like anatomy and body language and gesture, but I am often on my own in my studio, and the only other living beings to wander in and out for most of the day are cats. There will be a lot of cats in this blog; it is not all cats, but I liked the title so I have stuck with it. I hope you enjoy some of the sketches, and if you are curious as to what I usually do, have a look at www.nancyfarmer.net as well. Percy Cat, looking very fine in his beanbag Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) April 4, 2014 at 5:38 pm Do you sell your work? I’m VERY interested. Nancy Farmer says: April 4, 2014 at 6:28 pm Hi, thanks for enquiring! I am very new to digital drawing, but a couple of people have asked if I intend to sell prints of these so I do intend to print some up to see how they come out. They do look lovely on a watercolour-texture archival paper, which I usually use for prints of my other artwork (www.nancyfarmer.net) – I have just not had the time to experiment with printing them yet, or know how big I can print them. I can get back to you. Was there one in particular that you were interested in?	3,226
If a picture is worth a thousand words, brace yourself for a 30,000 worder coming your way, beginning with a thousand well-deserved words about this adorable baby. The munchkin in this image is wearing the gender-neutral clothing children wore in 19th-century America. All kids dressed alike in white clothing, for the practical reason that white cotton could be bleached when kids inevitably get it dirty. Their first haircut happened when they were 6 or 7-years-old, so all kids sported long locks as seen in the picture. The munchkin in this image is about 3-years-old. Also, the munchkin in this image is the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D Roosevelt. Compare ol’ FDR with the following screenshots taken from websites of baby clothing today and see if you can spot a difference. Source: https://www.jshadv.top/ Source: Amazon.in Clothes make the man, they say. Well, I am here to tell you that they make the woman as well. And the clothes we are putting on baby girls today are doing a grave injustice to the women of the future. Here’s how. I recently came across a video of a dad calling out the problems with clothes designed for baby girls. He says that he saw a onesie that said, “Sorry boys, Daddy says no dating”. Source: Amazon “I guess I am wondering who they thought is going to date our zero month old daughter.”, he says. If you thought Womaning in India was difficult, here is where the difficulties probably begin – when an infant is objectified and sexualized on her first day on the planet. I spoke to some moms of baby girls to check in on the clothes situation in India, and how they feel about it. Am I seeing the world with rage-tinted glasses? Sowjanya is the mother of a 9-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. She thinks that there are clear differences in comfort and size between baby clothes designed for girls vs boys. “The shorts for boys go till their knees. Shorts for girls barely cover their thighs. For shirts, the arm length and size of armhole is much smaller for girls, even though girls and boys are roughly the same size and weight at that age. Even the cloth used for shorts is thicker and more durable for boys, and they have pockets. Girls get flimsy fabrics without pockets.” Baby Boys’ Shorts by some leading baby clothes manufacturers in India. Note the length, the sturdy-looking fabric, and the presence of pockets. Baby Girls’ Shorts by leading baby clothes manufacturers in India. Note the short length, the flimsy-looking fabrics, and the absence of pockets in most designs. On her daughter’s third birthday, she took her shopping for clothes. “It was her first time in a mall. I took her to the girls’ section and pointed her to the clothes that were her size and told her to pick any clothes she likes. She picked up a single pair of shorts. And then, she wandered off to the boys’ section and picked almost a dozen clothes of different colours, with different figures on them – animals, trucks, superheroes.” Sowjanya thinks that if a toddler can spot the difference, then we definitely have a problem on our hands. “My daughter cannot read mall signage yet. She has never shopped before. She doesn’t even know that clothes are gendered at all. Yet, she knows comfort and fun designs. When a child with such an unfiltered approach to clothes picks a dozen ‘boys’ clothes‘ over ‘girls’ clothes‘, it speaks volumes about the kind of choices we are offering our girls.” Sowjanya says that her son used to wear a variety of colours when he was a toddler too. But something changed when he started going to school. “When he met other kids, he picked up the notion that ‘Pink is a girlie colour’. He came home one day and told me that he will only wear blue from now on. I don’t know where he learned this, but it made his wardrobe very limited.” How much can parents fight the Pink/Blue demon? Most parents are, frankly, exhausted. It is an occupational hazard – comes with the job. We are all too tired to fight the powerful forces of societal norms and capitalism on a daily basis. But there are those who put up a brave fight anyway. When Kruti was in kindergarten, her parents got special permission from her school to allow her to wear two different uniforms. “One was the pinafore which all other girls wore. And the other was the shirt-shorts combination meant for boys. For me, they got special permission to let me alternate between the two uniforms.” It was seriously progressive parenting, even by today’s standards, let alone the 90s. But did it work? “Today, I agree with everything they did. But, back then, I remember telling them that I want to wear the pinafore. Maybe people looked at me differently for being a girl in boys’ clothing, maybe it was peer pressure, or maybe just something I picked from the other kids subconsciously. But, it is clear that parents have to make a lot of effort to undo the damage done by society. And even then there is no guarantee of success.” It’s only clothes! Why am I getting my girl clothes tied up in a bunch over this? It’s only clothes, after all, right? Saritha has a two-year-old daughter and begs to differ. “Clothes are not just clothes for children who are learning about the world around them every minute of every day. When I put clothes on my daughter, I show her the colours, ask her to pick the one she wants to wear today. I talk to her about the characters printed on her clothes, I weave stories around them. And she listens with rapt attention.” Saritha simply buys clothes for her daughter from the boys’ section. “I want to tell her that she can be anything she wants in life. She can be an astronaut, she can work with animals, she can drive cars, she can be a superhero – she can be anything! I want clothes for her that expose her to all these options, and more. If I bought only the clothes sold to us as ‘girls’ clothes‘, her dreams and aspirations would be to limited to becoming a princess or riding a unicorn.” Boy shirts by Babyhug on FirstCry.com. Note the longer sleeves, comfortable design, and images of astronauts, sea captains, and fun animal cartoons. What do you think a boy wearing these would think he can grow up to become? Girl shirts on the same website. Note the shorter sleeves, frilly designs, off-shoulder cuts, and images of princesses and pretty pink things exclusively. What do you think a girl wearing these would think she can grow up to become? Saritha wishes that marketers of baby clothes would stop selling us the same old tropes that do more damage than good. “If you tell girls they can wear only pink, and you tell boys they can wear only blue, you are limiting their imagination. Kids should be exposed to a variety of colours and designs. I buy clothes in all colours and let my daughter pick the one she wants to wear on any given day. She keeps asking me which colour is this, which colour is that. She is open to all colours and, as a parent, I want her to have all the options I can possibly give her. I don’t want to restrict my daughter and give her any kind of bias or conditioning at any age – and definitely not this early in her life. Society will throw enough of that her way.” “At least at home, and at least in her own clothes, she has to have the freedom to be her own person.” Caution: Princesses at Play Echoing Saritha’s sentiments, Richa thinks that dresses also have an impact on the personalities of children. “Having frills, delicate fabrics, even heels in shoes makes little girls carry their dresses delicately. They get wary of going out to the playground and playing sports. I call this the ‘Princess Effect’. It makes these little girls – who were otherwise beaming with childlike energy – become very conscious of the way they carry their bodies.” Richa describes some telling scenes from adult social gatherings where children are in attendance, dressed up by parents in their finest. “When you see boys and girls playing together, you’ll find mothers setting or fixing their daughter’s dresses constantly. A skirt is going up, a shoulder is going down, a hairband is falling – and we are always rushing to set things right. So these girls are constantly aware of what not to do with their bodies. I have seen even baby girls coming up to their mothers to hand them things like fragile buttons, ribbons, pearls on their dresses that get broken as soon as the child starts playing.” “Boys, on the other hand, are not bothered and play with complete abandon, not wasting a single thought in the direction of their clothes. As all kids should play.” Another gem from pinkblueindia.com. How comfortable do you think this little girl is in the playpen? Smriti is a die-hard Marvel Comic Universe fan. The kind who has to watch every Avengers movie – first day, first show, in 3D. “When my daughter was born, I couldn’t wait to share my passion for MCU with her. Since she is too young for screens, I thought the best way to begin would be to get some Avengers gear for my girl.” Smriti shared with me the screenshots of what she got when she tried to search for clothes with her favourite brand franchise for girls. “It is ridiculous – the number of franchise clothes that are limited to boys. Even Disney characters are limited to boys, except for the princesses. This speaks volumes about how limited clothes manufacturing companies think girls’ imaginations and range of interests are. Or should be.” Where did we come from, where will we go? According to Peggy Orenstein, the author of the book ‘Cinderella Ate My Daughter‘, Disney Consumer Products started the Princess craze in 2001, when their sales were $300 million. As of 2018, this figure had risen to $4.65 billion. Clearly, poisoning our children’s minds with toxic stereotypes is very good for business. There are more than 25,000 princess items in the market today by Disney alone. Princess towels Princess diaries Princess notebooks Princess desks Princess pens Princess phone covers And after the pandemic, even Princess face masks. Lyn Mikel Brown, a Professor and co-author of the book ‘Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketers’ Schemes‘ says: “When one thing is so dominant, then it’s no longer a choice: it’s a mandate, cannibalizing all other forms of play. There’s the illusion of more choices out there for girls, but if you look around, you’ll see their choices are steadily narrowing.” Baby FDR’s picture is testimony that this pink-blue culture was not always the norm. At some point in the mid-1900s, America decided that pink was for girls and blue was for boys. (Fun fact: Till the 1920s, it was pink for the boys, and blue for the girls because “pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl”.) And since we are so keen to ape American culture, let America also foreshadow what we can expect if we keep following in their footsteps. According to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S., school-going girls are more likely than boys to say they face a lot of pressure to look good. And a larger share of girls than boys say they often feel tense or nervous about their day, every day or almost every day. There are no easy answers to raising children in an environment that is so hell-bent on drilling this toxicity in their heads. But it definitely makes a difference when parents just start seeing this conditioning for what it is – even when it takes seemingly innocuous forms like baby onesies. That is definitely Step 1. Does your preferred brand of baby clothing have a similar problem? Or does it offer a welcome reprieve? Send me your thousand-worded screenshots on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. And don’t forget to tag the company. It is time to give them a taste of some real Princess Power. If you like the work I am doing with this newsletter, you can now show me your love by buying me a coffee using the button below.	12,417
I am always aiming to think outside of the box, whether it be in how to photograph a popular landmark in a unique or never before seen way, or how to use different techniques to create a shot while jumping past certain technical or other limitations. This photo was the cover photo of the photoshoot I did with a Fortune 500 Executive, on her trip into San Francisco. I really strive to create works that are different than the usual, and this angle of the bridge, inspired by @suhailphotos, is a perfect example of my constant focus on creating unique, eye catching works of art. You can always know that I have your back in helping think up ways to present a often overshot location in a unique way. Thinking outside the box I am always aiming to think outside of the box, whether it be in how to photograph a popular landmark in a unique or never before seen way, or how to use different techniques to create a shot while jumping past certain technical or other limitations. This photo was taken with just an iPhone, using a special technique to create this unique perspective. You can always know that I have your back in helping think up ways to present a often overshot location in a unique way. Thinking outside the box I am always aiming to think outside of the box, whether it be in how to photograph a popular landmark in a unique or never before seen way, or how to use different techniques to create a shot while jumping past certain technical or other limitations. This photo was taken with just an iPhone, using a special technique to create this unique perspective. You can always know that I have your back in helping think up ways to present a often overshot location in a unique way. I was hired to work with the official UCSC Tango Team, to create marketing materials for their upcoming show. Creating such a vibrant and bright image, without anything coming off as over exposed was the result. Unless otherwise stated, I always aim to create work that stands out as much as possible. I want eyes to go to my client's photos. I always figure it out You can trust me in knowing that I do my own research to solve a majority of my own problems. For instance, I never knew how people create such creamy, beautiful bokeh. Like in this photo! After researching, I ran into a process on how to create the look I was curious about, including how to properly mask out each specific hair. This is my result. The exact effect that I wanted to create, researched, and executed. We've all got superpowers after all And mine is the ability to use any gear effectively. You can be confident in knowing that any gear you are using in a project, I would be able to adapt to successfully. Here is why: I wanted to commemorate a beach cleanup event hosted by @daisykeech and @bleachfilm through a unique photo. Arshia was holding a smoke bomb, and I was using a borrowed camera from a model that I've never used, and the shot ended up working. You can be confident in knowing that whatever gear is being used by your team, I will adapt and use successfully. We've all got superpowers after all And mine is the ability to use any gear effectively. You can be confident in knowing that any gear you are using in a project, I would be able to adapt to successfully. This photo was taken with the Phase One XF. This photo was made up of 15 separate photos, stitched together in Lightroom. In total, this shot is 531MP, or a 20K photo. To better imagine the scale of this photo, think about the 4K TV in your living room. Then imagine putting 4 of those TVs together to make a square. This is almost the size of the full resolution image displayed here. If you were to print this photo out without needing to make it smaller in size, you would end up with a print size of 2 meters x 2 meters (or. 78x78 inches). To view and zoom into the full resolution photo, click here: http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/216935 This was shot in a studio setting, with two strobes lighting up the scene. To make this shot work, the strobes required to light the scene the exact same way throughout each of the 15 separate shots, the model couldn't move at all during the time it took to take those 15 shots, I had to be positioned perfectly centered to him, and I had to also ensure I did a proper 1/3rd overlap between each separate photo. As you can see with this complete photo, it worked out perfectly. This was the first time I ever saw, or touched a Phase One XF Digital Medium Format Camera. You can be confident in knowing that whatever gear is being used by your team, I will adapt and use successfully. We've all got superpowers after all And mine is the ability to use any gear effectively. You can be confident in knowing that any gear you are using in a project, I would be able to adapt to successfully. This photo was taken with the Sony A7Riii. My father's new camera. A mark of how far he's come in the last 6-7 years. I hadn't yet had the opportunity to properly shoot with it, but got the opportunity while we were out at Point Reyes. It came in an extremely unexpected manner. A simple invitation to shoot. Having no real practice with the camera, and only having the wide angle lenses he chose to bring with him, I made do with what I had, and worked to check off a shot I wanted to make for a while. A picture of my dog, inspired by @kopernikk's gorgeous dog photography on Instagram. This was the first time I ever worked with the Sony A7Riii Camera. You can be confident in knowing that whatever gear is being used by your team, I will adapt and use successfully. We've all got superpowers after all And mine is the ability to use any gear effectively. You can be confident in knowing that any gear you are using in a project, I would be able to adapt to successfully. This photo was taken with the Sony A7Riii. My father's new camera. A mark of how far he's come in the last 6-7 years. I hadn't yet had the opportunity to properly shoot with it, but got the opportunity while we were out at Point Reyes. It came in an extremely unexpected manner. A simple invitation to shoot. Having no real practice with the camera, and only having the wide angle lenses he chose to bring with him, I made do with what I had, and adapted the pictures I could take to the wide focal length of the 16-35mm GM. This is the result. This was the first time I ever worked with the Sony A7Riii Camera. You can be confident in knowing that whatever gear is being used by your team, I will adapt and use successfully. This photo taught me a lot about collaboration. Even though I was strictly shooting behind the scenes during this event, Elizabeth wanted to do a portrait together. Working together on developing this concept, and leaving a lot of room open for her own ideas, we created this portrait together. Her idea to look up in that way ended up making the shot as magical as it is. Without her input, I truly believe this wouldn't have been nearly as gorgeous. I value outside input greatly, and always welcome it. You can be confident knowing that I am a huge team player, and know that working collaboratively together creates works of art that one person usually couldn't pull off. This photo taught me a lot about collaboration. After shooting this photo, Asma and I went to go sit back in the car, and started editing together. It was the first time she ever modeled, and I welcomed her thoughts and ideas, even just for the short few minutes we had after the shoot. We started working together on developing this concept, and she gave me a piece of advice that I believe took this edit to a whole new level. She mentioned to change the colors of the green shrubbery behind her, to yellow. Her idea to change the color of the shrubbery in that way ended up making the shot as magical as it is. Without her input, I truly believe this wouldn't have been nearly as gorgeous. I value outside input greatly, and always welcome it. You can be confident knowing that I am a huge team player, and know that working collaboratively together creates works of art that one person usually couldn't pull off. This photo taught me a lot about collaboration. Look closely into her eyes. Do you see her hand? Do you see the flash? This photo was a selfie. I could have chosen to take this photo myself, but I didn't. Instead, I taught her how to take a really high quality selfie using the iPhone. She took my advice, and she ended up taking this absolutely stunning portrait. Had I chosen to simply take this photo myself, I truly don't believe this wouldn't have been nearly as gorgeous, and absolutely not as special, as this photo is now. I value outside input greatly, and always welcome it. You can be confident knowing that I am a huge team player, and know that working collaboratively together creates works of art that one person usually couldn't pull off. This photo taught me a lot about collaboration. Mathilde, a friend from France, visiting her boyfriend at the time, was a little sad that no one was taking pictures of her at a photographer and model meet up, so I took it upon myself to make her feel beautiful. I just couldn't get a good shot. I started involving her in the creation process much more. Browsing Pinterest together to find photos she liked, asking her to look at the photos I took to tell me what she liked about them, what she didn't like, and what would look better. Then, it was up to me to take her feedback, and create a shot that reflected her opinion. Working together on developing this concept, and leaving a lot of room open for her own ideas, we created this portrait together. Without her input, I truly believe this wouldn't have been nearly as gorgeous. These four experiences really taught me to love collaboration with all my heart, and really welcome opinions of others into the project at hand. Whether it be the model, team members, or directors. I value outside input greatly, and always welcome it. You can be confident knowing that I am a huge team player, and know that working collaboratively together creates works of art that one person usually couldn't come up with. Candid Photography This was not a planned shot. This was a candid, as I was doing some behind the scenes and event photography. Even during behind the scenes photography, I always aim to make gorgeous portraits, and pictures. Candid Photography This was not a planned shot. This was a candid, as I was doing some behind the scenes and event photography. Even during behind the scenes photography, I always aim to make gorgeous portraits, and pictures. Candid Photography This was not a planned shot. This was a candid, as I was doing some behind the scenes and event photography. Even during behind the scenes photography, I always aim to make gorgeous portraits, and pictures. Candid Photography This was not a planned shot. This was a candid, as I was doing some behind the scenes and event photography. Even during behind the scenes photography, I always aim to make gorgeous portraits, and pictures. Candid Photography This was not a planned shot. This was a candid, as I was simply walking around with a camera. I saw this photoshoot going on, and without telling anybody, I came in and grabbed a few shots myself. Even during behind the scenes photography, I always aim to make gorgeous portraits, and pictures. Candid Photography This was not a planned shot. This was a candid, as I was doing some location scouting for a future photoshoot. I had whipped out my phone, grabbed a few pictures, and forgot about this photo until much later. Only then did I realize how beautiful of a composition it can be. Even during behind the scenes photography, I always aim to make gorgeous portraits, and pictures. Candid Photography This was not a planned shot. This was a candid, as I was walking around my neighborhood. I decided to take a few photos of cars I found unique, right from where they were standing. Even during behind the scenes photography, I always aim to make gorgeous portraits, and pictures. Candid Photography This was not a planned shot. This was a candid, as I was walking around my neighborhood. I decided to take a few photos of cars I found unique, right from where they were standing. Even during behind the scenes photography, I always aim to make gorgeous portraits, and pictures. Powered by SmugMug Owner Log In We've all got superpowers after all And mine is the ability to use any gear effectively. You can be confident in knowing that any gear you are using in a project, I would be able to adapt to successfully. This photo was taken with the Sony A7Riii. My father's new camera. A mark of how far he's come in the last 6-7 years. I hadn't yet had the opportunity to properly shoot with it, but got the opportunity while we were out at Point Reyes. It came in an extremely unexpected manner. A simple invitation to shoot. Having no real practice with the camera, and only having the wide angle lenses he chose to bring with him, I made do with what I had, and worked to check off a shot I wanted to make for a while. A picture of my dog, inspired by @kopernikk's gorgeous dog photography on Instagram. This was the first time I ever worked with the Sony A7Riii Camera. You can be confident in knowing that whatever gear is being used by your team, I will adapt and use successfully. We've all got superpowers after all And mine is the ability to use any gear effectively. You can be confident in knowing that any gear you are using in a project, I would be able to adapt to successfully. This photo was taken with the Sony A7Riii. My father's new camera. A mark of how far he's come in the last 6-7 years. I hadn't yet had the opportunity to properly shoot with it, but got the opportunity while we were out at Point Reyes. It came in an extremely unexpected manner. A simple invitation to shoot. Having no real practice with the camera, and only having the wide angle lenses he chose to bring with him, I made do with what I had, and adapted the pictures I could take to the wide focal length of the 16-35mm GM. This is the result. This was the first time I ever worked with the Sony A7Riii Camera. You can be confident in knowing that whatever gear is being used by your team, I will adapt and use successfully. This photo taught me a lot about collaboration. Even though I was strictly shooting behind the scenes during this event, Elizabeth wanted to do a portrait together. Working together on developing this concept, and leaving a lot of room open for her own ideas, we created this portrait together. Her idea to look up in that way ended up making the shot as magical as it is. Without her input, I truly believe this wouldn't have been nearly as gorgeous. I value outside input greatly, and always welcome it. You can be confident knowing that I am a huge team player, and know that working collaboratively together creates works of art that one person usually couldn't pull off.	15,117
There are many reasons why people can. Everyone has a different reason. Here are a few reasons why I can. Health is a big one. I feel that people are slowly killing them selves with all the processed food they are eating. People ask me all the time why I can and I tell them, I know what is in the jar and I can pronounce each ingredient. There are no harmful additives, and a lot less sugar and salt. Eco-Friendly is an other reason. If you grow your own food you are not having trucks bring your produce to the store and pollute the air. If you can’t grow your own food buy local. You are reducing the waste of pre-packaged foods and the mason jars are reusable. Finance is an other reason. When produce is in season it is at it lowest price. This is the perfect time to start preserving food and stock up your pantry. Those upscale kitchen stores with the fancy jams, chutney and mustard that you drool over can be made for a lot less money. When friends and family members know you can they will start to bring you produce so be ready have jars on hand! Passion is an other reason I can. I love food and sharing. I have been blessed to come from a family of foodies that are Portuguese. The Portuguese people I know want to show you how much they love you by cooking you a meal, handing you produce from their yard or a jar of homemade jam. Canning is a connection to my culture, family and heritage. I have to admit I love handing someone a jar and seeing them smile. The other thing I love is hearing the “POP” sound from the jars as they seal. Gifts, What a wonderful thing to hand to someone. In my family we decided many years ago we would give consumable gifts during the holidays. For years I gave wine, but then I realized it’s not as special since they can go buy a bottle any where. So the last few years my family and friend have received jars from me. Now they are starting to make requests. When it comes to the holidays us canners have the upper hand on gift giving with our full pantry to shop in. Quality and taste is far better homemade that any store-bought. Find the best produce at its peak and can it. Is going to taste better than anything you can get from the store. One last thing, I’m highly addicted to canning and my personal goal is to get you addicted too. I love it, it makes me happy. Happy Canning! Share with me your reasons for canning. P.S. Check out the class calendar. I have change a few things. Please let me know what you would like to learn. See you in class Please share with your friends: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to print (Opens in new window) Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Posted in News Tagged Addicted, Eco-Friendly, Finance, Gifts, Grow, Health, homemade, Ingredients, less sugar, Lowest Price, pantry, passion, Pollute, Portuguese, Processede Foods, Season	3,086
October 18, 2014 Get on your feet, Homelessness, Justice, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, SqualorFree Speech Handbook, McDonald's #2763, Serenity prayer, Take things in stride, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell Blogging experts tell us to give our posts dramatic titles. I might not tell the story at all, but on the one hand there is an expectation that (though I seldom do) a homeless blogger will tell about the difficulties homeless people face. On the other hand, it provides occasion for me to set forth William Tell’s current approach to injustice. It will also let me model the principles of Free Speech Handbook. This concerns an incident of October 7, 2014. MY APPEARANCE isn’t that of your typical homeless person. If you walk down the street in Barclay, about half the people you meet will look like they’re homeless. If you visit this McDonald’s at certain hours, all the customers will look like they’re homeless. They’re not. Many of these people have homes. “But,” as I’ve said of such folk before,[1] “they still live more squalid than the homeless at the shelter where I stay.” My clothes aren’t currently what I’d like, but they’re clean and neat. I don’t smell bad. My body language isn’t that of an addict, drunk, crazy man or perpetrator. Anyone who watches, smells or hears me will have no reason offhand to believe I’m homeless. The only outward indicator of my homelessness is the backpack and two heavy bags I must carry with me everywhere I go. MY ROUTINE when I go to McDonald’s in the afternoon, after my time at the library and before I return to the shelter, has been like this. I find an empty seat and stash my bags underneath it. I leave them there, get in line and buy a “senior” coffee for 53¢. I keep the receipt so I can get a refill later. I put the coffee at my table, leave my bags where they are, and go outside and smoke a cigarette to let the coffee cool. I come back inside, drink the coffee and write in my diary or blog posts. When the time comes for my refill, I leave my things as they are, and take the receipt and empty cup straight to the counter. In due course, staff take the receipt and give me my refill. I put that at my table, leave my things as they are, and go outside to smoke again. I come back in, drink the coffee, etc., usually use the bathroom (again having left my things at the table), and leave. I haven’t always stashed my bags under the seat. I usually choose an empty two-person table, and used to pile my bags on the vacant seat. However, on several occasions Shameka told me not to do this, “because someone else might want to sit there.” She said this even when I was the only person in the dining room. Seeing that the place does get crowded sometimes, I chose to change my ways and do as I do now. Note the premise, that two unrelated people can sit at the same two-person table. I don’t know the name of the woman with whom I dealt on October 7. She never wears a name tag, and is very seldom in the store. When she is there, she seems to be in charge of everything. For now I will call her “Dianne,” so as not to keep calling her “that woman.” ON THE AFTERNOON of October 7, the store was pretty crowded when I arrived. I found an empty seat, and was about to put my bags there, when Dianne swooped down on me from behind the counter and said, “You can’t sit there.” I have remarked many times the things that go on in this store. This level of attention to customers’ conduct is unheard of. I was very much taken aback by this and subsequent events, but being forewarned,[2] I managed to maintain my composure. A middle-aged woman was already sitting in the other seat at the same table. Dianne told me, “It’s her table. You can’t sit there.” She explained that once someone sat at a table for two persons, no one else could sit in the other seat. I asked the woman, “May I sit here?” and she shrugged. Dianne again told me I could not. I looked around the dining room. By the one-person-per-table standard, practically all of the tables were taken. I got the impression she wanted to deny me any seating whatsoever. There was one vacant table immediately to my right. I said, “Can I sit there?” Dianne turned to a very well-dressed young woman who had approached and had looked at that table. The young woman said, “He can sit there.” I put my things down and got in line to get coffee. I put my coffee on the table, left my things there, and went outside for a smoke. A male staff member came out and said “she” wanted me to come back inside and get my things, because “we’re not responsible for your possessions.” There was also an issue that someone had been smoking a Black & Mild inside the store, and “she” thought that person was me. He identified her as “the owner.” I put my half-smoked smoke on a ledge, went back inside, and found Dianne. I asked her, if I were to take my things, leave my coffee at the table, and go out and finish my smoke; would my coffee still be there when I came back? My concern was lest staff throw it out. She said, “What I want to do is refund your coffee and have you leave the store, because it’s illegal to bring lit tobacco products inside the store.” Two or three staff jumped in and told her I was not the person who’d done that. Now, a Black & Mild is an inexpensive cigar with a strong vanilla scent to it. There’s never any ignoring its presence, nor any doubt about who, if anyone, has one. I’ve not had one in my possession for years, and if I had had this time, she certainly would have noticed it during our first conversation. I re-posed my original question. She answered, “Once you’ve paid for your coffee and have it, it’s your possession. We’re not responsible for your possessions. If someone drinks from it, or puts something in it, while you’re outside, we’re not responsible.” I had no concern about any such thing. In fact, on two previous occasions, I’ve come back from a smoke break to find someone else drinking my coffee. So much for how much attention staff normally pay to customers’ conduct. All this emphasis on “We’re not responsible for your possessions” suggests that the store may carry an oxymoronic grudge against me for the events of April 3, 2014.[3] I have not reported those here, and don’t want to now, lest I change the subject or presume to read minds. But Rosa alluded to the same events when she spoke to me on September 12. I left my coffee at the table, put on my backpack and picked up my bags, and went back outside and finished my smoke. When I came back in, I drank my coffee; left my things at the table when I went to the counter for my refill; put that at my table, picked up all my belongings, went back outside for a smoke; came back inside, drank my coffee, and left. “FAIRLY DEBATABLE” is a legal term describing a question about which “reasonable persons can disagree.” The next question becomes, what’s reasonable? Is it reasonable to expect me to take all my possessions outside with me when I leave my coffee to have a smoke? Would it be reasonable to require me, rather than placing my possessions at any table at all, to keep them all with me when I first stand in line? What about when I go to the counter to get my refill; should I have to take them all with me at that time, too? After all, that’s an ideal time for a perpetrator to victimize them; on one occasion I stood at the counter waiting for my refill 35 minutes. Should the normal customer, or any customer, be required to take his or her possessions along when one uses the bathroom? Many, especially homeless ones as I’ve seen, do. But as I remarked just a little less than a year ago,[1] “One of the few shreds of dignity left to me is that I don’t have to take my bags with me into the bathroom.” THE SERENITY PRAYER: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” If you would get on your feet, you will face obstacles. Events and people will knock you down, put stumbling blocks before you, and step on you. You may deal with prejudices and a “historical context.” You alone choose what will distract or stop you — or whether, instead, you’ll keep on. To become un-homeless, I must focus my emotional energies wholly on achieving my dreams. Get my own job. Get my own place. Does McDonald’s discriminate against the homeless? I don’t know, and don’t much care. The question is immaterial to my goals in life. Related: Life in the outer darkness [1]Must I work for Rent-A-Bum? [3]That story is told in the 12/15/18 post, “I shoulda had somebody crack your head open.” Up to 10/07/14, no one but staff had ever molested my things. I should think that if staff molests someone’s belongings, then, yes, the store has become responsible. Related 11 thoughts on “* Does McDonald’s discriminate against the homeless?” October 19, 2014 at 1:44 pm Reblogged this on Notes From The Margins and commented: October 19, 2014 at 1:50 pm The most outrageous discrimination of homeless I have witnessed to date is at a drop-in activity center for people with mental health disabilities. They no longer allow individuals carrying backpacks or other bags, citing “safety” issues. This weeds out all of the local homeless who have to drag their belongings with them in between hours at the homeless shelters. Shame on them. William Tell says: October 19, 2014 at 2:27 pm That’s really shocking. And I can relate to that directly given all the mentally ill folk I meet from day to day who do, like me, have to carry those bags everywhere. October 20, 2014 at 2:59 pm Of course that’s business, only those who can pay are their customers William Tell says: October 20, 2014 at 3:03 pm William Tell says: October 23, 2014 at 3:58 pm I got a phone call from Gloria of McDonald’s about this this morning. We talked for 15 minutes. The outcome was not as I would have liked. She had not read this blog post; my view stats have indicated no one from McD did. So I had to tell her all about the October 7 incident on the phone. We also reviewed the events of April 3. As to October 7, the question of seating was never directly addressed. She backed up “Dianne” completely on all things pertinent my possessions, including my needing to take them with me if I go outside the store. She emphasized that McDonald’s “can serve whomever we please.” It remains that I’ve never seen any customer, myself included, treated this way ever before or after. William Tell says: October 25, 2014 at 4:41 pm On October 18, I remarked to certain people: I’ve had all kinds of opportunity to observe how other staff interact with customers, including me, from October 7 to present. No one ever had an issue about seating; never an issue about smoking; never an issue about keeping one’s possessions with him or her. On October 22, I felt compelled by circumstances to inform McDonald’s online of the events of October 7. The last words of that text: My immediate concern is that this situation NOT escalate, that there be no new or further retaliation against me based on my sharing this with you. From my diary for October 24: At McD this morning, it became clear the upshot of yesterday’s conversation with Gloria has come back down to the store level. When I went out to smoke after getting my refill, Maggie came out and called me by name and told me to go get my things. I said, “OK,” and did. (Pause.) When I got my second coffee, she told me, “I’m giving you twenty minutes,” which is ten minutes more than usual. At this time I put my coffee on the table, and immediately gathered my things and went out to smoke. This man was sitting at the table, occupying the whole thing, when I returned, but my coffee was intact and he made room for me to take out my meds. So, whereas from October 7 to October 18 my possessions were never an issue, on October 24 — after my conversation with Gloria — they BECAME an issue. It appears the store has indeed chosen to retaliate against me for having submitted the remarks I did online. William Tell says: October 28, 2014 at 4:12 pm This isn’t necessarily important. I’m only recording it in case something comes of it in the future. The amount of time I spend in the store is a bona fide issue about which I don’t intend to give them any pushback. In recent weeks, when I buy my second coffee in the morning, Maggie has usually told me a time frame for how much longer I can stay: ten minutes, or twenty minutes, or thirty. This morning she said nothing. So I figured I could stay a half hour with that coffee, and then a half hour with the refill. When Jasmine gave me the refill, she said, “You have to go now.” Surprised, I said, “Right now?” She nodded. I took the coffee, and gathered up my things, and left. I have never before been asked to leave the store. I hadn’t used the bathroom, and wound up going to Dunkin Donuts. I bought a small coffee, and used the bathroom there. This cost me $1.58. William Tell says: November 1, 2014 at 4:38 pm This is unprecedented. This morning, when I got my first refill, Maggie told me, “You have five minutes.” I said, “Five minutes?!” I took the refill to my table, gathered my things, went out for a smoke; came back in, drank it as quickly as I could, and left. I would spend some time sitting on the steps by the Metro station, and then go to Dunkin’ Donuts. Small coffee there, $1.58, gave me time to do my prayer time and take meds. This crazy man had been sitting with me at McD. This guy never bothers anybody, but just talks all the time. He got his refill seconds after I did, and Maggie told him to leave at once. William Tell says: November 12, 2014 at 4:17 pm At 7:55, I was deep in prayer for the church, and Maggie came and banged on the table and said, “Sir, you’ve been here too long. You have to go now.”	14,606
Serca is based on the idea that there is a better way of doing things. It’s all about changing your perspective and making informed decisions. Which is why, Serca spelled backwards is Acres. Is there still bargain farmland in SK? Learn about the future of buying and selling farmland. Previous Next “Farming’s in our DNA” We are Serca. The way we see it – when you’re working in farm realty you need to know more than just cost per acre. You’ve got to know what has gone into the soil. The blood sweat and tears that worked it. The generations that have built it. The motivations behind the sale. We get you, because we are you. We’re your neighbours down the road. Tyler and Vince know farm life. So, we know its joys and challenges. And more than anything, understand what it means to transition out of it. We grew up on the Badinski family farm, and still pitch in at harvest. Following the ups and downs of the market. Knowing the ins and outs. Which is why we do what we do. Guide you through the process. Ensuring you feel safe and informed. And it doesn’t end there. With a robust rolodex of professionals, we set you up for success with planning beyond the sale. Things like tax preparations, retirement planning, and building you up for the next phase of life, is a part of our real estate process. We meet you where you’re at. At your kitchen table or under your sprayer. We aren’t flashy. We’re grit and hard work and know how to get a job done and we’ll be here for you far beyond the sale. We are Serca. The way we see it – when you’re working in farm realty you need to know more than just cost per acre. You’ve got to know what has gone into the soil. The blood sweat and tears that worked it. The generations that have built it. The motivations behind the sale. We get you, because we are you. We’re your neighbours down the road. Tyler and Vince know farm life. So, we know its joys and challenges. And more than anything, understand what it means to transition out of it. We grew up on the Badinski family farm, and still pitch in at harvest. Following the ups and downs of the market. Knowing the ins and outs. Which is why we do what we do. Guide you through the process. Ensuring you feel safe and informed. And it doesn’t end there. With a robust rolodex of professionals, we set you up for success with planning beyond the sale. Things like tax preparations, retirement planning, and building you up for the next phase of life, is a part of our real estate process. We meet you where you’re at. At your kitchen table or under your sprayer. We aren’t flashy. We’re grit and hard work and know how to get a job done and we’ll be here for you far beyond the sale. Discover a better way to work. Right alongside you, around your kitchen table. Getting the job done. At Serca, our listings are always being updated. Sometimes selling before we can get them online. Check in with us for everything up to date.	2,958
I have to be honest and say that I’m lucky enough not to have had to battle mental health, so I’m possibly not the best… Welcome to my little running site My name is Andy and I’d like you to welcome you to my site. Running is a passion, and even if I have more enthusiasm than I do ability, there’s nothing better than pulling on the old running shoes.	362
Amid the glitz and glamor that typically defines the 2019 New York Auto Show, an announcement by Mercedes towards the end of its press confrence appeared to suggest that Stuttgart still thinks there’s room in ... #TruckTalk , News We've covered subscription services for automakers a lot lately, and it all... What is 88 octane? Can you use it for your new truck? Have you ever heard of 88 octane? We hadn't. So, of course, the idea of 88... #TruckTalk , News Gone are the days where premium fuel is reserved for high-end sedans and SU... #TruckTalk , News It is no secret a new 2024 Toyota Tacoma hybrid is expected to be unveiled... #EVTalk , News Toyota hydrogen fuel cell kit for Semi truck ready to roll in 2023 After a highly successful demonstration of the technology, the Toyota hydro... #TruckTalk , News , Reliability Are there new problems with GM V-8 engine lifters lurking? General Motors V-8 engines are no stranger to lifter problems. Owners of GM... #EVTalk #EVTalk #TruckTalk #TruckTalk Most commonly overlooked tools in a toolbox When you take a look at your toolbox, what do you see? There are probably plenty of exceptional mechanic tools in your toolbox, such as ratchets, torque wrenches, and impact drivers. However, it can be incredibly frustrating when the repair-related truck and SUV gear you need is missing. It is imperative that you think carefully about what is in your toolbox, and what tools you might require for your next project. Take a look at the list below, because these tools should be in your toolbox, or already are, and you just can’t find them. 1. A hand saw You probably have a utility knife that you use to cut through certain materials, but what happens if you need to cut through something a bit thicker or sturdier? A hand saw can come in an array of shapes and sizes and can be used to make small cuts quickly. For example, you might be interested in a traditional hand saw, which has a blade that is approximately 2 feet long. Whereas a coping saw will be very thin, with a narrow blade that is attached at a right angle. And then there’s the old-fashioned hacksaw, which is usually used to cut through plastic and metal. Whatever you choose, make sure the saw you put in your toolbox is suitable for the task at hand. 2. Tape measure There is a saying that you have to measure twice and cut once, so make sure you have a tape measure available. Although a digital device will get the job done, a tape measure still has its place, especially since you won’t need multiple people to take a measurement. Try to avoid using fabric tape, as it will eventually stretch over time, rendering it inaccurate. Furthermore, fabric tape is a hassle to store properly and is typically not magnetized like a measuring tape. 3. An old-fashioned level… with a laser! An old-fashioned level is also important to have when amassing the contents of a toolbox. You might be tempted to use the app on your phone as a level, but an old-fashioned level is always going to be more accurate. Extremely easy to use, this makes properly hanging picture frames a cinch, especially when outfitted with a laser level. Although it may seem like a hassle to use at first, laser levels are incredibly accurate and can reduce your chances of making a mistake. 4. Sandpaper There are a lot of people who overlook sandpaper as a possible tool, but there is nothing wrong with cramming a few pieces into your toolbox. If the wall looks a little bit uneven, or if you have applied filler prior to some paint repair, you will want to smooth it out properly during the prep stage. Select a variety of different types of sandpaper in different grit levels, as it will not take up that much more additional space inside your toolbox. 5. Safety goggles and masks Even though they might not be considered tools by some, masks and goggles are very important for DIY work. Safety should always be at the top of your priority list when working with tools, for nothing ruins the day like a trip down to the emergency room. Airborne debris may seem harmless, but it can do a real number on your eyes and lungs, especially after repeated exposure. A few more must-have tools for your toolbox Your toolbox is only so large, so you need to make sure you have the right tools on hand. When you realize that you are missing a tool, be sure to add it to your toolbox. The trick is evaluating the different options in front of you and then deciding which tool is ideal for the project at hand. Personal preference also plays a factor, so evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of each option before you decide which tools you plan to place inside your toolbox. Author Name: Aurangzeb Khan Author email: [email protected] Bio: Aurangzeb is a huge lover of trucks and SUVs. Besides that, he is a full-time blogger and writes about advancements in the automobile industry. Social Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aurangzeb-khan-776407229 As the holiday shopping season pulls in with all of the torque of a turbo-diesel towing rig, truck and SUV owners turn toward thoughts of gift-giving and security. Not just for those precious presents mind you. But the securing of everyday items inside the vehicles tested and reviewed here on PUTT. In an effort to reduce the number of gifts that are “eventually relegated to the back of the closet or re-gifted later,” Tuffy Security Products has released its holiday buying catalog. Hardcore storage solutions that are engineered and built for “serious use.” Currently, the entire line of Tuffy Security Products is 11% off sitewide. Making this protective portfolio one of the most appealing security solutions on the market. Security solutions for any sleigh Starting things off is Tuffy’s line of reinforced storage boxes, which are designed to fit under the seats of a slew of vehicles. There is also a selection of portable safes, security gloveboxes, center console inserts, and specialty lockboxes constructed for safe firearm transportation on sale this holiday season. Tuffy’s laptop security lockbox has also been selected as a top shopping pick and is currently listed at 11% off on the company’s website. An ideal gift for individuals who must remain connected to their PC or Mac at all times. Measuring 18- 5/16 inches wide, 5 ¼ inches deep, and 14 ¼ inches across Tuffy’s Laptop Security Lockbox comes loaded with both 1-inch and 2-inch thick foam lining. Further protection is provided by Tuffy’s own Pry-Guard locking system, with 1/8 inch thick steel components and 10 tumbler double-bitted key finishing things off. Sitting 14 1/8 inches long, 10 5/8 inches wide, and 1 ¾ inch in height, Tuffy’s Tablet Safe is sure to be the next big item on everyone’s truck security shopping list this season. Intended for tablets, the slim 2 1/2 inches height of this security box comes packed with low-density foam inside, and a three-digit keyless combination lock outside. An additional dual-point steel cam comes standard for added security, which comes mounted above the exterior lid surface for easy access. All told, this slim locker weighs less than 7 pounds and comes with a 2-foot steel lock cable. A set of pre-drilled holes come standard to allow easy mounting on solid surfaces. And then there are the Portable Safe solutions from Tuffy. At just a fuzz under 3 pounds per unit, these portable safes make for an outstanding lockbox gift for firearm owners, as well as those who routinely transport small valuables. At just 9 ¾ inches long, 6 ½ inches wide, and 1 4/5 inches in height, this slim security option is about as low-profile as it gets. Welded from solid steel, this locking storage box secures and protects, all while still being able to be easily carried by hand, or stored on a shelf somewhere out of sight. The inside compartment of these pint-sized safes comes lined with a low-density foam to protect their contents, and is finished with compression bumpers to keep the lid vibration-free once closed. A three-digit combination lock with a two-point steel cam provides access and peace of mind against intruders. Tuffy gift ideas for everyone In addition, Tuffy Security Products offers a wide range of other durable, dependable security options for those on your holiday shopping list. From the traveling sales professional and tech connected, to the college student and outdoor explorer, Tuffy Security Products are sure to surprise and safeguard the truck and SUV driver in your life this holiday season. Protecting those valuable gifts is what this North American-made brand is all about. Even if you have just bought a brand-new truck, there will always be the risk that a core component will suddenly fail to function. Stuck on the side of the road, with a mass recall on the horizon, and more questions than answers in mind, you stand back and assess your options. Research shows that the average cost to service and repair an automobile has grown exponentially year over year. Furthermore, only 30% of US car owners have the financial ability to fund the unexpected cost of repairing their vehicle on their own. Those who do not have the funds to cover such expenses, or are not covered under the insurance plan or dealer warranty guarantee are faced with an even tougher scenario. Fortunately, a personal loan presents a viable solution in these sorts of situations. But knowing what you are signing up for is a crucial first step. To proceed, you’ll first need to spend some time studying the terms of loan agreements (interest rates, terms, amounts, additional fees, and payments) of various lenders. However, once a lender has been chosen, you can finance your car repairs almost instantly by applying such financing to credit organizations. Here’s how it works… Online title loans for emergency financing The first lending option many people consider is Online Title Loans on Compacom. The advantage of an online loan option is that you do not have to look for a lender that suits your needs. Applying for title loans takes only a few minutes, and it can be done with any device with an internet connection, and the loan approval process tends to be very quick. So typically within a day or so you will receive the funds you need to repair your truck or SUV. Another advantage of online title loans is that you do not have to present any collateral in person to receive the loan. In the case of online lending, the appraiser merely needs a description of the object being used as collateral and a few photos of what is being offered via the electronic online application. No income verification Another option for financing your car repair is Car Title Loans with “No Income Verification.” As a rule, you do not need proof of income to receive this kind of loan. Instead, it requires the borrower to use their vehicle title as collateral to obtain the loan. If the borrower fails to pay off the loan promptly, then his car will most likely be processed and put up for sale by the lender. In the case of such lending, the risk of the lender is reduced, as they have your title as collateral. They don’t care whether you have a source of income or not. If your credit terms are violated, your debt will be covered by the proceeds from the sale of your car. So if you suddenly find yourself unemployed and in urgent need of auto repair, applying for car title loans with no income verification might be your best bet. Guaranteed funding of bad credit personal loans People with low credit scores and/or a bad credit history face a different type of challenge. Fast cash to finance vehicle repairs is still possible if you get bad credit personal loans with guaranteed approval all the way up to $5,000. In the case of such lending, the lending institution does not conduct a strict check of your credit. The only thing to remember is that due to the increased credit risk for the lender, interest rates on such loan products are higher than on other types of loans. In this case, you can always repay such a loan ahead of schedule to avoid additional fees. The big picture To repair your rig, you can always use a personal loan or a payday loan. The main thing to remember is that you have options at your disposal if you suddenly find yourself in need of additional funding for said repairs. Having a low credit score, bad credit history, or even being temporarily unemployed will not restrict your ability to get that rig back on the road. There’s a lot to know about car title loans, and a lot to beware of as well. So read up and choose a lender carefully. How to get a remote truck key fob replaced Truck keys are one of those parts of a truck that are all too often taken for granted. A seemingly small portion of a pickup that has nothing to do with payload, towing, or 4×4 prowess, but everything to do with its function. You never know how important that truck key fob is until it is misplaced, malfunctioning, or worse yet, stolen. If you find yourself in need of a replacement key fob for your rig, it’s important to know how to get a fresh set in a jiffy. Here are some steps you should take when considering truck key fob replacement. Key fob stop working or missing? If your key fob is not working, the first thing you should do is check the battery. Just like any other electronic device, battery power makes the magic happen, and over time it will eventually need to be replaced. Luckily, the batteries you require are readily available at most stores and even gas stations. Just make sure the replacement has a matching battery number! If your truck key fob is missing, it can either be replaced in one of two ways: 1. Take your vehicle to a dealership that sells your make of truck or SUV 2. Calling an automotive locksmith The dealership approach The first place that most people go for replacement key fobs is the dealership where they bought their truck. It makes sense too. They are the ones with all the information required for a new unit and can program it right there onsite. Depending on the manufacturer of the vehicle, this may be your only option. Certain manufacturers embed a proprietary chip into the key fob that can only be reprogrammed at certain dealerships. Unfortunately, this can sometimes be quite pricey and may require ordering a fresh unit from the factory. Using an automotive locksmith Calling a locksmith that specializes in automotive key fob replacement is another, far less expensive option. Furthermore, they will come to you, so you don’t have to worry about towing the vehicle or catching a ride somewhere. Quick and easy, this method takes far less time than the dealership. Take companies like Auto Locksmiths for example. With their tools and experience, they can replace your missing key with one that meets your preferences, while keeping price and features in mind. Another benefit of using an automotive locksmith is that they are typically available 24/7. No need for an appointment here. Just call when you need help and they’ll come to you so that you can truck on with whatever business you have to do while they work. Check your vehicle warranty You can find out if your truck manufacturer will replace the remote or key fob if it is defective by checking its vehicle warranty. To do this, locate the warranty in your glove compartment, which has information on how to contact the manufacturer. If there is a fee for replacing the key, this will likely be listed as well. Check with your insurer Check with your insurance company to see if a missing, stolen, or defective key fob is covered. In most cases, they may only cover it if the truck itself was stolen along with the keys. So check with your insurer, because everyone’s policy is different. How much does it cost to have a key fob programmed? Since a key fob is specifically programmed to a particular vehicle, replacing one requires some programming. For this fee you can expect to pay between $50-$100, depending on the type of vehicle of course. Key fobs for newer vehicles tend to cost a bit more than older model trucks due to the amount of tech packed into them. Can the key fob be programmed without the truck? No, the truck and its keys need to be in the same area to be programmed. Since it is essentially a remote for your truck, it makes sense that you can’t do much without both the key fob and truck present. How long does it take? On average, you can expect to have a new key fob in your hand in around 30-minutes or so once programming starts. However, you will need to factor in an additional 30-minutes for paperwork, insurance mumbo-jumbo, and conversing with the technician. Still, that’s not too bad, especially if the automotive locksmith can come to you, and you get your new fob there on the spot. So yes, getting your truck key fob problem solved quickly is “key.” No one likes waiting around all day in the service department at the dealership. Truck key fob replacement is not difficult or expensive. If yours has stopped working or been lost, don’t worry! You have replacement options at your disposal that will not cost a small fortune. Considering using a truck or car cover? Read this first… All too often, people will invest their money in classic trucks or vintage SUVs, only to not take adequate care of them down the road. If you own a truck or SUV, and you have it insured, then there’s no need to worry. You can always claim parked vehicle damages without facing any financial burden. Right? Wrong! Nowadays people are opting for a different kind of coverage: Truck and car covers. Protection that covers vehicles against driveway accidents. And while the cost of these covers may vary depending upon the type/size of vehicle in question, it’s a worthy investment for a variety of reasons. Why should you use a car cover? If you’re looking to protect your vehicle from the elements, then a car cover should be your first choice. Concerned about protecting paint, glass, or fading black plastic? You’re covered. Literally. For instance, the most expensive car cover is a “comprehensive cover,” which comes with a warranty period that can be factored into your auto insurance. This way, the insurer will provide additional benefits based on the grade of the car cover in question. For more on this grade of security, you’ll want to turn to car cover specialists like Coverland.com. How often do you need to use a car cover? Most people never realize how often they should be using their car or truck cover. Here are some reasons why you might want to consider buying one: It boosts resale value Reduces the risk of rust and corrosion Stops organic materials like bird poo, bug larvae, tree sap, and more from embedding in your paint job Can reduce damage from flying debris and inclement weather How do car covers work? Car covers come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and materials. From RV and boat covers to ATVs and 4×4 trucks, there’s something for everyone. Some of them have been designed to be waterproof, while others are just meant to keep debris off your ride. Prolonged storage is another reason why a truck cover might be a good idea. This is especially true if you live in an area that gets awful wintry weather, and you don’t want to rust out that classic C10 pickup. No indoor parking space? No problem. How car covers protect your vehicle’s exterior Since car covers are made out of soft material, they won’t scratch the exterior of your vehicle. Unlike the elements outside, car covers will not cause damage but instead protect against dirt, grime, snow, ice, and foul language coming from the neighbor next door. You want to make sure that you buy a truck cover that is made out of a material that won’t crack or fade with time. A cover that is made from UV-resistant polyethylene will stay strong and last for years. Remember, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to purchase a new truck or car cover than it is to get a paint job.	20,287
When Matt wakes up, the wind is so hard his sleeves are actually slapping him. He notices this first, because his buttons sting. It must be a hurricane, and he’s–scared? That would explain why his stomach feels odd. No, it’s because he’s sideways. But not lying down. The wind is his own passage. His fingers feel cold and stiff as they scrabble across the front of his body. There has to be something there. Is it in the back? The wind is so hard. Is that the–no, surely. Gasping, he tries to reach around, the ripcord, he can’t find Tuesday, August 5, 2003 “It decays,” says Mister Duckleford firmly. “This is provable and inevitable. Entropy is fact, at every level, molecular to galactic.” Tyson smiles gently. “You fail to understand. Society is already its own form of controlled entropy; the manifestation of styles is a brilliant kind of planned obsolescence.” Mister Duckleford glowers. “Bollocks. It’s all going to hell, you know it.” Tyson’s skin is old, sad, liverspotted around his eyes. The eyes are clear and blue. He draws his knees up in the warm, frothy bathwater and considers the yellow rubber toy. How to explain? Mister Duckleford can be such a child sometimes. Wednesday, August 6, 2003 They’re clamoring for him: “Compose! Compose!” Cyrix sighs theatrically–always give them a show–then pulls his Muse out of orbit around him. The Muse is small, egg-shaped, purple, and it makes an elliptical circuit of his body twice a second on gravity-reflect. There isn’t really any reason for that, but it does add panache. Cyrix touches the contact and feels himself suffused. Neurons fire randomly in Instant REM, and when he comes up he has it: the seed. The idea. They hush. He lets them, momentarily, then begins. “I met a hunchback,” he says softly, “who was also my uncle…” Thursday, August 7, 2003 Her hoodie will be damp forever, she knows, and it’ll smell. Her hair is tickling her freckled face, pale in limp strawberry ringlets. Leaving. Of course. Kate can’t believe that she’s the only one with him at the station. Where are they? They must exist, nameless hordes of Prettier-Than-Kate, everyone who had him, kissed him, threw him away. She’s always hated being too young. The bus is coming. She knows she’ll remember this, suddenly. Pressing the hoodie to her face will bring it back: one moment of desperate clarity, her hand inches from his, the smell of cigarettes and warm rain. Friday, August 8, 2003 When Wu was a small child, selling flowers by his mother’s rice stall, he saw a bandit and monk fighting once. The bandit was black-garbed, snarling, and the monk humbly dressed and bald. The bandit flailed with his hooked sword, but the monk was amazing. He twisted and flipped, and Wu watched him run straight up a wall and fly away. His feet were like blown feathers. Now, after twenty years of training, Wu has learned what the monk knew, the secret of long leaps, easy flight and running away from the earth. It’s really fucking hard. Monday, August 11, 2003 Barnaby’s unfairly cheered by the sight out the hotel window: astounded people scurrying, trying to cover their heads with newspapers. They must think they’re freezing to death. For him, it’s cold, but it’s also the first time he’s felt at home here in Egypt. It hasn’t been everything they predicted, he thinks. Not everyone’s dead, since the payloads mostly hit the Pacific–sheer statistics, there. They’d fired, but they’d lost their skill at aiming. It’ll all get worse, soon, sure. Meanwhile, why not enjoy it? It’s a little bit magical, this new clear winter, this vision of snow on the Sphinx. Tuesday, August 12, 2003 Dwayne’s moccasins are soundless on the carpet of Women’s Delicates. This wasn’t the best place to come–they’ll inevitably be drawn here–but he was cut off from Shoes and could not be forced into Electronics. He sweeps his mane back over one shoulder, listening. His advantage is hearing; shushed giggles are like sirens to him. Theirs are numbers, and the range of their accursed cameras. Sometimes he wonders if he could avoid all this–shop elsewhere, perhaps, or move where the sport is unknown… But no. He wears the mullet, and they are the mullet hunters. There is no other way. Wednesday, August 13, 2003 Ampersand isn’t good at poetry. She wears the makeup well, certainly, and she has a knack for matching handbags, but though she’s finally stopped rhyming, she just can’t grasp meter. She only got into it at all because she loved words (she has begun to suspect that this doesnâ€™t matter). She chose her name when she joined the circle; it was a favorite, because she’d read it was a mutation of et, Latin for “and.” She likes that little word. It brings back high school Faulkner, the dearness and scariness of Vardaman, stubbornly telling them cooked and et. Cooked and et. Thursday, August 14, 2003 Eventually Dottie can’t resist: she opens the closet while the Sorcerer’s out and tries on the soft brown Seven-League Boots. Two steps and she’s terrifyingly fast, sounds roaring and changing around her. It’s light and explosions of color; when she lands, seconds later, she gasps and laughs aloud. Two steps back find her near the wardrobe again, luckily, and she replaces the boots. That night she’ll dream of flying. She won’t think about the other pair. They’re similar, but black and cleated, on the other side of the wardrobe. Dottie’s sure they’re Thirteen-League Boots, and she doesn’t like them at all. Monday, August 18, 2003 Three and Four are going to close soon, but there’s still a gap. He dives between them headlong, hands splayed to hit the roof of Two. A roll, tucked tight, and he’s through with heels intact. Immediately he wraps one arm in cable and begins hauling. Eight should handle this, but could never make it in time; there’s a pregnant woman up there, and today, avoiding the sitcom trope is up to him. The car’s heavy, but counterweighted well, and his pull is long-practiced. He grimaces with fierce, wild pride: he is Barnhardt, Lord of Elevators, and this is his domain.	6,369
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Email Address: This year, for my birthday, Jeremy surprised our family with a three day trip to Philadelphia. Honest to goodness, I think it’s my favorite family vacation. Because truth be told, it’s a vacation that is entirely focused on eating fun food, resting and relaxing. We always stay at the Embassy Suites (which means free snack hour, fresh made omelettes for breakfast and lots of gym and pool time) and we always have an amazing time. And three or four times during our stay, we venture over to hang out at the country’s largest mall in King of Prussia where we all eat our favorite foods (mine is a sushi burrito) and do basically whatever we like (Ellee and I always have fun, shopping and finding all sorts of great deals at Primark). So you can probably imagine my delight with this trip, especially when it came after last week’s Missions Conference at our church. Trust me, the conference was amazing. But it was also a crazy busy week and by Sunday, I was ready to get away. The trip was all I hoped it would be and more. We rested and relaxed and all were delighted to be back in Philly again. But this trip turned extra fun when God blessed us with what felt like summer days with temps in the 70s and 80s. On this trip, we decided to venture out a bit and explore the nearby Valley Forge National Historical Park. Jeremy brought his road bike so went out a few times to ride and on Monday afternoon while he was riding, I decided to take the kids over to the park. I’ll be honest. I bribed them. I actually told Christian that he could come and just relax on a blanket and not do anything. Because truthfully, I was the one who really wanted to get out and take a nice walk with Ellee. But when we got to the park, I was pleasantly surprised, when he cheerfully told us that he’s rather hang out with us instead. The day could not have been more perfect. We went to check out these replica cabins. Though at the time I didn’t know they were replicas so I confidently told Christian they were real and he proceeded to give us a fairly accurate description of all that went on in them during Washington’s stay in Valley Forge. He was impressed and I was impressed by how much he had learned about this area from his social studies teacher (thanks Mr. Costanzo). Leading up from the two huts was a trail that wound up through the side of this beautiful mountain/hill. It was beautiful and woodsy. And since it’s only April, there weren’t a lot of bugs nor ticks (hopefully). Cheers to this girl. She lost her confidence/willpower a few times on our hike. Granted, she did choose to wear flip flops, which made it a bit more tricky throughout the steep parts. But thankfully, she found a “walking stick” and all was right with the world again. Also, this small complimentary hotel cup of pretzels and chips helped as well. We finally made it to the top. And I could not be more delighted or proud of these two. We loved it so much that the next day, we convinced this awesome guy to join us for another hike. Of course on the way, we got lost a few times trying to find the right spot (the park spans 3500 acres) but thankfully eventually found our way. The woods were as pretty as you could expect in early spring. And the temperatures that day were a non-humid 80 degrees, which is pretty much perfection. This time around, the kids found a rock wall to climb up, and my heart was so happy watching them get along and help each other. A slip and fall almost put Ellee out, but thanks to the encouragement of her brother, she brushed herself off and was good to go. And that sums up how we spent the first part of our Spring Break. It was so awesome and so timely and I was so incredibly thankful that we were able to get away for a few days. A huge thanks to the gem that truly is Valley Forge National Historical Park for an added adventure on our favorite family vacation. Related Published by I love Jesus, my Youth Pastor Husband and our two beautiful children. I'm a professional photographer and I love people, especially kids. My best days include time with my family, Hot Yoga and a Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream cone. View all posts by lauraherr8	5,535
Apr 27, 2022 Apr 27, 2022 by quantumcreations, posted in Music / Rave / EDM / Underground / Drum & Bass / Jungle / UK G, Uncategorized Tagged artist, Blessed, DJ, Drum and Bass, New Music, Now Trending, Producer, Rap, releaseLeave a comment Nov 29, 2020 Mar 1, 2021 by quantumcreations, posted in Life / Lifestyle, Life Force Creation Energy, Music Urban First off Quantum Scripture Creationz acknowledges that it is, first and foremost – an honour in being able to speak with Graveyard Shifter on this affluent level. {Once again!} With almost one whole year between the ‘here and now’- that Quantum Scripture Creationz interviewed Graveyard Shifter, in the highly anticipated ‘Winter Reaper feature’! It is with the utmost respects that we touch down – once again….. Standby for the highly awaited triple, trilogy of Graveyard Shifters – ‘Mission Status’. Keeping it rap – (to date!) are you working on any new projects!?… ‘Yessir, I just recently finished my album “piscean knight and dropped the sampler for it a few days ago on my soundcloud . Everything considered, I should put it out this winter. but the buck doesn’t stop there, I already had a concept planned so i’m already writing for my next project called “the continuum man” so definitely watch this space.’ With so many ‘worldly events’ taking place have you been feeling more ‘inspired’ or less ‘uninspired’?… ‘Honestly both at times. The events happening right now are events I predicted in the past, in my music and even with you in other interviews. The reality and nature of humanity I predicted is playing out right before our eyes. Remember I said that when we are faced with a threat we do not understand, we would eat each other live. well here we are.’ ‘This pandemic, mixed with a political atmosphere that thrives on chaos has left the people at odds with each other. An event meant to bring us together, meant to make us join forces and combine intellectual capabilities has instead mirrored the darkness within us as humans and further proven my point about our compatibility with evolution in terms of intellectuality.’ ‘People are acting like they have devolved intellectually and their animal instict within has controlled them instead of them controlling it. The fear of the unknown has society forgetting the one thing we should know the best and that is ourselves and our inherent nature, instead we are more strange to each other by the day and because of a political atmosphere that wishes to classify us based on mundane traits, everyone now is retreating to man-made social identifications , be it ethnicity,sexuality or financial standing.’ ‘It’s Very uninspiring to know that man can not stand each other when theres another less understood threat in the mix, be it a pandemic or social issues. we instead opt to misunderstand each other and try to Destroy the little left of logic and sanity we posses.’ ‘But there is a flipside to this. The inspiring part of these events is the sudden clarity in terms of those around us, their intent, ideologies and the ability to gauge their threat levels. Now we know who is who. Now we know who can do what. Now we know who has been pretending and who actually can handle whats thrown at them. Now we know who seeks to destroy or rebuild. we now know the faces of the brave and the cowards amongst us. Its is every important to have such data if we are going to aim for a world that is spawned from the evolution of innovation. I have always said, an evolved infrastructure or world without an evolved mindset is the recipe for disaster. It brings me back to what I’ve been saying about humanity not being ready for a technologically advanced world or to even make contact with other more superior and intelligent beings out there.’ ‘I feel like the events happening in society today are mother natures way of filtering out humanity. now we clearly know who the evolved are as opposed to the devolved. Now we know who those that are a danger to our evolution are. Now we know who and what is a danger to humanity as a race. Now we can face the obstacles and weed them out, make them pariahs and put more focus into those who want a unified earth and human race that can achieve the greatest accomplishments in this solar system. To summarise, the inspiring part of this is that we can’t beat mother nature. She decides and she always wants the strong, the best, the intellectually equipped to win the battle and keep her functional.’ What have your personal observations on the culture been of late!?… ‘If we are talking hip hop. The culture has become redundant, to the part where lack of creativity has led people to reproducing album covers. people always think I’m being dismissive or hating but the new wave of hip hop that is now being pushed over boom bap is a limited soundscape and culture.’ ‘It lacks the richness in origin and history to actually give those active in it depth and room to expand. It is also why I believe it won’t last and hip hop will revert to its origins. its like food, microwave food will never be tastier than a well cooked balanced meal out of the kitchen, done with precision on a stove. A lot of these new rappers are not musicians by calling, they are musicians by the manufacturing.’ ‘Everyones after hits and clout, there is a rarity of the mc who wants to innovate, change wavelengths and minds with pure lyrical prowless and truth. but like every other fad, this too will give people fatigue. we are slowly moving into a world where people can’t afford to live a fantasy vicariously via dream salesmen. The reality of the world is edging out utopian level delusions and this will lead to people wanting to hear music made from a real and true standpoint. No more attempts at art. Just pure art.’ ‘Now socially, the culture has become draconian to an extent. people are at polar extremes holding on to ideologies that are making them nothing short of rabid cultists. The irony of it all is alot of these people latch on these ideologies based on admiration of certain figures who introduce them to the masses and not because they identify with such ideologies. We are now seeing the makings of a cult world and the dangers of it.’ ‘People indoctrinated and lacking the logic to filter out and decipher what they’re believing in. Like I always said before, we are now in a world where thought has a price, opinions have a price, lack of both have a price and self awareness is not even on the market because it would require objectivity and intelligence and these are both traits that have to be eliminated if a cult like existence is to be created.’ ‘You do not need some weird viral strain to become zombies. All you need is well promoted propaganda and a bunch of compromised consciousnesses. This is why the system favors tools like debt, crime, biased media,doom and gloom. It helps to that end. If the people are too worried about these things in their everyday life, they are already compromised, they already are primed to be fined tuned under the guise of protecting their self interests.’ The last time you kindly took time, to relate your message to the Quantum Scripture Creationz– you once again; touched upon some real ‘ahead of the timeline stuff’!… This being said- where do you see humanity in the next 1-5 years time!?… ‘I predicted us facing a threat we wouldn’t understand and now its happening so let me predict what that means going forward for us 5 years from now. For one, the trust between us and our governments is going to be strained on a huge level. this pandemic has shown the people that the powers that be sometimes will sacrifice you and yours just for their own political gain. I think a lot more people will be vigilant about their governments and to me? thats a good thing. lack of vigilance is why the CIA had programs like mk ultra, tuskeegee experiments to say the least.’ -‘I think the amount of work people do is gonna decrease. We have been living in a culture where people dedicate more to work than their home lives, some even to a point where they have no lives. the sham that you have to always been in an office building all day to get results have been exposed and now I think more businesses will allow people to work from the comfort of their own homes which will be good for a lot of family units and cost cutting with daycare and whatnots, I see this as an advantage.’ -‘The vaccine race has began. This will inspire scientists and pharma companies to go crazy working on vacinnes. this could go 2 ways, they could create great vacinnes for future plagues or too much emphasis on such a science could results new strains of plagues the likes we have never seen before. we shall see.’ -‘Actor’s ,celebrities etc who thought they were important are now being humbled, entertainment as a whole is getting a real kick in its nuts. I also think this will be a good thing, I think creatives will be forced to really put out more quality work to outdo the competition because their livelihoods are on the line. I think we are about to see more inspired work out there. I think the reality that it could all go away in a sec has hit them.’ -‘A lot of government related secrets will be put out there, not because they are being transparent but because they want to regain the trust of the population around them.’ -‘We are going to make some more discoveries in the cosmos, Big ones that may change our fate’. -‘A shortage of food and services will be a thing, this will be the wake up call that will lead people to taking control of their destinities, as a matter of fact, this may lead us into a new era of inventions, Everyone is going to want to create something to help the world. It’s going to be an interesting time ahead.’ an increase in suicides. A lot of people have had to change their livestyles and habits since this pandemic hit. the extroverted types especially are going to have to face the things that led them out there in the first place, their mental capabilites are gonna be compromised, they may feel trapped.’ -‘Increase in domestic violence and divorces. often we deal with our partners in doses. go to work, and come home to them. that window without them resets your brain,back to your more pleasant thoughts of them, regardless of the circumstances but what happens when you are stuck with them all the time, in your space, their habits, quirks,opinions, outlook on life? what happens when the person closest to you isn’t who you thought they were because now you are in an environment that gives you an ability to have a close in depth look at them?’ -‘The rich and opportunists will get richer. How? they are gonna exploit all the above things I mentioned.’ -‘You’re cellphones,and most of your tech are now going to be modified to watch you, your interests and turned into spy networks or hubs of commerce.Since now there is a lack of human to human interaction when it comes to trade because of the pandemic. The big companies are going to turn to tech to push their products, expect more ads in everthing you do, everywhere you go, you know how the worlds in Blade Runner have holograms everywhere selling shit? Expect a dose of that via your tech, I wouldn’t be suprised if while gaming, your game pauses to sell a product.’ -‘Religion is going to acquire more followers if science fails to answer the questions people have about the events in the world today. Humans by instinct prefer what they can understand and rationalize, in a diabolical way, relgious texts always seem to have that covered even if we do not fully understand the context. Believe me, religious opportunists are going to take advantage of that.’ -‘Drug use and sales are gonna be on the rise. Those who can’t handle the reality of a world they never saw coming are going to want an escape and throughout history, drugs have always been that escape.’ -‘Race and identity wars are going to escalate. and this is because everyone always feels led by their ego in the face of something that doesn’t discriminate when it destroys.The superiority complex is always a coping mechanism for those who feel small in the face of situations, people they can’t fully control. We are now in a world full of people looking for the one thing that makes them special. The danger in this is, it’s usually a rabithole that leads to delusion and radical behavior.’ How have you been looking after yourself in these estranged times? ‘I have been meditating, travelling. writing and making music. I’ve tried to manifest all the best things about myself over the worst. I have also had alot of great people in my life who keep me focused. My life is one where I try to elevate those around me so when im out there, even stores I frequent, I leave feeling energized because thats the energy I’ve been exerting for a long time.’ Your IG has been absolutely poppin – personally enjoying, watching a lot of your ‘vaulted music’ please tell the people about this!?… ‘Yes, yes, so my IG is where I’ve been putting up my experimental work. I always try to innovate and be a step ahead. sometimes that comes with victories or loses. It’s important to gauge the thoughts of those who peruse your work. It is what keeps me focused so thank you for taking time out to enjoy that.’ You are very close to where the George Floyd situation started… Would you mind speaking on this personally? How much trouble have you and crew received during your time?…. ‘I was and because it is still a pending case, I can not speak in actual facts about it. I will say this. I watched the video, I saw a man with a knee on his neck begging for air, his past record aside, human decency would kick into to either offer aid or call for paramedics. This is a country that claims that people are innocent until proven guilty by a jury of their peers, so based on that logic,just because someone is a suspect does not mean they have lost the right to be treated like a human being and justly. I think the police culture in America generally needs an overhaul. I never understood the concept of protecting and serving while being trained and equipped like armies.’ ‘There are police precincts in this country with gangs within them, some of these guys have tanks and assault rifles. That in itself is fine tuning the cop to think he is part of a psuedo military. thats the mindset he probably goes into communities with. the mindset of a soldier vs a combatant. It’s dangerous. I also wanna add that most impoverished communities and ones predominantly with people of color are patrolled more.’ ‘This is by design and this is problematic in itself. I think we need more people trained to preserve communities and respect human life as opposed to psuedo militants with a badge.’ How are things now in regards to these events? ‘Nothing ever changes but the promises of those tasked to fix the problems. I think one of the best solutions to these problems is leveraging local votes. Put people in who will work and send those who sweep the issues under the rug home.’ What message can you offer the WORLD to get though these next few years or so ?… ‘My message is simple. You cannot predict what’s coming and what’s coming does not care if you are prepared or not. your destiny is yours. your future is yours. you survival and those of your loved ones depend on you. know what isn’t yours? your lifespan so DO WHAT YOU GOT TO DO NOW because now I’m starting to believe time is God and God is time. Think about it, its the one thing that has the power to actually change everything. Make moves with the belief that Time is God and you will see a significant difference in your life.’ From a FUTURE perspective- what do we have to do as a species to keep this train on track?… ‘It’s simple, humanity needs to re-spark its desire to dominate eveything else but humanity. Humanity needs to do everything to celebrate humanity. That hunger to discover, to innovate, to invent, it needs to return full force. That hunger to be the upper echelon race in the solar system needs to be paramount. That starts with humans recognizing each other as one collective in the midst of a bigger galactic neigborhood or even better, animal planet.’ What are your thoughts about the A. I. introduction which is taking place?… As inevitable as it is.. Where do you see this going in the next 5 years or so!? ‘AI is innevitable, we can’t escape it. It is part of our culture, it was pre ordained to happen even before it became popular on a wider social level. In the next 5 years, it is going to be a huge part of our tech marketing hub, like I said earlier, we aren’t going to shops as much, or movies ,resturants etc.’ ‘This is going to force companies to push for more intelligent AI to find their buyer base and keep them engaged, which means, very soon, intelligent AI will be right in the palm of your hands or in your living rooms. It will watch you as you watch it. Listen to you, know what you like, what your desires are and then tell its handlers where you are and what to advertise to you. in-fact.’ ‘I believe to an extent, it is at work. For instance, if you google a certain product, pay attention. It Automatically starts showing up on all your social media. That is AI at work. but this is regulated controlled AI. and I am ok with it. The scary form of AI would be the proposed versions for intersteller space travel which is supposed to evolve by the journey. Now there’s something that may have consequences we aren’t ready for.’ Where do / how do you see the culture- rap music developing from this point forward? ‘Hip hop will return back to its original core. Boom bap. Hip hop culture will always dominate, it goes in cycles but when the game becomes singled out for less pleasant displays. I think the whole culture will revolt and weed out the vultures and opportunists. Give it time.’ Incredible! With another outpouring of infinite questions- let’s ‘pause the time lock’ on this one !… Please feel free to leave us with some strong, Graveyard Shifter words of universal encouragement- with blessings! ‘My final words are simple. You have all the time to die. You do not have all the time to live. take that into consideration and make moves accordingly.’ ‘And thank you for the opportunity to speak my mind fam.’ Again, Quantum Scripture Creationz would like to personally thank the might, and the time that Graveyard Shifter takes to compete such an endeavour! It’s more than music – see the proof, you also have the energy- succeed and DO IT!…. Jul 11, 2020 Jul 11, 2020 by quantumcreations, posted in Music Urban, Spritual / Cosmic / Energy / Generations ‘There are times when no ‘introductions’ are required. This is quite simply, one of those times.’ Never a better starting point than this – for the first / new generation, who are just seeing what’s what in the world of music, underground rap / hip – hop alike; Cambatta plays a unique and pivotal position in such an important movement. One must always remember the deep roots to which the origin of the culture / scene started. With the emergence of recent events, it is now more important than ever,that hip hop remains open to being able to voice its integral message to the world. Continue reading “Cambatta ‘A new directive’ 2020+” → Nov 6, 2018 Nov 6, 2018 by quantumcreations, posted in Music Urban Legacies are created, then generated. It’s the founder of these that holds the ideas to produce…. It’s with whole hearted levels, in being able to say that: ‘It’s truly amazing times, here today, for the abundance of GOOD SOLID music!‘ Here at Quantum Creations, it’s a held value that one has to ‘keep their finger on the pulse’. Quantum Creations have been most blessed since the start of this web space, in being able to connect with some outstanding artists within the Hip Hop spectrum. K SHARK TV, are on their grind, putting in the WORK to deliver you the vibe! K SHARK sought after the many, with their immense selection for their cyphers. Boosting the culture 360 degrees each time. It’s due to K SHARK that artists get their unique opportunity to showcase their art form off to the world – K SHARK STYLE!!! Showcasing the blessed of the best, K SHARK TV shall continue to provide with the full fire selection, of the – top of the stock, artists. Featured by quantumcreations, posted in Life Force Creation Energy, Music Urban Hip Hop, music, Rap culture. It’s beyond the music in the sense that the music fuses, binds the lifestyle which is lived and shared by many. On a personal note: I have always loved Hip Hop from a young age. I have always zoned in on the ‘message’ it sends from the artists. No doubt, there are many meaningful messages. The tracks themselves holding many layers, a craft, an art to create such structures. We live in an age now, where it is much easier to obtain equipment to create in general, to create beats, music. True heads of the culture will know that the pivotal people, are working hard, night and day to keep it – REAL!	22,235
Billionaire Indian business magnate, prominent stock trader, investor, and TV celebrity Rakesh Jhunjhunwala died on Sunday at age 62. "Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was indomitable. Full of life, witty and insightful, he leaves behind an indelible contribution to the financial world. He was also very passionate about India's progress. His passing away is saddening," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted following reports of Jhunjhunwala's death. The cause of death has not been made public, but media reports indicate that Jhunjhunwala had been dealing with health issues and was seen in a wheelchair earlier this month. A chartered accountant by profession, he started trading in stocks in 1985 while still in college, beginning with just $100. His early investments paid off, and he later turned to managing a stock trading firm, RARE Enterprises. His prominence on the stock market made him a popular TV celebrity and allowed him to accumulate a net worth of $5.8 billion at the time of his death, according to Forbes. Jhunjhunwala's investments include several companies run by one of India's largest conglomerates, Tata Group conglomerate. These include automaker Tata Motors, ratings firm Crisil, watch and jewelry-maker Titan, Tata Communications, and Indian Hotels, which runs Taj Hotels. His latest investments include a 40% stake in low-cost airline Akasa Air, which made its first flight earlier this month. An outspoken supporter of Bollywood, he also financed a few movies. Apart from accumulating a fortune, Jhunjhunwala was eager to share it. He had a namesake foundation, was one of the founders and trustees of Ashoka University, and a regular donor to the Agastya International Foundation, offering science education to the poor. Jhunjhunwala is often referred to as 'India's Warren Buffett' after the US business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section Subscribe and Follow Get a daily dose of Leeds Times news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well. Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Leeds Times. 3 ℃ Partly Cloudy in Leeds Section Failed negotiations results in 1 day rail strike in Austria VIENNA, Austria: During a 24-hour strike by Austrian rail workers held this week over issues related to pay, rail traffic ... Sweden begins trial of two citizens charged with spying for Russia STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Two Iranian-born Swedish brothers were put on trial this week after being charged with spying for Russia and ... Italy to raise billions with windfall tax on energy companies ROME, Italy: A draft of the government's 2023 budget seen by Reuters indicates that Italy plans to charge energy companies ... Ireland to collect deposits on beverage bottles beginning in February DUBLIN, Ireland: Details have been released by the government for a new deposit to be paid when purchasing drinks in ... Germany hopes to encourage foreign residents to become citizens BERLIN, Germany: In an effort criticized by the conservative opposition, Germany's socially liberal government is moving ahead with plans to ... China scoops up cheap Russian oil Bloomberg Refiners have reportedly increased purchases as latest EU sanctions are about to kick inChina's oil refiners have started to snap ... Section China will have 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, Pentagon warns WASHINGTON, D.C.: According to a Pentagon report, if China continues with its current nuclear buildup pace, it could have a ... SYDNEY, Australia: Lt. General Nina Armagno of the U.S. Space Force has said that rapid advancements in China's military capabilities ... LONDON, England: Prince William and his wife Kate, the new Prince and Princess of Wales, will travel to the U.S. ... SYDNEY, Australia: For the first time in eight years, Australia lowered its terrorism threat level from "probable" to "possible," due ... Some protest plan to thin New Jersey forest to protect from fire TRENTON, New Jersey: As part of a project to prevent major wildfires in a federally protected New Jersey forest, up ... Failed negotiations results in 1 day rail strike in Austria VIENNA, Austria: During a 24-hour strike by Austrian rail workers held this week over issues related to pay, rail traffic ...	4,684
Mathew 2:1, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews: For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” Advent! It’s always a special time to experience the excitement and preparation as we anticipate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Emmanuel, God with us. God in the flesh, in the form of a new born babe, precious, innocent, vulnerable and fragile. The wise men of old were following His star in great anticipation of worshiping this new King. Though the wise men came after the birth of Jesus, we traditionally include their journey in our holiday theme. Growing up, I thought God’s provision was the star to announce and guide men to the place of Jesus’ birth but later when I heard the story of King Herod, I also learned about God’s provision of safety for baby Jesus. Who knew there would be those who would not want a baby, any baby, to be born, especially this baby? But I learned God knew. God knew His son would be King of Kings and Lord of Lords but there was another king, King Herod, who wanted Jesus dead. The wise men had visited Herod in Jerusalem and asked where they might find the child born King of the Jews and when the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. So, the king called all his wisest priests and they met and decided that the three wise men should go to Bethlehem and find out about Jesus and when they came back on their way home, they should tell Herod so he could go worship the new King too. Well, we know Herod was lying and as we read, we find out that God knew and told the three wise men, in a dream, to go home another way. Soon afterward, God sent His angel to tell Joseph to take Mary and the baby Jesus and flee to Egypt. When Herod found out the three wise men had betrayed him, he sent his army into Bethlehem to kill every male child two years old and under in hopes Jesus would not escape. But He did. God knows the hearts of mankind. God provides. Only in God’s timing did Jesus give up His life, willingly. No one could take it from Him. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes on Him shall not parish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 My prayer: Dear Lord God almighty, we are so grateful for all the children in our lives and please care for all the babies who will not see any life this Christmas. Please draw their parents to you, Lord, that they may feel your love and mercy and grace. Amen Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply. ADVENT 2018 These devotionals were written by Spirit of Hope members. We hope they bless you this holiday season!	2,830
How can machine learning and predictive analytics benefit your business? Emylla wants to be your guide. Plan and forecast with pinpoint accuracy. Prepare your business for any scenario with robust demand and cost forecasting models. Understand subtle patterns within your data, including data that you didn’t realize you had, to reveal potential problems and opportunities long before they occur. Examples include: Detailed demand forecasting at a specific product and customer level. Accurate, long-term cost forecasting across all aspects of your organization. Predict bad debt exposure and account delinquency so that you can take action before problems occur. Understand the financial impact on your organization across a nearly unlimited number of potential future scenarios. get in touch Elevate your sales and marketing to new heights. Anticipate each customer’s unique set of needs and provide truly personalized solutions. Deploying machine learning models across your organization’s complete data landscape makes this vision a reality. Examples include: Customer segmentation: Create more refined and flexible clusters that enable true marketing personalization throughout the sales pipeline. Customer defection: Machine learning models can predict if and when a customer will leave, allowing you to take action before it happens. Pricing management: What is the “next best step” to raise a customer’s lifetime value (CLTV)? We can help your sales team maximize revenue and profit for every customer. Let’s get started Create amazing, personalized experiences that dramatically improve customer loyalty. Know what each customer wants, when, and how they want it. Personalized products and services turn customers into passionate advocates for your brand. Examples include: A customized product recommendation engine automatically presents a customer with the specific products and services that best match her needs. Personalized promotions provide greater engagement with existing customers and significantly higher levels of lead conversion. Custom order management apps show customers how to bundle multiple orders to take advantage of discounts and other perks, saving them money while improving their sales and profitability. find out more Enhance the efficiency of your operations by uncovering the subtle patterns that drive costs. Quickly identify inefficiencies and potential supply chain disruptions to lower costs and improve the bottom line of your P&L. Examples include: “Stress test” your supply chain under a wide range of scenarios and understand the patterns that lead to potential disruptions. Understand which employees will provide the highest level of performance for a given project, and also the conditions that will provide them with the best chance to succeed. Predict a customer’s “next transaction day,” including when they will purchase, what they will purchase, and how much. Use this knowledge to better align resources with anticipated demand, including pre-staging of inventory for the fastest possible order fulfillment.	3,063
Once upon a 4/20/15 he saved Yurou and I from what could of became a overdose on Dramamine…somebody warned us not to, my sister, I got addicted- so did my best friend – my other best-friend didn’t even know how to handle our trip but the love we all had for each other made this hell hole of a drug alot kinder, we’re probably still detoxing that nasty brain melt omelet I encouraged my best-friend to take with me – Too this day..maybe – I stole the drug my self and finally got caught and fined in Humboldt CA – eureka for stealing eye-drops and Dramamine – Dana simply saved our lifes by pure love and the family being together again was pure joy – Everything I ever saw in Dana – The Hudson’s – The Stordock’s – My family is pure joy and joy being ripped away is still hard to even comprehend its almost like is this a dream??? I’m hurt that my family has to hurt over any loss without a proper answer. I love Dana and it took me forever to even phathhom a thought – well enough – to want to leave on this page but mainly he taught me how to not expect the worse or the best and to just enjoy the present so I celebrate every day with a dose of Dana aka what im calling my family agony – sleep deprived – anxiety – loss – pain – repeat has been my day everyday ever since he “Passed Away” and most of all I hate to see my love ones suffer over a uncaught criminal and being alive is scary now /: I hope to God the people turn them selves in…hiding is almost pointless – I don’t know why but I feel like I know who were in on it but idc the whole hell was raised by tweakers – he saved me and Yurou from overdosing on emptiness and filled our hearts with the traditional Dana Love. I praise all the memories we ever had with him and the breif “Hey there where’s my hug” I have never felt more guilt for taking granted of his trust once; but afterwards i stopped caring cause he always offered complete trust – forgiveness- kindness – you name it – he embodies it ;; Hard as a freak comprehending something like this so instantaneously RIP; Dana Hudson ; he inspired me to want to embody virtues like patience, trust, guilt-free justice, celebration, love, forgiveness, just I really miss him and its hard not to cry even writing this. Dana really was like sunshine and our strong family love saved me and Yurou completely cause we came out on the better side with more courage then the last every cloudy typhoon turned into rays of sunshine and we became better friends just from sharing a almost OD and coming out of it better believers in love then the first ; time Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Related Written By His Language was LOVE Dana was a big brother to the world. All the love and... You may also like September 21, 2016 September 16, 2016 August 11, 2017 Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Dana Hudson passed on September 5, 2016. The loss of this great, joyful, hard-working, hard-loving man is profound. It is the hope of those of us in his physical and spiritual family that we can share and hold on to some of the joy that we found with him by sharing our stories of times with him. Please join us. There is a form to fill out and share your story below.	3,679
A Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) growing in the highlands of northern Greece has been dendrocronologically dated to be more than 1075 years old. This makes it currently the oldest known living tree in Europe. The millenium old pine was discovered by scientists from Stockholm University (Sweden), the University of Mainz (Germany) and the University of Arizona (USA). Weathering of rocks by mosses may explain climate effects during the Late Ordovician and has no comments yet. During the Ordovician period, the concentration of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere was about eight times higher than today. It has been hard to explain why the climate cooled and why the Ordovician glaciations took place. A new study, published in Nature Communications, shows that the weathering of rock caused by early non-vascular plants had the potential to cause such a global cooling effect."When we can better understand the carbon cycle in the past, we can better predict what happens with the climate in the future," says Philipp Porada of Stockholm University, one of the authors of the study. 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Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again. Thanks for being a member of City Paper! Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again. Late last year, Andy and Tony Shallal opened Luna Bar and Grille on Connecticut Avenue, one of three restaurants that the business partners/brothers own and operate including Cafe Luna and Skewers Middle Eastern Restaurant near 17th Street. After nine years in the business, the Shallals aren’t new to the restaurant trade, although they are recent arrivals to the commercial district south of Dupont Circle where Luna Bar and Grille is located. So when a man claiming to run the takeout next door to Luna called asking for a favor, the Shallals were quick to be neighborly. The man who called said his name was Mr. Kim and that he owned Salad Mio. He told Luna’s manager that he was in McLean eating dinner with his wife, had run into a bit of car trouble, and needed to be towed back to Washington. Citing a complex but not preposterous set of circumstances, Kim said he didn’t have the cash to pay for the tow. He asked the manager to be a sport and give $55 to a tow-truck operator who would then drive to McLean and rescue the stranded couple. Kim promised that when he came to work the next morning, he’d take care of the loan. The manager called Tony Shallal and explained Kim’s predicament. Shallal thought it sounded plausible enough and agreed to help out his new neighbor. When the tow-truck driver arrived at Luna, the manager dutifully asked for some identification. The man immediately became irate, saying he was already putting himself out and that he didn’t appreciate having to suffer any further indignities. The manager, embarrassed by the uproar, quickly withdrew $55 from the register and forked it over. If you haven’t figured it out already, the Shallals and their manager were had. Mr. Kim may or may not have been the name of the man on the phone, but Salad Mio is run by a Mr. Lee. “Sometimes there are cons that you think, ‘Well, this one is very good,’” says Andy Shallal. “But when you explain this one to somebody, they look at you like ‘You fell for this?!’ People sort of look at you funny, especially the police…they certainly laughed and chuckled a little bit about it.” The Shallals looked upon the scam as one of the costs of adjusting to the new neighborhood until a few weeks later when the manager of another nearby business walked into Luna. The man, who spoke on the condition that neither he nor his employer would be ridiculed by name, told Shallal that he had heard about his less-than-pleasant morning but Shallal told him his morning had actually been pretty routine. That struck the man as a little peculiar, seeing as he’d just given a tow-truck driver $55 to help Shallal solve what sounded like quite a hassle involving a broken-down car and a misplaced wallet. The tow-truck operator fit the description of the one who came into Luna—Shallal describes him as a black man of medium height with perhaps a Somalian or Ethiopian accent. Shallal broke it to the man bluntly. “You’ve been scammed.” “I feel pretty stupid about it,” says the manager, who paid the con man out of his own pocket. “But the guy was so professional. He had done his homework. He knew Andy’s name, and he knew what time he was in and out of there, and what time [Luna] closed. He did it early in the morning [before Luna was open], so I couldn’t necessarily call over there. He knew the name of our old manager, he just made it seem very neighborly. And I’m a pretty trusting guy.” Andy Shallal, who has been in business long enough to know his way around the block and recognize a scam when he sees one, says that a similar ruse would never fly at one of his restaurants along 17th Street because the owners in that district have been around long enough to know each other. If you ignore their venality, the amount of enterprise and guile shown by the shysters is impressive. Not only were the crooks who executed the tow-truck scam gutsy enough to pull it twice in the same neighborhood, they seemed to sense that relatively new business operators south of Dupont Circle wouldn’t be on a first-name basis with their neighbors. They worked the scams during times of day when their targets were too busy to ask questions. And the relatively low yield—$55—was part of what made the ruse work. “That’s the beauty of it, really,” Shallal quips. “They keep it under a hundred. It’s a psychologically comfortable amount. It’s almost like you’re getting a bargain for your neighbor. Especially for the towing. $55 bucks on a Sunday? Your psychology gets reversed. Instead of thinking, ‘Is this guy for real?’ you think, ‘You know, I think I’m getting a bargain for this.’’’ The tow scam might be written off as an aberration, but there are other indications that low-grade bunko artists are increasing the cost of doing business in a town where expenses are already very high. Last month, Luna’s cook arrived in the morning to find the bread delivery was missing. The cook assumed that the delivery was late or that a homeless person decided to feed some friends. But an hour later when he arrived for work, Shallal received a call. “This guy called and asked me, ‘Do you own the Crow Bar?’” he remembers. Shallal, in fact, does not own the Crow Bar, which is located a short walk from Luna on 20th Street. “He kept saying to me, ‘You own the Crow Bar. I have your bread.’” The person on the other end of the line was Chong Kim, owner of New York Gourmet. Earlier that morning, Kim had received a call from someone who claimed to own the Crow Bar, which sits just down the block from Kim’s restaurant. “He called saying he couldn’t come to the store early, so could we pay for bread, and he would pay us later,” says Kim. “We tried to do them a favor.” When the man got to New York Gourmet with the baskets of bread, Kim noticed that the attached receipts said Luna Bar and Grill on them. The man explained that the Crow Bar’s owner also operates Luna, and that their receipts are all marked that way. Kim paid the man $83 and waited a few hours to call Shallal and arrange to make the bread-for-money exchange. “We found out he doesn’t know nothing about it.” The next morning, Luna’s cook got to work and again found no bread. On this occasion, the stolen baskets had been taken to Brunch Time, a restaurant on M Street, where one of owner Sam Algundy’s employees dutifully paid the crooks $83. The scam was basically the same as the one pulled on Kim, only this time the cons crossed Luna’s name off the receipt and wrote in Mayflower Deli, one of Brunch Time’s neighbors. Algundy says that he often will share such things as butter with other businesses on his block, so he doesn’t fault the judgment of his employee. Unlike Kim, who was reimbursed by Bakery De France, Algundy even made the best of the situation and put the bread to use in his restaurant, though he says he only recovered a portion of the money. “I think the restaurant owners and business people out there should be aware of something like this going on,” says one woman whose business was also hit in the bread scam. Read more News stories Housing Authority Director Gave Bonuses to Executive Staff After HUD Found Failures After being the brunt and unwitting accessory to so many scams recently, Andy Shallal is trying to keep things in perspective. “I think it’s funny now,” he says. “It certainly beats an armed robbery.”—Brett Anderson This isn't a paywall. We don't have one. Readers like you keep our work free for everyone to read. If you think that it's important to have high quality local reporting we hope you'll support our work with a monthly contribution. Support our work District Line Daily: Our news, politics, arts, food, and sports coverage in one email every weekday. City Lights: Your weekly guide to artsy goings-on, hitting your inbox Thursdays and Sundays. Events: A heads up about City Paper events, from panels to parties. Email address: Thank you, your sign-up request was successful! Please check your email inbox to confirm. More from WCP	8,695
Revision as of 05:02, 7 January 2007 by 192.168.123.100 (Talk) (→‎What will you be able to contribute that is unique and would make you a valuable addition to the class?) Jump to: navigation, search 1 What is motivating you to seek an MBA education at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School? 2 What are the motives that lead you to ask to be admitted to the MBA programme at this point in your life 3 What other possibilities will you consider if you are not admitted to the MBA programme to reach your goals of personal and professional growth 4 What do you think you gained from your university studies? Conversely, what important things do you think your studies lacked 5 Describe your strong points, personal and professional, explaining why you see them as such. 6 Describe your weak points, personal and professional, explaining why you see them as such. 7 What will you be able to contribute that is unique and would make you a valuable addition to the class? 8 Describe your idea of a dream job for you three years from now. 9 What do you consider to be your single most important achievement so far and the reason for its importance in your personal growth? 10 Please comment on a situation where you failed to reach an objective and what you learned from it. 11 What does ethics mean to you and how important is it? Give a specific example (eg. decisions you had to make in the past) to illustrate this. 12 Optional question: Is there any additional information that is critical for the Admissions Committee to know which has not been covered elsewhere in this application? What is motivating you to seek an MBA education at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School? twofold. First personally I have to make decissions, I feel I lack enough knowledge to make the correct decisions. Secondly, my current employer is going through a sometimes painfull growing stage, I feel I could contribute a lot better if I could help guiding the process, if I have enough knowledge. What are the motives that lead you to ask to be admitted to the MBA programme at this point in your life a)I actually was thinking about doing this already two years ago, but it was very diifcult to plan it in for personall and professional reasons. Now is the golden slot. b) I wanted to be technically extremely strong before going on persuiing the management path. The last two years I have read a lot on the problem domain and did a few courses, including part of a Master in Maths from the University of Ghent What other possibilities will you consider if you are not admitted to the MBA programme to reach your goals of personal and professional growth a) I will try to achieve some level of knowledge through self study and some additional courses (For example from the Open university) What do you think you gained from your university studies? Conversely, what important things do you think your studies lacked a) I gained mainly the skills of a good engineer, to solve complex problems in a well structured logical methodology b) The parts I lack the most from my course is a base financial and administrative background c) Also I believe i would have benefited more from my Masters in the UK if their was a stronger focus on Maths Describe your strong points, personal and professional, explaining why you see them as such. Engineer Very ambitious and motivated Interest in technology Describe your weak points, personal and professional, explaining why you see them as such. I can organise myself, but find it very hard to organise others. What will you be able to contribute that is unique and would make you a valuable addition to the class? Passion, enthousiasme. I have been told that I have the fire, the psassion and the ambition to spark a team of people. Describe your idea of a dream job for you three years from now. My dream job 3 years from now, would be to lead a group of extremely good engineers to create products and solutions for a highly technological market. With product I mean ALL aspects of the product. Well defined, manageable products well positioned in the market What do you consider to be your single most important achievement so far and the reason for its importance in your personal growth? From a professional viewpoint my single most important achievement was pulling a team of 4 engineers to develop products that enabled our company to establish itself in new markets. Please comment on a situation where you failed to reach an objective and what you learned from it. As a consultant-engineer of Alcatel I worked a lot to get a position as team leader for a devolpment in Chenai India, after 09 11 the world changed, Alcatel changed and the position disapeared. I learned we live in a small world and you have to be dynamic and agile to achieve your goals What does ethics mean to you and how important is it? Give a specific example (eg. decisions you had to make in the past) to illustrate this. I believe in a honest world, were everyone is good, loyal and doesn't abuse the social system. Even although I am a self employed consultant my loyality is with my current company Example: My wife hasn't worked at all for 6 years, she stayed home for the children, but altough she was entitled on unemployment benefits we did never exercise this right Optional question: Is there any additional information that is critical for the Admissions Committee to know which has not been covered elsewhere in this application?	5,707
Alone Yet Not Alone is a young-adult historical fiction novel based on the true story of two sisters who were kidnapped by Native Americans during the French and Indian War in 1755 in Pennsylvania. It chronicles their journey of being torn from their cabin, witnessing their brother and father murdered, and being forced on a 100 mile journey west into the forest away from their parents. Eventually, twelve year old Barbara is separated from her nine year old sister, Regina, but Barbara tells her to never lose the song in her heart and never to forget that God is with her. Before his death, their father told the girls “God knew the lessons I needed to learn before my faith was ready for this promised land.” Barbara assimilates easily enough into her new way of life, but always she longs to be with her family and those who know the One, True God. She endures three and a half years of captivity until the moment arrives for her escape. The Native American men of her tribe leave to help the French, leaving only two braves behind. She and three other captives run and make the long eastward journey to the nearest fort, Fort Duquesne (later renamed Fort Pitt by the English). She tracks down her mother and brother and is re-united with them. She struggles to fit back into her old life but in the end she finds love. Regina is finally re-united with the family after nearly five years in captivity as the captives are released following the end of the French and Indian War. She remembers little English but she always remembers the hymns she sang as a child and the bible verses she memorized. Both sisters credit their faith in God as helping them to survive and endure. Barbara eventually has four children. Regina never married but was a pillar of God’s light in the community. Great, short read full of examples of young girls clinging to their faith in God’s goodness to survive horrible traumas. Written by Tracy Leininger Craven, a descendent of the girls, this book is sure to leave you with a smile on your face and a prayer on your lips. Reddit Tagged Alone Yet Not Alone, Alone Yet Not Alone by Tracy Leininger Craven, book for kids about French and Indian War, children's books about faith in God, Christian young adult book, Fort Duquesne, Fort Pitt, French and Indian War, girls kidnapped by Indians, kids books about survival, Native American kidnapped stories, story of colonists kidnapped by Indians, Tracy Leininger Craven, young adult historical novel4 Comments	2,615
Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video opened to the public at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City on January 24, 2014. Originating at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tenn., before traveling to the Portland Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Stanford University’s Cantor Center for Visual Arts, the Guggenheim served as the final stop on the exhibition’s year-and-a-half-long tour. The show certainly garnered attention from media big dogs upon its opening at the Frist Center — as evidenced in a New York Times review by critic Hilary Sheets, a full-page précis in Art in America, features in the Wall Street Journal and on the Huffington Post, among many others — and continued to get good press as it traveled the country. Rightfully so should this exhibition have gained as much media attention as it did: it is the first retrospective of the work of an artist considered by many to be one of the foremost interpreters of the African American experience in contemporary art today. Weems’s photographs, which often address issues of race, gender and class, are conceptually and formally poignant. Her photographs are often concise in their illustration, yet remain nuanced in their interpretation. In many ways, the exhibition’s final stop at the Guggenheim and its subsequent critical review there is the most telling. Why, you ask? The answer may seem obvious given the institutional clout of the Guggenheim and, while that certainly factors into my response to the question at hand, it is only a small piece of the criticism quandary. The exhibition provided the first museum retrospective of Weems’s work in New York and the first exhibition of an African American woman’s work at the Guggenheim specifically, which is a significant event in and of itself. What adds a little drama to the matter — and brings it immediately back from the brink of institutional critique to the issue of art criticism — is that the exhibition was organized directly in response to a piece of art criticism by Holland Cotter of the New York Times. In a review of Weems’s work at Jack Shainman Gallery back in February 2008, Cotter initiated his assessment by saying, “I don’t know why Carrie Mae Weems hasn’t had a mid-career museum retrospective. No American photographer of the last quarter-century … has turned out a more probing, varied and moving body of work.” It is precisely this review that Frist Center curator of Carrie Mae Weems, Kathryn Delmez, read and responded to. “Susan [Edwards, CEO of the Frist Center] left the article on my desk one morning,” said Delmez in an interview with F Newsmagazine. “In many ways, Holland Cotter ignited this project.” Indeed, Cotter is cited twice in Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s forward to the exhibition’s catalogue as the genesis of its organization. illustration by Patrick Reynolds This is an important detail in the story, especially since Cotter had many forceful things to say about it after its opening at the Guggenheim. In his subsequent New York Times review of the retrospective on January 23, 2014, Cotter writes, “It’s a ripe, questioning and beautiful show. All the more galling, then, that the Guggenheim has cut it down to nearly half the size it was when originally organized by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville.” Nevertheless, when curating the current retrospective, Delmez recognized that it would undoubtedly have appeal to other institutions, since Weems was hot and happening on the gallery scene. For this reason, she organized it to be malleable to fit other institutions’ available exhibition space. “I always envisioned the show as scalable,” she noted. “Although I knew it would be difficult to decide what could be included in one venue and not in another, the task was made easier by the fact that Carrie works frequently in series.” Clearly this is a fact that Cotter didn’t grasp since he explicitly questions why certain series were not shown in their entirety at the Guggenheim. “Why didn’t it show, for example, the full ‘Sea Islands Series’ rather than just excerpts?” he rhetorically asks in his review. “The issue for me was never the quantity of work in the exhibition,” Delmez explained. “My main concern was to illustrate the breadth and maintain the integrity of Carrie’s work. I feel like we [Carrie and I] achieved that.” It’s true, the show was cut down from the original 200 plus works included in the Frist Center’s exhibition of it to 120 for the Guggenheim. This is about a 40% decrease in the works on view, a sizeable reduction to be sure, but 120 is a fair number of objects to make an exhibition out of if you ask me. But Cotter didn’t ask me. He doesn’t seem to have asked anybody. Not Delmez, not Guggenheim curators Jennifer Blessing and Susan Thompson, not Weems. For the intensity of the interrogative statement he iterated in his review, Cotter doesn’t actually seem to be that interested in finding the answer. Instead he offers fatuous speculation, “Maybe there were problems with loans, with schedules. Whatever. Where there’s a will there’s a way. It is a shame.” It is a shame, indeed — a shame that art criticism has come to sheer speculation. As James Elkins, professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the SAIC observes in his book What Happened to Art Criticism?, “As recently as the first half of the twentieth century, art criticism was very different… Contemporary critics tend not to think outside the box of the exhibition or particular work at hand, or rather they write as if they weren’t thinking outside the box” (10–11). In his review of the Weems retrospective at the Guggenheim, Cotter certainly doesn’t write as if he’s thinking out of the box since he takes the exhibition only he sees it in one of its five manifestations. Having seen it at both the Frist Center and the Guggenheim, I can say with conviction that I thought the Guggenheim maintained the overall narrative of the original exhibition. Perhaps it was a bit more of a sampling than the Frist’s presentation as Cotter describes elsewhere in his review, but the end result remained the same — visitors left knowing quite a bit about Weems and the trajectory of her work. That’s the point of a mid-career retrospective, right? Even more egregiously, Cotter can’t seem to put the exhibition into the context of his own previous judgments: first and foremost, that he called for the retrospective (and got it), and secondly that the originating institution of the show has exemplified yet another one of his claims that “smaller museums often take up the globalist challenge.” Let me qualify the second part of this statement by referencing a recently published article by Cotter entitled “Museum Doors Barely Ajar to Much of World’s Art,” run on March 20, 2014 in the New York Times. Much of this article focused on non-Western art, its representation in globalizing art institutions (like the Guggenheim and its numerous corporatized international incarnations), and the role of smaller institutions in New York City and abroad (namely in China and Africa). But there’s an even bigger parallel I want to draw between Cotter’s exposé on museum exhibition practice and his Weems review. While he says that larger institutions fall short of being “a forum of equal Others” in the Museum article, he notes that smaller, more globalist art organizations are more flexible in their exhibitions and resourceful in their networking. Moreover, they often lack one key component compared to large institutions that allows them this flexibility — a permanent collection of their own. Cotter only cites a few organizations in Africa as examples of what he’s describing. However, what he just articulated was the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, a non-collecting art institution with a small operating budget and a hell of a lot of gusto, right here in the U.S. of A. Cotter is a demanding dude if I’m summing up his desires correctly. Presumably, he wants smaller museums with more institutional flexibility to pick up the slack in larger museums’ inclusion of marginalized arts and artists as part of some kind of utopian globalist initiative. Yet, despite the size of his demands, they have in many ways been delivered upon by the Frist Center’s Weems retrospective. In his persistent zeal to critique large modern and contemporary Western art institutions for their inability to embrace globalism, Cotter has overlooked the fact that globality functions on the local level as well. Searching for answers to Western art world corruption abroad in the alternative art exhibition venues of Dakar, Ethiopia and Senegal that he references with such alacrity in his Museum article, I’d go so far as to say that Cotter employs a colonialist rhetoric of the Western doctrine of discovery. His eastward gaze, spurred in this case by his frustration with the modern megamuseum, in turn serves to marginalize those domestic institutions that are already answering his call. In the case of the of the Weems retrospective, the answer to his call was quite explicit — he was cited directly as its impetus. If he can’t pick up on that, I’m wary of his ability to draw critical connections at all. His review of the exhibition at the Guggenheim exhibits his own slack as a critic within this new global artscape given his failure to recognize that he’s gotten exactly what he wanted, just not where he’s looking. The author of this article worked at the Frist Center for the Arts between 2011 and 2013. « Previous Story Related Posts Holland Cotter is still learning 5 Books by Black Poets You May Have... April 29, 2014 at 4:17 PM This article is a great read, up until the last paragraph, in which the carefully constructed argument falls apart. I can’t help but wonder, though, if the author, Maggie Carrigan, attempted to contact Holland Cotter about the issues covered in the essay, especially since she takes him to task for failing to seek answers to the questions raised in his review. The text doesn’t specify if Cotter was contacted but didn’t respond, if he was contacted but chose not to respond, if he responded but his word were ignored, or if he wasn’t contacted at all. The last possibility seems most likely, and this is unfortunate. I’m also not sure about the meaning of this sentence: “But Cotter didn’t ask me.” Is the author, Maggie Carrigan, also a curator of the exhibition or a curator at one of the institutions at which the show appeared? Carrigan hasn’t identified herself in the text sufficiently for a reader to understand why Cotter would contact Carrigan. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. 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It appears that Stellantis is ready to put its long-rumored inline-six into production at its Saltillo, Mexico plant, possibly marking the beginning of the end of Chrysler’s long-running 5.7L Hemi V8. But so far, the automaker’s American brands have remained mum on where exactly the new turbocharged “Tornado” I6 may land. Stellantis powertrain blog Stellpower (by way of Muscle Cars & Trucks) spotted an entry for a new “GME T6” inline-six engine on the Saltillo facility’s web site, suggesting that it was either in production or close to it. That entry has since been removed, but the mystery remains. We’ve been hearing tidbits here and there about this new inline engine for years, but this is the first time we’ve seen anything suggesting its arrival is imminent. Usually, such a significant powertrain update would coincide with the launch of a new product to showcase it. So far, Stellantis has remained mum, even overseas, about where this engine is destined to reside. 2022 model year vehicles are likely off the table entirely. But while it’s common for new engines to debut with new cars and trucks, it’s not a universal truth. Ford’s Coyote V8 missed the corresponding Mustang refresh by a year, for example, orphaning the 2010 model and its much-needed styling updates with the old 4.6L V8 (and the 3.8L V6, for that matter; the 3.7L Duratec was also late to that party). Even sticking just to Stellantis, the JL Wrangler’s powertrains have been a work in progress since it arrived back in 2018. The standard V6 and 2.0-liter turbo-4 debuted at launch; the EcoDiesel, 392 and 4xe all came later. And 4xe may be the model by which to measure our expectations. Its introduction didn’t come completely out of nowhere, but it was rather sudden for what turned out to be such a solid offering. That bodes well for the company’s existing Hemi-powered trucks and SUVs. The Ram 1500, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wagoneer are all strong candidates to receive the new Hemi replacement, as all would greatly benefit from even small improvements in fuel economy. If there’s to be a future for the Dodge Charger and Challenger and Chrysler 300, they’d benefit too. And how about a Gladiator with the wick turned up, positioned as its equivalent to the Wrangler 392. Turn that Tornado into a Dust Devil. Don’t worry; we’ve got plenty more where that came from. Previous articleOur experts look back on the best moments of 2021 Next articlePittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger says Monday Night Football vs. Cleveland Browns likely his last game at Heinz Field A supercar broker for celebrities says: ‘I’ve bought cars in saunas, in swimming pools, and on airplanes’	2,760
Life interferes with blogging sometimes. Hence the lateness. But music still provides the soundtrack. Feeling You Up—Truly. Where on Earth did this album come from? Oh, Seattle. Truly was a very late-entry into the Seattle sweepstakes. While they formed in 1990 and released a couple of singles on Sub-Pop, their first album didn’t see light until 1995 after Cobain had killed himself and the pop-punk of Green Day was ruling the alternative airwaves. But Truly had a pedigree: the bass player was Hiro Yamamoto who was part of the original Soundgarden, and the drummer was Mark Pickerel, who played with Screaming Trees. And yet, the album sounds nothing like what you would expect. Far from the crushing weight of Soundgarden or the molten psychedelia of Screaming Trees, Feeling You Up is a densely textured dreamscape of an album. The songs slide and glide, swirling like a thick fog. There’s an almost Stone Roses-ish quality to some of this, minus the annoying pretensions to dance music. There’s no shortage of rock on the album, but the heavier moments are heavy in a 1960s way, not in a grunge/punk way. The production throughout is stellar, with every instrument and sound effect clearly jumping out of the speaker. Songs like “(Intro)/Public Access Girls”, “Wait ‘Til The Night”, “EM7”, “Come Hither”, and “Leatherette Tears” feature strong melodies backed by music that is both heavy and trippy. Only the title song, a boring instrumental, falls flat. Feeling You Up sounds like nothing else from 1997, and holds up beautifully all these years later. Grade: A Up On The Sun—Meat Puppets. The third album from Arizona’s Meat Puppets is where they found the sound that would carry them through the rest of the decade. Meat Puppets was all LSD-addled hardcore dirge, and Meat Puppets II had great songs but paper-thin production. But Up On The Sun carries both tunes and excellent production. The elegantly wasted country-rock the band called its own is in full flower here. There are no songs on this album that are less than good, solid listens, and much of it either approaches or achieves greatness. Even the tossed-off songs, like “Maiden’s Milk” with its insane whistling melody, “Hot Pink”, and “Seal Whales”, are a reminder that bands simply can’t get away with stuff like this anymore. The indie labels of the 1980s, like SST for whom the Meat Puppets recorded, allowed bands much more leeway, and on albums like Up On The Sun it allowed those bands to create works that hung together as a cohesive whole. While “Maiden’s Milk” might draw confused reactions if it were to pop up on an iPod playlist, it fits perfectly after the opening track and before the excellent “Away.” There was a sound to these records, with even the weak parts providing texture. The strongest tracks (“Animal Kingdom”, “Swimming Ground”, “Buckethead”, “Too Real”, “Enchanted Forest”, and “Creator”) are among the finest tracks the Puppets ever recorded, equaling or surpassing the classic triptych of “Lake Of Fire”, “Plateau”, and “Oh Me” (not coincidentally the three songs Nirvana covered on Unplugged) from Meat Puppets II. Meat Puppets recorded better albums later. With a couple of exceptions this band got better as time went on, but this is the album where they first successfully blended country with punk and psychedelia. It’s the cornerstone that later albums like Mirage and Huevos built upon. Safe As Milk—Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. An early exposure to Beefheart’s notoriously difficult Trout Mask Replica put me off the Captain for a long time. I’m still not sure I’m ready to swim with the Trout again, but Safe As Milk, the début album from the Magic Band, has gone a long way to convincing me to give Trout another chance. Safe As Milk is generally considered Beefheart’s most immediately accessible album but it’s still bizarre enough to draw puzzled glances from most listeners. Beefheart is a blues aficionado, and he mixes Howlin’ Wolf with early Frank Zappa and the avant-garde to craft a mutant strain of blues that is unlike anything else. Beefheart’s vocal range is simply astounding, and confounding. He sings like a real soul man on tracks like the fantastic “Yellow Brick Road” then growls like a feral beast on others like “Electricity” and “Plastic Factory”, his vocals sounding like Howlin’ Wolf with a sore throat. It’s difficult to believe both voices come from the same man. The surrealism of the lyrics (song titles give a clue: “Zig Zag Wanderer”, “Abba Zaba”, “Sure Nuff ‘N Yes I Do”) and the off-kilter, Zappa-inspired arrangements (the opening of “Autumn’s Child” could have been lifted directly from Freak Out) make this a challenging listen, but it is more than worth the effort. This is blues and pop music, dressed in psychedelic and avant-garde finery. On repeated listens, great melodies start to emerge and the band, led by a young guitar virtuoso named Ry Cooder, is more muscular and musical than Zappa’s Mothers. A classic. Numb—Hammerbox. Released in the same year as Nirvana’s In Utero, Pearl Jam’s Vs., and Smashing Pumpkins’s Siamese Dream, Seattle rockers Hammerbox simply didn’t stand a chance. Which is too bad, because Numb is a good, rocking album with two tracks that belong on any anthology of the Northwest rock scene: the ferocious “Hole” and the grunge ballad “When 3 Is 2”. The rest of the album falls short of the standard set by those two songs, but none of it is bad and songs like “Hed”, “No”, “Outside”, “Trip”, and “Simple Passing” are very good. The musicianship is excellent throughout, and Carrie Akre’s a vocal powerhouse. The album’s a bit uneven, with several tracks mired in a sort of generic “grunge” sound, but when it’s good it’s very good. Dry As A Bone—Green River. Before Pearl Jam, there was Mother Love Bone. Before Mother Love Bone, and before Mudhoney, there was Green River, named after the notorious serial killer that haunted Washington and the Northwest. Green River was the boot camp for Mudhoney’s Mark Arm and Steve Turner and Mother Love Bone’s/Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard. Formed today, this would constitute a grunge rock supergroup, but back in the mid-1980s it was just the first outlet for musicians who would later become famous. The fact is, the desire for Green River’s work to be a lost, neglected gem—like a rudimentary Temple Of The Dog—meets reality. There are some good moments on Dry As A Bone—”Searchin'” and a scorching version of Bowie’s “Queen Bitch”—but the album itself is flat. Green River lacks all the elements that make Mudhoney and Pearl Jam superior outfits: melody, lyrics, tunes. This is flailing sub-Sabbath riffing. As a historical document, it’s interesting in the same way that hearing a young Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker playing in The Graham Bond Organization is interesting. But these players would get a little older, refine their talents, and produce better work than this. Dry As A Bone does not sound like the work of a band. It sounds like musicians trying to find their way. Grade: C- Some Girls (Deluxe Edition)—The Rolling Stones. Please, oh please, let the next deluxe re-release be Beggars’ Banquet… Following last year’s deluxe reissue of Exile On Main Street, the Stones have now put out a 2-disc version of Some Girls. This is actually a better example of a deluxe edition than Exile. The second disc has no songs that otherwise appear on the album. This has the effect of making it a new, lost album from a period when the Stones were doing truly great work. While the bonus disc is not as strong as the original album, it is still an excellent batch of songs, ranging from the hilarious skewering of Claudine Longet, the French singer and wife of Andy Williams who beat the rap for murdering her boyfriend, Spider Sabich (“Claudine”), to the simple piano/vocal of “Petrol Blues”. Along the way there are country influences (“Do You Really Think I Care” and a cover of the Hank Williams song “You Win Again”), traditional blues (“Keep Up Blues”) and the reggae lilt of “Don’t Be A Stranger,” and even a raunchy, comic, update of “Stray Cat Blues” (“So Young”). The New York influence that permeated the original 1978 album is also there, with references to the city, the subways, and even the specificity of “the D train.” What is not here is the disco influence that gave the world “Miss You” but, considering the near-travesty of 1980’s Emotional Rescue album, perhaps that’s for the better. Keith sings the ballad “We Had It All” with great tenderness, and they romp through a cover of “Tallahassee Lassie.” The twelve extra tracks constitute a strong album that would have been a worthy successor to Some Girls and, while it’s easy to see why a track like “Claudine” was shelved (the subject was already dated by 1978, and the lyrics may well have touched off a libel lawsuit), it’s difficult to understand why these gems were left on the cutting room floor. Grade: A+ (original album) Clear Spot—Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. “Mr. Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long lunar note and let it floooooooooooooat,” says Captain Beefheart as guitarist Rollo does just that, using a slide to ride a single note for all it’s worth in “Big-Eyed Beans From Venus”. It’s a pretty good summation of what you get with Beefheart: a bit of surrealism (what is a “lunar” note?), great musicianship, avant-garde lyrics. 1972’s Clear Spot is more mutant blues, and as accessible as 1967’s Safe As Milk. The arrangements are more straightforward, even as some of the lyrics become a little more outre (what is one to make of “Big-Eyed Beans From Venus”?). Clear Spot seems to me to be the best entry point for anyone interested in Beefheart’s career. The music blends blues with soul and rock, while Beefheart’s vocals once again range from the sublime (“Too Much Time”) to the ridiculous (the aforementioned “Big-Eyed Beans”). Along the way, there are a few missteps like “Circumstances” and the spoken word piece “Golden Birdies”. But those missteps are offset by tough blues rock tunes (“Crazy Little Thing”, “Long Necked Bottles”, “Nowadays A Woman’s Just Got To Hit A Man”) and songs that are just flat-out beautiful (“My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains”, “Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles”). Beefheart’s voice is an acquired taste, like Howlin’ Wolf’s, but at the end of the day it is a simply extraordinary instrument. Clear Spot is not quite as good as Safe As Milk, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great album. Grade: A Parallel Lines—Blondie. Thanks to the disco crossover “Heart Of Glass” and the tough rockers “One Way Or Another” and “Hanging On The Telephone” there was no escaping Blondie’s Parallel Lines in 1978. The edited version of “Glass” (it cut the words “pain in the ass”) was all over AM radio, and “Another” and “Telephone” were all over FM. Blondie was so ubiquitous at this time that I never bothered to investigate the album, even though I liked the singles. In fact, those singles were so prevalent that even now, 34 years later, I can only hear them so many times before I reach for the “skip” button. Fortunately, there is much else to like about Parallel Lines. Blondie shared a love of early 60s pop music with some of the other NYC punk bands, but while the New York Dolls camped up their “girl group” tributes (“When I say I’m in love you best believe I’m in love L-U-V”) and the Ramones absorbed the hooks and melodies of bubblegum music and regurgitated them at 100 MPH, Blondie pays tribute to that era with unabashed sincerity (listen to their version of “Denise” from the Plastic Letters album). Which means that for all the hype of Blondie being a “punk” band from the hallowed halls of CBGB’s, Parallel Lines is a pretty straightforward pop album. Drummer Clem Burke adds power to the pop, and a song like “Fade Away And Radiate” is both musically challenging and lyrically interesting. But Debbie Harry’s sultry delivery ties almost every track back to groups like the Ronettes of the Shangri-Las. The singles from the album are the best songs here, matched by a few tracks but never surpassed, but overall this is a very good album. More Songs About Buildings And Food—Talking Heads. The first album from Talking Heads, ’77, was brilliant. This album, their second, is as consistent as its predecessor, but only hits the same heights three times: the last two songs, a hit version of Al Green’s “Take Me To The River” and “The Big Country”, stand taller than the nine songs that lead up to them and “I’m Not In Love” features a herky-jerky rhythm and stop/start chorus that makes the song endlessly listenable. That doesn’t mean the rest is bad, only that those three songs are amazing. The other eight tracks are uniformly excellent, making this an album with no truly weak spots. If the album suffers at all it’s only because it sounds very similar to ’77, and the first album will always get the nod over the second when both albums are cut from the same cloth. Where the album succeeds in besting their début is in the musicianship and production. ’77 was largely David Byrne’s show, but here the Heads sound more like a band of equals. Grade: A Black Session—Grant Lee Buffalo. One of my Top Concerts of All Time was the alternative rock also-rans Grant Lee Buffalo at Irving Plaza, in 1998 when they were touring behind their final album, Jubilee. Black Session is a bootleg recording from what appears to be French radio. The sound quality is excellent, despite the occasional between-song intrusion from a French DJ, whose only recognizable words (to me) are Grant-Lee Phillips, Paul Kimble, Joey Peters, and, strangely, Kurt Cobain. The show dates from the Fuzzy era, circa 1993, and goes through that album’s highlights: “The Shining Hour,” “Jupiter and Teardrop,” “Fuzzy,” “America Snoring,” “The Hook,” and “Soft Wolf Tread.” There’s also a solid run-through of the as-yet-unreleased “Demon Called Deception,” a quick take on the theme to the movie Deliverance, and an unreleased track called “Stockton”. With the exception of “Stockton,” a song that is wrapped in its own pretensions and has understandably never been officially released, the live recordings here breathe fire into the studio versions and, in most cases, surpass them. The drums snap harder, the bass throbs with more intensity, the guitar wildly swings between intricate 12-string picking and harsh distortion. Grant-Lee Phillips, one of the best singers of the day, howls throughout as if his life depended on it. It’s a stark reminder of what live rock music is supposed to sound like, and casts a large shadow over Phillips’s post-band career as a balladeering acoustic troubadour. “Stockton” is a bummer of a closing song, but the ferocious version of “Fuzzy” that precedes it is more than enough to forgive all sins. Grade: A June 1, 2010 by brendanmstewart With Let It Bleed, the Rolling Stones carved the epitaph on the tombstone of the 1960s. The decade that began with the hopes and dreams ushered in by the Kennedy Administration ended in a tangle of riots, assassinations, war, drugs, and murder. The decade had started with John F. Kennedy’s election and stirring inauguration where he stated, “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.” Oh well, you can’t always get what you want. In 1971 the Stones released their first studio album of the new decade and, just as Let It Bleed had provided the epitaph of the prior decade, Sticky Fingers was the signpost for the new decade. The peace, love, and flowers ethos of popular music in the 1960s turned into the murky, drug addicted sounds of the new rock. It’s fair to say that the celebration of drugs and decadence in popular music started in the 1960s, but it became a much darker tale in the 1970s, and Sticky Fingers points the way. Keith Richards has claimed that it’s not a particularly heavy drug album and that many of the songs had been written over the three previous years, but all of that is beside the point. Sticky Fingers is replete with drug references from the coy double entendre of the opening track’s title (“Brown Sugar” is both a sexual reference and the name of a type of heroin) to the “head full of snow” (i.e., cocaine) in the closing “Moonlight Mile.” Pigeonholing the album as merely a drug- and sex-fueled collection of songs fails to do it justice. Sticky Fingers also happens to be one of the greatest albums in the history of rock music. The band may have been deep into their addictions at this time, but they were still at the peak of their creative abilities. The two chords that open “Brown Sugar” are as easily identifiable for rock fans as the entire riff of “Satisfaction,” and the main riff of the song is one of the best the Stones ever did. “Brown Sugar” provides a perfect synthesis of everything that makes the Rolling Stones a great band. The main guitar riff from Keith Richards is one of the best in the history of rock music, and the lyric is one of Mick Jagger’s greatest creations, a heady stew of drugs, sex, and decadence unparalleled in popular music. On paper, the idea that “Brown Sugar” would be a hit single (and it was a number one single) is ludicrous. With lyrics referring to slavery, sadomasochism, interracial oral sex, it would seem unlikely that the song would ever be acceptable to radio. The fact that most of the lyrics are largely indecipherable certainly helped. The only clearly recognizable lyric is the chorus line of “Brown Sugar, how come you taste so good?” with that insistently catchy “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Whooo!” sealing the deal and making the song a perfect fit for arena shows. The Stones pulled off a really neat trick with this song, taking a subject that was completely unfit for radio and marrying it to music that simply screamed, “hit single.” With that riff, overlayed by Mick Taylor’s great lead and the incredible Bobby Keys sax solo, it was a song radio simply could not ignore. I suppose it was a good thing that the Stones didn’t include a lyric sheet with the album. "Sway" follows the pattern of opening Stones albums with a 1-2 punch that leaves the listener knocked sideways. Unlike "No Expectations" from Beggars Banquet and "Love In Vain" from Let It Bleed, “Sway” leaves the acoustic guitar in the closet and pummels the listener with a tortured heavy ballad. Once again the Stones are reinventing the blues. “Sway” is slow, but everything about the song indicates that it started life as a ballad before it received an injection of steroids. Jagger slurs the words, making the song even more indecipherable than “Brown Sugar,” but the mood is dark. I don’t know whether the song was written about, or for, Brian Jones, but the lyrics can fit. As a troubled soul, that “demon life” certainly had Jones “in its sway,” and there is a verse that clearly indicates the passing of a friend: “Ain’t flinging tears out on the dusty ground/For my friends out on the burial ground/Can’t stand the feeling getting so brought down.” Through the bad, Jagger is optimistic that love will find a way. “There must be ways to find out/Love is the way they say is really strutting out” he sings before wailing a nearly incoherent scream on the words "Hey, hey, hey, now!" Love seems to triumph in the end, as Jagger sings of waking up next to “someone that broke me up with a corner of her smile” but the demon life in the chorus returns as Nicky Hopkins on angelic piano and Mick Taylor on devilish guitar duel to the death. Indeed, “Sway” is one of Mick Taylor’s finest recorded moments. The solo he plays beginning at about 1:35 into the song is a textbook example of brilliant slide playing, as tasteful and economical as the best of Duane Allman, while the closing solo he plays over the last minute of the song is nothing short of staggering, the first real instance of virtuosity appearing on a Stones studio recording. Taylor rarely gets enough credit for his work with the Stones, being the middleman between the legendary Brian Jones and Ron Wood. On “Sway,” a track on which Keith Richards provides only backing vocals and the rhythm guitar is ably but unspectacularly played by Mick Jagger, Taylor shows just what he was capable of doing, and he elevates the entire song. It is mostly the hard-core devotees who are familiar with “Sway,” but it is one of the greatest of all Stones songs and the reason for that is Mick Taylor. In 1970, the Flying Burrito Brothers released a song called “Wild Horses” that carried the songwriting credit of Jagger/Richards. The song had been “loaned” to Gram Parsons as a thank you from Keith Richards. Parsons had shown Richards how to use alternate guitar tunings for greater effect. The Burritos never had a hit with “Wild Horses”, but it’s a piece of rock and roll trivia that their version was the first recorded and released version of what, in 1971, would instantly become a Stones classic. I actually prefer the Burritos version of the song, but that doesn’t mean that the Stones version isn’t solid gold. Here the acoustic guitar returns, and it’s some of the finest acoustic playing on any Stones song. Taylor and Richards weave together, with Richards playing the main riff and Taylor interjecting brief finger picking licks, and Jim Dickinson providing tinkling piano notes under the most plaintive, emotional vocal Jagger had ever recorded. Charlie Watts kicks in and while he doesn’t have much to do on the song, what he does is simply perfect. Bill Wyman provides a very elementary bass line, mainly individual notes hit for accent. The lyrics tell a heartbreaking tale of separation and loss: “I know I dreamed you/A sin and a lie/I have my freedom, but I don’t have much time/Faith has been broken/Tears must be cried/Let’s do some living/After we die.” But in the end the song is about reconciliation and redemption. The separation is over, and Jagger reassures his love that “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.” Musically, the secret weapon of the song is the harmony vocal on the chorus. The horrendous attempts at harmony that gave a cheeky charm to Between The Buttons is now a magnificent blending of Jagger’s voice with Keith Richards’ raspier harmony. These harmonies imbue the chorus with an incredible depth of emotion. Sticky Fingers is not a perfect album, although it’s really close. The reason the album falls short of perfection is the maddening “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.” Propelled by a classic riff, a snapping drum line from Charlie Watts, a great vocal from Jagger, and a note-perfect (if lyrically repetitive) bridge, the song is 2:41 of the best material on the album. Unfortunately, the song is 7:15 long. Immediately following this incredible performance is four and a half minutes of noodling jamming. Rocky Dijon on congas, Jimmy Miller on percussion, and Bobby Keys on sax start the jam convincingly, but just as “Sway” showed the best of Mick Taylor, “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” shows him at his worst, playing a Santana-lite Latin groove that wouldn’t be out-of-place in your local Mexican restaurant. It’s not that’s his playing is bad, it’s just that it’s not interesting. It’s a truly disappointing coda to an otherwise excellent song. I should mention that the jam has its advocates who love it and frankly, I wish I were one of them. To me, the jam takes up the full length of a song, and adds nothing to the album. There are also those who would disavow the reading of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s "You Gotta Move," but I am not one of them. It’s a blast of primal delta blues, with a blending of slide guitar and vocal melody over a simple blues lyric. The effect of the song, with its rudimentary drumbeat and field holler vocals, is a chant. It is easy to imagine this being sung in the cotton fields. Coming after the cluttered ending of "Can’t You Hear Me Knocking," "You Gotta Move" clears the air with its simplicity and manages to say more in 2:34 than "Knocking" does in its extended running time. Now that the air has been cleared by a Delta blues blast, side two of the record immediately raises the stakes. The real triumph on “Bitch” belongs to Bobby Keys and Jim Price on sax and trumpet, respectively. Sure the guitar riff from Keith and Taylor is wild, but it’s the horn riff that mirrors the guitar riff that provides the real hook in the song. Jagger’s salacious lyric is excellent, swinging between the boastful and the beaten. “Sometimes I’m sexy, move like a stud/Kicking the stall all night/Sometimes I’m so shy, got to be worked on/Don’t have no bark or bite,” he sings. But as tired and beaten down as he is, he can’t help but respond to the loving call of a woman who knows how to get his blood flowing and his heart “bumpin’ louder than a big bass drum.” But even here, in an ode to sex, the lifestyle choices of the Stones raise a brief appearance. “I’m feeling drunk, juiced up and sloppy/Ain’t touched a drink all night.” It’s one of the many references to intoxicating substances that pepper the album. On "I Got The Blues" the Stones crafted what is one of their best original blues songs, nearly the equal of the brilliant "No Expectations." It’s a perfect combination of lyric and music. Jagger’s lyrics is touching and heartfelt, and you can hear the resignation in his voice as he acknowledges that the affair is over, but he still wants what’s best for her. "Every night you’ve been away/I’ve sat down and I have prayed/That you’re safe in the arms of a guy/Who will bring you alive/Won’t drag you down with abuse." And just as the vocals give way to the solo, it is not the guitar that takes the lead but rather Billy Preston’s beautiful organ solo. “Sister Morphine” was co-written with Jagger’s ex-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull (some claim she’s really the sole writer) and it’s one of the most harrowing songs ever written or recorded. Jagger’s half-whispered lyrics, backed by a sparse acoustic guitar, paint a bleak picture of despair. With the second verse, Ry Cooder plays a needle-sharp slide and Bill Wyman has his shining moment on the album with his bass line. A simple drumbeat and a heavily distorted piano herald the third verse, when Jagger’s voice turns pleading. “Please, Sister Morphine, turn my nightmares into dreams/Can’t you see I’m fading fast/And that this shot will be my last.” Listen closely as Jagger sings that last word. He stretches out the vowel sound and mutates the soft “a” sound into a long “i” sound before concluding with a barely audible “f.” The effect, if you listen closely is to blur the line between the published lyric of “This shot will be my last” and the more frightening line “This shot will be my life.” As a portrayal of drug addiction, songs don’t really get scarier than “Sister Morphine.” It wouldn’t be a Stones album from this era without the obligatory country pastiche, but Jagger and Richards came up with their best such song with “Dead Flowers.” It’s a smart-ass kiss off to a former love, driven by the honky-tonk piano of Ian Stewart, the acoustic rhythm guitar from Jagger, and the great solo from Taylor. Charlie Watts rides the hi-hat like his life depends on it, and Jagger sings in his best phony Southern drawl. The drugs are there, of course. “I’ll be in my basement room/With a needle and a spoon,” sings Jagger, but the lyrical hook of the song is the wickedly funny line, “You can send me dead flowers every morning…/And I won’t forget to put roses on your grave.” After the Stones ended the 1969 tour, they began working on the songs that would make up Sticky Fingers. “Moonlight Mile” was recorded in May of 1970, nearly a year before Fingers was released, and appears to have been heavily inspired by or influenced by the 1969 tour. Rock music is full of songs about life on the road from the sublime (Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty”) to the ridiculous (Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead Or Alive”). I can think of no song that better captures the isolation and loneliness of a life on the road better than “Moonlight Mile.” Is there a better image of the after-party bus ride to the next gig, staring at your own reflection in a nighttime window, than the opening verse? With a head full of snow With a head full of snow In the window there’s a face you know The road is a grueling place in the Stones. Fifteen or so years later Jon Bon Jovi would be bragging about seeing a million faces and rocking them all, but for Jagger the adoring crowd is “the sound of strangers” while the band is “sleeping under strange, strange skies” after another “mad mad day on the road.” Underscored by Paul Buckmaster’s beautiful string arrangement and Charlie’s thick drumming, the pace of the song is stately and powerful, punctuated by Jagger’s one howl, “Yeah, I’m comin’ home!” near the end. Mick Taylor also deserves an enormous amount of credit on this song. His beautiful electric and slide playing more than compensate for his sins on “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.” Amazingly, Keith Richards does not appear on the song. This is the Jagger/Taylor show, and it provides both a beautiful coda for the album and one of the true highlights of the Taylor era. “Moonlight Mile” may actually be the best pure song the Stones recorded during Taylor’s tenure with the band. Sticky Fingers is yet another high water mark for the Stones, and also a clear break in both sound and content from what the band had been the previous decade. The pop songs and occasionally obvious attempts to follow the Beatles were gone. The Beatles no longer existed and the Stones were free to do whatever they wanted. Sticky Fingers, with its accent on sex, drugs, and rock and roll was the template the band would follow, with some minor deviations, for the rest of their career. May 26, 2010 by brendanmstewart In 1969, the Rolling Stones went where the Beatles feared to tred: back to the concert stage. The Stones hadn’t toured in three years (a lifetime back then), so the shows were greeted as the return of conquering heroes. The fact that the Stones were also riding on the enormous wave of both Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed helped considerably. They had just released their two best albums to that point, and the technology and their audience had matured to the point where they could actually be heard in the concert halls. The 1969 tour is considered by many Stones fans to be one of the best they ever did (the 1972 tour usually gets the #1 ranking), but the entire tour was completely overshadowed by the final show, at a little place we like to call Altamont, where a fan named Meredith Hunter pulled a gun in front of the stage and was subsequently knifed and beaten to death by the Hell’s Angels as the Stones looked on. The murder at Altamont, enshrined forever in the magnificent movie Gimme Shelter, cast a pall over the Stones that lasted for years. What gets lost in the tale is just how good the rest of the tour was. This era was the peak for the band both as a recording unit and a live band. The extra musicians, blow-up phalluses, giant inflatable women, football jerseys, etc. were still years away and on the stage was a young band with a lot to prove. The Stones had released an earlier live album called Got Live If You Want It, but that was a poorly recorded travesty where the band was largely drowned out by the screaming of teenyboppers. The album for the 1969 tour, Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert was an entirely different beast. It is on the very first track where the Stones used a delay effect of over-lapping introductions to announce themselves by the title that would stick: The Greatest Rock and Roll Band In The World. From there the band launches into an incendiary take on “Jumping Jack Flash” that hits all the right notes for a live rock album: it’s looser than the studio version and the guitars especially have even more muscle. “Carol,” one of two Chuck Berry covers, is a nice reminder that the Stones of 1969 were not that far removed from the Stones of 1965. That loose vibe, pressing up against but never crossing the border of sloppy, is fully evident as Keith rips into a great solo that would make Berry proud. “Little Queenie,” the second Berry cover unearths a little-known gem and provides perhaps the definitive take on the song. Both of the Berry songs are helped enormously by the boogie-woogie piano of the “sixth Stone,” Ian Stewart. His piano runs on both songs rival those of Berry’s great sideman, Johnny Johnson and give Keith a solid foundation for his guitar solos to achieve orbit. From Banquet comes the salacious “Stray Cat Blues,” slowed down and raunched up even more than the malevolent studio version. The 15-year-old jailbait of the studio version is now a downright twisted 13-year-old. One of the things that sets this version apart from the studio version is Mick Taylor, who steps up throughout the album as the only true virtuoso to ever play in the band. Taylor’s genius is a magnificent counterpoint to the rawness and earthiness of the rest of the band. In many ways such a combination of prodigy and guttersnipes shouldn’t work, but it does. This is the first Stones album on which Taylor plays on every song, and he is the unsung hero throughout, along with the indispensable Charlie Watts. The slide guitar Taylor plays on “Love In Vain” counters Keith’s delicate picking and lifts the songs above the more gentle version on Let It Bleed. Where Robert Johnson’s blues get a fantastic, acoustic reading on the studio album, it is this live, electric version that reaches deep into the heart of the Delta. “Sympathy For The Devil” gets a radical overhaul, from the slow samba that graced Beggars Banquet to a sped up, raw blues with a dueling Richards/Taylor solo that nearly blinds the listener with brilliance. Bill Wyman also nearly steals the show here with his busy, sinister bass rumbling throughout the song. While it lacks the classic status of the studio version, this live version is hotter than a flamethrower. And it wouldn’t be complete without the plaintive cry from a girl in the audience requesting “‘Paint It Black’…’Paint It Black’…’Paint It Black’, you devils!” just before the chugging guitar introduces “Sympathy”…a live album moment so iconic that the Stones sampled it on their 1990 live disc Flashpoint as a joke. Also sped up and raunched up is the already over-the-top “Live With Me.” One of the highlights of Let It Bleed, the live version is one of the highlights here. Mick Taylor simply owns the song, and Watts shines brilliantly throughout. It’s ramshackle and rough, but that’s what makes the song so compelling. In contrast to most of the songs, “Honky Tonk Women” gets slowed down and put in touch with its blues roots. This is the version that really sounds like it belongs in a small, Southern honky-tonk, played on a stage hidden behind chicken wire. The studio version of the song is classic Stones, but this version sounds like it’s straight from the swamp. The album closes with an extended, fully electric version of “Street Fighting Man” that Taylor dominates. It’s downright filthy compared to the studio version, and once again the Stones slow the song down a notch in order to increase the power behind the music. Where the studio version was all treble, with the acoustic guitars pushed into the red and flourishes of sitar providing an odd touch, this version is just plain mean…bottom-heavy, with Taylor’s lightning bomber runs soaring over Keith’s scorched earth rhythm. Of all the songs on the album, it is the final track of side one that provides the centerpiece of the album, as well as creating a character for Jagger to inhabit with the same intensity that his London rival Roger Daltrey was inhabiting Tommy on stages at the same time. “Midnight Rambler” was a good, but anemic, track on Let It Bleed. On Ya-Ya’s it is all blood and blues, a truly harrowing performance that lets Jagger play the part of a sociopathic murderer with great conviction. Live, the song becomes so much more than it was on Let It Bleed that it became the standard version of the song for Stones fans. Forever after, when the Stones played “Rambler” it was the Ya-Ya’s version they trotted out. From the extended harmonica solos to the wicked guitar bump-and-grind of the slowed, thunderous middle section, this version helped solidify the aura of “evil” that had surrounded the Stones since the baleful video they made to promote the “Jumping Jack Flash” single. The dirty little secret of live albums is that most of them aren’t very good. Most of them are just live versions of the band’s greatest hits, played with a great deal of professionalism and not a whole lot of passion. It is passion that makes a live album worth hearing, and there is plenty of it on Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! As live albums go, it is much more than a souvenir from the 1969 tour, it is an essential part of the Stones discography and one of the greatest live albums ever released, opening the door between the Stones of the 1960s and the band they would become in the 1970s. May 23, 2010 by brendanmstewart The magnificent triumph that was Beggars Banquet had redefined the Stones as a serious rock band, as distinguished from their earlier incarnations when they were unsure whether they were rock, blues, soul, or psychedelic. The followup album, 1969’s Let It Bleed, extrapolated the themes from “Sympathy For The Devil,” “Street Fighting Man” and “Stray Cat Blues” and further clarified the band’s identity. Sinister, druggy, decadent, licentious…these are now well-established views of the Stones, but at that time it was a revelation. At a time when the Beatles were exhorting everyone to come together, and the Youngbloods were advising us all to smile on our brother, the Stones emerged with a more realistic and darkly visionary look at the Sixties. The Stones had briefly bought into the psychedelic movement with all of its silly hippie nostrums, but it never suited them. Let It Bleed was the antithesis of the hippie movement. “Everybody get together/Try to love one another/Right now,” sang Jesse Colin Young in one of 1969’s biggest hits. The Stones countered with “Rape and murder/It’s just a shot away.” If music can truly be described as sinister, it is the music that opens the leadoff track, “Gimme Shelter”: the lightly picked guitar, the scratched percussion, and those oh-so-haunting “ooohs” that sound like beautiful demons enticing you into their lair. “A storm is threatening,” sings Jagger in one of the best vocals of his career. “War is just a shot away,” and over the course of four and a half minutes the listener experiences nothing less than the soundtrack to the apocalypse. From the fire sweeping down the streets like a red coal carpet, to the image of a mad bull that has lost its way, to the life-threatening floods, “Gimme Shelter” paints a picture that is downright terrifying. Add in the chorus and Merry Clayton’s brilliant vocal about rape and murder, and the effect is both beautiful and brutal. All is not lost, though, as Jagger reminds us that “love is just a kiss away.” The music matches the lyrics, grinding and vicious. Other leadoff tracks on other albums may be as good, but the opening salvo on Let It Bleed has never been surpassed. Perhaps trying to mimic the pace of Beggars Banquet, “Gimme Shelter” is followed by the acoustic/slide blues of Robert Johnson’s “Love In Vain.” With fantastic mandolin from Ry Cooder, the song is one of the best Stones blues covers, with Charlie Watts laying down a solid slow shuffle beat. “Country Honk” follows and it’s a misstep. The third song is a country pastiche, again following the pace of Beggars Banquet. Where “Dear Doctor” worked on every level, the countrified version of the earlier single “Honky Tonk Women” doesn’t quite succeed. It’s not a total failure, and it’s certainly listenable, but it’s an embarrassment compared to the magnificent single which was inexplicably left off the album. Supposedly influenced by Gram Parsons, who had befriended Keith Richards, “Country Honk” lies lazily on the turntable. The lyrics were tweaked slightly, and the music is entirely different from the single: a light acoustic strumming and a down home country fiddle from Byron Berline give the main punch of the song, which is otherwise notable for one reason only: it is the first appearance of Mick Taylor on record with the Stones. Brian Jones, by this time, was dead though he turns up (barely) on two songs from Let It Bleed, and his replacement had not yet been fully cast when the album was recorded. Side one continues with a fierce bass line played by Keith Richards. “Live With Me” is the “Stray Cat Blues” of Let It Bleed. Blessed with riches and success beyond their wildest dreams, Jagger proves that he’s still the decadent guttersnipe he always claimed to be. The song is an invitation to a woman who Jagger seems both to want to employ as a nanny for a “score of harebrained children” and also take to his bed. “You’d look good pram pushing/Down the high street,” Jagger sings. “Don’t you wanna live with me?” Jagger’s home needs “a woman’s touch” and comes across as an X-rated version of Upstairs, Downstairs. The cook is “a whore” who is apparently making it with the butler in the pantry and stripping to the delight of the footman. The Lord of the Manor, meanwhile, has “filthy habits” and a friend who shoots rats and feeds the carcasses to the geese on his property. It’s quite an invitation. In many ways, this is part two of “Sympathy For The Devil.” It’s the same character, different scenario. Musically, “Live With Me” is a tough rocker, with Keith’s bass leading the way through the verses with stabs of guitar from Keith and Taylor and piano from Nicky Hopkins and a rock steady beat from Charlie who rarely deviates except to punctuate with brief fills in the chorus. This song is also notable for being the first time the Stones recorded with Bobby Keys, who plays the great saxophone solo. The title track, “Let It Bleed” closes out the first side. It’s considered a classic Stones song, and rightly so. The lyrical themes of drugs and decadence are solidly in place, with Jagger slurring his tale of junkie friendship. Or perhaps it’s more subtle than that: Jagger is not singing to or about another person, he is singing about drugs, and how they begin as a friendship, and end badly. The drug dealer says “You can lean on me” and appears in the form of a beautiful woman. “My breasts will always be open/Baby, you can rest your weary head right on me/And there will always be a space in my parking lot/When you need a little coke and sympathy.” But the drugs have a dark side: “You knifed me in that dirty filthy basement/With that jaded, faded, junkie nurse/Oh, what pleasant company!” The lyric changes from the friendly “we all need someone we can lean on” to the considerably darker “we all need someone we can feed on.” Keith plays a tasteful slide guitar throughout, and Ian Stewart plays great boogie-woogie piano while once again it is the acoustic guitar that provides the steady rhythm. “Let It Bleed” may go on a little long, and it lacks the visceral punch the lyrics deserve, but it’s still an extraordinary song of drugs and dissolution. From drugs to murder, side two opens with “Midnight Rambler,” inspired by the tale of the alleged serial killer Albert DeSalvo, aka The Boston Strangler. In the song, the killer is nearly a supernatural presence, more akin to Candyman than the Boston Strangler. Jagger’s harmonica provides the musical hook, and while Keith’s main guitar riff and slide guitar are top flight, the song doesn’t really work in this setting. “Midnight Rambler” is considered one of the great Stones songs, a true classic, but for most listeners the definitive take is the live version from Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The studio version is too long and not particularly interesting. Charlie rides his usual steady beat, but the song never really achieves liftoff, unlike the transcendent live version that was released the following year. What follows is one of the best Keith Richards performances on record. “You Got The Silver” is one of the three best Keith vocals ever recorded (for what it’s worth, the others are “Happy” and “Before They Make Me Run”). It is the first time he sings lead on an entire track, and his vocal simply shreds Jagger’s heavily bootlegged version. “You Got The Silver” is a modern country blues, the likes of which the Stones started crafting on Beggars Banquet. The great slide and country-fueled rhythm acoustic meet with Nicky Hopkins’ stately piano and Charlie’s simple, sparse, and elegant drums to make one of the Stones’ finest ballads, with Keith’s weathered vocals providing the icing on the cake. Bill Wyman leads off “Monkey Man” on the vibes, before the rest of the band comes crashing in, with Keith’s raunchy guitar taking the pole position and using the same sinister tone he used on “Gimme Shelter.” The lyric is a bit of nonsense, more druggy decadent myth-making from Jagger, but the music is astonishing. Charlie rolls around the drums, and Nicky Hopkins once again proves himself the best session keyboardist of his time, his duet with Wyman’s vibes underpinning a Keith slide riff that starts tentatively and then suddenly shoots into orbit. The album concludes as it began, with a seminal statement on the times. Released very late in 1969, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” should be written on the tombstone of the Sixties. Opening with the London Bach Choir singing the first verse a capella before giving way to Keith’s strummed acoustic guitar and a lyrical French horn solo from rock’s own Forrest Gump, Al Kooper. When Jagger enters, backed only by the acoustic guitar, he seems to be standing before the crowd unclothed until he is lightly joined by Rocky Dijon’s percussion. Al Kooper’s descending piano runs herald the entrance of the band when, like a kick to the solar plexus, producer Jimmy Miller comes roaring in on the drums (Watts couldn’t get the piece, so Miller jumped in the drummer’s chair). Suddenly it’s all there: Keith’s stinging lead guitar lines sliding in and around the other musicians, with Kooper doubling on piano and organ, and Bill Wyman providing a rollicking bass line. Jagger surveys the Sixties and finds them wanting. In turn he looks at love, politics, and drugs and reaches the same conclusion about all of them: the Sixties dream was just a dream. Much more realistic than many of his musical peers, Jagger and Richards reach the conclusion that it’s not necessarily a bad thing not to get what you want, because you’ll get what you need. Of the five album run that started with Beggars Banquet (four studio, one live), Let It Bleed is the weakest link. That says much more about the merits of the albums that surround it, however, and very little about any discernible lack of quality here. Let It Bleed is a flawed masterpiece, providing the jaded riposte to the way the Beatles ended the decade with “The love you take/Is equal to the love you make.” Flaws and all, it is essential listening. Grade: A December 11, 2009 by brendanmstewart After the confusion and grappling for identity shown by Their Satanic Majesties Request, it was crucial for the Rolling Stones to find themselves. They had gone through being a blues band, an R&B band, a soul band, a pop band, and a psychedelic band, all with varying degrees of success. But with Beggars Banquet, the Stones found their real identity: they would take all the blues and country elements that they loved and synthesize them into a brand of bluesy rock and roll the likes of which hadn’t really been heard before. The transformation started with a single, but what a single it was. “Jumping Jack Flash” tweaked the riff of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and added a myth-making blues rock lyric (“I was born in a crossfire hurricane/And I howled at my ma in the driving rain” is easily as good as anything Muddy Waters came up with) to define the sound of the Rolling Stones once and for all. Now, over 40 years later, it remains the definitive Stones song, if not the best. The B-side was a holdover from the Majesties sessions, but far superior to almost everything on that album. “Child Of The Moon” was tinged with holdover psychedelia, but played tougher than anything except “2000 Light Years From Home.” As good as the single was, it was just a foretaste of the album that followed. Beggars Banquet is an anomaly among Stones albums. It is a mostly acoustic album, with only snatches of snarling electric guitar. Brian Jones, who played so well on the previous albums, was a drug casualty at this point. He managed to rouse himself enough to contribute the masterful slide guitar on “No Expectations,” but is largely absent from the rest of the album. In practical terms, this meant that the experimentation Jones loved and the diverse instrumentation he had brought to the albums starting with Aftermath, was gone. The new sound was stripped down, lean, and ferocious. Before its release, the album was already marked with controversy. The cover desired by the Stones featured a graffiti-covered toilet stall. The record company refused to release this cover, substituting a simple white cover with an elegant script, as if it was an invitation. Normally, I tend to side with the artist, but the record company-approved cover is beautiful and proper, while the Stones’ choice for the cover was simply tacky. Unfortunately, with the release of CDs, the Stones’ original cover replaced the “invitation” cover. Too bad. If “Jumping Jack Flash” was myth-making from Mick Jagger, the myth became set in stone with the opening track, “Sympathy For The Devil.” Played as a samba, with heavy use of light percussion (congas, tablas, maracas), Jagger assumes the persona of Satan himself, casting himself as a major player in the long parade of history, from the Russian Revolution through the World Wars and up to the assassination of John and Robert Kennedy, all while the demonic chorus chants “woo hoo” behind him as if part of an invocation. Keith throws in a harsh, discordant guitar solo that seems pasted together from disjointed licks while Jagger scats and screams like a tribal shaman. Forty years has blunted the impact of the song, but I can still remember where I was when I first heard it and the mind-blowing impact it had on me. And yet, “Sympathy For The Devil” is completely atypical of the songs on Beggars. The stunningly gorgeous “No Expectations” follows the voodoo ritual of "Devil." The slide guitar is one of the only things added to the album by Brian Jones, but it is among the finest examples of slide guitar in the long history of rock music. Over a soft acoustic backing, Jones’s slide cries real tears and adds a depth of feeling to Jagger’s brilliant lyrics of a love gone wrong. Bill Wyman comes close to stealing the show with his understated bass, on prominent display in the perfect mix, and session man extraordinaire Nicky Hopkins contributes a stately piano solo. “No Expectations” is possibly the finest ballad in the Stones discography, and one of the finest ballads in rock’s history. It is a new kind of acoustic blues, rooted in the past but sounding completely contemporary. From the new blues to the new country, “Dear Doctor” provides some much-needed laughs after the sinister “Sympathy” and the heartbreaking “Expectations.” Over a surprisingly good, pure country and western backing track, Jagger camps up the story of a young man being forced into a wedding with a “bow-legged sow.” It’s nearly an irresistable sing along, as Keith proves by chiming in on prominent backing vocals at seemingly random intervals. The music is excellent, but the song itself is still somewhat of a parody of country music, as if the Stones were uncomfortable expressing their love for such an “unhip” style of music (in British rock circles, at least), so they compensated by performing the song in a jokey fashion. Whatever the level of seriousness, the song works perfectly as both parody and country song, and the lyrics are clever and funny without ever turning into the punch line of a joke. The Stones returned again to the acoustic blues with “Parachute Woman,” a more straightforward 12-bar blues than “No Expectations.” Jagger plays a haunting harmonica at the fade out. The song is, if anything, the “weak spot” on Beggars, if one exists. As weak spots go it’s terrific, a loping acoustic blues with unusual, sexually charged lyrics (“Parachute woman/Land on me tonight”). Side one concludes with “Jigsaw Puzzle,” which is nearly as long as the epic “Sympathy For The Devil.” Once again acoustic guitars provide the main riff, with overdubbed slide (this time by Keith). The blues here is once again the “new” blues the Stones were crafting. The song avoids becoming a standard blues song on the strength of the lyric, a lengthy dissertation in the style of Bob Dylan’s character studies. Over Bill Wyman’s prominent bass, Charlie’s rock steady backbeat, Nicky Hopkins’ piano chords, and Keith’s acoustic riffing and stinging slide runs, Jagger sings about the outcasts of the world, from the tramp on the doorstep to the bishop’s daughter to the “family man” who is also a ruthless gangster. Jagger observes these characters from a disinterested, jaded perspective, waiting patiently for some revelation that will help it all make sense. The persona of the Stones is set in this song, as Jagger turns his lyrical attention to the band itself, defining them just as much as the film A Hard Day’s Night defined the Beatles for their fans. “Oh the singer he looks angry/At being thrown to the lions,” sings Jagger, likely remembering his recent drug bust and subsequent prosecution. “And the bass player he looks nervous/About the girls outside/And the drummer he’s so shattered/ Trying to keep on time/And the guitar players look damaged/They been outcasts all their lives.” The Stones encapsulated in a single verse: notorious ladies’ man Wyman, solid backbeat machine Watts, and wasted guitarists. It is the lyrics and Jagger’s performance of them that makes this song so extraordinary, with much credit going to Wyman’s rumbling bass and Richards’s stinging leads. Side two begins with the furious acoustic strumming of “Street Fighting Man,” inspired by a peace march in London that turned violent. The song is so loud and propulsive it’s difficult to believe that it’s not a full-on electric guitar assault, but the primary riff is played by acoustic guitars that are pushed way into the red. With Watts playing an elemental drum pattern, really little more than just holding the beat steady, and Wyman once again stepping up and playing extraordinary bass guitar, Jagger sings one of the defining rock lyrics of 1968. In a dreadful year of war, violence, riots, assassinations, Jagger’s “Summer’s here and the time is right/For fighting in the street, boys” was a call to arms while the following lyric was a more jaded “What can a poor boy do/But sing in a rock and roll band?” Jones even contributes a few odd sitar drones, but they’re largely buried under that rocket-fuelled rhythm. For the first time since December’s Children, the Stones included a cover song as the followup to “Street Fighting Man.” Unlike their earlier cover choices of Chuck Berry, fifties rock and roll and blues, and contemporary soul, the Stones dug back to the 1920s country blues for the Reverend Robert Wilkins’s musical retelling of the Bible story, “Prodigal Son.” The Stones play it straight, with Keith playing beautiful acoustic guitar and Jagger singing in a slurred voice that suits the music perfectly. It’s among the best Stones cover songs ever, sounding like a loose jam in the basement. Considering that one of the obsessions of the Rolling Stones from even their earliest days was sex, Beggars Banquet is largely a sex-free zone. There’s the fun wordplay of “Parachute Woman,” and then the absolutely salacious raunch of “Stray Cat Blues.” Jagger sounds more sinister on this song, being himself, than he does playing the Devil on “Sympathy.” “I can see that you’re just 15 years old/But I don’t want your I.D.” sings Jagger, promising his nubile young friend that there will be “a feast upstairs.” Even as the girl promises to be a wild cat, right down to scratching and biting, Jagger one-ups the ante: “You say you got a friend/That she’s wilder than you/Why don’t you bring her upstairs?/If she’s so wild, she can join in, too.” Keith plays wild electric guitar leads over Watts’s rolling drums before the song ends with an extended jam. After the sexual fury of “Stray Cat Blues,” the acoustic blues of “Factory Girl,” with its Dave Mason-played Mellotron simulating a wildly strummed mandolin, and fiddle played by Family and future Blind Faith bassist Ric Grech, comes almost as a relief. The sister song of “Parachute Woman,” there is a down-home country feel to the song, but an almost Celtic underpinning. The congas (played by Rocky Dijon) and tabla (played by Charlie Watts) add a distinctly un-country sound to the background, but it all works beautifully. Jagger’s lyric of waiting for his blue-collar lover to get home is the icing on the cake. Which brings the listener to the conclusion. A soft acoustic guitar introduces Keith Richards on lead vocal for the first verse before Jagger takes over. “Salt Of The Earth” is a classic workingman’s drinking song on first listen, but really is about how powerless the “common people” really are. Jagger’s refrain “When I search a faceless crowd/A swirling mass of grey and black and white/They don’t look real to me/In fact, they look so strange” seems to dilute the rousing verses until you listen more closely. While the verses seem to salute the “salt of the earth” with a series of toasts, prayers, and thoughts, the reality is quite different. The answer lies in the verse “Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter/His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows/And a parade of the gray-suited grafters/A choice of cancer or polio.” Jagger will raise a glass to the hard-working people and drink a toast to the uncounted heads, but his real statement here is that the people no longer have power over their own lives, and that politics has failed (“they need leaders but get gamblers instead”). As the album closer, “Salt of the Earth” is breathtaking in its construction. The acoustic blues are there, but so is a gospel chorus, and a rave up finale that suggests that maybe there’s life in the people yet. Beggars Banquet, released the same day at the Beatles’ White Album, was the peak of 1960s Rolling Stones. It marked the beginning of a five-year stretch where the Stones could seemingly do no wrong in the recording studio. It remains one of the best Stones albums ever, if not the best. It remains one of the greatest albums in the history of rock music. August 25, 2009 by brendanmstewart According To The Rolling Stones, by The Rolling Stones It’s about as imaginative as the title suggests, but the title is really inaccurate. With Anthology, the Beatles set out to tell their side of the story, and they did it in exhaustive detail. While I might have preferred more information from the Fabs on their fascinating recording sessions, both the documentary and book were a treasure trove of stories. Every vacation, tour, and album were discussed in some length (more in the book than the film). But Paul McCartney has always been very conscious of, and protective of, the Beatles. The Rolling Stones, on the other hand, don’t really seem to care all that much about their history. Mick Jagger especially is much more comfortable talking about their latest album/tour than he is talking about Exile On Main Street and the 1972 tour. Keith Richards tells the stories you want to hear, but the self-mythologizing can be excruciating. Charlie Watts is reticent to discuss much of anything. That leaves Ron Wood who is, at best, an unreliable narrator (as his own autobiography proves). According to The Rolling Stones is excellent for what it is: a book that was used to cross-promote the Forty Licks tour and CD. It’s not dissimilar to 25 X 5, which was a mediocre documentary that was great if you recognized it for what it was: a promotional piece for the Steel Wheels tour. As a far-reaching, well-thought history of the band, 25 X 5 fell short. So does According to The Rolling Stones. The Beatles Anthology was done while George Harrison was still alive, so it featured both old and new interviews with the three surviving Fabs, and pertinent pieces of old interviews brought Lennon into the mix. But where are old interviews with Brian Jones? Or new interviews with Mick Taylor or Bill Wyman? These three played essential roles in the Rolling Stones, but they are no longer in the band and have thus been whitewashed out of existence for the creators of this book. Wyman especially could have been a goldmine of information since he kept extensive diaries and notes about every note the band ever played. But that’s the dirty secret here: this is not a history of The Rolling Stones in their own words. This is a promo piece for a CD and tour. You want proof? The Sticky Fingers album barely gets mentioned. The Forty Licks tour gets the last two chapters. If you take the book for what it is, it’s very good. If you really want the complete history of the Stones from the band members themselves…well, have fun waiting. I just don’t see it coming. May 18, 2009 by brendanmstewart This is certainly the most unusual book yet written about The Rolling Stones. Prior books had either been written by insiders (Up And Down With The Rolling Stones by Keith Richards’ drug supplier and aide-de-camp “Spanish” Tony Sanchez) or by professional writers/biographers (Old Gods Almost Dead by the ever-present Stephen Davis). What we have here in Under Their Thumb is a book written by a fan. Bill German is not just any fan, though. As a teenager he started to self-publish the Rolling Stones fanzine Beggar’s Banquet. He toiled in obscurity for several years, building a network of fans and bootleggers who gave him tips about what (and who) the Stones were doing. As fate would have it, German met the Rolling Stones and pressed a copy of his fanzine into the hands of Ron Wood, who looked it over and handed it to Keith Richards. From this inauspicious beginning, Bill German somehow became a friend to the Rolling Stones. Not quite an insider, but far from being a mere fan, he managed to strike up friendships with both Ron Wood and Keith Richards. He went to their apartments, was invited to their parties, drank with them (but stayed away from drugs). He interviewed them, got insider information which was then published in Beggar’s Banquet with the approval of the Stones. Throughout he seems to have remained aware that he was possibly the luckiest Rolling Stones fan ever. Woody and Keith seemed to genuinely like the guy. Ron Wood asked him to help write his book of artwork, The Works. He got into press conferences, and backstage. Bill German was the proverbial fly on the wall. His presence was disconcerting, if not downright alarming, to many of the business people that were tasked with taking care of the Stones. German would publish insider information straight from Ron Wood’s mouth, but then would get lectured by the managers and handlers who wanted all the information about the band to funnel from them. It seems apparent that, as the Stones went from their relatively care-free rock band days to becoming a business and marketing juggernaut, Mick Jagger began to become as much businessman as rocker, and as time went on he began to distance himself from German. After first embracing German (Beggar’s Banquet became the official Stones newsletter around the time of the Undercover album), the suits behind the scenes began to fear him. Even though German usually sought approval before publishing anything, he still insisted that he was a “journalist.” Having a journalist deep in the heart of the Stones camp where outrageous drug use and serial infidelity were the norm was a worrisome prospect for those tasked with making sure the Stones got through customs at the airport and maintained good relationships with their wives. The inevitable ending should surprise nobody except, apparently, the author. Bill German became frustrated and angry that the access he once enjoyed was now being denied. Once the Stones became the Machine starting with the 1989 Steel Wheels tour, even his friendship with Keith and Woody was not enough to get him where he felt he needed to be to continue putting out the fanzine. He managed to hang in there until after the Voodoo Lounge tour but then closed the fanzine down and fell largely out of touch with his friends in the Stones camp. German has a nice style, conversational, easy-to-read. He comes across as a likable and pretty level-headed guy and takes great pains to portray Ron Wood and Keith Richards as being wonderful human beings. Mick Jagger is, in Keith’s words, “a great bunch of guys.” Jagger is shown as coldly calculating, warm to those he likes and trusts, but he doesn’t like or trust too many people, including the author. For me, the selling point of the book was that it was about the Rolling Stones well past their prime. Most Stones books concentrate on the Sixties and early Seventies, when they were challenging The Beatles for supremacy of the music world and The Who for the title of “Greatest Rock and Roll Band in The World.” Under Their Thumb is about the period of time that these earlier Stones biographies gloss over: the dreaded 80s and 90s when the Stones were releasing mediocre albums and tearing at each other’s throats. It’s a period that has an interesting story behind it. Here is where you’ll find the near break up of the band, Mick’s awful solo albums, Keith’s excellent solo albums, the Hail! Hail! Rock ‘N’ Roll Chuck Berry film that Keith organized, and the massive tours that brought the Stones back from the brink of death, but brought them back in a way that was largely unrecognizable from what they had been before. It is, somewhat surprisingly, a fascinating period in the history of the band, and Bill German was there for almost all of it. Searchin’ “Lonely and weary from this troubled task of trying…” Chris Cornell, RIP “My, but that little country boy could play…” Chuck Berry, RIP “From that point on, it was mayhem…” George Martin, RIP The Listening Post: January 2016 Books Currently reading: Recently finished: Fascinating and sad bio of one of rock 'n' roll's founding fathers, who compressed a legendary career into a brief 18-month period before becoming the style's first high-profile casualty. McCammon's ode to rock and roll is the story of a struggling band whose new video hits a raw nerve on a psychopathic sniper. It's one of McCammon's lesser novels, with a weak ending and almost impossible to believe storyline, but the author's love of rock and roll is hard to miss. A strong conclusion to Sigler's "Infected" trilogy about an alien invasion. This is tough stuff. Sigler pulls no punches in his end-of-the-world scenario, but never loses sight of his characters, each of whom are individual and believable. All of the ingredients are here for a great triptych of smart, intense, action-packed science fiction films. I hope Hollywood has noticed. Unlike Scott Sigler, Ronald Malfi paints on a small canvas. His horror novels are tense and atmospheric, original and dark. In this book he invests the somewhat cliched plot (it's a cousin to Stephen King's Pet Sematary) with enough strength and power to let it stand on its own. Malfi is very quietly staking out the territory to be the heir to King's estate. In his latest, King tones down the horror until the end, a dark retelling of the Frankenstein story. His emphasis throughout the novel is on character development, mystery, rock and roll, nostalgia, and the horrors of addiction. The finale offers a glimpse into what awaits us after death, and may be one of the most frightening things he's ever imagined. 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The Metadata Interest Group followed its usual meeting organization and featured two presentations followed by a short business meeting. Slides for both presentations may be viewed at: http://alamw15.ala.org/node/25875. The first presentation, given by Jennifer Wright and Matt Carruthers from the University of Michigan Libraries was titled “Breaking the Bottleneck: Automating the Reconciliation of Named Entities to the Library of Congress Name Authority File.” The presentation highlighted the University of Michigan’s use of OpenRefine to search the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) for matches to personal and corporate name files that were missed by the Library’s authority vendor. A surprising number of additional matches were found and then integrated into the Library’s records. The scripts that are used for this are available through the University of Michigan’s GitHub repository. The second presentation was given by Nancy Fallgren and Barbara Bushman from the National Library of Medicine and was titled “Linked Data Initiatives at NLM.” The talk focused on the efforts made to publish NLM’s linked data for MeSH in RDF. Unlike the other six versions of MeSH that have been published as linked data, the NLM project tackled important issues with regards to the hierarchical relationships that are intrinsic to MeSH. Following the two presentations, the business meeting of MIG was held. Reports given included those from liaisons external to MIG, including MLA and CC:DA. It was announced that the programming for ALA Annual that is sponsored by MIG would include the usual two presentation/business meeting format, as well as a virtual preconference to be held June 2-4. The preconference will focus on the future of metadata services, with proposed topics including metadata support for research. The ALCTS office will be handling the registration process for this, with more information forthcoming. The BIBFRAME Update Forum featured presentations by six individuals on the progress of various organizations with regards to BIBFRAME. Sally McCallum, Chief of Network Development and the MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress provided an introduction and stated that the session would be recorded on video and released as a Library of Congress webcast at a future date. Beacher Wiggins, Director of Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access at the Library of Congress was the first presenter and focused his discussion on LC’s plans for a pilot of BIBFRAME. He stated that the pilot will be testing inputting records in a variety of languages and would include testing using BIBFRAME for cataloging items in various formats. The plan is also to create the records in both MARC and BIBFRAME to be able to compare encoding bibliographic data in both formats to ensure that all necessary information is present. Paul Frank, also from the Library of Congress, presented briefly on the BIBFRAME Editor and provided some updates on the development of the Editor. Nate Trail from the Network Development and MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress provided further information about the profiles and search and display functionality for the pilot. Smart Software Solutions is working on developing the Editor and Metaproxy will be used to support this. The BIBFRAME search and display functionality is supported by Fedora 4 with an integrated elastic search option. More information can be found on the BIBFRAME GitHub page. Work is also being completed to develop a comparison tool, as well as a MARC to BIBFRAME tool that can handle holdings, a gap that had existed in previous versions. Phil Schreur, of Stanford University, presented about the work that is happening at Stanford and five other institutions to create BIBFRAME records in a production environment while cataloging natively in BIBFRAME, as opposed to a pilot environment. The institutions, including Harvard University and Cornell University, are collaborating on shared tool development. Work is also being done on retrieving authorities. The decision was made to switch to FAST headings instead of LCSH because of its use of linked data. Stanford is beginning a new project which will include creating certain BIBFRAME profiles, including one focused on music. Ted Fons from OCLC updated on the collaboration between OCLC and the Library of Congress on the report titled Common Ground: Exploring Compatibilities Between the Linked Data Models of the Library of Congress and OCLC. The reported primarily focused on comparing and contrasting the compatibility of linked data initiatives at LC and OCLC. A more detailed technical analysis will be released alter in 2015. Before the floor was opened to questions, the final presentation was given by Eric Miller of Zepheira. His topic involved the integration of schema and BIBFRAME, particularly focusing on the Libhub Initiative (libhub.org). The purpose of the Libhub Initiative is to increase the visibility of libraries on the web through the use of linked data and BIBFRAME. The Metadata Standards Committee meeting was rather subdued due to approximately half of the committee missing the meeting due to the weather and other commitments. Following the review and approval of the minutes, comments on the Checklist for Evaluating Metadata Standards were presented. The MLA BIBFRAME Task Force was asked to submit comments and Lisa McFall delivered them on behalf of the Task Force. The comments from the MLA Task Force, other solicited groups, and individual members were discussed. Due to the low meeting attendance and the short time window for submitting feedback, the decision was made to continue to solicit comments about the document before declaring a final version. The MSC blog is up and running and has had various guest editors. The committee announced that they are looking to have others outside of MSC volunteer to guest edit as well. Ideas for soliciting volunteers included reaching out to the communities that were targeted for the comments on the Checklist, as well as possibly reaching out to professors teaching classes on metadata to see if there would be interest in having students work together to edit the blog as part of an assignment or class experience. Topics for proposals for future programs at ALA were also discussed, with particular interest being expressed in organizing a session around data migration. Additional discussion regarding possible proposals will happen among the committee electronically to further define the focus. About MLA The Music Library Association is the professional association for music libraries and librarianship in the United States. Founded in 1931, it has an international membership of librarians, musicians, scholars, educators, and members of the book and music trades. Complementing the Association’s national and international activities are eleven regional chapters that carry out its programs on the local level.	7,054
If you were a 2000s kid like me you probably would have bought pokemon cards. I remember being 6-7 years old and running by the general store just to get a new pack of cards every other day. Before I ever knew it I had hundreds and hundreds of unique pokemon cards in my entourage. In the early 2000s pokemon cards were all the rage, having a very rare card instantly made you the coolest kid in the entire block. But who would have thought that things that were considered kid’s toys would become more expensive than a family car one day? That’s right Pokemon cards are now being sold for hefty prices. Like many relics and old memorabilia, Pokemon cards can fetch you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in your local pawn shop. People are ready to purchase these because of the nostalgia they carry. I myself had a habit of collecting thousands of old cards and storing them in my cupboard (a habit that often got me in trouble as a child) I remember opening up my drawers and stashes of old and new gen cards would be shown neatly in front of me. If you’re hesitant to sell your cards live in a shop here are 10 legit sites to sell pokemon cards and earn some hard cash. Troll and Toad Comic book stores Facebook Marketplace CCGCastle RAREST POKEMON CARDS- sites to sell pokemon cards Troll and Toad Troll and Toad is an online marketplace owned and operated by gamers and is dedicated to selling pokemon cards. The website provides you with a selling guide and evaluates the value of your card as per its rarity. Make a troll and toad account, submit your list, ship your items, and get paid. The website will issue a payment based on the payment type you choose, you can change it anytime before the item arrives at the Troll and toad website. The website reserves the right to return and reject your list, so make sure that your item is in the best condition possible to avoid such issues. TCGPLAYER is a site that builds applications and technologies connecting customers with thousands of hobby gaming businesses throughout the globe. You can create a shop and list your pokemon cards on the website without any charges, you will not be charged even a single penny until you make a sale. Your limits to how many total items you can list keep increasing as you level up as a seller, however, there are certain requirements you have to meet before you level up, so make sure that you read the seller’s guide carefully. SELL2BBNOVELTIES is an experienced company that specializes in toys, collectibles, and fad items. It is another platform on the list of sites to sell pokemon cards and earn some good cash. The steps to selling are quite simple- First, select the category of the product you would like to sell, make your own list and publish your item with a proper description[ flaws & defects should not be hidden], Ship your item to the given address on the site for evaluation, you will receive an update through email whether the product will be purchased or not depending on the condition of the card [If the site denies purchasing your item, it will be shipped back to you in a few days], they will send you the money through PayPal or any other means that you select. Shipping charges only apply when your item costs less than 30$, more than that, the site will pay for it. eBay is a famous marketplace for selling and buying stuff online, if you’re looking for sites to sell Pokemon cards and find the best deals ,eBay is the perfect place for you. The site generally charges around 10-15% of the final value as a commission fee. The first 250 listings are free of cost, afterwards, some additional charges may apply. After you have requested to list your item on the site you can choose a pickup point and then the site will evaluate its price. You can select daily or weekly payouts, then the site will deposit the money into your bank account. Another reputable website on the list of sites to sell pokemon cards and find the best deals is DAVE AND ADAMS.COM. The site has been one of the biggest and most reputable internet spaces for the past 20 years and is widely trusted by millions of customers and sellers all over the world. How to sell guide- To sell your cards, fill up the details given on the site such as,- address, what type of item you are selling, phone number, etc. or you can even contact the customer care service at 1-888-440-9787. If the site comes to an agreement with purchasing your item, they can arrange the payment in multiple ways according to your convenience, for eg- PayPal, checks, etc. Comic book stores Another traditional reliable place to sell your Pokemon cards in person is comic book stores. Local comic book stores might just be the most convenient way for you to sell your pokemon cards as it removes the struggle of finding customers. You can actually make some good money by selling your cards to the store, even though the rates might not seem satisfactory in regards to the rarity of the card, but still is better than stores and online websites that don’t understand the actual value of the item. Facebook Marketplace Everyone has used Facebook at least once, it’s the biggest social media website on the planet with over a billion active users currently. It is one of the best sites to sell pokemon cards due to its vast audience. The website provides you with customers residing in your locality. To sell, first, take a picture of the item[card in this case] you would like to sell, add an attractive product description with the current condition of the item[mint, near mint, good, poor, etc.], and then the price at which you would like to sell the item. You will receive a message from the interested customer, then you can plan a location for the transaction of the item, the process takes place face to face and money can be transferred through any means that is convenient for both the seller and the buyer. Keep the purchasing cost negotiable and don’t stick to a fixed rate for customer satisfaction and to seal the deal instantly. If you’re a U.S resident and are looking for sites to sell pokemon cards, MERCARI is an option you must explore. The seller must be at least 18 years of age to make a sale, the steps to selling on the website are similar to the others listed above. The site has a built-in transaction facility which makes it safe and scam-free for the users. Mercari charges around 10% of the final value as a sales fee for every completed sale. CCGCastle CCGcastle is a website that specializes in the inventory of trading cards and especially pokemon cards. To start, simply enter the Buylist part of the website, add the cards to the cart, then in a while, the site will send you a message on how much money you can make. The seller is 100% responsible for the shipping of the item, all the charges have to be taken care of by the seller himself, so do not put up your item on the buyer list unless you are ready to make the shipping. The cards should be in mint or near mint condition, any card not filling the criteria will be rejected and sent back to you within a matter of a few days. Social media sites such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, etc, are the most widely used online platforms in the world and can be one of the best sites to sell pokemon cards. You can create an account on all social media websites within seconds, just post a pic, give a proper description of your card, your phone number, selling price, etc. To maximize your sale, you can even request your friends and family members to share your post with the people they know. One fallback to this method is that the transaction process is not controlled by the websites, so make sure that you don’t fall into any scams or traps. If you are still unsure about how to sell your pokemon cards, probably this explanation will help you clear your doubts. If you think you have cards of extreme value, then, choosing the listed above sites to sell pokemon cards might just be the most ideal option for you, Sites such as TrollandToad, and CCGCastle as well reputed sites and might just offer you the best deals online. If you’re unsure about the price and just want to get rid of them, listing them on sites or selling them in-person to comic book stores and people can help you make some good money. Selling online is usually a long process and might take up to weeks, so, if you’re in a hurry to sell the cards and want to make some instant cash, offline ways would be more suitable for your current situation. Now that you have gone through the sites to sell pokemon cards, here are some things you need to keep in mind that determine the price of the card.- It is really important to know whether you have a card that is of extreme value to make sure you don’t just sell it off at a cheap rate. The major factors that determine the value of the card are- . CONDITION- Mint, near mint, good, bad, very bad, etc, cards that are really bad in condition get rejected. . UNIQUENESS- Cards that are really unique or rare have really high prices in the market . DEMAND- Everything comes down to how many people need that card. . EDITION- The cards that are the first ones to be printed are called 1st edition, the edition is generally given on the bottom right or left side of the card. RAREST POKEMON CARDS- sites to sell pokemon cards . Holographic cards- Cards with shiny and gleaming surfaces, meaning they are holo in nature. These cards are really rare. . First edition cards- The cards that are first to be printed are really high in value. These were the list of some sites to sell pokemon cards and earn cash in 2022, the value of these cards will keep growing as the years go by because of the nostalgia that it brings. Choose a website that seems more legit and fits well into your convenience, if you’re new to this, I would suggest you use TrollAndToad due to its simplicity and user-friendly approach. Pls, comment down below which of the sites to sell pokemon cards you liked the most, and also comment on its key features.	10,546
Many have heard the saying “walk the line”. This refers to two types of discipline. One is where others set boundaries for your actions with associated consequences. The other is when you hold yourself to a narrow set of rules. In either case, martial arts instructors claim to have a high success rate using the martial arts as a tool. Is there truth to this claim? Using martial arts for discipline and self discipline can be done with great results. There are naturally claims that overstate its effectiveness, but in general martial arts can be a great tool to develop discipline in yourself and your children. What are some of the myths associated with discipline in the martial arts? What does research say about how effective martial arts actually is at controlling behavior and establishing good habits? Let’s endeavor to separate fact from fiction in some of the claims that martial artists make. To describe discipline as unnecessary or to limit its role in modern day life would be an easy proposition to discredit. One only has to look at the role of law in our society and its enforcement. As similarly stated in a paper published in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, the law stands as a guide that instructs us on a cooperative corporate basis how to coexist. Without these boundaries violence is the inevitable outcome as the strong vie for ever increasing amounts of power and systematically confiscate the possessions of the weak. Discipline in this instance is the pervue of the judicial branch of the government that decides when a community or its members has overstepped boundaries. They step in with punitive measures to ensure that the net outcome for the transgressor is too ‘expensive’ on their time, money, or possessions to continue to forsake the rule of law. Martial arts instructors imploy discipline with this in mind. They are teaching techniques that can be misused with disastrous results. It is imperative that they set up a system of discipline within the class, student group, and one that even reaches out into the students everyday life. Instructors should hold themselves responsible for teaching techniques only to those who will only use them for lawful and moral purposes. We all know this, though there are some in our society that wrongly wish for a system of the strong taking what they can from the weak. These people believe as many do when they glamorize the life in the middle ages. They see themselves as kings and queens, wielding power and enjoying wealth. They are blind to the fact that only a very small fraction of a percent of people were in those positions during those time periods. As with those envisioning themselves as nobility in centuries past these anarchist minded individuals see themselves as the ones at the top of a power pyramid of their own making. They would be shocked at how reality actually unfolds. This is even ignoring the fact that this is incredibly immoral and we should stand against this way of thinking. I will and do. A former anarchist who saw first hand how the rule of law has a place in society and that boundaries exist for a reason explains in an article the real inter workings of these anarchist groups. Here is is article published in Quillette for anyone interested in reading further about his experience with this alternate and dark reality. This same concept can be applied to children and the dynamic that families live by in their homes. Much of the problem with teen and adult crime and violence could be remedied if more care, energy, and attention was put into ensuring parents were in the home and educated about the importance of boundaries for their children. If boundaries aren’t set, and strictly enforced by an able parent, children are sent down a path of failure. They push boundaries everywhere they go trying to find someone who cares enough to push back. Children need both caring mothers and strong fathers in the home. In an article written by a researcher at the University of Minnesota the statistic on fatherless homes shows a sobering picture. The reality is that delinquency and crime in boys of fatherless homes is seven times higher than boys in homes with both biological parents. This speaks to the fact that not only does there need to be boundaries set in all children’s lives, but there needs to be strong authority figures in the home to back up the rules and enforce compliance. Without discipline in the form of consequences, these boys step over lines until they finally feel someone stop them. Statistics show, many times it has to be the police. Discipline in the form of redirection and consequences is essential in the development of children into character filled, contributing members of our communities. This goes for the family group as well as the more public associations. If you want to see some miserable parents, find some (and it is sadly not that difficult) who haven’t set boundaries for their children in the beginning and now are dealing with the results of unruly teenagers. This sort of disrespect is not as uncommon as you might think. A quick search on YouTube will show what these types of teens upload. The picture they paint may scare you into taking some martial arts classes, going to the gym, and setting boundaries for you kids. These kids can’t feel safe enough to pursue a character filled vision of how to be. They practically turn into monsters as they grow into adults without proper guidance. They want someone to care enough to say, “enough,” and mean it. This is what these teens want and it is sad they aren’t getting it at home where it should be. Much of this can be avoided altogether if parents set boundaries, enforce them without fail, and employ outside role models and guides that inspire. Steroid soaked professional athletes will not do. A good, character filled, and disciplined martial arts instructor can change lives by aiding in this discipline. Self discipline is a different story. It is the self regulation that is taught by owning failures, setting long term goals, and using the fortitude instilled by parents and quality role models. This the other side of discipline. The military is also a very good example of this. After the discipline from outside is established and consequences are known, the goal is to get the soldier to self regulate within acceptable parameters. This is no small task seeing that many come from broken homes and have no sense of either discipline or self discipline. Once boundaries are established with children and they are taught how to properly aim their efforts toward higher truths and admirable goals, then self discipline can begin to be developed. The springboard of a stable family and social interactions allows them to self direct and learn their own limitations and abilities. This proper orientation of the self is only accessible once proper discipline is in place. Self discipline is the betterment of the self and an effort to rise to meet hardships. The efforts of the individual are directed and focused on a loftier goal than simply securing themselves and their environment. Education is the major way for a child to open exponentially more possibilities for their future. This is not simply the mantra that is pushed today so fervently by public schools on all children without respect for their differences and preferences. This mantra being, “Go to college.” For a great discussion about this by my wife Jackie (who happens to be a highly educated and experienced teacher), follow this link to her article about going to college and many misconceptions people share about it. Disciplining the mind can be done in so many ways. Holding yourself to mental and learning goals is a vital part in training the mind how to have fortitude. Fortitude is ability to resist being easy on yourself. For some goals this is important, and for others it is required. Here is a short list of many of the things that can train a child’s mind or an adult’s for that matter. Learn a foreign language – this has the added benefit of learning to appreciate another culture. Culture and language are inextricably linked. Learn to play a musical instrument – The amount of dedication, fortitude, and effort needed is a great way to develop self discipline Learn a martial art for discipline – There is both the physical and the mental side to the martial arts that requires a strong grasp of delayed gratification, patience, and fortitude. In the next major section we will begin the look at how martial arts for discipline and self improvement is one of the better tools you can employ. Let it suffice here to say, that any self discipline plan of action has to include some sort of program that develops the mind and toughens the resolve. The physical side of self discipline is something many struggle with, especially in the United States. There are some grave statistics around Americans and obesity that may shock you. According to numbers and statistics provided by the Center For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) the percentage of obese Americans is nearly 50% and this is true across lines of ethnicity and sex. These depressing numbers lead to some dire results for people falling into the trap of a sedentary lifestyle and excessive eating habits. A note should be made here that in some cases, weight gain will be due to injuries that restrict movement or medication that artificially increases body fat. Yet, like most situations that have claims about outliers and extreme caveats to the norm, I have a motto. You are not the exception, you are the rule. If these Americans don’t change their eating and activity habits, some serious and deadly consequences can be on their horizons. The CDC lists several of the leading conditions associated with obesity. Stroke According to a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health, a division of the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States is obesity and the conditions caused by being over-weight. The study also concluded that those that are at the upper end of the obesity scales lost an average of 14.5 years of their lifespan due to their excessive weight. This is a decade and a half of life they would have otherwise enjoyed. Is self-discipline of the body an important aspect of the human condition? You bet it is. Does this make you want to get your child and yourselves active? It should. Each and every individual is unique and of infinite worth. Much of our society is designed to convince you not to discipline your body and to teach your kids the same errant message. Stand against this. You can take control today, make the choice. Start a directed class to have someone help you set these goals. Martial arts is a great way to do just that. Most martial arts instructors would be glad to have you in their martial arts themed exercise class if for instance a full Karate or Jiu Jitsu program is not your thing. Utilizing the martial arts for self discipline of your body could literally save your life. Here we need to be clear. There are martial arts instructors that claim that religions are associated with certain styles of martial arts and that it is integral to learning. This is blatantly false. Even the monks that developed martial arts systems with their walking staffs to protect their monasteries did not do it for reasons of spiritual growth. It was for protection of lives and property from thieves and marauders. Most systems of the martial arts were designed for military and personal defense purposes. In more recent times, some martial arts have even been designed specifically with sport applications in mind. Religion has been added to the mix by instructors making that conscious choice. We see this more frequently with the Chinese styles than with other forms. With this being said, self discipline of the spirit is an important component of every person’s life. Though character traits and good habits can be reinforced and enhanced by physical and mental self discipline, they in no way define it. There has to be a higher truth and a perfection at end of human focus. Without this we devolve into base pragmatism and despair. We were designed for more than that. We are defined by these universal truths. Each one of us has limitless intrinsic worth simply because of our humanity. Self discipline of the spirit through focus on these eternal truths and helps us to be what we are intended to be. Aristotle put his finger on this truth thousands of years ago. As is discussed in a study done by researchers at Notre Dame Law School on the ideas of ‘Natural Law’ and Aristotelian thought, the ancient philosopher described a justice that exists in the fabric of the material world, in nature. This justice is far removed from the desire to take the possessions of others due to some imaginary personal oppression we see today. Justice is based on love, willing the good of the other, all others. These are the sorts of truths that we must discipline ourselves toward. With this as a backdrop, how can the martial arts help with discipline and self discipline? Is it the philosophies of personal responsibility taught with the techniques? How about the lessons of delayed gratification and long term goals? The truth is, there are many great benefits of using the martial arts as a tool to develop discipline in ourselves and our children. With this acknowledgement we also have to be aware of the overstatements and misleading claims some advertisements make as some instructors compete with other sports and activities for the attention of concerned parents. Let’s look at the Myths and Facts associated with martial arts training and discipline. One problem we have as instructors dealing with children and adults in the martial arts is the unrealistic expectations developed in people due to unscrupulous advertisements. Some claim ultimate defense, others claim children’s grades can go from failing to top tier results. These are advertisements and overstate in the same way ‘click bait’ titles on videos and main stream media stories overstate or distort facts in order to gain attention. It is akin to the old advertising problem of ‘bait and switch’. Customers and clients are promised one thing, but after parting with their money they get something completely different. Don’t get me wrong, the martial arts in general is a great tool in developing self discipline and setting up boundaries and utilizing proper forms of discipline. On the other hand, there are several old and newer claims that students and instructors make that are not entirely truthful. Here is a list of some you may come across and a short explanation of why they are not entirely honest. Martial arts improves school grades in children. This is not supported by scientific study or by any evidence other than the personal and anecdotal. What martial arts does is prepare the child in many ways to be able to improve with concerted effort. Yet, the practice of the martial arts itself does not directly relate to better school grades. My wife was a teacher for decades with many children that took martial arts in her classrooms. These children only succeeded past what they would have normally achieved if they used the benefits the martial arts gave and then added significant effort to succeed. Simply learning to kick and punch is not enough. There has to be role modeling, goals set, etc. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) can curb aggression and violence in children and adults. This is only partially true. Like boxing for troubled youth in the inner city, it can give them goals to strive towards that leads them back to a sense of normal. There is no further intrinsic code of ethics involved in mixed martial arts. Traditional martial arts comes with military history including its own codes of conduct and familial loyalties attached and ingrained. Mixed Martial Arts was developed around the Gracie family’s attempts at promoting their particular brand of dueling as superior to other sport dueling systems. This combination of sport and pride based superiority is not the basis for full self development. The physical is not supported by the mental and spiritual discipline. With martial arts training you will lose weight and get into shape. This is also only partly true. I have seen many martial artists that are obese and out of shape in many ways. The martial arts are tools. Tools have to be combined with considerable and consistent effort before they are useful. Using the martial arts for health and fitness is an amazing way to develop self discipline where your body is concerned. Just know, that simply going to class a couple times per week is only the start. Regular daily self motivated training is necessary to master the techniques and tone your body to use them effectively. Teaching individuals martial arts techniques breeds self control and discipline. This is blatantly false. Simply studying the martial arts is not enough. There has to be a regulatory role on the part of the instructor to identify those with the potential to misuse the arts. It is true that for the vast majority of students learning the martial arts, a sense of responsibility for being a protector and not an aggressor is instilled by quality instructors. Though this is not the case for a portion of students and sadly instructors alike. This is parodied in the roles of Johnny and Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese in the Karate Kid film series. For those wanting a trip down memory lane or if you some how have never seen original Karate Kid movies I highly recommend getting a copy for you and your family. There is a complete series set with all three movies that you can get for a great price. Here is the link on Amazon if you want hours of martial arts wholesome family fun. Martial arts is designed for the promotion of a way of life. This is true whether this was through military defense of a people or nation, or through self defense of the individual. There has always been an ethic of principled application. So what is it that using martial arts for discipline and to better the self can actually do when used as a tool. When things are used for the purpose they were designed for, they function properly. What is it that martial arts was meant to do when it comes to behavior and character? Let’s look at some of the research and what it says about the results of prolonged martial arts training. In a article published in the Journal of pedagogic development and undertaken by researchers at the University of Bedfordshire, England, the positive effects of traditional martial arts training was studied. By traditional martial arts we are talking about the more complete focused arts that integrate character development, history, and cultural appreciation into their self defense, sport, and physical improvement activities. These would include Karate, TaeKwonDo, KungFu, Kali, etc. Non-traditional martial arts are those such as Muay Thai, Boxing, MMA and others that are nearly totally based around combat dueling competitions. They lack the inherent regulations on who may train and what character traits one must posses to continue training. To be clear, some MMA instructors may try to impose their own sense of these on their system, but in a style that encourages full contact striking, strangulation, arm dislocation techniques and much more for children, it just doesn’t come across as genuine. These traditional martial arts were shown in the study mentioned above to greatly benefit children with behavioral, emotional and social difficulties. They were taught self discipline through martial arts study within the framework of well structured external discipline programs. If you would like to see how I use traditional martial arts to help my Little Ninjas develop self discipline, follow this link to find out all the info. In another study conducted by researchers from Indiana State University, students of a traditional martial art were found to have a significant inverse relationship between martial art rank and their aggression levels. This means the higher they ranked up in this traditional based martial art, the less aggressive across the board their behavior became. Following the findings of yet another study done by Texas A&M university, researchers concluded that traditional style martial arts programs were “effective in reducing juvenile delinquent tendencies.” Children this time in middle school age groups found out that by setting goals and using the self discipline modeled for them by martial arts instructors they could benefit not only from the martial arts, but from regular school attendance. As you can clearly see, it is not as simple as ‘do kicks and get better grades.’ It is about role models, goal setting, self confidence, and learning to set long term goals. This means that even more than style, which is important, the instructor is the single most foundational element that can make a child or adult successful in developing Self discipline using martial arts discipline as a guide. There is a lot that relies on a good discipline plan. Self discipline can’t be effectively developed until first someone feels secure that others are following the rules around them and there are people that care enough to save them from themselves if needed. Traditional martial arts programs have a built in system for just this. This doesn’t mean systems like mixed martial arts can’t have some of this added in by instructors. The issue is that it must be superimposed over top of an inherently aggressive and adult oriented sport style. There are always exceptions, but studies show and I have experienced it first hand for decades, traditional martial arts for discipline and self regulation is far and away one of the best options. To make sure you or your child get the most out of your martial arts experience be sure you choose the correct style, environment, and most importantly, instructor. It will be very hard to develop self discipline while being led by an instructor or group of advanced students that don’t display it in their own actions. Mathew Booe Mathew Booe is a father of four, husband to Jackie since 1994, retired international competitor with over 50 wins, an international seminar instructor, a master instructor of hundreds of Little Ninjas each week, and the one bringing you the great content like you just read. Sign up for the newsletter to hear about his upcoming books before they are released to the public. Recent Posts According to HUD, on any given night there's an estimated 580,000 homeless people, a staggering number, so what do you do when your son is one of them? What's a parent and grandparent's... One of the most common rules kids learn from parents regardless of culture and background is to not tell lies, so it comes as a shock when it seems your own mother is doing it. What does it mean when... We are Mathew Booe and Jackie Booe. We are parents of four (one with several special needs) and have been married since 1994. Mathew is a grad student, a retired successful international fighter, a black belt master instructor in several martial arts systems, and the instructor to hundreds of Little Ninjas that use him as a jungle gym each week. Jackie has been a teacher for many decades with awards and accolades from all across the country. She has three degrees in the field of education, been department chair of several grade levels, and interim principal in Los Angeles. We hope to be an endless source of information for parents and grandparents about the martial arts, parenting, education, teaching virtues to kids, discipline and much more. Click here to see our story. Little Ninja Parenting is supported by participation in affiliate programs. It is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees in support of this site by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We also participate in programs from other affiliate sites. Little Ninja parenting is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. This site does not constitute psychological or medical advice, please consult licensed psychological or medical professionals in your area for psychological or medical advice.	25,546
“Rory Hohenstein sets down his coffee and raises his arms, and suddenly it’s as if he’s a different person. “It’s weird internal movement all the time,” he says, describing the steps in the ballet “Eden/Eden,” stretching his chest wide and undulating his shoulders to demonstrate. His pale face, with its dusting of freckles, no longer looks so boyish; his slight 5-foot-10 frame becomes larger than life. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he says, his brown eyes excited. “Some ballets your body just goes crazy for.” Hohenstein looks transformed — and it is a transformation that San Francisco Ballet audiences have been seeing a lot of lately. Six years ago, as an 18-year-old corps newbie, Hohenstein had an onstage persona more like his presence in real life: friendly, sweet, a little shy. But when Hohenstein steps out in the Opera House these days, he is something else: impassioned, unabashed and possessed of leading-man intensity. Choreographers have taken note. “Christopher Wheeldon, Mark Morris, William Forsythe — everyone has singled him out,” says company ballet master Ashley Wheater. “Whenever a choreographer new to the company watches rehearsal, they always say, ‘Who’s that boy in the corner?’ And, inevitably, it’s Rory.” No surprise, then, that Hohenstein is suddenly all over the place, dancing everything from a charming Frenchman in “Aunis” to one of the lusty sailors in Jerome Robbins’ “Fancy Free.” Currently he’s stealing scenes as the head roper in Agnes de Mille’s “Rodeo.” This week he reprises his go-for-broke solo as the Red Man in Lar Lubovitch’s “Elemental Brubeck.” It’s the Red Man solo that launched Hohenstein toward his promotion to soloist in 2006 — and not just because its razzle-dazzle steps drew on his childhood love of jazz and all things hammy. Exposed and all-out, the role pushed this normally reserved native of small-town Maryland past any last traces of bashfulness.” Click here for the full story–and to learn how Hohenstein got SF Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson to rush backstage after a Jeune Ballet de France performance and offer the 18-year-old a contract on the spot. Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. My Books Archives Select Month December 2021 July 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 April 2020 November 2019 April 2019 January 2019 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 July 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 August 2013 May 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 August 2012 June 2012 May 2012 March 2012 January 2012 July 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 November 2010 October 2010 August 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 January 2010 December 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004	4,251
On Wednesday 13th September 2017, Year 3 were lucky enough to visit Flag Fen. We are learning about history this term and trying to answer the question: Who were the greatest builders in the world? So...was it the prehistoric builders of the bronze age? We travelled east, across the city of Peterborough, to Flag Fen to find out as much as we could. Flag Fen is a Bronze Age site developed about 3500 years ago, comprising over 60,000 timbers, arranged in five very long rows, creating a wooden causeway across the wet fenland. Flag Fen Archaeology Park is home to a unique ancient wooden monument. A kilometre long wooden causeway and platform are perfectly preserved in the wetland. 3300 years ago this was built and used by the Prehistoric fen people as a place of worship and ritual. 60,000 upright timbers and 250,000 horizontal planks are buried under the ground along with many swords and personal items given as offerings to the watery fen. Visit Flag Fen and you can: See an uncovered section of the ritual causeway and the treasure it holds Explore a reconstructed village from the Bronze Age Discover what life was for our prehistoric ancestors Year 3's experience: Year 3 had a wonderful time learning all about this fascinating period of history and stepped back in time by jumping in a boat and viewing an ancient bridge! The children learnt how to order events on a timeline and sorted artefacts in to Stone Age, Iron Age and Bronze Age asking questions along the way. They even got to create a clay pot to take home and share with their families. Pupils and teachers alike would totally recommend that everyone should visit this brilliant local venue!	1,750
Exploring the tech and processes that make rapid deployment possible across Europe, the Middle East and Africa English Spanish Portuguese Microsoft partners with Wiwynn to test two-phase immersion cooling in production deployment Chips are getting hotter, and that means cooling needs to get more extreme April 06, 2021 By Microsoft is testing out an immersion-cooled server deployment at a data center in Quincy, Washington. The two-phase cooling system was developed in collaboration with Taiwanese server manufacturer Wiwynn. A different kind of submerged server The system uses tanks in which electronics are cooled with engineered fluid from 3M, which has a boiling point of 122 degrees Fahrenheit, 90 degrees lower than that of water. The fluid turns to vapor, rising to meet a cooled condenser in the tank lid, where it turns back to a liquid and falls back onto the immersed servers. The cooling coils are connected to a separate closed loop system that uses fluid to transfer heat from the tank to a dry cooler outside the tank’s container. “We are the first cloud provider that is running two-phase immersion cooling in a production environment,” said Husam Alissa, a principal hardware engineer on Microsoft’s team for data center advanced development. Microsoft appears to be the first western cloud provider, but Alibaba began testing immersion cooling systems in 2017. In a 2019 OCP video, senior engineer Yangfan Zhong said that the company had run a large-scale deployment for the past year, and expected to build a second immersion cooling data center with 20,000 servers by 2021. Outside of cloud providers, there are also numerous companies researching or offering single-phase or two-phase immersion cooling, among them GRC, Iceotope, Asperitas, and Submer; some using 3M fluid, others cheaper stuff, and some proprietary liquids. The idea dates back to the earliest days of computing, with some of the first supercomputers submerged in different fluids, but fell out of favor when air cooling proved sufficient for systems at the time. But companies have turned back to immersion cooling as chip densities and power use has grown. “Air cooling is not enough,” said Christian Belady, distinguished engineer and VP of Microsoft’s data center advanced development group. “That’s what’s driving us to immersion cooling, where we can directly boil off the surfaces of the chip.” Together with undisclosed industry partners, Microsoft will study how to run the tanks in ways that mitigate fluid loss. In a blog post announcing the project, Microsoft notes that "several technology companies, including Microsoft, are [also] experimenting with cold plate technology." In fact, the supercomputing industry has seen numerous companies offer cold plate technology for years, while Google's TPUs appear to rely on them for cooling, but it is not used in standard hyperscale deployments. With its immersion system, Microsoft hopes it will see the same hardware reliability improvements seen in its Project Natick test, which put a data center under the sea. Should that prove so, the company expects not to immediately replace components when they fail, limiting vapor loss as well as allow tank deployment in remote, hard-to-service locations. The system could also prove useful in Edge deployments, allowing a large amount of compute with a small fooprint. But before then, Microsoft plans to test the single tank for the next few months. “This first step is about making people feel comfortable with the concept and showing we can run production workloads,” Belady said.	3,739
Established in 2007 with a mission to provide quality eye exams and eye care with excellent customer service. The team at Precise Eyecare takes pride in ensuring individualized attention from the first moment you step into our office to the moment you leave all while receiving the highest standard of optometric care. We look forward to seeing you! Our staff Dr. Thomas Bui grew up in Northwest Houston, just a few blocks away from where Precise Eyecare is currently located. He attended Texas A&M University and graduated with a Bachelors Science degree and continued his studies at Illinois College of Optometry where he pursued his dream of becoming an optometrist. His training were completed in various states and diverse settings which included Battle-Creek Veterans Affair Medical Center in Michigan, Carl Albert Indian Health Facility in Oklahoma, Mid Florida Eye Center and Illinois Eye Institute, in Chicago. Upon earning his Doctor of Optometry degree, Dr. Bui returned to his hometown and decided to practice in the same neighborhood he grew up in and knows well. He is devoted to providing his patients with his honest and professional opinion and ensures that every patient leaves the clinic fully understanding their vision and ocular health status. Patient's satisfaction is his number one priority. Dr. Bui enjoys outdoor activities, bike riding, working on cars, and travelling. staff Our knowledgable and experienced optician team will be helping you every step of the way from scheduling, verifying insurance, performing preliminary tests, frame styling and helping you on lens options that best fits your needs. They are available to answer all questions to ensure that you have a full understanding of your visit.	1,795
The Leading Internships for New Knowledge (LINK) program has been part of the Animas High School curriculum and a graduation requirement since the first graduating class. It's one of the key pieces that truly prepares AHS students for life after high school. How does is work? LINK is supported by the Durango's Business Education Connection, or the BEC. The BEC was launched by Janae Hunderman, who was the LINK Internship Coordinator for five years and a teacher at AHS for two years prior to that. The goal of the BEC is to make it easier for both students and businesses to connection to internship opportunities by creating a one-stop-shop for internships at multiple schools. You'll be supported at AHS to explore your interests, learn about careers, practice job search skills such as resume writing and mock interviews, and eventually learn how to network in order to secure an internship opportunity that is an exciting fit for you! We hope that this process eventually helps you find your "Ikigai!" Match with an approved mentor Complete a LINK Internship Project, jointly designed by you and your mentor Complete all the steps included on your LINK Internship Badge on the Transeo Platform Complete any final presentations that may be required at Animas High School Check out the student tab on the Business Education Connection website for more resources Frequently Asked Questions When is the LINK internship? LINK is for three weeks in late April and early May. The exact dates can be found on this year's school calendar under News and Events on the Animas High School website. How much time will I spend at my LINK Internship? Your LINK Internship is meant to be a full time experience, as such, you should be interning for 30-40 hours per week during the 3-week LINK Internship window in the spring. It's a similar amount of time to being in school everyday and what you might expect in a future career. Where have students done internships before? Does Marie assign us to our internships? No way! Do you want to be assigned to a job or a career path? Animas High School is proud of teaching students real life skills. As part of the LINK Internship process, you'll learn how to communicate professionally in order to make connections and find your own internship. Marie has many connections and resources in the community that you'll have access to, but ultimately it will be YOU who makes it happen for yourself! Will I have any classes during my LINK Internship? Nope! All junior classes will complete their curriculum prior to LINK and no junior classes will be occurring at Animas High School. Can I travel outside of Durango for my LINK? Absolutely! Since juniors have a full three weeks with no classes, many students use this opportunity to experience living and interning in a different community, state, or sometimes even a different country! See below for more info on travel. What is the LINK Project? In the past, interns were used to file papers and to pick up coffee for their bosses, but that doesn't show you much about the career itself. By doing a project, you can get your hands into some real work while at your internship. The project is designed by you and your mentor within the first week of your internship and can be as big or small as you determine is appropriate. Your mentor will report back at the end of the internship as to whether you've completed the project or not. Some project ideas can be found on the Example Project page. What is the Transeo platform? Transeo is where you track everything in order to get credit for your internship. You and your mentor will both sign documents and approve your hours on the Transeo platform. You can find the link to login to Transeo in the upper right hand corner of the Business Education Connection web pages. What kinds of things will I do at my internship? Hopefully you'll get to do a lot of interesting things! Besides working on your project, we hope that you'll also get to support many of the activities that are a regular part of your mentor's work. What if I don't find an internship? Sometimes we can't find what feels like a "perfect" situation for an internship. That said, it is still a graduation requirement and an expectation at Animas to complete a LINK Internship. At times, students have needed to be more open-minded about what they could learn by trying something different. Reach out to Marie if you're concerned about finding your internship and she can help you! What if I get fired from my internship? This happens occasionally! Although it isn't a fun learning experience, it IS a great opportunity to learn in a situation that isn't tied to your financial security. Marie, your mentor, your parents and you will all communicate in order to create closure from the experience, and we'll work to find you a new internship experience. What if I'm sick or studying abroad during the LINK Internship? If you miss the window for whatever reason, you can always do your internship in the summer or during your senior year. This is not ideal, but it has worked for many students previously. When do we start looking for internships? We'll start our outreach in January and the goal is to confirm your internship by Osprey Week or Spring Break. Do student interns get paid? Your pay for the internship is the 1.0 credit on your transcript (plus the life experience!). Students generally do not get paid although some mentors may choose to give students a gift. Can students intern at their job? Generally not. The goal is to really push yourself to get out of your comfort zone and to experience a potential career. If, for example, you run a cash register at an ice cream store, you could spend your internship hours learning how the business is run, but any cash register time would need to be separate from your internship. It's generally best to keep your job and internship separate. What if I start my internship and then don't like it? Ironically, not liking your internship can be a good thing! Sometimes this is how we learn what we DON'T want to do and it's an important step to learning what we DO want to do! If your internship is terribly uncomfortable in the first few days, we have had students switch mid-way but it's incredibly stressful. The best option is to explore a number of options, ask a lot of questions, and make sure you get to know your mentor a little bit before you confirm your internship. What if I have no idea what I want to do!? Awesome! That's exactly the point of the LINK Internship! This is your opportunity to try ONE thing that you might like. If you don't like it, it's okay, it's only three weeks of your life and it's an opportunity to stretch, grow, and prove to yourself that you can do hard things. This is not your last opportunity in life to try something new, it's simply one choice out of many, many choices you'll make throughout your life. We'll take time throughout the school year to explore your interests and help you select some things that you might like to explore further. What are the steps to confirming an internship? We'll begin by considering our values, interests, skills and aptitudes. What are you curious about? What do you like doing? What are your strengths? We'll then start looking at different types of careers, hopefully finding some that you've never considered before! You'll then begin reaching out to professionals in your fields of interest to learn more about careers. You'll request short appointment with at least three different professionals to conduct what we call "Informational Interviews," in which you simply ask them questions. After you've interviewed someone, if it really intrigues you, you will ask them if they'd be open to hosting you as an intern. They might say yes, YAY! They might say no, and that's fair too. In that case, you'll remember to ask them if they know of anyone else that you could reach out to. Once someone says yes, you'll schedule a time to meet with them to ask any questions you might have and to double check that you really, really want to spend three weeks with them. You, your parent/guardian, and your new mentor will sign some online documents on the Transeo platform confirming that you are all committed to the internship plan. Congratulations, you've confirmed your internship! Traveling outside of the Four Corners Region for your LINK Internship If you would like to leave the area, there are a few more things to consider: This is one of the first things you should talk about with your parent/guardian before making plans to leave the area for your internship. Animas High School does not fund or have scholarships for students to leave town for their internship. Before considering an out-of-town option, consider your budget for transportation, housing, food and entertainment for the three weeks. Housing Where will you stay? You want to feel comfortable and safe. Most students who do out-of-town internships stay with friends or family in other towns. Before searching the vast world of options, it may be best to consider who you could stay with and confirm that they are willing to host you. Once you have that in place, you can begin looking for internship opportunities in their community. Another option is to travel to a place that has housing such as dorms available. This is less common and general more expensive, but students have selected this option in the past and had great experiences. Dorm style living is especially common when students choose to leave the country for their internship. Your parents/guardians and you will have to sign an additional form stating that you are both comfortable with the housing plans while you are on LINK. Transportation How will you get to your internship? For long distances, flying is likely the best option, For places closer to Durango, many students have had their parents drive them or even drive themselves if they have a license and car. Once you know how to get there, you'll need to consider transportation to and from your internship site. Will you have a car and are you comfortable driving in large cities? Or will the friend or family member you are staying with be able to drive you? Or is there public transportation that you can take? Although a list of potential internships is available for students in town, all students have to network and do outreach to confirm an internship. Students who choose to leave the area need to plan ahead, network, and do even more independent outreach, and it's worth the effort! Where have students travelled for LINK?	11,219
I played about 5 missions or so last night, and already had one character hitting level 5. This leaves me wondering how far into the game I’m going to be before I have a squad of maxed out soldiers, the fun of a leveling system is the journey, not the destination imho. (One thing I didn’t try was to make a dual-class solider, I had good perks showing at levels 6 and 7 for the guy that got to 5, and I didn’t know whether switching class would change them, or if my level would drop back to 1 for the new class). Yokes September 9, 2019, 9:29am #2 and I didn’t know whether switching class would change them or if my level would drop back to 1 for the new class There is only soldier level. Class skills have access based on soldier level. So when you take second class you already have access to skill up to level 4. pantolomin September 9, 2019, 11:55am #3 I played about 5 missions or so last night, and already had one character hitting level 5 After the first mission I had an assault that was already level 3. However the rest leveled more slowly. First few levels are quite quick but to reach level 7 takes a bit more time. Also, I usually try to better dispatch damage dealt to have soldiers level up uniformly. I guess that the goal is to have better soldiers more quickly because you tend to lose some of them. However, until now I haven’t seen the game really go in the direction of “lots of soldiers” (too expensive - like if it cost 200 in FiraXCOM). endersblade September 11, 2019, 1:59am #4 I agree with the OP. It doesn’t take long at all to get your soldiers to level 7. You can even push one or two soldiers up extremely fast, the way experience is earned in combat. Keldaur September 11, 2019, 2:06am #5 That’s one of the things playing harder difficulties do. It takes much longer in cata to get to lvl 7. endersblade September 14, 2019, 4:30am #6 Difficulty levels are disabled in BB5. UnstableVoltage September 14, 2019, 9:10am #7 They’re not. Difficulty levels do have an affect in BB5, though currently it just increases the number of enemies. Larbo September 15, 2019, 8:12am #8 Im not entirely certain, but it seemed like easy was harder then normal mode. I started an easy game a while back and it gave me sirens with mind control and such that I hadnt seen in normal mode.	2,360
Alex Rodriguez's career (at least as a Yankee) has come to an end. Fortunately, he went out in style. On a night that was supposed to be about A-Rod, Starlin Castro stole the show. Castro's four RBIs, all of which came with two outs, propelled the Yankees to a 6-3 victory. Rodriguez's RBI double in the first inning was certainly a bittersweet moment. Seeing him get one last hit before the conclusion of his Yankees career made the night worthwhile. A-Rod received an emotional send off in the ninth inning. With one out, Girardi once again reneged on a promise he made. Contrary to his earlier statements, he rightfully allowed A-Rod to play the field, albeit briefly, so he could have a proper send off. In the top of the first inning, CC Sabathia gave up a home run to longtime Yankee nemesis Evan Longoria, giving the Rays a 1-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Chris Archer struggled a bit with his command when he hit Brett Gardner on his left ankle. Though Gardner was visibly in profound pain, he remained in the game. With one out and Gardner on first, Alex Rodriguez stepped up to the plate. He received an impressive ovation. He proceeded to smoke an RBI-double to right center field. A-Rod's double, which one could clearly tell brought him great joy, tied the game at 1. Sabathia surrendered the lead in the top of the third inning. With runners on first and third and two outs, Longoria once again gave the Yankees trouble with an RBI single to right field, putting the Rays ahead 2-1. The Yankees retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. With runners on second and third and two outs, Starlin Castro delivered a rare hit for the Yankees with runners in scoring position. His single brought home both Mark Teixeira and Didi Gregorius, making it 3-2 Yankees. After a Chase Headley single put runners on the corners, none other than Aaron Hicks ended the two-out rally with a weak pop up. Unfortunately, shutdown innings do not exist for Yankees pitchers, as Logan Forsythe's sacrifice fly tied the game at 3. Starlin Castro continued to steal the thunder in the sixth inning. With Teixeira on second and two outs, Castro blasted a two-run home run to center field, handing the Yankees a 5-3 lead. In the seventh inning, what appeared to be a fly out to left by Aaron Hicks ended up narrowly making it over the fence, extending the Yankees lead to 6-3. The Yankees hope to continue their long shot chance at capturing the second wild card when they send Masahiro Tanaka (8-4, 3.32 ERA) to the mound against Matt Andriese (6-3, 2.90). The Yankees should expect to go through somewhat of an adjustment period without A-Rod, as his veteran leadership will surely be missed, but the grind must continue. With Tyler Austin likely being called up tomorrow, another shot of youth into this roster makes for a compelling story line! Article by Steven Eareckson Other Apps Comments Popular posts from this blog By Nick Simonelli - September 23, 2020 Welcome to our new gambling column at BBB, Bronx Bomber Bets. Here we will be giving out some of our favorite picks of the day and sharing them with our readers. Today, we are giving out 10 picks for all of you, so please enjoy, and bet responsibly. Now, we know that not all of our readers are big gamblers, if they are gamblers at all, so for the first week or so that we give out picks we will be explaining the odds and gambling terminology for anyone out there who is looking to learn about sports betting. Here are our picks: Read more By Chad Raines - January 24, 2015 By: Eliot Podgorsky Every MLB ballpark has its own unique experience and food is integral to the game day experience. Through my years of fandom I’ve had the pleasure of trying as much food as I can at Yankee Stadium. While Yankee Stadium might not have the crazy food options such as Primanti Bros. Sandwiches, Rocky Mountain Oysters, The Schmitter, Fish Tacos and Waffle House to name a few there are some tasty options at the Cathedral of Baseball. Here are my opinions on what to get and what to pass when you visit Yankee Stadium. Read more Opinion: The Yankees missed an opportunity to move on from a manager that has not improved enough By Matt Graziano - October 22, 2021 When new leadership comes into any position it takes some time to make it your own and bring your influence to it. In the case of sports and baseball specifically, people generally say that teams take on the personality of their manager. These few ideas are why I sit here very disappointed that the Yankees decided to not only bring back Aaron Boone but did so with a ringing endorsement by Brian Cashman and a 3-4 year commitment. Going back to those ideas, when Aaron Boone was hired as the manager, he was coming in with no experience and taking over a 91-win team that overachieved the previous year. A team with young talent that just pushed the juggernaut (cheating) Houston Astros to the brink in the 2017 ALCS. A team with all those young players that stepped up in the heat of battle well before anyone expected them to. Boone was brought in and expected to build on that and bring a team that had room to go and still got close to a World Series and get them over the hump. Well, its bee	5,556
All mice must receive immediate veterinary attention when they are sick or injured. In most cases, unnecessary pain and injury can be prevented through regular visits to a veterinarian. Did you know that there is a special law protecting animals? This law is called the Animal Welfare Act. The Animal Welfare Act says that your animal has five groups of welfare needs. These are five groups of things that animals need to be healthy and happy. These five welfare needs are called the Five Freedoms. Under the Animal Welfare Act all animal guardians (owners) need to provide these five groups of things for their animals. One of these Five Freedoms is: Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease. In this section you will learn about this freedom and how you can make sure your mice receive the right medical care to be free from pain, suffering and disease. Mice need to be registered with a local veterinarian Just like you have a family doctor that you see when you are unwell, your mice need their own doctor too – a veterinarian is an animal doctor. It’s a good idea for your family to find out which veterinarian they plan on using before you get your mice. Ask your friends that are mouse owners which veterinarians they recommend. If possible, visit the clinic beforehand and look around. Ask yourself: Is the waiting area clean? Are the staff helpful? Find out the opening hours and if they handle emergencies after hours as well. Mice are good at hiding pain Mice feel pain in the same way as other animals, including people, but they are not very good at showing outward signs of pain and may be suffering a great deal before you notice anything is wrong. A change in the way your mouse normally behaves can be an early sign he or she is ill or in pain. If your mouse is not eating or is more quiet than usual, it is highly likely to be ill, or in pain. You should talk to your veterinarian immediately. If any of your mice show any signs of injury or ill health, you must take them to their veterinarian immediately. If it is late at night or on the weekend and your veterinary clinic is closed, there are great after-hours clinics available for emergencies. Make sure your family know where your closest after-hours veterinary clinic is. Health checks Mice find being caught and handled stressful, but it’s important to check their health and welfare regularly – a good balance should be reached. Ask your parent or caregiver to help you handle your mice for signs of illness or injury. Make sure this is done by someone else if you are away. Consult your mouse’s veterinarian immediately if you suspect your mouse is in pain, ill or injured. Visually check them morning and evening. Watch each mouse in the enclosure without disturbing them, and then lift the enclosure lid to check that each mouse is moving, breathing well, sitting normally and has bright eyes and a shiny coat. Physically examine each mouse at least once a week. Run your fingers over their body to check for any lumps, bumps and that the animal is physically normal (not too skinny or too fat). It is best to do this at the same time as cleaning their enclosure to minimise the disturbance caused. Weigh your mice regularly to make sure that they are not rapidly gaining or losing weight. It is best to do this at the same time as cleaning to minimise disturbance. Always handle your mice in a safe, considerate and confident manner. When to call your vet When mice get sick, they can get very unwell very quickly. They often only show subtle signs of being in pain or distress or that they are suffering, until it is very severe. Take your mice to their veterinarian immediately if any of them show any of the following signs: not eating or drinking. hiding away from the other mice, more than usual. sitting in a hunched-up position. discharges from their eyes or nose. losing weight or quickly putting weight on. drinking a lot. urinating a lot or not at all. slow, irregular or fast breathing. very dark red or pale limbs, ears, or nose. very hot, or very cold limbs. head tilted. grating their teeth. difficulty walking or unsteady balance. self-mutilation or gnawing at themselves. Always handle your mice carefully The first thing to remember when you are picking up or holding your mouse is this – you are much, much bigger than he or she is! A frightened mouse can be very difficult to pick up. They will run zigzags all over their enclosure in an attempt to elude the unknown giant hand coming to scoop them up. Although this is normal at first, the best way to pick up your mouse is to teach it not to be afraid of you. A properly trained mouse will walk right into your hand as soon as you put it in the enclosure. Mice should be allowed to investigate your hands in their own time. Cupped hands technique To pick up your mouse using the cupped hand technique, scoop them on one or both open hands and allow them to sit or walk over your hands without physically restraining them. If you find that your mouse attempts to escape by jumping off your hands the first time you try to pick them up, gently close your cupped hands loosely around them until their attempts to escape start to decrease (for a maximum of 30 seconds). You can then open your hands and allow them to sit or walk around on your hands unrestrained. This closed cupping should not be necessary after the first handling session. A home enclosure tunnel can also be used in combination with the cupped hand technique, to aid the picking up of a mouse. To pick up your mouse in this way, gently guide them into a home enclosure tunnel (one that is usually available in their enclosure and which has their enclosure scent on it) as you bring the tunnel forward. You can then allow them to crawl from the tunnel onto your cupped hands. If you find that on the first time you handle your mouse, they attempt to escape by jumping out of the tunnel, close your hands loosely around the tunnel ends until their attempts to escape start to decrease (for a maximum of 30 seconds). You can then open your hands and allow them to crawl out of the tunnel onto your cupped hands. Covering the ends of the tunnel in this way should not be necessary after the first day or two of handling. If you have to pick up a frightened mouse, the safest way to do so is by softly holding the base of the tail (the part closest to their body) and lifting up the mouse just enough to slide your hand under his or her body. Keep gently holding the tail, even when the mouse is in your palm to prevent it from jumping out of your hand. Mice typically will not jump on to anything if the fall is more than about 30cm, but frightened animals are unpredictable and may jump from heights sufficient to hurt themselves. You should not squeeze the body of a mouse from the sides or try to scoop it up from their enclosure, as you could easily hurt them (remember, mice are tiny and it doesn’t take much to hurt them). Picking them up like this also frightens them so it’s best to stick to the methods mentioned above. You may have seen people pick up mice by their tails and lifting them up. While this doesn’t really hurt the mouse, it is an uncomfortable position for them and you run a much higher risk of damaging their tails. How would you like it if a giant carried you around upside-down by your leg? Do you have what it takes?	7,838
Biblical Counselors of Houston, The Leadership Center and Pastor, Dr. Lovenia Williams offer a suite of biblically based services provided by experienced licensed and ordained ministers and credentialed, professional Biblical Counselors to help individuals move to personal wholeness, interpersonal competence, mental stability, and spiritual maturity. Our lead counselor, Lovenia Williams is a licensed and ordained pastor with a Master of Arts in Christian Counseling and a Doctor of Theology from Cornerstone University. Our approach is psychotherapeutic with the application of biblical interpretation, scriptural principles and temperament therapy. This method not only focuses on aiding the counselee to understand himself/herself, but it allows individuals to be the best God created by meeting the needs of one's temperament equally and scripturally. Although some secular principles may be used, there is freedom to apply biblical teachings without limitations. Thus, Pastor, Dr. Lovenia Williams is credentialed as a Biblical Counselor and not a state licensed professional counselor. Counseling is a process in which we collaborate to help you to solve the problems that affect your quality of life or your personal goals. You and I work together to look at the behaviors that cause these problems to occur and talk about alternative ways, including Scriptural ways, that may help you have a better outcome. As we examine and work together, I will bring as many of these problem areas to your attention as I possibly can. You will participate in the development of your counseling/treatment plan. You and I will review it from time to time. Your plan of counseling/treatment may change as the issues change. Should you have any questions or comments, feel free to discuss them with me. Risk of Counseling Although the counseling experience can be tremendously beneficial for most people, there are some potential risks about which you must be aware. Counseling can be an emotionally painful experience for you and some relationships in your life can become unbalanced. There may be tough decisions which you may want to make which may upset your status quo. These experiences are legitimate outcomes of the counseling process. I am available to discuss any of your problems or possible negative side effects of our work together. As a client, you have access to my resources and my willingness to apply them in good faith. Because of the many factors that influence counseling/treatment, no counseling/treatment outcomes are guaranteed. Our relationship is a unique one. You will share with me many intimate details of your life. Confidentiality is an important aspect of the counseling process, and I will carefully guard the information you entrust to me. Under state law, I am mandated to protect this relationship. That is, without your written permission or by order of the Court, I am forbidden to disclose any information about our sessions or about you except in the following instances: 1) I suspect that you may do harm to yourself or to others; 2) You tell me of abuse to a child or an elderly or disabled person; 3) If I or your records are ordered by a court of law; or 4) You waive your right to confidentiality. Sometimes medical physicians have to consult other physicians to determine the best healthcare treatment for an individual. In the same manner, on occasions, I may want to consult with another pastor (when a counselee attends another church and it is necessary to talk with his or her pastor), or another provider regarding your counseling/treatment plan. You will be aware of these consultations (see above paragraph) and your confidentiality will be protected. Consultation and supervision are inherent in the standard of care and are supported by the Pastoral/Counseling profession. On rare occasions, a conflict may develop between the biblical counselor and a counselee. In accordance with the principles set forth in Matthew 18:15-17 and 1 Corinthians 6:1-8, we strive to resolve conflict in a manner that brings glory to God and is a positive witness and influence to those looking on. In light of the above: I agree that any dispute with Lovenia Williams, Biblical Counselors of Houston and/or The Leadership Center, or any staff member, volunteer, or affiliate of Biblical Counselors of Houston or the Leadership Center arising from or related to this agreement shall be settled through Christian mediation and, if necessary, legally binding Christian arbitration. I, the counselee understand that this shall be the sole remedy for any controversy or claim arising out of this agreement and expressly waive my right to file a lawsuit in any civil court against the above listed for such disputes, except as necessary to enforce an arbitration decision. Signature of client Date Date Next Release of Records I understand that my client file (progress notes, tests and assessments, billing history, diagnosis, treatment plan, etc is confidential and will be maintained by Biblical Counselors of Houston and The Leadership Center. Client files remain the sole property of The Leadership Center and will only be released pursuant to the client's valid, written authorization or a valid subpoena issued by a judge. Cancellations If you must cancel a session, at least 24 hours' notice is expected. If I (the client) do not cancel an appointment with at least 24 hours notice, I understand that I may be charged for the missed session. If I (the counselor) need to cancel a session with you, I will try to reschedule your session at the earliest convenience. As a Pastor, I am subject to emergency calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I will tell you 24 hours in advance of any sessions I will have to cancel, unless I have been called away by an emergency. In such an event, I will give you as much notice as the emergency allows. Although each of us has the right to terminate counseling/treatment at any time, it is customary to have a formal termination session when you and I feel that your work is completed. You and I decide together when this is appropriate and, together, we will evaluate your progress in the Counseling experience. Next Having clearly stated the principles and policies of the counseling ministry, I welcome the opportunity to minister to you in the name of Christ and to be used by him as he helps you to grow in spiritual maturity and prepares you for usefulness in his body. If you have any questions about these guidelines, please ask before signing below. If these guidelines are acceptable to you, please sign below. By signing this Informed Consent, I, Lovenia Williams, and Biblical Counselors of Houston and The Leadership Center staff/representatives are agreeing to provide counseling services to you as explained above, and you are agreeing to the above guidelines and to attend your	7,031
Reality TV now exists in multiple forms. On networks, it’s still created by producers and isn’t really reality TV, but we also have the Internet, and online – REAL reality exists. Video created by the people for the people… or for nobody. Everyone has a truth One man can be a church Regular people can build an audience, and maybe even a fanbase. They often become addicted, just like reality TV stars have been known to become. When we get an audience, we crave a bigger audience. Laughter, or worship is addictive. Sadly, some also get famous unwillingly in this new world where it’s OK to laugh and share literally anything funny. Slipping on a banana was always funny, to everyone but the fallen – but today the moment isn’t lost in the moment. Today we can click a button and re-live the humiliation over and over and over and even make somebody totally unrelated to the act, except they were the ones that uploaded the clip, filthy rich with 6,000,00 views, and an upbeat tune to make the fall even funnier. A new fear of being caught on camera and becoming an Internet sensation overnight. The terror of being viewed and mocked by Howard Stern in the morning, or Jimmy Kimmel Live late that very night or other countless comedic monologues. Without your permission or awareness, the world is laughing at you, as you fall into a hole in a kitchen, or walk into a water fountain while texting… or slip on a banana peel. If you’re very unlucky, they turn you into an extra funny meme and your 15 minutes lasts for weeks — ever. A clown. I will remember the Double Rainbow guy forever and not remember who won the last season of Survivor, Idol, AGT or next top model. I watch those shows, but I forget the winners almost instantly. I remember the STAR WARS KID and the guy that sings CHOCOLATE RAIN. I remember the “RIDAY FRIDAY” singer much more than I remember whoever was the musical guest on SNL this past week. World media has become as famous, or more famous than the big TV Networks, but TV is learning. They’re trying to merge the two. They bring YouTube onto the TV, and discuss the top stories, and make an extra punch line or two out of the already funny… again. Each night we have shows that try to recap the days Internet memes and sensations, but I’m always pleased when I’ve already seen the YouTube videos or VINES or other clips that Chris Hardwick plays @Midnight or TOSH.O makes fun of this week. It means I’m current, and for some reason, at age 50, that makes me happy. I know who Miley Cyrus is, and was – but I also know Grumpy Cat and Keyboard Cat. I don’t want to be famous. I just want a few fans. Related Work Related GoDaddy Support – October Horror Story Hello there! Tell us how we can help. Website Gone GoDaddy Bot at 13:56, Oct 13: That's never fun. What's the domain name for the site that isn't working? That's never fun. What's the domain name for the site that isn't working? J Heidebrecht at 13:56, Oct 13:... Water Overflow. What was I doing before that? I was sitting in my chair outside the door after feeding the animals there afternoon meal and our fish bathtub has a small leak so one of my new tasks daily is to refill it. Because it has fish in it we do this very slowly with it trickle but the hose turns on and off... Google Docs by Voice Hello, I'm orange Jeff and this isn't orange shirt blog. You can't currently see that I'm wearing an orange shirt but I'll include a photo when you can trust me that it's current. For the most part, I live in a single bedroom on my bed. I compute there eat there I... I know what a news break is but I'm not positive I fully understand what breaking news is I had assumed that it is news they interrupt whatever you were doing to tell you about, which should be significant. Breaking news is not always significant It's just current and... I was almost at the steps to the house when I turned my back and the rooster. It's usually a safe spot especially since the food is a long way away. I think you may be mad because I didn't bring out a fifth portion for him which for a while I was doing, It's so... Check out the main frogstar site for links to other properties and blogs, and business. OrangeJeff.com is part of the Frogstar family. This Site is Always under construction and evolving May contain awkward nudity, hard drug use and things even more disgusting that you can’t imagine. You’ve been warned.	4,676
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information. Non-necessary Non-necessary Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.	1,158
Too many entrepreneurs miss the beauty of the trees trying to see the forest. - Wisdom of the ElePHPant Too many entrepreneurs miss the beauty of the trees trying to see the forest. - Wisdom of the ElePHPant Too many entrepreneurs miss the beauty of the trees trying to see the forest. Posted on September 7, 2015 January 30, 2015 by kateva The common wisdom is don’t miss the forest for the trees. When it comes to entrepreneurs though, they totally miss the trees searching for the size of the forrest. These days everyone is looking for an industry to disrupt. You’ve got to change the world or it won’t fly – or more importantly – it won’t attract a VC. Not everyone has to invent the next “It’s Uber for ___”, or “It’s Twitter for ___”, it’s ok to shoot lower, it’s ok to stop and see the trees in the forest and see if you can help one. My goal every day is not to change the world, it’s to help one developer. I don’t want to disrupt the programming forest, I want to find a different tree each day and see if I can make a difference in their life. If you are racing against the clock for a new disruptive startup, stop. Take a day and just look around. Look at the people with whom you work. Is there something you can do, no matter how small, that will make a difference in one life? If so, do that. I guarantee you it will have a longer lasting impact than anything else you could do today.	1,455
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information. Non-necessary Non-necessary Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.	1,161
She stood on the left podium. Her upright posture made her look taller than her five feet three inches. She wore a white salwar kameez, and a fuchsia dupatta with silver piping. I should have focused on her debating skills rather than her attire. However, even her debate opponent paused for a few seconds to take in Zara’s stunning, model-like looks. The Seminar Hall stage had a banner with the debate topic: Should public display of religion be banned? Zara Lone was debating against Inder Das, the reigning champion from Hindu College. Both had reached the finals of Clash of the Titans. The packed hall was waiting for the duo to make their final rebuttals. Inder, with his loose kurta, curly hair and rimless glasses, looked like he had walked out of a Bengali art film, one of those where everyone waits for five seconds before the next dialogue. ‘Last I heard, we are a free country,’ Inder said. ‘Our Preamble uses the word “secular”. The state will not discriminate or meddle in the profession of any religion. Article 25 through to 28 in our Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.’ Damn, people know the articles of the Constitution? I didn’t even know the Constitution had something called articles. I had no view on either side of the debate. I only wanted Zara to win. I wanted to see her smile. Zara raised her hand to object. However, she had to wait her turn as Inder wouldn’t stop. ‘Article 25 says, and I quote,’ Inder said and paused, fumbling through his notes. When people say ‘I quote’ and pause, they come across as scary-level intellectuals. Let’s face it, nobody wants to mess with the ‘I quote’ types. Inder spoke again, or rather quoted. ‘All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise, and propagate religion.’ He paused again for us to digest that. ‘Miss Zara Lone, you are arguing not only against our culture, but also against the Constitution. You not only want to take away our Diwali celebrations, you want to break the law, too.’ He finished his speech and tossed his notes aside in disgust; I could smell his pomposity from where I sat. Inder shook his head, as if to say, Why are we even debating this? The crowd broke into applause. I had a sinking feeling. Would Zara lose? All eyes turned to Zara. She waited for the applause to die down before she spoke. ‘My opponent seems to have a good knowledge of the Constitution. I compliment him for that,’ Zara said. Inder smiled. ‘However, ladies and gentlemen, we are here to discuss the right thing to do, not just quote Constitution clauses we can Google in two seconds.’ The audience sat up straight. This petite fireball was not going to give up so easily. She continued, ‘The Constitution is the foundation of our republic, but it can be changed. Have we not made Constitutional amendments?’ ‘So the issue here is not what is written, but what needs to be written,’ she said. ‘Yes, superb! Shabash,’ I blurted out aloud. My voice echoed in the silent hall. Damn, I had thought more people would applaud. The entire audience, including Zara Lone, looked at me. ‘Thank you.’ She smiled at me. ‘But save it for later.’ The five hundred-odd audience burst into laughter. The serious vibe thawed a little, even as I went stiff. I wanted a power cut, absolute darkness and complete invisibility so I could run out of the hall. Zara went back to her argument. ‘My friend only quoted Article 25 partially. Article 25 does say that all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise, and propagate religion, but it also says, “subject to public order, morality and health”. How did my esteemed opponent miss out on that?’ ‘So, if it bothers others,’ Inder said, interrupting Zara, ‘as a Muslim, would you stop the azaan from being called on loudspeakers five times a day?’ ‘Yes, I would.’ The audience let out a collective gasp. A Muslim girl saying this on stage had everyone’s attention. Unfazed, Zara continued. ‘You can still pray five times a day. Maybe have an app to remind you on your phone. Listen to the prayers on headphones. But don’t impose them on the whole neighbourhood. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t say things like “as a Muslim”. I am not here as a Muslim, I am here as a finalist in the Clash of the Titans debate competition.’ The applause was deafening. A few minutes later, one of the faculty members from the judging panel went up to the podium to announce the results. ‘The debates were excellent today. However, to argue for restricting displays of religion is difficult all over the world, let alone India. You had the harder side, Miss Zara, and you defended it with logic and poise. Hence, the winner for this year is Miss Zara Lone.’ A standing ovation followed. Zara came to accept the trophy. I clapped like a maniac. A fellow hostel-mate egged me to whistle. Did I tell you I had the loudest whistle in IIT Delhi? I put my right thumb to my index finger in an ‘O’ shape and brought it to my mouth. Tweeeet! My whistle, loud and shrill, suited a football stadium more than a debating contest. Many intellectual types turned to me again, wondering why such a crass person had been allowed in here. My whistle caught Zara’s attention. She looked at me, trophy in hand, and smiled. I pulled out my fingers from my mouth. ‘Dude, easy. She is your girlfriend or what?’ a guy next to me said. No, she isn’t, but she will be, I wanted to say. After all, the universe had already decided it. I stepped out of the hall and walked towards the food stalls. ‘Thanks for the cheering.’ I froze on hearing her voice. ‘Zara?’ I said, turning around. ‘Yeah. Nice college. Are you from here?’ ‘Yes. How about you?’ I said. ‘Delhi College of Engineering. Missed IIT by a few marks. Not smart enough.’ ‘You demolished him in there. You are definitely smarter than me.’ We walked out on to the main road, which was dotted with food kiosks due to the festival. ‘As you guys walked, Zara asked if you were hungry. You guys ate together. Exchanged phone numbers…’ Saurabh said, breaking my story narration. ‘What? How do you know this?’ I said. A waiter saw us out on the balcony. He came to us with a tray of drinks. Despite Saurabh’s attempts to stop me, I picked up a glass of whisky. The parantha wasn’t good. You gave her your dosa. The rest is history. Let’s go in. I am turning to ice here.’ He hugged himself. I took a big sip of whisky. It went down my throat like a little ball of fire. ‘Have a drink,’ I said, ‘it will make you feel less cold.’ ‘Not really. Alcohol actually leads to heat loss. It is heat coming out that makes your skin feel warm.’ ‘Golu, seriously, stop the JEE chemistry. It’s New Year’s Eve,’ I said. I brought the glass close to his mouth. He looked at me once, then with great reluctance took a sip. ‘Good job, my Golu,’ I said. ‘So you know about the dosa too? You want to know about our next meeting? The first real date?’ ‘Please, no, bhai. Let’s hang out with the other staff inside. They already think we are antisocial.’ ‘Screw them. We freaking hate this job,’ I said. ‘How do you expect us to socialise?’ ‘Let’s talk to them a little bit.’ ‘In a minute. I just need to make a call.’ I pulled out my phone. I opened Zara’s contact. Saurabh saw her picture. ‘No, bhai, no.’ He reached for my phone. I ran ahead of him as he clumsily and unsuccessfully chased me. ‘Bhai, my kasam. You are not calling her.’ ‘Bhai, no!’ he said as I shushed him. ‘Shh. It’s ringing,’ I said. I used my left hand to keep Saurabh at a distance and my right hand to hold the phone to my ear. One ring. Two rings. Five rings. Seven rings. ‘Hello?’ I said as I heard a voice. ‘Hello, Zara. Don’t hang up, okay?’ ‘The person you have dialled cannot be reached. Please try again later.’ It was the Airtel lady, the emotionless bitch. If only she knew how important this call was to me. ‘Couldn’t get through? Good. Leave it,’ Saurabh said. I dialled again. Same seven rings. Same cold Airtel bitch. ‘Stop it, bhai. She will see all those missed calls and freak out.’ ‘I don’t care,’ I said. Once you have already faced the humiliation of giving the other person multiple missed calls, it doesn’t matter if it is two or three. Or seven. Or ten. That is why I dialled her a tenth time. And this time it wasn’t the Airtel lady. ‘Hello.’ I heard Zara’s voice. Her one word alone made me feel better than any whisky in the world could. ‘Hey, Zara,’ I said, clearing my throat and stretching the ‘hey’ longer than necessary. Saurabh let out a sigh of disappointment. I stepped away from him. ‘Yes, Keshav,’ she said in measured tones. She sounded cold. Colder than the Airtel lady. I wondered what to say next. ‘I have been trying to call you,’ I managed to say. ‘I know. And you should realise that if someone doesn’t pick up the phone ten times, then maybe they can’t talk.’ ‘Nine times. Not ten. Anyway, are you busy?’ I said. ‘I can call later.’ I needed an excuse to call her again and hear her voice another time. I heard music in the background. She was at a party too. Maybe in the black sari. I wondered if her idiot loser boyfriend was with her. ‘What is it, Keshav? Why have you called me?’ she said. I stepped to a corner of the balcony. Saurabh did not follow but kept an eye on me from a distance. ‘I just wanted to say happy new year. Why are you interrogating me like this?’ I said. ‘Hold on a second,’ she said, as her attention shifted from me to someone else at the party. ‘Hi,’ I heard her say, ‘you look lovely too.’ ‘Zara, are you there?’ I said, when I didn’t hear anything for a long while. ‘There are just too many people here. Anyway. You know what we decided, right?’ ‘To be together forever and ever?’ I said. Damn, why did I have to say that? ‘What?’ ‘That was a long time ago, Keshav.’ ‘Six years ago, 2011 New Year’s Eve,’ I said. When the heart breaks, the part of the brain that stores data on past dates works perfectly. ‘I meant when we broke up. We decided to not be in touch. Something you don’t follow. It’s been years since we broke up now.’ ‘Okay, so kill me. Kill me because I called to wish you. Kill me because New Year’s Eve makes me remember you. Or kill me because it is the anniversary of the day we first made love.’ ‘Keshav, stop it.’ ‘Stop what? Thinking about you? I wish I could,’ I screamed. ‘I so freaking wish I could.’ Saurabh came running to me. He gestured to check what the matter was. I shook my head. He motioned for me to put the call on speaker. I complied. ‘Are you drunk?’ Zara said in her soft, almost caring voice. ‘How does it fucking matter? Drunk or not, I miss you, Zara. What are you doing with that loser Raghu?’ ‘Stop calling him names, Keshav. And I have to go.’ Saurabh sliced his hand in the cold Delhi air, indicating I end the call. Of course, I ignored his sane advice. ‘Oh, so protective of your Raghooooo,’ I said, mocking his name. ‘Maggu Raghu. That’s what they called him in hostel. You know that? Mag-gu Rag-hu.’ ‘I don’t have to take this, Keshav,’ Zara said, ‘I am going to hang up. ‘So touchy for that freaking nerd. That nerd who loves his fuck-all dotcom company more than anything else. He can never love you like I do.’ ‘That fuck-all dotcom company is one of India’s hottest startups—and Raghu created it. Do you know its valuation? Why am I even telling you this?’ Zara said, her voice irritated. ‘So that is why you went to him. For his money,’ I said. ‘I went to him because I wanted to belong. I wanted a family. And you were running scared. Instead of manning up, you abused my folks.’ ‘And what did your folks do?’ ‘You have tried this before. It won’t work. You can’t provoke me. Now, bye. Don’t call me again or I will have to block you.’ ‘Block me? Are you bloody threatening to block me—’ I had to stop mid-sentence because she had ended the call. ‘Anyway, even I have to go,’ I said to nobody on the phone. ‘She’s cut the call, bhai,’ Saurabh said. Fine, she hung up on me. Why pretend she didn’t? I looked at Saurabh. I expected a slap. He came forward and hugged me. The whisky, rejection and his hug added up. I began to cry loudly. ‘Bloody bitch. “I will have to block you”—I love her every minute and this is what she says to me,’ I said between sobs. ‘Bhai, you have to leave this girl. It’s been too long,’ Saurabh said. ‘I am so over her,’ I said. The biggest lie of the freaking millennium. ‘Wait. I have to call her once more. I have to tell her I am over her.’ Before Saurabh could react, I had dialled her number again. The phone rang. I expected her to cut the call. However, someone picked up. ‘Yes?’ a male voice said on the other end. Damn, it was the lover of the century, Raghu. ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘happy new year.’ ‘Listen, Keshav, I want to be civil, but I have to tell you to stop bothering Zara.’ Fucker, who was he? Her dad? Her watchman? And ‘I want to be civil’, who talks like that? What the hell does that even mean? ‘I am not bothering her,’ I said, trying not to slur. ‘I think you are. And you do this regularly.’ ‘It has happened many times in my presence. Please stop. I am requesting you,’ Raghu said, his voice poised and calm. He probably only had coconut water to drink on New Year’s Eve. ‘See, bro,’ I said, trying to figure out what to say next, the whisky making it difficult for me to structure a logical, decent sentence. All I really wanted to say was, ‘Fuck off, Zara is mine’. However, even in my drunken state, I knew that wasn’t the best idea. ‘Just cut the call,’ I heard Zara’s voice over his. Bitch. Bitch to the power of five. ‘Yes, Keshav?’ Raghu said, his voice patient. ‘See, bro,’ I repeated. ‘Can I speak to Zara?’ ‘She doesn’t want to speak to you.’ ‘How do you know? Give her the phone.’ ‘She just told me. Now can you let us be in peace? Happy new year. ‘Listen, Raghu,’ I said, my voice dropping. ‘What?’ ‘Listen, Raghu, I will come and…’ I said things I don’t want to repeat here. Mostly because I don’t remember them. I think it involved me doing unmentionable things to Raghu’s mother, sister and probably grandmother. I said all this in explicit Hindi, using words that would make even the truck drivers of Rajasthan blush. ‘And I will take a danda and…’ I said as Saurabh took the phone from me. He cut the call and kept my phone in his pocket. ‘What chutiapa are you doing?’ Saurabh yelled at me, something he never does. I looked away from him as I realised what I had done. ‘You were cursing Zara,’ he said. ‘Nope. Only Raghu,’ I said. ‘Have you lost all shame?’ Saurabh said. ‘I just wanted to speak to Zara. Asshole picked up.’ ‘Because she doesn’t want to talk to you,’ Saurabh said. ‘I am fucking never ever calling her again.’ Saurabh shook his head and smiled sadly. ‘I mean it.’ ‘Why are you obsessed with this girl?’ ‘May I have my phone back?’ I said softly. Saurabh patted his pocket. ‘I am keeping it. And I will smash your phone to the floor if you don’t come in. Right now.’ We came back into Chandan’s drawing room. Kamal sir, chemistry teacher in Chandan Classes, walked up to us. ‘Happy new year ji. Another year, another JEE. Another round of students ji,’ he said and laughed at his own joke. I touched my glass to his. ‘Where were the two of you? Arora ji was asking,’ he said. ‘Sorry, we wanted some air,’ Saurabh said. ‘And now some whisky,’ I winked. ‘Kamal ji, will you get me a drink?’ ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I will be right back.’ Saurabh glared at me after Kamal left. ‘Stop,’ he said. ‘Last drink. Can I have my phone back?’ ‘Never. That wasn’t cool, Keshav. How you shouted outside.’ ‘Golu ji. When you scold me, you look too cute. Your round face becomes red like a tomato ji,’ I said. ‘Stop it,’ he said. I moved towards him. ‘Happy new year ji. Another year, another JEE,’ I said and tickled his paunch. ‘I said stop it.’ I dipped my hand into his trouser pocket to get my phone back. ‘Never,’ he said, as he laughed and tried to push my hand away. ‘You have become even more fat, Golu,’ I said, feeling his belly. ‘You love your mithai, no?’ ‘Better than loving what you can never have,’ Saurabh said, shoving my arm away. Which book you would like to read next? Comment Below. Don't forget to share this post! Other Apps Comments Popular posts from this blog The art of staying young while growing old For my brother, Aitor, who's said to me more often than anyone else, "I don't know what to do with my life." —HECTOR GARCIA For all my past, present, and future friends, for being my home and my motivation along the way. —FRANCESC MIRALLES Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years. —Japanese proverb CONTENTS I. Ikigai The art of staying young while growing old II. Antiaging Secrets Little things that add up to a long and happy life III. From Logotherapy to Ikigai How to live longer and better by finding your purpose IV. Find Flow in Everything You Do How to turn work and free time into spaces for growth V. Masters of Longevity Words of wisdom from the longest-living people in the world VI. Lessons from Japan’s Centenarians Traditions and pr Read more Wealth is What You Don't See CHAPTER 9 Wealth is What You Don't See Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money. M oney has many ironies. Here’s an important one: Wealth is what you don’t see. My time as a valet was in the mid-2000s in Los Angeles, when material appearance took precedence over everything but oxygen. If you see a Ferrari driving around, you might intuitively assume the owner of the car is rich—even if you’re not paying much attention to them. But as I got to know some of these people I realized that wasn’t always the case. Many were mediocre successes who spent a huge percentage of their paycheck on a car. I remember a fellow we’ll call Roger. He was about my age. I had no idea what Roger did. But he drove a Porsche, which was enough for people to draw assumptions. Then one day Roger arrived in an old Honda. Same the next week, and the next. “What happened to your Porsche?” I asked. It was repossessed Read more CHAPTER EIGHT THE SINGLE PERSPECTIVE INSTINCT Why governments should not be mistaken for nails and why shoes and bricks sometimes tell you more than numbers Who Can We Trust? Forming your worldview by relying on the media would be like forming your view about me by looking only at a picture of my foot. Sure, my foot is part of me, but it’s a pretty ugly part. I have better parts. My arms are unremarkable but quite fine. My face is OK. It isn’t that the picture of my foot is deliberately lying about me. But it isn’t showing you the whole of me. Where, then, shall we get our information from if not from the media? Who can we trust? How about experts? People who devote their working lives to understanding their chosen slice of the world? Well, you have to be very careful here too. The Single Perspective Instinct We find simple ideas very attractive. We enjoy that moment of insight, we enjoy feeling we really understand or know something. And it is easy to take off down a slippery slop	19,573
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tonight after youth group, i decided to make strawberry smoothies, so i got the blender out of the pantry, assembled the ingredients, and fitted the lid in place, but i couldn't find the lid's center plug. giving up, i put my palm over the lid's opening and pressed "blend," when a HORRIBLE crushing, grating sound ensued. i stopped it and jim came in to investigate. was it not on its base correctly? he twisted it, made sure it was snug, and again it emitted a crunching sound that was definitely not the sound of metal blending ice. no, that is because it was the sound of metal blending plastic. riiiiiight. found the plug! on an entirely different note, there is only one church in the valley that has a youth pastor, and so it is the town's de facto youth ministry. kids from all the area churches and no church at all come out every week. this church doesn't have a yard or lawn, which makes playing rambunctious teen games a little tricky, especially when the weather is too nice to stay indoors. no matter! tonight we played a rousing soccer-esque game with a giant rainbow gym class ball in the graveyard amid the headstones. i don't exactly know how to feel about this. on one hand, it seems disrespectful. on the other hand, since we believe in heaven, why shouldn't the cemetery be a place of joy, since in death we aren't our bodies anymore? i wouldn't condone it, but i am not in charge, and i must admit that much fun was had. by suzannah \| the smitten word at 10:46 PM Tuesday on reading and ritual dylan and i have a lovely morning ritual that plays out several times a week. if dylan wakes before she is ready to get up, i nurse her and put her back in her crib. if she wakes up a little later, however, and jim has started getting ready for his own early morning appointments, i bring her into bed with me. i feed her, and then we read together from one of my books. she has a beautiful collection of her own stories that we read together at other times of the day, thanks to everyone who brought books to my baby shower. but in the early mornings, i read aloud to dylan from whatever is on my nightstand. as little as she is, she seems to enjoy listening and watching my expressions as i read even more than when i try to get her to notice color and detail in her picture books. we read for a while, and after a bit she falls back to sleep. sometimes i read a little longer, but more times than not, i close my book, snuggle in close, and fall back to sleep with my sweet girl. Landmarks: breastfeeding, mothering, music books and culture by suzannah \| the smitten word at 11:13 AM a few of my favorite things In honor of the waning days of our Blockbuster subscription, these are some of my favorites rentals from the past few months: Lars and the Real Girl--fantastic and off-the-wall weird. Ryan Gosling is tremendous. It’s about growing up, and it notably portrays both the church and the denizens of a small community in a positive light--they aren’t provincial or prejudiced, but deeply generous, kind, and accepting. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium--a kids' movie that is also funny for adults. Once--ultimately a music movie. If you like folksy, singer-songwriter stuff, you’ll enjoy it. Things We Lost in the Fire--this is my favorite. It is alternately sad, funny, and ultimately hopeful. Halle Berry and Benecio del Toro both give great performances. Gone Baby Gone--this has a lot of swearing and some violence, but if you can get past that, it is a really interesting morality study. Dan in Real Life--cute and funny family-oriented film. Waitress--alternately funny and heartbreaking. Keri Russell is great. We also have been renting season one of Arrested Development, which is ridiculous and strange. I love Jason Bateman! Landmarks: music books and culture by suzannah \| the smitten word at 3:55 PM good eating {best bread machine recipe} we have our very own santa claus, and he brings us goodies year round, like heirloom tomatoes, wild mushrooms, smoked trout, and venison. today, he arrived at our doorstep with a handful of morel mushrooms that he'd foraged on property. i had never seen morels before, let alone eaten them. (they look spongy, like something grown underwater.) morels aren't something you typically pick up at the supermarket; they only grow a couple weeks out of the year, and you have to special order them, unless you too have a generous mushroom-hunting friend. jim won't eat mushrooms, so i got to enjoy them by myself, sauteed in butter. they were meaty and delicious--a wonderful, unexpected treat! before dylan was born, jim and i had a weakness for take-out. we both love to cook, but we can get lazy. now that we're down to one income, we're trying to reform our lazy ways, and we've been giving our appliances a workout. i've already mentioned my love affair with the immersion blender and homemade soup. jim works wonders with the waffle iron and bread machine. our favorite go-to recipe is a three seed wheat bread, and this week he expanded his repertoire to include garlic coriander naan. it was great with homemade hummus. having moved from pittsburgh to a small town, we already had to give up access to indian, vietnamese, middle eastern, and thai goodness, so cutting back on the pizza or sandwiches that abound locally is really not such a sacrifice. with a little time, we are making great food, saving money, and eating more healthfully. do you have a breadmaker collecting dust in a cupboard? try out this recipe that we got from the back of the bob's red mill flax seed package, (but you can get cheaper flax anywhere that sells bulk grains.) 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 cup white flour (could probably make with all whole wheat, but we haven't tried yet) 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds 1 Tbsp poppy seeds 2 tsp active dry yeast it says to add ingredients like your machine recommends. jim adds the dry ingredients, excluding the yeast, and puts the salt around the perimeter. he makes a small well in the center and puts the yeast there. then he adds the wet ingredients, and starts the machine, using the deluxe rapid rise setting. if it looks dry he adds more water and if it looks wet he adds more flour. wonderful, homemade bread is ready in one hour! 1 comment: Landmarks: real food, recipes tips and tricks, the life bucolic by suzannah \| the smitten word at 10:18 PM growing up, my family did a pretty good job of observing the sabbath together. it wasn't really talked about or dwelt on much, but sunday was a day of rest, worship, and family time. we'd go to church and come home to share a big afternoon meal in the dining room on fine china. even throughout high school, eating dinner together was a priority, but sunday dinners were extra special. (it was the only day we ate crescent rolls, twice-baked potatoes, and pie!) on saturday, we accomplished all of our chores, and the only work anyone did on sunday was to prepare and clean up after the meal together. we didn't go out with our friends and we didn't go shopping. we'd nap, read the paper, maybe watch some tv, and spend time together. as i grew up, sunday did become a day to do homework, but i had to squeeze it in around church, family dinner, and youth group. in college i struggled with observing the sabbath. i didn't want to do any work on sunday, but after a long week of class, i wasn't willing to do my work on saturday instead. basically, saturday became my day of rest--sleeping in, hanging out with friends, going out--but it wasn't a sabbath, because the time honored me, not God. sunday i went to church, but after brunch with friends the entire rest of the day was spent researching, reading, and writing, writing, writing. instead of a sabbath, sunday became yet another day of work. i've been thinking about sabbath-keeping in a way i haven't in a while. it's counter-cultural to abstain from work, busyness, and consumption. we lead hurried lives and there are many demands on our time, but inconvenience is not a legitimate reason to disregard God's command to us. the sabbath is a time to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ and that the world does not revolve around us and our efforts. the incredible truth about God's grace is that there is nothing we can do to earn or add to our salvation, yet instead of obediently taking a day to reflect on the holiness of God and his creative, redemptive power, we run around filling our time with errands, chores, activities, and distractions. to observe the sabbath is to humble ourselves before a holy God and acknowledge that God, not us, is the one in control. our work can wait a day. the laundry can sit. the grocery shopping can wait. how can i expect to hear the voice of God if i never take time to be still? scripture promises blessing to those who keep the sabbath. it exists not only to honor the God who rested from creation, but it also for us to experience rest, allowing God to renew and restore us. Jesus, who called himself Lord of the Sabbath, said that "the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). it was made to bless us as we bless God and bless others. "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 58:13-14) LORD, forgive me for doing as i please, not only on the sabbath, but every day. teach me not to go my own way, but to follow you more closely. thank you for your promise of joy found in obedience to your Word. 1 comment: Landmarks: garland of grace, you are my home by suzannah \| the smitten word at 12:53 PM lions and tigers and bears, oh my! the above blur is a penguin at the pittsburgh zoo today. it was warm, beautiful, and so good to be outside and in the city. it is a wonderful zoo, and you almost forget you are in the city until you round the corner from the elephants and you see this: dylan is still pretty little, so she wasn't exactly enamored with the animals, but she was perfectly content to take in the activity and stimulation. her eyes carefully followed the penguins and fish in the aquarium as they swam around, and she seemed to enjoy the light and water. i loved the tigers that came right up the glass, the swimming polar bears, and the playful penguins. jim liked the fish, especially this one: while we were in the tunnel under the polar bear pool, we met a three-year-old girl also named dylan. after her family left, the boy in front of us who was around six turned around and asked, "who in here is named dylan?" we told him our baby was, and the little girl who just left. "that is MY name!" he told us, probably not accustomed to sharing such an integral part of his identity with two little girls. afterward, we drove to bloomfield, wistfully pasing our old apartment and got gelato again. a perfect day! Landmarks: i heart pittsburgh, you are my home by suzannah \| the smitten word at 6:51 PM in maryland, a breastfeeding mother was sentenced to a night in jail for trying to postpone jury duty until summer when her two-month-old baby would be older and she could more easily find childcare. legislation to exempt nursing mothers has been defeated twice in maryland. according to the chair for the maryland senate judicial proceedings committee, "If you start saying, we’re gonna excuse people for breastfeeding, you’ve gotta say ok to kidney dialysis, chemotherapy and all the other maladies that afflict the human condition." so in maryland, you have to postpone medically necessary chemotherapy or dialysis treatments in order to to serve on a jury?! that is unbelievably outrageous. i fully believe in doing one's civic duty, but not at any cost. also, is he calling breastfeeding a disorder? he must not realize that The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers breastfeed exclusively for six months but continuing for at least the 1st year of a child's life and that arrangements be made to allow a mother's expressing of milk if mother and child must separate. (House-introduced Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007, AMENDMENTS TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964) not two weeks after i read about this, i received my own summons. thankfully, childcare shouldn't be an issue for me, but dylan does eat every three hours, so if i were to serve i would need to be able to pump at the courthouse, which would not be the most comfortable or convenient scenario. dylan has never taken more than the occasional bottle either, because i am almost always with her. she probably would, but some babies refuse bottles, and their moms absolutely couldn't serve on a jury. only 12 states have laws with jury duty provisions for breastfeeding moms, and pennsylvania is not one of them. i kept putting off dealing with it, but after getting a reminder letter, i finally called the courthouse yesterday. the woman who answered said to write on the summons that i was nursing and that they would most likely exempt me and call again in the future. that was exactly what i wanted to hear, and hopefully she is right. 1 comment: Landmarks: breastfeeding, feminism sex and gender, mothering, politics race and economy by suzannah \| the smitten word at 4:13 PM here is team paul out and about in ligonier. how gorgeous are these tulips? they are my absolute favorite flower and they are blooming all over the diamond. jim is taking some much-needed comp time this week, and we are finally enjoying spending time as a family in the daylight! after picture-taking, we stopped at a little cafe for chocolate hazelnut gelato. (i wanted to give dylan a bite, as she was gazing so longingly, but jim, evidently the more safety-conscious parent, advised against feeding a nut product to our five-month-old. good call, dad.) the cafe has a small gated brick patio off the sidewalk, and we almost felt like we were back in our old pittsburgh neighborhood, bloomfield. almost. sigh. Landmarks: i heart pittsburgh, the life bucolic, you are my home by suzannah \| the smitten word at 3:08 PM Tuesday like a champ we gave the baby cereal another go tonight, and dylan ate it like a champ. lately dylan has been eyeing up whatever we eat and all in all has seemed pretty interested in food (at least in the abstract). this time we mixed cereal with expressed milk instead of formula, and she seemed to enjoy it. dylan was sleepy from having skipped a nap, but she managed to eat a good bit and looked adorable decked out in a pink bib, her face smeared with cereal, taking bites from her pink-tipped baby spoon. hopefully the extra calories and a full tummy translate into a good night's sleep for everyone. we made it through the whole winter and her first five months without any sickness, but on sunday dylan got her first cold. she napped poorly all day, so she was extra tired on top of being congested, and there just isn't much you can do. we ran the humidifier and put a pillow under her mattress so she could be a little inclined. dylan was uncomfortable, so she would cry, which would of course, make her even more congested. she was too stuffed up to be able to breathe and keep the pacifier in her mouth, so that was upsetting her, and it was hard for me to comfort her because nursing is difficult with a stuffy nose. it broke my heart to be so helpless to make it better. we didn't sleep well that night, but dylan is feeling much better, and we are so thankful she is healthy. by suzannah \| the smitten word at 11:02 PM Saturday i can fit into my pre-baby pants! not just my stretch denim, either. i can even wear the three pairs of cords and khakis from my barista days. i will celebrate even if they're a little snug and from aeropostale, and i'm probably too old to wear them. it is a good day. after dylan was born i bought two pairs of next-size-up jeans, but it turned out they had a little stretch to them and never fit well except right out of the wash. so for months (dylan will be five months tomorrow), i have been in clothes limbo. i suppose i still am, because my pants will fit better about five pounds from now, but the point is, they are wearable when not too long ago they couldn't fit over my thighs, let alone zip. i have to attribute this particular triumph primarily to nursing dylan, because my gym attendance of late has been lackluster, although i have been eating better--more veggies, fruit, and milk, and less processed, packaged junk. i did do a video last week that kicked my butt. i have been known to order fitness equipment from tv, and my best purchase, by far, was the Transfirmer. i kid you not. it consists of a six and eight inch step that can be used in various combinations, and it came with 4 videos. (why videos and not dvds is a mystery to me.) when i do them, i usually pick the one that focuses on sculpting with hand weights, but this time i did the one that was more oriented around step aerobics. halfway through, admitting uncoordination and defeat, i switched to the ab video, which was still intense but required less grace. step aerobics is undoubtedly corny, but it is also a wicked full-body workout, so i will grapevine and cha cha step if it means fitting into my old clothes! 2 comments: Landmarks: mothering, real food by suzannah \| the smitten word at 3:23 PM first foods dylan tried her first cereal today. i say "tried," because i don't believe she even swallowed a bite. not a fan of the food, yet. she is exclusively breastfed, but i thought i'd give it a try with formula, because mixing that is simpler. dylan did have some supplemental formula in her first few days, when the nurse scared us into believing that our little one was hungry, (or as i took it, STARVING and it was my fault), which now i'm sure she wasn't. i mixed the cereal with formula, but i think dylan knew she wasn't getting the good stuff:) next time we'll try with expressed milk. i read that it can take introducing a food up to eight times for a baby to stop rejecting it, so i guess we'll see. any tips from veteran moms? 1 comment: by suzannah \| the smitten word at 11:20 AM my sister's grandfather died this week. (i suppose i should mention that he wasn't my grandpa because she and i have different moms. that would make her my half-sister, which is the dumbest distinction ever, because she is, of course, entirely my sister.) it was extra hard because she just lost her grandma less than a year ago. she is strong, well-spoken, and so kind, and she gave the most loving eulogy at the funeral. despite the sadness, it was a hopeful service, focused on resurrection and heaven, as well as fond memories of her grandfather. the somberness of the occasion was lightened a bit by the presence of the priest, who looked and sounded just like george carlin. he had a smoker's voice, a scraggly beard, and a tiny pewter gray ponytail. when he sang, it was a mixture of off-beat song and a sort of shouted spoken-word, like a kinder, gentler henry rollins. he was a trip. before the service began, dylan was "talking," and i was debating walking to the back of the sanctuary to quiet her when the priest came over to our pew and addressed the baby, saying, "now, you make all the noise you want in my church, you hear? you make all the noise you want. your voice is the voice of the angels!" 2 comments: Landmarks: embodied faith, music books and culture, you are my home by suzannah \| the smitten word at 2:59 PM the thermometer actually registered 70 degrees yesterday, so dylan and i took a walk around ligonier. ligonier is one of those quaint small towns with an actual town square, except here we refer to it as "The Diamond." really. it has a gazebo and everything. the library, town hall, and lots of little boutiques encircle The Diamond, which soon will be blooming with flowers. we got caught in a light rain on the way back, so i covered dylan with a receiving blanket. she was asleep before we made it to the car, so she obviously didn't mind, but with every car and person we passed, i couldn't help but feel a litte mom guilt for having my baby out in the rain! after months of lagging attendence at youth group, we actually had six girls there last night! i know, six is hardly a crowd, but it is five more girls than we had two weeks ago and four more than we've had most weeks this year. i came home to a sleeping baby who did not cry for jim while i was gone. i sorted all dylan's newly washed and de-tagged next-size-up clothes. it was like having a baby shower all over again! people have been so generous to us. we've hardly bought any clothes, and with all the hand-me-downs we've been given, we shouldn't have to for a long time. God is so gracious. Landmarks: the life bucolic, you are my home, youth ministry by suzannah \| the smitten word at 11:04 AM baptized by immersion the food processor is not my friend. i have sprayed mushroom soup, cantaloupe soup, and several varieties of carrot soup all over my kitchen on more occasions than i can recall. why pureed soups are my culinary holy grail, i really have no idea, but i refuse to give up and keep seeking pureed perfection. enter the immersion blender--a recent purchase made with a gift card from my mother-in-law. (thanks!) this baby is awesome. well, awesome at pureeing soups, which is why i got it. not so awesome, at say, making chimmichurri sauce or oatmeal cookie dough, but awesome nonetheless. in an effort to actually eat the food in our pantry/fridge and to incorporate more vegetables into our diet, i am on a soup-making kick. i made a carrot ginger soup on sunday that was delicious and so smooth! yesterday's soup is a little weirder. i started with a bag of dried peas (pantry item) and added carrots, onions, and celery (putting our fresh veggies to good use!) then i remembered the two cans of tomato soup lingering in the panty and how much my mom raves about split pea tomato soup. (i actually remember not liking that particular combo as a kid, but for the love of all things holy, we are going to eat those dry goods!) so i added the tomato soup with a little cream and sherry, and blended, blended, blended. the verdict? not so bad! the orange-y color is a little off-putting, but all in all, pretty tasty. good thing too, because i have a few more servings in the fridge and a good sized tub downstairs in the freezer. now what can i make with crushed pineapple, black beans, and quinoa? by suzannah \| the smitten word at 2:13 PM taking it to the next level cloth diapering is a process that takes a little getting used to. it involves a few extra steps, but it's not really that difficult or messy, the two obstacles that put me off when jim first broached the possibility of us using cloth diapers with dylan. we have decided to try to be a little more consistent with our cloth diapering. we've switched to cloth wipes, which i really like. i ordered a "wet bag" to stick in my diaper bag so that we can stop using disposables away from home, and soon when dylan sizes out of the disposables we still have a stash of, we'll get her into cloth overnight. the only downside to this is that i want to invest in a few more fitted cloth diapers, the kind that are a little more reliable (especially for overnight and away from home.) they will last through potty training and hopefully our next child and will save money in the long run, not to mention the positive benefits for the planet. soon we will have weaned ourselves almost entirely off disposables. 5 comments: Landmarks: cloth diapering, green and natural by suzannah \| the smitten word at 7:47 AM Tuesday you gotta climb before you can crawl dylan had her first low ropes experience yesterday. (start 'em young!) it was a gorgeous day--sunny and in the 50s, and we all went for a hike in the woods. the earliest signs of spring are starting to emerge--tiny wildflowers, little buds and grasses, and the odd green plants blanketing the forest floor that i believe are some kind of onion. spring green is the most beautiful color in my mind--especially peeking out of a dark and otherwise barren winter woodland. jim wore dylan in the front pack, and together they crossed the cable bridge across the creek--dylan's first in a series of many camp adventures yet to come. we hiked several miles through the woods, and she stayed awake the whole time, enjoying the breeze and the sights. dylan was born to be camp baby, and in just a few years she'll be a fourth generation ligonier camper . Landmarks: the life bucolic, you are my home by suzannah \| the smitten word at 8:46 PM a more perfect union I finally read Barack Obama's speech on race in America, and it is definitely worth checking out. People like to paint him as naive, but I don't believe that spending years in Washington is how one garners wisdom. Obama is Ivy League trained, like many of his Capital Hill colleagues, but his discernment comes also from years of community organizing in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. He demonstrates compassion for the struggles of all Americans, vision for an America that better lives up to her ideals, and I believe, the ability to build bridges in a way that is rare and vital. Read his own words. Landmarks: green and natural, justice peace community action, politics race and economy by suzannah \| the smitten word at 12:48 PM Tuesday slings and things my sister gave us a beautiful handmade ring sling, but it didn't come with instructions, and we had a hard time figuring out how it worked, especially when dylan was tiny and had no head control. thankfully, we inherited two other options--a front-pack carrier and a pouch sling. the carrier was great to take her grocery shopping or to the mall and is much simpler than lugging around that carseat. the pouch sling cradles her and is a great way for her to tune out and nap when we are away from home. at church on easter sunday, she started to fuss and i popped her into the sling and she fell right asleep. now that dylan has great head control, i knew it was time to try again with the ring sling. yesterday, i wore her in the ring sling while jim and i took sydney for a walk. it was a beautiful evening. boys were practicing baseball in the field next to our house, and there were a ton of geese on the pond. we had a great walk, the sling was comfortable, and dylan even fell asleep on the walk back to the house. i can sit while wearing her, so it is significantly more convenient. plus it is more compact, portable, and versatile than the other two models. i used it today at the grocery store, and it was easier putting dylan into it than fumbling in the parking lot with the front pack. thanks b! 3 comments: by suzannah \| the smitten word at 5:55 PM Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Featured Post We do not belong to the night, nor shall we fear it. Quench not this Spirit-fire, test it all: book and sermon feeling, message, pro... {hey there, neighbor} #ChurchToo 31 days abuse and empire advent and christmas breastfeeding broken beautiful Church camp life cloth diapering cultivating thankfulness embodied faith feminism sex and gender fpies garland of grace green and natural guest posting i heart pittsburgh justice peace community action lent and easter LGBTQ marriage media literacy mothering music books and culture poetry politics race and economy practicing peace purity culture real food recipes tips and tricks reviews / giveaways the life bucolic video you are my home youth ministry	28,495
I spent last Saturday afternoon at the new Caird Library in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, having been invited to a special ‘bloggers’ preview’ at the end of the library’s first week with a properly restored full service following a very long hiatus. As I’ve been using the ‘old Caird’ for about thirty years, I thought I’d devote this post to a review of the new facility in comparison with the old. Much more information about the library – one of the world’s greatest resources for the study of naval and maritime history – and pictures of the new facility can be found in the Caird’s own blog. Aesthetically, there’s simply no comparison between old and new. One approached the old Caird by way of a splendid rotunda which contained a bust of Sir James Caird upon a pedestal. One approaches the new by the sort of narrow, functional back stair one would find as the fire escape of a provincial hotel; poor old Sir James is now stuck out of the way on a landing. One entered the old Caird by splendid wooden double doors which opened onto a carpeted aisle with large glass-doored bookcases on either side, leading to a small number of large tables. The new Caird has the look and feel of a small university library, with single rows of double-sided tables down the middle and low bookcases along the sides. The tables of the old library allowed an individual researcher copious amounts of space for handling large manuscripts; the individual spaces in the new one seem to be less generous than many school desks (certainly far less generous than the individual space available at, say, the National Archives and the British Library), and one can easily envisage cases of ‘elbow- room rage’ as researchers working on large items encroach slightly into their neighbour’s precious space. In a way, though, all of this sums up the crucial difference between the two libraries. The old Caird was clearly designed as, and essentially remained, a reading room for a small elite band of gentlemen-scholars, not too different from the ambience of the West End clubs they frequented. (On one occasion many years ago I was engrossed in study of a particularly interesting manuscript when I became aware of a presence at my shoulder. ‘And what are you studying?’ asked a familiar voice. It was the Duke of Edinburgh.) The old library simply could not accommodate the increasing numbers of people who wished to use it, particularly after the boom in interest in genealogy. Above all, its lack of storage space meant that large amounts of material had to be outhoused, leading to all sorts of delays and angst. (I remember several occasions when American or other foreign researchers turned up at the issue desk claiming that they only had one day available for study in Greenwich, only to be told that it would take forty-eight hours for the document they dearly wished to see to arrive from storage.) The new Caird is divided into two parts, one area for those who wish to chat as they attempt to unearth Great Uncle Harry’s maritime career and one for individual researchers who wish to work quietly, albeit in uncomfortably close proximity to others. Its substantial on-site storage facilities, which we were taken to see and which are truly impressive, mean that many more documents will reach readers much more quickly – 40 minutes is the target time – and will hopefully lead to fewer tearful scenes of woe. Compared with the ancient, rickety self-service photocopier in the old Caird, the new reprographic facilities are state-of-the-art (notably an impressive book scanner), while both the excellent new online catalogue and the ability to take one’s own digital photographs would have saved me literally weeks, if not months, of work in the past. Finally, the new Caird has two distinct advantages over its predecessor. Firstly, it has a splendid view over Greenwich Park; secondly, it ought to be quieter than the old, which in latter years was sandwiched between the entrance used by noisy school parties on the one side and the museum’s main public space, Neptune Court, on the other. So all in all, I’ll always look back fondly on the old Caird but I look forward to working in the new one, a far more appropriate working environment for the twenty-first century. Indeed, I shall have to spend quite a bit of time there in the coming months as I complete the research for Britannia’s Dragon. But a plea and a warning…the reading room would look far better if its bare antiseptic walls were broken up by a few pictures from the museum’s vast collection – and beware of my elbows! Filed Under: Historical research, Naval history Tagged With: Britannia's Dragon, Caird Library, National Maritime Museum, Naval history Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy […] probably no more confusing than the dog-eared old paper system was. On-site storage is bigger and retrieval faster, they say. Certainly, the fancy book scanner is a boon. Take a USB flash […] Caird Library at Royal Museums Greenwich \| Lara Ruffle says: […] The Old Order Changeth, Gentlemen and Tarpaulins […] Archives Select Month August 2022 November 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011	6,937
Cabrito negro is an argentine wine raised in oak, it represents the mythological symbol of fertility, its offerings and sacrifices. There are many legends that have been told throughout history about the goat, without a doubt “cabrito negro” with its excellence in quality and design will become one. cabrito negro Cabrito negro is an argentine wine raised in oak, it represents the mythological symbol of fertility, its offerings and sacrifices. There are many legends that have been told throughout history about the goat, without a doubt “cabrito negro” with its excellence in quality and design will become one. cabrito negro Cabrito negro is an argentine wine raised in oak, it represents the mythological symbol of fertility, its offerings and sacrifices. There are many legends that have been told throughout history about the goat, without a doubt “cabrito negro” with its excellence in quality and design will become one. Previous Next cabrito negro Previous Next Cabrito negro is an argentine wine raised in oak, it represents the mythological symbol of fertility, its offerings and sacrifices. There are many legends that have been told throughout history about the goat, without a doubt “cabrito negro” with its excellence in quality and design will become one.	1,273
Hot glass and live music come together for memorable evenings during Glass After Dark. Each month, watch the Perry Glass Studio team take the molten material to exciting places and enjoy entertainment by local musicians. Enjoy snacks and a cash bar. Guests without tickets may wait in the standby line and purchase tickets for admission at 8:15 p.m. $12 for Museum members, $15 for non-members Your 20% Member discount will be applied at check out once you register and sign in. Not a member? Join today to receive exclusive membership benefits right away!	556
Intermediate students come to BCC with a sense of wonder, imagination, passion and optimism about the future. They are in a time of great physical change and growth, while also looking to establish their identity and find a sense of belonging. It is a time of growing self-awareness – of uncovering authentic selfhood while forging meaningful affiliations. We understand this period in a student’s life, and know just what they need to thrive. At BCC we offer an integrated approach to learning and growing that works to support these adventures while also promoting academic rigor and meaningful learning. Our talented team of teachers are skilled in the learning and social needs of this age group and work within the program to ensure that students are supported academically, emotionally and spiritually during these pivotal years of development. Our students are provided the opportunity to explore the world and their place within it. They can discover and experience all the disciplines that we offer: Science, Design Technology, Music, Visual Art, Drama, Dance, Chinese, Literature, Business, Athletics, Robotics, History and Geography. Our teachers ensure that our students are a part of their own learning, defining and fueling their true potential. We know that students immediately embrace opportunities to draw from personal and social experiences. They thrive and create when their stories, dreams, imagination, memories and hopes are valued. When we harness this spirit of inquiry and innovation and pair it with personal experiences, we foster a nurturing and age-appropriate environment where empowerment begins and prepares them for the next steps in their academic journey. Senior Program Our upper campus is a vibrant place to be. Grade 9 students explore new challenges and expectations, and surprise themselves by all they can do. By Grade 12, we expect they will have one foot in the demanding and emotional last year of upper division and the other well on the path to their very bright future. Our senior students look out for each other, and the younger students who so rightly look up to them as role models. It is in our Senior program where students who want to change the world become young adults who do. Whether designing robots, competing in sports, or raising money for a worthy cause, our students push the boundaries of possibility by constantly challenging themselves. With a clear vision of what graduates need to thrive in today’s world, we lay the groundwork with rigorous academic standards, character-building experiences and a vast breadth of multi-disciplinary learning, so they can become the authors of their own success. Academics Our aim is to ensure our students thrive in a university world with academic success that is sharpened by powerful communication skills and an empathetic, ethical mindset. We know today’s students must always be looking to the future to prepare themselves to be transformational leaders of the world they will inhabit. Interdisciplinary academics at BCC lays the foundation to achieve their goals and forge their own life’s path. BCC’s extensive range of student supports, excellent facilities, the application of new technology in many courses, and strong integration between academics and a vibrant co-curricular program, enhance our rich academic program. Our culture of powerful learning establishes the pedagogical and curricular vision for learning, and the following principles guide our program: Authentic, meaningful work Community Involvement Innovation Reciprocity BCC’s dedicated and passionate faculty encourage students not only to acquire subject-specific knowledge and skills, but also to develop the creative and critical thinking skills and the sense of self-confidence and knowledge of themselves as learners that will prepare them to embark on a rewarding lifelong journey.	3,920
Board of Commissioners Fund Audits OPRA Requests Links Member Underwriting Portal Here are some of the important questions that defense counsels receive in the handling of claims against public employers: Question: Does New Jersey law permit employers to direct medical care? Answer: The right to direct medical care is the cornerstone of the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act, but this right does have limits. In an accepted case the employer can direct the injured worker to a physician of its choice. If the employee refuses to treat with the physician chosen by the employer, then workers’ compensation benefits cease. But if the employer denies the claim, the employee can choose his or her physician and then later try to persuade the judge to order the employer to pay the bills. The reason that the right to select treating physicians is pivotal is that few doctors understand workers’ compensation. Those who do understand the law ask detailed past medical history questions and get information about second jobs, sports and hobbies – all of which help the doctor reach an opinion on whether the medical diagnosis is or is not related to the work injury. Doctors who do not get detailed medical histories tend to causally relate every medical diagnosis to work, costing employers a great deal of money. Question: What happens when an employee fails to attend medical appointments? Answer: The failure to cooperate with medical appointments and physical therapy allows the employer to stop all workers’ compensation benefits. No one can make an employee go to PT or a doctor’s appointment, but the consequence of missing exams is that lost time benefits and medical benefits will be stopped under N.J.S.A. 34: 15-19. Of course, employers and claims professionals understand that there are often good reasons for missed appointments, such as illness or death of a family member, and benefits will not be stopped in those situations. Question: Can an employer require an employee to attend PT after work hours? Answer: We all know that it is disruptive when an employee leaves work in the middle of the workday to attend a PT session. The New Jersey law does not mention whether an employer can require PT after work hours, assuming the PT center has late hours. There is also no published decision on this issue. Employers make the argument that they have the right to direct medical control and the right to require an examination. Setting the appointment time is part of that right. N.J.S.A 34:15-19 states that an employer can require a medical examination at any reasonable time and place in the State of New Jersey as often as may be reasonably requested. While this statute does not mention PT sessions, it seems logical that PT would be treated the same as a medical examination. Question: Can an employee work a second job while out of work for the work injury and getting paid? Answer: The answer is generally no. Consider a DPW worker who injures his shoulder and is unable to work according to the treating physician. The municipality will pay either full salary (if the CBA provides it) or 70% of wages for lost time benefit subject to the annual maximum rate. Payments for lost wages are called temporary disability benefits. The statute provides that temporary disability benefits end when an employee can return to work. It does not say just the principal job but work generally. So if the employee is working seven hours a day at a WAWA as a cashier while receiving temporary disability benefits and out of work for the municipality, the judge will consider this improper and perhaps even fraudulent. The judge may not consider it improper if the employee’s job is a part-time realtor and just shows a house once while being out of work. But generally speaking, working a second job is not permitted while receiving temporary disability benefits. Question: Why can employees who have returned to work doing their same job duties receive permanent partial disability awards? Answer: After medical benefits and temporary disability benefits have been paid, an employee may retain an attorney to file a claim petition to receive partial permanent disability benefits. Because this benefit is based on loss of function in a bodily part, it does not matter if the employee has returned to work and is doing the same job. Consider a situation where a municipal employee may have had rotator cuff surgery in the shoulder and may be back to his or her job at the municipality. To obtain a permanency award, the employee will have to submit to a medical examination for the employee’s attorney and one for the employer’s attorney and the judge will review these two reports. What does the judge care about? In the above example, if the judge believes that the work injury has diminished the overall function of the shoulder, the judge will recommend an award for a certain percentage after reviewing both independent medical examinations. If the employee’s shoulder was 100% before the accident and is now 75%, then the employee gets an award commensurate with the 25% loss of function according to the rate chart in place for the year of injury. The judge considers any impact which the injury has had in the ordinary pursuits of life, including hobbies, sports activities, and chores around the house. The judge will also consider the impact on work activities, but usually injured workers minimize complaints about their ability to work. To get a permanency award, it is not required that the employee prove a diminishment in working ability. Question: Is there anything the municipality can do to reduce the cost of workers’ compensation claims after an injury occurs? Answer: Yes, there is! The key is providing information to the claims adjuster and defense attorney along the following lines: Let the adjuster know if the employee has a past medical history that could be relevant. Did the employee always have a limp since coming to work? If the claim is about the neck or back, and the employee has been complaining about the back for years and seeing a chiropractor, let the claims adjuster know. Inform the adjuster about significant non-work activities that the employee engages in, such as second jobs or vigorous hobbies. This will help if the claims adjuster decides to assign surveillance in the case. If the employee has a shoulder or spinal injury and does a lot of weightlifting at a nearby gym, let the claims adjuster know this information. Success in doing surveillance often depends on leads provided by the supervisor or municipal managers. Call the adjuster about any non-work lawsuits or car accidents that the employee may have filed in recent years. Those records may significantly reduce an award. In the end, it is certainly true that information leads to cost savings. The workers’ compensation system in New Jersey has a major flaw: the employee does not have to volunteer much information because there are no depositions and only limited use of interrogatories in workers’ compensation cases. The claims team and the defense attorney only know what the employer has advised them and only the information that medical doctors have included in their reports. The more communication between the municipality and the claims team, the better the case outcomes.	7,677
Our gorgeous property situated in Beverley, South Australia has everything you need to relax, have fun, achieve and grow. Upon entering into the expansive and purpose-designed, state-of-the-art disability access Kitchen, you will be impressed by stainless steel 900mm wide appliances, modern fixtures and finishes with everything needed to cook up a storm. Any meals made during programs are prepared in conjunction with the participant to assist with learning independent living skills, and are designed with dietary requirements in mind. The large warehouse space located at the rear of the property is where the fun happens, jam-packed full of activities, including art and craft, numeracy and literacy, karaoke, cardio drumming, woodworking, Wii fit… The list goes on! The rear garden will also keep you busy if you have a green thumb, as there is a greenhouse and vegetable garden, full of home-grown produce to kick-start a hearty meal cooked together. For those of you that are animal lovers, the Support Squad mascots, our adorable lop-eared rabbits Pepper and Spice, are always there to keep you company and have a cuddle! The large and modern property is fully accessible and spacious, with multiple bathrooms to suit various needs. Programs run Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10.30am – 3.30pm and support is provided, at a 1:2 ratio. This means there are two participants, and one carer. Increased care ratios are also available where required, and if you think this suits your needs please discuss this directly with the Programs Coordinator to determine availability. Medication is to be held and administered by the staff unless you have authority to self-administer, and will be required to be webster-packed for the duration of the stay. All members of staff hold the relevant medication administration credentials. Our team of Support Workers hold relevant Certificate qualifications, or are currently studying in an appropriate discipline at University. They also hold a Food Safety Certificate, full Australian Drivers’ License, Senior First Aid Certificate, have undertaken the NDIS Worker Orientation Module and have relevant screening checks. If you are interested in joining us for life enrichment programs, please start by filling out the referral form below. Our Programs Coordinator, Josh, will get in touch with you as soon as possible to have a bit more of a chat, and arrange a time to meet. We will endeavor to arrange the visit at a time when our programs are running, so that you can meet the other staff and clients, and get a good feel of the fun and relaxing learning environment. It is important that you provide us with as much detail about yourself/the participant as possible, as this will determine your suitability for the programs, and also help match you with like-minded clients at our 1:2 ratio of support to make sure you have a great time and are adequately supported! We will go through all the important details when we catch up to ensure nothing has been missed about you, and we can provide the best support possible. I love this place I give it a 1000 out of 10, it’s the best ever and the food we cook is always yum yums!” "I love the staff they are so funny and they always make me laugh” “I do a lot here it is way better than staying at home – I feel like Gordon Ramsey” “I didn’t know I could do that….look Josh, I’ve done it!” “I think the staff are terrific, I feel safe and respected and I am always in a good mood when I leave here”	3,633
When we visualize any German Shepherd, most people probably think of guard dogs with a commanding presence and the familiar black and tan color pattern. The Black German Shepherds are often mistaken for another breed or a mixed breed. They are clearly true German Shepherds with closer genetic traits to the original breed than the “standard German Shepherd”. Two genetic possibilities… Read more November 30, 2022 Black German Shepherd police Dog Police in Saco, Maine, are searching for a possible dog-napper, after a German Shepherd went missing Monday and was found dead nearly 30 miles from home. She was a beautiful dog,Doreen Metcalf said of her 5-year-old Uhdelle, one of 15 dogs she keeps at the Timber Ridge Farm in Saco. On Monday, Metcalf took a pack of dogs, including Uhdelle, on a trail ride near her home. It… Read more November 30, 2022 The German Shepherd Dog is one of America’s most popular dog breeds - for good reason. He’s an intelligent and capable working dog. His devotion and courage are unmatched. And he’s amazingly versatile, excelling at most anything he’s trained to do: guide and assistance work for the handicapped, police and military service, herding, search and rescue, drug detection, competitive… Read more November 30, 2022 Black German Shepherd Female < image 1 of 2 > QR Code Link to This Post Reposting hoping people will read before contacting me.7 yr old black female German shepherd.I felt sorry for her and adopted her from well meaning family who rescued her from breeder life in a kennel.She is sweet and lays around like she isnt there.She likes kids not sure about babies only had her less than yr.She is… Read more November 30, 2022 Black German Shepherds Read more November 30, 2022 Black and tan German Shepherd puppy I have several German Shepherd puppies on my puppy page in serveral different colors to choose from that I m accepting puppy deposits on to reserve them till they are ready to go to their new loving homes. Check in the puppy ad to see when the puppy is available to go to their new home. I have some puppies that are eight weeks or more and ready to be picked up at my home now… Read more November 30, 2022 Solid black German Shepherd German shepherds grow from 22 to 26 inches tall and weigh 77 to 85 pounds. They have a lifespan of around 13 years. Double coat, plush coat and long-haired coat are the three varieties of German shepherd, and their coats may be black, tan, sable, white, blue or liver colored. Many call German shepherds with white coats American white shepherds. German shepherds are faithful… Read more November 30, 2022 “I’m going to ask Barbara [Walters] if I can bring her to work, ” The View cohost tells PEOPLE. “I’m going to get her when she’s in a really good mood – after she interviews the President.” The 3-year-old black Lab, which Shepherd adopted from the Baker Bridge Rescue of Charleston, Tenn., arrived on Saturday and has been by the 30 Rock star’s side ever since. “My dog, she’s… Read more November 30, 2022 Black haired German Shepherd Kumi von Koln is a stunning 5-year-old long haired German Shepherd who really hasn’t outgrown puppyhood. Kumi is an active boy and needs a home without smaller children since he can be a little mouthy when he gets excited. He’s got a huge heart and can’t help how much he loves people so he can let his excitement get the better of him at times. He walks well on a leash and gets… Read more November 30, 2022 A branded, personalised email address is a vital part of your online brand presence. If you’re using a generic address like Gmail, that’s fine for your friends, family and a few loyal clients who know you personally – but it doesn’t cut the mustard in the rigorous and competitive online business world. Think about it – you want to market your products or services with a branded…	4,021
Your customer just made a purchase. Now you start focusing on retention, customer loyalty, up-sell and cross-sell. Our Follow up Email Marketing can help you build your business after the sale. It helps you learn whether your customers are happy with their purchases, associated services, pricing, and encourages future purchases. It is also an opportunity for your customer to spread the word about deals to their friends. We ensure there is continuity between your site and your post-purchase emails. We provide you different email templates, completely customizable with mobile first approach. Incentivize your customers to leave a review, you are gaining a valuable review, as well as increasing the chance they will come and spend with you again. Think outside the box, if there’s a 10% off discount you’re willing to offer for a limited time. This is a really great tactic. Customers are likely to be more willing to leave feedback and you are inadvertently encouraging them on in their customer journey with you. You are gaining a valuable review, as well as increasing the chance they will come and spend with you again. Use post purchase email to promote loyalty scheme, that offers a discount if they introduce friends to the brand. Rating System is the ideal partner to help you manage your online rating and reviews and create profitable customer relationships for your business. How to write helpful reviews? 15 May 2019 12:00 Admin Ratings and Reviews (0) How to write helpful reviews? There are a couple important elements of helpful reviews everybody should include to achieve that. Rate a product or service and summarize your experience. Highlight specific details and facts that others need to know. Why you recommend someone should or should not buy a product. Highlight details that stood out, include unique or unexpected or why you liked or disliked that product. Add pros and cons which provide a balanced view. People prefer well-written reviews with correct spelling. Consider your words, how they will come across before you submit your review. Add photos that will help to make buying decision and understand your experience. Customers are looking for detailed information about your experience, write a review which would genuinely help someone else make up their mind. If you dislike something your comments in negative reviews can be constructive and helpful both to customers and to merchants. Two factors are taken into account when determining the helpfulness of a review: Review extremity - review is positive, negative, or neutral Review depth - the extensiveness of the reviewer comments Reviews can both drive conversion and provide valuable insights for customers and merchants. Reviews attract consumer visits, increase the time spent on the site and create a sense of community among shoppers. 23 April 2018 12:00 Admin Ratings and Reviews (0) Companies have invested significant budget and resources to make their websites content-rich destinations that effectively tell stories about their brands and products.In recent years, social media, blogs and product reviews sites provide lots of information. Product reviews become more and more important not only to the companies developing the products, but also to their rivals and potential customers. Analyzing product reviews is the task of tapping this goldmine of information. Company can classify customers opinions and feedback instead of taking the complete sentence. Customer reviews can be analyzed and trended over time. This allows the business owner to measure the extent to which business changes have impacted customer satisfaction. Evaluating each feedback will be helpful in understanding the needs of individual customers. However, it will be even more helpful if you review the comments in batches and uncover patterns in the responses by categorizing them. Sample categories could include factors such as quality, accuracy, value for money, availability, gender, location, etc. Some reviews are positive and some are negative. It’s possible to have both positive and negative comments in some categories. Carefully analyzing customer reviews and taking action based on customer comments will help you strongly influence buying behavior and drive commerce. Reviews trends allow you to assess how your data has changed over time and see if the number of satisfied customers has gone up or down over the course of the year. Reviews, Questions and Answers trends are available on all subscription plans. Breakdown by star ratings - highest and lowest rated products 25 January 2018 12:00 Admin Ratings and Reviews (0) The Rating Breakdown allows you to create a visualization that displays the number of reviews that are associated with each star rating. What it can do for you: Captures and flags product issues surfaced in negative reviews Develops manufacturer and supplier feedback from reviews and keywords Questions it lets you answer: What is the overall trend in number of reviews left and average review score across our company? What buyers and suppliers are responsible for the highest rated products and lowest rated products? These data can offer a starting point for figuring out if there was a legitimate reason for the bad rating. 09 November 2017 12:00 Admin Ratings and Reviews (0) Your potential customers are most likely to click on search results that have pictures, star ratings and videos. Rich snippets are micro-data which are used to provide additional information about your product or service and give your potential customer every reason to click on your website instead of the competitor's. a. Presenting reviews next to your product information can encourage consumers who have intent to purchase, improve search engine rankings and drive customers to product pages. b. Rating dimensions can be customized from the traditional star-based assessment to more custom ratings criteria. c. Customers can quickly access a summary of pros, cons and best uses, that raises customer confidence in a product.	6,139
Happy Birthday, Miss Rachel!!! It seems like yesterday you were a little baby! I loved holding you! It has been fun watching you grow. The older you get you look more and more like your mommy...so pretty!!! Blissful & Domestic said... It goes by so quickly!! My oldest daughter is 17(!!) now and my middle child(My baby girl) is 14.My baby boy is almost 13. Time just keeps flying by!! Anonymous said... Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Blog Archive August (4) July (5) April (4) February (2) January (4) December (1) November (8) September (8) August (1) July (12) June (7) May (7) April (5) March (6) February (6) January (2) December (6) November (5) October (8) September (11) August (9) July (13) June (12) May (10) April (17) March (8) February (8) January (14) December (12) November (8) October (19) September (16) August (20) July (9) June (16) May (19) April (11) March (12) February (10) January (19) December (14) November (21) October (18) September (17) August (21) July (21) June (21) May (18) April (15) March (19) February (19) January (24) December (21) November (22) October (23) September (18) August (23) July (19) June (21) May (21) April (20) March (19) February (16) January (13) December (19) November (19) October (16) September (21) August (24) July (20) June (21) May (25) April (45) March (18) February (19) January (18) December (22) November (20) October (17) September (21) August (18) July (22) June (19) May (20) April (20) March (21) February (20) January (24) December (23) November (22) October (23) September (21) August (23) July (18) June (17) May (21) April (18) March (14) February (16) January (21) December (43) November (20) October (23) September (20) August (21) July (20) June (19) May (15) April (20) March (15) February (20) January (26) December (47) November (23) October (23) September (20) August (25) July (21) June (25) May (22) April (23) March (22) February (23) January (25) December (53) November (25) October (40) September (22) August (24) July (19) June (24) May (28) April (21) March (28) February (15) January (20) December (32) November (33) October (24) September (22) August (25) July (16) June (27) May (23) April (28) March (21) February (28) January (27) December (36) November (26) October (24) September (18) August (20) July (28) June (29) May (17) April (27) March (27) February (26) January (23) December (49) November (31) October (31) September (24) August (24) July (27) June (27) May (33) April (39) March (28) February (33) January (32) December (26) November (48) October (40) September (40) August (41) July (32) June (28) May (43) April (31) March (30) February (26) January (30) December (24) November (30) October (25) September (30) August (28) July (21) June (38) May (25) April (21) March (29) February (27) January (22) December (23) November (23) October (10) September (11) August (7) July (17) June (12)	3,162
In the middle decades of the twentieth century, a group of European writers considered the nature of freedom and human existence. As Sarah Bakewell writes, they saw it as rife with ambiguity, “at once boxed in by borders and yet transcendent and exhilarating.” Bakewell tells the story of these people and their ideas in her new and delightful narrative history, At the Existentialist Café. Bakewell teaches creative writing at Kellogg College, Oxford, and is the author of The Smart, The English Dane, and How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, which won the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for biography. She answered questions from Chapter 16 via email: Chapter 16: The stereotype of existentialist philosophers, at least among Americans, is that of brooding, angst-ridden types—yet in fact they were wild, experimental, and constantly seeking freedom. Why write about them? And why write about them in this group-biography format? Sarah Bakewell: When the French existentialists first came to the United States, after the end of the Second World War, they brought with them the atmosphere of Paris under Occupation—all that noirish brooding, the hanging out in cafés, the idea that existence was difficult and full of anguish. This image stuck, and people often still think of existentialism that way. Yet back in Paris at the time, people were more likely to associate existentialism with Liberation in every sense. Under Occupation you couldn’t stay out after curfew, and you weren’t supposed to listen to jazz. Then with Liberation came a flowering of freedom and a sense that one could really invent new ways of living. In the words of one of the existentialist “muses” of the nightclub scene, Anne-Marie Cazalis: “If you were twenty, in 1945, after four years of Occupation, freedom also meant the freedom to go to bed at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning.” That about sums it up! In fact, both aspects were there in existentialism—the idea that life is about being free, and the idea that life is formidable and demanding. They pointed out that being free brings a huge responsibility. For example, in 1945 both Sartre and Camus wrote articles pointing out that, after Hiroshima, the human race would have the power to destroy itself and must therefore decide every day whether it wanted to live, or not. That’s scary—but it’s a kind of growing up, too. For me, all this means that existentialism should be seen in the context of its time—of history, and of the personalities involved. It’s not enough to write about the ideas in the abstract. In fact, most of the existentialists thought it was impossible to separate ideas and living. Existentialism is something you do, not just something you think about. That’s why, to me, it seemed very natural to write about the lives as well as the theories. And heaven knows they did some bizarre things in their lives—they really lived out their ideas, and it led them to some strange territory. Chapter 16: One of the most compelling characters is Martin Heidegger, who is venerated for his seminal contributions to existential philosophy yet compromised by his association with the Nazi regime. What was that association? Did it shape his work? Bakewell: Well, there’s an extreme case of how the life and the philosophy have to be considered together, though Heidegger himself would not have agreed. He was one of the few who thought the details of biography don’t matter. But of course it matters: you can’t think about Heidegger while somehow ignoring the fact that he was the Nazi rector of Freiburg University from 1933 to ‘34, that he continued to show considerable sympathy for the regime and never convincingly disowned it, and continued making anti-Semitic and fascistic remarks in his notebooks. Yet—there’s no getting away from Heidegger’s importance. This is a paradox that horrifies and intrigues people: he’s abominable, yet he was immensely influential on all the Continental philosophy that came after him. One of his most important contributions was a simple, important step: he pointed out that philosophy begins in the everyday experience of embodied, worldly life—in what he called Being-in-the-World. But then he goes on from that into territory where very few would want to follow—and in the end he is something of a mystic, which for me is of very little appeal. Chapter 16: This is a book not just about people but about their intertwined relationships, both personal and intellectual. Perhaps the most fascinating is the long, unusual, and fruitful partnership of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Can you describe their relationship and its legacy? Bakewell: A lot of the friendships in the book ended in furious quarrels, usually because of politics, and sometimes because of philosophy. Some ended just because of a drunken argument. But among all this aggression, one relationship endured on an intellectual level as well as a personal one: that of Sartre and de Beauvoir. After getting together as young lovers in 1929, Sartre and Beauvoir kept an intense partnership going for over fifty years, until Sartre’s death in 1980. That’s quite something. As is well known, it was unconventional. Their relationship ceased to be sexual after the first few years, and both of them had serious relationships with other people. Simone de Beauvoir lived with Claude Lanzmann for some years; she never lived with Sartre. My feeling is that the partnership remained essential to them because it was a writers’ relationship above all. They met every day to write together; they were the first and most important readers of each other’s work, and always discussed their ideas. Simone de Beauvoir would try to make Sartre tighten his narrative structures. Meanwhile he would urge her to work harder—“why have you stopped thinking, why aren’t you working? I thought you wanted to write? You don’t want to become a housewife, do you?” It worked for both of them; it gave them companionship while allowing both of them a great deal of existentialist freedom. Simone de Beauvoir’s account of it in her autobiography had an explosive effect on many women who read it in the 1960s and 1970s: they thought, So one can actually live like that? One can be free, and fall in love, and try to change the world? Well, maybe I’ll try that too. Chapter 16: By the 1960s, it looked as though the giants of existentialism had laid much of the intellectual foundation for the next generation’s human-rights movements: racial equality, women’s rights, anti-colonialism. Did the existentialists win, so to speak? Bakewell: In some ways, they won such a victory that they made themselves redundant: the idea that you can stay out late partying, or fall in love with whomever you want to, or take control of your own existence—all this has become almost mainstream in many parts of society. We no longer need to brandish philosophical tomes to justify having personal freedom. On the other hand, the real battles are very far indeed from being won. Women still can’t take equal rights for granted; there is still nowhere near the kind of racial equality that seemed to be on the horizon after the 1960s. Difficult questions surrounding freedom are very much up for discussion—we have to decide how much of it we are willing to give up in exchange for security, whether freedom includes the right to offend, and a host of other issues. I don’t think the existentialists can give us ready-made answers about any of this, but they can help us to ask interesting questions. Chapter 16: At times in At the Existentialist Café, you dip into first-person vignettes, connecting yourself to these thinkers and their books. How did you come to the subject? Did writing the book affect your own outlook? Bakewell: I came to the subject as a teenager, as many people do—at about sixteen, I read Camus, and also Sartre’s Nausea, which had a huge impact on me. I did study philosophy as a result, then dropped out and did other things, before being led back into it. It was partly chance connections that made me curious again; I wanted to see whether their writing still made sense to me. What I discovered was that they did make sense—but not at all in the same way as when I was in my twenties! It’s been a fascinating process, kind of revisiting my previous self but also coming to it from a completely different angle, as a different kind of person. Chapter 16: The existential tradition has fallen out of fashion among academic philosophers, yet by writing this book you must feel that it remains essential. What can we learn from these writers that we can apply to ourselves, in today’s world? Bakewell: I don’t see the existentialists as exemplary role models that we should follow—I’m not trying to persuade people to somehow sign up to an Existentialist Party. Philosophy doesn’t work that way. There are no easy guides to life and no easy solutions to be found in their work. Each of them was flawed in some way—that’s how human beings are. Their ideas often contain disturbing elements, and their work comes out of a dark, morally complex century. But that’s exactly why I think they are worth re-reading. The existentialists remind us that existence is a challenge but also that human possibilities are vast. They remind us to keep thinking about the areas of modern life that are most difficult—and to keep asking questions about what it means to be a human being, and what it means to have freedom. They are not exemplary thinkers, but they are interesting thinkers, and I think that makes them more worth reading. They are also, frankly, often weird—but then human beings are weird, aren’t they? Aram Goudsouzian chairs the history department at the University of Memphis. His most recent book is Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear. $20.99 Thomas Healy chronicles the creation of a planned Black city in 1970s North Carolina An appreciation of Louise Erdrich, recipient of the 2022 Nashville Public Library Literary Award Support Chapter 16 Invest in the literary life of Tennessee. Sponsored Content Briefly Noted “In Faithful Antiracism, Christina Barland Edmondson and Chad Brennan take confidence from the truth that Christ has overcome the world, including racism, and offer clear analysis and interventions to challenge and resist its pernicious power. ” Also by Aram Goudsouzian Thomas Healy chronicles the creation of a planned Black city in 1970s North Carolina Critic and author Teju Cole thinks about photography and politics David S. Brown places Andrew Jackson in the partisan politics of his time By recounting historic debates over sex and morality, R. Marie Griffith explains our political divides	11,381
von Goetz is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition by Brixton-based artist Sola Olulode, Moving in the Bluish Light, taking place at the Brixton site from 27th November – 19th December 2018. Previously an artist in residence at the Post_Institute during the inaugural ‘Frieze Week Residency’ between September and October 2018, Olulode’s practice has continued its exploration and representation of Black British girlhood, centralising LGBT nightlife, music, dance and painterly process as key to her current vein of works. Drawing inspiration for its title from the poem Fantasy by Harlem Renaissance poet Gwendolyn Bennett, the exhibition Moving in the Bluish Light touches lightly upon a historical context of expressions of liberation, of power and of independence through jazz, dance, poetry and visual art, not to mention the academic work of Ophelia Settle Egypt and Zora Neale Hurston; anthropologists and sociologists whose research came to redefine the manipulated history of the black experience on their own terms. The Harlem Renaissance represents a period of reclamation and augmentation of African-American art and culture. To consider this history of black identities, challenging social exclusivity and individual/collective expression therefore, Olulode’s paintings become about social bodies and sites of unity and friendship. In their context, they channel London nightlife in the present – the artist often taking her own photography as a starting point – but the generic “anti-space” of the works removes this spatial hook. Instead, “the blues” appears as a metaphor – a stand-in for a state of mind, energy or harmony. The dreamlike space of the paintings disengages the figures from a definitive context – as they are, the characters of Olulode’s work are fluid and not easily categorised. The liberated body, therefore, is not tethered to rigid formulations of identity that bracket and divide the social body into discrete members. Instead, spectral notions of gender and sexuality underpin how Olulode relates to identity, embracing readings of the works as relating to LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi Trans) and QTIBPOC (Queer Trans Intersex Black People of Colour). I sailed in my dreams to the Land of Night Where you were the dusk-eyed queen, And there in the pallor of moon-veiled light The loveliest things were seen … A slim-necked peacock sauntered there And you were strange with your purple hair As you sat in your amethyst chair With your feet in your hyacinth shoes. Oh, the moon gave a bluish light Through the trees in the land of dreams and night. I stood behind a bush of yellow-green The paintings are representations of joy – it would be too heavy-handed to say they implement a critique – but their stripping away of detail and context often lends them a twisted angle. Dance can be said to be a purely expressive medium; the movements of the body led by both intuitive motion and practiced gesture. The body language of dance is its elemental coding, which is in turn framed by a rhythmic tonality. A dance stripped of musical context then, becomes nothing but physicality – the body as medium. In Olulode’s paintings this is starkly realised through isolating the motion of her figures. Centralising the black female body, the silent dance of her paintings projects a confidence and power that echoes in the work of Sonia Boyce and Lubaina Himid. The compositions, however, are prone to inverting themselves; the figures can become placid or out of control, motionless or violent. The translation of the dance becomes miscommunicated and the balance of (interpretive) power shifts dramatically to the eye of the spectator. It is this “see-saw” of expressive/interpretive control rooted in dance that produces a liminal quality to Olulode’s paintings, and encourages a reading of them on the terms of representations of BAME peoples; Olulode constructs an image that is liberated and powerful. Process remains integral to her method of priming and drawing. Using indigo dyes and patterns that are inherited from Nigerian traditions the paintings use a wax negative to draw and compose the canvases, through which the rich blue hues of the dye become (not simply applied to the fabric, but) integral to the material. The indigo ground serves as a support for the figures, and in turn highlights and capitalises the skin of Olulode’s dancers. The paintings make us keenly aware of the body language of the subjects, and engage the social constructs that are implicated in their compositions, colours, and performative ambiguity. The exhibition will be accompanied by an essay by Lisa Anderson, independent curator, writer and founder of the Black British Art initiative @blackbritishart.	4,835
11:50 PM \| December 01, 2022 Imran could face disqualification, detention before elections, claims Zardari 10:13 PM \| December 01, 2022 Ten-member Golf Club Teams to engage in combat at Rumanza Golf Course 9:05 PM \| December 01, 2022 Election process and football activities making rapid progress in Pakistan: Haroon Malik 9:02 PM \| December 01, 2022 Platinum Homes, Remounts win in Corps Commander Polo Cup Open house and job fair held at NUML June 03, 2022 RAWALPINDI - Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Management Sciences of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Rawalpindi branch organised an open house and job fair in the university on Thursday. Pro-rector Rawalpindi Branch Brig (Retd) Muhammad Ibrahim inaugurated the events while heads of departments, faculty members and a large number of students attended the event. Pro-rector Brig (Retd) Muhammad Ibrahim in his address said that it was the initiative of Rector NUML Major General (Retd) Muhammad Jaffar and NUML Rawalpindi followed the instructions to provide opportunities to students to find jobs. He said that open house display is a regular feature inviting various companies to facilitate senior students to get jobs right after the completion of their studies. He further said that companies interviewed more than 1,000 students. He was of the view that it is the era of competition; students have to diversify their skills to get good jobs. At the end, he appreciated the students for their innovative projects and hoped that NUML Rawalpindi students will play proactive role in national development. He visited various stalls established by the students and the companies. Imran could face disqualification, detention before elections, claims Zardari In engineering open house, 42 companies’ representatives participated and 56 projects by the students were displayed and in job fair, 30 plus companies setup their stalls and interviewed the students for jobs.	1,986
Spoilers/Timeline: Rather AU – imagine the two shows taking place concurrently. This is set rough-ly in the sixth season of both shows, though no real spoilers. A/N2: Special thanks to k_icker for the lightning fast beta! All mistakes are my own. God! She was SO angry!! Not only was their case shot to hell, but Jake and Eric were acting like… like… like two juvenile, schoolyard bullies trying to prove who was the bigger assh– bully. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened and her knuckles turned white. What in the hell made either of them think she was theirs to fight over?! She’d ended things with Jake several months ago. And if Eric was truly interested in her, he couldn’t find a worse way of showing it. She had no interest in a childish, petty little boy. She wanted – needed – someone who was secure enough in themselves to allow her to be herself. Someone who didn’t have to make themselves feel better by putting someone else down. Someone who didn’t need her as a goddamn trophy… or worse yet, a babysitter. Someone who was a grownup! Someone who was a man. She pulled her car into a parking spot, put it in park, and let out a frustrated, inarticulate growl. She’d been so livid when the results of Jake and Eric’s childish attitudes manifested in a sloppy investigation and mishandled/contaminated evidence that she literally saw red. If it hadn’t been for Horatio stepping in and calmly suggesting she take the rest of the day off – better yet, a couple days off – she honestly didn’t know what she might have said or done. Horatio knew her well enough to know there was nothing he could have said to calm her down. She had been pushed beyond the limits. She knew she needed to get a grip on her rage. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so angry. There was only one thing in the world that could possibly assuage her fury. She turned the key off, got out and went to the back of her car. She unlocked the trunk and withdrew the locked, hard case. It was time to release a little steam. “Hey, Calleigh!” Jeff Edwards, the owner of the civilian shooting range, cheerfully greeted her with smile. “Hi, Jeff. Give me a box of 9mm and a box of .44 magnums.” His eyebrows climbed up into his hairline. “Bad day, huh?” “You have no idea.” He set the boxes of ammunition on the counter. “There’s only one other shooter, so you have your choice of lanes.” “Thanks, Jeff.” “Say, do you think you could do me a favor?” “What?” “Would you mind closing up after the other person leaves? It’s Marie’s birthday, and I forgot to get her a present.” “Well, you better get going then,” she said with a smirk. “You sure?” “It’s no problem, Jeff. I’ll be here for quite a while anyway.” “Sure do. Now get out of here so you can save your marriage,” she said with a smile. Calleigh picked up the ammo and headed into the anteroom that led to the shooting lanes. Through the bulletproof glass window, she could see someone in the seventh lane, next to her favorite – the sixth lane. Or rather, she could see the barrel of a gun aimed downrange. Calleigh put on her earmuffs and pushed open the door to the range. She stepped into the shooting box of the sixth lane and set the gun case to the side. She wanted to warm up first, before using that particular gun. Calleigh drew her 9mm from her holster, ejected the magazine and racked the slide to eject the bullet already in the chamber. Loading an empty magazine with the bullets from the box Jeff had given her, she found the routine already focusing her thoughts somewhat. She slipped on her shooting glasses, checked the distance of the target, and brought her weapon up. With grace and control she emptied the magazine with fifteen evenly spaced shots. Without even reeling in the paper target, Calleigh knew her grouping was not up to her standards. Shooting was so much more than the simple act of pulling a trigger. It was a skill – one that she prided herself on. It was a release… a catharsis. And she had a lot of tension she needed to release. Two additional full magazines were emptied before she felt some of the twisting in her stomach begin to unwind. After the fifth magazine, and third target, she could finally breathe easily. Ever the professional, she quickly field stripped and cleaned her service weapon before reloading it and slipping it back into her holster. With a slight upturn of the corner of her mouth, she unlocked the gun case and opened it. “Hello, pretty,” she murmured. The curl at the corner of her mouth became a smile as she removed the Smith and Wesson .44 magnum revolver. This was a gun. She lightly ran her fingertips along the stainless steel. She loaded six rounds into the cylinder and snapped it into place. Raising her arms she sighted her target along the six and half inch barrel… and squeezed the trigger. ~~~ She hit the steering wheel with the heel of her hand. “Damn it!” The bastard had done it to her again! Mulder had left a cryptic message on her answering machine about Big Foot and swamps. That was it. No other information. So when she’d arrived at FBI Headquarters and found a note from AD Skinner on her desk, she just knew it was going to be one of those days. The meeting with Skinner had gone just as she had expected – Skinner asking if she knew where Mulder was; her answering no; him grilling her as if she were in on whatever it was Mulder was up to this time; and finally Skinner ordering her to find Mulder. Back in their basement office she rifled through the mess on Mulder’s desk to see if there were any clues to where he may have gone, while she waited for him to answer his cell phone. Getting only his voicemail, she left a message to call her immediately. Finding nothing on or in his desk to help, she grabbed her keys and left. She used the key he’d given her to open the door to his apartment. She shook her head at the mess – newspaper clippings, take-out food containers, manila folders, pizza boxes and grainy photos were scattered over every flat surface. A pillow and dirty sweats were on the couch. She didn’t even know where to begin to look; and doubted she’d even find anything relevant to her current objective. She went to see the only people who might know where Mulder was – the Lone Gunmen. Fortunately they came through for her and tracked Mulder’s credit card usage. He was in Miami. So, Scully flew down to Miami, and picked up his trail at an airboat rental agency. From there she tracked him to a fleabag hotel. Still getting no answer from his cell phone or the room phone, she got the master key from the manager. She didn’t know what she’d find, but she sure as hell didn’t expect to walk in on Mulder fucking some skanky prostitute. She’d been mad that he had gone off on some unauthorized investigation into something ridiculously implausible without telling anyone where he was going. But when she found him banging some whore while watching porn on the hotel TV, she ceased being mad. She became enraged. She didn’t give a damn how Mulder got his rocks off, but when his thoughtlessness, carelessness and self-centeredness got her chewed out by Skinner and interfered with her job… She’d had enough. She realized she needed to call Skinner. She pulled into a parking lot and parked the car. She took her cell phone out and called in. After informing her supervisor that Mulder was in Miami and alright (only because she’d fought the urge to shoot him again), she informed him she needed the rest of the week off for personal reasons. To her surprise, Skinner quickly agreed. Scully hung up and took a deep breath. She then looked around. She’d been so angry she hadn’t paid attention to where she was driving. She was parked at an indoor shooting range. She felt the press of her weapon at the small of her back, and realized just how strong her urge to shoot something – or someone – really was. Since it really wasn’t a good idea to shoot someone, perhaps taking her frustration and anger out on a few targets would help. She turned off the car and went inside. After purchasing some ammunition and borrowing some earmuffs, she entered the lanes. She was the only person present. Which was probably a good thing considering how she was feeling. She chose a lane at random and began taking her anger at Mulder out on the hapless paper target. Scully wasn’t alone in the lane for long. She was vaguely aware another shooter had arrived and taken up position in the lane next to hers. She paid little attention to what the other shooter was doing. She simply held her service weapon in steady hands, aimed at the silhouette fifty yards down the lane, and repeatedly pulled the trigger. After reeling in her latest target, she was in the process of reloading when she heard a loud bang. Whoever was in the lane next to her had just fired something other than the gun they’d been shooting up to that point. By the time the sixth loud bang sounded, curiosity got the better of Scully. She slid the magazine in place, slipped her weapon in the holster at the small of her back, and stepped back out of the shooting box. She moved over so she could see the other shooter. It was a woman with long, blonde hair. And she was reloading a very large revolver. ~~~ “Quite a weapon,” Scully said loudly enough to be heard over their ear protection. Calleigh heard the voice coming from behind and to the side. She looked over her shoulder and smirked. “Smith and Wesson .44 magnum.” Calleigh found herself staring into bright blue eyes and not wanting to look away. She set the gun down and extended her hand. “CSI Calleigh Duquesne, Miami-Dade PD Crime Lab. Call me Calleigh.” Scully was pleasantly surprised by the blonde’s friendliness. She took the hand and returned the shake. “Nice to meet you, Calleigh. I’m Special Agent Dana Scully, FBI – Dana.” “Are you from around here?” “DC actually. Just down here for…” She trailed off, not sure how to complete that sentence. “Well, at the moment, to take some aggression out on some paper targets since I can’t shoot my partner,” she finally said. And suddenly she was practically blinded by a megawatt smile. “Well, welcome to Miami, Dana.” Ooh, the way that soft southern drawl seemed to dance along her senses… “You’re not originally from Miami, are you?” The blonde smiled again. “Darnell, Louisiana. I was with the New Orleans PD before coming here.” “So how do you like it here?” “Love it.” Calleigh paused for a couple of beats. “Except for days like today.” “What happened?” Dana found herself asking. “Men.” The disgust in the beautiful blonde’s voice made Dana let out an unexpected and rueful bark of laughter. “I take it you can relate,” said Calleigh. “Well, I am here taking my aggression out the targets instead of my partner.” “Is it helping?” Dana reached for her latest target and held it up. “Maybe I should always visualize Mulder as the target. It seems to be helping my aim.” Calleigh’s eyes widened at she took in the small gap right in the center of the forehead of the silhouette. She was very impressed. “Very good,” she said with approval. “How about you?” “Mine is bigger,” Calleigh said with a smirk as she held up her latest target, which sported a larger hole right where the heart would have been. “You’re using larger rounds,” Dana countered as she eyed the large revolver. On impulse, Calleigh held out her gun. “Want to give it a try?” Dana surprised herself by saying yes. ~~~ Calleigh watched as the redhead loaded the revolver and took her position. Dana was obviously an experienced shooter, and her target proved she was a marksman as well. There was something… sexy about the look of her gun in Dana’s hands. Unaccustomed to the kick of the .44 magnum, Dana’s hands came up after her first shot. She shot an arched brow at Calleigh, but there was a sparkle in her blue eyes. “It takes a little getting used to.” Calleigh moved to stand directly behind Dana, using her hands on her hips to adjust the woman’s stance slightly. She slid her hands up Dana’s back, making sure her spine was straight, and then ran them along her upper arms, making a small adjustment. She removed her hands but didn’t move from she was standing. “Now try it.” This time Dana controlled the recoil of the weapon better. “Good. Now fire the rest.” ~~~ Dana was unaccustomed the weight of the revolver, but it wasn’t too much for her. Even though she’d expected it, she was still surprised by the strength of the recoil. Sparkling jade eyes twinkled at her. “It takes a little getting used to.” Dana almost jumped when she felt the blonde’s hands on her hips. No one touched her casually, not even her mother, without her initiating it. Heat burned through her as Calleigh’s hands slid up her back and then along her upper arms. “Now try it.” She controlled the recoil better with her second shot, but wasn’t as sure of her aim since she could feel the heat from Calleigh’s body standing so close to her. “Good. Now fire the rest.” How the hell was she supposed to hit the target when she could feel the blonde’s breasts brush against her back through the thin material of her blouse? God… it had been so long since she’d slept with anyone. And even longer since she’d slept with a woman. Somehow she managed to fire the four remaining bullets in the cylinder. ~~~ Calleigh inhaled the scent of Dana’s hair. Even beneath the odor of cordite, she could make out the scent of vanilla. She knew she was playing with fire. She thought she had left behind her attraction to women. Well… no, she knew she hadn’t. She just hadn’t acted on it in a long time. But she found herself enjoying the sight, the sound, and the feel of such a beautiful woman firing her gun. She was more turned on than she’d been in a long time. Perhaps it wasn’t a man she needed after all. “Reload,” she instructed the redhead. Dana did as she was told. She brought the weapon up to firing position again. However, there was a tremor in her hands. “Relax, Dana,” Calleigh said when she saw her hands tremble slightly. She reached around with her left hand and placed it on Dana’s stomach, just below her ribs. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath – from the diaphragm. Let it out slowly. And another.” With her right hand on Dana’s hip she again made alight adjustment. “Now.” The feel of Calleigh pressed up against her, one hand on her stomach, and the other on her hip, was almost more than she could handle. But somehow, when Dana opened her eyes and fired, her hands were steady. After firing the six chambered rounds, she set the revolver down and quickly spun around. Without spoken agreement, they met in a heated kiss. Calleigh pulled Dana’s body against hers and Dana took Calleigh’s face in her hands, then slid them back into her corn silk hair, knocking her earmuffs off. Suddenly Dana felt herself turned and shoved against the wall of the firing box. Hands covered her breasts, fingers teasing and pinching her already hard nipples. Calleigh broke the kiss and began kissing and licking her neck and throat, zeroing in on a sensitive pulse point. Dana reached up and tore off her earmuffs. Suddenly she could hear more than just the roar of her own heartbeat and ragged breath. Calleigh palmed the redhead’s breasts. She drew in Dana’s scent as she licked and sucked on her pulse point, feeling her pulse quicken beneath her tongue. She pressed her thigh between Dana’s and felt hands drop to her hips, pulling her pelvis tighter against the agent. When she recaptured Dana’s mouth and plunged her tongue into her mouth, Calleigh slid her hands down her sides and around to the small of her back. She deftly removed Dana’s service weapon from the holster there and set it aside, next to her revolver. God, guns and a beautiful woman! What a hot combination!! Dana missed Calleigh’s hands when they left her breasts. She moaned into their kiss and liked the feel of knowing fingers removing her weapon. She realized it was probably a good idea to remove the potential for anything inadvertently going off. Dana followed suit and with her left hand removed the blonde’s weapon from her holster. She also set it aside with the revolver and her own weapon. Calleigh’s hands were suddenly on her bare skin. She’d managed to pull her blouse free from the waist of her skirt. It felt so good to be touched! Calleigh ran her hands along smooth skin. Dana reacted by pressing herself against her thigh. She could feel Dana’s heat even through the material of her skirt and her own pants. Suddenly Calleigh felt herself shoved against the opposite wall of the shooting box. The redhead had just turned the tables. Dana wasn’t in the mood to be passive. She pushed off the wall at her back and shoved Calleigh against the opposite wall. She pressed her body against the blonde’s and shoved her thigh between hers, grinding against Calleigh as she began unbuttoning her shirt. Dana nipped then sucked on her earlobe, enjoying the low moan that escaped the blonde’s throat. Calleigh felt so… so alive! She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so excited. Dana’s hands felt hot against her skin, giving her chills. She reveled in the redhead’s actions, but she wasn’t going to be passive either. As Dana threw open her unbuttoned shirt, Calleigh used her hands to pull the material of her skirt up her thighs. She let out a gasp as a hot mouth closed on her achingly hard nipple. She banged the back of her head against the wall. As soon as Dana got Calleigh’s shirt unbuttoned she was pleased to see the blonde’s bra fastened in front. She quickly released her breasts and took a coral nipple into her mouth. She suckled, and smiled when she heard Calleigh’s gasp. She wasted no time and started on the button and zipper of her pants. Calleigh almost lost control of her hands when she felt the redhead start to undo her pants. But she needed to touch Dana, now. She slid one hand up a smooth thigh, feeling the firm muscles beneath her touch. The redhead released her nipple and reclaimed her mouth in a deep kiss. But when she lightly ran her fingertips over the front of Dana’s panties, she wasn’t expecting her reaction. Dana sucked in a gasp and pulled back when deft fingertips caressed her panties. What the hell was she doing? She fought to order her thoughts as she took in some much needed oxygen. She saw confusion Calleigh’s green eyes. “Someone might catch u–” Calleigh cut her off with a kiss and pushed her back against the opposite wall. She slid her fingers down and felt the dampness of her panties. As she gently caressed, she whispered in Dana’s ear, “We’re the only ones here. Jeff left and we’re locked in.” She then pushed aside the panties and slipped a couple fingers along slick heat. It was Dana’s turn to bang the back of her head against a wall. Her eyes closed and her mouth opened letting a low moan escape. She felt Calleigh pull her panties down and off. And then a velvety tongue pushed between her folds. She saw stars behind her eyelids as she fought to draw in oxygen. Calleigh moaned as she tasted her. God, she’d forgotten how good a woman tasted… And Dana tasted exquisite. She sought out her clit with the tip of her tongue, teasing it. Hands clamped onto her shoulders. She circled it with her lips and sucked. Calleigh’s tongue felt so good! She was close, very close. When Calleigh sucked on her clit, she came with a cry. God! It had been too long! Dana reached down and pulled the blonde up. She tasted herself on Calleigh’s lips and tongue. Suddenly Calleigh was spun around by the redhead and pressed against the wall. Her pants and panties were pulled down and Dana’s mouth was on her. She pressed herself against Dana’s tongue and moaned. Her legs felt like rubber when she came. Calleigh found herself partially supported by Dana and laid her head on her shoulder. After a few moments they parted. They replaced and straightened their clothing. Dana caught Calleigh’s look as she slipped her weapon into the holster at the small of her back. Calleigh smiled and chuckled. “I love a woman who knows how to handle guns.” Dana couldn’t help but smile at the beautiful blonde. “Should we see who the better shot is?” Calleigh locked the .44 in its case. “As much as I love shooting, I can think of other things I’d rather do.” She paused for a beat. She leaned in and kissed Dana. “Want to see my gun collection?”	20,600
The Minnesota Orchestra finally solidified a labor agreement between the musicians and management. But there's plenty still up in the air that needs to be decided, including who will be the orchestra's conductor moving forward. A longtime orchestra observer tells Minnesota Public Radio that management should work on bringing back former music director Osmo Vänskä, who resigned from his position in October after no labor deal was struck. Vänskä, who was under contract with the orchestra for 2014-15 before his resignation, appears to be embracing the idea of a return. Citing a report in Finland's largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, the Star Tribune says Vänskä is responding to Facebook pleas for his return. According to the paper, the conductor reportedly posted, "I'm going to try! But they have to ask me!" The paper also notes Vanska's work with Minnesota Orchestra musicians during the lockout as an indication he has an affinity for the group. Vänskä conducted the orchestra last February to celebrate its Grammy nomination for a Sibelius recording. He also agreed to farewell shows shortly after his resignation, and agreed to lead a concert to re-open the Northrop Auditorium this May. The bitter, 15-month-long lockout of the musicians ended Tuesday when the union ratified a new three-year contract. The new deal goes into effect Feb. 1 and the orchestra is expected to start playing again sometime that month. MPR says the orchestra's members have a lot of hard work to do as they prepare to return from the 15-month lockout. To start, the musicians will be moving back into Orchestra Hall, but the surroundings will be unfamiliar because the facility was renovated since they last played there. Another big obstacle, a musician's public relations representative tells MPR, will be working with the management who locked them out. "I think it's going to take some deep breaths," said Wendy Williams, a 21-year orchestra veteran. Williams said she's learned a lot during the lockout period, including how to forgive others and herself. In an editorial Thursday, Star Tribune Publisher and CEO Michael J. Klingensmith – who sits on the orchestra board – says the musicians and management need to form a collaborative partnership moving forward because a "status quo approach is not acceptable" and "artistic excellence is no longer enough." "It’s now incumbent upon the musicians and the board to work collaboratively to rebuild the orchestra brand while exploring new ways to appeal to potential ticket buyers and donors," Klingensmith wrote. "Those efforts should be based on broader and more consistent statewide outreach." In return, he says, "We would hope Minnesotans who were outraged by the lockout would channel their passion into ticket buying and donations, or by increasing their support." According to the paper, the average salary in the first year of the new contract for musicians will be $114,000 – down from $135,000 before the lockout. Musicians will also pay significantly more for health care in the new deal. MinnPost says one of the biggest casualties of the lockout – the cancellation of the entire 2012-2013 season -- came at great expense to the city of Minneapolis. According to the publication, the city said it lost $2.9 million in estimated revenues during the period, including $1.7 million in dining business and $414,000 in parking fees. The city also says $900,000 was lost in anticipated food and beverage rental at the Minneapolis Convention Center, which is down the street from Orchestra Hall. Speaking of the end of the lockout, Downtown Council CEO Steve Cramer told MinnPost, "It's a huge relief to have this behind us." Family who endured car theft ordeal surprised with trip to Universal Orlando A father rescued his four children after a thief jumped in his car while he was getting something from his trunk. ATF offering $5,000 reward for info on fire at condemned apartment building The building sustained $1.8 million-worth of damage. BCA IDs officer in fatal St. Paul shooting, says there was 'exchange of fire' The sergeant has been an officer for 10 years. Charges: Teen speeding before crash that killed mother, injured her son The teenager was driving at speeds between 72-89 mph at the time of the crash. Northland Vapor calls St. Paul regulators 'overzealous' in lawsuit over THC sales The small Minnesota business said the lawsuit was "misleading" and "shameful." Excelsior chocolate shop ransacked by thieves to reopen Truffle Hill will reopen to the public on Friday. Company agrees to changes after child workers found in MN meat plants An investigation found children ages 13-17 working hazardous jobs at the plants. Drinks can company to lay off almost 100 workers, close St. Paul plant State authorities were informed of the impending closure. Suspect in Minneapolis bar killing charged with weapons crime The suspect has not been charged with murder in the case as of Wednesday. A monster storm is coming next week: What will happen? What we know with high confidence at this point is that there will be a monster storm in the central U.S. by the early and middle part of next week.	5,349
It’s a tough market to get a mortgage application approved. In order to avoid paying for default insurance, home buyers typically need to secure 20% of their home’s purchase price for a down payment. There are other benefits to paying a more substantial down payment. For one, it reduces your monthly principal and interest payment. In terms of long-term savings, you’re cutting down on the overall interest you will pay on your mortgage. There are steps that you can take now to help to secure your future home. Once you are out of the red, you’ll no longer be paying interest on loans. You’ll have the added perks of a better credit rating which makes the process of securing a mortgage quite a bit easier. An excellent method for clearing your debt is known as the Snowball method. For this, you’ll work on the smallest debt first and work your way up. Start off by listing all your debts from smallest to largest. Commit to making the minimum payment on all your debts. Work towards paying as much of the smallest debt off as quickly as possible. Once this debt is wiped, you repeat the process until you are debt free. What makes this process so effective is that with every debt you clear off, you’ll have less and less monthly payments. This makes the next debt easier to tackle. Reduce outgoings and budget This comes down to priorities, and its best to map out the expenses that you’re going to cut. This could be the well-known savings act of taking a coffee cup to work rather than getting your brew from the baristas and bringing in your own lunch. There are plenty of ways to get to that down payment figure quicker such as reinventing date night, so it doesn’t include a three-course meal. Or trading your current car for a more energy efficient model that slashes gas costs. Everyone will need to weigh these expenses against the goal of owning their first home sooner. We all have expenses; however everyone’s priorities will differ based on their lifestyle and what makes them happy. Budgeting has gotten a lot simpler with apps at your fingertips that sync across your household’s devices. Earlier this year at Just Compare, we analyzed what the market has to offer in this article, which gives a comprehensive view of what finance management apps best suits your needs. Once you’ve reviewed the first two factors (paying off debt and budgeting), you can begin to look at how much money you currently have at the end of each month to set aside for your savings account. With our mortgage calculator, you can play around with different time frames and down payment figures to figure out a down payment goal. From there, you’ll be able to calculate how long it will take to pull this sum together. You can work on reducing this over time even turning it into a challenge. Review your vehicle situation If you’re buying a house as an individual or a couple, there may be some value in getting rid of one of your cars (even if temporarily). With car insurance, gas costs, maintenance and repairs, especially when multiplied by two, they can be a considerable household expense. The average annual vehicle costs in Canada is $8,600 and $13,000 per person, which is the average rent for a two bedroom apartment. Before you make any decisions, investigate other options. Can you cycle to work or take public transport? Maybe you can carpool with a work colleague? One option is to do a trial run for a month, try not to use your car during this time period and see how you manage. If you find it doable, maybe think about selling your car and placing the money into your savings account. Look beyond the down payment Securing a down payment requires a lot of hard graft and saving for individuals and couples. Once this is secured, and the mortgage repayments start there’s a tendency for people to get back into their previous spending habits. If you’re committed to paying off your mortgage early check out this article on our Just Compare blog. Designate all your bonus, raises and overtime income to your savings account. If you can survive on your current salary, you’ll accelerate the time to reaching that down payment figure by placing all the perks of your hard work into a separate account for your future home. Savings accounts, such as Tangerine’s, enable their new clients to earn more with up to $50† in cash bonuses. You can also earn 2.75% interest on your first Tangerine Savings Account, TFSA or RSP Savings Account for the first six months. This interest rate helps to stretch your down payment. Get everyone on board If you have children, it’s great to show them this process that you’re going through. Teaching children how to budget can make the process easier. Make them excited about the savings, for example, the additional money saved will allow them to have a new bedroom. Children learn about the value of money from a young age. Watching their parents work hard to achieve their goals teaches children how discipline, budgeting, and thinking outside the box, all of which can pay off in the long run. It might seem counter intuitive to be discussing a chequing account in an article about saving. However, some chequing accounts may be costing you a lot of money in fees while others come with concrete financial benefits for their customers. Tangerine’s chequing account is an online, no-fee daily chequing account that provides interest on your hard-earned dollars. There are chequing accounts in the market that allow you to automate allocated savings to leave your account. It’s also a good option to check out what cash rewards your account provides. Securing a down payment requires consistency and sacrifice, however, with these tips, and sufficient research, you can make your money stretch further. When the time comes for you to shop around for a mortgage, check out our mortgage comparison service to get our professional insight into the best product tailored to your lifestyle. Compare Mortgages Ryan Sharma, CIM Co-Founder & CEO/CIO Ryan has over 15 years of experience in Information Technology, within the global financial services industry. His career has primarily focused on leading strategic initiatives within various retail and corporate business areas to innovate and future proof financial institutions for the long term. This information is just our view and should be not be considered advice of any sorts. From our experience and other professionals we partner and engage with, we work to find useful tips and information that would be important to share. If you are someone that is looking for professional advice tailored to your circumstance, please contact a bank, financial advisor, or mortgage broker.	6,877
Tristan Norton is a city kid working in a country world. He grew up in an urban environment and is one of the few visible minorities at Briercrest College and Seminary. As the Director of its Centre for Leadership Studies, Tristan approaches his work from a different perspective than many of his Briercrest colleagues. He is so gracious on this episode to help me understand what that means, and offers some great insight on how we can all appreciate everyone’s differences and take advantage of that fullness in our work and personal lives. Share Episode Share Episode Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share This Episode Start at Tristan Norton is a city kid working in a country world. He grew up in an urban environment and is one of the few visible minorities at Briercrest College and Seminary. As the Director of its Centre for Leadership Studies, Tristan approaches his work from a different perspective than many of his Briercrest colleagues. He is so gracious on this episode to help me understand what that means, and offers some great insight on how we can all appreciate everyone’s differences and take advantage of that fullness in our work and personal lives. Go with your gut feeling. If you're creative and you have a feeling of like, "Oh man, this could work," just do it. And two things can happen. Well, three things. You can succeed, you can just be delayed or you can fail. And if you fail, you know what you did wrong and you just do it better the next time. Hey and welcome to the Leading With Nice Podcast interview series podcast. My name is Mathieu Yuill, and we want to help you inspire others, build loyalty and get results. Now today, as always, I'm very excited because not only do we have somebody who I know to be very thoughtful, to be a great leader, to be insightful, has the ability to overcome adversity, is resilient. But also he was a classmate of mine in my masters, in management and leadership, and we became good friends then, we've continued that relationship. He is based right now out of Saskatchewan. And if you listen regularly, I'm here in Toronto. But we enjoy a great relationship, sometimes via texts, sometimes via chat. But a Tristan Norton, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Matt. I'm really, really glad to be here today for sure. So I'll just jump right into it. And again, if you listen to this show, I send questions in advance to guests because I don't want them to be surprised. I want them to have had time to be thoughtful about the answers and put some time into their questions. I just want to be transparent on that. So Tristan, we've journeyed through a masters in leadership and management program together. So we've known each other for a while. However, recently we worked together on developing and launching the crisis in communications course at Briercrest Center for leadership studies online. You're the director of the center and have been tasked with launching online learning where previously it had not existed, at least not in a robust way like you are developing. So in your role, what have you had to encourage Briercrest to both abandon, what beliefs or practices have they had to leave behind to do this as you launch this online learning? Well, to first answer this, I thought about this question quite a bit when I was preparing, and one of the things is that they already had online learning and distance education. One of my really good friends, Brian Westnedge, he is the director of the continuing and distance education here. So we weren't really starting something new and different, but we're starting something that I would say was more accessible to people in the sense that instead of doing a four year or two year masters degree online, people can do one-off courses in certain topics that were interesting to them. So that's kind of why we set up the whole center for leadership studies, in my opinion, was to give that accessibility to individuals when they're ready to learn more or do more personal development instead of paying for a full degree. So when it comes to what we had to have them abandon or change, I think they had to just change the outlook of the purpose of these courses. Instead of saying, "This is a full degree," we had to change the thinking that these could be used as a stepping stone in our stepping ladder, if people wanted to go into further degrees. So they will be able to take these videos and watch these courses as a way to just take a little off the top of what they can get from some of these classes. If that makes sense. Yeah, totally. So basically what I learned is that if I had waited a couple of years, I could have a big lump of money and you find some online classes. I'm looking at the classes right now, and Paul Magnus, who is a brilliant professor at Briercrest, just released one called Organizational Health - How to be a leader others want to follow. It's $59 like. Briercrest.online, you should go check this out. I've noticed as well, my course has moved off the front page. What do you mean it's moved? It's gone. When you go to the front page, it's not right there. I'm not going to say that's hurtful, but whatever, I got some Kleenex over there that I might have to get over. But I asked this question about what you'd have to abandon because listen, we're recording this, we're at the end of March, 2021, we're still in COVID. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is a pinhole size, and there's been a lot of this, what I'm going to talk about now. And so I'm going to ask you about this. I asked that last question, because often when a business or a leader is starting something new, they have to leave their established toolkit behind, or at least a good amount of their tried and tested tools. So thinking generally of launching this brand new program, and I understand that elements existed, but for the most part it was a new thing. What would you tell a leader at another organization who is on the precipice of something new? What should they be doing broadly? What are some things they should be thinking about? For a new leader on the precipice of doing something like this, the first thing I would be is communication between you and your, I don't want to say superior because that's not the right word, but you and whoever's in charge. If you're an intern of the entire thing, great, make sure you have a clear vision of where you want to go and what you want to do. If you're working with a team, I think over-communicating what you want the end goal to be, over communicating what small short goals would be. And then over-communicating timeframe and how you want to do it. I think once communication is clear and it's probably something that we learned in a lot of our leadership classes, you can never over-communicate something, especially when you want to get things done, that it will be very helpful. Setting up a really good business plan and making sure these goals are attainable is another thing I would suggest, especially if it's a new pilot project. I wouldn't say bite off too much that you can chew right at the beginning. Like it would be good to have really great lofty goals, five-year, ten-year goals, but set up a list that you're like, "Okay, in the first three months, this is what we'll do. In the first six months, this is where I need to be. In the first year, this is what I can do. But also give you room for failure and to be able to shift and change those goals on the fly because as we see, no one thought we would be in a lockdown for a year and a week now. So looking forward in hindsight, it's good to be flexible, knowing that we could end up in another pandemic in the next year and a half, who knows. But just being willing to shift and change and adapt on the fly, I think, is some of the key things I would encourage people to do. Right. Yeah. If there's going to be another pandemic, it's definitely going to be somebody from Newfoundland kissing a fish. That already happens there. No, I'm only teasing my Newfoundland friends. But you're 100% right. We don't know. So in creating this online learning at Briercrest, what was one thing you over-communicated? And I ask this because every week a client says to me, "I want to do online training." Every week. So what is one thing you've been over-communicating as you journey on this? I think I've been over-communicating the need for promotion, just promoting it to get it out there. And in all honesty, I probably haven't done a great job at communicating that. But that's probably one of the biggest things that I did communicate. It's easy for me to build relationships with content creators, because I think I'm just personable and it's easy that way. And I have had great support from leadership here saying, "Just run with it. Just do what we need to get done." And anything I've taken to my supervisor, he's been like, "Oh, this looks great." And he's right, it does look great because we have worked with some great creators. So that's been great, the support's been great. But I think what we lacked was just a promotion. And I think I communicated it a little bit, but I could have done a little bit better at communicating that part. So yeah, the promotion part is the part I think. That's a great point. And as you were saying that, I was thinking of one client in particular, that's doing internal training. So it's not about promotion in terms of, "Oh, you got to sign up for this." But I think the over-communication is, here are the benefits for you as an employee for participating in this. And let's run out one of these old tropes, right? If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well. So if you've put some good effort into creating the content, then definitely you should probably match that for the communications aspect. I want to pump it up, man. There's four courses online right now, myself and three others. I've done two of them already. I'm going to sign up for the third one today for 60 bucks. I think in the show notes, we might have a discount code for you, I'll talk to Tristan about that after. But I'm sure we can get one. They're so good. The one I watch on technology in theology, it just really opened my mind to the way we interact on an intrinsically way with our tech and made me think about the way I interact with it with my colleagues, with my children. Check it out, it's well worth it. And I've gone back. What I love about the online delivery method too, is I watch the whole thing, but then there's a few lessons that I go and rewatch because I want to hear it again. And what I love about these platforms is you can actually run things at two times the speed. Yeah. So if you're busy doing something, you can just play it in the background. Yeah. Once you've heard it once, you just want to hear it again. I think listening to it in real time is important because you get, the speaker might want to emphasize something. But anyhow. Yeah. Another thing I would tell someone who is on the verge of starting like this, go at your gut feeling. If you're creative and you have a feeling of like, "Oh man, this could work," just do it. And two things can happen. Well, three things. You can succeed or you can just be delayed or you can fail. And if you fail, you know what you did wrong and you just do it better the next time. And I think a lesson that I learned was that I didn't take as many chances as I could have. Like a lot of things, I was just like, "Oh man, should I do this? Should I not do this?" But one of the things I learned is that I should've just done it. And because it's so easy to get in that mindset of like, "Oh man, what if I fail? What's going to happen?" If your supervisors have trusted you enough to give you these programs to do, they already see your talent, so might as well just run with it and see how you can learn from that. So that's just another thing, just do it. From my perspective, one of the qualities you bring to Briercrest is simply how you are not like most of the people who I've met, who worked there. We talk about this, you're a city guy. It's funny, I've been trying to think about, you're a city guy, but also like in a farming area, you're a guy who loves sneakers, right? Probably not a lot of sneakerheads, right, around you? But you bring this, such a different perspective. So you're a city guy working in a small town. You're in your thirties where many Briercrest employees are in their late forties and older. And we've joked about this. You were the only non-white guy in all but one of our classes. This is true. There are two non white guys, that was it, we doubled it, like 100% increase. And we laughed about it, but in leadership, the different perspectives are so important. So pros of the different ways of thinking and life experiences you've had in your world. And so what I want people to take away from this is you're going to tell your story, but I want them to start thinking about like, "Okay, what can I be looking for in somebody who's different than me?" What are some pros that way? Some pros or different cultural perspective, not just cultural or racial perspective, because yes, I am Afro-Caribbean. I grew up in the Caribbean and I am black. So that's different, very different than being African-American. So I think the racial diversity is there. Also just the cultural diversity, the way I was raised and the way I was brought up is probably a lot different than a lot of people here. So I think being able to bring that conversation into a lot of my classes, into the workspace, it was really, I think, that was a big pro in that way. I know when a lot of the racial tensions were happening on social media and the internet and everywhere that I had a lot of very pointed and deep conversations, not just with students on campus, but also with coworkers that I thought was very helpful. And it was a pro in the sense that I wasn't trying to teach them new things because they realized that I wasn't the answer for all black people. They just had certain questions, and I'm really thankful that a lot of them realized that. So we just had open, honest conversations in a way that I think hasn't been able to be done before. So I really enjoyed that. There were a few conversations which were tough to have, and in any workplace that will happen. But I think some of the pros that I brought where I am different racially, I have been brought up differently, culturally. I am, like you said, a lot younger than a lot of different staff members here. So just the way we do certain things, I think that helped. And just being able to communicate with even students on a different level than some of the older staff or older professors was, I think, very helpful for our seminary team. I want to highlight one of the things you said. My friend, I'm going to give her a shout out, Reshika, told me this probably 15 years ago. I was at Centennial College at the time and I was running, I restarted this evening called an evening of inspiration for women in the workforce or something. I forgot exactly what I called it. But my mom was an entrepreneur and my two sisters, both successful in their fields and are both entrepreneurs as well. And so I wanted to honor them by putting together this thing. And so we run this evening where we'd have a speaker come in and just talk about what's it like to be a woman business leader. I remember Reshika was at this event and we were talking and her heritage is South Asian. And I remember asked her something about that. And she's like, "That's just my opinion. I don't speak for all the nation." And I was like, I didn't realize that what I was asking was actually asking her that. You know what I mean? I wasn't asking her to be like, "Can you speak on behalf of a billion people?" But I was asking her that and I was like, "Oh man." So I really appreciate that. She opened my eyes to just that ignorance. And it's been so helpful ever since that, like what it's taught me. And I just wanted to highlight this if you're listening, is that you are talking to one person, right? And just appreciate that, come with that mindset that this is an individual's take on this matter. I follow Chuck D on social, right, from Public Enemy. For those of you who don't know tho that is. I'm like, he's going to say this and not a lot of people are going to know who Chuck D is. He's an amazing speaker. So he posts about a lot of social issues. But again, I can go down my feed and find somebody that might look and sound like him, but has a very different opinion. And so the important thing to remember is that he's not speaking on behalf of but he's bringing education awareness. So out of all you just said to me, that's what I wanted to highlight. And for me it was, growing up in the Caribbean is definitely different than growing up in America or Canada. I grew up in St. Vincent, in the Grenadines. So I grew up in a predominantly black country. Yes, there were people that were Caucasian or different races, but most of the people I grew up with, looked like me. So even when I moved to the states, because I went to school in the states for four years and experienced any racial tension, it was there, but I guess it phased me, but it didn't phase me as much as a lot of my family members that grew up in the states or grew up in Canada. And it wasn't until recently, maybe three years ago when I realized, "Man, that was bad what these people did," thinking about him just like, "Yeah, that wasn't right. That wasn't kosher. Like what?" And it just took so long for me to clue in and key into what was happening because growing up, I can't remember any time from the age of six to 18 years of age where I experienced anything bad in the Caribbean. It might've happened. But because all my friends looked at me, I didn't like key in or clue in. It's only since I've moved to North America, that I have more recognizing what's happening. And that's why I think my perspective is so different in that I grew up differently. Even though I am black, my experience as a black man is different than the experience of someone in the states or someone in Canada. So the title of this podcast will be like, Everybody is Different. And I know we laugh about it, but I think we need to hear this right now as well, too. Right? So we kind of start touching into it. What are some of the cons of being different? For people that don't live in a community where they are the different one, I want to be bringing awareness for them. That's what I'm hoping you can help listeners with right now. Living in, would this be considered rural Saskatchewan, I guess? Your internet comes via telegram. All right? Yes, it's rural Saskatchewan. Cons. I still get stared at, in the grocery stores. Really? You know what's funny? When I remember when Alison, my wife, asked me when I first went, she's like, "What is it like?" I said, "I went shopping at eight o'clock when I landed on the Sunday." And in Toronto, there's just not the same First Nations population. And I was like, I've never seen so many people from First Nations community. And so I probably was staring too, because I had never. Anyhow, so interesting that you are getting stared. I get it, I get it. But I thought they'd be more accustomed to it. If Cori and I, my wife, she's white, you've met Cori. If we're having supper out in town, it's different than if we're having supper in Regina or Saskatoon. So even if I go to the mall in Regina and Saskatoon, it's different than if I go to the mall here in town. Right. And that's just small town, that's just the way it is. I'm not saying that's right, but that's what happens. So that's a con. When people ask questions that are general about black culture and I'm like- Like you're the spokesperson. Yeah. I'm like, "I don't know." Yeah. Like, did Nelson Mandela come and knight you or something. Is that how it works? I did not grow up in Canada. It hasn't really happened. I haven't really had a lot of bad experiences being here. Well, I think one of the keys is that, I actually hear this quite often because I've been asking these questions a lot and I hear this all, like it was not bad, but dude, being stared at, at a grocery store, that's something that we can, that helps me. Do I do that? Have I done that? Because it's not good. Trust me. If I was being stared at a grocery store, I'd be tweeting about it and being like, "Who does this person think they are staring at me?" You know what I mean? Okay. But see, I won't tweet about it out of fear to being called, "Oh, there's another angry black man." 100%. What I was reflecting on is that how easy I would have it all about behavior where you're justifying that it's not that bad, where I'm going to say no, it is that bad. Let me say this. My friends in Moose Jaw, please don't stare at Tristan in the grocery store. Go on. Sorry, go on. For the most part, no, not for the most part, I love Briercrest, I love Saskatchewan, I love Moose Jaw. But I think what has happened is that people in this area would consider themselves very conservative. So what I've noticed is that a lot of individuals that put that label on them, they're not pacifist, but they also don't like seeking out confrontation. So they will do everything to not be called racist or any derogatory term. And then it sometimes comes off as being just a little bit too weird because you're trying so hard. And then they end up doing things that are more detrimental instead of just owning the fact that everyone is different and we need to learn how to live with these differences and not isolate anyone. So I think in my workplace it's been great because a lot of people are recognizing that and are asking questions and are trying to speak up and figure out what's different. And when I say workplace, I mean the people I work closely with, like the seminary team. That's who I interact with on a daily basis. So I really appreciate that. And I really appreciate what the counseling center has been doing here at Briercrest. Not just because my wife's a counseling student, but they have made it a safe place for people to talk about a lot of different things. And I think that they're doing a good job at that as well. In the city we live in, the town we live in, I have a lot of friends that aren't black and they started asking more questions after the George Floyd incident was aired all over television. And the questions they asked I thought were very helpful because they realized that stuff is still happening that people of color have no control over, but yet we still have to live with and try and mentally struggle through it on a daily basis. So a lot of them were just asking like, first of all, a lot of them asked how I felt, which was very good that they're actually concerned about that. But in the same time, the admittedly didn't understand. So I appreciate when they're like, "I just don't understand." I'm like, "Yeah, you will never fully understand and I'm glad you recognize that. But do you want to be better?" And I think a lot of them do and have been making steps to become better in that aspect. So you're right. It is not great that I get stared up at, at grocery stores and restaurants and it sucks and it's something that we need to change. But I think there's a handful of people out there that are trying to change it. One thing I've learned, I've had to really eat a lot of humble pie personally, and just I've been asking my friends, is some of my behavior or things I've asked or assumptions I made hurtful. And you're thinking like, "Oh, why are you doing that?" Let me give you an example of a conversation I just recently had. I grew up with a girl, a woman I've known her since grade three, right? So long time. And I knew her as, I'm not sure if she'd like me calling her by name. So I won't call her by name. So I knew her as Rachel and her parents were born in Hong Kong. Either she was born there and moved her and she was very young, like one or she was born here. I forget which. But in her twenties for her public facing, she started using her name that's on her birth certificate. So that was 20 years ago. And so just recently, we were on the phone, I said, "I have to apologize. I've never called you that. But I know when I meet somebody who's met you in the past 20 years, they call you that. I'm sorry if that's been hurtful to you. Should I be calling you that?" And I fully expected her to say yes, like "Come on Mathieu, this is what I've been calling myself for 20 years. It's on my business card, it's on my LinkedIn, et cetera." But what she said, she's like, "Actually, I don't know. I've known you for more than half my life as Rachel. My parents call me Rachel. I don't know." And I was like, "Oh, man." First of all, here I am. It was hard for me to ask her that because it would've meant that for 20 years, I've been doing something that's bad. Right? I don't want to do that to myself. Then I made an assumption that she would want that. And what was her response? "I don't know." And she's like, "Just keep calling me Rachel actually for now. And so I'll let you know." So the learning takeaway from what you just said, and for me is, you just have to ask. And if you come with authenticity, think about for yourself if you're listening. What's something that somebody has asked you genuinely that you're like, "Man, thank you so much for asking. And yeah, please stop doing that because it is very hurtful." Yeah. People just don't ask because, like you just said something, I don't want to admit I've been doing something wrong for so long. That's why people don't ask and they don't ask and they're like, "Okay, I'll just change." So they don't ask and they change without asking. And you're just like, "Why are you doing this?" This is more awkward than if you had just asked me. And I think, not just Caucasian people, but I think everyone, every race is just scared to ask because as people in general, we don't like conflict. And I think people of color, especially are scared to ask because we'll be considered people that are stirring the pot, but also is just worse for us when we ask these questions, which is very disgusting to me, I think, that we're scared to stand up for ourselves because we'll be called the angry black man or the angry black woman, because we are not accepting or being glad for what we have, which I'm like, no. And I think of my sisters, right? I had male bosses that have been total jerk faces, and they would wrap it in, "This is the way I motivate you." Well, if my sisters acted that way, they would get called horrible names. Not just people of color, it's gender as well. And so I want to ask you this then, because man, one of my favorite things of our friendship is just the way we riff like this because I learn so much from you. I did graduate summa cum laude, but I've learned a lot. I'm not even sure if I said it right. It's on my diploma though, or my degree, so I got to say it out loud. But I have learned a lot from you as a classmate, in the course, and just like talking in the group discussions. And we actually did speak a lot about racial diversity. And I'm not sure if that's because I was one of the more obvious outsiders being from Toronto coming to Saskatchewan. And I said it before, I'm a middle-aged white guy and I don't know what it's like not to be, like I just don't know. Stephen Covey who wrote the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he says this and I love it. He says, "To know something but not to do it is simply not to know it." So I often sit with clients saying, "Listen, if you say you're a diverse company and you don't have one person who doesn't look like you on here, then you're not diverse. You might say you are. But if you're not doing it, you're not." I'm going to ask you for some more help as we finish off here. We're both educated, we're similar age, we're both men. But what do you face that is extra? And I want to know, and it's not something that has to be all bad. But the bad and the good, I want you to know so I can be conscious of this and it'll influence and impact my decision-making. Right. So for me, something that I know I personally faced that's extra is I think my life for the last 15 years has been very performative, but not performative in a bad way, but performative in a self-preservation kind of way. I grew up with an accent. When I talk to my family members, I have an accent, it comes out. But I learned early on that I was really annoyed every time people were like, "Hey, can you repeat that? I just don't understand," or "Hey, can you talk American?" or "Hey, can you talk Canadian so we can figure this out?" So I think the extra thing that I have that you won't have is that I have to try really hard to be accepted. I have to try really hard at the things I say, the way I act, the way I drive. I just have to try so much extra to not put myself in a situation where I could come off as being aggressive or different or less than which sucks that you have to try so hard every day, because people always question, "Why are you doing that? Why are you saying this? Why are you dressed this way? Why are you talking like this?" Whereas a lot of my white friends, they don't have to deal with that. It's just like, he's white, he's Canadian, he's white, he's American, this is just who they are. Whereas people of color, not just black people I think, all people of color, have to try so hard to be accepted or taken seriously because we're just different. And I know there's been a lot of social activism, a lot of people trying to change that narrative, but I still think we have a long way to go. That's actually put an idea in my head. I'm going to say it out loud for the first time. One of the things I've been trying to figure out is I want to be bringing on a couple of new staff. Positions don't exist but we're going to create them, bring them on. And I've been trying to think of how do I hire and ensure that even unconscious bias doesn't come through. And so I've been trying to figure out a system and to let people apply so their name, their image, anything that might hint towards, doesn't matter if they can do the job or not. And so when you say that, it's like, okay, that actually kind of affirms that, okay, I need to work really hard on figuring out how that is going to work. I'm probably going to engage my friend Reshika, who I mentioned earlier, to help me figure out how do you do that? Because the most recent I'd hired, most applicants came through LinkedIn and I might as well be invited to their house for dinner. You know what I mean? I know you could find out so much about people. Is that a good thing, I don't know if it's helpful. I don't know. Anyhow. I try to keep these to be 30 minutes, but this has been very good, so we're eight minutes over. So thank you home listener for sticking with us. But I think it's obvious to recognize the intrinsic value Tristan's brought today. But listen, before you go, I mentioned it a couple of times, you're a sneaker head. And so I need to know if one thing people can take away from this and they want to get a fresh pair of kicks. Give me a couple of recommendations. What should people be looking for coming down the pipeline? People must ask you this all the time. Because that's the first thing I said to you, it was like day three of one of our classes. And I was like, "Every pair of shoes you have are amazing and they're different every day." I think that's what I asked you, or something. Oh man. I think for me, a classic silhouette is the Jordan 1. I know there's a lot of funky colors out there that people are into, but right now the one I wear most often is called the Jordan 1 Retro High Gym Red. It's black, white, and red and it's a clean silhouette. You can wear it with whatever. And the only thing about sneakers though is that sneakers are getting very expensive. So if you have the budget and you want to buy a clean shoe, I would suggest getting the Jordan 1 High. It's called the 85 and it's just a white and gray shoe. It's super clean. You can wear it with pretty much anything. But be prepared to spend a couple hundred dollars. Right? If you're in the sneakers, it'll be fine. If you're not in the sneakers, I'm sorry. I was actually going to engage you because I want to buy, I tried to get them when they're available but I couldn't, the Adidas Terry Fox. Adidas have the Terry Fox shoe. I want to try to find that. Pretty sure I could find that. Yeah, those Terry Fox shoes, the 40th anniversary, cheapest pair right now $300.70 cents. Oh my gosh. You know what I love about Terry Fox is that he had something that he wanted to talk about and he just did it. He didn't wait for permission, didn't wait for sponsorship, didn't wait for anything, he just did it. Now some, not every time. But sometimes in business, if you believe in it in your heart, you just need to do it. And listen dude, before we go, if people want to find out more, where do we send them for Briercrest? Where can they go to learn more about some of the stuff we talked about today? If they want to know more about those online classes, they just need to go to briercrest.online. And the four courses are there and they can email me from that website as well or if they go to briercrest.ca and just search in center for leadership studies, it'll take them to a page as well. But to get to the courses, to sign up, briercrest.online. And even on Instagram, there's the Briercrest Seminary is also on Instagram. And we'll have a discount code for any course listed in the show notes, wherever you're listening. And if you do, I don't know if you know this or not, but if you sign up for the communicated and crisis course, we actually give you a half an hour free consultation. We can talk about any communications problem you have. And usually in a half an hour, we can figure out a plan for you to execute on something. Tristan, man thanks so much for being on today, man. This was gold. I loved it all. Thanks for having me, man. It's always awesome catching up and chatting. And the next time we're in Ontario, Mississauga area, we'll go down to the Footlocker power house downtown and pick you up some kicks.. Dude, 100%, man. 100%. I would love that. Oh, before I go, if you like old school shoes, those Reebok Pumps are re-releasing this month at Foot Locker. Oh my gosh, I remember those. I had a friend in public school, he had [inaudible 00:37:39]. Dan had a pair. Well listen, before we go though, I do have to say, I want to say thank you to those people that helped make this happen. Carrie Cotton's our account manager. And if you hear background notifications on my computer, that's Carrie. She does work so I can stay on chat with you. Naomi is my EA and she helps me prepare for this, she reminds me of the show up, all that stuff. Jamie hunter, if you've heard about this on social or you saw our blog posts, you can thank him. He takes care of our content, makes sure this gets published and upload it to the podcast platforms and writes blog posts and promotes it. Cindy Crake, she books a guest, she coordinates with them, sets the time. And Austin Pomeroy is our audio, I don't know exactly what to call him, audio producer, audio technical person. I don't know, but dude is super solid man. I'm so grateful for him. So anyhow, thank you. Oh look, an as I'm talking, Carrie's texted me with, "Here's what I need you to do for me." So thank you Carrie. And before you go, I just to say very sorry, Cindy, for taking so long to get that bio and headshot in. Next time I'll be on it. Have you earned a next time in the podcast? We'll find out. I'm hoping, I'm hoping. Season two. Dude, thanks very much. Have a great day. For more on this, leadingwithnice.com. We'll talk to you again soon.	38,502
The beautiful woman syndrome (or the most beautiful woman syndrome, as it is sometimes called) will affect most men who pursue gorgeous women. However, most men won't recognize the symptoms of the beautiful woman syndrome (BWS), nor will they know how to effectively deal with it. Result? A man will usually fail to win the heart of the stunning woman, and he may feel somewhat bitter about his lack of success. Appearance discrimination has been called The New Racism. The beautiful woman syndrome arises from appearance discrimination: thinking you're better because you're better looking. Racists think they're better, too. What is it? The beautiful woman syndrome (BWS) is characterized by: An expectation that beauty gives a right to open doors. As The Eagles sung in Lyin' Eyes: City girls just seem to find out early How to open doors with just a smile And she won't have to worry She'll dress up all in lace and go in style Of course, they meant pretty girls because rich old men trade money for beauty. Lack of personal and intellectual development. In spite of their lackluster personalities and tendency toward insipid speech, men still speak with BWS women because, well, men are men. I once dated a woman who had a terminal case of BWS, and she bored me to tears. Her repertoire of conversational topics was very limited, and I cannot recall even one interesting thing that she said. After I belatedly realized that she had nothing to offer except her looks, I resolved to never again date a BWS woman. (In Be Glad You Aren't Too Beautiful, Too Smart, or Too Rich, Michele Koh Morollo keenly observed that “their talents and virtues are often underdeveloped …” Indeed.) Tendency to treat less-attractive people as members of an inferior species. Failure to appreciate the attributes of less-attractive people. Seemingly, BWSers (as I call them) think that the one supremely laudable attribute is physical appearance (or money in the case of a potential spouse), and the remaining attributes in other people are given short shrift. Predisposition to overestimate their intelligence and other attributes. I suppose I shouldn't fault them for this, because scientific research has substantiated that just about everyone thinks that more attractive people are smarter, more capable, and so on. Men are generally very eager to compliment beautiful women in every possible way. Thus, gorgeous women aren't lauded solely for their appearance. They're also told that they are interesting, smart, funny, wonderful, great, or amazing. After hearing such compliments countless times, they believe it. Another website gives an example of how extreme their arrogance can be after they develop a big head from the perennial praise. As P. J. O'Rourke said, “It's always tempting to impute / Unlikely virtues to the cute.” Being extremely picky. Their looks should "buy" them a comparably attractive partner (or a rich one, given that old quid pro quo), but BWSers often want a man who is also intelligent, charming, friendly, pleasant, tender, loving, kind, easygoing, affectionate, thoughtful, caring, supportive, considerate, compassionate, helpful, attentive, responsive, dynamic, gallant, cheerful, loyal, honest, passionate, spontaneous, responsible, generous, courageous, patient, adventurous, enterprising, personable, articulate, and on and on. They “expect partners who have the moral fortitude of Nelson Mandela, the comedic timing of Stephen Colbert, the abs of Hugh Jackman, and the hair of Patrick Dempsey.” Why do women with the beautiful woman syndrome think they deserve so much? I'll explain why shortly. An unusual reaction to niceness. If you're nice to most people, they will like you more. If you're nice to BWSers, they won't think more of you — they'll think more of themselves. Your niceness will just reinforce their lofty self-image. A tendency to believe that the Constitution of the United States guarantees them a wonderful life. A propensity to not try as hard as other women. While there are exceptions, many beautiful women coast through life on their looks alone. Most people give a 100% effort because they are willing to work that hard to get what they want. BWSers get various things — jobs, money, stuff, smiles, compliments, dates, husbands, you name it — so easily that they know they don't have to try hard. Their unfounded sense of entitlement is fueled by a belief that they deserve the finer things in life. Aversion to hard/dirty/unpleasant physical work (and often hard work of any sort). BWSers typically believe that people should give them stuff because … well, just because they're beautiful and they deserve it. Why? Because they're beautiful. Deep-down, BWSers think that they're superior to others, so those inferior beings should hand over their possessions without a whimper — in fact, they'd better be nice about it! Why? That brings me to my next symptom of BWS: They have a low tolerance for disagreement. You'd better treat them with kid gloves, or else. Or else what? Or else they won't date you, or continue interacting with you. BWSers demand that others be deferential to them. Tiptoe carefully, or else. Why is there this need for others to walk on eggshells? Because, being the royalty they think they are, people should be exceptionally courteous and submissive. Because they're beautiful. Because they deserve it. They are easily angered, with trivial things setting them off. Example: A contestant on a reality show (True Beauty) said, “There's a lot of hate goin' on when you're beautiful.” She claimed, “It's very possible that I could be the most beautiful person in the country. When I look in the mirror, I see gorgeous skin, gorgeous eyes, nose is perfect, lips are perfect, eyebrows are perfect—everything about me is perfect. I'm so thankful to be beautiful.” They can be unfathomably ignorant. Example: Another contestant on True Beauty asked, mystified, “I wash this? … This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing here! … Is this considered washing, like am I done, or [garbled; sounded like 'do I have to do this?'] … (smirking in disgust) I feel like a housewife or something.” A person observing her commented that she does “no housework, so to watch Laura put a half a gallon of soap in two dishes has to bring a laugh in the household.” One can only wonder what an incredibly insular life she led in which she'd evidently never before washed dishes or observed someone else doing that. An amazing lack of insight into the emotions of people around them. For example, BWSers are often pursued by many men at the same time, and they're often quite obtuse about detecting that those men are falling in love. BWSers know that men want them — of course, they're beautiful! — but they turn a blind eye to the fact that those men are pouring out emotions that necessitate a response that is squarely on one side of the fence or the other: either some reciprocation of the love ("I'm falling in love with you, too …") or fessing up that she's not feeling the same ("Can't we just be friends?). Instead, BWSers bask in the glory of so much simultaneous attention from the opposite sex. BWSers don't care that by stringing the men along they are making the eventual rejection all the more painful. BWSers think, "Who cares? I'm the only one who matters. I like the adulation, and like getting stuff." Speaking of stuff, we're not talking about boxes of chocolates. BWSers sometimes receive expensive gifts, such as luxury cars, even from men who are just (in the minds of the BWSers) casual dates. I once had a BWSer matter-of-factly ask me for a car before we met. She figured that, as a doctor, I could afford it. I wasn't nearly as rich, or as stupid, as she thought. Narcissism, defined as an excessive admiration or love of oneself, concern only for oneself, or an immodestly high opinion of one's own worth. Features of the beautiful woman syndrome include vanity, conceitedness, egocentricity, self-absorption, self-centeredness, self-admiration, self-adulation, selfishness, bigheadedness, immodesty, self-worship, vainglory, and exaggerated self-importance. In short, you could say that a woman with the beautiful woman syndrome has a swelled head. All too often, however, there isn't much brainpower inside that big head, as I will demonstrate later on. Since narcissism grows from inflated feedback, gorgeous women are more likely to be narcissistic as a result of the effusive compliments they often receive. An increased likelihood of provoking negative emotions in people they interact with. If you meet someone who is truly great, you will probably go away from that meeting feeling energized, uplifted, inspired, or more knowledgeable. In contrast, a brush with a BWSer's inflated ego is more likely to leave you reeling with resentment. Having the beautiful woman syndrome makes a woman more likely to: feel entitled to favorable treatment and automatic compliance. exploit others to get want she wants and feels entitled to. rely more on her looks than her brain be very materialistic. think that “she is special and deserves fame, fortune, success and happiness.” lack empathy and even common courtesy at times. think that “she is intellectually superior.” blame others for problems. lie “to get what she wants.” post many photographs of herself on social media sites like Facebook. drive you crazy and bring out the worst in you, not your best. “People put too much emphasis on looks.” Of course, not every beautiful woman has the beautiful woman syndrome, but a sure sign of it is someone who reads about it and goes berserk denying that it exists. Every two years or so some beautiful woman will come out of the woodwork spouting profanity and sounding unhinged, thus ironically manifesting the intolerance that is a hallmark of this syndrome, as she swears up and down—and just plain swears—that the syndrome doesn't exist. Their crude messages also illustrate other BWS hallmarks: laziness and ignorance. This site contains one of the best articles ever written, submitted by an intelligent beautiful woman acutely aware that she has the beautiful woman syndrome. But the BWSers who rely on profanity, not real-world evidence, are too lazy and self-centered to read what others write or care if it is true. Why bother when they're convinced they know it all? BWSers, being know-it-alls, often think their opinions should prevail even when they conflict with the reality the rest of us see: that beautiful women are indeed put on pedestals and given special treatment, which often inflates their self-assessments so they think more of themselves and less of others. The fact that the beautiful woman syndrome exists is so obvious to so many that anyone who denies its existence is not fully tuned into reality. Speaking of special treatment: jurors are more likely to be lenient with attractive defendants. Casey Anthony is one. Rebecca “Becky” Cotton is another. After killing her first husband with an axe blow to the head circa 1794, she was acquitted by the all-male jury and married one of the jurors. Researchers know that attractive defendants are more likely to be acquitted (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) or receive lighter sentences. This bias is also exhibited by judges. As Scientific American put it, Attractive Young Females May Have Justice Edge. They do. A common misconception amongst BWS deniers is that I must be bitter because I never dated a beautiful woman. Wrong! I dated several, some of whom were exceptionally gorgeous and perfectly normal, but too many of which were mean, nasty people who treated others like dirt and thought they were royalty just because they were hot. They had a hair-trigger for criticizing others, often finding the most ridiculously trivial reasons to ridicule them. These endless condemnations had a clear motive: by putting others down, the BWSers seemed better in comparison and thus inflated their narcissism without having to do anything to justify a bigger ego. The beautiful woman syndrome is all about ego, and to a BWSer, the bigger the ego, the better. Continue reading about the beautiful woman syndrome > In cultures that put attractive people on a pedestal, the beautiful woman syndrome is inevitable, so if you have it, I am not blaming you for what is clearly a cultural problem. Home: Intro to the BWS More about the BWS How does it affect them? How to deal with it True BWS stories BWSers show their brainpower The unknown curse of beauty Beauty breeding discontentment The Attractive Expert Syndrome Bootlickers defending BWS behavior Beautiful woman syndrome comments Beautiful woman syndrome links Find a woman with the BWS Contact Us Submit a BWS story Interesting books Bookmark this site Tell a friend about this site Interested in another aspect of beauty? Read about why beautiful women are less likely to end up as ER patients. “Most beautiful dumb girls think they are smart and get away with it, because other people, on the whole, aren't much smarter.”	13,307
Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstances More quotations from Bruce Barton 1899 Conrad Aiken was born on August 5, 1899 And the shadows of tree-trunks and shadows of leaves Interlace with low voices and footsteps and sunlight To divide us forever. More quotations from Conrad Aiken 1906 John Huston was born on August 5, 1906 American film director whose taut dramas were some of the most popular films from the 1940s on. 1906-1987 You walk through a series of arches, so to speak, and then, presently, at the end of a corridor, a door opens and you see backward through time, and you feel the flow of time, and realize you are only part of a great nameless procession. More quotations from John Huston 1 2 3 Next >> Deaths occurring on August, 5 1853 Frederick W. Robertson died on August 5, 1853 The true aim of everyone who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle minds. More quotations from Frederick W. Robertson 1895 Friedrich Engels died on August 5, 1895 An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. 1935 David Townsend died on August 5, 1935 Despite the sound of 40,000 gallons, not a whole lot of stuff was released here through that hole. More quotations from David Townsend 1955 Carmen Miranda died on August 5, 1955 More affectionate than a kiss is a well done hug in someone that you love. Have you ever notice how I can give delicious hugs? More quotations from Carmen Miranda 1959 Edgar A. Guest died on August 5, 1959 British born American poet whose sentimental verses were widely read. 1881-1959 It Couldn't Be Done Somebody said that it couldn't be done, But he with a chuckle replied That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it. Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that; At least no one ever has done it"; But he took off his coat and he took off his hat, And the first thing we knew he'd begun it. With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, Without any doubting or quiddit, He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it. There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, There are thousands to prophesy failure; There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle in with a bit of a grin, Just take off your coat and go to it; Just start to sing as you tackle the thing That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.	2,794
She slammed the gavel on the desk again – it was not so much an actual gavel as a carved and shaped bone of an unknown creature- resulting in a chastening thwack! that finally quieted the room full of aliens and humans, with the exception of a large, aubergine-colored praying mantis who was chuffing loudly. “Will the ambassador from Cygnus Major please refrain from making that sound?” “So very sorry, Madam Arbiter,” the mantis clicked and clucked while the translation box in front of her formed her words in a vaguely Asian accent. She chuffed again and in doing so dislodged an oblong lavender egg from her abdomen and quickly secured it in a wrap she wore around her front, then peered around sheepishly, clearly embarrassed about the unfortunate timing of her brooding. “I am finished now. Please proceed.” She said as she lowered her triangular head and closed her beautifully shimmering multifaceted eyes. “Thank you. Let the record show: we are here to determine the cause of the temporal incident at- Space/time coordinates of the incident…Skeevas?” she glanced at the aide to her right, a small pterodactyl with a lighted pad. Skeevas cleared his throat. “Ahem. Incident occurred at the following galactic coordinates: longitude 179° 56′ 39.4″, latitude +0° 2′ 46.2″ and distance 7,940 ± 420 parsecs. Subject planet is the third from a common yellow star and the only planet in the system to contain lifeforms—wait a minute, this an error. There are at least eight moons near middle of this system that have-” “Skeevas, the location, please.” “Yes, Madam Arbiter. Incursion occurred in a place called ‘England’ which is located in the northen hemisphere on a sub-continental island known for its rain coats. Time stamp t-minus 261 local solar years.” “Thank you, Skeevas. In attendance were Nalla and Jyilla of Sesspressenny in the galaxy of Andromeda.” She adjusted her spectacles which rested near the end of her dinosaur snout. “Andromeda??” She said with a note of doubt in her voice and tilted her oblong lizard head in disbelief. A gossamer butterfly seated, or rather floating, halfway around the table bobbed its antennae in a gesture of affirmation. “Yes, Arbiter. That is the location of the current Gleeze home world.” Its wings moved together to create a friction from which emanated a tinkling sound and fairy dust that was quickly and efficiently translated by the box in front of it. The T-Rex shook her head slightly and continued. The butterfly shuddered its wings in a fashion that the translation box interpreted as a throat clearing. “We were alerted to the fact that this planet had activated several Irises and we came to investigate.” “Thank you. And the Irises had been activated by humans, who are the- supposedly- sentient life form on this planet.“ She looked around at her pterodactyl clerk, “I’ll be the judge of that.” She said dryly. She inclined her scaly head towards the group humans located at the opposite end the large egg-shaped table. There was a young woman with dark blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a tattered Victorian gown, a young man in a lab coat with dark rimmed glasses, a slightly older man with enormous mutton chop sideburns who was wearing a waistcoat, and who was clearly quite put out. Standing behind them and looking dazed were another man and woman in pressure suits, a motley bunch of Renaissance minstrels, part of a Roman centurion garrison, a Neanderthal and a very annoyed Attila the Hun. The young woman squirmed on her bench and looked at her human companions who urged her with gestures and looks to answer. “Yes, Madame Arbiter. That is correct. We were able to activate the wormholes, er, Irises in our..um.. lab.” The Arbiter peered over her spectacles. “I see. To what purpose?” The human woman looked up thoughtfully and sighed. Good question, dinosaur lady. To what purpose indeed… Related	4,057
"Up to now -- since shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution -- most movie makers have been assuming that they know how to make movies. Just like a bad writer doesn't ask himself if he's really capable of writing a novel -- he thinks he knows. If movie makers were building airplanes, there would be an accident every time one took off. But in the movies, these accidents are called Oscars." -Jean-Luc Godard "The Oscar is the most valuable, but least expensive, item of world-wide public relations ever invented by any industry. " -Frank Capra Every year around February, a large slew of movie award shows are on the scene and on your TV. It feels that no other industry in America is as busy having its accomplishments noted. These award shows are supposed to be a highbrow alternative to commercialism but they seldom live up to their claim. Award shows are plagued with numerous problems that make them unnecessary and phony. The most obvious culprit among them being the Academy Awards. When the Academy Awards were first started, they were meant to be a way for great, artistic cinema to not get lost in the shuffle of commercialism. They were to promote film art. They quickly became prone to many problems. Perhaps the biggest problem is that they are more about advertising than art. They are just another layer of advertising hype and marketing. The winners are almost always big studio movies. The Academy also often nominates whatever movie was popular during the year, such as Avatar or The Blind Side. Making money is important when it comes to getting awards. The Academy has to be careful not to pander too far, though, or it will become obvious. The system of how the movies are chosen is very wrong. The Academy's own website notes: And because of the Academy’s successful efforts to eliminate splashy gimmicks and gifts, the “race” to be nominated consists principally of attempts by studios, independent distributors and publicists to make sure that each of the nearly 6,000 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sees their film. It means special screenings for Academy members, free admission to commercial runs of a film, and the mailing of DVDs. It would seem that movies that promote themselves better have a much better shot at winning. What does promotion have to do with whether or not a movie is good? As one person noted, voting members of the Academy should not have to be sent a DVD to see a film. Any movie that gets some buzz should be seen by them. Can they, the voters of the greatest films of the year, not take time out of their schedule to see perhaps a mere thirty movies a year. Another problem to look at is the movies that win awards, especially best picture, and the notion of "Oscar bait." Every year, around the Fall, we hear about Oscar bait movies coming out. What is Oscar bait? Oscar bait does not so much mean great movie as it does a certain type of movie. It is the so-called middle-brow that is ever so slightly off mainstream. Oscar bait movies are usually cheap melodrama or fake high art, whatever has the surface veneer of highbrow even in spite of its shallow core. Heavy subject matter is always a winner despite lack of substance. There is almost no wrong way to make a movie about the Holocaust. When it comes to acting, the Academy prefers "strong" acting performances, such as Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, to subtle ones. The only way to "stand out" is to play "characters," although its debatable whether its actually harder to play such highly "dramatic" roles as opposed to regular everyday people. Of course this means the acting is all hammed up for the sake of being memorable. Real outside-the-box creativity or avante-garde-style work has no place at the Academy Awards. In the year 1968, Stanley Kubrick's seminal masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey wasn't even nominated for best picture. Instead the nominees were Romeo and Juliet, Oliver!, Funny Girl, Rachel, Rachel, and The Lion in Winter. So you had a Shakespeare adaptation, a Dickens adaptation, two Broadway adaptations and a book adaptation (yes, I know 2001 is technically based on a book). Over the years the Oscars have ignored great film noirs and now acclaimed B-movies. Contemporary award shows are a surprisingly bad indicator of future reputation. As A.G. Sertillanges put it, "Great men are not great until after their death." On top of this, the Academy's ideas of art are quaint and shallow. It's as though people who don't know anything about art are trying to awkwardly guess what art is. The whole thing promotes a very narrow, formulaic idea of art. Much like commercialism is a formula, "art" is a formula, not quite the exact same formula, but a formula nonetheless. All of this is of course degrading to the average viewer's taste and encourages people to like worse movies and have worse taste. It is greatly damaging to cinema for creators and viewers. The media takes the legitimacy of award shows for granted because Hollywood has hidden financial connections to news media as well as the news media don't want to admit they are wasting time covering something dumb for the sake of ratings and readership. For the average viewer, award shows are the closest thing they have to real film appreciation so they are likely to take them seriously. The regular viewer is also likely to think that Oscar winners are so different from mainstream movies, but anyone who has seen a variety of foreign films knows that American "art" and American mainstream are actually quite close. It can also lead people to assume they don't like artistic cinema because they don't like Academy Award winners, which can lead people further towards commercialism. It creates a false choice between two types of mediocrity. Another problem stemming from lack of hindsight is the oft-noted consolation Oscar given many years after a "snub" for a lesser outing. This contributes to a vicious circle of snubs and reparations. Another way to solve this problem is through the lifetime achievement award which is always a boring no-brainer. By the time you've earned a lifetime achievement award, the Academy has nothing to add to you. They only prop up their own credibility by jumping on the bandwagon of other people's praise. The final problem is the way the Oscars treat foreign-language films. Notice, not foreign, but foreign language. British movies, despite being from another country are still in the English language. So it's not about separating countries but removing the languages people are uncomfortable with, namely everything that isn't English. Of course, the foreign film category gets treated as second-rate, but its merely in another language, which neither makes it better or worse, just less interesting to mainstream audiences and a completely different market than Hollywood which is covering its own. Perhaps, although this will never happen, best foreign language film should be saved for second to last in the ceremony and best picture should be called best English-language picture. The notion that the work other countries do is somehow always lesser is dishonest. If other countries are forced to have the worst seat at the table, why even invite them at all just to be so condescending? Lastly, the process that each country only gets one submission is wrongheaded for obvious reasons. The category is just a very challenging one to begin with because there are so many movies. What about all the other award shows, such as the Golden Globes? They all have the same problems, but they add to them redundancy. Do we really need a dozen or more award shows to tell us that all the same movies and actors were great? If a soldier saves his fellow soldiers by jumping on a grenade, thus dying in the process, he only gets one Medal of Honor, but someone makes a hammy performance in a movie and they get a dozen awards. All these award shows are just an excuse for filling up television airtime, having more advertising for these movies, a bunch of bourgeois parties and Hollywood patting itself on the back for how great it is. The worst offenders in the award show pandemonium are niche award shows such as the Scream Awards and the MTV Movie Awards. It seems that no matter what your niche, some group of pseudo-elites is willing to validate your taste, however bad, with an awards show. There is no reason that the critically-panned, teen girl fodder, Twilight, should get any awards for anything. At best, it's a guilty pleasure. The Scream Awards, with categories such as Best Superhero, Best Actor in a Fantasy Movie, and Most Memorable Mutilation is so obviously pandering to a demographic to the point of celebrating tastelessness. Most Anticipated Movie isn't even awarding something that exists. How can you "award" something for being anticipated? That's more of an observation. Since when do fans of shamelessly terrible paracinema need validation from an award show anyway? Lastly, People's Choice Awards? Isn't that the box office? K-Stew and R-Pat of the award-wining film, Twilight, at the MTV Movie Awards It's debatable whether or not the overall idea of an award show for film every year is necessary or right. There are numerous reasons for not having any shows. For starters, art contains a certain level of subjectivity and it becomes even more challenging when you are not only pointing out what is good, but attempting to quantify what is best. Secondly, award shows can remove the highest ideals of art and replace them with trying to win an award. For the viewer, it can be a distraction from true appreciation of these movies which is replaced with awards fever. Movie awards fever is an avoidance of movie art. It is probably the most superficial, pointless and irrelevant way to "enage" a movie. Rather than engaging the movie itself and all the ideas in it, we are caught up in some pointless sideshow outside of the movie that has nothing to do with the movie itself. These are supposed to be some of the most thoughtful and meaningful movies of the year and all we can say about them is "Will it win?" Art is turned into a sporting event. For millenia, great art was created without yearly televised shows to recognize it and no groups to award it. Great films would continue to be made, with or without award shows, which brings the final problem of award shows. They don't so much add to the reputations of great films which would be remembered anyway so much as they enshrine mediocrity that would have otherwise been rightly forgotten. It is like the back of a child's American history book where there are a few pages of all the presidents. Good or bad, if you were ever a president, you are enshrined as an equal within those pages. It circumvents the more organic process of time, criticism and popular opinion. This is the cultural filter. On the other hand, I believe in the idea of movie award shows, but the system needs fixed. The Academy needs to start picking genuinely creative movies that are both formally creative and contain meaningful content. "Drama" should not be their standard. Perhaps they should start reading some famous books on film theory. Reducing the best picture nominees back to five would remove the opportunities for undeserving outliers to be nominated. It would also be quite cosmopolitan of them to admit that other countries make good movies too. At the very least, they could have an acknowledgment that best foreign language film is not something less, but merely separate. They need to have a deep reassessment of their past and how it has clashed with the hindsight of film recognition. Removing the blatant commercialism and audience pandering is probably the most important thing. It should in many cases be an opportunity to introduce people to great movies they would have missed as opposed to mediocre ones. After fixing the Academy Awards, all other redundant award shows should disappear. If some groups wish to give awards representing themselves, this would be acceptable even though it gets silly after a point, but they should not have a needless banquet and take away television time that could be better spent on King of the Hill reruns. So the two biggest problems of movie award shows are long-standing bad taste of the voters and the pervasiveness of commercialism within the awards process. While these problems will probably never go away, hopefully audiences will realize the emperor's nudity. Posted by Vincent Milburn at 10:09 AM 8 comments: ...and God, I hate these awards shows. ReplyDelete Replies Vincent Milburn July 10, 2012 at 11:19 AM Thanks man. The video is actually from Cracked.com, a site I don't usually like, but the video is internet gold. Delete Replies Unknown November 27, 2012 at 5:34 PM "When the Academy Awards were first started, they were meant to be a way for great, artistic cinema to not get lost in the shuffle of commercialism." Just to clarify, that celebration of artistic cinema was with the very first Academy Awards, when there were two best picture categories; artistic achievement and production achievement. They got rid of artistic achievement after that. Also, the two main reasons for the creation of the awards have absolutely nothing to do with art; first, films were getting attacked from all kinds of quarters of the American cultural milieu, so the Awards Ceremony was a way of creating an aura of glamour and artistry that could be used as a defense from many of these attacks ("how can these be trash? They're art!"). Secondly, the studio heads were afraid of the craft unions gaining too much influence in the ways the studios were run, so they worked in concert to try to break the influence these unions had. The awards ceremony was a form of self-congratulations in these efforts ("we made these great films by following our rules, not union dictates"). Whilst I can agree that there should be quite a bit of reform for the oscars, to leave out some fairly important (and not unknown) facts about it's history creates a false impression that film, and film-makers, were somehow less commercialistically crass in bygone times, or that the complaints that you have brought up had never been brought up before. ReplyDelete Replies Vincent Milburn November 28, 2012 at 12:42 AM I like your points. I probably did over-idealize the Oscar's beginnings. I don't know a whole lot about that exact area except what I read in Frank Capra's autobiography which is of course shown through his biased lens. Delete Replies Vincent Milburn December 1, 2012 at 10:22 AM I would agree that virtually all my complaints have been brought up before, but I did google search the topic before writing this essay and I think this is potentially the most comprehensive, but at the same time tightly written piece on the matter. Delete Replies Nice and interesting post,tomhollandmerch I appreciate your hard work, keep uploading more, Thank you for sharing valuable information. ReplyDelete Replies bts merch October 23, 2022 at 11:21 PM BTS Merchandise brings you products featuring your favorite boys, including BTS shirts, hoodies, and more. ReplyDelete Replies tech digital November 20, 2022 at 6:08 AM Hi, I am the owner of jerry-info we provide the best articles to solve your problem we want to provide authentic news and information. jerry info provides the best articles ReplyDelete Replies Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) I am a Catholic-Christian American man. I also consider myself a cinephile and see movie writing as a gateway to many topics. I graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio with a B.A. in communication arts in 2008. I have worked in professional television and feature film. I have an MBA in film producing and would like to work in story development or on set. That's a little disparate, but I'm a complex person and I love the medium. I currently write script coverage for Family Theater in Hollywood. Feel free to check out all my links.	16,313
“…The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt …” This is the second catastrophe recorded in the Old Testament of the King James Bible (Genesis 19:23-26), after the Noachian Flood (Genesis 7 and 8). The Flood is now regarded by many geoscientists to be a passed-down and mythologised account of the rapid filling of the Black Sea when the Bosporus was breached around 7600 years ago, as global see level rose in the early Neolithic. Eleven Chapters and a great many begotten people later comes the dramatic punishment of the ‘sinners’ of Sodom and Gomorrah. The two legendary settlements are now considered to have been in the Lower Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea. Being on the major strike-slip fault that defines the Jordan Rift, related to the long-active spreading of the Red Sea, the most obvious rationalisation of the myth is a major earthquake. The sedimentary sequence contains sulfide-rich clays and silts, as well as thick salt beds. Major seismicity would have liquidised saturated sediments full of supersaturated salt water and the release of large volumes of hydrogen sulfide gas. There are also remains of early settlements in the form of large mounds known locally as ‘talls’. The largest and archaeologically most productive of these is Tall el Hammam in Jordan, whose excavation has proceeded since 2005. It lies just to the north of the Dead Sea on the eastern flank of the Jordan valley, 15 km from Jericho on the occupied West Bank. The Tall el Hammam mound is formed from layers of debris, mainly of mud bricks, dwellings being built again and again on the remains of earlier ones. It seems to have been continuously occupied for three millennia after 6650 ka ago (4700 BCE) at the core of a presumably grain-based city state with upwards of 10 thousand inhabitants. The site was destroyed around 3600 Ka (1650 BCE). The catastrophic earthquake hypothesis can be neither confirmed nor refuted, but the destruction toppled structures with walls up to 4 m thick.. Whatever the event, 15 years of excavation have revealed that it was one of extremely high energy. There is evidence for pulverisation of mud bricks and at some dwellings they were apparently blown off-site: a possibility in a large magnitude earthquake. Unusually, however, mud bricks and clay used in pottery and roofing had been partially melted during the final destruction. Various analyses suggest temperatures were as high as 2000 °C. Top – oblique aerial view of the mound at Tal el Hammam looking to the south-west; Bottom – the Lower Jordan Valley and Bronze age talls superimposed by the extent of the area devastated by the 1908 Tunguska air-burst. (credit: Bunch et al. 2021, Figs 1b and 52) A detailed summary of results from the Tall el Hammam site has just appeared (Bunch T.E., and 20 others 2021. A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea. Nature Scientific Reports, v. 11, article 18632; DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97778-3). As the title indicates, it comes to an astonishing conclusion, which rests on a large range of archaeological and geochemical data that go well beyond the earlier discovery of the tall’s destruction at very high temperatures. Radiocarbon dates of 26 samples from the destruction layer reveal that it happened in 1661±21 BCE – the mid- to late Bronze Age, as also suggested by the styles of a variety of artefacts. The most revealing data have emerged from the debris that caps the archaeological section, particularly fine-grained materials in it. There are mineral grains indicating that sand-sized grains were melted, some to form spherules or droplets of glass. Even highly refractory minerals such as zircon and chromite were melted. Mixed in with the resulting glasses are tiny nuggets of metals, including platinum-group metals. As well as high temperatures the event involved intense mechanical shock that produced tell-tale lamellae in quartz grains, familiar from sites of known extraterrestrial impacts. One specimen shows a micro-crater produced by a grain of carbonaceous material, which is now made up of ~ 1 μm diamond-like carbon (diamondoids) crystals. There is abundant evidence of directionality in the form of linear distributions of ceramic shards and carbonised cereal grains that seem to have been consistently transported in a SW to NE direction: a kind of high-speed ‘blow-over’. In the debris are also fragments of pulverised bone, most too small to assign to species. But among them are two highly damaged human skulls and isolated and charred human limb- and pelvic bones. Forensic analysis suggests at least two individuals were decapitated, dismembered and incinerated during the catastrophe. Isolated scatters of recognisable human bones indicate at least 10 people who suffered a similar death. Finally the destruction layer is marked by an unusually high concentration of salt, some of which has been melted. Such a range of evidence is difficult to reconcile by hypotheses citing warfare, accidental burning, tornadoes or earthquakes. However, the diversity of phenomena associated with the destruction of Tall el Hammam has been compared with data from nuclear explosion sites, suggesting the huge power of the event. The authors turned to evidence linked to the air-burst detonation of a cosmic body over Tunguska, Siberia in 1908 which had a power estimated at between 12- to 23 megatonnes of TNT equivalent. Such an event seems to fit the fate of Tall el Hammam. The Tunguska event devastated an area of 2200 km2. The tall and another at Jericho lies within such an area. Perhaps not coincidentally, the destruction of Jericho was also in the mid- to late Bronze Age sometime between 1686 and 1626 BCE: i.e. statistically coeval with that of Tall el Hammam. Archaeologists working in the Lower Jordan Valley have examined 15 other talls and more than a hundred lesser inhabited sites and have concluded that all of them were abandoned at the end of the Middle Bronze Age. The whole area is devoid of evidence for agricultural settlements for the following three to six centuries, although there are traces of pastoralist activity. The high amount of salt in the Tall el Hammam debris, if spread over the whole area would have rendered its soils infertile until it was eventually flushed out by rainfall and runoff. If, indeed, the event matches the biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah, then Lot and his remmaing companions would have found it difficult to survive without invading the lands of other people who had escaped, much as recorded later in Genesis. Of more concern is what will become of Ted Bunch and his 20 US colleagues? Will they be charged with blasphemy? See also: Tunguska-Sized Impact Destroyed Jordan Valley City 3,670 Years Ago, SciNews, 29 September 2021; Did an impact affect hunter gatherers at the start of the Younger Dryas? Earth-logs, 3 July 2020. Related Next Wide criticism of Sodom airburst hypothesis emerges October 8, 2021 at 5:12 pm As I report at https://pandasthumb.org/archives/2021/10/tall-el-hammam-gullibility.html, I found on investigation that the background theory is dubious, the airburst hypothesis denounced by the leading authority on the subject, and previous work from the paper’s authors repeatedly criticised by at least 8 different groups claiming, among other things, factual inaccuracies and irreproducible data. I also show with link one of many examples of undeclared image manpulation. I include a list of openly accessible papers with titles, including one to which an author of the paper I am criticising drew my attention, and invite readers to form their own conclusions LikeLiked by 1 person October 9, 2021 at 5:20 pm Thanks for this, Paul. One to watch. I have no issues with anyone linking science to biblical ‘records’, eg the Flood and Black Sea flooding. But if there’s a degree of fudging, I have plenty. The paper snows the reader – 52 Figures – and every imaginable line related to extraterrestrial covered. If there is fraud here, they will be nailed. Ted Bunch, who I once met, is into the odd and awesome; but why not … Anyway, I have added a small post on the furore, as you will see. Regards, Steve LikeLiked by 1 person October 8, 2021 at 5:20 pm I should add that that there is an unusually active thread criticisng the work on PEERPUB, and that Retraction Watch is in correspondence with the Chief Editor of the journal, part of the Nature group, where the work appeared. BTW, the Journal title is not Nature Scientific Reports but Scientific Reports, although the link is to Nature.com. I think that matters, given the cachet or the “Nature” brand LikeLiked by 1 person Email (required) (Address never made public) Name (required) Connecting to %s Notify me of new comments via email. Δ Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address: Recent Posts How did the earliest animals feed? 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Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work closely with many creative designers. As Advertising & Promotion Manager at Disneyland, Director of Marketing for Universal Studios Recreation Division, and as Senior Vice President-Market & Communications for Playboy Enterprises, Inc., I had graphic design departments reporting to me. The best designers are those who don’t let design overpower communication; understand that graphic design is a collaborative craft; and focus on combining their creativity with the clients’ needs — that’s what makes Pam Blankenzee and RDzigns such a pleasure to work with, and such an important contributor to the projects we worked on together. I would never hesitate to involve her in any project where creativity, focus on communication, and professionalism in all areas, are required. Marty Cooper, CEO As District Governor for Rotary District 5870 I have worked extensively with Pam Blankenzee. She is our District’s webmaster charged with keeping our website up to date. Pam did a wonderful job in creatively keeping our website updated so our members would be kept abreast of all things going on in our district. Every time I asked her to do something, she did it immediately and efficiently. We had several special events this year and Pam not only advertised them on the website but she created graphics for the events and would post them on face book along with sending special emails to all members. She also weekly if not daily posted on face book to bring attention to our District and make people aware of thing going on throughout Rotary and our District. Pam was also instrumental in creating our District first ever Rock Star Challenge which aided clubs in preparing public relation materials for their communities. Her creativity in this made the challenge a wonderful success. I and our District could not have had the successful year we had without Pam. There are so many other things I could talk about but suffice it to say her ability in Public Relations, social media and website management is unparalled. I can highly recommend her services for whatever is required in these areas. Pam Blankenzee has served as our webmaster for Rotary District 5810 got the last three years. She has kept our district news up -to-date and encourages clubs to share people of action shots. Pam cares so much for our site to have relevant and current information, that she has gone to individual club websites so she can feature pictures and club accomplishments across the District. Pam has upgraded our social media pages to be informative, eye- catching and relevant. Her creative ideas are clever and add to our fun way of presenting information. Rotary District 5840 hired Pam Blankanzee to be our web master and direct our marketing and communication efforts. Over the past few years our district had a few volunteers handling these tasks with little continuity. Her first task was to clean up our website and make it attractive and user-friendly for Rotarians and our district and others to use. She accomplished this task very thoroughly and quickly. The task included organizing many files that were stored on the website in previous years. The structural organization of the website is now user-friendly and the old files are stored so they are assessable. On the front page of the website she put current information and changed the stories on a regular basis to continue to attract users. She immediately began a social media marketing strategy using Facebook to continue to present Rotary District 5840 services and events to attract more users. She worked with social media volunteers in each Rotary club in our district to help them provide information for our District and to develop their own social marketing strategy. In my role as District Governor at the time she kept me informed of activities and trends and made consistent suggestions about things I could do to better promote our District. She was very responsive to requests for help with specific events and made a substantial contribution to our overall communication plan for the year. She is especially skilled at working with volunteers to help them reach their goals for their Rotary Club or project. Communication is very easy for her and she enables people to reach their potential in a positive way. Our District continues with her service and looks forward to building on the solid foundation established during our first year. I HIGHLY recommend Pam Blankenzee and RDZigns for any website needs your company is considering. As the Immediate Past District Governor of Rotary District 5870 in Central Texas (Austin-Waco and surrounding counties and towns), I depended solely on Pam for all our website development and maintenance, and also for our major on-line communications. Even given the challenges our organization presents to our vendors (our district leadership changes every July 1), Pam has kept an evolutionary continuity that has served us well. In fact, out Public Relations team has won national Rotary International Zone awards for PR excellence, in a large part due to Pam’s creativity. Incidentally, Pam started working with our district only about ten years ago and has since garnered the attention of, and established working relationships with, several other neighboring Rotary districts and a number of individual clubs in Texas – all of which she manages efficiently from her base in California. Distance is no problem. If your firm needs an entirely new on-line presence or just a refreshed perspective, I highly recommend Pam Blankenzee and RDZigns for your assignments – and a long-term successful relationship. Pam is a pro translating the needs and goals of her clients into workable, strong, cost effective solutions. We have worked with Pam Blankenzee & RDZigns for several years, on more than one website rebuild. One of the chronic problems that we – and many of our colleagues – have had to deal with in the past has been unresponsiveness from web developers and service providers. This was NEVER the case with Pam. If we had a problem, or needed immediate help, she got back to us quickly and effectively. She is very smart and has a strong grasp of all aspects of web design and development. She also has a deep bench of resources from which to draw for creative solutions to a variety of challenges and opportunities. We would recommend Pam and her company whole-heartedly for any web project. I’ve been working with Pam for 7 years now and cannot recommend her services highly enough! I’ve worked directly with her on website creation & maintenance, social media presence and countless marketing campaigns. Not only is she a truly knowable professional, but she is also easy and fun to work with. I can pick up the phone anytime and call her directly… and if she doesn’t know how to implement my hairbrained idea right away she is not afraid to figure it out! A true partner for all of my online needs. South Austin Rotary I have worked with Pam Blankenzee since May 2017. During that time I have found her to be very helpful and responsive in meeting my website design and maintenance needs. I inherited an outdated and poorly functioning website for a nonprofit organization I worked with in 2017. I recognized several problems with the website, but did not have any idea on what was needed to fix it. At my request, Pam jumped right in and completely redesigned and rebuilt the website in just a few short weeks. Thereafter, she performed ongoing maintenance. I’ve come to understand Pam is the kind of person who proactively cares for anything she undertakes. She quickly became a valuable member of my management team, whose expertise and work ethic far exceeded my expectations. RDZigns and Pam Blankenzee has worked with me in the past and helped me develop my business. Pam worked with me to develop my website, which I consider to be the best on the web in my industry. Pam also keeps me advised about the activities at my website. Pam also maintains the Rotary District 5870 Monthly Newsletter and does a great job keeping everyone informed about the activities at the District and Club level. I recommend Pam and RDZigns. I have had the pleasure of working with Pam Blankenzee for the last 10 years. During that time, Pam was invaluable to me as she performed her duties with a vibrant and professional attitude. Not only was she totally dedicated to my operation but was 100% dependable and professional in marketing my business and building and designing my web site. I would recommend Pam to anyone who needs to market their business and/or create a profitable web site. Pam is constantly striving to learn new things and apply the latest marketing and web design for her clients. Please call me if you want a personal reference. Marc Tapper – CEO Pam has done my recent website. She is a social media expert and offers advice along with whatever project she undertakes. Very dedicated and hard working. I highly recommend her. Tops in her field. Rotary Club Austin-Southwest Pam has been providing web services for our Rotary Club of Austin-Southwest for about 8 months and it has been an absolute joy to work with her! She is professional, cooperative and actively participates in improving the club’s online and social image. She is an expert in Windows, ClubRunner and all associated web and online applications. No matter what we asked for in our total website re-design and Facebook page, she made it happen – it was up and working almost immediately. A big part of our web needs revolves around our annual golf tournament fundraiser. Pam designed a beautiful interface with our home page that presents complete tournament information. Sponsors and golfers are then led through a seamless process to full registration and online payment, complete with email verification. A key point is timely response to calls and emails. Pam responds immediately, providing the requested information and/or by taking the requested action. This is an incredibly important point to keep the website relevant and current. Our members, who for years struggled to learn how to maintain the website and update the material, are relieved and thankful that we now have a true professional dedicated to excellence for this vital activity. For us, very simply, everything works! We could not be more pleased with the business relationship with Pam and highly recommend her web services. When it comes to the internet, I rely on Pam Blankenzee to navigate the uncharted waters for me. About five years ago, I started an internet company to raise funds for charities. Through a mutual friend I was introduced to Pam and ever since then I’ve grown to depend on her for all my internet needs. At first it was to design an interactive website “Shop & Contribute” to raise funds for charities as well as schools and religious groups. Then several years later she designed my website for location managers to use my properties for their film locations. And now she has developed the website for “The View From Over Here” for my internet radio program. In this capacity she not only developed the website but she uses the social network to market this program. I am the first to admit I have no idea how she does it but I’m very impressed by the results. Weekly we get together to brainstorm and I suggest rather outlandish ideas and she makes them happen. Not only does she translate my idea to action but she additionally adds concepts I never thought about. In total, I highly recommend the services of Pam Blankenzee. Producer & Program Director, View From Over Here Radio Show I started using Pam last year when I saw her work that she had done for another (very happy) client. I needed her to do work on a fairly short notice. She responded by providing superlative work well under my deadline. Her work is also consistent, reliable and her new ideas have made the results better than they have ever been. The results she has accomplished is even more impressive because of the complex nature of our projects. We have to incorporate information sent by folks all over the world in different formats and frequently at the last minute. All that has to be blended together and produced quickly to please a fairly demanding clientele. I recommend Pam at the highest level. RDZigns have been an asset to me and my company for many years, assisting us on a multitude promotional activities including: brochure designs, tradeshow booth/graphics design, tradeshow planning, promotional giveaways, and marketing consulting. Top qualities: Good Value, High Integrity, Creative I have used RDZigns for the past seven years for all my design, advertising and marketing needs. During this time, Pam Blankenzee proved to be a valuable asset to my company. Pam was instrumental in developing my company’s online marketing strategy and website design. I would recommend RDZigns to anyone who needs to grow their business. The proof is in the pudding review www.greenpolishingsolutions.com and www.premiercarpet.com. Alan Comins, CEO Ms. Pam Blankenzee has been providing website design and support services for Rotary International District 5870, and other Rotary Districts and Clubs for many years. Her knowledge, professionalism and expertise in web design and web support is nothing less than OUTSTANDING. She is truly the “go to” person for any question or concern about the website. The Rotary District 5870 website was completely redesigned for Rotary year 2012-2013 and Pam was the person that led the effort, meeting every deadline, and addressing endless requests for specific options, web pages and interactive operations. She is a detailed expert of ClubRunner capabilities, and has fully exploited the system to provide a level of web services that meets every requirement for our Rotary District and our Clubs. She is always looking for ways to improve the website, and ensures the site is current with fresh information not only from those providing input, but also from her research of current Rotary news and issues. Her response to posting and updating request is virtually immediate, often times having the new information posted within minutes of the request. In addition to her expertise in web design and support, she is also an excellent graphic design artist, and is been very helpful in designing content for the website as well as brochures and flyers used to promote our programs and events. Pam Blankenzee and RDZigns has my strongest recommendation for all levels of web design and support services, including the most challenging, and for the most discriminating client.	15,515
"There are people who touch our lives at certain points on our journey. Some people enter our lives and we are forever changed and grateful for having met them. Kara is one of those people for me. It was during a time of deep personal crisis and turmoil that I found Kara. I knew I wanted to chart a new path in my life’s journey, but did not know how to begin. I was depressed, anxious, and hopeless, but desperately wanted to make a change. I did not have the emotional arsenal, nor did I understand my patterns and the process of how to change my response to my circumstances. This is where Kara’s gift lies. She helped me develop an arsenal to deal with the joys, the sorrows, relationships, and everyday challenges that one faces in life, as well as transforming my body in the process. The body and mind are very powerful and when they heal simultaneously, it's magic. Kara not only dedicated her time and passion to me while in a session, but also followed up with me during the week to track my cardio progress, food intake, and to check in. She has written me meal plans, recipes, and cardio workouts. She has been by my side through my whole journey and shares in my successes with as much enthusiasm as I do. My journey has not always been easy and there have been times I would break, but Kara is always there to lift me up and keep me going. Kara has been extremely valuable in helping me identify and build on my strengths. With her support, I have also learned how to target areas to work on allowing for more personal growth. She is an integral part of my team that supports me in my quest for a sound and healthy mind, body and spirit. Kara has been a true blessing in my life, helping me to maintain my balance and embrace my new beginnings. I am a completely new person and no longer cringe when I look in the mirror or fear leaving the house because of her. I have lost almost 100 pounds and my endurance and physical ability have surpassed my expectations. I have never looked or felt better physically and emotionally as I do today. Before Kara I would look in the mirror and cry in despair, now I cry tears of happiness and amazement of how much I changed externally and internally. Kara gave me a new life and I am forever grateful." "Kara is the perfect combination of strong and kind, and she works with the whole person -- mentally, emotionally and physically. I can do things now I would have never dreamed of attempting before my journey with Kara." “My story is probably a bit different... In the beginning of 2017 I was in the best shape of my life. Then I was struck with an illness that caused me to lose 30 pounds (on a 5’9” frame with a usual weight of 135, this was a tremendous amount of weight). I lost every bit of muscle and looked like skin and bones, I thought I was dying. I wouldn’t leave the house because of how I looked and even size 0 clothing was hanging off me. After about three monthsI finally started recovering. I was still so embarrassed of my body that I took a leave from work. People would say to me “I would love to have that problem”. I am here to say that gaining weight when you have been very sick is very hard and takes a lot of hard work. I started working out with Kara because she was the only person I was comfortable with and who I would let see me. We started very slow and she worked on nutrition and building muscle so I didn’t lose anymore weight. Within a month I started to see results and began to have hope. Kara gave me hope, something I didn’t have before. She is understanding, patient, concerned about anything that might be hurting you, and you getting the proper nutrition to reach your goal, regardless of whether that is losing weight or gaining weight. The first thing she asks me before we work out is, "What did you eat?" Kara has been a lifesaver to me. She is my friend, my therapist, and a badass personal trainer. I don’t know what I would do without her. She has never judged me and has understood my journey is different than most. I am so happy to say that I have gained back almost all of my weight (and muscle), and am finally able to do cardio again. Kara saved my life period.” "After gaining 57 pounds while recuperating from a car accident, I began working out and saw minimal results. It was really frustrating for me because I was working out consistently. It was suggested to me to try a personal trainer by the name of Kara. The inches and weight finally began to come off! Kara will motivate and push you even when you think you can't do it. I am so grateful to Kara for helping me to lose weight, and for the confidence I have gained. I look forward to my workouts with Kara because I know they will be challenging and I will see results!" "Kara got me ready for my wedding dress in less than six months! I have spent 3 years trying to workout on my own and have even been to other trainers. I couldn't find the motivation or the right trainer for me until I found Kara! Now I feel more beautiful, confident, and stronger than ever. Kara listened to what was important to me, and our training sessions suited my individual needs. I owe my progress and transformation to her." "I have been physically fit and athletic my whole life. However, after having 2 children (my second at age 40 years of age) with a full time job in NYC, it became more challenging to stay fit. Training with Kara has been a life-saver with an all-over-body, power workout weekly. Her workouts have whipped me into shape and given me the confidence and stamina I need at 46 for a demanding career and two active boys.	5,975
I desire to present a petition signed by 225 residents of the town and district of Welwyn, praying that the depositors of the Home Bank be indemnified. Charles A. Stewart (Minister of Mines; Minister of the Interior; Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs) Liberal Member File Biography @ PARLINFO I beg to present the petition of the St. Paul's Presbyterian Church at Hamilton opposing the United Church of Canada Bill. PRO Member File Biography @ PARLINFO I beg to present the petition of David G. McQueen and 1324 others, of Edmonton and surrounding district, opposing the United Church of Canada Bill. Hon. GEORGE P. GRAHAM (Minister of Railways and Canals) moved the second reading of Bill No. 48, respecting the construction of a Canadian National railway line from Turtleford to near Hafford in the province of Saskatchewan. Motion agreed to, bill read the second time, and referred to the Select Standing Committee on Railways, Canals and Telegraph lines. Mr. WILLIAM IRVINE (East Calgary) moved the second reading of Bill No. 3 to amend the Criminal Code. He said: It is perhaps unnecessary to point out to the House that there are four crimes for which the death penalty may be imposed in Canada. These are treason, making war against His Majesty, rape and murder. I do not know whether it ever occurs that the death penalty is inflicted for the commission of the first three mentioned crimes. The bill now before the House deals with all of these crimes, and simply asks that capital punishment be abolished and life imprisonment substituted for the death penalty. The effect of the operation of the bill, if enacted, may be much more profound than that, but it is a very simple matter to understand the alterations in the law which this bill calls for. On numerous occasions this question has been discussed before the parliament of Canada, and I observe from reading these former debates that the ethical and religious arguments which have been put forward have been considered very thoroughly. I am going, therefore, to confine myself largely to the argument against capital punishment from the historical and scientific point of view. First of all, I desire briefly to point out the basis upon which the present criminal code rests, add that basis is not very difficult to define. It. goes back to the natural animal instinct of self-preservation and retaliation in order to preserve oneself. In the early days we had to kill or be killed; it was a crude, unintelligent struggle for existence. But as time went on the desire for retribution, for revenge, came into play, and there came into existence what was known as the "avenger of blood;" that is to say, one man of a tribe sought to avenge the death of another member of the tribe who had1 been killed. There was no thought of punishing the actual individual who had committed the crime, there was no thought of the circumstances; the only thought was revenge for what had been committed. This is known as the ancient lex talionis.-an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But by and by society took over the position of the avenger of blood, and that is the function which the Dominion of Capital Punishment Canada fulfils to-day by carrying out our present criminal code. Now, I hold, very strongly, Mr. Speaker, that a criminal code that is based on savage impulses and keeps in view savage aims cannot be expected to produce civilized results. We shall try in vain to achieve the ends of civilization through institutions that were devised for barbaric purposes. As to the basis of our present criminal code, history does not leave us any room for doubt whatever. Primitive man had absolutely no thought of deterrence when he imposed this penalty; but as humanity developed intellectually and morally, we found it incumbent upon us to find some rational sanction for the practice of taking the lives of other people, and so we said: We will take life for life on the ground that this will deter other people from committing crimes. I do not think there is in Canada any person who would advocate the death penalty to-day on the ground of revenge, which is the basis of our criminal code. Why then, we may ask, should we continue to keep in force an institution for the purpose of revenge when we seek some other purpose for carrying it out? I believe we can find a better way of gaining our ends. Let us move to another point in the historic argument. Civilized man, as I have said, seeking a rational sanction for the imposition of the death penalty, decided that it must be considered as a deterrent. He thought it was less inhuman to kill a man when in doing so he reasoned that he was preventing other men from repeating the crime, than it was to kill on the basis of revenge. That is our civilized interpretation of the death penalty. So, when punishment was regarded as a deterrent from crime, in the early stages of that recognition we find that the death penalty was passed on all offenders, and it was carried out publicly and made as horrible as possible. This was the proper and logical thing to do, of course, for in order that the death penalty might be a deterrent, people would have to see the thing and know that it was carried out;-the more horrible it was made to appear, the more of a deterrent it would be, provided, of course, that it had a deterrent effect at all. So we find human ingenuity was exhausted in devising cruelties to impose on those who had committed crimes. But we have to say briefly that this method has proved a failure. Society has been forced to abandon all these cruelties; society has been forced to abandon the death penalty except in the case of homicide. In an article in the American Journal of Politics, in 1893, we are told that under the old Jewish law every crime save one was punishable by death. In England, in the eighteenth century, 160 offences were punishable by death, among those being that of stealing property. A man for stealing five shillings could legally be hanged, and very often in the early history of England people committing such crimes were hanged. Also, if a man held an opinion that was different from that of his church authorities, or different from that of the state authorities, as a heretic he was punishable by death. In the reign of Henry VIII alone, 72,000 people were hanged for crimes and offences of this character. The first relief that came to the people of Great Britain from this kind of punishment came through the colonies. That is to say, a man who had stolen five shillings had the option of going to Canada or some other colony or to be hanged, and sometimes he decided in favour of a new start in the colonies. That was the beginning of relief from this type of punishment in Great Britain. Liberal Member File Biography @ PARLINFO Is the hon. member serious in suggesting that convicts were ever sent out to Canada? Member File Biography @ PARLINFO I am merely repeating what is an acknowledged historic fact, that at a certain period of English history, the people of England, who were convicted of petty crimes, were given the option of going to the English colonies. Ernest Lapointe (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada) Liberal Member File Biography @ PARLINFO I think the House is entitled to hear this little conversation with the hon. member for Brome (Mr. McMaster). Member File Biography @ PARLINFO I think it is our turn to have a little conversation in this end of the House, We have been trying to listen to a number that we have not heard throughout the session. The hon. member for Brome (Mr. McMaster) asked me if I was serious in suggesting that Canada ever received any such immigrants. I replied that I did not know whether Canada ever did or not, but I was merely referring to a fact in English history that there was a time when people sentenced for petty crimes were given the option of going to the colonies or of suffering the penalty of death. To-day, however, we find that these tortures and stupid penalties are very largely things of the past. To-day, there is an idea, at least, of seeking to reform criminals rather than simply to kill them; the death penalty has been abolished except for cases of homicide. Therefore the question that I wish to put to the House is this: If tortures and executions failed in the past in deterring criminals from the commission of petty crimes, is it reasonable for us to suppose that, in the major crime of taking the life of another, where this is frequently done Capital Punishment in the heat of passion, the death penalty would be a deterrent? As a matter of fact, society has abandoned the death penalty in all these other crimes; but for some strange reason society holds on to this penalty in the case of the major crime. I think you will agree with me that the time is sure to come, if it has not come already, when we shall lay aside this method of dealing with criminals, not so much in the interest of the criminals-indeed, I am not going to plead in the interest of the criminal classes at all,-but in our own interest we ought to abolish this thing because it is degrading and demoralizing to humanity; it is an outrage upon the finest sensibilities; and, in addition, it fails to do that thing for which we impose it, it fails to deter people from the commission of any crime. When the death penalty was in full force for all petty crimes, we found that such crimes were much more frequent than they are to-day when the death penalty has been removed. Of course, I am not going to argue that this result is due solely to the fact that we have removed the death penalty for petty crimes; but I think while much of the advance may be due to improvement in economic conditions and to the development of a moral consciousness, yet the fact remains that these crimes were not stamped out by the imposition of the death penalty. If crimes are fewer to-day than they were in the eighteenth century, that is because intellectually, morally and economically the race has outgrown them, they were not stamped out by the imposition of the death penalty. I am reasonably certain that the same thing will be true of the major crime of homicide if similarly treated. To sum up my first point, I would say that history leaves no foothold for those who claim the necessity of continuing capital punishment. The motive underlying the Criminal Code, was based on revenge, and we cannot secure a civilized end on a basis of revenge. In seeking a rational sanction for the continuance of the death penalty we have assumed that it is a deterrent, whereas history has proved that it does not deter inasmuch as capital punishment has been abandoned as hopelessly ineffective in relation to all the petty crimes for which it was imposed in Great Britain in the eighteenth century. We find that notwithstanding the death penalty crime prospered and cruelty obtained; so that eventually the death penalty had to be abandoned. Capital punishment has been abandoned in regard to all the crimes for which it formerly was imposed, with the exception of homicide, for which we now contend that it should no longer be executed. I suppose it was natural that the death penalty should be retained for the major crime a little longer than in the other cases, but it is destined to pass just as it has passed in relation to all other offences. In the minds of those who have not given very much thought to the subject capital punishment is [DOT] still believed to be to some extent a deterrent, and it is on this ground that we tolerate it at all. But keeping in mind the fact I have already pointed out, that history has repudiated it as a preventive of crime in all cases except murder, let us further pursue the argument from the scientific point of view. Let us consult those who have approached the subject from that standpoint. I think we ought in all fairness to call in the criminologists and penologists to help us to formulate our criminal code. I am sure that there are men in Canada who are closely in touch with all our criminal conditions who could give to this parliament some very interesting arguments against capital punishment, and it is a pity that we should not seek the best advice of those who are in contact with criminal life before we draw up any criminal law whatsoever. I believe that if we studied the work of criminologists a little more we should move towards the suppression of crime at its source instead of wreaking revenge upon the poor criminal after he has committed the offence. In order words, what we should be interested in is the prevention of murder and not the killing of some man for having committed murder. Our present method does not step in at all until the murder has been committed, when action is too late. We ought to look for some other way of dealing with the matter before the murder actually takes place, and I do not believe that this is an impossibility. The penal code of Canada, as of all other countries, should reflect knowledge rather than revenge. In this regard let me quote M. Boies, one of the modern criminologists. He says: It is manifest that criminal law and codes are sporadic growths of past social circumstances and necessities, without any consistent theory or principle; devoid of order, harmony or system. When any particular crime became prevalent or annoying to society a penalty was offset against it in the hope, which has proved vain, of preventing its commission through fear of penalty. Criminal codes as they exist are in the light of the twentieth century intelligence a conglomeration of penalties of various degrees of atrocity, irrationality, absurdity and inutility. They are the relics of blind social struggle against social evils useful chiefly as antiquities, to be collected with thumbscrews, iron boots, racks, and torture wheels in museums. The cause of crime should have a direct bearing upon our treatment of criminals. If crime is of the nature of disease, as it is held by many criminologists to be, then it Capital Punishment should surely appear to hon. members an unpardonably stupid thing to punish a man for being diseased. If modern criminologists are correct in their general agreement respecting the causes of crime, then I affirm that it would be just as rational for us to prepare a prospective cancer patient to the graveyard as a means of curing him as it is to point the prospective murderer to the gallows for the purpose of preventing murder. Let us look for a moment into the question as to the causes of crime. According to the best modern authorities, crimes are caused in two ways, through hereditary influences and through environmental influences. The first influence, that of heredity, is like the seed, while the environment is the seed-bed into which that seed is cast. If a man is born with a weakness, mental or moral, and we provide the surroundings that are calculated to develop the inherited tendency, we shall have a criminal. Crime, therefore, is as inevitable a result as any other consequence of natural law, certain conditions being given. Hereditary weakness will lead to crime and the environment that is calculated to develop that weakness will produce the criminal. If that is so, then we have a tremendous responsibility which does not end at the end of the hangman's rope but which goes much deeper and should move in a different direction from that of capital punishment. The general conclusion arrived at by the modern student of this question is the absolute necessity of a comprehensive treatment of the whole body of criminal disease. The opinion is that we should treat criminals as we treat our insane or our diseased. Let me quote in this regard, very briefly, two or three writers upon the subject: Boies says: It is a penological law that pernicious heredity must be checked and corrupting environment corrected. Marro, another eminent penologist, found that 52 per cent of all murders examined into by him were directly traceable to ancestors. Others say that from 50 to 72 per cent of crime is due to pre-natal causes, and the remainder to defective education and deleterious youthful environment. Garofolo says: That hereditary transmission of crime is established by unimpeachable evidence. It is a theorem of penology that crime is a diseased condition. Suppose we assume, for a moment at least, that these gentlemen know something of what they are talking about, do we not see that when we think that we are preventing crime by means of ;the death penalty we are really in a fool's paradise indeed? There is no connection whatsoever between the crime and the punishment, and there cannot be, because if crime is caused by inherent weakness developed through environmental conditions, then no amount of so-called deterrence of this character will have any effect whatsoever, any more than it would have against physical disease. Let me give some practical examples which will tend to substantiate my claim from the theoretic standpoint. I would refer the House to the most famous investigation that has ever been made into this subject, that carried out in the case of Jonathan Edwards and of Max, the progenitor of the famous, or infamous, Jukes family. There were examined 1,594 descendants of Jonathan Edwards. Of these 245 were college graduates, 13 presidents of universities, 65 professor's and principals of schools, 60 physicians, 100 clergymen, 75 officers of the army, 60 prominent authors, 100 lawyers, 30 judges, 80 held public offices, some being senators, governors and mayors. Now, let us examine the family of Max, the father of the notorious Jukes family. Of the descendants that were examined 1,200 occupied penal and charitable institutions, and not one of them contributed anything to the public welfare. They cost the state about $1000 each, or in all $1,250,000. There were 310 in poorhouses for an aggregate of 2,300 years; 300 died in childhood, 840 viciously diseased, 400 physically wrecked by their own wicked practices, 50 notorious prostitutes, 7 murderers, 60 habitual thieves and 130 convicted of various crimes. Now, I do not contend, Mr. Speaker, that this case alone is sufficient to establish my point; but it should indicate to hon. members who may not have gone into the matter at all that this is the method by which our criminologists have arrived at their conclusion that crime is largely a matter of inheritance and of conditions of life. Let me substantiate this further by quoting from the Ottawa Journal of last night. In its report of the double hanging at London, Ontario, yesterday there appears the following: The gaol physician gave the two condemned men a glass of whiskey and morphine early this morning -"to make them cool and collected," he said. He added his previous claim that Topping had the mentality of a four-year-old. Mentally, he said, Murrell was normal, but had the morals of a four-year-old. If there were other people in London or Ottawa who were simply four years old mentally and morally do you suppose that the hanging of those two criminals would have any particular effect upon them? Not the slightest in the world, because it is the mentally and morally deficient who commit crime. I do not suppose hon. members will consider that the hanging of those two men Capital Punishment will be a deterrent to any of us, because of course we assume that we are not going to be criminals; we are hanging those men for the benefit of the other fellows. But the other fellows are mentally and morally incapable of being impressed by this retributive justice. Consequently we are perpetuating an institution which does not accomplish what we expect. The hangman with his rope is just like the medicine man of old times with his incantations. We need physicians and psychologists to handle our criminals, not the hangman; we need eugenics rather than the gallows. As I said at the outset, we ought to try to prevent murder, not to hang murderers; and if we are to prevent murder we must start somewhat earlier with our preventive measures. It will be seen that the conclusions of criminologists are borne out by the facts of everyday life. If crime springs from heredity and environment, then punishment can have no deterrent effect. History has shown hanging to be ineffectual and our daily experience confirms history. We have seen that when capital punishment was abandoned with respect to other crimes, those crimes did not increase. Now, homicide does not differ as to its cause from any other crime- An execution would have the same deterrent effect on a prospective thief as it would on a prospective murderer; in other words, it would have none at all. 1 shall endeavour to prove this from other sources, but for the moment I think we might turn our attention to other countries where capital punishment has been abandoned. Take Holland for example, and I select it because its population is not much smaller than ours. Holland abolished capital punishment in 1870, and homicide has been gradually decreasing, until the latest figures I have show a very marked diminution of this crime. In 1894 twelve were convicted, in 1897 nine, and the figures continue to decrease, until in 1902 only three were convicted. I have figures for only a few years with respect to Canada. Our population of course is a little larger than that of Holland. In 1913 there were twenty-three convictions for murder, in 1914 twenty-seven and in 1915 thirty-four. You see, the death penalty does not diminish murder in this country. On the other hand, in Holland homicide is decreasing. I am not arguing that this decrease is due to the abolition of capital punishment, indeed I should spoil my argument if I drew any such conclusion from the figures. I am arguing that hanging has no deterrent effect whatever. At the same time I give these figures to show that it does not follow that with the abolition of capital punishment everybody takes on homicidal tendencies. Holland is getting along very well indeed without the death penalty-better in fact than we are. I am seeking to prove that hanging does not deter the prospective murderer. In support of this I would quote from a volume on capital punishment which gives a very striking instance in favour of my argument On the 21st June, 1877, ten men were hanged in Pennsylvania for murderous conspiracies. The New York Herald predicted the wholesome effect of the terrible lesson. " We may be certain," it proclaimed, " that the pitiless severity of the law will deter the most wicked from anything like the imitation of these crimes." Yet on the night following the execution two of the witnesses at the trial had been murdered, and before the 5th July, five of the prosecutors had met the same fate. Now, however that may impress hon. members, it is very clear to me that capital punishment did not deter the commission of murder in that case. The people who had criminal instincts went ahead with their programme, regardless of capital punishment. Let us regard for a moment the latest murderer, if you like, that we have in Canada. I do not know for the moment who he is, but let us consider his motives. Do you suppose that before he committed murder he stopped to think of the gallows? Well, if so, it did not deter him, because he committed the crime. Let us suppose he did not stop to think of the gallows. Well, in that case also capital punishment did not deter him, since he did not think of it, There is a fact that stares us in the face. Here is another singular instance. Rev. T. T. Roberts, an English clergyman, consoled 167 murderers, and 161 of these declared to him that they had witnessed executions. Let me give you a short quotation from another and more modern authority. I quote a short passage from the statement of the warden of Sing Sing prison, who has been engaged in that work for twenty years and who knows criminals and knows their psychology pretty thoroughly. In fact, I would like to refer members of this House to our own Superintendent of Penitentiaries, perhaps one of the ablest men we could have holding that position in Canada. I think you will find that he does not believe in capital punishment; he does not believe in it because he understands criminals and crime. It would have been well, perhaps, had we discussed the matter with him before the debate came on. But let me give you what the warden of Sing Sing says: Social necessity is the only justification for capital punishment. Such social necessity does not exist be- Capital Punishment cause the figures show that capital punishment does not cut down the ratio of homicides to population. Therefore, capital punishment should go because in the few cases in which it is carried out it is a futile and a cruel and a brutal thing to do. That term "few cases" is important so far as the U.8.A. is concerned. Warder Lawes shows that out of every eightly-five men who commit homicide in American states where capital punishment is in effect only one is actually executed. The murderer rarely considers- Here is another thing for us to notice with regard to the psychology of the criminal: The murderer rarely considers the penalty of his crime. In those rare cases where the future consequences do enter into his calculations he regards himself as almost certain to be one of the 84 who will escape death. That is the word of the warden of Sing Sing. These facts all prove that the death penalty does not deter, and science shows us, as I have indicated, why it does not deter- because it does not touch the causes of crime at all. These facts suggest also that we are cruel and unscientific to maintain this method of dealing with criminals. Some have tried to show that the abolition of capital punishment would decrease crime. They argue, of course, that crime flourishes where it is punished most vigorously, and they prove from comparative statistics that in countries where the death penalty has been abolished crime has decreased. They also mention the power of the suggestion on a weak man of taking life. They also emphasize the fact that even for the state to take the life of another destroys the sacredness of life, and some argue that when a certain type of criminal feels that he is fighting for his life, as he has to do when capital punishment is in vogue, he becomes a sort of hero and rather likes it. This is an interesting field of inquiry, but I am not going to follow it, because I am not interested in proving that capital punishment increases crime. As a matter of fact, I do not think it does; I do not think it has any effect at all. It has no more the effect of increasing crime than of decreasing it, and that is the point I am endeavouring to establish: it does not affect the criminal at all, but it does affect us. That, I think, is self-evident. I want now, in order to prove this a little more clearly, to refer to statistics which I have here and which I collected from the United States. I wrote to the attorney general of every state in the union and to each of them I submitted certain questions. I will not bother you with going over all this long file, but I will just read the questions to you: What is the punishment provided by law in your state for murder with malice aforethought? If the sentence is death, what is the means of execution? If the sentence is death, has this always been the law of your state? If not, when was the change made and do you consider the change made an improvement or otherwise? If the sentence is not death, how long has the present law been in force? Do you believe that the effect of the present law has been to increase or decrease this crime in your state? Do you believe that the effect of the present law has been to increase or decrease the probability of conviction in cases where this crime has been committed? Where the penalty is not death, does the prisoner do sufficient work to earn the cost of his maintenance and detention ? Is any provision made for the compensation of the injured family of the victim? I want to quote just one or two replies to these questions, to prove my point that the mode of punishment does not affect the amount of crime. The attorney general of Nebraska says that in his opinion the punishment makes no difference whatsoever to crime, and from the state of Oregon also we are told that it has no effect, so far as the opinion of the attorney general goes. I will quote one more, that from the Secretary of State for Maine. He says: My personal opinion is that the death penalty or life imprisonment has no material effect upon the increase or decrease of crime. I do not think the murderer takes the penalty for his crime into consideration when committing it. He also invariably plans to escape any penalty. These are the opinions of people from the various states. Some of these states have capital punishment, some leave it to the option of the jury, some have abolished it, and from all of these the opinion has been given that it does not make any difference to the amount of crime whether you have capital punishment, whether it is left to the option of the jury to give life imprisonment, or whether you have life imprisonment. So I think it is reasonable, in view of the evidence at hand, to conclude that from the facts of history, from the scientific point of view and from the testimony of people living in our own age who have dealings with the criminal class, the mode of punishment has no effect on the criminal. Liberal Member File Biography @ PARLINFO May I be allowed to ask my hon. friend two questions? Can he cite the opinion of any attorney general in Canada favourable to the abolition of the death penalty for murder? And will he also give us the statistics of murders committed by foreigners in Canada? Member File Biography @ PARLINFO As to the first question, I have not consulted the attorneys general of Canada in this matter because I did not suppose their opinions would be readily given if they knew I was going to advocate the Capital Punishment abolition of capital punishment. As to the other I have no data with regard to the nationality of the people committing crimes in this country, neither do I think that is relevant to the discussion. It does not matter to me who commits the crime, whether he is a Hottentot, an Englishman or a Canadian; that has nothing to do with the argument. It is true that the hereditary influences to which those from some parts of the world are subject may be such as to make them criminals more readily under certain environments, but I do not see that that has anything to do with our discussion. Liberal Member File Biography @ PARLINFO May I put another question? Would my hon. friend put the hold-up man or the bank robber in the category of those who are suffering from mental disease? ' Mr. IRVINE: Most decidedly. The reason we have not robbed banks is that we have not suflered from the disease; if we had the same disease or weaknesses as those fellows who rob banks, we would be there now, I do not know that we deserve any particular credit for not having the disease. I do not suppose these men selected it; they have had it placed upon them both by hereditary influences and by environment, and now they are the victims both of the past and of the present. If we have no better way of dealing with these men than that of simply slinging a rope around their necks, then we are more miserable than they. That is my honest opinion in that matter. Liberal Member File Biography @ PARLINFO May I ask one more question and then I am through? If a man serving a life sentence commits murder in the penitentiary, what would the hon. member do in a case like that? That occurred in Montreal after a lapse of twenty years without a single execution. Member File Biography @ PARLINFO If my hon. friend will permit me to draft the Code the way I want to do it, I will provide for such a case. At the present time he is only a murderer whether in or out of prison when the act is committed and I think perhaps if the proper thing had been done with him in the first place, he would have been in an insane asylum. But when we get the proper way of handling criminals we shall not simply commit them to gaolers, but have them examined by expert physicians and psychologists, and in every case we would provide a proper place where the man could be taken care of. I think that was not done in the case my hon. friend mentions. I want to bring a friendly challenge to the Minister of Justice (Mr. Lapointe) and to any hon. members who may oppose this argument, and it is this: I think it is due to Canada as well as to this parliament, that if the nation is going to continue to occupy the position of the avenger of blood with regard to criminals, there ought to be no doubt whatsoever about the efficacy of the system in securing the civilized end for which we retain it. I want the Minister of Justice if he opposes this argument to bring the proof-not belief merely, no mere opinion, but I want him to bring the proof-that capital punishment has hindered one single criminal from committing a crime. I want that proof; I am not going to be satisfied *with a mere believe in the efficacy of this old barbaric practice. Nothing short of absolute proof can be accepted as an excuse for Canada maintaining the death penalty and placing our nation in the position of an executioner. April 11, 1924 Linked Parliamentary Data © 2016 University of Toronto additional data sourced from ParlINFO, openparliament.ca, Library and Archives Canada and Canadiana.org	34,925
Candace has been in the Dental field since 1987 starting as a Certified Dental Assistant, CDA, EFDA, EFODA, RDA for many years. She started with us in October of 2017 as Lead assistant and is now enjoying the role as Office Manager. She enjoys helping and interacting with patients in all aspects of the office. Our patients and staff enjoy her bubbly, positive personality, and radiant smile. She enjoys being outdoors, spending time with her husband Randy and their four children Casey, Shaun, Robin and Mckenna and their nine grandkids. She loves the sun, traveling, water sports, and riding her horses. When asked who her hero is: “My hero is my mama; she is no longer with us but she is my hero to this day. She held our family together like glue, she was always kind to everyone and had a heart made of gold. She loved us unconditionally. She was also the strongest person I have ever known and faced things head on without waiver. If I am half the woman she was, I will be doing well.” Sam joined our team in 2022 as scheduling coordinator and has recently gained her RDA so she can learn the clinical side of dentistry. She is not new to the dental field, with 4 years of experience in insurance billing and verifying. She loves helping patients learn and understand their individual insurance plan and enjoys seeing them so happy with their dental care at Cascade Dental Care. Outside the office Sam loves to go camping, fishing, hiking, canning and smoking meats with her boyfriend "Jamin". She loves spending time with her family and playing soccer. Traveling is another hobby she enjoys. When asked who her hero is: “My hero is my dad, he has shown on many occasions that hard work pays off, strong work ethics are a must in life along with paying attention to details. Always look outside the box and never give up on your dreams.” Lisa has been in the dental field since 1986. She gained her Degree in Applied Science of Dental Hygiene at Clark College. Lisa spends a lot of time with patients to educate and encourage them to maintain good periodontal health and the impacts it has on the entire body health. Outside the office you will find Lisa in her kitchen baking and/or cooking and in her yard gardening or quietly reading. She and her husband David have 2 daughters and 6 grandchildren whom the love dearly and a pet dog Bentley. Tami has been in the dental field since 1985. She loves working with people and helping them maintain their beautiful smiles and becoming part of an extended family with her co-workers. Outside of the office you will see Tami gardening in her yard, spending time on the beach and enjoying time with her grandkids. She also loves to sew. She has two children, three grandchildren and a dog to keep her busy in her spare time. When asked who her hero is: “My Mom - She always kept us going and out of trouble... Mostly...” Kristine has been with our team since 2019. She gained her Bachelors Degree in Applied Science of Dental Hygiene at Clark College. She is quick to make patients feel at ease and build confidence in their relationship. She enjoys being able to make a positive connection with her patients to help improve their oral health and smile. Outside of the office, Kristine enjoys hiking, kayaking, and traveling but mostly loves spending time with her husband Alex and daughter Alaina. Tiffany was born and raised in the local area and joined our team in October 2020. She started as a dental assistant 21 years ago and has her EFDA/RDA where she became passionate about dentistry. Her passion inspired her to further her education by becoming a Dental Hygienist (RDH). She gained her Bachelors Degree in Applied Science of Dental Hygiene at Clark College. Her goal is to help patients achieve good oral health. Her bright and happy smile makes everyone feel so welcome. She enjoys hiking, exercising, water sports, traveling and spending time with her family. She has a son Reece, whom she is so very proud of, a dog named Dusty and a cat named Oliver.” When asked who her hero is: “Most definitely my mom is my hero. Her continuous love and support for her family never ceases to amaze us all.” Kristen has just joined our team in 2022. She started out as a Dental Assistant 18 years ago and 16 years ago, worked her way through the Hygiene program at Argosy University in Minnesota. Patients have enjoyed her presence in the office not only for her bubbly personality, but also for her knowledge in the dental field. She enjoys working with patients and educating them on their personal oral health needs. She strives to make them comfortable in an environment that can be difficult for so many with dental anxiety. Kristen enjoys playing at the beach in the sun or anywhere there is water with her daughter "Maddy" who turned 8 this year. She is looking forward to kayaking and hiking this summer. Maddy is her true sunshine, she has a beautiful heart and loves playing with her cousins and friends. They have a kitty named "Oreo Mittens Kibble" that adopted them a few years ago. When asked who her hero is: “My sister Amy is my hero, she is one that endures hardship and difficulties head on with such strength and grace. She is a smart, confident and highly motivated individual that deserves so much respect and love.” Melissa has been with the team since January 2016 and in the dental field since 2006. She is a registered Dental Assistant. She loves assisting Dr. Teigen and help the patients achieve a healthier smile. Melissa’s contagious smile lights up the office every day. She enjoys the outdoors, hiking, Spending time with her husband James and her daughter Milly and working in her yard. They have a family cat Pearl and two dogs Sadie and Samon. When asked who her hero is: “My mom and my dad - They have always helped me pursue my dreams and encouraged me to be the best that I can. I would not be the person I am today if it were not for them.” Mckenna is new to the dental field graduating from Concorde Dental Assisting program and doing her externship here at the office. She is loving the fact that she can help patients get their self-confidence up by improving their oral health and beautiful smiles. Mckenna is such a great fit, we have decided to keep her as a part of our team. Mckenna has two beautiful daughters that are her whole life, Chloe and Aleyah. In her spare time, you will find her taking them to the park or spending time with her family. She also enjoys hiking with her dog Nova. Family is the most important thing in her life. When asked who her hero is: “My Dad, Randy, is my hero and has been all my life. He has been the most amazing role model, father and friend. He always encourages me and helps me achieve my goals in every way he can, without hesitation. He is my strength in so many ways.” Mon - Wed: 8:00am - 5:00pm Thursday: 8:00am - 4:00pm Every other Friday: 8:00am - 4:00pm Request Appointment	7,552
If you are like most people you will want to know more. People are naturally curious and seek out ways to solve problems. Although they may be able to learn in many ways, education is the only way for them to gain new skills and lay the foundation for their future learning. People need education in order to live in a fair and just world. People in racially and economically segregated areas will not receive the same educational opportunities as those who have more resources. Learn to distinguish right from wrong Studying God’s design rules is one of the first principles of discernment. Comparing the ideas and actions that others have taken with these laws can be done by studying Jesus’s life. By understanding these laws, we can determine whether or not a movement or idea is led by the Spirit of God. Deception is caused by the will of the human mind, but genuine movements are led and directed by the Holy Spirit. This is crucial to our spiritual growth and development. Why is learning education important Improve your communication skills It may not seem like a skill but if your job requires you to communicate often you should think about improving those communication skills. Participating in critical-thinking exercises can help improve your writing and verbal skills. These can be written or verbal and allow students to respond to questions in creative ways. You’ll also learn how you can improve your communication skills and which communication methods work best for your needs during your learning education. For most people, learning education enriches their lives. But, there are some who choose to go the other direction. For instance, Shannon Christensen, who left school for the first time, decided to go back. Today, she’s an artist, author, and family advocate. Her art has been featured in magazines and television, and she has spoken at international arts banquets. She also married the man who forced her to leave school. She recently celebrated her 29th wedding anniversary with her husband, which is a testament to the impact that learning can have. Enhance your understanding of the environment around you An education can have a profound impact on your life. One, you are better prepared to deal with complex issues and can help others. By becoming more educated, you can help your community and ensure its future. These are just a few of the many benefits of an education. You will be more confident and better equipped to tackle problems. You will also have a more robust understanding of how to protect the world. Improve your health There are many benefits to education, from more schooling to better health. Besides better health, more schooling can lead to better paying jobs, higher social status and wealth. A study by Lisa Berkman and David Cutler shows that higher education is associated with better health. This finding has sparked much discussion about the importance of education. Learn more about the many health benefits that learning education offers. And don’t forget to drink enough water. Learning education offers many benefits. It gives people skills and knowledge that can be exchanged for better jobs and resources. It can also promote the country from one economic bracket to another. In addition, if everyone left school with basic reading skills, 12% of the world’s poverty would be eradicated. It is important to remember that increasing access to education doesn’t suffice to eliminate poverty. More attention must be given to equitable learning. What is the basic concept of learning June 30, 2022 by Gutierrez Three Ways to Make Sense of Theories About Learning There are several theories about learning. Nevertheless, most people don’t understand the basics of learning. Here are some theories on learning and the processes involved. Theories are concepts that have been tested and developed. The basic idea behind learning is that our minds create concepts by observing and receiving information. These theories don’t always work. Here are three ways to make sense of theories about learning: Theories of Learning To understand learning, there are many theories. The first theory is that learning happens when you respond to changing circumstances. In other words, the person must experience a change in the environment before learning that particular behavior. However, this does not happen immediately. It is a slow process that takes time. Similarly, learning can also be learned by repeating the same activity over. What is the basic concept of learning Learning involves several processes Instructions to students may include listing the steps or taking the measurement. The student will learn more if they practice the task. Learning involves the decoding and encoding of information using epigenetic methods. For example, methylation of neuronal DNA and acetylation of neuronal histone proteins are epigenetic mechanisms that contribute to learning. Learning can be divided into two broad categories: cognitive or affective. Theories that were developed There are many theories that explain how learning develops. The first theory, situated cognition, was developed in the late twentieth century and challenges the prevailing understanding of learning as the transfer of formal knowledge from one context to another. According to Bredo (1994), we should think of an individual’s cognition within the context of their social interactions and the cultural meaning they have given to it. This makes learning more applicable and holistic. Tested Theories There are many theories about how people learn. Some theories have been proven true, while others remain speculative. Howard Gardner’s social learning theory claims that intelligence is not limited to one particular ability. Instead, it is made up of a variety specific intelligences that each individual has. While his work is speculative, it is favored by educators as it broadens the conceptual framework. Theories that are still being created There are many theories regarding learning. Theorists are split into two categories based on their epistemologies. Some theories stress the importance of learning processes while others focus more on how knowledge is created. All theories, regardless of their specifics, aim to describe how people learn. Some theories attempt to predict how learners will behave. Nevertheless, some of these theories are still being developed. What do you mean by learning educatio June 30, 2022 by Gutierrez What Do You Mean by Education? What does learning mean? What is education? Is there anything more important than knowledge? What are the advantages of education? While learning does not depend on teachers or classrooms for its success, it is dependent on a learning environment that is conducive to learning. Learning involves reflection, practice, interaction with the environment and availability, as well as social interaction. Learning is about improving one’s ability and performance in a task. Learning is only possible with motivation Students who are motivated to succeed at school show a number of traits that are indicative of high-achieving students. Their passion for the subject is driven by a clear goal. They are driven to succeed and put in every effort to get there. High motivation is evident in their goal-oriented behavior. They are also resilient and care deeply about their work. These behaviors indicate that a student who is motivated and capable of arranging their own learning experience is one who is capable. What do you mean by learning educatio Observational Learning is an educational strategy that emphasizes observation in the learning process. It involves watching others do a task. Observers must be able reproduce what they see. This might not be possible for some tasks, like complex ones or skills that require practice. In any case observational learning can help teachers develop a more effective teaching strategy. One example is the use of bar graphs in observational learning lessons. Acquisition of learning Acquisition is the process by which learners learn new vocabulary, models, and methods. The process is typically reflective, and it includes the use of conventional teaching methods like lectures, master classes, or demonstrations. Alternatively, acquisition can be carried out through online learning, through the reading of multimedia, watching videos, or listening to podcasts. Online quizzes can help you assess your progress in acquisition activities. Acquisition is often the dominant learning mode. Memorization for learning Memorization is often overlooked and can help students understand, analyze, and retain information. Research shows that memorization is more effective at helping students remember new information than rote learning. Memorization is an important tool for improving the quality of education. This article will discuss three benefits of memorization for students. We’ll be discussing each one in detail in this article. Adaptive tutorials are educational technology that adapts learning content to the learning style of individual learners. They employ cognitive load theory and multimedia learning to address limitations in a person’s ability process information. Cognitive overload is a common problem that can lead to confusion, inadequate understanding, and incomplete information. Unlike traditional learning methods, adaptive tutorials use scenario-based information to help learners better understand complex concepts. Non-formal learning Nonformal learning education is structured learning without a syllabus, curriculum, accreditation, or certification. Learning can take place through a variety of ways, from personal experience to participation in community groups. For those who wish to have a deeper understanding of a subject, or skill, non-formal learning is a good option. Here are some of the benefits of non-formal education. All non-formal learning opportunities have the potential for people to be more successful, better educated, and more knowledgeable.	10,114
If a dish has the word parmesan in the title, it’s almost guaranteed to be wonderful. Eggplant parmesan is certainly no exception. Though it is quite the labor of love, the result is more than worth the effort. To make this process easier, break the recipe down into steps and begin to prepare a day or so before you plan on serving the dish. About 36 hours ahead of time, I make my marinara and I salt/cover my sliced un-cooked eggplant with paper towels. Then on the day of, you can focus on frying your eggplant and assembly. Trust me when I say that following the process this way makes for a much more relaxed experience, especially if you’re preparing this meal for guests. Eggplant is in season currently in Florida so locating a few good ones shouldn’t be an issue. Rollin’ Oats is stocked with eggplant right now, along with everything else that you’ll need to make this recipe. The best part about sourcing ingredients from them is the quality and care they take in providing premium, organic products that are often local. What’s not to love about that? Perhaps the most important yet most simple step of making eggplant parmesan is allowing ample time for it to cool before slicing and serving. Absolutely no one wants to eat a serving of piping hot and mushy eggplant. Allowing it to cool ensures a lasagna-like form for each piece. Eggplant Parmesan When prepared properly (patience included), eggplant parmesan is the poster child for luscious comfort food. In my opinion, the key to this recipe rests in two aspects: salting the sliced eggplant and allowing it to rest for an ample amount of time pre-breading/cooking and allowing the the dish to cool for at atleast 30-40 minutes before slicing and serving. Marinara2 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes1 onion (Peeled and sliced in half)3 garlic cloves (Fresh, minced)1 tsp crushed red pepper2 tbsp tomato paste1/2 cup red wine (Something you would drink)2-3 dried bay leavesparmesan rinds1 tbsp salt (plus more as needed)1 tsp black pepper (plus more, to taste)1 tbsp olive oilorange peel (approximately 3", to balance the acidity)Eggplant & Assembly4 eggplant (Medium in size. Peeled and sliced lengthwise into 1/2"thick slices)1.5 cups all purpose flour6 eggs (whisked well)3 cups panko bread crumbs2 cups vegetable/olive oil2 tsp dried oregano2 cups parmesan (grated, divided – plus more for serving)2 cups low-moisture shredded mozzarella8 oz mozzarella ball (torn into 1-2" pieces)1/2 cup basil (fresh, chopped) MarinaraHeat oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion halves and cook until beginning to brown (8-10 minutes).Add in minced garlic and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring here and there, until fragrant (1-2 minutes).Mix in tomato paste, salt and pepper and cook stirring occasionally until tomato paste begins to darken, 2-3 minutes. Add in bay leaves.Pour in wine and deglaze pan. Then, carefully dump in both cans of tomatoes and toss in parmesan rinds and orange peel. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low and allow sauce to reduce and cook until onion is soft and sauce is quite flavorful – 1.5-2 hours. Add more salt as needed. Remove and discard bay leaves, orange peel, parmesan rinds and remnants of onion. Season as needed.EggplantSet a wire rack inside a baking sheet and line it with paper towels. Layer eggplant slices single file and salt liberally. Repeat eggplant layering with paper towels. Allow to sit for at least a couple of hours and up to one whole day.After eggplant slices have rested, combine panko, one cup parmesan, dried oregano and a couple of pinches of salt in a food processor and pulse until well combined. One at a time, dredge eggplant slices in flower, egg (allowing excess to drip, and then coat well all over in bread crumb mixture. Set slices on a wire rack single file. Add vegetable/olive oil to a large pot or dutch oven and heat over medium-high. Cook dredged eggplant pieces a few at a time until golden brown (3-5 minutes). Remove from oil and add to paper towel-topped plate. Press with more paper towels gently to absorb oil. Repeat with remaining slices of eggplant.Eggplant Parmesan AssemblyPre-heat oven to 350. In a casserole dish, disperse one cup of marinara, followed by a single layer of fried eggplant slices, more marinara and then 1/3 cup of the cheese mixture. Repeat steps starting with eggplant slices, sauce and then finishing with cheese layer until you run out of eggplant – I usually get three layers, but it all depends on your dish.Cover with foil and bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove foil and increase oven to 425F.Top with torn fresh mozzarella and bake for another 20 minutes – cheese should be golden on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30-40 minutes before slicing to ensure lasagna-like slices. Serve garnished with grated parmesan and fresh basil. Dinner, Main CourseAmerican, ItalianAbby Allen Recipes, Dinner Recipe, Eggplant Parmesan, Vegetarian For as long as I can remember, Sea Critters Cafe has been a dining destination for Pass-A-Grille vacationers and locals alike. This year they acquired new ownership and a new name but don’t worry Red, White & Booze still offers locally caught seafood, easy access for boaters, a fun bar to feel like a local, and more. Before longtime fans get worried, their fresh margaritas aren’t going anywhere. The ambitious owners, Charles and Helen, are revamping the menu to bring back old favorites and introduce exciting new dishes. They also renovated the dock and outdoor seating to reel in boaters, pun intended. The vibe is very much beachy, laid back, and casual which is perfect for post-beach days, mid-boat days, and chill weekends when you’re looking for live music. They currently have live music on Fridays and Sundays. One notable feature is the waterfront view. The restaurant sits right on the intercoastal so get ready for a breeze and maybe even a dolphin sighting while you enjoy their tasty menu. Start with their popular and refreshing Critters Classic Margaritas with Margaritaville Silver, Triple Sec, and Critters’ fresh squeezed margarita mix. Who wouldn’t love a massive margarita that also tastes amazing and can be enjoyed with waterfront views? A deep fried delight, the Hush Puppies at Red, White, & Booze provide a flavorful comfort food accessory to your main dish. These hush puppies are lightly fried cornbread fritters served with a delicious house made remoulade for dipping. The crisp batter and soft inside is the most ideal combo for a perfect bite. My personal favorite menu item is the Maine Lobster Roll with slow poached lobster meat and celery tossed in an herbed buttermilk dressing served on a New England style bun. The fluffy, chilled lobster roll comes with a good portion and tastes very fresh. It’s so simple yet very satisfying. Is a lobster roll really a lobster roll without a side of fries? Definitely order the sweet potato fries. They complement the lobster roll with its salty and ever so slightly sweet flavor, making them the perfect sidekick. All sandwiches include a choice of homemade creamy coleslaw, thick cut steak fries, or sweet potato fries for an extra $.99. The Fresh Catch Grouper Sandwich is a beach restaurant classic. You can choose it prepared how you’d like with choices of grilled, blackened, fried, or a crunchy almond crust and served with your favorite side. We went with the classic blackened Florida grouper sandwich with thick cut steak fries and let me tell you, this is now on my list of favorite grouper sandwiches in St. Petersburg. It’s a safe order with simple and fresh ingredients to get that seafood fix in. The fries are thick, salty and perfect for snacking on. In a vast sea of fish tacos in St. Pete, it can be hard to stand out. The Dos Fish Tacos at Red, White & Booze are wonderfully filling and tasty with your choice of market-fresh fish, prepared your way, and topped with tangy pineapple pico, chipotle crema, pickled red onion and cilantro all in a flour tortilla. There are a lot of flavors to love here. We ordered the shrimp prepared with the crunchy almond crust. If you like a sweet, zesty and savory combo, then I highly recommend ordering these. For a side, you’ll get creamy cole slaw and thick cut steak fries which are both great. For some serious southern fare, you must try the Shrimp and Grits. They’re creamy, dreamy, and will fill you up. This decadent bowl combines the rich steamy flavors that we all love with shrimp and andouille sausage sautéd with red bell pepper and onion in a cajun cream sauce, served on top of creamy smoked gouda grits. This dish is incredibly good. A daily special that you ooh over as the waiter reads them off means you must order it. The Trio Shrimp Special came with a variety of battered shrimp and sauces to pair them with. One Mexican-styled with a chipotle cream sauce, the middle was the almond crusted with cocktail sauce and the last on the right was a coconut shrimp with a tangy sauce. The coconut shrimp was hands down the best one. All were great for different flavors and hints of sweet and savory. Delicious seafood? Check. Refreshing margaritas? Check. Waterfront views for boat and dolphin watching? Check. The overall experience at Red, White & Booze was really spectacular and you’ll feel like a regular even on your first visit. If you’re heading to Pass-A-Grille Beach, you’ll certainly want to stop in for a delicious meal and tasty, refreshing drinks. Arrrgghhh ye thirsty or hungry?! Grab your hearties and head to Jolly Roger’s Grub & Pub, located in Tierra Verde, for a bounty of grub and grog’-tails. Jolly Roger’s is an unexpected and welcome addition to St. Pete’s food scene. This cheeky bar and restaurant brings all the pirate flare you could imagine. From the moment you pull up to Jolly Roger’s you know you’re going to be in for some fun. Outside of the restaurant is a giant blowup pirate waving you on in. Once you walk in, there is no shortage of fun and interesting things to look at. From beachy murals on the walls, skeletons and pun-intending table signs hanging from the ceilings, quirky knick knacks strewn about the restaurant. No corner is left untouched, every detail is thought of down to the salt & pepper shakers on the table and the skull and crossbones flags planted in your food. But, beyond the fun pirate theme is a kitchen turning out some of the most unique and delicious bar food in town. Captain Kent, Captain Roger and Chef Kelly have created a menu unlike any other around. Jolly Roger’s has a scratch kitchen that brings you everything from bacon wrapped hot dogs, tuna tartar, deep fried ribs, smash burgers (even one on a mac n cheese bun), house-made sauces, and on weekends they serve breakfast. We started off with some Grog’ Tails to wet our whistles while we took in the large menu. I chose the Capt’n Kent’s Pineapple Scurvy Whip and my friend chose the Madam Maria’s “Yo Ho” Sangria. The Pineapple Scurvy Whip is comprised of Wicked Dolphin Pineapple Rum, coconut puree, and Triple Sec then topped off with Cutwater Bali Hai Dark Rum. I am not a huge fan of coconut, but I am a huge fan of pineapple, so I decided to give this drink a go and I was very happy I did. The coconut wasn’t too strong and it was more pineapple forward. The Sangria is a red wine sangria with bold and warm flavors. It was fruity and quite cinnamon-y and almost had the feeling of a cold mulled wine. If you are not a fan of cinnamon, I would may stray away from this, but for me it was perfect. Any time there is fried mac n cheese on a menu, you better believe I am ordering it. The Capt’n Mac’s Cheese Pirate Balls were possibly the best I’ve ever had. They are made with a house-made cheese fondu and then battered and fried to perfection. The crispy and flavorful breading wraps around the creamy macaroni and cheese and is served with a house-made spicy ranch dip. The combination is a flavor bomb in your mouth and is a must order on the menu. One item that we were told by many members of the staff to order was Davy Jones’ Deep Fried Ribs. You have the option of having them coated in a Thai Chili Sauce or a house-made Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce. We went with the Thai Chili. I expected the ribs to be dried out from being deep fried, but it was actually quite the opposite. The ribs were juicy and falling off the bone and the breading added a welcome crunch to every bite. In addition to our main appetizers, we saw on the menu that they had house-made kettle chips. Which is my favorite type of chip. So, we also decided to start with a side of the house-made chips with their house-made honey mustard and blue cheese dips. They were a little thicker than your standard kettle chip, but that just made for a more sturdy vessel for me to plop some of the blue cheese dip on to. While the boneless chicken may seem like one of the more “boring” items on the menu, our server actually highly encouraged us to order them. Fresh cut chicken breasts are hand breaded in house and deep fried for a perfect juicy bite. There are a variety of sauces to choose from, but we decided to go with the house-made buffalo sauce and a side of garlic parm. I think it’s quite rare to see a hot dog on a restaurant menu these days. So when I saw that they had half a page of their menu dedicated to their hot dog, or better yet the Sea Dog, varietals I knew I had to order one. Especially when I realized they were also bacon wrapped and deep fried. I decided to go with the The Chili Cheese Dog. The house-made chili is savory and has deep flavors and combined with the hot dog and bacon this combination is a savory food lover’s dream. I am not someone who typically orders chicken sandwiches at a restaurant. My friend ordered the Chicky Sandwich, and I took a couple bites of it. And let me tell you, this might be one of my favorite entrees we ordered. The giant chicken breast was tender, flavorful, and so juicy. The toppings were simple, lettuce, tomato, and caramelized onion. But I think there may have been another ingredient… MAGIC. It’s true what they say, sometimes simple is best (not saying that their extravagant menu items aren’t great too though). This is a sandwich I would go back to Jolly Roger’s for. Da Chef Kelly’s Cuban Sandwich is made with salami, ham, Cuban pork (roasted in house), swiss cheese, and mustard aioli on hand pressed Cuban bread. While this was delicious, it was probably the safest option we ordered and did not stand out amongst the pack. Get out your forks and knives for this “handheld” burger. Capt’n Mac’s Meat & Cheese Buns is a tower of two smashed beef patties, double American cheese, bacon, and remoulade sauce in between two fried mac n’ cheese buns. My friend was able to take one bite out of it before switching to a fork and knife to finish the rest. Honestly, the fact […] We moved to St. Petersburg, FL almost 6 years ago. Sadly, it took us nearly that long to uncover all of the incredible gems sprinkled throughout town serving up Thai Cuisine. Thai was always a go-to of ours when we resided in Ohio and being introduced to some Thai hidden treasures as of late has been quite exciting. Our most recent introduction was to Rain Japanese Sushi Bar & Thai. It’s located in a strip mall off of Park St. N. It’s one of those spots where when you pull in, you just know that you’re in for something good. And our dinner experience over the course of the next hour proved this to be true, and then some. The restaurant is open every day, except Sunday, for dinner from 5:00PM until 8:00PM and through the week, they’re cooking up lunch from 11:00AM until 2:30PM. We stopped into Rain for an early dinner and arrived around 5:00PM. As soon as we stepped foot through the door, we were greeted by a friendly voice saying, “I just knew you guys were going to come in and eat with us!” (perhaps my photography in the parking lot was a giveaway? Ha!). We were greeted with this same enthusiasm throughout our entire meal. The service was genuine, prompt, efficient and the entire staff was so kind. We made a wonderful choice of sitting at the sushi bar where we were able to have a firsthand look at all of the sushi chef’s impressive creations. Though, those aren’t the only great seats in the house – Rain boasts a large dining room with a number of tables. When we arrived at Rain, we were the first to step in for dinner service. However, it didn’t take long for the tables to become occupied. By 5:45PM, the restaurant was bustling and nearly half-full. I love to watch that unfold. To begin our meal, we started off with a small bottle of chilled sake. They offer a handful of sakes on their drink menu that are most all around the $15.00 price point for the 300ml size which I find to be the perfect amount for a casual dinner for two such as this. Crisp, light and refreshing after a long day and exactly what I want with this type of meal. I find edamame to be one of those consistent and simple staples to enjoy throughout a meal with these genres of food. It almost acts like a palette cleanser between bites of sushi and fried rice, etc. and perhaps the best part is that it’s not filling whilst still delicious. Truly, a perfect snack. At Rain, the Gyoza are offered two ways – with vegetables and with pork. We went vegetable and let me tell you what an unexpected hit these were. Texture-rich, savory and explosive in flavors, we enjoyed these so much that we had a hard time not filling up on them alone. I definitely recommend one order to share between two, or two orders to share between four, and so on. Not only does Rain specialize in Thai, but they also create delicious Japanese food and sushi expressions – both classic rolls and renditions with their own intriguing twists. During our dinner, the sushi rolls were probably what we saw the most of…and trust me, they were making rolls by the handful. What started as one chef behind the sushi counter soon lead to two as the tables inside filled up. The sushi plates and arrangements from these talented chefs is artistic expression and pictured below is only the tip of the iceberg. We witnessed large platters of rolls by the handful land on tables as eager diners looked on with mouth-watering anticipation. We ordered three rolls (but could’ve easily ordered many more if our stomachs would’ve allowed) – the Snow Crab roll and two specialty rolls – the Hangover and the Sassy Amiga. The Snow Crab, pictured in front below, is a basic roll with snow crab, cucumber, mayo, avocado and smelt roe. The crab is very good and definitely stands out to make a statement. So if you’re a lover of crab, this one is undoubtedly for you if you want a roll without the fuss. The Sassy Amiga roll (pictured below on the left) was listed second on the menu and immediately grabbed our attention with components of spicy tuna, krab stick, avocado, cheese and a tortilla wrapping. I typically don’t gravitate towards specialty rolls like this, but it was a unique choice that I’m glad we made. The roll, of course, had heavy savory notations, but it also carried a nice sweetness due to the marriage of ingredients. The presentation was also quite beautiful; however, it was somewhat hard to eat. Smaller pieces would be ideal, but the roll is still ultra delicious. Pictured below in the middle is the Hangover roll. This specialty roll has that whole less is more thing going for it as it is only comprised of spicy tuna, cucumber, scallions, lime and a yummy little special hangover sauce. It’s incredibly fresh tasting with just the right amount of spicy subtle tuna flavor. This is one of those rolls that I would order time and time again. The menu at Rain is large enough without being too overwhelming. Plenty of rice and noodle dishes are available, most with your option of vegetables, tofu, chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or a seafood combination. Below is the Basil Fried Rice with vegetables. In this dish, which is listed under the Thai Dinner Section of the menu, you’ll find egg, bell peppers, carrots, onions, scallions and basil leaves of course. Basil is my favorite all around herb and this dish screams of it, which ultimately satisfied my senses. Somehow, I managed to not order the Masaman curry for a change. Instead, I landed on the Prik Khing with tofu. The Prik Khing is a dish of bell peppers, green beans, bamboo, onions and scallions all stir-fried together […] On Saturday October 29th, Thai Am, which is located on 4th Street in north St. Petersburg, celebrated the grand re-opening of their dining room. Thai Am has been open for over 20 years, but they were forced to cease in-person dining back in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. They continued their take-out and delivery services over the course of the two long years and never missed a beat. This Thai-favorite was beyond thrilled to welcome patrons back to dine on-premise over the weekend and what a bustling and exciting evening it was. We arrived for dinner at prime-time on Saturday evening around 7:00PM and we lucked out as there were just a couple of open tables still available. The small but mighty north St. Pete establishment was packed full of eager, hungry diners. The entire time we were there, there was a constant flow of people in and out – the amount of takeout orders that they were filling was truly impressive. The phone never stopped ringing, food was hitting tables left and right and the staff handled all of the buzz with grace and efficiency. Below is a photo of the calm after the storm – a quiet dining room after a successful re-opening. In celebration of the grand re-opening, Thai Am incentivized guests to dine-in by offering a $20.00 gift card voucher to put towards a future dine-in experience at the restaurant (which we did in fact receive and are thrilled to use in the future). In addition to the $20 voucher, Thai Am is also offering 20% off of your online order of $40.00 or more for a limited time. You can place your order on their website here. For an exceptionally busy Saturday evening and considering the occasion, the hard-working staff at Thai Am were impeccable. Linda was our server and she went above and beyond to ensure that our meal and overall experience were both top-notch. The rest of the staff at Thai Am was also ultra generous and accommodating. All hands were on deck and many of the staff members wore more than just a few hats to ensure that the re-opening went off without a hitch. I had enjoyed Thai Am’s food one other time prior to my experience this past weekend but that was years ago and it was a takeout order. I remembered that the menu was quite extensive so I wanted to make sure I did my research prior to our dinner. I’m ultimately glad that I did this because my odds of over-ordering would’ve been extremely high as everything sounded delicious. A game plan was carefully devised so we could try as many different things as we could without having an abundance of leftovers; however, that still was the case (but let’s be honest, leftover Thai is never a bad thing). Thai Am does not sell alcohol, but they do have a beverage menu with refreshments like Thai iced coffee, various Thai teas and soft drinks. Pictured below is the Thai Iced Coffee. This was the first time that we had ever had Thai iced coffee, so I wasn’t quite sure what it was or what to expect. Thai coffee is made this way using sweetened condensed milk which makes for an ice-cold creamy and sweet beverage that is frequently enjoyed in Thailand. I usually enjoy my iced coffee alone or with a splash of unsweetened non-dairy milk, so this drink was a touch sweet for my pallet, but it would be perfect for, say, the vanilla-latte lover. Because we wanted to try as much food as we could, we made the wise decision of starting off our meal with the Thai Am trio which comes with three Spring Rolls, three chicken drummettes and three Krab Rangoon. All are fried until crispy and served with sweet and sour dipping sauce on the side. It’s an idyllic spread to share with the table and a great way to try a few appetizers in one. My husband and my mother also dined at Thai Am with me on this night and we each had a different favorite of the trio. I favored the rolls, my mom hummed about the Rangoon and my husband Mike couldn’t get enough of the chicken. A short time later, entrees began to arrive at the table we ordered four: Kao Pad Sapparod (Pineapple Fried Rice), Gai Fai (Chicken on Fire), Pad Thai and the Gaeng Masaman (Yellow Masaman Curry). The curry was the first of the group to arrive and was also my entree of choice for the evening. This yellow curry dish is served with potatoes, onions and, whole peanuts and choice of protein (most all of the entrees come with choice of tofu, shrimp, pork, beef or chicken unless stated otherwise). Historically speaking, Masaman style curry is a main course that I both order and cook with some regularity, because it is probably my favorite curry dish. Thai Am’s Masaman curry reminded me why in fact this is one of my favorites – sweet and savory flavors, silky smooth sauce, ultra-tender potatoes and perfectly-cooked fried tofu. I will continue to order this again and again, but I will probably opt for more spice next time. My husband’s entree was undoubtedly the most fun of the group, the Chicken on Fire. He welcomes as much as possible at all times so he requested to have his dish prepared “Thai Hot,” which brings the most heat on Thai Am’s spice thermometer. Other levels of heat include mild, medium and hot. We didn’t realize that the chicken would quite literally be on fire. This marinated and fried chicken breast filet is served with Thai Chili sauce, broccoli, cabbage, carrots and is then topped with flaming whiskey – yes, they light the chicken on fire. Then, you blow it out when you’re ready to dive-in. This is a dish I definitely recommend ordering whilst dining-in. The chicken had spice, but it wasn’t overwhelming at all, […] Recipes Creamed corn, corn casserole, and even frozen corn are some of the standard players there to represent corn at the Thanksgiving table. Add in a dose of nontraditional fun with this vegetable this holiday season by making these air fryer corn ribs. Sweet corn season just started in Florida as it runs from October through June. Perhaps the most difficult part of this recipe is slicing the corn into ribs. First of all, you want to make sure that your knife is very sharp. The cob can be very difficult to cut through so just make sure to take your time and be extra careful. Cacio e pepe, which basically translates to cheese and pepper, is a delicious way to prepare these ribs but not a have to. Other seasoning combinations I recommend are: paprika/parmesan/cayenne/cilantro with a crema drizzle, or even just salt/pepper seasoned and finished with a drizzle of good vinegar and some fresh dill – get crazy. Rollin’ Oats carries a large assortment of organic spices and seasonings that would be idyllic with corn. Mother In Law brand Goghugaru Korean Chile Flakes and Frontier Co-op’s organic Tandoori Masala are a couple of my favorites. Cacio e Pepe Corn Ribs Have some fun with your corn side dish this holiday season with this air fryer corn rib recipe Air Fryer 4 ears of corn1/2 cup olive oil (plus more, as needed)1/2 cup parmesan cheese (grated)1 tbsp garlic powder1 tbsp onion powder1 tsp salt (plus more as needed, to taste)2 tsp black pepper (freshly cracked)1/4 cup basil (torn) Peel the corn. One at a time, cut each cob in half length-wise and then cut each half in half again so you have 4 corn "ribs."Combine spices, salt and pepper and oil in a medium bowl. Mix well.Brush each corn rib evenly with the mixture. Finish with a pinch of salt and more black pepper.Preheat an Air Fryer to 400F. Lay corn ribs in a single layer in the Air Fryer tray. Set the timer for 15 minutes and flip halfway through. Cook until desired doneness has been reached (I like a bit more char so I tend to cook them longer).Arrange on a platter and serve topped with parmesan and torn basil. Appetizer, Side DishAmericanCorn Ribs Recipes November 1, 2022 Pumpkin Basque Cheesecake Recipe Thanksgiving is on the horizon and I have the perfect Fall-inspired basque cheesecake recipe to serve your guests for dessert. Some of you may not be all too familiar with what exactly a basque cheesecake is. In short, it’s a a form of cheesecake cooked at a high temperature which in turn makes for a “burnt,” caramelized top with an interior that is ultra luscious and creamy. The process is very simple – just make sure that you have these tools on hand when making it: 10″ springform pan like this one, a stand mixer (like a Kitchen-Aid), parchment paper (3 16×20″ pieces), mesh sieve for sifting flour and a baking sheet. As for the ingredients, the list is fewer than ten. You shouldn’t have a hard time finding most of the ingredients as they are pretty standard and most always available – cream cheese, sugar, eggs, flour, heavy cream, vanilla extract, nutmeg and cinnamon. Pumpkin, however, can be tough to find the closer we creep towards Thanksgiving. I recommend stocking up now while it’s readily available. Rollin’ Oats currently has canned organic pumpkin puree in stock. We only need one cup for the cheesecake; reserve the rest of the can for something else like: in smoothies, pancakes or perhaps in something savory like a sauce for pasta or gnocchi. Make this the day before Thanksgiving in order to allow ample time for the cheesecake to cool and set up overnight in the refrigerator. This is necessary, but hey, that’s one last thing that you have to prepare on the big day. By morning, it’ll be ready to slice and serve whenever. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Pumpkin Basque Cheesecake After making cheesecake this way for the first time, you'll be hard-pressed to ever revert back to the standard cheesecake way. 2 lb cream cheese1 1/2 cups sugar1 1/2 cups heavy cream5 eggs1 egg yolk1/4 cup flour (Sifted. This is where your mesh sieve comes into play.)1 tbsp vanilla extract1 tsp cinnamon (Plus more for garnish when serving)1 pinch nutmeg (Grated.)1 cup pumpkin (Canned puree )salt Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with one piece of parchment. Lightly grease your springform pan. Take another sheet of parchment the same size and line your springform, carefully tucking it in (there should be plenty of overhang). Lay another sheet of parchment the same size on top and nestle it into the pan as well. The two pieces of parchment should be crossed.Add all cream cheese to a stand mixer and beat until smooth and creamy.Pour in sugar and beat until sugar is dissolved.Add in eggs one at a time, making sure they're mixed well.Mix in the cream, sift in the flour and add in the spices and a pinch or two of salt.Add the pumpkin and vanilla extract to the mixture and combine.Place parchment lined springform onto baking sheet. Carefully pour mixture into prepared springform.Bake for one hour. Remove when the top of the cheesecake is dark golden. Make sure not to cook it for too long – the inside should still have a light jiggle to it. Let the cake cool and then place it in the refrigerator overnight to setup. Remove the cake from the fridge and carefully peel away the springform pan and parchment paper. Slice and serve with optional cinnamon garnish. DessertAmericanPumpkin Basque Cheesecake October 6, 2022 Sweet Potato Tian with Maple-Tahini Drizzle Recipe Sweet potatoes are one of those fantastic ingredients that can show up whenever you’re in need of a sweet OR savory dish. Because of that reason, they’re a staple in our household. Yams and sweet potatoes of all kinds are always on deck in our kitchen: Jewel, Garnet and Japanese Sweet Potatoes, specifically. The end result of this side is quite stunning and may look difficult to replicate; however, it is in fact quite simple – especially if you have a mandolin slicer. If you do not have a sharp knife, a mandolin is key in making these rounds nice and thin like they should be. It will make your life so much easier (and safer) and you can definitely find one on Amazon for under $25. Save your finger tips. But please heed the warnings whenever using a mandolin and where the safety glove. You get going so fast that it is easy to cut yourself without one. This Tian is many things, in addition to being delicious and quite simple to assemble. It’s also comforting, health-forward, perfect for Thanksgiving and vegan (but still the utmost satisfying). If you buy all of the ingredients at Rollin’ Oats (and other health-forward grocers), this beauty can be made 100% organic too with local produce and mindfully sourced ingredients and products. Sweet Potato Tian with Maple-Tahini Drizzle The arrival of October tends to instill the want for all things Fall – especially when it comes to cooking. Use any combination of sweet potatoes/yams for this elegant side that is perfect for the season. Cast Iron Skillet 3 sweet potatoes (Any combination of sweet potatoes and/or yams will work. Sliced into thin rounds.)1/2 white onion (medium in size, sliced thin)1/2 cup parmesan cheese (grated)3 tbsp olive oil (divided)1/2 cup pomegranate seeds2 tsp saltMaple-Tahini Drizzle1 tsp salt (plus more, as needed)1 tbsp olive oil1/4 cup tahini2 tbsp maple syrup1 lemon (juice only)water (as needed to thin out sauce)1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (like cilantro, basil, parsley or dill.) Maple-Tahini DrizzleWhisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl or mixing glass. Add one 1 tbsp of water at a time as needed to thin sauce. It should easily drizzle without being too runny. Season with salt as needed.Sweet Potatoes & AssemblyPreheat oven to 400F. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a nonstick skillet like cast iron or casserole dish. Sprinkle half of parmesan cheese in skillet and then layer potatoes in the pan in a spiral (almost like you would with dominoes).Top with one more tbsp of oil and salt. Distribute onions on top with remaining tbsp of oil and a pinch of salt. Roast for one hour, turning skillet/pan halfway through, until potatoes are cooked through and onions have taken on color.Remove potatoes from oven, drizzle with maple-tahini sauce, top with pomegranate seeds and fresh chopped herbs like cilantro, basil, parsley or dill. Appetizer, Side DishAmericanAbby Allen Recipes, Fall Recipes, Fall Side Recipes, Sweet Potato Recipes September 2, 2022 Chicken Piccata with Grapefruit Recipe Traditionally, lemon is the citrus utilized when making chicken piccata. However, we’re shaking things up with this recipe where grapefruit is implemented instead. In September in Florida, a great deal of citrus is in season and that includes grapefruit. I don’t find grapefruit frequently used in savory recipes, but do see it quite a bit in desserts and salads. So when Lori mentioned that she made a chicken piccata with grapefruit years ago that was outstanding, I had to have a stab at it. This recipe is very similar to any other piccata recipe. The main (and only) difference in this instance is that we are using fresh grapefruit juice instead of fresh lemon juice. I find that the grapefruit makes the end result just a touch more sweet than the original recipe – it’s very subtle. When sourcing your grapefruit from somewhere like Rollin’ Oats where the organic produce is plentiful, seek out fruits that are very ripe and juicy. Avoid under ripe grapefruit that will feel more firm in texture. If the idea of grapefruit in place of lemon is too farfetched for you, perhaps ease into things by only using 1/2 lemon and 1/2 grapefruit. Chicken breasts are what I typically use for this recipe as I find them to be more convenient and easier to work with. If you’re looking to up the flavor ante, give chicken thighs a try instead. Chicken Piccata with Grapefruit Swap in a juicy grapefruit for the traditional lemon in this easy Chicken Piccata dish that is certain to satisfy all. 2 chicken breasts (Halved so that you have four pieces)1 cup flour2 grapefruits (Juice of 1 and the other cut into wedges.)6 tbsp butter4 tsp olive oil1/2 cup vegetable stock1/4 cup parsley (Fresh, roughly chopped)1 tsp salt (Plus more to taste)pepper (to taste) One at a time, place halved chicken breasts under plastic wrap and pound or roll until thin. Place on a plate and season with salt and pepperDredge each chicken piece in flour and shake off the excess. Heat a skillet or dutch oven (I like to use a dutch oven for the high walls in case of splatter) over medium high heat and add 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tsp oil. Add two chicken pieces at a time and cook for four minutes on each side until browned and coked through (about 8 minutes).Add 2 more tbsp of butter and remaining oil and cook last two pieces of chicken just as we did the first two. Remove from heat and turn down skillet to medium. Pour in stock, capers, juice of one grapefruit and grapefruit slices. Allow to simmer and then add chicken pieces back in and cook for another five minutes. Taste and season as needed.Remove chicken, add remaining two tbsp of butter to the pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Spoon reduced sauce and capers over chicken, garnish with parsley and serve. Dinner, Main CourseItalianAbby Allen Recipes, Chicken Piccata August 1, 2022 Beer-Battered Fish Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa Recipe Tacos are a love language for a lot of folks. I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why the handheld treat appeals to the masses, but I have a few guesses. There are so many taco renditions out there that you’re bound to fall in love with at least one. One of my personal favorites is Baja style which originated in none other than Baja California, Mexico. This type of taco is usually comprised of a white and flakey fish, often fried, a cabbage slaw of sorts and usually some kind of crema/sauce. This taco recipe was of course inspired by the refreshing Baja style taco, but I’ve added even more excitement with a bright mango-avocado salsa. Both fruits are in season in Florida during the month of August and Rollin’ Oats has plenty of them waiting for you – organic, ripe, juicy and delicious. Don’t limit the use of this salsa to just these tacos – have it as an appetizer with chips, spoon it on a salad, etc. I have found that we humans are quite particular when it comes to our tortilla shell preference. Flour or corn? Soft shell or do we want crunch? Street style or perhaps a bit larger? There are so many questions. Because of this, I’ve left the tortilla preference totally up to you and Rollin’ Oats has a variety of shells all over the board for you to pick from. Flour, corn, hard shell or even grain-free (made by Siete and they’re fantastic). As for the Cod, you’ll find a ten ounce bag of wild-caught in the frozen section at the back of Rollin’ Oats which proved to be incredible-tasting. If you aren’t a fan of cod or can’t find it, any flaky fish will suffice. Beer-Battered Fish Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa These are going to be your summer go-to taco for any occasion. Don't limit the use of the salsa to just this dish – it's great on salads and as an appetizer on its own too. Mango-Avocado Salsa1 avocado (diced in small cubes)1 mango (diced in small cubes)1/2 medium onion (diced)1 lime1 jalapeno (seeds and stem discarded, minced)2 tbsp cilantro (fresh, roughly chopped)salt (as needed)Chipotle Mayo1/4 cup mayo2 tsp liquid from can of chipotle chiles1/2 lime (juice of only)1/2 tsp salt (more as needed)Cabbage Slaw1 cup red cabbage (finely chopped/shredded)1 cup green cabbage (finely chopped/shredded)1/2 lime (juice of only)1/2 tsp salt (plus more as needed)pepper (to taste)Beer-Battered Cod & Taco Assembly10 oz Cod (preferably wild caught and cut into 2-3" pieces)2 cups vegetable oil2 cups flour (all purpose will do, divided)12 oz light beer (I used Cigar City Jai Low)1 tsp baking powder1 tsp cayenne2 tbsp salttortilla shells (flour, corn, grain-free – whichever you prefer…)cilantro (chopped)lime wedgestortilla shells of choice Mango-Avocado SalsaCombine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Taste and salt as needed and then refrigerate until ready for taco assembly.Chipotle MayoWhisk all ingredients together in a small bowl and season as needed. Refrigerate.Cabbage SlawStir all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Taste and season as needed and also pop into the fridge until later.Beer-Battered Cod & Taco AssemblyIn a medium bowl combine 1 1/4 cup flour, beer, baking powder and one tbsp salt. Whisk until smooth without chunks. Add remaining flour, salt and cayenne to another medium bowl and combine. Pat cod pieces with a paper towel and season with a pinch or two of salt.Toss cod pieces in dry flour and cayenne mix and then dredge in batter. Set dredged pieces on a cooling rack set over parchment to catch the drippings.Heat oil (it should be 2-3 inches thick – if not, add more) over medium high heat until 350-375 degrees (you can use a deep fat thermometer for precise temps). Add fish pieces (you can do this in two batches) and allow to fry for 3-4 minutes.Flip and fry for another three minutes until cod is cooked through and golden brown in color. Remove and allow to cool on a parchment-lined plate.To assemble the tacos, add a spoonful of the cabbage slaw, 1-2 pieces of fish, salsa, drizzle of chipotle mayo and cilantro and lime wedges as needed. Main Course, Main DishAmerican, MexicanBeer-Battered Fish Tacos, Best Taco Recipe, Fish Taco Recipe Eggplant Parmesan Recipe December 5, 2022 If a dish has the word parmesan in the title, it’s almost guaranteed to be wonderful. Eggplant parmesan is certainly no exception. Though it is quite the labor of love, the result is more than worth the effort. To make this process easier, break the recipe down into steps and begin to prepare a day […] For as long as I can remember, Sea Critters Cafe has been a dining destination for Pass-A-Grille vacationers and locals alike. This year they acquired new ownership and a new name but don’t worry Red, White & Booze still offers locally caught seafood, easy access for boaters, a fun bar to feel like a local, […] Arrrgghhh ye thirsty or hungry?! Grab your hearties and head to Jolly Roger’s Grub & Pub, located in Tierra Verde, for a bounty of grub and grog’-tails. Jolly Roger’s is an unexpected and welcome addition to St. Pete’s food scene. This cheeky bar and restaurant brings all the pirate flare you could imagine. From the […] We moved to St. Petersburg, FL almost 6 years ago. Sadly, it took us nearly that long to uncover all of the incredible gems sprinkled throughout town serving up Thai Cuisine. Thai was always a go-to of ours when we resided in Ohio and being introduced to some Thai hidden treasures as of late has […] On Saturday October 29th, Thai Am, which is located on 4th Street in north St. Petersburg, celebrated the grand re-opening of their dining room. Thai Am has been open for over 20 years, but they were forced to cease in-person dining back in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. They continued their take-out and […] More Than Just Pizza at Local Pizza Co. November 1, 2022 Local Pizza Co. has caught my eye many times as I’ve driven past it on 62nd Ave N, less than a mile off 4th St N. Its exterior boasts a big, bright green sign with its name and window decals with pictures of some example food offerings. You may be confused when you look closely […] Make Sure You Eat When You Drink at Mastry’s Brewing Co & Kitchen October 27, 2022 Mastry’s Brewing Co & Kitchen, a local hot spot in St. Pete Beach, is a family owned and operated business since 2014. Located on Blind Pass Road, you can’t miss Mastry’s as you drive by. With it’s lush landscaping and inviting atmosphere you will want to pull over and stop in for a beer. But, […] Good Intentions is St. Pete’s Newest Essential Vegan Restaurant October 25, 2022 Proving once and for all that vegan food is just as delicious as meat-based dishes, Good Intentions is serving a slew of endless possibilities of yummy plant-based starters and entrees in a down-to-earth space. This is a hip new vegan restaurant in St. Petersburg that is essential for vegans and non-vegans, so don’t let the word […] Old Northeast Pizza: Jersey Style Slices in the Heart of One of St. Pete’s Quaintest Neighborhoods October 18, 2022 The Old Northeast is perhaps one of the most quaint and desirable neighborhoods within St. Petersburg and perhaps all of Tampa Bay. The brick streets are lined with pristine pads with some only steps away from the water downtown. Most parts of the neighborhood are very quiet, as it is a mostly residential area. However, […] Cap’s Steamer Bar & Grill – The Best New Al Fresco Dining in Downtown St. Pete October 13, 2022 It was a sad day for many when the St. Pete MacDinton’s announced it was closing. But that quickly turned around, at least for me, when it was revealed that Cap’s Steamer Bar & Grill would be taking over the outdoor bar and sidewalk space of the former MacDinton’s. A new cocktail bar with fresh […] Curry, stir fry, bbq, spicy salads, steamed dishes and flavor-packed soups – what’s not to love about classic Thai cuisine? Thai dishes are undoubtedly at the top of my list when it comes to different food genres from around the world. The delightful essence and aroma that Thai food releases is sublime – it engages […] Recipes Creamed corn, corn casserole, and even frozen corn are some of the standard players there to represent corn at the Thanksgiving table. Add in a dose of nontraditional fun with this vegetable this holiday season by making these air fryer corn ribs. Sweet corn season just started in Florida as it runs from October through June. Perhaps the most difficult part of this recipe is slicing the corn into ribs. First of all, you want to make sure that your knife is very sharp. The cob can be very difficult to cut through so just make sure to take your time and be extra careful. Cacio e pepe, which basically translates to cheese and pepper, is a delicious way to prepare these ribs but not a have to. Other seasoning combinations I recommend are: paprika/parmesan/cayenne/cilantro with a crema drizzle, or even just salt/pepper seasoned and finished with a drizzle of good vinegar and some fresh dill – get crazy. Rollin’ Oats carries a large assortment of organic spices and seasonings that would be idyllic with corn. Mother In Law brand Goghugaru Korean Chile Flakes and Frontier Co-op’s organic Tandoori Masala are a couple of my favorites. Cacio e Pepe Corn Ribs Have some fun with your corn side dish this holiday season with this air fryer corn rib recipe Air Fryer 4 ears of corn1/2 cup olive oil (plus more, as needed)1/2 cup parmesan cheese (grated)1 tbsp garlic powder1 tbsp onion powder1 tsp salt (plus more as needed, to taste)2 tsp black pepper (freshly cracked)1/4 cup basil (torn) Peel the corn. One at a time, cut each cob in half length-wise and then cut each half in half again so you have 4 corn "ribs."Combine spices, salt and pepper and oil in a medium bowl. Mix well.Brush each corn rib evenly with the mixture. Finish with a pinch of salt and more black pepper.Preheat an Air Fryer to 400F. Lay corn ribs in a single layer in the Air Fryer tray. Set the timer for 15 minutes and flip halfway through. Cook until desired doneness has been reached (I like a bit more char so I tend to cook them longer).Arrange on a platter and serve topped with parmesan and torn basil. Appetizer, Side DishAmericanCorn Ribs Recipes 1 Nov 2022 Thanksgiving is on the horizon and I have the perfect Fall-inspired basque cheesecake recipe to serve your guests for dessert. Some of you may not be all too familiar with what exactly a basque cheesecake is. In short, it’s a a form of cheesecake cooked at a high temperature which in turn makes for a “burnt,” caramelized top with an interior that is ultra luscious and creamy. The process is very simple – just make sure that you have these tools on hand when making it: 10″ springform pan like this one, a stand mixer (like a Kitchen-Aid), parchment paper (3 16×20″ pieces), mesh sieve for sifting flour and a baking sheet. As for the ingredients, the list is fewer than ten. You shouldn’t have a hard time finding most of the ingredients as they are pretty standard and most always available – cream cheese, sugar, eggs, flour, heavy cream, vanilla extract, nutmeg and cinnamon. Pumpkin, however, can be tough to find the closer we creep towards Thanksgiving. I recommend stocking up now while it’s readily available. Rollin’ Oats currently has canned organic pumpkin puree in stock. We only need one cup for the cheesecake; reserve the rest of the can for something else like: in smoothies, pancakes or perhaps in something savory like a sauce for pasta or gnocchi. Make this the day before Thanksgiving in order to allow ample time for the cheesecake to cool and set up overnight in the refrigerator. This is necessary, but hey, that’s one last thing that you have to prepare on the big day. By morning, it’ll be ready to slice and serve whenever. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Pumpkin Basque Cheesecake After making cheesecake this way for the first time, you'll be hard-pressed to ever revert back to the standard cheesecake way. 2 lb cream cheese1 1/2 cups sugar1 1/2 cups heavy cream5 eggs1 egg yolk1/4 cup flour (Sifted. This is where your mesh sieve comes into play.)1 tbsp vanilla extract1 tsp cinnamon (Plus more for garnish when serving)1 pinch nutmeg (Grated.)1 cup pumpkin (Canned puree )salt Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with one piece of parchment. Lightly grease your springform pan. Take another sheet of parchment the same size and line your springform, carefully tucking it in (there should be plenty of overhang). Lay another sheet of parchment the same size on top and nestle it into the pan as well. The two pieces of parchment should be crossed.Add all cream cheese to a stand mixer and beat until smooth and creamy.Pour in sugar and beat until sugar is dissolved.Add in eggs one at a time, making sure they're mixed well.Mix in the cream, sift in the flour and add in the spices and a pinch or two of salt.Add the pumpkin and vanilla extract to the mixture and combine.Place parchment lined springform onto baking sheet. Carefully pour mixture into prepared springform.Bake for one hour. Remove when the top of the cheesecake is dark golden. Make sure not to cook it for too long – the inside should still have a light jiggle to it. Let the cake cool and then place it in the refrigerator overnight to setup. Remove the cake from the fridge and carefully peel away the springform pan and parchment paper. Slice and serve with optional cinnamon garnish. DessertAmericanPumpkin Basque Cheesecake Sweet potatoes are one of those fantastic ingredients that can show up whenever you’re in need of a sweet OR savory dish. Because of that reason, they’re a staple in our household. Yams and sweet potatoes of all kinds are always on deck in our kitchen: Jewel, Garnet and Japanese Sweet Potatoes, specifically. The end result of this side is quite stunning and may look difficult to replicate; however, it is in fact quite simple – especially if you have a mandolin slicer. If you do not have a sharp knife, a mandolin is key in making these rounds nice and thin like they should be. It will make your life so much easier (and safer) and you can definitely find one on Amazon for under $25. Save your finger tips. But please heed the warnings whenever using a mandolin and where the safety glove. You get going so fast that it is easy to cut yourself without one. This Tian is many things, in addition to being delicious and quite simple to assemble. It’s also comforting, health-forward, perfect for Thanksgiving and vegan (but still the utmost satisfying). If you buy all of the ingredients at Rollin’ Oats (and other health-forward grocers), this beauty can be made 100% organic too with local produce and mindfully sourced ingredients and products. Sweet Potato Tian with Maple-Tahini Drizzle The arrival of October tends to instill the want for all things Fall – especially when it comes to cooking. Use any combination of sweet potatoes/yams for this elegant side that is perfect for the season. Cast Iron Skillet 3 sweet potatoes (Any combination of sweet potatoes and/or yams will work. Sliced into thin rounds.)1/2 white onion (medium in size, sliced thin)1/2 cup parmesan cheese (grated)3 tbsp olive oil (divided)1/2 cup pomegranate seeds2 tsp saltMaple-Tahini Drizzle1 tsp salt (plus more, as needed)1 tbsp olive oil1/4 cup tahini2 tbsp maple syrup1 lemon (juice only)water (as needed to thin out sauce)1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (like cilantro, basil, parsley or dill.) Maple-Tahini DrizzleWhisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl or mixing glass. Add one 1 tbsp of water at a time as needed to thin sauce. It should easily drizzle without being too runny. Season with salt as needed.Sweet Potatoes & AssemblyPreheat oven to 400F. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a nonstick skillet like cast iron or casserole dish. Sprinkle half of parmesan cheese in skillet and then layer potatoes in the pan in a spiral (almost like you would with dominoes).Top with one more tbsp of oil and salt. Distribute onions on top with remaining tbsp of oil and a pinch of salt. Roast for one hour, turning skillet/pan halfway through, until potatoes are cooked through and onions have taken on color.Remove potatoes from oven, drizzle with maple-tahini sauce, top with pomegranate seeds and fresh chopped herbs like cilantro, basil, parsley or dill. Appetizer, Side DishAmericanAbby Allen Recipes, Fall Recipes, Fall Side Recipes, Sweet Potato Recipes Chicken Piccata with Grapefruit Recipe Traditionally, lemon is the citrus utilized when making chicken piccata. However, we’re shaking things up with this recipe where grapefruit is implemented instead. In September in Florida, a great deal of citrus is in season and that includes grapefruit. I don’t find grapefruit frequently used in savory recipes, but do see it quite a bit in desserts and salads. So when Lori mentioned that she made a chicken piccata with grapefruit years ago that was outstanding, I had to have a stab at it. This recipe is very similar to any other piccata recipe. The main (and only) difference in this instance is that we are using fresh grapefruit juice instead of fresh lemon juice. I find that the grapefruit makes the end result just a touch more sweet than the original recipe – it’s very subtle. When sourcing your grapefruit from somewhere like Rollin’ Oats where the organic produce is plentiful, seek out fruits that are very ripe and juicy. Avoid under ripe grapefruit that will feel more firm in texture. If the idea of grapefruit in place of lemon is too farfetched for you, perhaps ease into things by only using 1/2 lemon and 1/2 grapefruit. Chicken breasts are what I typically use for this recipe as I find them to be more convenient and easier to work with. If you’re looking to up the flavor ante, give chicken thighs a try instead. Chicken Piccata with Grapefruit Swap in a juicy grapefruit for the traditional lemon in this easy Chicken Piccata dish that is certain to satisfy all. 2 chicken breasts (Halved so that you have four pieces)1 cup flour2 grapefruits (Juice of 1 and the other cut into wedges.)6 tbsp butter4 tsp olive oil1/2 cup vegetable stock1/4 cup parsley (Fresh, roughly chopped)1 tsp salt (Plus more to taste)pepper (to taste) One at a time, place halved chicken breasts under plastic wrap and pound or roll until thin. Place on a plate and season with salt and pepperDredge each chicken piece in flour and shake off the excess. Heat a skillet or dutch oven (I like to use a dutch oven for the high walls in case of splatter) over medium high heat and add 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tsp oil. Add two chicken pieces at a time and cook for four minutes on each side until browned and coked through (about 8 minutes).Add 2 more tbsp of butter and remaining oil and cook last two pieces of chicken just as we did the first two. Remove from heat and turn down skillet to medium. Pour in stock, capers, juice of one grapefruit and grapefruit slices. Allow to simmer and then add chicken pieces back in and cook for another five minutes. Taste and season as needed.Remove chicken, add remaining two tbsp of butter to the pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Spoon reduced sauce and capers over chicken, garnish with parsley and serve. Dinner, Main CourseItalianAbby Allen Recipes, Chicken Piccata Tacos are a love language for a lot of folks. I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why the handheld treat appeals to the masses, but I have a few guesses. There are so many taco renditions out there that you’re bound to fall in love with at least one. One of my personal favorites is Baja style which originated in none other than Baja California, Mexico. This type of taco is usually comprised of a white and flakey fish, often fried, a cabbage slaw of sorts and usually some kind of crema/sauce. This taco recipe was of course inspired by the refreshing Baja style taco, but I’ve added even more excitement with a bright mango-avocado salsa. Both fruits are in season in Florida during the month of August and Rollin’ Oats has plenty of them waiting for you – organic, ripe, juicy and delicious. Don’t limit the use of this salsa to just these tacos – have it as an appetizer with chips, spoon it on a salad, etc. I have found that we humans are quite particular when it comes to our tortilla shell preference. Flour or corn? Soft shell or do we want crunch? Street style or perhaps a bit larger? There are so many questions. Because of this, I’ve left the tortilla preference totally up to you and Rollin’ Oats has a variety of shells all over the board for you to pick from. Flour, corn, hard shell or even grain-free (made by Siete and they’re fantastic). As for the Cod, you’ll find a ten ounce bag of wild-caught in the frozen section at the back of Rollin’ Oats which proved to be incredible-tasting. If you aren’t a fan of cod or can’t find it, any flaky fish will suffice. Beer-Battered Fish Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa These are going to be your summer go-to taco for any occasion. Don't limit the use of the salsa to just this dish – it's great on salads and as an appetizer on its own too. Mango-Avocado Salsa1 avocado (diced in small cubes)1 mango (diced in small cubes)1/2 medium onion (diced)1 lime1 jalapeno (seeds and stem discarded, minced)2 tbsp cilantro (fresh, roughly chopped)salt (as needed)Chipotle Mayo1/4 cup mayo2 tsp liquid from can of chipotle chiles1/2 lime (juice of only)1/2 tsp salt (more as needed)Cabbage Slaw1 cup red cabbage (finely chopped/shredded)1 cup green cabbage (finely chopped/shredded)1/2 lime (juice of only)1/2 tsp salt (plus more as needed)pepper (to taste)Beer-Battered Cod & Taco Assembly10 oz Cod (preferably wild caught and cut into 2-3" pieces)2 cups vegetable oil2 cups flour (all purpose will do, divided)12 oz light beer (I used Cigar City Jai Low)1 tsp baking powder1 tsp cayenne2 tbsp salttortilla shells (flour, corn, grain-free – whichever you prefer…)cilantro (chopped)lime wedgestortilla shells of choice Mango-Avocado SalsaCombine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Taste and salt as needed and then refrigerate until ready for taco assembly.Chipotle MayoWhisk all ingredients together in a small bowl and season as needed. Refrigerate.Cabbage SlawStir all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Taste and season as needed and also pop into the fridge until later.Beer-Battered Cod & Taco AssemblyIn a medium bowl combine 1 1/4 cup flour, beer, baking powder and one tbsp salt. Whisk until smooth without chunks. Add remaining flour, salt and cayenne to another medium bowl and combine. Pat cod pieces with a paper towel and season with a pinch or two of salt.Toss cod pieces in dry flour and cayenne mix and then dredge in batter. Set dredged pieces on a cooling rack set over parchment to catch the drippings.Heat oil (it should be 2-3 inches thick – if not, add more) over medium high heat until 350-375 degrees (you can use a deep fat thermometer for precise temps). Add fish pieces (you can do this in two batches) and allow to fry for 3-4 minutes.Flip and fry for another three minutes until cod is cooked through and golden brown in color. Remove and allow to cool on a parchment-lined plate.To assemble the tacos, add a spoonful of the cabbage slaw, 1-2 pieces of fish, salsa, drizzle of chipotle mayo and cilantro and lime wedges as needed. Main Course, Main DishAmerican, MexicanBeer-Battered Fish Tacos, Best Taco Recipe, Fish Taco Recipe Grilled Steak with Tomato & Charred Corn Salsa Recipe Liven up a beautiful seared and sliced piece of steak with a zingy tomato and charred corn salsa. Steak, tomatoes and corn are of course the stars of this show. Tomatoes and corn are in season in Florida currently so you’re likely to find an abundance most everywhere. There are no strict guidelines with this recipe – just think of it as your guide. Utilize any kind of tomato (just as long as it’s ripe) and cut of steak that you’d like and feel free to go wild with additional veggies and herbs in the salsa. The only ingredient that I suggest sticking strictly too is the corn on the cob because we are grilling it prior to cutting it off of the cob and mixing into the salsa. As far as steak is concerned though, I personally recommend a NY Strip or a Ribeye for this recipe. Filets are great of course, but you’ll probably need a couple to feed more than two people. Rollin’ Oats always has a fantastic selection of organic and pasture-raised steaks available. The quality is premium of course. If you have the equipment, I recommend a sous vide bath for your steak prior to quickly hitting the hot grill for a nice sear. For a medium rare finish, we usually cook our steak (typically a NY Strip or Tenderloin) at 129/130 for at least one hour. The result is a perfectly tender cut of steak that nearly melts in your mouth. Grilled Steak with Tomato & Charred Corn Salsa This simple summer steak situation is your answer to an evening of stress free outside dinner party hosting. Gilled Corn4 ears of corn1 tbsp olive oilSteak 1 1lb steak (Like NY Strip or Ribeye)2 tomatoes (Medium in size and ripe, like Roma's – diced.)1 red onion (Smaller in size, or 1/2 of one medium in size. Diced.)1 jalapeno (Minced)1 lime2 tsp olive oil2 cups arugula1 lemon4 garlic cloves (Smashed, outer skin removed and discarded.)2 tsp salt (Plus more to taste) Charred CornPreheat your oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and evenly bush oil onto corn and season well with a few pinches of salt.Roast corn for 40-50 minutes, or until corn begins to char. Turn corn carefully every 10-15 minutes. Allow corn to cool completely. Then cut kernels off of the cob and reserve in a bowl until ready to make your salsa.Steak & AssemblyIn a medium bowl combine charred corn kernels, tomato, onion, jalapeno, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, juice of one lime and 1 teaspoon of salt. Gently stir to combine, taste and season as needed. Set aside until steak is ready. In another medium bowl, toss arugula with juice of one lemon and a pinch of salt. Set aside.If you're going to sous vide your steak, do that first (even before the corn). I suggest a temperature of 129-130F for 1-2 hours for medium rare (skip this step if only grilling your steak).Preheat grill to 500F. Set a medium cast iron skillet on the grill and add remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil and add in smashed garlic cloves. Pat steak dry and season top side liberally with salt. Grill seasoned side-down 4-5 minutes. Season other side of steak with salt, flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes for a nice medium rare.Allow steak to rest, slice and serve topped with lemon-dressed arugula and salsa. Dinner, Main Course, Main DishAmericanAbby Allen Recipes, Grass Fed Steak Recipes Smash Burgers with Kimchi Mayo Recipe Burgers – they come in all different sizes, dressed will all sorts of accessories stacked in many different ways. My favorite one of all though? A smash burger. In essence, it’s a burger in its most simplistic form with everything it needs to be a winner without going over the top. Ultra thin beef patties smashed and cooked on a ripping hot surface with crispy edges…it’s exactly as good as it sounds. Smash burgers (or often Smashburgers) were introduced to me by way of a podcast with George Motz. George has been referred to as “the foremost authority on hamburgers.” He says that all you need is a patty with American cheese and onions smashed on a hot griddle and served on a bun – simple and perfect, just as it should be. With this recipe though we are spicing things up a touch with help from kimchi and gochujang. There’s a lot of really great kimchi out there. Mother In Law’s is usually what I’m grabbing at the grocery store more times than not. Quality is superb and I have found that it’s available at a number of grocers, including Rollin’ Oats which is where I pick up mine. They also have Mother In Law’s gochugang available to make shopping for this recipe a breeze. Because the three ounce patties are small (which I prefer – much more manageable), a double smash burger is encouraged, but not necessary. Regardless of the number of patties though, a good bun is recommended. I’m a sucker for Brioche buns but if those aren’t available, Dave’s Killer Bread Burger Buns to the rescue. Smash Burgers with Kimchi Mayo Smash Burgers – I just can't get enough. This rendition uses kimchi in place of onion and a gochujang-mayo for a nice punch. Burgers and Assembly12 oz ground beef (Preferably grass-fed/organic like Simply Balanced at Rollin' Oats.)1/4 cup kimchi (Roughly chopped)4 slices cheese (Use any you like or totally omit all together. I use any organic American.)4 burger Buns (I recommend Waverly Brioche and Dave's Killer Bread – both at Rollin' Oats.)1/4 white onion (Sliced into thin half-moons.)1/4 cup Fresh Herbs (Roughly chopped. Use any you have on hand like cilantro, basil or mint.)2 tbsp oil (Like avocado, vegetable or something with a higher smoke point. You can use butter here too.)saltKimchi Mayo1/2 cup mayonaise1/4 cup kimchi (Chopped well. I use Mother In Law's brand.)1/2 lime (Juice only)1/4 cup gochujang (Add more if you're into spice.) Kimchi MayoCombine all ingedients in a small bowl until mixed well. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed with more gochujang, lime, salt, etc.Burgers and AssemblyPreheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Tear off another sheet of parchment and cut it into four even squares. Divide ground beef into four equal sized balls. If you have a kitchen scale definitely use it – each ball should be about 3oz and rolled together loosely.Heat a well-seasoned skillet of your choice over medium high heat and oil. When skillet is hot add one burger ball to hot skillet, season with a pinch of salt and lay one of the parchment squares on top. Using a spatula, smash and flatten the burger as best as you can. Remove and discard parchment and cook burger for 2 minutes – edges should be browning. Flip and repeat on second side.Cover skillet and melt cheese on top of the patty, remove from heat and set aside on parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining burger patties. When all are finished, warm in the oven for a few minutes.To assemble the burgers toast your buns while the patties cook (if toasting). Spread a spoonful of the kimchi mayo on each inside part of the bun. Assemble starting with the burger patty (or patties, if opting for a double), then top with onion, more kimchi and chopped fresh herbs. Dinner, Main Course, SandwichAmerican, KoreanAbby Allen Recipes, Grass Fed Burgers 2 May 2022 Panzanella is a Tuscan chopped salad typically made with stale bread, tomatoes and onion and is served mostly during the summer months. The toasted bread cubes sop up the beautiful tomato juices, olive oil and lemon which makes for one incredibly satisfying bite. Feel free to use any bread of your liking -Focaccia, Brioche and Dave’s Killer Bread (as you know, this is one of my favorite brands at Rollin’ Oats) are all wonderful options for your bread cubes. One of the things I love most about this salad is that it has heft, while also remaining vibrant and fresh. Because of those characteristics, it’s a great salad for both a satisfying lunch/brunch entree or a bright pre-dinner appetizer. The combination of ingredients meshes extremely well together. Sweet and spicy Cantaloupe, fresh basil and mozzarella, crispy bread, savory prosciutto and a punch of citrus and olive oil – it’s extremely tough to go wrong. The crispy prosciutto is optional; however, it does add lovely salty and crunchy notes. At Rollin’ Oats you’ll find a three ounce package of Niman Ranch All Natural Prosciutto (currently on sale for $4.99). In Florida, Cantaloupe is in season April – June, so it’s usually quite easy to find during that time frame. Though if you’re looking to make the recipe at a time when cantaloupe is not available just simply use any ripe and juicy tomatoes that you can get your hands on. Spiced Melon Panzanella This salad has a split personality: it can pose as either a satisfying lunch or pre-dinner bite when served in smaller portions. 1 cantaloupe (Cut into 1-2" cubes)1/2 red onion (Sliced into thin half moons)8 oz mozzarella ball (Torn into irregular 1" pieces)2 cups bread (Any will do, like Italian loaf, foccacia, Dave's Killer Bread, etc. – torn into 1" irregular cubes)1/2 cup olive oil3 oz prosciutto (Optional)1 avocado (Sliced into small wedges)1/4 cup basil (Roughly chopped, plus more for garnish)1 lemon (Juiced)2 tsp salt2 tsp black pepper1 tsp crushed red pepper Preheat oven to 400F. Toss bread cubes in a large bowl with 1 tsp salt. Arrange in an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes (you want bread cubes to be golden & crouton-like in texture). Remove from baking sheet and set aside.In a large bowl toss melon cubes with 2 tbsp olive oil, crushed red pepper, 1 tsp black pepper and 1/2 tsp salt. Refrigerate until ready to use. If using prosciutto, one slice at a time, place prosciutto slice between two paper towels and microwave for 45 seconds (or until crisp). Allow to cool and crumble in a small bowl. Repeat with remaining prosciutto slices.In a small bowl combine juice of one lemon and remaining oil, salt and pepper. Whisk until well combined.When you're ready to serve your Panzanella salad, add all ingredients except sliced avocado to a large bowl. Gently combine. Serve salad topped with avocado slices and more basil. Appetizer, Dinner, Main CourseItalianAbby Allen Recipes, Panzanella Salad Recipes, Spiced Melon Panzanella Grab a handful of your favorite in season spring vegetables and whip up this take on Lasagna Primavera. Spinach, mushrooms and bell peppers are all in season during the month of April here in Florida so I appointed them as the main characters of this dish. I chose to omit a red sauce and instead utilized only a light béchamel sauce packed with a punch of roasted garlic to lighten things up whilst still adding plenty of flavor. You can use whatever kind of noodles you want but I recommend saving yourself some extra stress and time by utilizing no boil noodles. It just makes everything a whole lot easier on yourself – work smarter, not harder, ya know? More times than not, I opt for a gluten free option. Typically, that option is Jovial’s organic no boil noodles. Jovial gluten free organic brown rice pastas are ready and waiting for you at Rollin’ Oats. I’m willing to bet that you won’t even notice the difference as the texture is incredibly similar, which is what I love most. All of the veggies, béchamel, and blend of three cheeses – mozzarella, mascarpone and parmesan steal the flavor show anyway. Lasagna Primavera Make this fresh take on lasagna on a Sunday and win lunch all week long. Any in season Spring vegetables are welcome to this party! Bechamel Sauce4 tbsp butter (I use Vital Farms which is sold at Rollin' Oats.)4 tbsp all purpose flour2 cups milk1 tsp salt1/2 tsp black pepper1 tsp garlic powder ((optional – for an added punch of garlic))Lasagna & Assembly16 oz lasagna noodles (A no-boil option is the way to go in my opinion.)8 oz mascarpone8 oz mozzarella (Fresh – chopped/torn into 1" pieces)2 cups Parmesan (Grated. Plus more for serving)8 oz crimini mushrooms (Roughly chopped)4 large carrots (Peeled and chopped)1 white onion (Diced)1 red bell pepper (Roughly chopped)1 green bell pepper (Roughly chopped)5 oz baby spinachfresh mint ((optional, for garnish))1 tbsp good olive oil (Plus more for serving (optional)) BechamelMelt butter in a pot or dutch oven over medium heat. As soon as the butter has melted whisk in the flour until a thick paste-like substance is formed. Slowly whisk in the milk 1/2 cup at a time until a creamy sauce begins to formulate. Add in salt, pepper and garlic and remove bechamel from the heat. Cover and set aside until ready to use – slightly warm on the stove before incorporating into the lasagna.Lasagna & AssemblyPreheat oven to 400F. Heat a large skillet with olive oil over medium heat. Add in all of the chopped and prepared vegetables, season with salt and pepper and cook until veggies begin to slightly soften – 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.To assemble our lasagna, begin by ladeling 1/3 of the bechamel sauce into a baking dish – evenly disperse to cover the dish. Next, lay four lasagna noodles side-by-side in the dish on the bechamel sauce. Spoon 1/3 of the cooked vegetables, followed by 1/3 of the baby spinach on top of the noodles.Now for the cheese. Dollop/spread 1/3 of the mascarpone as best as you can on top of the vegetables. Then, 1/3 of the mozzarella chunks. Parmesan is next and don't be shy with it, use 1/3 of the grated amount.Repeat steps two more times for a total of three loaded layers. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and then bake for another 25.Remove from oven, tent with foil and allow to cool for 20 minutes or so before eating. Serve with more parmesan, olive oil and fresh mint. Dinner, Main Course, Main DishItalianGluten Free Lasagna Noodles, Lasagna Primavera, Lasagna Primavera Recipes Corned Salmon & Brussels Hash with Rice Recipe This St. Patrick’s Day, swap out brisket for salmon to create this play on the ever-popular corned beef and cabbage. I present you, Corned Salmon & Brussels Hash with Rice. The best part about this recipe is that the cook time is significantly less – it’s allowing that salmon to hang out in the fridge with the cure that takes a bit of patience. Sure, one hour will suffice, but I recommend overnight (12-16 hours). After the cure, the salmon only needs a handful of minutes to cook before it gets added into the hash. To make this hash, all of the ingredients can be found at Rollin’ Oats Natural Food Market. There, you can always count on the product quality to be top notch with lots of local and organic products. The salmon that they sell is fantastic and found in the freezer section, along with a number of other items like wild game and various other frozen meats. If a hash isn’t quite your thing, you can absolutely keep all of the components of this dish separate. For example, you could serve a salmon filet over a bed of rice with a side of sautéed brussels and onions for an equally as satisfying experience. Corned Salmon & Brussels Hash with Wild Rice Pickling Spice1 cinnamon stick2 dried bay leaves6 cloves2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds2 tbsp coriander seeds1 tbsp black peppercorns1 tsp red pepper flakesCorned Salmon1 lb salmon filet (Skin on, wild-caught preferred)1 lemon (We are using the zest only)1/2 cup finely chopped fresh herbs (I recommend dill and parsley)1/4 cup brown sugar1/4 cup salt1/4 cup pickling spice3 tbsp Irish whiskey (Or whatever whiskey you have on hand)1 shallot (Small in size, minced)2 tbsp butter (Vital Farms is what I use)Brussels & Assembly1 lb brussels (Washed, trimmed and halved.)1/2 medium white onion (Sliced thin)4 tbsp olive oil (Divided)1 tsp salt1/2 tsp black pepperdill & parsley1 cup cooked rice (Basmati and wild rice or most any grain will suffice.)1/2 cup white wine (Use something that you would drink.) Pickling Spice BlendPlace all ingredients in a spice grinder and grind. A mortar and pestle will also work for this. Reserve any leftover spice blend for another use.SalmonCombine pickling spice blend with remaining ingredients except the butter and salmon in a medium bowl.Put salmon into a glass container or bowl skin side down. Evenly coat salmon with mixture. Place into the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 12.Remove salmon from the container and wipe off the rub and remove the salmon skin.Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add the butter. When melted, add the salmon cured side down. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes – it will have some crust and color. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool and then pull salmon filet apart into 1-2" chunks. Set aside until ready to add to hash. Brussels & AssemblyHeat a dutch oven or large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tbsp of the olive oil. Add onion and a few pinches of salt and cook stirring occasionally until onion has slightly softened – 5 minutes. Remove from skillet and place in bowl until ready to add back to skillet.Add remaining 2 tbsp olive oil to skillet and increase heat to medium high. Add brussels, cut side down and cook undisturbed until beginning to crisp and char – 5-7 minutes.Toss and cook for another 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add in the wine 1/4 cup at a time to deglaze the pan and scrape up the browned bits. Add reserved cooked onion and salmon chunks. Stir to combine in skillet and allow to cook for another 2-3 minutes.Serve over warmed rice with fresh herbs and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Main Course, Main DishAmerican, IrishCorned Salmon Recipes, Easy Salmon Recipes Curry, spice and Cilantro-Lime rice. That lineup is enough to get me excited about a meal. Thus far, 2022 has been quite chilly for the most part, which has had me leaning towards comforting recipes. Curry is something that we make a lot of and for this month’s recipe, I wanted to present it in a more approachable way with a dinner that would be familiar to most. Curry Chicken & Rice Stuffed Peppers are the answer to these colder weeknight evenings where ease and comfort are idyllic. In the recipe I call for yellow curry paste, but that’s only because it’s my preference. Use the the same quantity of any other curry paste that you like/is available to you, like red or green. If you enjoy making your own paste, I encourage you to do that as well. But for those of us looking for a shortcut, Rollin’ Oats has a variety of curry pastes readily available for purchase. Speaking of ingredients at Rollin’ Oats, they also carry our current favorite rice, Right Rice. Right Rice is made up of roughly 90% vegetables (including lentil & chickpea flour and pea fiber) and blended with a small amount of rice flour. They have a variety of flavors, like Cilantro Lime and Garlic and Herb and the rice is incredibly easy to prepare and ready in about ten minutes. While this dish is quite healthy already, if you want to take things a step further and make it vegan, eliminate the ground chicken or replace it with your favorite meat substitute of choice. Curry Chicken & Rice Stuffed Peppers Spice up stuffed peppers with the addition of a flavor-packed yellow curry sauce. Dutch Oven 4 red bell peppers (Try to choose ones similar in size that will stand upright. Tops, seeds, stems and ribs removed. )1 lb ground chicken28 oz whole peeled crushed tomatoes14 oz coconut milk1 white onion (Medium in size, diced.)4 garlic cloves (Peeled and minced)1 knob fresh ginger (About 2 inches long – peeled and minced )2 tbsp yellow curry paste (Any store bought will do. Or make your own if you're feeling adventurous – it isn't that difficult.)red pepper flakes (Optional for added spice.)1 tbsp olive oil4 tsp salt (Divided. Plus more as needed)1 cup lacinato kale (Ribs and stems removed – chopped)1 cup cilantro (Roughly chopped. Feel free to add any other fresh herbs you have on hand as well. )1 lime (Cut into 4 wedges)7 oz rice (For this recipe, I'm using Cilantro-Lime Right Rice. Prepare the rice per package instructions.) Preheat the oven to 350. Heat a medium dutch oven/pot over medium heat and add in olive oil. Pour in diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to soften (5-7 minutes). Add in minced ginger and garlic and stir until fragrant (1-2 minutes).Add chicken and one tsp of salt. Break up ground chicken with a wooden cooking spoon and cook until beginning to brown (8-10 minutes). Transfer mixture to a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix in chopped kale and prepared rice and set aside. Pour in chopped tomatoes and one more tsp of salt. Bring to a soft boil and reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer until tomatoes begin to break down. Spoon curry paste in and stir until well combined. Add red pepper flakes, if using, and coconut milk.Stir to combine. Simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and season with salt as needed.Turn off heat and stir in 1/2 of chopped fresh herbs. Start by adding two cups of curry sauce to chicken and rice mixture. Add more, 1/2 cup at a time, until desired consistency has been reached (if you want a saucier mixture, you may want to add up to 3 cups, or even more).Arrange peppers in pot/dutch oven with curry sauce. Sauce should cover 1/4 – 1/2 of the peppers. Spoon and pack curry chicken and rice mixture into peppers until they're completely full. If you have leftover mix, reserve for leftovers the next day.Cover pot with foil and bake at 350 for one hour. Remove foil, increase heat to 450F and bake peppers for another 10 minutes.Remove and serve with a good squeeze of lime and fresh chopped herbs. Main Course, Main DishAmericanCurry Chicken & Rice Stuffed Peppers, Stuffed Pepper Recipes Another low effort/high reward weeknight meal is ready to be added to your regular rotation. For those unfamiliar with Harissa, it’s a spicy chili paste that is frequently used in North African and Middle Eastern cooking. I love using it to add flair and flavor. You can find it in most grocery stores – usually in the International section. However, you probably won’t find an array of options to choose from. One brand that I do see quite frequently though, including at Rollin’ Oats, is the Mina brand which comes in two heat levels: mild and spicy. I typically opt for the mild rendition and then if I want to increase the heat I just add in some crushed red pepper flakes one pinch at a time. Trust me, you won’t need much as Harissa in all forms is going to have plenty of spice. To balance out a spice-forward dish I often turn to tahini and something sweet like maple syrup or honey. Tahini is a simply toasted sesame that is basically ground to a paste-like substance that is similar to that of nut butters. When mixed with maple syrup, lemon juice, salt and a bit of water for thinning, this combination transforms into a savory-sweet drizzle that complements the heat. This maple-tahini mixture works well paired with many other dishes too, like grilled potatoes and also with medjool dates for an idyllic and luscious bite. These cauliflower steaks are satisfying enough to be enjoyed all on their own, yet even better when enjoyed with a side of crispy rice. Make sure not to leave out the herby peanut crunch. It’s crucial for optimal texture and added brightness from the fresh herbs. Harissa Cauliflower Steaks with Maple-Tahini and Herby Peanut Crunch Spicy, savory and sweet with a slam of crunch and zest – this cauliflower number hits all of the right notes. For the Cauliflower1 Head of Cauliflower (Organic, if available. Leaves trimmed and discarded.)1 Red Onion (Peeled and cut into 8 similar sized wedges)3 tbsp Olive Oil1/4 cup Harissa (Found at most grocery stores)3 tsp SaltPepper (To taste)Maple-Tahini1/2 cup Tahini1.5 tbsp Maple Syrup1 Lemon (Juice only)1 tsp Salt (Plus more, to taste)1/2 cup WaterHerby Peanut Crunch1 cup Peanuts3/4 cup Olive Oil2 tsp Salt (Plus more, to taste)1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper1 tsp Garlic Powder1/2 cup Fresh Herbs (Like Dill and Cilantro, chopped)1 Shallot, minced Peanut CrunchAdd peanuts, minced shallot, oil and a couple pinches of salt to a small pot and heat over medium.Stir occasionally until shallots and peanuts begin to brown, about 20 minutes.While peanuts and shallots cook, add crushed red pepper, garlic powder and 2 tsp salt to a medium bowl and have a strainer/mesh sieve ready as well as an area on the counter with paper towels laid flat (our peanuts/shallots will be cooling on here).When shallots and peanuts are ready, remove pot from heat and carefully pour mixture through sieve/strainer over the bowl with the garlic powder and crushed red pepper. Slowly pour peanuts and shallots over paper towels in an even layer. Allow to cool for 20 minutes then mix nuts and shallots back into oil and spices and stir to combine.Maple-TahiniIn a medium bowl combine all ingredients except water. Mixture will thicken as you stir – add in water one tbsp at a time to loosen up mixture until desired consistency has been reached (you want to be able to drizzle it without being too watery). Taste and season as needed.Cauliflower & AssemblyPreheat oven to 425F. Carefully cut the cauliflower head in half directly througth the stem. Then cut a steak (approximately an inch or so thick) from each half. If your cauliflower is large enough you can of course cut additional steaks. Cut up remaining cauliflower and florets and arrange everything in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet.Drizzle cauliflower with 2 tbsp olive oil and 1.5 tsp salt and pepperRoast cauliflower for 15 minutes.While cauliflower is roasting combine remaining tbsp olive oil with Harissa and remaining 1.5 tsp salt. Stir to combine.Remove cauliflower from oven and evenly brush with reserved Harissa mixture. Add onion wedges to pan and roast for an additional 20 minutes (until cauliflower begins to take on some color on the edges).To serve, spoon and swipe some maple-tahini onto a plate, top with a cauliflower steak and some roasted florets and spoon over plenty of herby peanut crunch. Main Course, Main DishMiddle EasternCauliflower Steak, Vegan Dinner Recipes	88,088
Introduce some French films that give the feeling of being in France without having to watch the over-watched Amelie. Many Americans or non-French may not realize that Audrey Tatou isn’t the only captivating French actress and that there are several other lovely films that have this same romantic, Parisian feel. This is a very generalised topic, you would have to narrow it down. If you are focusing on French actresses, how about Juliette Binoche? She is well known to both French and International audiences. It would give the article structure in reference to Audrey Tatou. – Ryan Errington 8 years ago What do you think about dividing into two different articles? The first, four French films that are just as good as, but less known as, Amelie. The second, five French actresses who star in French and international films. – Felicia 8 years ago I thought Marion Cotillard is more overrated than Audrey Tatou! I agree with Ryan's comment above. Maybe focus on the works of selected actresses and go from there. Talking about good French films in general will probably take up a whole encyclopedia. – Arlinka Larissa 8 years ago The others are right, this topic would be too large to handle. Also, any film made in France will give you the feeling of being in France! :D If you want to focus on French 'atmosphere' and the specificity of the country's lifestyle rather than specific actresses, how about older films as well, or the French New Wave? If you are looking for typical (and stereotypical) French settings then you can find plenty in that category. For the less typical ones, look at Bunuel, Jaques Demy, Bertrand Blier... Also, what about French films that show the 'not so polished' side of France? The issue of Paris vs. the suburbs for example. In terms of famous comedy you have The Intouchables and a more serious film like La Haine. But these are only the internationally famous ones, have a deeper look – Rachel Elfassy Bitoun 8 years ago Let's add "for people who don't know anything about French cinema" in the title. – T. Palomino 5 months ago Want to write about Film or other art forms? Create writer account Like 3,668,459 likes The Artifice is an online magazine that covers a wide spectrum of art forms. It operates independently with the writers collaboratively building and maintaining the platform. → Sign up	2,423
The following initial proposals were presented to the CEC negotiations team on August 5, 2021. Below you will find our overview of the proposals, as well as the language itself. In the margins, you will find brief notes explaining the intent of the change. Directly below, you will find the coordinator demands passed at our final demand-setting meeting in April that these proposals were written to address following our consultation processes with faculty across the province. Ensure that all faculty workload is accurately recorded Ensure that all academic work is performed by faculty who are employees of that College “Clarify coordinator role, including but not limited to the selection process for coordinators, preference for full time faculty, time allocated, salary steps, and equity, including coordinator duties for counsellors and librarians” Strengthen language to ensure equity, diversity, and inclusion of equity-seeking groups in hiring, retention, advancement, workload, and compensation Coordinators are vital to the success of college programming and services. Coordinators work collaboratively with virtually every department in the college to ensure student success. They are the link between college administration and the frontline. Coordinators play a central role in building a future together. Yet we have heard from coordinators across the province that Colleges have paid little attention to formalizing their roles and responsibilities. In some colleges, we were alarmed to learn that this academic leadership responsibility is being assigned to non-academic staff. Faculty are frustrated by the lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities, hours allotted and compensation for coordinator duties. This frustration and lack of clarity have led to high rates of turnover. The lack of academic leadership in hiring practices erodes the quality of education we provide our students. In fact, many colleges struggle to find faculty members willing to coordinate because of the lack of transparency and increasing hidden workload demands when it comes to coordinator appointments and duties. The language we are proposing will ensure transparency and equity for the assignment of coordinator duties, compensation and the appointment process. Coordinators provide academic leadership in courses, programs and services to ensure student success. This language acknowledges the value of coordinators in the college system. To view the full proposed language changes that were tabled, along with explanatory notes, please download the printable PDF version here. Other Bargaining Updates Arbitrator awards improvements far beyond those offered by Employer in negotiations Sep 28, 2022 \| Bargaining Bulletins, Bargaining Updates Click here to download a PDF of the bulletin The award affects areas including:• Equity;• Indigenization;• Partial-load job security;and acknowledges workload associated with multi-modal courses. This is an historic moment in CAAT-A’s continued fight for equity, job... Ontario College Faculty Achieve Historic Gains in new Collective Agreement Sep 23, 2022 \| Bargaining Updates Toronto – Fifteen months after the commencement of a round of bargaining that included the largest work-to-rule faculty job action in the history of Canadian Colleges and Universities, labour negotiations between OPSEU/SEFPO’s college faculty division and the College... Sep 12, 2022 \| Bargaining Updates OPSEU/SEFPO CAAT Academic and the CEC participated in a mediation/arbitration September 7-9, 2022. Following the mediation part of the proceeding, an arbitration occurred on September 9, 2022. The arbitrator’s award will form the new collective agreement and it is... College faculty bargaining team statement Mar 25, 2022 \| Bargaining Updates The college faculty bargaining team has issued the following statement: Arbitrator William Kaplan has imposed a media blackout on the upcoming voluntary mediation-interest arbitration between the colleges’ and college faculty bargaining teams. There will be no further... Joint statement by OPSEU/SEFPO and the College Employer Council Mar 18, 2022 \| Bargaining Updates OPSEU/SEFPO’s college faculty bargaining team and the College Employer Council have issued the following statement: The parties have reached an agreement to enter binding interest arbitration and the strike that was scheduled to commence at 12:01 am on March 18, 2022,... College faculty to resume talks with employer Mar 17, 2022 \| Bargaining Updates Toronto – With some 16,000 college faculty set to go on strike at 12:01 Friday morning, the College Employer Council (CEC) and the faculty bargaining team have agreed to meet Thursday. “We were encouraged that the CEC replied to our letter and have agreed to meet...	4,824
– Not everyone changes teams in the summer. It seems like they do, but some stay on where they are. Those who have signed extensions with their current clubs include Slovakian scoring machine Radoslav Rancik, who has signed a two-year deal with Galatasaray, and ex-San Diego State forward Mohamed Abukar, who signed a two-year deal of his own with the Swiss champion Lugano Tigers. Dimitris Diamantidis snuffed out the <1% possibility of him ever joining the NBA as … Read more Posted by Mark Deeks at 10:01 PM Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 14 January 24th, 2010 This one might be shorter than the last one. One final note on Keon Clark: despite what I said earlier about Clark’s mandatory weekly court appearances being “almost universally described as good”, Clark failed a drug test as recently as late November. So maybe it’s not all coming up Milhouse after all. Windpipe is still with Valencia, his hometown team and the team he’s been with since he was 15. He’s averaging 11.5 points, 6.0 … Read more Posted by Mark Deeks at 7:58 AM Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 11 January 14th, 2009 – I have no idea where Keon Clark is, specifically. – Milone Clark averages 4.8 points and 3.4 rebounds for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. I openly admit to knowing basically nothing about Milone Clark, but, as a player who has never put up good numbers at any stage of his career (he even only scored 15 ppg in the Ecuadorian league) yet who somehow landed a training camp spot with the Knicks in 2006……well, perhaps Milone Clark is …	1,598
The Rajya Sabha has listed The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 for consideration and passage in the budget session of February 2019. Whether it will indeed be taken up, or whether it will merely lapse and require reintroduction in the next Parliamentary session hosted by the new government remains to be seen, but in any case this is a law, developments related to which have been closely watched by banking entities, telecom companies, fintech businesses and activists. So, why have amendments to the bill been such a contentious issue and how does it really impact us as citizens? The main grouse regarding the bill was that the changes proposed in the bill were not discussed with clarity in the Parliament. Many sections that are in conflict with the Supreme Court’s Aadhaar judgment needed to be discussed in a joint parliamentary panel. However, such a panel was never constituted, and the bill was passed in the Lower House as the government enjoyed absolute majority. Amendments: Offline verification, opting out and more The original Aadhaar bill has now been modified to reflect the addition of definition of entities associated with Aadhaar, and the terms previously not clarified by the Act. The amended bill introduces the concept of ‘offline verification’ which will help those who cannot authenticate by biometrics. It is defined as the process of verifying the identity of the Aadhaar number holder without authentication, through such offline modes as may be specified by regulations. Another addition is that of the “Aadhaar ecosystem” – which includes “enrolling agencies, Registrars, requesting entities, offline verification-seeking entities and any other entity or group of entities as may be specified by regulations;…” The amendment enables the Unique Identity Authority if India (UIDAI) to issue other forms of virtual identities. Under Section 3, in addition to existing three clauses, a fourth clause has been added. It reads: (4) The Aadhaar number issued to an individual under sub-section (3) shall be a twelve-digit identification number and any alternative virtual identity as an alternative to the actual Aadhaar number of an individual that shall be generated by the Authority in such manner as may be specified by regulations. (emphasis added) With the amendment, a child attaining majority can opt out of Aadhaar. Newly added Section 3A says that the consent of parents or the guardian is necessary for the enrollment of a child. A child, within a period of six months of attaining the age of eighteen years, can give an application to the Authority for cancellation of his Aadhaar number. A child cannot be denied subsidies, benefit or service in case of failure to establish his identity by undergoing authentication, or furnishing proof of possession of Aadhaar number, or for not having an Aadhaar number. The amendment also lays down the procedure for resolution of civil disputes related to the issue, through an Appellate Authority and Adjudicating Officers. Impersonation or disclosure of their identity or other cases can be now heard by the courts. All of the above appear to be steps in the positive direction and yet, there are many clauses that have created concern among sections of people. Primary among them are the clauses related to disclosure of information, privacy and security concerns. Power to control and change rules In section 4 of the principal Act, sub-section (3) has been substituted by the following sub-sections: (3) Every Aadhaar number holder to establish his identity, may voluntarily use his Aadhaar number in physical or electronic form by way of authentication or offline verification, or in such other form as may be notified, in such manner as may be specified by regulations. Explanation.—For the purposes of this Section, voluntary use of the Aadhaar number by way of authentication means the use of such Aadhaar number only with the informed consent of the Aadhaar number holder. (4) An entity may be allowed to perform authentication, if the Authority is satisfied that the requesting entity is— – (a) compliant with such standards of privacy and security as may be specified by regulations; and – (b) (i) permitted to offer authentication services under the provisions of any other law made by Parliament; or (ii) seeking authentication for such purpose, as the Central Government in consultation with the Authority, and in the interest of State, may prescribe. (6) Every requesting entity to whom an authentication request is made by an Aadhaar number holder under sub-section (3) shall inform to the Aadhaar number holder of alternate and viable means of identification and shall not deny any service to him for refusing to, or being unable to, undergo authentication. (7) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions, mandatory authentication of an Aadhaar number holder for the provision of any service shall take place if such authentication is required by a law made by Parliament.” These clauses are akin to a wild card entry for the government — it gives enormous power to the Parliament to make any law in future to make Aadhaar compulsory for anything as desired by the State. A majority government can easily manipulate the laws without consulting anyone or putting it for consideration before joint parliamentary committees. It lets the UIDAI decide who can authenticate the services and whether or not that agency can be given access to one’s original Aadhaar number. This brings back the fear of exploitation of Aadhaar data by private entities for commercial and other purposes. Though there is a clause on “privacy and security” in this section, India doesn’t have a data protection bill yet, therefore illegalities can take place before that law comes into effect, especially since a large majority of Indians already have Aadhaar. Ground rules for offline verification Newly added Section 8A in the amendment bill lays down ground rules for offline verification, where biometric authentication is excluded. The verifying agency must obtain consent and seek documents to verify the person, but shall not take biometric data or misuse the data collected for other purposes. This addition however does not rule out verification through OTP during the process, as the definition of authentication in the entire bill is limited to biometric authentication. Section 29 of the bill prohibits the use of Aadhaar data for other purposes. It stipulates that no Aadhaar number or core biometric information can be published, displayed or posted publicly. But it does not stop sharing of other information. There is nothing in the amendment to address this issue. In contrast, Section 33 makes it mandatory to share the information including Aadhaar number and core biometric information, upon an order by a judge equal to or above the rank of High Court judge, issued after hearing the concerned Aadhaar number holder. This gives scope for the aggrieved a chance to defend himself/herself, which wasn’t there in the original bill. But, none of the rules in Section 29 will apply to the disclosure of information, including identity information or authentication records, in cases related to national security. A direction by an officer, not below the rank of a Secretary to the Government of India, authorised by the central government is needed for such disclosure. An article by The Quint points that it would be unconstitutional in the absence of judicial oversight, and is likely to be struck down by the courts. Such directions are subject to be reviewed by the Oversight Committee. This Committee will have the Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries to the Government of India in the Department of Legal Affairs and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology. But, core biometric information shall not be disclosed under this sub-section, says the new amendment. Enabling banks and telecom companies to seek Aadhaar The original act had a contentious Section 57, which allowed mobile phones and banking entities to seek Aadhaar for verification. While that has been struck down, the amendments to the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 make Aadhaar the only alternative that can be given to telecom and banking companies. This is because the amendment in both the above acts stipulates Aadhaar, passport or “use of any other officially valid document or modes of identification as may be notified by the Central Government in this behalf.” In 2017 there were only 5.5% of Indians who had passports, while Aadhaar penetration in India is above 90%. This makes Aadhaar the most easily available mode of authentication, in this case for private telecom and banking entities. There is no clarity on whether they can accept voter identity card, PAN card etc to verify a person. This is being seen by the activists as legalising use of Aadhaar by private entities, as a response to the points objected to by the Supreme Court. Basic flaws and concerns around Aadhaar remain unaddressed A comparison of the original bill with the Amendment bill reveals more changes done during the amendment. However, the main concern of privacy and security of data around Aadhaar remains unaddressed in the amendment. In an event held in January 2019 in Bengaluru organised by the Alternative Law Forum, Dr. Usha Ramanathan, an activist who has been highlighting the problem with the Aadhaar bill, shared her concerns. She explained how an entire fintech ecosystem was built around Aadhaar data. Personal data is now being treated as a national resource and is becoming part of national economy. The fine for failing to comply with Aadhaar act norms is Rs 1 crore, she pointed. She also explained the conflicts of interest that are seen everywhere in Aadhaar-based systems and their architects. The bill says that “The Chairperson or a Member on ceasing to hold office for any reason, shall not, without previous approval of the Central Government,—(a) accept any employment in, or be connected with the management of any organisation, company or any other entity which has been associated with any work done or contracted out by the Authority, whether directly or indirectly, during his tenure as Chairperson or Member, as the case may be, for a period of three years from the date on which he ceases to hold office.” However in reality the system is marred with conflicts of interest, she pointed out. Aadhaar Shree D N was an Associate Editor with Citizen Matters. She believes good journalism can change the world for better. Previous Next Citizenship Amendment Bill has lapsed, but why are north-eastern cities still simmering? In Imphal, traffic mess created by job fair reveals urban economic scenario March 4, 2019 Ninglun Hanghal 622 vacancies advertised by the Manipur State Power Distribution Company Limited led to chaos on the roads of Imphal. While many have come out sharply against the organisation, the incident also paints a telling picture of job trends and preferences among youth in the state. Delhi’s smart city plans ignore the urban poor, focus only on elite areas August 15, 2022 Khushwant Singh and Vikas Kumar The lives of Delhi’s urban poor have not improved in any way from the 86 out of 106 smart city projects that have been executed. What Bengaluru needs to learn from our really “Swachh” cities January 17, 2018 Kathyayini Chamaraj Despite 65% segregation at source on paper and lofty plans, Bengaluru continues to wallow in the garbage it generates. What exactly could it learn from cities that are managing their waste better?	12,133
Eugenia Díaz Peon, a Mexican ceramicist who prefers to go by the nickname of Uxi, discovered her calling not very long ago. As co-founder of the Yucatán-based brand Région, she began traveling in recent years to remote locations outside of her home base in Mérida, to learn from the traditional craftspeople who typically work far outside the city. There, she was particularly drawn to a clay known as “el barro de Ticul," or the mud of Ticul. Rough, dirty, and filled with impurities, the clay is like a terracotta, but with a more luminous color and texture. Excerpt: Exhibition Iranian artist Taher Asad Bakhtiari may be a Raf Simons–wearing, Swiss-educated jetsetter, but growing up, he was inundated with local tradition. Now he helps support and modernize the ancient crafts that were among his most formative influences by working with semi-nomadic Iranian weavers to create contemporary, geometric updates on traditional kilim and gabbeh rugs. His latest series, pictured here, is on view in The Pond House, a solo show of his textiles that just opened at Carwan Gallery in Beirut. What We Saw Perhaps the most telling moment regarding this year's Whitney Biennial came when we posted an image of Dutch artist Peter Schuyff's spiral-carved pencils on Instagram. "Where is this craft show?" joked Mondo Cane's Patrick Parrish. "Bedford Ave?" he asked, referring to Brooklyn's main hipster thoroughfare. Yep, this biennial feels decidedly different than years past. There are still inscrutable videos, and works we simply slid by for lack of interest, but this year had moments that felt smaller, more tactile, more intimate — and for us, more compelling — than in years past. New Work by David Taylor In case you hadn’t noticed, the big trend in these leaner, post–economic disaster days, has been to elevate the lowest of low-grade materials into something elegant by design. OSB, polystyrene, plywood, plastic, MDF, resin — the list is endless. But you’d be hard pressed to think of a designer who does the opposite, who purposefully debases the precious commodity he’s been trained to craft to perfection. And yet what other choice did David Taylor have? After graduating from Konstfack in 1999, the Stockholm-based silversmith began to see the price of his raw materials soar: “Silver simply became too expensive for me to work with,” he says. “Without the benefit of a commission, working on spec becomes impossible when silver has quadrupled in price over the last eight years.” But Taylor’s loss was our gain: The designer began dabbling a few years ago in what he calls “a cheaper neighborhood,” making object assemblages by grafting more inexpensive materials like concrete, brass, and steel onto smaller silver pieces. Los Angeles designer Tanya Aguiñiga already had two studios when she took up a third this summer: the first in the backyard of the Atwater Village bungalow she shares with her husband and two sisters, and the second six blocks away, in a converted industrial-park-turned-artists’-community near the train tracks. But in early July, Aguiñiga picked up and moved her shop 2,000 miles south to the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, for a five-week residency — the first in a project she calls Artists Helping Artisans. “I had gone to Oaxaca and Chiapas in 2007, and there was so much amazing stuff being produced by the women there,” she says. “People aren’t aware of it because the skills aren’t being passed down anymore and because people are scared to travel within Mexico. There’s isn’t enough tourism or income to sustain these crafts.”	3,778
Thank you for visiting our Frequently Asked Questions page. Kindly take a few moments to read over these popular questions and our answers. You’ll probably find many of your own queries addressed here. We will do our best to keep you up-to-date with current policies. We also encourage you to visit the comprehensive site of Carnival Cruise Line where many other questions are addressed. You will see that we refer to the Carnival site frequently…..they have a very informative site with lots of helpful information, pre-cruise preparation, life onboard, pictures, videos, etc. There’s so much available information that we couldn’t possibly list it all. So please become familiar with the site, sign up to be a registered user, and begin getting ready for your experience on CARNIVAL CELEBRATION and the 2023 Super Cruise! What does my Super Cruise Fare Include? Your cruise fare includes shipboard accommodations, ocean transportation, meals, non-alcoholic beverages, onboard entertainment, and associated fees applicable at the time of booking. Not included are items that are of personal nature including but not limited to: gratuities, shore excursions, airfare, optional transfers, telephone calls WiFi service, spa treatments, salon services, photographs, laundry services. There is a surcharge for meals at the reservations-only specialty restaurant, gourmet coffee drinks at the ship’s specialty coffee bar. Soda pop is not included complimentary – a Soft Drink-Beverage Card (Bottomless Bubbles) is available for purchase directly on-board which provides unlimited fountain dispensed soft drinks. An inclusive Beverage program for Alcoholic Beverages is also available. Visit Carnival’s website for more complete details and pricing for beverage packages) Self-service beverage stations are available for complimentary coffee, tea, lemonade, iced tea, non-carbonated beverages, etc. (On Lido Deck buffet) Self-service ice cream stations are also available complimentary. Your Super Cruise Fare also includes your participation in all Super Cruise group-related activities, private parties, squares on the Big Grid, etc. Our group activities, amenities, and events are exclusive to our group members. Guests who book independent of the Super Cruise will not be included in these group exclusives. Super Cruisers sometimes have friends who choose not to book with us. Please note that these friends cannot be permitted to attend group functions nor may they participate in group events such as sideboard sales, daily ding dong, LCR, cocktail parties, etc. They also will not be cross-referenced to dine with our group. When should I book my reservation? We are actively accepting reservations now! As long as we have cabins available, we will continue to sell them. Past Super Cruises have sold out as early as summertime. We encourage you to book as soon as you know that you plan to sail with us. Certain cabin categories (suites and balconies especially) tend to sell out quickly. As we assign cabin numbers in the order in which you book, preferred locations are assigned to those who book early. Waiting until the last minute is not a good idea; rates are rarely lower in the last couple of weeks before the sailing date. What forms of payment are accepted for my cruise? Carnival accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover & American Express, and Carnival Gift Cards. Credit card charges will be made by Carnival Cruise Line. On the cruise ship, Carnival accepts the credit cards listed here. You may also establish your onboard account by making a cash or gift card deposit to Carnival upon embarkation. Using Debit cards on the ship: please verify with your bank what your transaction limit is per day. Some banks have a “security” setting on your account where you may not exceed a particular dollar amount per day. You may not even be aware that these security settings are in place. Contact your bank to make sure that your account does not have restrictions on it or you may run into difficulty onboard the ship. What identification do I need for travel? It is recommended that U.S. citizens carry a valid Passport for sea travel. Currently, you may also travel with an original State-Issued Birth Certificate (no photocopies!) plus Driver’s License (or other state/government-issued photo I.D.) In cases of married ladies whose names have changed: you should have a Passport in your married name OR carry a copy of your marriage license or other documents showing your change of name. If in doubt, it’s best to have a Passport. Non U.S. Citizens must carry a passport from their country of citizenship plus any necessary visas. The U.S. State Department website has the most up to date information; please refer to www.travel.state.gov It is the passenger’s responsibility to have the correct documentation. If you are denied boarding the ship for reasons of ‘lack of correct identification’ you will be denied boarding with NO REFUND! Cruises Etc cannot override this mandate. This is the exact wording from the State Dept website concerning traveling without a Passport via cruise ship: “Closed-Loop” Cruises: If you are a U.S. citizen, and you board a cruise ship at a U.S. port, travel only within the Western Hemisphere, and return to the same U.S. port on the same ship, you may present government-issued photo identification, along with proof of citizenship (an original or certified copy of your birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or a Certificate of Naturalization). Please be aware that you may still be required to present a passport to enter the foreign countries your cruise ship is visiting. Check with your cruise line to ensure you have the appropriate documents. Will you book my airline flights? Often, the rates that a cruise line secures are not better than what travelers may obtain by booking independently. It is recommended that, as soon as you are able to research air options, you secure the best air schedule that fits your needs. Most airlines publish their schedules approximately eleven months prior to your travel dates (both outbound and return) but other airlines may not populate their schedules until six or four months in advance. Please use your best judgment to reserve flights of your choice. When will I receive my cabin number and booking number? It is recommended that you take advantage of booking early and securing your preferred cabin locations. We are capable of confirming your cabin number shortly after you make your initial reservations. This will help ensure that your preferred location is available. This is particularly important for those with special location requests – if you consider these areas as premium, many others will too. In some cases, we may have to book a “TBA” cabin which means your cabin number will be assigned at a later date. But don’t worry! You will have a booking number and cabin number before you sail! Bear in mind that friends booking later than when you make your booking may not be in the same location. What if I have to Cancel my Cruise Vacation? Cancellations Charges are based on the date of Cancellation and are as follows. Please note that terms & conditions, including cancellation & change fees, for Large Groups DIFFER than those for individual reservations! After deposit, cancellations (for any reason) made up to April 30, 2021: $25 per person Administrative Fee Cancellations between May 1 and August 1, 2022 = $100 per person fee Cancellations between August 2 and September 30, 2022 = $150 per person fee Cancellations between October 1 and November 30, 2022 = $250 per person fee Cancellations between December 1 and December 31, 2022 = 50% of total cabin charges Cancellations after January 1, 2023 = No Refund ** CHANGE FEES: $15 fee for first change to booking; $25 per change for all changes thereafter (Changes consist of but are not limited to: roommate change; cabin/category change) ***LATE PAYMENTS: Due to the size of our group, collecting payments is a huge undertaking. Late payments present a problem for us as an agency. The final payment date is FIRM. Extensions to this date cannot be approved.	8,166
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information. Non-necessary Non-necessary Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.	1,161
You might know about the Roparun. It’s a team-run from Paris to Rotterdam, raising money for cancer treatment. A cause that really hits home with us. We (being my father and me) were asked to make a calendar for one of the Roparun Teams (Safety4U). Obviously we said yes. Esther, member of Safety4U got together 12 guys for me who were about to start their modelling careers ;) These two (Maurice and Dennis) are the cover of the calendar. But before I just post the entire thing, here are some cool behind the scenes shots amazing Jasper Plukhooij made (click here for more of his stuff). (yeah I realize there will be a ton of photos in this post, as per usual). This super mysterious guy is Anton. We shot two days and he assisted us the first one. Once he got the hang of what was in my head (props for him on that one) he was A HERO. This is Rudy! Without him and his awesome colleagues nothing would have happened. As you can imagine I don’t have stuff to put on fire at hand. But the guys at Falck (click! So fun!) do. And we were allowed to use their amazing location (and had them help us out ALL DAY for TWO days and not be annoyed by us and wow. just wow). Just a little teaser ;) When I asked Anton or Rudy: what’s possible? They kept answering with ‘everything’. THEY WERE NOT KIDDING. NO KIDDING, TOOK PLACE. I’m sorry for the lack of order. There is none. This is me awkwardly high fiving Dave who just finished his photo! The guys all rocked! As the fire was very loud (fire is not quiet: lesson learned) I quickly came up with a set of gestures to guide the men through. I so rock at hints. “I can make snow”. He said. It was SO TRUE. My dad being at work like the total awesome badass he is! (yeah he has a fireman outfit, being one himself). Lovely Manon was with us doing her makeup magic! I love this shot. That’s why you’re looking at it. and yeah helmets were obligatory. I lost mine a gazillion times. Manon at work! I didn’t see her much sadly as we worked in shifts. I’d be picking locations or making photos and she’d be prepping the next ‘victim’. Also everyone was taller than me. By far. There’s tons of pictures of that ;) Ok! Trying to keep it short cause 12 more shots need to be in this post! Of the actual guys! Here we go! This is Dave! Safe to say they all did a fabulous job. So I won’t say it with every photo ;) This one was made by my dad! So. Things got hot ;) This is Dennis! Do you see what I mean with ‘anything is possible’. Why not set a train on fire? Good times. Stefan was actually the first photo we took. So he had to bear through us getting everything just right. He didn’t seem to mind at all and we ended up with this awesome portrait! Eric! Another shot by my dad. So we figured, we might need a firetruck at some point. And Rudy just drove one into the scene. BAM. Truck. No problemo. Koos! Do we need to mention how LUCKY we were with the weather? This tough looking guy is Emerson. He plays rugby. I’d be TERRIFIED. He is super friendly though so no worries ;) Also this pic is made by my dad! Wilfred! I know you can SEE the fire, but we realllyy felt it. Specially the guys with no coats. So props to them for bearing with it :) This was by far the warmest picture (I can’t keep saying hot, you’ll stop believing me). I asked Anton to ‘light everything’. And boy did he. I was a good 7 meters away. It was burning my face. Edwin is still alive by the way.. I didn’t want to use FIRE for everything. Thus you can see Jan surrounded by smoke. I say this as if it were very easy. It wasn’t. There were many times in which we had no sight of Jan AT ALL. He just kept doing his awesome thing anyway! Yeahhh water! Which leads to even more fire actually. Maurice was in the middle of all this. You can recognize the cover location here :) By my awesome dad as well! This was a hard one as the stuff that’s burning is wood. And is not very predictable. Also we all smelled like a BBQ after this one. Luigi rocked it nevertheless.! Last but certainly not least! Roger in the snow! OH no. Not snow. It’s foam actually. Cause Anton said he could make snow. And he totally could! I couldn’t be happier with the results. I think all the guys did awesome. And so did our team! If you’re wondering who did the amazing layout and graphic design that would be Jornt van Dijk. Thank you. Everyone. I already thanked you all in person or other ways. So. Again, but online ;)There’s still calenders available. Again you can buy them here: http://debrandweerkalender.nl/ Or stalk me about one, I have some at hand as well :) * No firemen were hurt (much) in the making of this calendar. fire firebrigade fireman firemen foam photo photographer photography snow uniform You May Also Like Height Rescue Team: Nationale Nederlanden When I got the phonecall asking me if I wanted to tag along on this drill i ... Throw ALL the colorpowder! Hi dolls! I wanted to do this shoot a long time coming and thanks to one of ... Respect for photography Hi sweeties, First off. I’m trying* to not make this a whiny post. ...	5,318
The Fantastic Fable of Peter Able is a fantasy novel – with a twist. You see, Peter is a Boy Wizard. Or rather, Peter is an adult Boy Wizard who lives in the land of Fiction. His Real World author has abruptly concluded his series, and Peter is suddenly free to explore his world, liberated from the almighty Plotline. Of course the transition into free will isn’t exactly an easy one, and there are plenty of Twists and Turns to keep our Protagonist guessing along the way. After all, this is Fiction. The Timeless Tale picks up just where Book One left off – give or take a few blurry months for our characters while the author did other things. As Peter’s Conflict unfolds, you’ll be taken to mysterious lands like Nonfiction, you’ll come across a villain far more horrifying than that other guy (seriously, DON’T say his name). Journey into this world beyond the page – and be sure to hold in your Inner Dialogue. This third and final book in the Peter Able series picks up just after the tragic and shocking ending of book two, when Peter heroically and boldly – Wait a minute – let’s not give too much away. If you haven’t yet, you’ll probably want to read the first two books before diving into the finale. Just like Book One and Two, The Actual Account takes place in the Land of Fiction itself – that magical, strange world beyond the page. Here we have something magical – a journal written to you from your Inner Self. Don’t worry, Just Call Me Is is also a story, a book of exercises, tools, and games; plus some journal pages for you, too. But most of all, it is a guide to living in presence for middle grade readers. Just like its companion book, Just Call Me Is: An Introduction to Mindfulness, in Call Me Perfect, Is will tell the tale of a kid like you – who, just like you might be, was struggling with body image. From there, you’ll be guided through exercises, journal pages, games, and a whole lot more to get connected with and accepting of your body. You might even fall in love. On his thirteenth birthday, Matthew Templeton receives a journal from an elderly librarian. To the birthday boy, it’s as about as exciting a gift as a pair of socks. But this book is from Del, a magical world, and the librarian confides that it will grant any wish Matthew writes in it. Sort of. The journal has a sense of humor. The elderly librarian is not what she seems, either. The story begins and ends in a small town in Maine, but within the pages, the characters travel far beyond the mundane. Jack Nielson and his best friend, Lydia, have just reunited after years of separation on their winter break from college. For old times’ sake, the two decide to partake in a bit of “innocent” fun: practicing magic in the local forest, of course. As readers will see, there was nothing innocent about their magic—not then, and not now.	2,933
The Bates Student • February 5, 2020 • https://thebatesstudent.com/18451/forum/should-women-be-included-in-the-draft/ Should Women be Included in the Draft? It’s safe to say that in the wake of recent events between the US and Iran, war and violence are have become relevant topics amongst the American public. Just hours after the news broke of the US led assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimeni, social media exploded. The people of TikTok and Twitter are fully convinced that the outbreak of another world war is imminent. World War III and “the draft” have been trending on virtually every social media platform. The teens of cyberspace seem most concerned with the perceived possibility of war leading to the reinstatement of Selective Service System, or, the draft. Although the draft hasn’t been a threat to the American public in almost fifty years, all men in the United States are required to register for conscription within thirty days of their eighteenth birthday, or risk legal and financial retribution. As the draft has not posed a real threat since Vietnam, and as a result has technically been inactive for the past few decades, it has garnered little attention amongst the American public, until now. The question that inevitably emerged as a result of these social media trends is: if there were to be another draft due to the conflict with Iran, should women be included or not? As of right now, based on a decision made by President Jimmy Carter in the 1980s, women are exempt from registering for possible conscription for no other reason than their gender. From a logical and moral standpoint, I see no reason as to why women should continue to be excluded from selective service. Women are currently permitted, as they should be, to serve in any faction of the military. For anyone who supports gender equality, which includes the majority of young people the draft would target, this seems like a pertinent next step in closing gender divisions. But the memes and videos circulating my social media feed leads me to believe that I am in the minority in holding this opinion. I have seen countless posts on TikTok of teenage girls pledging to renounce their feminist identities should this draft debacle become a reality, and commit to a future dedicated to serving men and having babies. Of course, I laughed at these videos and sent them to my friends to laugh at, too, but the more I think about this new social media trend, the less funny it becomes. I have absolutely no desire to serve in the US military, and have virtually zero skills, which would render me an asset in any combat effort. In fact, I don’t support any potential war efforts or acts of violence and I think the draft in and of itself is an inherently immoral practice—but such beliefs and moral stances are not specific to my gender. Plenty of my male peers would like to avoid conscription just as much as I would. The difference is, they all had to register for selective service in the event of a national emergency when they applied to college. Excluding women from required registry for the draft is gender discrimination. While it may be discrimination that, ironically, benefits women, it is discrimination nonetheless. The ability to “pick and choose” which aspects of institutionalized sexism to keep based on beneficiality is morally fraught abuse of power. I fully contend that the reinstatement of the draft poses no imminent threat to the American public, so these questions are largely irrelevant in determining the trajectory of anyone’s life in the near future. This doesn’t, however, make the questions generated by mass hysteria on social media any less prudent. Most posts about the Iran conflict are written off as jokes, and creators justify their morbid and offensive content serve as a coping mechanism for a generation plagued with existential dread and fears regarding precarious state of our world. While I won’t deny that I have laughed at these dark and sadistic jokes, underneath the special effects and hashtags are truths that say a lot about societal ideology more generally. Survival is of course the most basic human instinct, and violence quite clearly poses a threat to anyone’s lifetime and longevity. But for a generation that is committed to equality and justice, related issues should transcend fear of possible danger. While this is much easier said than done, people all over the world have made sacrifices in the name of equality and justice for centuries. It is one thing to not buy into gender equality, but if you’re going to advocate for a woman in the White House then you cannot recant a plea for justice when it becomes inconvenient. Such arguments are irrational, immoral, and a waste of time. This idea is bigger than any singular issue—be it the draft, marriage equality, or racial justice. If you are granted the privilege, time, and resources to promote a cause and advocate for a more just world, tailoring your platform to suit your own best interests is a gross abuse of power. “Better” is never universal. One person’s victory is almost always the result of another’s misfortunes. When those with the power to use their voice are selective and self-serving in regards to their idea of what justice should look like, the brunt of such decisions falls onto those who do not have the privilege of being heard. We may not agree with systems and institutions like the draft or marriage, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a responsibility to make them as egalitarian as possible.	5,554

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