Muffins, Scones, Pancakes, and Breads

First of all, Happy 2009! We hope for a blessed year for everyone and for joy, peace, and memorable moments to come.December has been a baking month! We love to bake breads and every week we try new recipes or make variations off of our favorites.Muffins:Today we made some quick pancake muffins - an orange variation and a garlic basil variation. For the orange muffins all we did was mix 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain Pancake mix, 1 Tb flaxmeal with 2 1/2 Tb water, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup water, and 2 Tb wheat germ. The garlic basil muffins had all water and no orange juice, and had 1/2 tsp each of garlic powder and dried basil. We made 12 mini muffins - so easy and delicious!Last week we made the garlic basil muffins from Veg News that La Belle Vegan recommended. Here's a link to the original recipe. These were excellent! We changed it up slightly:Garlic Basil Whole Grain Muffins2 Tb flaxmeal5 Tb water1/3 cup olive oil3/4 cup water1/4 cup soymilk1/4 cup wheat germ1 cup whole wheat flour1/4 cup cornmeal1 1/2 Tb baking powder1/2 tsp salt3/4 tsp garlic powder or garlic granules1 1/2 tsp dried basil1/4 tsp ground black pepperPreheat oven to 385 degrees F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat flaxseed meal and water with an electric mixer (or a wire whisk) for about a minute. Add olive oil, remaining water, and soymilk. Beat for an additional 30 seconds on medium speed. Stir in wheat germ, whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and spices. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tin. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Makes 12 mini muffins.Scones:These scones were different than our usual scone recipe, as they used coconut butter and were not as dry as traditional scones. They were like the texture of banana bread - dense and soft. We made one as maple flavor and the other as apple cider flavor. Both delicious, spiced, and with a great rich texture.Pancakes:With a Marionberry-Peach-Banana fruit syrup, these oat-sesame pancakes were nutritious and flavorful! From chooseveg.com, we adapted this recipe. The sesame seeds were ground with the oats and batter to give a nutty flavor. We made a few minor adjustments, such as lowering the sugar and omitting lecithin; however, the big change we would recommend for future baking is to add baking powder. The pancakes didn't rise, but they were good anyways. The pancakes are also tasty plain and simple for lunch.Cornbread:With pumpkin puree, this cornbread was savory yet slightly sweet, moist and delicious! We followed our cornbread recipe, but modified it accordingly. We added ground coriander into the batter, which complemented the pumpkin savory-sweet taste. Next time we may add even more pumpkin, slightly less cornmeal, and a little banana for more moistness.Bob's Red Mill's Gluten-Free Hearty Grain Bread:This bread mix was like pumpernickel in flavor and texture, with hint of cocoa and caraway. We've never really dealt with gluten free food before, so it was hard to assess whether the batter was too wet or normal for gluten free breads. We will try other Bob's gluten free products to experiment more often with different flours and ingredients.Happy New Year,LK

St James Hotel

From Mia Thermopolis to Princess of Genovia, a similar make over performed, transforming the once grudgey watering hole on Castlereagh Street and putting the Saint in front of the James Hotel. It’s regal bling with the chandeliers, noble crested patterned wallpaper, metallic crest textured wallcoverings and marble round tables makes the place rather plush. Don’t expect five star food however. Regular pub grub is on the menu, at slightly inflated prices. The steak pretty good, a promise of certified angus is cooked to order on a slap of spud mash with a choice of gravy. St James Hotel, it’s Anne Hathaway glamour with a down to earth Aussie heart.2.5 / 5 yums!------Where? 114 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, NSWWhat? Steak $10.90

The beam is in

These big single pane windows that DO NOT OPEN above will be removed. The smaller ones will be eliminated, so that the kitchen sink and countertop can go there... with same width but not as high dual pane awning style windows installed over the sink. Love that view! These two single pane will be replaced with dual pane slider windows in the same size with window bench seats underneath installed. This room really gets the sun in the morning! The new fridge will go in that corner. There will eventually be an island here in the center of the room.We had a 10" x 5.5" 10 foot long beam custom made at a sawmill over the hill nearby - cost $50.. not too bad I thought. Yesterday, we put it in, allowing our temporary support studs to be removed. Now you can get a better sense of how the room will come together. This room gets a ton of sun in the morning, and having coffee out there in the mornings will be very nice! You can also see that the new oak flooring is in the new room too. Sorry for the haze - I just brought my camera in from the car and it was only 7 degrees outside. It's supposed to be in the 50s this weekend, so this is when Sophia will move to the farm! CBR is only 27 days away!

Time-Saving Kitchen Tips

You're making three meals a day, seven days a week. Even with the occasional take-out meal, it still adds up to a lot of time in the kitchen. And if you're like most homeowners, cooking is probably just one of the many tasks at hand. How can you make time for everything without sacrificing the quality of your meals?It's easier than you think. Saving time in the kitchen is all about making little changes. Even minor adjustments in your routine can add up to a big chunk of time over the week. Here are some tips to help you get started.Plan your meals. You've probably heard it before, and it's worth repeating: planning is crucial. Take a few minutes to plan out your menu for the week. Make a schedule so you can make simpler meals on days when you expect to be busy. If you know what to do as soon as you get home, you won't be wasting precious minutes poring over the fridge or making things up as you go.Use the crock pot. If you're one of those people who barely have 15 minutes to whip up a meal, the crock pot can be your best friend. It takes mere minutes to prepare your ingredients in the morning, put them in the pot, and set it to cook for the rest of the day. Your meal will be ready by the time you come home from work—all you have to do is serve it. Most recipes can be adopted for the crock pot, so you can still make all your favorites.Make use of leftovers. Do you have some leftover pot roast from last night's dinner? Instead of letting it go bad, use it to make a quick meal the next day. Leftover meats can go into soups, salads, and sandwiches. Most soups and stews can be frozen and reheated for up to two weeks. You can even "plan" your leftovers by making extra on lighter days, so you'll have something ready when you're busy. Not only do you get faster meals, you also save a good deal of money.Simon Burke loves to cook delicious and nutritious meals for his family. And luckily for us he also enjoys sharing his cooking experiences and recipes with the rest of us.Get more information regarding saving time in the kitchen.

Mercer Cigars: Weekender Special

May 9th, 2009Amigos & Amigas- Greetings from beautiful Merida, Mexico. How about a few Cuban cigars for your next weekend adventure?Please check here for our all-new Cuban cigar price list. International Customers Sale 1 Box Hoyo de Monterrey Palmas Extra (25) = $79.00 with any order Drew's Top Pick of the Week2 x Bolivar Corona Extra (25) - $361 Free shipping on all orders.Guaranteed delivery.Guaranteed satisfaction. Specials of the Week 1 Box Montecristo No. 2 (25) + 1 Box Montecristo No. 5 (10) = $333 shipped1 Box Partagas Serie D No. 4 (25) + 1 Box Partagas Princess (25) = $278 shipped 1 Box Romeo & Julieta Exhibicion No. 3 (25) + 1 Box Romeo & Julieta Mille Fleurs (10) = $271 shipped If you are one of our clients outside of Mexico, consider the following great offers:Bolivar Gold Medal (10) $104Bolivar Petit Coronas (50) $270 (25) $149Bolivar Royal Coronas (25) $193H. Upmann Magnum 46 (50) $413 (25) $220 (15) $144 Hoyo De Monterrey Epicure #2 $209Juan Lopez Petit Coronas $140Montecristo #4 $167Montecristo #5 (10) $76Partagas Series D #4 (25) $209Ramon Allones Specially Selected (50) $345 (25) $186Ramon Allones Small Club Coronas $122Romeo & Julieta Regalias de Londres $102San Luis Rey Petit Coronas $132San Luis Rey Regios (50) $320San Luis Rey Series A (50) $341Trinidad Funadores (24) $380Trinidad Reyes (12) $96 If you would like to add some 10 yr. + Cuban cigars to your collection, this is your chance. Here's an offering directly from the vaults in Mexico City(while supplies last): La Gloria Cubana Sabrosos (25) 1997 or 1998 $291San Luis Rey Churchills (25) 1997 or 1998 $354Bolivar Corona Gigantes (50) 1997 $780Bolivar Inmensas (25) 1997 $286Cabañas Suaves (25) 1997 $82Cabañas Chiquitos (25) 1997 $ 86Punch Churchills (25) 1997 $347Diplomáticos No.1 (25) 1997 $261Montecristo Estuche “A” (25) 1997 $872Partagas Serie du Conaisseur No.3 (25) 1997 $245Partagas Habaneros (50) 1998 $226 La Gloria Cubana Medaille D’or No.4 (25) 1998 $295 We offer a wide range of authentic Cuban cigars and handmade cigar accessories, with discrete payment options and guaranteed delivery to your door step, world-wide, usually in under a week. We accept all major credit cards. Ask about our ultra-safe and secure payment process. Please contact us by email or US toll-free 1-866-793-3309 for information on shipping, prices and availability.CheersDrew PMercer Cigars

Hola Amigo's! (Or... Amiga's) >_

So, yes, I did see 17 Again. And yes, it was rough around the edges. But, yes, I did enjoy all the good parts. Now before I continue, I should clarify who this 'Fred' person is.... *Clears throat* Fred is a famous person on YouTube (By famous, I mean millions of views, talk-shows, videos with celeb's, etc.) What does this 'Fred' Person do? This 'Fred' person is this 15 (Or maybe 16 by now?) year old person named... You know what? I'll just copy and paste his Wikipedia information... (You can skip ahead, if your already in the know):Fred Figglehorn is a fictional character who is the primary subject of a channel on the video-sharing website YouTube. The Fred channel is one of the most subscribed, with over one million subscribers. The videos are centred around a fictional 6-year-old, Fred Figglehorn, who has a dysfunctional home life and "anger management issues".[1] The character of Fred is played by Lucas Cruikshank, a teenager from Columbus, Nebraska, USA.[2] Cruikshank introduced the Fred Figglehorn character in videos on the JKL Productions channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie. He set up the Fred channel in April 2008. By April 2009, the channel had over 1,000,000 subscribers, making it the number one most popular and subscribed channel of all time.[1][2] The "Fred Goes Swimming" episode was nominated for the "Favorite User Generated Video" award at the 35th People's Choice Awards, but it lost to Barack Roll. Cruikshank also guest-starred as Fred in an episode of iCarly, a sitcom on Nickelodeon. He also appeared on the Tyra Banks Show, to talk about the YouTube phenomenon. According to YouTube insight metrics, the largest age group of viewers is 13-17, though Cruikshank points out that this could skew lower because users must state they are at least 13 to create a YouTube account. Many YouTube users have created parodies of Fred, or other characters in his videos. The Fred channel has received over 41 million channel views and over 260 million video views since its launch. He has passed Nigahiga, and Smosh as well as many other famous channels. His channel was the first channel to hit one million subscribers. Cruikshank currently lives in Nebraska with his family, including three brothers and six sisters. His three younger brothers, Will, Tommy, and Colin, are said to be the inspiration for the show.So, does that answer your question? I sure hope so. Now, back to 17 Again.Here, I'll edit this down from what I originally wrote: I don't have ClearPlay, I wish I did though, but I don't. So a movie will be the same, whether I watch it in theater's or not, it will stay the same. I don't enjoy the questionable part of the movie, but if you look at it this way, if I wasn't allowed to watch PG-13 movies (I don't watch all btw, very few), I probably would not be allowed to be in the Community play I've been in for 2 years, or very well walk out of my front door(<-- That's a major exaggeration, but my point being:). In my eyes, you get more questionable content in everyday life, Then you do in 17 Again. Now, don't judge me. I'll say what I'll say, think what I think, and you can think and say what you believe as well. If everyone was the same in this world, or we all had the same opinion, life would be quite boring. Thank you.So, back to the un-seriousness. At close to noon, my Mom and I left to go eat some lunch at Jimmy John's (the 3 times I've been there, I always get the #3 tuna sub), then we went to Fashion bug, and I bought a knitted white beret (I've always wanted one of those!). Then we had to pick up my dearest brother, Darren from his work at the gym and say a yellow Lamborghini in the parking lot.... *HALLELUJAH* Actually, I find them (At least the El Diablo) to be quite ugly... Don't judge me. Then we dropped him off and went to the 1:40pm show for 17 Again. My Mom and I bought the #1 combo (No... It was a lg. popcorn and pop) My Mom doesn't drink pop anymore, (I drink very little... Today was a very LARGE splurge, the last time I had some was a couple weeks ago), so I got the whole large to myself. Let's just say, by the time the movie was done... I looked and felt like I was holding 30 pounds of water in my bladder... Ugh.... =P Then we went home... Alright, just today the Wow cable company was advertising in our neighborhood (and yesterday while my parents were absent). So my Dad switched... We'll be getting 70 channels next week, instead of 17. Now's the right time for my beloved: *HALLELUJAH!* (Let me tell you, 5 out of those 17 channels, don't even work). So, just a heads up to those of with my e-mail address. My Dad said I have to change it to GMail soon... So... It's time to part with the e-mail I've had for seriously as long as I can remember!! Goodbye... Soon.And now, goodbye to all of you, and I'm sorry for the long post!さようなら (Translation: Goodbye. Guess what language?)~Nicole - Your Friendly Neighborhood Blogger!

lessons learned

My, but it HAS been an enlightening few days, hasn't it?After pouring over a virtual plethora of material from numerous media sources, so-called "mainstream" and otherwise, here is just a sample of the new fascinating nuggets of information I know now that I didn't know last Monday morning when I was seeing off the last of my Grand Slam hangover.If you hang a portrait in a gallery without permission, the gardaí will come after you.Our current Taoiseach is overweight.Our current Taoiseach has little or no sense of humour.Our current Taoiseach seems to spend time on matters other than adequately handling the financial crisis.There are those in RTE who do the government's bidding.Bloggers believe in free speech.John Waters is a knob.Would it be too much to hope that this #picturegate thing lingers on into next week so we can broaden our intellectual horizons even further???© JL Pagano 2009

the bad news I haven't revealed yet

While I've been farting around with Walk graphics and accepting cash donations (thank you all; you know who you are), there's one thing I haven't wanted to reveal to my readership, largely because it's more than a tad embarrassing:I've decided to nix the Walk and stay in Korea. I'm in the process of refunding my plane ticket, and am mentally rehearsing what I'm going to say to my bosses, who are likely to be pissed off. This may seem sudden to you, but that's only because I've been... well, to be honest, I've been rather afraid of everyone's reaction. "Pulling a Boyle, are you?" I can hear someone saying. No, I'm not pulling a Boyle. To do that, I'd have to actually start the Walk. It's better this way, yes? I can refund the donations I've received, I can save the walk graphics for when they'll be useful, I can begin when I'm more physically fit.So I'm writing this at around 11:30PM because I'm hoping my Korea-bound readership will be away from their computers and hobnobbing with the Sandman. I don't know what my Stateside and European readers will do or think, but... be kind, OK? People sometimes pull a 180.Sorry, folks.And if you actually believe this post, I should tell you about my two-meter penis._

Pittsburgh Pirates Team Report

INSIDE PITCH The Pirates had Monday off and certainly weren't complaining about a break in the schedule. The Pirates finished an 0-5 road trip to St. Louis and New York on Sunday with an 8-4 loss to the Mets. The Pirates have lost eight games in a row and 12 of 13 as they get set to face the Cardinals in a three-game series beginning Tuesday that starts a six-game homestand. "We're struggling to score runs and we're giving up a lot of runs late," Pirates manager John Russell said. "Hopefully we can refocus at home." What makes the Pirates' tailspin so frustrating is that they opened the season 11-7. However, they now find themselves at 12-19 as they try to avoid a 17th straight losing season, which would break the tie with the 1933-48 Phillies for the longest sub-.500 streak in American professional sports history. Russell has been preaching a change of culture since taking over as manager before last season, and he believes his team has not quit during its brutal two-week stretch. "We started out well and there was a lot of energy," Russell said. "The players are still fighting, but each day you lose is not fun. It's a strong group, though. As a staff and players, we'll keep pushing."NOTES, QUOTESSS Jack Wilson took himself out of Class AAA Indianapolis' lineup on Sunday because of cold and wet weather in Syracuse in what was the last game of his injury rehabilitation assignment but is still on track to be activated from the disabled list Tuesday night when the Pirates open a three-game series against St. Louis. Wilson, who has been out since April 25 with a sprained left middle finger, went 2-for-6 with two doubles in two games with Indianapolis and was scheduled to work out Monday, an off day for the Pirates, at PNC Park.RHP Matt Capps, who has been sidelined by a sore elbow since last Tuesday, threw 35 pitches in the bullpen before Sunday's game without pain. He will be available to pitch Tuesday night. Capps felt pain in the elbow after giving up four runs in one inning against Milwaukee last Monday night to suffer a blown save and a loss.BY THE NUMBERS: 17 Consecutive games the Pirates have lost to the Milwaukee. That is the most games one major league team has won over another since Baltimore beat Kansas City 23 times in a row during the 1969 and 1970 seasons.QUOTE TO NOTE: "The record speaks for itself. Apparently, they've got our number. I don't think anyone knows why." 2B Freddy Sanchez, on the Pirates losing 17 straight games to Milwaukee.ROSTER REPORTC Jason Jaramillo and C Robinzon Diaz, both rookies, have combined to hit .313 (20-for-64) with nine doubles, one home run and nine RBI since C Ryan Doumit was placed on the disabled list April 20 with a broken right wrist. Jaramillo is batting .279 with seven doubles and five RBI in 43 at-bats and Diaz has a .381 average, two doubles, one homer and four RBI in 21 at-bats. Doumit is expected to be out until late June.LF Nyjer Morgan is having a fine season in the leadoff spot in the batting order. He has a .301 batting average and a .376 on-base percentage in 30 games but will look to increase his production at PNC Park when the Pirates begin a six-game homestand Tuesday night against St. Louis. Morgan has a .246 batting average and .292 on-base percentage in 14 home games compared to a .355 average and .447 OBP in 16 road games.CF Nate McLouth has shown no ill effects of the strained oblique muscle in his right side that caused him to miss six straight games from April 24-29. He is 14-for-42 (.333) in 10 games since returning to action and had a double and home run Sunday in an 8-4 loss to the Mets in New York3B Andy LaRoche's streak of reaching base in 22 consecutive games ended Sunday. He was 0-for-4 against the Mets at New York. LaRoche was 24-for-75 (.320) with nine doubles, one home run and 11 RBI during the streak, raising his batting average from .000 (he was hitless in his first 18 at bats of the season) to .264.LHP Zach Duke, who pitches Tuesday night against St. Louis, has lost his last two starts to drop to 3-3. Duke has faced the Cardinals twice this season, splitting his two decisions, and is 3-5 against them in his career. MEDICAL WATCH: RHP Matt Capps (sore right elbow) was unavailable May 5-10. He is day-to-day. SS Jack Wilson (sprained left middle finger) went on the 15-day disabled list April 25. He began a rehab assignment with Class AAA Indianapolis on May 8 and could be activated on May 12. RHP Craig Hansen (neck spasms) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 20. He played catch May 3 for the first time since getting hurt. C Ryan Doumit (broken bone in right wrist) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 20. He had surgery April 23, and he will be out eight to 10 weeks. LHP Phil Dumatrait (arthroscopic right shoulder surgery in August 2008) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27. He was pitching in extended spring training in mid-April. ROTATION: LHP Paul Maholm RHP Ian Snell LHP Zach Duke RHP Ross Ohlendorf RHP Jeff Karstens BULLPEN: RHP Matt Capps (closer) LHP John Grabow RHP Tyler Yates LHP Sean Burnett RHP Evan Meek RHP Jesse Chavez LHP Donnie Veal CATCHERS: Jason Jaramillo Robinzon Diaz INFIELDERS: 1B Adam LaRoche 2B Freddy Sanchez SS Brian Bixler 3B Andy LaRoche INF/OF Eric Hinske INF Ramon Vasquez OUTFIELDERS: LF Nyjer Morgan CF Nate McLouth RF Brandon Moss OF Craig Monroe OF Delwyn Young

Electioneering for McPalin at the polls in Thousand Oaks

Electioneering for McPalin at the polls in Thousand Oaks
I was a poll inspector three elections running; this is the firstone I've missed. Here's what I saw when I pulled up to my pollingplace this morning: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My polling place, at approximately 9:00am, the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church at 3415 Erbes Road, Thousand Oaks, CA . Parked in the driveway was a Lexus van (California license number 5 TKS 345) plastered everywhere with McCain stickers, Yes on Prop 8 stickers, Christians for McCain stickers-- a campaign on 4 wheels. This was well within the 100 foot limit of the polling place-- 78 feet to the front door, to be precise. (Another voter and I measured it with a measuring tape she had.) I complained to the poll inspector in charge of the site, Tawne Newcome, and she said she knew about it-- because it was _her_ vehicle. I told her it was out of line, and illegal. She got huffy and said she'd already moved it three times, that it was more than 100 feet from the front door (That was nonsense; it was 52 feet from the closest wall of the building, 78 feet from the door), and anyway, it was registered to her husband, so it didn't count. (?!?!) I and several other voters demanded to talk to her supervisor; we registered a formal complaint. I demanded she be removed from her position, which is supposed to be apolitical. The poll inspector Tawne Newcome, a Thousand Oaks resident like the rest of us, threw what I'd call a hissy fit: arguing, red-faced, furious, yelling.Myself and another voter, Susan Schroer, complained to the VenturaCounty election supervisors (805 654-2784). I spoke to a DonMorris, who told me there was "nothing wrong" and that they were onthe situation, that the vehicle was parked further than 100 feetfrom the "Polling Place" sign on the front door (How he knew this,from the city of Ventura 30 miles away, is a mystery to me.) We also called the police to have the car removed as a traffic hazard (it took up about 30% of the driveway). Mrs. Newcome left the site, reportedly to call her lawyer. She was replaced by her supervisor. The other poll workers-- Democrat AND Republican -- all seemed relieved that the nutjob had been removed. Submitted by Ted Newsom 1669 Woodside Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362 805 300 6462 I hereby release all claims to copyright of the above image.This information may be circulated and reproduced.email from the other voter/witness:This picture and previous two were taken of car parked fifty feetfrom polling place in Thousand Oaks, California. When I went in tocomplain I was told that car belonged to precinct captain. Precinctcaptain stated it was her husband's car and he needed to be contactedto move it. Other volunteers had offered to follow her to park inother location and drive her back to polling place and stated thatshe was initially parked right next to building.Distance of car from polling place was measured by another voter andmyself and found to be 50 feet from polling place. Volunteers statedthat captain said it had to be 100 feet from "entrance to pollingplace" . This was measured and found to be 75 feet. Afterapproximately 30 minutes captain got in car and left, stating she wasgoing to speak with her "Republican representative attorney".-- Susan Schroer

April County Council Report

-Submitted by Kay H.Dear 4-H Members,At this past County Council meeting, officer elections were held. The final decisions were made as follows:President: Mary BVice President: Amber YSecretary/Community Service chairperson: Tori BTreasurer/Fundraising chairperson: Tiffany BReporter/Publicity chairpersons: Jeffrey K and Kay HHistorian: Sophie PRecreation: Laura MDistrict V Delegates: Tori B, Kay H, Jeffrey K, and Mary BFormal officer installations will be held at the 4-H Awards Program on May 3rd, 6:00 pm, at Living Faith Fellowship. 4-H has some other exciting events coming up! Quickly approaching is 4-H County Events Day this weekend, on April 19th, 8:30 am. It will be held at Creekside Community Church, and 4-H members from around the county will be giving speeches, demonstrations, and illustrated talks in their various project areas. There will also be a talent show and a fashion revue. A concession stand will be available, and he proceeds will go to the Heifer International project. Don’t forget to bring your spare change, as this is the last opportunity to donate to the cow banks and support this worthwhile service project. Hope to see you there!Also coming up is Jr. Congress, which will be held May 9-10 at Mid. Florida Baptist Assembly. Jr. Congress is an event where 4-H members aged 8-13 years old can attend workshops in various areas, and have fun learning new things. This will give you a taste of what overnight camping is like! The cost is $30.00, and the Registration Deadline is May 2nd. For a brochure, please email Mr. Terry at eterry@ufl.eduWe are looking for Youth Fair non-livestock committee members. If you would like to be involved in making Youth Fair decisions and planning for next year‘s fair, then feel free to join. Youth members and adults are welcome. Contact Mr. Terry for more information.Please be aware that the Standards of Excellence paperwork deadline is April 25th.Our next County Council meeting will be held on May 20th, immediately following the 4-H Volunteer Dinner. Please join us to learn more about County Council and how you can become involved!

Japan snack

What makes you smile...?

Some poeple never smile or laugh.Life is too short and sweet not to see the beauty and laugter around us..I love to smile and walk around with a huge smile for anyone who walks my way...Life is so wonderful even in bad times..I am glad to still be alive and have what blessings I have in this life.I always think positive and move forward...My kids makes me smile.When they laugh I laugh and feel so much hope towards another day.My husband makes me laugh when he acts silly...When my cat rushes around me wanting me to pick her up it makes me smile...The earth and her beauty makes me smile in wonder.Space and all the heavenly stars makes me smile in awe.....The abilty to write my stories and poetry makes me smile...Friends calling me makes me happy and of course makes me smile...I think if more people would look around and see what is given to them they would walk around with more smiles...A smile is free and one of the most beautiful things you can share with the world...So pass around a smile..Lets make the world a brighter place...

The shadow of the torturer

The U.S. Department of Justice has made public four classified memos, issued to the CIA between 2002 and 2005, that provided the legal basis for the CIAs enhanced interrogation techniques  torture  applied to terrorism suspects in their custody. The memos are available, in PDF format, on several Web sites (see, for example, the ACLU and the New York Times). Coverage: CBC, CNN, Marc Ambinder, New York Times. One technique, from the memorandum of August 1, 2002, relating to the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda operative who had been captured in Pakistan earlier that year, immediately grabbed my attention. Abu Zubaydah had a fear of insects that interrogators wanted to exploit: In addition to using the confinement boxes alone, you would like to introduce an insect into one of the boxes with Zubaydah. As we understand it, you plan to inform Zubaydah that you are going to place a stinging insect into the box, but you will actually place a harmless insect in the box, such as a caterpillar. If you do so, to ensure that you are outside the predicate act requirement, you must inform him that the insects will not have a sting that would produce death or severe pain. If, however, you were to place the insect in the box without informing him that you are doing so, then, in order to not commit a predicate act, you should not affirmatively lead him to believe that any insect is present which has a sting that could produce severe pain or suffering or even cause his death. [redacted] so long as you take either of the approaches we have described, the insects placement in the box would not constitute a threat of severe physical pain or suffering to a reasonable person in his position. An individual placed in a box, even an individual with a fear of insects, would not reasonably feel threatened with severe physical pain or suffering if a caterpillar was placed in the box. Further, you have informed us that you are not aware that Zubaydah has any allergies to insects, and you have not informed us of any other factors that would cause a reasonable person in that same situation to believe that an unknown insect would cause him severe physical pain or death. Thus, we conclude that the placement of the insect in the confinement box with Zubaydah would not constitute a predicate act. The New York Times reports that this particular tactic was not, in the end, used. But as someone who has an irrational fear of insects myself, I still have a thing or two to say about this. A phobia of insects is an irrational fear. There is nothing irrational about being afraid of insects that can sting you to death, much as there is nothing irrational about being afraid of grizzly bears, great white sharks or crocodiles. Being afraid of deadly insects is reasonable. But if you have an irrational fear of insects, even harmless ones, then whether or not it stings, or whether or not its sting is deadly, does not matter one damn bit. Being in physical contact with a large insect, no matter how harmless or benevolent, is just about the worst kind of personal hell I can imagine  even if Im fully aware that the bug cant hurt me. Ive often said that if I had to choose between being locked in a room with a rattlesnake, or a room full of dragonflies buzzing about, Id pick the rattlesnake every time. (But then again, I would, wouldnt I.) People dont understand entomophobia as much as they understand, say, ophidiophobia. I would think that quite a few people would be horrified at the notion of being trapped in an enclosed space with several live snakes, no matter how harmless or tame those snakes were. This memo argued that this tactic didnt rise to the level of torture; then again, this same memo tried to argue the same thing about waterboarding. One gets the impression that theyre testing the letter of the law while violating its spirit. Lets not get hung up on the question of whether or not it was torture. Without cover of authority, Id be sent to prison for doing stuff like this. So would any police officers, if they interrogated suspects in this manner. This, and the other nine tactics mentioned in the memo, ranging from face slapping to waterboarding, is beyond the pale of acceptable behaviour  outside the interrogation rooms of Bush-era CIA secret prisons, that is. Previously: Verschärfte Vernehmung.

The Farmer doesn't get a wife..

Oh well, it was a lot more interesting while the cameras were whirling and the attention was at it's height..But, why should a girl lacking all that attention stay with a Man that works so hard and fails to give her the attention she needs..Those type of "reality" make me puke but obviously they do attract a large audience apparently and once the paparazzi go, so do the attention seekers..Meanwhile another Farmer has his heart ripped out..She reminds me of Tina Turner's song "What's love gotta do with it".. Sarah Walton seeks new love after farmer Ben Honey Article from: March 23, 2009 12:00am SHE went looking for a rural romeo on The Farmer Wants a Wife, but Sarah Walton discovered country life was not the roll in the hay she had expected it to be. Walton, 28, fell head over heels for Jamberoo dairy farmer Ben Honey on last year's series of the Channel 9 dating show, but their romance hit the rocks when the TV cameras were turned off. "Country boys are big and strong and know how to handle a woman," Sydney girl Walton has told Zoo magazine. "(But) he was always tired. He was up at 4am and got home late. "Let's just say that a roll in the hay isn't all it's cracked up to be." Not working: Farmer splits with Urban Princess The nanny packed her bags and left country NSW and headed back to Sydney after a couple of months. Walton has told Zoo that she is now looking for love again.

Lijiang travle

Badong characters

Dream fortells

I dreamed I was sorting my books,and would take them to some other place.

Will that fortells I WILL LIVE INTO NEW HOUSE? LOL~~

Day Nine in Vietnam: 21 May

HANOIAM: Visit to U.S. Embassy, NGO Resource Center to speak with NGOs about development in VietnamPM History museum, Hoa Lo prison, Water puppets show this evening.A most fascinating and diverse list of activities for the day!First off, we went to theUS Embassy in Hanoi. Passports were scrutinized, we went through security, and received a visitor's badge. The building we wnet into is not the main Embassy buiding, so it was guarded by local guards, not U.S. Marines. We talked with Ralph Falzone, a Foreign Service Officer at the Embassy. After a very interesting overview of his career path (including how difficult it is to pass the foreign service exam!) he gave us a short briefing on some of the main emphases of the work in Vietnam (the most significant being human rights and children's welfare). He said that due to some major abuses, adoption of Vietnamese children by Americans would probably be put on hiatus for at least two years. His own work was focused primarily on human rights. He was very personable and the Q and A was fascinating. I asked about child labor, and he said that in the villages it is very hard to regulate, mainly because so many children work on the farms, and sell trinkets to tourists. All too soon we had to leave. The next spot was a visit to talk with two NGO (non-governmental organization) workers, Andrew, working with Catholic Relief Services, and Ted, with Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, both of whom have been in Vietnam for about ten years. Of course, they are not allowed to address faith-based issues, but they do valuable work in improving the lives of the Vietnamese through health education and other programs. Check out the links for more info.After lunch,we went to the history museum, which was rather a disappointment, as most of the emphasis was on prehistory, and most of the later historical exhibits were heavy on (non-translated) texts and not so much on individuals. (For example, I'd like to have seen more emphasis placed on Hai Ba Trung, the two sisters who launched a rebellion against the Chinese in the first century AD.) But there were some superb bells on display, as well as another massive stele on an equally massive turtle (symbol of longevity)Later on, a tourist activity sine qua non: the Water Puppets (in Vietnamese "Múa rối nước. We poured into the Water Puppet Theatre Than Long with about 2 million other tourists and crammed our bodies into the very tight seating (obviously not designed to Western proportions!) The loudspeaker gave a brief intro in Vietnamese, English, and French, and the band of traditional Vietnamese instruments gave a short number to begin.What are water puppets, you ask? Good question. They are (usually wooden) puppets that float on the surface of a submerged stage, and are manipulated by means of very long poles by artists behind a curtain. The movements are very intricate. Each separate piece or story (which deal with life in the village, nature, episodes in the life at the royal court) is accompanied with music and sometimes an explanatory song (in Vietnamese). It was quite entertaining but I couldn't really see myself going back for more...it was good to experience it once. Here is a link--I can't make the embed work.

"I have no regrets", says Dick Cheney.

But it isn't an original thought. One imagines it was spoken by Pope Junius when he initiated the Papal Inquisition; by Ferdinand and Isabella, when they followed up with the (much more popular) Spanish Inquisition. Pol Pot never expressed regrets, nor did Caligula, to my knowledge. Genghis Khan, Stalin, Idi Amin, Tojo, and Hitler saw nothing wrong with torture.Way to go, Dick. You have placed my country on the same level as the historical pariahs mentioned above. You scum!Now, if some see that as an ad hominem attack, I can't help that. It is an attack on a policy and an attitude that was clearly illegal. This man is still - as his approval raiting hovers around 18%- defending actions that, whan done by the Japanese in WWII, resulted in trials, convictions and executions. Executions by the United States - the same United States that committed the same atrocities during his time in power. Even if we assume that Bush was a finger puppet who did what he was told, that still leaves Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Rice and the authors of the torture memos who were guilty of what we executed Japanese soldiers for. Oh yes, and Cheney. Musn't forget Cheney On the first page, I spoke to the illegality of torture. Would anyone care to look at it from a moral standpoint? One of the first moral imperatives I learned as a Christian was "the end doesn't justify the means". Simply put, If you agree that torture is -on its face- an immoral, sinful;, disgusting act, no amount of argument about how much success it may or may not have had is relevant. If it was wrong - it was wrong. If it was a crime- it was a crime. If it was a sin (for the Christians among us) it remains a sin.Cheney, Rummy and the rest, including, incredibly enough, the famed torture victim John McCain, insist that there was information gained that may have saved American lives, and that makes it all okay. Yep. And Pope Junius would have said that he may have broken a few heretics' bodies, but it was worth it to save their souls. Hirohito might have argued that the Japanese race needed to protect itself against Western incursions into their area of influence. We all know Hitler had a clear-eyed view af a better world - without Gypsies, gays and Jews. Surely they all thought, along with their lockstepping minions, that the end justified the means. Is this really the company we choose to keep?

So how about that World Baseball Classic?

Javier LopezDaisuke MatsuzakaDavid OrtizGeovany SotoRafael PerezMagglio OrdonezRoy OswaltMike AvilesJose GuillenJoakim SoriaManny CorpasMelvin MoraBrian McCannCarlos DelgadoJJ PutzJose ReyesWilly AybarDavid WrightDerek JeterDamaso MarteJimmy RollinsShane VictorinoAki IwamuraThis is the short list of players who were off to either slow starts, are still struggling, may no longer be in the majors, or were injured at some point already this year. Now, it's pretty subjective since guys like Adrian Gonzalez, Jonathan Broxton and Kevin Youkilis are having the times of their lives despite participating (even if Youk was injured) in the Classic. Still, is it off base to assume at least one of these guys struggling was a result of an unnatural work load so early in the season?Oswalt threw twice the pitches he normally would and now all of a sudden he looks lethargic and his velocity is down. Lopez has always been terrible and now has reached his ceiling of crappiness. Ortiz has a long list of things surrounding his reasons for being one of the fastest drops to mediocrity in sports history, but the Classic could be a minor factor, Aviles, Soto, Corpas and Aybar could be a product of the common struggles of a player in their second full season. Guillen, Delgado, Ordonez, and Mora could be a product of age and Reyes and Wright might have a dropoff in numbers due to their ridiculously stupid layout of a new ball park. Victorino, Rollins, Jeter, and McCann have snapped their slumps and are now reverting back to normalcy in their numbers. Putz is coming off of an injury.That leaves Aybar, Aki, Marte, Soria and the aforementioned Oswalt. With Tampa playing into November, it's not irrational to figure their late play in 2008 and their early play in 2009 are key reasons for their poor numbers and ultimate injury in Aki's case. Marte and Soria are probably a direct result of trying to produce artificially high velocity so early in the year and in Marte's case he tried to pitch injured to begin with and probably further aggravated what ever was wrong with him.It's still early, but I'd be curious to follow these names all season and compare them to who participated in 2006 to see if there are any patterns. Even if there aren't, it's still pretty interesting to follow what guys who were performing in early March are doing in early June.

craigslist crime blotter 5/11/09 - Nasty pranks editionTrench Reynolds' Crime News

Woman charged in Craigslist harassment case: 40-year-old Margery Tannenbaum of Hauppauge, NY was arrested for posting a sex ad on craigslist in order for people to call her neighbor. It was allegedly for revenge against the neighbor’s 9-year-old daughter who had some kind of dispute with Tannenbaum’s daughter. She’s a regular Lori Drew in the making. *** Kansas teen offers sister in Craigslist joke: A 16-year-old Wichita girl placed a joke ad on craigslist giving away her 4-year-old sister. Even though no charges are being filed police didn’t think the waste of man hours was all that funny. *** Craigslist ad leads Bellingham police to alleged bike thieves: Police in Bellingham, WA arrested Jeremy Randall Schuitema, 22, and David Jordan McDonough, 19, for selling stolen bikes on craigslist. *** Craigslist escort led cops to dealers: Police in Providence, RI arrested 4 drug dealers that were referred to them by a craigslist hooker who referred them to her other clients as well. Even if you were to legalize prostitution it wouldn’t get rid of the drug problems that follow it. Related Posts

craigslist crime blotter 5/11/09 - Nasty pranks editionTrench Reynolds' Crime News

Woman charged in Craigslist harassment case: 40-year-old Margery Tannenbaum of Hauppauge, NY was arrested for posting a sex ad on craigslist in order for people to call her neighbor. It was allegedly for revenge against the neighbor’s 9-year-old daughter who had some kind of dispute with Tannenbaum’s daughter. She’s a regular Lori Drew in the making. *** Kansas teen offers sister in Craigslist joke: A 16-year-old Wichita girl placed a joke ad on craigslist giving away her 4-year-old sister. Even though no charges are being filed police didn’t think the waste of man hours was all that funny. *** Craigslist ad leads Bellingham police to alleged bike thieves: Police in Bellingham, WA arrested Jeremy Randall Schuitema, 22, and David Jordan McDonough, 19, for selling stolen bikes on craigslist. *** Craigslist escort led cops to dealers: Police in Providence, RI arrested 4 drug dealers that were referred to them by a craigslist hooker who referred them to her other clients as well. Even if you were to legalize prostitution it wouldn’t get rid of the drug problems that follow it. Related Posts

craigslist crime blotter 5/11/09 - Nasty pranks editionTrench Reynolds' Crime News

Woman charged in Craigslist harassment case: 40-year-old Margery Tannenbaum of Hauppauge, NY was arrested for posting a sex ad on craigslist in order for people to call her neighbor. It was allegedly for revenge against the neighbor’s 9-year-old daughter who had some kind of dispute with Tannenbaum’s daughter. She’s a regular Lori Drew in the making. *** Kansas teen offers sister in Craigslist joke: A 16-year-old Wichita girl placed a joke ad on craigslist giving away her 4-year-old sister. Even though no charges are being filed police didn’t think the waste of man hours was all that funny. *** Craigslist ad leads Bellingham police to alleged bike thieves: Police in Bellingham, WA arrested Jeremy Randall Schuitema, 22, and David Jordan McDonough, 19, for selling stolen bikes on craigslist. *** Craigslist escort led cops to dealers: Police in Providence, RI arrested 4 drug dealers that were referred to them by a craigslist hooker who referred them to her other clients as well. Even if you were to legalize prostitution it wouldn’t get rid of the drug problems that follow it. Related Posts

A Sustainable Climate Company? [Framing Science]

If you read the NY Times or WPost in print, you've probably noticed over the past 6 months the regular full page ads that have been placed by Monsanto. Similar to the nuclear energy industry, Monsanto is seeking to re-frame and re-position food biotechnology as a "middle way" technology needed to adapt to climate change. For example, one recent ad running at the NY Times headlines: "9 billion people to feed. A changing climate. NOW WHAT?" In smaller print the ad continues with these themes adding to it a narrative wrapped around social progress with the beneficiaries farmers and people: Experts say we'll need to double agricultural output by 2050 to feed a growing world. That's challenge enough. But with a changing climate, the challenge becomes even greater. Providing abundant and accessible food means putting the latest science-based tools in farmers' hands, including advanced hybrid and biotech seeds. Monsanto's advanced seeds not only significantly increase crop yields, they use fewer key sources--like land and fuel--to do it. That's a win-win for people, and the earth itself. Producing more. Conserving more. Improving farmers' lives. That's sustainable agriculture. And that's what Monsanto is all about. THE WORLD'S FARMERS WILL NEED TO DOUBLE FOOD PRODUCTION BY 2050. BIOTECHNOLOGY CAN HELP. MONSANTO: imagine. Read the comments on this post

Computer loaded w/Windows XP Media Ed/Office 2007/Adobe CS3 Master Col (Rockville MD) $150

For sale is one totally fast, fully updated, absolutely reliable, great looking PC tower. NOTE: You will receive the TOWER ONLY. NO manuals/cds/monitor. Super fast INTEL Pentium 520 with Hyper-Threading Technology (2 virtual cores) CPU Speed 2.8GHzFSB 800MHzLevel 2 Cache 1024MB 1GB DDR2 Dual Channel RAM 40GB brand new hard drive 8(!!!) x USB 2.0 Ports Front/Rear audio/mic jacks Loaded software: Z Windows XP Media Edition SP3Z Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise SP1: Access Excel Groove InfoPath OneNote Outlook Power Point Publisher Word MS Office Tools Z Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection: Adobe InDesign CS3 Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended Adobe Illustrator CS3 Adobe Acrobat® 8 Professional Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Adobe Fireworks CS3 Adobe Contribute® CS3 Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Adobe Soundbooth CS3 Adobe Encore CS3 Special Features: Adobe Bridge CS3 Adobe Version Cue® CS3 Adobe Device Central CS3 Adobe Stock Photos Adobe Acrobat Connect™ Adobe Dynamic Link CS3 Adobe OnLocation™ CS3 Adobe Ultra® CS3 Z Nero Premium Edition Z Complete Internet Security, Antispyware/Antivirus Suite

Door opens for filly as Rachel Alexandra will head to Pimlico

Highly regarded Rachel Alexandra moved a step closer to becoming the first filly in a decade to run in the Preakness Stakes when one of the prospective starters, Hull, withdrew from the race on Monday.The entry is expected to become official on Wednesday morning, the same day Rachel Alexandra ships into Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course, where the second leg of the Triple Crown will be run on Saturday for the 134th time. The field has 13 potential starters as of Monday evening, and is limited to 14.Rachel Alexandra would become the first winner of the Kentucky Oaks she romped in the May 1 race, winning by 20 lengths at Churchill Downs to compete in the Preakness. Four fillies have won the Preakness, the last time in 1924 with Nellie Morse. Genuine Risk finished second in 1980 and Winning Colors was third in 1988. The last filly to run in the Preakness was Excellent Meeting in 1999, but she pulled up.After breezing a half mile in 48.80 seconds Sunday at Churchill Downs, Rachel Alexandra had a quiet day Monday, walking the shed row at trainer Steve Asmussen's barn. "She came out of her work in good order," said Scott Blasi, Asmussen's top assistant. "Physically she looks beautiful."Jockey Calvin Borel, who rode 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird to victory in the Kentucky Derby, will be aboard Rachel Alexandra if she runs Saturday. Borel rode the filly in the Oaks, and is committed to ride her the rest of the year. He's called her the finest horse he's ever ridden.Borel is scheduled to be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.While much fuss was being made over the filly's expected entry, Mine That Bird went for an impromptu half-mile workout Monday at Churchill Downs ironically with Borel aboard."The horse looked good," said trainer Bennie Woolley. "I hadn't planned to work him, but he was getting pretty high. He bounced back from the Derby a little quicker than I thought he would. He was getting a little rattled, he was feeling so good. We wanted to let him stretch his legs."If Borel rides the filly, riding Mine That Bird will fall to Mike Smith, a native of New Mexico, where Mine That Bird's connections are based."Mike watched the Derby. He saw how the horse ran and knows the kind of running style he has," Woolley said.Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, the Derby favorite who finished next to last, arrived at Pimlico by van from Delaware Park Monday afternoon. Larry Jones' colt, who suffered cuts on his left front leg during his Derby run, will work out at Pimlico this morning.Derby runnerup Pioneerof the Nile will ship into Pimlico Wednesday and will again be ridden by Garrett Gomez. "He looks strong. It looks like he's sitting on another great performance," said Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

Of Mountains, Molehills, and Numbers

Once upon a time, there was a woman, who, together with her husband, engaged in several acts of what might be termed criminal environmental activism, or, by some, eco-terrorism. She and her husband didnt like Monsanto, and other companies and organizations and even individuals associated with the production and development of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. And, really, who can blame her? GMOs are the suck. Thing is, she wasnt content just going around telling everyone GMOs suck, dont buy or support them; no, she apparently felt the best course of action was burning things down to make her point. A little immature, perhaps, but I guess it gets the point across pretty well. Eventually, as tends to happen to people whod rather craft firebombs than sternly-worded letters, this woman and her husband were arrested, and charged with crimes, and pled guilty, and went to jail. The husband cooperated, and got nine years. The woman got a divorce& and twenty-two years in jail. Now, there are a lot of people around the country who are organizing support for this woman, as they do for all other martyrs to the environmental cause. They write letters and craft websites and put together zines railing against the gross injustice that has been served against this woman, because - waily, waily, waily - she got twenty-two years - twenty-two years! - in jail for burning stuff down. Her supporters like to pull random numbers out of their asses to show how great of a travesty this is - some will tell you the average conviction for arson is only three years, or five, or seven; others will point out that murderers - people who kill others, for crying out loud - get sentences averaging eight or nine or twelve or twenty years, and that people who carry out racially-motivated assault get ten or twelve, but she gets twenty-two for mere arson? What her supporters seem to either forget to mention, or gloss over really, really quickly in the hopes you wont notice, is that she wasnt sentenced to twenty-two years in jail for one arson. No, she confessed to thirteen different acts of property damage. Thirteen, okay? People who confess to thirteen hate crimes dont get ten-year sentences. People who confess to thirteen murders dont get out of jail alive. Now, to be fair, she wasnt actually convicted of all thirteen acts, as her supporters are quick to point out. So what? She confessed, you morons. She admitted guilt and accepted responsibility, and that was duly taken into consideration at her sentencing. She wasnt sentenced based on accusations, or random fairy farts the judge pulled out of his or her arse, but what she admitted she did. This woman got something like twenty months per crime she confessed to. When you look at it that way, hers isnt the the longest sentence ever given an environmental activist, most of whom only committed one or two acts, but is actually one of the shortest. Miscarriage of justice? Not at all. I know these things fuel the almighty persecution complex thats so prevalent among activists, but, please, for crying out loud, being hysterical idiots doesnt help anything, okay?

painting and baking

Today Favourite Handyman and Fionn painted the new lean-to. Fionn also painted his clothes and for good measure FH painted a stripe of Fionn's hair. Nobody owned up to giving Brighid a paintbrush but she got paint nevertheless. She mixed hers with soil from my precious blueberry plants.While they were on a painting roll, I mentioned my plans for a bright red shed. The neighbour's shed borders our property and is the backdrop to the rampant garden (invited guests: mint and comfrey; admissable gatecrasher: nasturtium; unwelcome and uninvited: wandering jew, convulvulus, unidentified spikey weed and slugs). I've had this idea for a while, but photos of the Elerslie Flower Show exhibit "I see red" (pictured below) have provided fresh inspiration.A strong slash of red would set off the deep greens of our wet west coast perfectly. I quite fancy those tall sculptural plants as well - the article I read said they are everyday, not expensive and exotic. We've been talking about paint a bit lately. I think 2009 could well be our year of paint. Certainly the lean-to looks much lighter and attractive painted white than bare wood.Inside, as per my goals this morning, I got baking. In between doing dishes, changing nappies, managing children and doing laundry, I made two dozen bread rolls, two dozen banana muffins and a double recipe of hummous. I also made vegetable curry for dinner. The bread rolls were a doubled lot of Andrew Whitely's Scottish Morning Rolls and this time I think I got them just right. I kneaded them for longer than yesterday, upped the proportion of wholemeal flour (this partly helps because I have better quality wholemeal flour in stock than I do of white bread flour) and also I remembered to dunk the shaped rolls in flour before putting them on the oven tray. If you would like the recipe, please shout in the comments. I'm not feeling moved to copy it out if all two readers out there are gluten free this week.Cauliflower is an overnight phenomenon. Seriously. No sign of a head yesterday and then today two beautiful cauliflowers, replete with green caterpillars and 'pillar-poo on them. So tonight's curry featured our own cauliflower (which the children LIKED), chilli pepper, celery, garlic and curly kale. How could I not like today?I ran out of time to make new and wonderful lunch food like bread sticks or crackers-from-scratch. Hopefully another day - I am looking for a new staple for lunch boxes. I finished off my cookathon by burning myself when cooking the scraps up for the chooks after dinner. Oh yes. Woe is the idiot.

Our Latest Gaming Obsession: Quatro

I saw this game at my sister's place last weekend and my first thought was "Wow, this is fun!" followed by "Yea, I can make this!" and here it is.The game is called Quatro (Spanish for "four." Or a German luxury car, take your pick) and it's pretty darn addicting.To play you have sixteen wooden pieces, each slightly different from the next, and players take turns trying to place pieces on the board such that they can make a row of four that shares one of four characteristics.For example, the first player picks a piece and hands it to the person at his or her right. That player takes the piece and puts it anywhere on the board, trying to somehow make a row of four. After placing that piece they pick another piece and hand it to the player at their right who also places it and tries to complete a series of four.Around and around you go (you can have as many players as you'd like), each player playing the piece they were given and choosing a piece for the next player to place. As soon as someone is able to complete a row of four in any direction the person who handed them the winning piece is out and the game continues until only one person is left to claim victory.The trick lies in the connections. You have round pieces and square pieces, white pieces and brown pieces, short pieces and long pieces, hollow pieces and filled pieces. Of the sixteen total pieces no two share all four characteristics and it's very tricky to train yourself to see all the possible combinations on the board.If you look at the picture at left here you can see, for example, that the bottom horizontal row can be completed if someone places a hollow piece in that empty spot because then all of the row would be hollow pieces even though some are short and some are tall and they are of different colors. Same for the diagonal--one more brown piece in that upper right hand corner and you've completed a row of four brown pieces diagonally even though the pieces are not all exactly the same otherwise.What makes the game tricky is that you might be concentrating on the fact that there are three hollow pieces in a row but not notice that you also have three square pieces in a different line so things can sneak up on you and get you out unexpectedly.It's a great game for children but entertaining for all and we've been playing it all weekend.How do you make your own game? Well I'm so glad you asked!For the board you can use anything you want--a piece of plywood, a pre-cut piece of craft wood from Michael's, a plastic lid, a piece of cardboard, whatever you've got on hand. I used a $2.79 piece of pine from Michael's then sanded it a bit and stained it with a light stain.Then I used sixteen wooden discs (also at craft stores) and stained those with a dark walnut stain and glued them with wood glue in a four-by-four grid on the top. I drilled a hole in the corner of the board and attached a drawstring bag with a leather lace to hold the pieces when they're not in use.In a burst of creativity I also used my woodburning tool to write the instructions for the game on the underside of the board should anyone forget how to play (though as much as they're playing around here I doubt very much that will happen).As for the playing pieces I used a square dowl and a round dowl then cut them into eight 2 1/2 inch segments for the tall pieces and eight 1 1/2 inch segments for the short pieces. I drilled part way into the tops and bottoms of eight hollow pieces and then stained eight of them with a light stain to match the board and half with a dark stain to match the discs. Easy huh?Here's a breakdown of the kinds of pieces you'll need (one of each kind for a total of 16):short white round hollowshort white square hollowshort brown round hollowshort brown square hollowshort white round filledshort white square filledshort brown round filledshort brown square filledtall white round hollowtall white square hollowtall brown round hollowtall brown square hollowtall white round filledtall white square filledtall brown round filledtall brown sqaure filledTotal price to make? Not including the paint stain, leather lace, scrap of fabric for the bag and sandpaper (which I had already on hand) about $10.50 with some discs leftover. Not bad.Sponsored by Tiny Prints for the holiday party invitations for children.

with the new job thing

Here is where we are with the new job thing:1.) All my references have been contacted. All have informed me that they were told the company intended to make me an offer. The two from my current job told me that the CEO basically apologized for stealing me away.2.) The CEO emailed me to say that all my references had nice things to say about me, and they will be in contact with me in the next few days3.) I'm on pins and needlesIt does look good, even I will admit that, but until I receive the formal offer I refuse to get formally excited or to start making formal plans. Oh, I've given some thought as to things that will need to be done -- cross training for the research assistants I have right now, writing up reports on my current projects and what will need to be done with them, how I'll dispose of some of my stuff and move the rest, housing issues when I get there -- Dancing in Socks Guy has a smallish 1-bedroom which will not be enough for us and all the kitties -- and things like that. But I'm too superstitious to write any of this down.Except -- today I'm going to start sorting through my stuff, particularly the 500+ paperback books I have. My excuse is that I was going to have a yard sale sometime this summer anyway, which is certainly true, therefore this doesn't count as moving preparations and does not constitute a jinx of any kind.I'm a bit of a mess

Sunday links don't pay as muchFelix Salmon

Micro-payments considered for WSJ website: Or not so micro, for that matter. I wonder whether micropayments will count towards the cost of an annual subscription, like the Oyster card in London. I doubt they will, though. Why Are (Some) Consumers (Finally) Writing Fewer Checks? I would have liked some international benchmarks. Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction: Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Marriage: They attract each other, it seems. You Have No New Messages—Ever: I haven't got around to working out how to set up voicemail on my office phone yet. And I'm thinking maybe I never will. And, in case you were wondering: What Will The Market Do Today?

BarCampSeattle and Supernova 2008!

tags: barcamp barcampseattle supernova supernova2008 conference conferences open openflow Two excellent conferences coming up in the next few days that I strongly encourage you to attend. First, this weekend, the very first BarCampSeattle takes place at Adobe's offices in Seattle. The intro session starts at 10am Saturday (tomorrow) so be sure to get there early beforehand to get your badge etc. Watch Robert Scoble interview lead BarCampSeattle planner Tara Brown about what's in store for those that join us for BarCampSeattle. Join us for the informal BarCampSeattle pre-party tonight: Thingamajiggr and follow barcampseattle on twitter for updates. Second, next Monday through Wednesday is Supernova 2008 in San Francisco. Organizer Kevin Werbach has done a great job of bringing together an incredible set of speakers and participants and continuously evolving Supernova's format. Kevin asked me to help out this year with organizing and chairing the Open Flow track which takes place on Tuesday the 17th (I've been organizing it on a wiki page of course where you can view the latest updates and details. We've got good contrasting discussions planned on the topics of what do large companies mean by "open" since they seem to act so differently, what are the realities of "open" as a business model, what is the independent developer community doing to push "open" forward, and finally a session to throw all those viewpoints together and see what happens. Just this past Tuesday we held a teleconference preview on Open Flow. You can download the MP3 (109 minutes) and view the log of the simultaneous IRC chat as well. See also Christopher Carfi's blog post on the telcon. Follow supernova2008 on twitter for updates and hope to see you there! View blog reactions

Why Should I Be Cooking With Herbs?

Why Should I Be Cooking With Herbs?Cooking with herbs is a great way to stay healthy and make your favorite foods tastier at the same time. Herbs and spice have been used by humans since the beginning of history. It has been proven time and time again that herbs have wonderful medicinal value. Apart from this, herbs and spice enhance the taste of food. That is why they have been used as trading commodities for thousands of years. In modern times, we can easily get all kinds of herbs at our local supermarket. It is inexpensive to purchase most herbs, and simple to grow them in your garden as well.There are many benefits to cooking with herbs. You can add amazing flavor to meats, vegetable dishes, pasta, rice, soup, and just about anything else. Think of all the great ways that you can spice up your culinary creations with herbs. Professional chefs use herbs all the time, and so can you. The positive effect on your health is another reason to consider cooking with herbs. With so many vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, herbs are an ideal way to get the nutrients you need to stay healthy. As the saying goes, you are what you eat.Another reason to try cooking with herbs is to cut down on sodium, calories, and fat in your diet. While it does taste good to cook with a lot of salt, oil, butter, and cream, replacing these items with herbs is a great way to improve your diet. You can still get a good deal of flavor from a wide variety of herbs and spices. Herbs will replace all that excess salt you have been consuming. It is also good for cutting out high-fat and high-calorie ingredients. Making a few of these substitutes and changes will really help you eat better and feel better.Do not forget that cooking with herbs is also great for presentation purposes. Herbs are visually appealing when applied in creative ways. They are also aromatic. You can excite the sense in terms of smell and sight any time you serve a dish with fresh herbs. It really is a perfect solution for getting all kinds of flavor without the added calories, fats, sugars, and sodium. Your body will thank you, and so you will your taste-buds. Look online for all sorts of interesting recipes using herbs. Spice up your kitchen with herbals ideas that are sure to please.Cooking with herbs is only limited by your imagination the author can help you improve your cooking to a higher level, for more information on the use of herbs in cooking and medicinal applications go to http://HerbsForHealthAndTaste.com.How to Cook Healthy and Budget Meals For the Family?Life is hectic these days. Many families with both parents working are finding it difficult to make time for cooking meals. Food for family is usually replaced by fast food or cooked food from the shopping malls. These foods are usually less nutritious and it can also be more expensive than home cooked meals. The good news is that you can cook healthy meals for your family with proper planning and getting the right advice from reliable sources, incorporate some creativity and passion, a good and healthy meal that is within your budget can be achieved.I would like to share with you some great ideas borrowed from Chinese cooking. During the weekends, it is recommended to buy fresh vegetables and meat approximately for a week's use. Vegetables such as capsicums, broccoli, mushrooms and cabbage are ideal as they can keep longer. Meat can be poultry, pork or chicken. Next step would be to clean these and cut or slice them into thin pieces and store separately in meal size portions sufficient for the family in the refrigerator for later use. Different sauces can be purchased to have a variety of taste in dishes.One-Pot RicePossessing a good electric rice cooker is essential for one pot rice. Put in sufficient rice for the family and add enough water. When rice is cooked with remainder 1cm water on surface, add vegetables with seasoned meat and closed the cover and continue cooking till rice cooker completes cook cycle. Mix the rice with some sauces and fried onions. Serve hot.Noodles or PastaNoodles and Pasta can be softened in hot water over the weekend. Cool them and then insert into zipbloc bags to be stored in the fridge. Fry garlic with oil till fragrant, add vegetables and meat and fry dry till cooked. Add favourite sauce and boil lightly for 5 minutes. Add water and starch to thicken sauce. Toss noodles or pasta into it till sauce thoroughly absorbed in. Serve hotRoast or Curry ChickenFor roast chicken, season it overnight with some salt, soya sauce, sesame oil and few tablespoons of black pepper sauce. Put it in a roasting pan and cover with foil and store in fridge. Cut some potatoes, sprinkle salt and dash oil or butter over it. Do the same with capsicums. Put seasoned chicken on top tray, potatoes and capsicums on lower tray. Roast at 200 degree for 25mins. Serve with rice.Slow Cooker MealsYou can add chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions with sufficient water and cook on slow heat for about 8 hours. Simply cook rice separately. When rice is ready to eat, take out the slow cooker food into a big serving bowl and serve.Are you ready to learn more about the tips on how to prepare cheap and healthy meals for the family? Discover the methods of cooking different types of meals to keep your family happy and healthy. Visit my website at http://www.healthymeal.mywellness-shop.com

Basketball adviser Vaccaro squares off against NBA, NCAA

CALABASAS, Calif. - He is 69 and says he needs a nap after an afternoon of impassioned talk about his influential, often controversial role in basketball. Otherwise, John Paul "Sonny" Vaccaro shows no signs of slowing down.On the contrary, the man known as the "godfather of basketball," who two years ago stepped away from a career spanning about three decades as a shoe company marketing executive, is energized by his latest ventures. The one-time physical- and special-education teacher, music promoter and failed Las Vegas card player who became a sports marketing whiz and confidant to basketball players of all ages is promoting reform his version of it.Whether he is on the lecture circuit speaking to business and law students about perceived injustices of the NCAA and its amateur rules or advising high school players as they ponder professional careers in Europe, this man with distinct droopy eyes continues to captivate audiences."There should be a radical change in amateur athletics in America, because it's a farce," he says. "Amateurism lost its virginity a long time ago."Such statements make NCAA administrators cringe. "He helped create an environment in which the value of high school and college education has been diminished in the minds of many young basketball players," Wally Renfro, an NCAA vice president and senior adviser to NCAA President Myles Brand, says of Vaccaro. Vaccaro has been in the news recently because, for the second time in a year, he has given his blessing to a high school player who will spurn college to play professionally in Europe. Jeremy Tyler, 17, will skip not only college but also his senior year at San Diego High for at least two seasons in Europe, with the NBA being his goal.Brandon Jennings of Compton, Calif., went from high school to a pro league in Italy last year and is expected to be a top-14 lottery pick in the June NBA draft. Vaccaro helped broker Jennings' deal and will do the same for Tyler. "They came and said, 'We can do it,' and he believed in them," says Vaccaro's wife of 25 years, Pam. Vaccaro and his wife were in Greece on Monday to visit with a team interested in Tyler. Pam Vaccaro stepped in as Vaccaro's business partner 15 years ago.Vaccaro confirms Jennings made about $1.2 million in salary and endorsements and says Tyler will have a six-figure income. Vaccaro depicts the players' temporary defections to Europe as a revolt against the NBA's requirement that kids be 19 and a year out of high school and as a rebellion against the constraints of amateurism in America. "There is going to be an uprising," Vaccaro says. "There is going to be someone to say, 'I can't take this anymore.' And the first one was Brandon Jennings. The second one is Jeremy. And there will be a third and a fourth. "What will happen is there will be teams and individuals, whether they're agents in America or owners in Europe or Asia or Israel who will say 'They can come play for us.' "The NBA rule aggravates Vaccaro, but his issues with the NCAA go beyond frustration. It infuriates him, and he is lobbying hard against the association through a grass-roots effort. Big man on campus That's the approach Vaccaro used as a shoe company executive, first for Nike, then for Adidas and finally for Reebok. He and his competitors targeted promising teens across the country and made them walking billboards for the shoe companies with free apparel and sponsorship of their club and high school teams.In so doing, Vaccaro became a trusted adviser to players such as Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and LeBron James, all of whom went from high school to the NBA before the rule change in 2005. He signed Bryant and McGrady to deals with Adidas but lost James to Nike.Vaccaro has a new audience, college students, whom he urges to buck the establishment if they believe in a cause. His beefs with the NCAA and the NBA are his rallying cries."He's my hero," says Indiana University sports marketing and management major Jared Casden, who invited Vaccaro to speak to the Hoosier Sports Business Organization. "His visit was definitely the highlight of my college experience."Vaccaro says he doesn't charge a speaking fee. He is driven "because the message is right.""I am grass roots," he says. "The only way you change anything in America is by the youth. Kids are everything."Vaccaro also wants to be heard by Congress and has met with congressional staffers to challenge the merits of the NCAA's often-questioned tax-exempt status and whether amateurism rules strip the athletes of rightful earning power as television and marketing revenue stream in for schools and the NCAA.But some of Vaccaro's critics think the sweeping commercialization of college sports was in part driven by Vaccaro."Sonny was one of the actors who helped create negative things in sports in the 1980s and 1990s," says Richard Lapchick, chairman of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at Central Florida and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.Even Lapchick concedes, however, that Vaccaro effectively gets his message out. "He's looked at differently now," Lapchick says.Vaccaro's impact has been so powerful that HBO has a movie in development about the ABCD camp he used to run, with actor James Gandolfini in line to portray Vaccaro, who grew up in blue-collar Trafford, Pa., the son of Italian immigrants. Vaccaro recalls Gandolfini telling him he wanted a character with conflict. "I said, 'I've been conflicted all my life,' " Vaccaro says. Yet his struggles usually have pitted him against others, not filled him with self-doubt. "When I was employed to do this for the companies I worked for, I had a job," he says. "I gave the kids a platform. I treated them honestly and fairly. We never took a dime from any of the kids. We were paid because they marketed our product." Marketing trailblazer Vaccaro was the first to pay college basketball coaches for exclusive apparel deals and later made similar agreements with universities. He held the first national high school all-star game, the Roundball Classic, and it endured for 43 years. Every summer, thousands of players descended on Las Vegas for Vaccaro's Big Time Tournament, another shoe-company-sponsored showcase that attracted hundreds of college scouts.In 1984 he sealed a deal for the groundbreaking marketing of Michael Jordan's signature shoe for Nike, shaping the way sports icons would be promoted. His success was built on Vaccaro's keen ability to evaluate future high-level stars and connect with the everyday man. "I knew that if anyone could help, it would be him," Jennings says in an e-mail. "He's been around so many players LeBron, Kobe the list goes on."Vaccaro says about 15 high school players in the last year have asked him whether they should skip college to play pro overseas but he advised most not to because they didn't have the game, the maturity or the family support system Jennings had in Europe and Tyler will have. "(Vaccaro) doesn't drop the ball too many times," says James Tyler, the father of Jeremy, who left high school this semester for home-schooling as he prepares to play in Europe.The disgust this movement has generated bothers Vaccaro because he thinks it has traces of prejudice. Gymnasts, golfers and tennis players, among others, forgo traditional schooling to train full time at a young age without raising eyebrows. "They're white," Vaccaro says.Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech men's basketball coach and president of the Black Coaches Administrators, has a different view: "The reality is if you're a tennis player or golfer, your family has a safety net."Hewitt declined to comment on Vaccaro but expressed concern that young African Americans are getting a bad message: "It scares me that the message we're sending to African-African youth is don't worry about your college education."Vaccaro says he owes it to the players to counsel them when asked and to fight for their rights. He doesn't get commissions off the deals for Jennings and Tyler and lives comfortably off past earnings. "That's what makes it beautiful," Vaccaro says. "I don't think anyone got paid for what they did when they made a stand."

Batch #4: Brewday

So, what started out as a pretty uneventful brewday ended up with my biggest screw-up to date. I learned my lesson from the last batchs boil-over and kept a careful eye on the pot. I ended up with a slight boil-over at the beginning of the boil after adding the extract. With something like 8 pounds of extract, I didnt take into account the fact that I should have used less water to begin with. No biggie there, though. I managed to clean it up pretty well and we continued on with the boil and massive hopping. The problem didnt come until the very end. I added the last of the hops with 15 minutes left in the boil, sat down, and started eating lunch. Somewhere in that time, I decided itd be a good idea to put the cover back on to sterilize it before I chilled the wort. I did that and sat down. Susan noticed the cat looking near the stove, I got up and noticed I had a huge boil-over on my hands. Luckily, it kept on the stovetop. However, I lost a small, but significant amount of my wort. I chilled and from that point on, everything went pretty smoothly. In fact, Id say it went smoother than any other time. I decided to take the advice of reader markmier and used the cheap vodka in the airlock. I aerated and pitched the yeast at the correct times. The only thing I did differently was not strain as I poured the wort into the fermentation bucket. I figured Id let as much get in there as I could (without dumping all the crud at the bottom of the pot) to keep the hops up, since I did lose some. Im not sure if itll affect the flavor or just the difficulty in transferring it to the secondary. The original gravity was supposed to be about 1.070. Because of the lost wort, it ended up at 1.062, which is about the low end of the scale for this beer. Im hoping the yeast works overtime. I think the biggest effect of the lower gravity will be in the flavor. I have a feeling its gonna be a bit more bitter than I had planned (not that it wasnt going to be bitter to begin with since the planned IBUs were about 64-65). The final recipe is online at my hopville.com account.

This is an ex-newspaper!

It's over.The American newspaper is dead, and we just need to start figuring out what replaces it. We need to start figuring out what keeps quality journalism alive.I don't have any empirical data telling me the newspaper is dead, dead, dead. I do, though, have a nose that can smell a rotting corpse.And when this (see right) is the best a major metro newspaper can come up with for a redesign, the parrot has expired.Of course, the people who have gotten newspapers into their present state of repose would just have us believe that institutions like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution aren't dead, they're just pining for the fjords. THE EDITOR of the Journal-Constitution, Julia Wallace, is one of those trying to convince us her newspaper is not an ex-parrot:Nearly two years ago, we set out to chart a course for the future. As information habits changed and more of our print audience shifted to the Internet, we knew the status quo was not an option. A struggling economy only added to the challenge before us.We thought the best answers would come from our readers. We talked to thousands of them. They guided us to the new product you’re holding in your hands today.This daily newspaper is one designed for newspaper readers. For years our industry has chased those elusive nonreaders. Our market research led us down a different path. What we’d have to do to win over those nonreaders risked driving away our core readers. We believe we can thrive by increasing the satisfaction of those who already engage with us regularly. So . . . you see a newspaper that looks and reads very much like a newspaper.We’ve invested millions in press upgrades, more color and a more newsy, sophisticated look. We hired an award-winning design firm, Lacava Design, from Montreal to help us create a newspaper that is easy to use and filled with information.Also along the way, we found ways to do things more efficiently. Our reader feedback proved valuable when economic necessities forced us to scale back plans and coverage. It was our readers who helped us set priorities for what to keep and what could be sacrificed.WE TALKED to thousands of readers. (We're blaming it on our audience research.)We hired an award-winning design firm. (We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for this turkey. After all, nothing says "In touch with north Georgia like designers from Montreal." I'll bet the TV listings have the late news coming on at 2300h.)We adopted a more newsy, sophisticated look. (We laid off all our photographers.)Ladies and gentlemen, this newspaper is bleedin' demised!This paper, and others just like it, are bleedin' demised because editors and publishers didn't see the handwriting on the wall two decades ago and start looking for a new way forward. Since, classifieds have disappeared into a black hole called Craigslist, readers have abandoned print at warp speed for various Internet offerings and The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central -- Comedy Central! -- are where smart political commentary and sharp writing have gone to hide out.NEWSPAPERS, on the other hand, are where the corncob suppositories at least keep the grim reaper alert for the next spate of layoffs.The Daily Blab isn't dying because it didn't do enough readership surveys and tracking of how members of focus groups say they use the newspaper. The Daily Blab is "pinin' for the fjords" because of the one thing editors and publishers have forgotten: Imagination.They couldn't imagine a future different from the printed past. They couldn't imagine, amid their MBA armies of men uniformed blue suits and red ties, that newspapering -- indeed, journalism -- is just as much artform as it is science.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution front page you see is the result of research and science. It reflects none of the passion, art and creativity involved in bringing the news to one's neighbors . . . every day.The news is an ongoing conversation -- one cooked up with equal parts yelling, reasoned argument, compassion, "just the facts, ma'am," fire in the belly, smartassery, sobriety and a good belly laugh. What you see here is a research report.It's what everybody said they wanted in a newspaper. Only lifeless. And the Internet Revolution will proceed apace. Without newspapers.YOU WANT TO KNOW what really gave me that gut feeling of doom? The moment I noticed the dead parrot had been nailed to his perch by the pet-shop editor owner?It was this, published today in Adweek:At a time when newspapers are in a fight for survival in the Internet era, one is fighting back with an ad campaign that positions the paper as a chance to escape the tyranny of digital devices in everyday life.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has rolled out a new "Unplug. It's Sunday" campaign to promote the old-school Sunday newspaper as a refuge from the constant buzzing and beeping of smart phones, instant messages and e-mail that marks the modern workweek. The campaign, which runs until the end of the year, coincides with a recent redesign of the paper.The Cox Enterprises paper is ironically turning to a digital agency to make the case for print.The campaign, which costs over $1 million, is designed, in part, to reach readers of the AJC who don't get the paper on the Sunday, said Amy Chown, vp of marketing. It isn't meant to replace their Web use with the paper, she added."This is not an anti-Internet campaign," Chown said. "It’s not that we don’t want them to read us online. We wanted to balance the use of AJC.com during the week with the paper on Sunday.""It's about how to reposition the newspaper," said Tony Quin, CEO of IQ Interactive, the independent Atlanta digital shop that created the campaign. "We came up with the idea as a counterpoint to the digital cacophony that exists in everyone's lives. Sunday is the day to relax and do something different than you do the rest of the week."I GET A MENTAL IMAGE of buggy-whip makers putting up billboards saying "Horseless carriages are noisy, and shoveling manure is good for you."Besides, the Journal-Constitution ad campaign does too undermine its digital product. Stupid, stupid, stupid.The ink-stained wretches in Atlanta could have saved themselves a lot of money and embarrassment. Before launching such a pointless and stupid campaign, they could have done one more bit of audience research.They could have tried to pry a cellphone out of a teen-ager's hand and see what happened.No, this is an ex-newspaper.

Let It Begin

As a Twenty-Something, starting a business is rather stressful in this economy. The best thing you can do for your business is MARKETING. I know its terrible, but starting out in the spa industry you generally will have to poor out the pro bono work and promotions. This generally means a slim pay check, and consider yourself lucky. Food For Thought: Psychology suggests, in promotions, to make something look like a better deal. Sell you normal money-maker as a special. The food industry does this ALL THE TIME. Why cant we? It certainly works for them, its worked for me too! True Story: My business ran a weekly add in The Shopper suggesting The Sugar-Plum Wrap. This included exfoliation, body scrub (using our seasonal signature sugar-plum scented body scrub), 20-min body wrap, hot shower, and full body rub down (15 mins). We simply used All for the low price of : $* *insert regular cost 100% new customers that week came in for our Special. Did I mention our new customers that month was up 800%? I cant wait to share with you more of ideas on bring in new clients and building your business! Thanks for taking a min to read my thoughts. Hopefully it has triggered some of your own! Dont forget! You maybe in the service industry, but in order to provide quality relaxation, you need to take time for yourself too!

This scam is safe

Puppy scammers? Puppy scammers?Oooh, this is a good one! My friend Mac forwarded this delightful spam scam to me. Do you really think that the FBI Director would send out an email like this? Sadly, some people might.Don't reply to messages like this, don't be fooled!Attn: Beneficiary,This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Impostors claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr Frank Nweke, none officials of Oceanic Bank, Zenith Banks, kelvin Young of HSBC, Ben of Fedex,Ibrahim Sule,Larry Christopher, Puppy Scammers are impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation. During our Investigation, we noticed that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment.Therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry Of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by cordinating your payment in total USD$10.5million in an ATM CARD which you can use to withdraw money from any ATM MACHINE CENTER anywhere in the world with a maximum of $10000 United States Dollars daily. You now have the lawful right to claim your fund in an ATM CARD.Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved in this transaction, you have to be rest assured for this is 100% risk free it is our duty to protect the American Citizens. All I want you to do is to contact the ATM CARD CENTER via email for their requirements to proceed and procure your Approval Slip on your behalf which will cost you $570 only and note that your Approval Slip which contains details of the agent who will process your transaction.CONTACT INFORMATIONNAME: Kelvin WilliamsEMAIL: kelvinwilliams17@sify.comDo contact Mr. Kelvin Williams of the ATM CARD CENTRE with your details:FULL NAME:HOME ADDRESS:TELL:CELL:CURRENT OCCUPATION:BANK NAME:So your files would be updated after which he will send the payment informations which you'll use in making payment of $570 via Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram Transfer for the procurement of your Approval Slip after which the delivery of your ATM CARD will be effected to your designated home address without any further delay. Please if you know you cannot be able to afford the $570 for the delivery of your ATM card via FedEx then do not bother to contact Mr. Kelvin Williams as we are at the End of the year and he should be busy with some other things.We order you get back to this office after you have contacted the ATM SWIFT CARD CENTER and we do await your response so we can move on with our Investigation and make sure your ATM SWIFT CARD gets to you.Thanks and hope to read from you soon.FBI Director Robert S.Mueller III.Note: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possesion of your ATM CARD, you are hereby adviced only to be in contact with Mr. Kelvin Williams of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any emails you get from impostors to this office so we could act upon and commence investigation.Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick

Condem ad.

Math Homework

I'm not quite sure why math homework is such a catalyst for visceral anger. John is good at math -- he routinely tests well on it, enjoys reading "The Number Devil" and other math books, and generally has an OK grasp on things such as estimating. But when he's learning a new concept -- such as long division two months ago, and length conversions this week -- it's like drilling a well deep into his store of viking rage.Here is a typical escalation:I'm washing dishes. John is at the table doing homework. Maia is either coloring or doing her own math worksheet I've printed off the computer (honestly, sometimes I feel like she does this to bug John).John: Sigghhhh....grooaaaannn...Um. Mom. Mom, can you come help me?Me (wiping hands off): Sure, whatcha got?John: (Sighs again.) I don't get it.Me: What don't you get?John: This! All of it! That! I don't GET it.Me: What number are you on?John (grips pencil tightly, stares at table, presses lips together): NUMBER. SIX.Me: OK. You've got 11 feet, and you need to figure out how many inches it is.John: I know that! I just....RRRRGH! I JUST DON'T GET IT! NARRRRRRGHHHHHH MUST DEFEAT OUTRAGEOUS HORROR OF MOTHER TRYING TO TEACH ME MAAAATHHHHHHH! RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!Well, that's what it feels like, anyway. I send him outside to walk it off. I go back to washing dishes. He comes back. We try again. We get a little farther until he insists his teacher told him that when you're converting feet to inches you divide by 12. And so on. Tears. Peevish comments. Erasing and re-erasing. Wet, gurgly sniffs. Until finally, he's multiplying by 12s in his head. He converts yards to inches. After supper, he tells us he read that it takes 20 football fields for a loaded train to stop ("No shit," I can see Matt thinking). I ask him how many feet that is, and he stands, looking at the ceiling, and comes up with the answer.Then it's OK.

I'm a jolly good fellow

Does India need foreign banks?THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned 75 on April 1st. Older than the country itself, the central bank is conservative and unimpressed by fads. Shortly before its birthday, it released a six-volume assessment of Indias financial system, carried out with the Ministry of Finance. While other financial regulators are flagellating themselves for their failings, the RBI was pleased with what it saw in the mirror.Indias banks seem robust: their bad loans could double without leaving them short of capital, according to the RBIs stress test. It noted with pride that the country had escaped the banking crises that have crippled other emerging economies in recent decades. It attributes this lack of drama partly to Indias state-owned banks, which still hold about 70% of the systems assets. It even thinks their bosses belong to that rarest of breeds: the underpaid banker. The head of Indias biggest private bank, it points out, earns almost 45 times more than the boss of the much larger State Bank of India (SBI). ...

Reasons for a headache

Pressure, tension, anxiety,Stuffy anger in their hearts more easily lead to the occurrence of headache;Migraine menstrual period is considered the ovarian cycle with a special type of migraine headache, migraine women accounted for more than 60%;Unnatural light will make our eyes feel fatigue, inadequate ventilation and indoor environment of anoxic brain will lead to insufficient blood supply, and a long period of sitting is also an important factor leading to a headache. When the neck or cervical spine is made of hard, when the blood flow to the brain will be affected, and ultimately will lead to serious headache.Sometimes sex is one reason.

Waterloo Road showing on BBC 1 by DigiGuide Staff

Picture: BBC/Shed ProductionsWaterloo RoadWaterloo Road, showing Wednesday April 22nd on BBC 1 at 8:00pmMuch to the delight of the pupils, Waterloo Road's latest supply teacher, Jem Allen, cruises into the car park in her flashy car, as the drama about a Rochdale-based comprehensive school continues. While Jem proves popular with staff and students, her upbeat attitude and glamorous lifestyle are enough to get right up Grantly's nose. Forced together on a school trip, their antagonism festers, and Grantly decides to call Jem's bluff by suggesting a detour to her house - expecting her to say no. To his surprise she agrees and, when she lets them into an impressive country house, Grantly has to concede defeat. Only fact-obsessed Karla is suspicious of the inconsistencies in Jem's stories. Elsewhere in the house, the boys take advantage by tucking into a few bottles of champagne from the fridge, unaware that their irresponsible behaviour is setting them on a dangerous downward spiral. Grantly discovers that it isn't Jem's house after all but, before he has the chance to gloat, Paul raises the alarm that Bolton has hit his head in the swimming pool. Grantly dives in to rescue Bolton. Elsewhere, sick of the attention her breasts are getting, a confused Janeece takes desperate measures to appear modest. Finally, she decides that she won't feel better about herself unless she has her breast augmentation reversed and returns to the "real her". Meanwhile, with the exams in full swing, Chlo realises how much motherhood is going to restrict the future she wants. She forces herself to admit to Donte that she isn't ready to be a mum - she wants to give the baby up for adoption. A stunned Donte walks out speechless, leaving a devastated Chlo alone. View the full reviewGet a reminder when Waterloo Road starts.

Putting Banshee to Work

Recently I have spent some time creating a smart job scheduler for Banshee. Some jobs we have includeImportingSaving metadata to fileBPM analysisBPM analysis and saving metadata to file jobs should be paused while doing speed sensitive jobs like importing. To achieve this, each job has priority hints and a list of resources it heavily uses.The priority hints areSpeedSensitive, for jobs the user is actively waiting on, such as importingLongRunning, for things like BPM or Mirage analysis of the entire libraryAnd the resources are customizable, but currently I'm usingCPUDiskDatabaseIf two jobs use the same resourceSpeedSensitive jobs run immediately (more than one ok)Normal jobs (not SpeedSensitive or LongRunning) then follow, one at a timeLongRunning jobs then follow, one at a timeIt is a bit of pretty low-level polish and a pretty simple idea, but it will give better performance and a better experience. The code is in a git branch for the moment, hopefully to be merged into trunk before 1.6.