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Our care home in Kings Lynn can accommodate up to 39 Residents, all on the ground floor. There are lounge, dining room and bathroom facilities as well as a salon. The property is a large detached, purpose-built care home with a car park and enclosed gardens. The Care Home is situated close to the centre of Kings Lynn and in easy access to local amenities.
Registered for 39 residents
For residents aged from 65
For the elderly and those suffering with dementia
At a glance
Jodi Collins
Kettlewell Lane
Kings Lynn
I am very pleased with the care my mother is/has received at Kings Lynn Residential in her short time here. I would certainly recommend it to others.
Kings Lynn Care Home
Kettlewell Lane, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 1PW
Dining is a hugely important factor in many lives, it is more than simply sustenance. Culturally, both food and dining are at the core of our most joyous experiences in life; weddings, festivals, birthdays and holidays to name just a few.
We encourage our residents to invite their loved ones into the home for lunch, dinner and even breakfast so that meal times offer the same opportunities for socialising as they would've done throughout each individual's life.
What is unique about the dining experience we offer here is 'choice', which extends beyond simply WHAT you wish to eat, it includes WHERE, WHEN and WHO WITH. Not only do our residents have a superb choice of meals each day but they have the freedom to eat them wherever they like, whenever they like, and with whomever they choose.
We often incorporate food into our activities, providing buffets at parties and BBQs during summer garden parties. We have even hosted 'Come dine with me' style evenings in which favourite meals are pitted against one another, diners then voting for their favourite.
Our catering staff are highly skilled and in addition to their knowledge within hospitality they are subject to our programme of care related training, this gives them a broad understanding of the often complex needs of our residents. Our dining team cater for a diverse range of dietary requirements and have experience in tailoring menus to suit every individual's specific needs.
Regular activities include flower arranging, art and craft sessions, quiz nights and tea parties. As well as fun events in the home, entertainers often come and visit us too. We have recently been visited by the Salvation Army, musicians and local drama students.
As you would expect, special holidays are incorporated into our activity calendar and birthdays are always celebrated with a party and a big slice of cake!
We invite our residents to join in with choosing and planning activities and encourage those moving in with us to continue with their current hobbies and interests.
- Book a viewing
At a glance
Jodi Collins
Kettlewell Lane
Kings Lynn


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The holidays are a time of tradition for most people. There is the tradition of marathon shopping for gifts; baking; decorating your house; get-togethers with family and friends; eating.
At the office we also have traditions. Decorating the heck out of the office is big one. We are known for our decorations at the holidays, not just Christmas but Halloween, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and the Olympics. It's been going on a couple of decades, we actually get complaints if we don't decorate!
And of course, we don't just decorate on the outside, the inside gets a little crazy as well.
Needless to say, some of us are more into decorations than others. While some are decorating every single surface, others are following behind trying to pick up and create a little space (we won't mention any names).
Denise has the tradition of making pumpkin bread. I don't know where she finds her elves from but she goes home one night and comes back the next morning with dozens of mini-loaves completely wrapped with bows and tags.
See's candy is a big tradition and we appreciate everyone who gives us some!
The community of South Lake Tahoe has holiday traditions. The Chamber encourages people to put lights on their businesses along Lake Tahoe Boulevard. There is the traditional community choir concert, the NutCracker Ballet, Handel's Messiah Concert with a Hallelujah chorus sing-a-long.
The Santa Fire Truck hits the road, courtesy of both the city of South Lake Tahoe and Lake Valley Fire Departments. Cruising through the neighborhoods, stopping for all the kids (and their parents), and providing an early Santa sighting is a great treat for kids and adults.
Homemade ice skating rinks are established with spontaneous ice hockey games break out in the Tahoe Keys and on Sawmill Pond, two of the few local bodies of water that actually freeze during the winter. Don't try this on your own, knowing when the ice is ready is a practice that takes some knowledge and experience.
And of course, the town is loaded with visitors. Coming to Tahoe for the holidays is a tradition with thousands of people, coming for the snow, the skiing, the snowboarding, and the ambiance that only the holidays in the mountains can provide.
Whatever your tradition is, drive safe and stay safe. Enjoy the holidays!
We wish you Happy Holidays and the very best for 2017!

subset: commoncrawl


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Photographing Family Events Using Your Digital SLR
If the onus of recording special family events — graduations, anniversaries, and other family milestone — falls to you and your digital SLR, plan to get the whole event from start to finish.
Camera settings for shooting family events
The best way to draw attention to your subject is to set your digital SLR to control depth of field, so use Aperture Priority mode. If you anticipate a lot of quick action and expressive emotions — dancing or crying tears of joy, for example — in a short period of time, shoot in Continuous Drive mode to capture an action sequence. Otherwise, Single Shot mode is fine.
If you're photographing an indoor graduation ceremony, use on-camera flash, as well as a high ISO setting. Other setting suggestions include:
Aperture: f/3.5 to f/8.0
You need a depth of field large enough to capture everyone in a group in focus, so use a small aperture with an f/stop of f/8.0 for large groups; for just a few people standing together, use an f/stop of f/6.3 or f/5.6; for a group of one, you want a very shallow depth of field, which you can get with an f/stop of f/4.0.
ISO Setting: 100 to 400, depending whether you're inside or out in the sun.
Auto-Focus Point: Single auto-focus point
Focal Length: 50mm to 100mm
Image Stabilization: On
Taking pictures at family gatherings
When you want to tell the story of a party by taking pictures with your digital SLR, make sure you arrive early. Start by photographing the preparations for the party:
Make sure you get the featured guest enjoying the event:
You need to be patient to get quality shots. At first, the guests notice you and the camera, but when the event starts kicking into high gear, they start enjoying each other's company and forgetting about you and your camera.
In telling the story of a family event, you want to draw the viewer's attention to the person who's the focus of the occasion. You can show the entire party but find the moments of interaction with the person who's the reason for the gathering:


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|Rosa Palau Sans
Degree of Psychology, Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Graduate in Speech Therapy (Disturbances of Language and listening). Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Psychopathology in Children and Youth Master. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Professor of FPCEE, Blanquerna. She teaches the courses: Basis of Psycho Special Education, basic psychological processes, personality and conduct disorders, educational resources for dealing with children with learning difficulties "and Educational and Developmental Psychology at Middle School"
Coordinator of the Department of Psychology and Educational Development
Collaboration with institutions in training teachers and other professionals in psychology and education
Working in the field of educational psychology to diagnose and support children and young people with learning difficulties
Interest in seeking care for differences in school, especially students with learning disabilities and their families. Also in Mental Health for children and adolescents and prevention of disorders from the school. Collaboration in research on care for people with special needs in Catalonia
|The main goal of the GRPF is to study and do research about the internal and external aspects of the family group and to promote policies that will allow professionals to help families and their members to improve their personal and social development.
Dr. Carles Pérez-Testor is the main researcher of the group.
He is currently a Professor of the Facultat de Psicologia, Ciències de l'Educació i de l'Esport, Blanquerna (FPCEE Blanquerna) and the Director of the Institut de Salud Mental Fundació Vidal i Barraquer (FVB).


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Multi-award winning OAP — and The 'Road Show' host — Daddy Freeze went on his Twitter page to curse out supposedly failed musician in Nigeria, whose new hubby is writing articles yabbing other celebrities.
Freeze says that the same singer comes running to them to play his 'senseless' songs.
Who do you think it is? Let me give you a clue, his stage name starts with 'Ec'……….. do the maths!
See more tweets below: –


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Why "College and Career Ready" Nationalized "Standards"?
Babel meets the Borg.
Why is it propagated to be sooooooo important that there be Nationalized Education Common "standards"?
What's behind the push for all states to implement the same standards, verified by aligned assessment testing (which will just be ongoing via ethernet "learning", I-pads), and
Seamlessly aligned college/ workforce entrance exams (PSAT, SAT, ACT, Stanford 10, Aspire, WorkKeys, GED etc.),
Seamlessly aligned with "higher education" and
"Soft Skills" for workforce certification?
1. Uniform Database platforms.
2. Uniform attitudes, dispositions, and behaviors.
3. To uniformly design malleable labor.
4. All of the above.
Ie. Cut and paste human capital; or perhaps "grab and capture" is more accurate. (The brain trust ponders how Gates appears to be the scapegoat for all this, while the apples and smarter planet folks are definitely reaping bushels of sauce while producing mush in minds, senses and souls.)
Before we get out the smoking shovels, let's employ some common sense observations.
A. There was no perceived workforce/ economic problem, healthcare problem, breakdown of the family problem, college tuition problem, or dumbed down education problem, until the progressives, notably Lyndon B. Johnson and company, took it upon themselves to create problems; Nanny the entire nation via their "War on Poverty."
In 1965 Johnson's administration rolled out some of the most devastating legislation via the:
1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title funding I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X ongoing…
1965 Johnson also signed the death of Healthcare via Medicare
1965 Johnson also signed the dependency scam called Medicaid
1965 was also the tragic year that Lyndon B. Johnson signed in the Higher Education Act of 1965, PL89-329 (authorized most federal student financial aid programs, including the Educational Opportunity Grant Program and the Guaranteed Student Loan Program.
In 1964 Johnson had already paved the road for serfdom with the "Economic Opportunity Act of 1964" which established college work-study and authorized Head Start, Upward Bound, and VISTA.
It seems that much comes back to the concept of life and "work."
Is life to be a "free ride", coast down a yellow brick road, lined with ice cream and lemonade stands? Or is life to be full of, well, "life" : Challenges, obstacles, success, scraped knees, joy, tears, growth and a continual series of mental, physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual development?
One does not learn any competence from: smooth, easy or challenge-free. Nor does one embrace the humus of being human and begin the profound awe of that Breath of Life distinguishing mankind from animals.
For anything to have long lasting value, there is a personal cost; a personal "skin in the game." Free has no value to those who pay nothing for the commodity, the education, the goods, the "success"…or the sacrifice.
For the last 50 years Progressives have placed the cookies low on the shelf.
We must remember that if one only grabs the lowest cookies on the shelf, one will end up fat, lazy and lacking any motivation for reaching for something higher in the cabinet…or better yet learning how to hunt a really nutritious meal.
Today we find ourselves in the wake of the devastation of the progressives' "War on Poverty"; as we acknowledge the poverty of desire to "REACH" in our own communities, churches, commerce and cultures.
Having removed the "Need", the Central Progressive Planners have castrated the peoples.
The poverty of desire to: self-govern, be self-sufficient, and self-determinant is far more astounding as we witness the apathetic acceptance of a populace willing to be spoon fed, digitally designed, and placed on the workforce conveyor belt of uniformity.
It is as if they are willing to sit on the conveyor belt and allow cookies to be shoved into their mouths for the promise of an infinite diet of cookies.
For those that are willing to reach and build some muscles, here are some smoking shovels connecting "education" with state, federal and globalist conveyors of social engineering:
Hoosiers for Quality Education (HQE) …formerly Hoosiers for Economic Growth
Indiana Network of Knowledge (INK)…..formerly Indiana Workforce Intelligence System (IWIS) "integrating data to understand Indiana's human capital"
Lumina Foundation, Goals 2025, (remake of Clinton's Goals 2000 managed by member of Clinton's IHEP, Institution for Higher Education Policy) headquartered in Indiana
National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), Marc Tucker's dream of socially engineered human capital, Clintons also on this board
Academy for Systemic Change maps, MIT, social engineering
PARCC (Partnership for Assessments of Readiness for College and Career)
SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia)
SAT, PSAT, SAT, Stanford 10, Iowa Basic, GED, Aspire, ACT WorkKeys etc.
Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI) is a collaborative partnership at the Federal level between the Department of Labor (DOL) and Education which has awarded grants to states to expand their Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS). In turn the states are expected to "demonstrate similarly established partnerships between educational and workforce agencies."
inBloom's Comprehensive Data-Gathering and cloud-computing services such as Pearson, Khan Academy and Edmodo.
"Free" services for data collection and allegiance and App development via Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo…. Platforms designed to be capable for personal profiling and data collection on personal level.
Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) is a federally funded "national collaboration effort among states to develop common data "vocabulary". It is comprised of CCSSO Council of Chief State School Officers, SHEEO State Higher Education Executive Officers, the United States Department of Education (USED),
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the Data Quality Campaign (DQC), the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF), the Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC), and the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF). CEDS facilitates sharing of data among agencies with the shared data vocabulary now up to 1,147 specific attributes.
Digital Passport Initiative, another Federally funded initiative to which CEDS contributes.
USED's MyData Initiative…an easily hacked App for students to carry around on their ipads…with the potential for fueling "a gigantic ecosystem of apps"….
A full shovel…and an ever growing pile of poop.
Don't be so willing to take the low placed cookies designed to shape uniformity of Babel in the hands of the Borg.
Jump off the conveyor belt and reach for something higher and dig for something deeper; armed with your Bible, your dictionary, your shovel and your common sense.
"…Anyone who lives on milk (and cookies), being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
Hebrews 5:13-14
Resistance is NOT futile.
It's time to take down the Borg and the Tower of Babel. So help us God.
Cogs in the Machine, by Joy Pullmann, Jane Robbins, Emmett McGroarty


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/ others / Rebornin in the Marvel World
others 55 Chapters 927.9K Views
Author: Blackninja63
4.6 (25 ratings)
The story centers around a boy who has been reincarnated and as a result, can't remember who he is. The last thing he remembers before dying is fighting with his friend about which superhero franchise is better. The next thing he knows, he has been reborn as Zen Shade, a half- black, half- Japanese kid. Let's just say as soon as he gets shot out of the womb, shit hits the fan. His new mom is not ordinary. She takes out ninjas with a magic sword right after giving birth. Zen thinks she is a badass and does not want to get on her bad side.
After being born, he moves to New York and sees the Avengers' Tower. He later realized he has been reincarnated in the Marvel world. The first fourteen years of his life were pretty chill. He learns a whole lot of shit from his mom from sword fighting to Qui control to martial arts even medicine and poisoning and he even gets a special sword that can cut through anything. One Day, he is at the bank that a super villain tries to rob. He lets it go; none of his business; he is not a hero. But, they piss him off. So, using his skills and his sword, Kurohime he beats the super villains. This gets the attention of the Principal of Avengers Academy, Old Man Tony Stark who recruits Zen to the academy. There, he meets the kids of super heroes such as Spiderman, the Hulk, and even Thor. He makes friends and enemies. Being a super hero is easy; surviving high school with a ton of super-powered, emotionally unstable teenagers, now that is the hard part.
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You are in
Director of the Romanian Institute of Culture in Warsaw invites
Dear friends of literature,
what a wonderful opportunity to meet up is provided to all lovers of literature by the Warsaw Book Fair! Those who write it, publish it and read it, all gather around during the Fair to get better acquainted with each other. And what a privilege for Romania - as a Guest of Honor - to be at the very heart of this attention and to boast the rich literature and achievements of the Romanian authors!
2019 is an important milestone for Romania and its relation with Poland: we are celebrating 100 years of Romanian-Polish diplomatic relations (1919-2019), and Romania is currently holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. These are both outstanding reasons to highlight and recall the history of a friendship between nations, as well as to bring to light our common views, values and experiences. And to make plans for the future.
Our heroes these days are the books. It is through them that we learn about our past, present, and try to decipher the future. The Romanian literature has great plans for the future in Poland that will unveiled during the fair through specially dedicated events. Other elements of the Romanian culture will revolve around the books, thus reflecting our desire to stir up your curiosity for its scale, diversity, strength and richness of contemporary Romanian culture.
Having this in mind, I invite you to lay the foundations of literary friendships. Between writers, readers and editors. Between institutions that cherish and support literature and culture in general. It is culture that unites us all in this brisk walk through history.
Sabra Daici
director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Warsaw


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PBIS: Four Steps Towards Implementation
PBIS-Four letters that can evoke different thoughts and feelings from teachers, leaders, students and parents. If implemented well-it works. If not-stakeholders are left with a bad taste of the system of supports that was not fully explained or fully implemented.
PBIS is more than tickets and parties, it is a prevention based school wide approach to looking at student behavior in parts: teaching behavioral expectations, acknowledging students for appropriate behavior, consistent discipline and team-managed data based decision making.
At Woodson we have been utilizing this system of supports for five years. During these years we have changed and evolved many aspects of the primary tenants of PBIS to meet the continued need of students and staff.
1. Teaching Behavioral Expectations.
The uniqueness of a Kindergarten Center brings such an open canvas to our campus every year. Students come to us from in-home daycare, preschools, homeschool and stay at home settings. Woodson's average enrollment has been around 380 students in the past 5 years. Our demographics continue to provide more intricacy in the landscape of our school community. Over 30% of our school community speaks a primarily language that is not English in their homes, 60% of our students come from a level of poverty that our teaching staff did not experience growing up.
With this in mind the PBIS leadership team reviews our Student MATRIX every year and makes changes that align with student needs.
The matrix is then shared with all stakeholders at the Back to School parent conferences with student and parent.
During the first 10 days of school teachers explicitly teach this matrix is a very systematic way. Each environment of the school has a written lesson plan of the expectations (written in a positive way), what it looks like, and has accompanying social stories and videos to enhance the background knowledge of all students.
Teachers review the component of the lesson with the other teachers on their team and discuss how best to implement lesson with incoming class.
During the first 10 days of school significant time is dedicated to teaching, re-teaching and reinforcing these lessons in the natural setting (i.e. yes we go to the bathrooms for the bathroom lesson).
We utilize our Success Coaches to individualize these lessons in native languages whenever we can to support foundational understanding in primary language of our students.
At the end of the first week of school we have an all-school assembly to recognize the hard work that has been accomplished in learning these expectations and overview how school assemblies will work for the rest of the school year.
2. Acknowledging Students for Appropriate Behavior. Admit it-we all appreciate knowing that we are doing a great job. You don't have to be 5 years old, 12, 16 or even 40 to appreciate a compliment, a word of encouragement or a note of appreciation. PBIS helped our team put consistent supports in place to first help us recognize each other as learning adults and secondly to recognize students.
Since the start of PBIS we have used "Staff Positive Behavior" tablets spread throughout the school. All staff can write a brief,specific shout out to another staff member for something specific they did. At the end of every month the PBIS team draws 4-5 winners for prizes (parking spot, early out, coffee card, book, etc) and announces the winners via email. All tickets are then given to the people recognized. It is amazing the power of a few words can have on an adult. I frequently walk around the building and see these hanging above people's desks. Never underestimate the power of a few positive words towards each other.
Critter Cards. These things are like gold at Woodson. All staff (including bus drivers) have these on hand and give to students for specific acts of positive behavior. At the beginning of the year we review how/when you give these out and talk about classroom and building wide incentives that are tied to these recognition cards. Students will come off the bus holding these and can articulate why the bus driver gave them the card. Parents come in smiling because their son/daughter have shared some great news from home. My younger son (who is now going into 4th grade) still has these cards in his room as a reminder of the awesome things he accomplished in kindergarten.
Character Count Assemblies. Every month we review the INSERT LINK IN HERE Character Counts Pillars. This is done through either a role play or skit created and acted out by myself and the school social worker. At the end of the skit we take time to recognize a student from every class who has demonstrated great skills in the pillar for the month. Pictures from all the assemblies are then put in the monthly display cabinet as well as on our in-house TV announcements.
The Caring Bear. During these monthly assemblies we also take time to recognize a staff member with a Care Bear (yep we have one). The bear has a backpack and journal inside so we can record where the bear has been and memories from that staff member's recognition. Prior to the next assembly the current staff member writes up a few words for the next recognized staff member and presents it to them during the assemblies. It is a very heartwarming and memorable experience for all students and staff.
3. Consistent Discipline. This is a hard one. Being consistent every day in every situation can be a challenge for even the most seasoned of teachers. By having a Matrix that is reviewed throughout the year as well as have consistent conversations about behavior in multiple forums can help to support the foundation of consistent responses to behavior.
Talk, talk, talk about it. We have multiple places staff can debrief about situations. PBIS leadership team, team meetings, RtI meetings, planning meetings with support staff, as well as crisis team meetings with administration present. We have PBIS on every one of our staff meetings so as things arise there is an open forum to discuss challenges as well as successes.
Ensure all stakeholders know the deal…up front. By sharing the Matrix with parents, students and staff we all are aware of the expectations in our school and can hold each other accountable. If I do have to call home for an issue I have a very straightforward conversation about the behavior that was demonstrated and throughout that conversation I do my best to make sure the child is present. I hope that in those interactions they can see in my face and hear in my voice that I care about them so much that I want them to demonstrate high expectations for themselves and those around them. I also try to connect with any student who has an office referral right away the next day and connect with them on a positive level to continue to support that we are all learning in this journey.
4. Team-Managed Data Based Decision Making. PBIS is not a program, nor a one-man show. Leadership is important, but ensure you have many voices at the table is equally important. Having a diverse representation of stakeholders that see the impact of PBIS in every setting helps to make systems stronger and to proactively address gaps that may appear during the course of the year.
Schedule and honor meetings. Our leadership team meets one Wednesday a month when no other meetings are occurring. I am always present as well as the behavioral interventionist and school social worker. The key to sustaining PBIS is never diminishing every team members role in ongoing implementation.
Be consistent and clear with decision making. With 16 Kindergarten classes consistency could never be more important. We utilize OneNote as an online system to record agenda items, create new social stories for environmental needs, and to share out positive news. PBIS leadership team members then use this agenda back at their team meetings and type in more things to think about or their responses to questions posed out to the building as a whole. Being as transparent as possible allows trust and deeper commitment to all kids and the success of PBIS.
Well-have we sold you on this yet? Please contact me via twitter @JessicaCabeen if you have any questions-but if you are even remotely considering PBIS here are a few additional resources that might help in your decision making.
http://www.pbisworld.com/ Great, specific tools and interventions for all ages.
http://www.pbismn.org/ Minnesota PBIS-has some great initial buy in surveys and guides.
http://www.pbis.org/ National Organization for PBIS
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Product Description
The Evil Within..
Developed by Shinji Mikami creator of the seminal Resident Evil series and the talented team at Tango Gameworks, The Evil Within embodies the meaning of pure survival horror. Experience a disturbing reality as you try to break free from warped machinations that could only exist in the most horrifying worlds. Face twisted creatures and experience true terror, all heightened by cutting edge lighting and animation made possible by a customized version of the id Tech 5 engine.
Story :
While investigating the scene of a gruesome mass murder, Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners encounter a mysterious and powerful force. After seeing the slaughter of fellow officers, Sebastian is ambushed and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a deranged world where hideous creatures wander among the dead. Facing unimaginable terror, and fighting for survival, Sebastian embarks on a frightening journey to unravel what's behind this evil force.
Type : Game
Brand : Sony
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Mashel Al Naimi dedicate BSBK R5 win to his friend Anthony Delhalle!
|Mashel Al Naimi rides Kawaasaki ZX 10R Behind the late Anthony Delhalle of France in Le Mans in France (April 19th 2015) Photo Courtesy Getty Images
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- Mashel Al Naimi Onboard 2017 MV Agusta F3 675 Testing at Autodrome,Dubai
- Pinoy Harley Riders Qatar best surprise for a Brit family in Doha.
- Mashel Al Naimi in control as Bahrain Superbike Championship (BSBK) kicks off
Mashel who learnt about his friend's tragedy on arrival in Manama Bahrain for Round 5 of Bahrain Superbike Championship described Anthony Delhalle as a good friend with a jovial heart and lover for bikes and sport. FIM CEV Superbike European Championship and Endurance FIM World Championship has lost legend and a sportsman.A figure we all looked up to!
- Read Latest Drag Racing News
- Where to spot Qatar's fastest and coolest street bikes - 3/13/2017
- Lizzy Musi and J.Cox in an epic staging battle at PDRA Pro Nitrous Finals
- James Linton PDRA Southern Extreme Crash - VIDEO
- PDRA Southern Extreme Nationals Recap - Door Slammers Plus
And to celebrate his 5th win in Bahrain,Mashel Al Naimi did a sweet wheelie registering an impossible a straight 5th win this season for the Qatari rider. Watch it here.
BSBK is organised by Moto Gulf Event supported by Bahrain International Circuit and Bahrain Motor Federation.The Championship takes the shape of an arrive and race where the contestants lease the bikes for the season using identical bike 899 Ducati Panigale. This sport is unique in is kind and the first of its kind in the region!
Round 6 happens on the 21st April 2017 at Bahrain International Circuit.


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10 ways to use social media to get your research noticed
https://academicwebpages.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/time-higher-edu-logo.png 400 780 Ian Rhodes Wittrup https://academicwebpages.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/AWP-logo-white.png Ian Rhodes Wittrup2017-07-09 16:56:152018-05-18 15:54:3210 ways to use social media to get your research noticed
Four experts offer their advice offer expert advise help you utilise social media to ensure your research reaches a wider audience.
Paraphrasing from the article by authors Amy Mollett, Cheryl Brumley, Chris Gilson and Sierra Williams published in Times Higher Education here are ten tips:
- Recognise your social and digital media efforts as part of the research process. Explore different ways you can use social media throughout the research process.
- You don't have to go it alone. Find sites that aggregate posts from several authors. Inquire about becoming a contributor there before branching out on your own.
- Blogs: write about what you know and what you've learned. The easiest way to get started to is write about what you know.
- Blogs: define and know your audience. Pitch your messages to the audience you are trying to reach.
- Blogs: know what's going on and plan. Follow leaders who blog and write on topics in your area.
- Share the many different "voices" of your research. Add a story arc that can enrich message.
- Eye-catching and clear data visualisations and infographics. Tell a better story with interesting illustrations.
- Extend the life of your events by using video.Use photos and video to record lectures and events and extend their life and reach.
- Provide a link to an open-access version of the primary research. Share the parts of your research (if you can) to further engage the visitor.
- Social media might not be the best option for everyone. Know its limitations, and when it is an is not the appropriate vehicle for communication.
Read the article in Time Higher Education, Communicating Your Research with Social Media: A Practical Guide to Using Blogs, Podcasts, Data Visualisations and Video


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Congratulations to the following six faculty members who are receiving distinguished academic promotions in the division of General Internal Medicine!
"It gives me tremendous pleasure to announce several faculty member promotions to Associate Professor and one to Full Professor. As you know, these academic promotions mark faculty members' scholarly achievements and are a hallmark of professional accomplishment in our school. Faculty appointed to Associate Professor or Full Professor have achieved recognition within Duke and at peer institutions as leaders in their fields both nationally and/or internationally."
- L. Ebony Boulware, MD, MPH – Chief, Duke GIM
John Paat, MD
Professor of Medicine, effective March 1, 2018
Dr. John Paat is a distinguished clinician educator who holds significant clinical leadership roles and has developed a national reputation for his excellence in management and quality improvement. He originally joined Duke GIM as Assistant Professor in 1990 where he rose to become director of the clinical practice. He then moved to Mayo Clinic where he directed a large general medicine practice and became involved with institutional quality improvement planning. He was promoted to Associate Professor at Mayo, and kept that title when he moved back to Duke in 2011. Dr. Paat was instrumental in establishing one of the first academic primary care practices at Duke, and he has developed and led novel quality improvement efforts. He has taught house staff and medical students at every stage in his career and has lead quality improvement lecture series both here, in the business school and at Duke-NUS. His ratings as a teacher are consistently above the 95th percentile.
Dr. Paat has also excelled at clinical administration. He directed Duke GIM's clinical practice during a time of rapid expansion, making it one of the most sought after primary care sites for both clinical care and education. Dr. Paat is an exemplary clinician, educator, and a nationally recognized clinical administrator at Duke who embodies our highest standards for academic achievement. His leadership in the PDC and in GIM's clinical practice has allowed us to provide the highest quality of care to thousands of patients, and he is widely respected for this work.
Saumil Chudgar, MD
Associate Professor in Medicine, effective March 1, 2018
Dr. Saumil Chudgar is a renowned clinician educator and has achieved significant recognition for his educational efforts. He has been at Duke since he began medical school here in 2001 and became a Duke GIM faculty member in 2008. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2011.
During his time at Duke, Dr. Chudgar has served in a number of critical roles as a faculty member at Duke that integrate his interest in medical education and clinical care. He has an ubiquitous influence in the Duke Medical School curriculum and teaches across all four years of medical student education and has taken several major leadership roles. For Dr. Chudgar's clinical duties, he attends on the General Medicine services at Duke University Hospital. In this setting, he frequently has medical students, house officers, and other trainees whom he instructs in the clinical care.
Dr. Chudgar has distinguished himself as an outstanding clinical teacher. He had won multiple awards from the medical students for his teaching excellence, including the Golden Apple Teaching Award for Clinical Faculty (5 times the Thomas Kinney Distinguished Teaching Award (4 times), and the Practice Course Professionalism Award (5 times). Winning these awards on multiple years is even more impressive when you consider he has been on faculty for less than 10 years!
For someone who has distinguished himself with excellence in education and clinical care, Dr. Chudgar has also made a commendable effort at research. He has 26 referred publications to date, 7 of which he is the first or senior author. He has published in several of the top medical education journals including Academic Medicine, The Clinical Teacher, and the Journal of Graduate Medical Education.
Dr. Chudgar's expertise in medical education research, his mentorship and teaching abilities, and his educational leadership in the Duke community make him a premier leader in General Internal Medicine.
Jane Kim, MD
Associate Professor in Medicine, effective March 1, 2018
Dr. Jane Kim has achieved national recognition for her expertise in the field of Preventive Medicine. She is a national leader in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and leads the preventive services strategy, policy and program development for the VA. She completed her house staff training in Internal Medicine at Duke University Hospital, where she was Assistant Chief Resident, and a second residency in Preventive Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she was Chief Resident. She is now in a joint clinical role at the Duke Outpatient Clinic and the Durham VA Medical Center. Kim was named Instructor in Medicine in 2007 and promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine in 2008.
Dr. Kim has served a number of important roles as a clinician educator at Duke. These roles include attending faculty at the Duke Outpatient Clinic, at the VA PRIME Internal Medicine clinic, and attending on the inpatient Medicine service at the Durham VA Medical Center. As a mentor she has engaged pre-medical students from Duke University who were considering medicine as a career. She was active as a mentor to Duke Internal Medicine residents through the Program for Women in Internal Medicine. Dr. Kim has made significant clinical, administrative and leadership contributions at the Durham VA Medical Center. In 2008, she was named Medical Director for the Durham VA Comprehensive Women's Health Clinic, where she led the transformation of the women veterans' health program. In 2013, Kim was named the Deputy Chief Consultant for Preventive Medicine in the National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (NCP), Office of Patient Care Services, VA Central Office, Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Kim advanced to Chief Consultant for Preventive Medicine in August 2016 at NCP. She is notably a VA expert in the lung cancer screening program and policy.
Dr. Kim has been recognized through various professional awards, including induction to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society and as an awardee of a preventive medicine training grant from the American Cancer Society. She has demonstrated strengths as an administrator, clinician educator, national expert in preventive medicine, and leader in VA, the nation's largest integrated healthcare system. We look forward to Dr. Kim's continuing contributions to science and to the faculty and trainees of Duke University.
Paul Lantos, MD
Associate Professor in Medicine, effective March 1, 2018
Dr. Paul Lantos has achieved international recognition for his research and teaching, and is a highly valued faculty member of Duke GIM, the Hospital Medicine Program, the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, the Duke Global Health Institute and the institution. He came to Duke University Medical Center as a Medical Instructor in 2008, with joint appointments in General Internal Medicine and Pediatric Infectious Diseases. He was appointed Affiliate Faculty of the Duke Global Health Initiative in 2016, and he was promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine in 2017.
Dr. Lantos quickly achieved both regional and national prominence after joining our faculty. In 2009, he was appointed to a panel by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) charged with reviewing their 2006 Lyme Disease guidelines. The epidemiologic problem of Lyme disease emergence in North Carolina became an area of research focus for him. After several publications, in 2014 Dr. Lantos received the KL2 Mentored Career Development Award from the Duke CTSA. This was a remarkable achievement given the heavy clinical demands of Hospital Medicine, and Dr. Lantos remains the first and only faculty member in Hospital Medicine to receive a career development award of any kind. It is a testimonial to his productivity and perseverance that he was able to build a portfolio and research plan to make him a competitive candidate for this award. During his three years as a KL2 scholar Dr. Lantos was extraordinarily productive, with 16 peer-reviewed scientific studies (12 as first author), 3 solicited review articles, 5 book chapters, and 2 published letters. He developed methodological expertise in geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial statistics, culminating in an MSc in GIS from Johns Hopkins University.
As far as clinical duties, Dr. Lantos attends on the inpatient Hospital Medicine service at Duke Hospital, where he serves on both the resident teaching service and on the non-teaching hospitalist services. He also has a twice-monthly pediatric infectious disease clinic where he supervises fellows, rotating residents, and medical students. He has served as a research mentor and teacher for learners including the high school level, global health graduate students, and clinical fellows.
Dr. Lantos has been well recognized on a national level as an invited symposium leader and speaker at the IDSA annual meeting and has been a grand rounds or symposium speaker at numerous prestigious institutions. Internationally he has been a speaker at conferences in Mongolia, China, Germany, and Austria. Dr. Lantos has been an ad hoc peer reviewer for more than 20 medical journals, including Lancet and JAMA, and has served a three-year term on the Standards and Practice Guidelines Committee of the IDSA. We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Lantos as a faculty member and leader in Hospital Medicine, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, and Global Health!
Noppon Setji, MD
Associate Professor in Medicine, effective March 1, 2018
Dr. Noppon (Pooh) Setji became a faculty member at Duke GIM in July 2003. Since then, he has served a number of critical roles as a Duke faculty member; responsibilities that integrate his clinical, research and academic interests. He has participated on the Med Surg Critical Care Core Safety Team, the Glycemic Safety Team, Service Excellence Team, Multi-Disciplinary Sickle Cell Committee, Hospital Medicine Academic Council, Familiar Faces Committee, Just Pull It Committee, GME Education Committee and multiple care redesign teams. He has been an outstanding role model and mentor to fellows and junior faculty. For Dr. Setji's clinical duties, he serves as a hospitalist providing care to inpatients on the medical service of Duke University Hospital. In this setting, he frequently has medical students, house officers and other trainees whom he instructs in the clinical care, as well as the pathophysiology of multiple diseases and their treatments.
Dr. Setji has been extremely successful and has established himself as a leading regional and national authority on a number of hospital medicine quality improvement and patient care initiatives. In addition to his success in quality improvement, Dr. Setji has been an outstanding mentor and teacher. His curriculum vita impressively outlines his commitment as well as his success as an educator. He has supervised over 200 learners in his time here. His evaluations have been stellar with an average teaching score of 8.45 on a scale of 1-9 where 7-9 is superior. His medical student evaluations have also been extremely positive with an average score of 3.91 on a 4-point scale. This educational excellence was highlighted in 2007 by being the recipient of the prestigious Eugene Stead Teaching Award.
His commitment to leadership is evident by the roles he has taken at Duke. He has been the medical director for the 8100, 8200 and 8300 medical units at Duke University Hospital and now serves as the medical director for the Duke University Hospital Medicine Program. He also serves as the director of the Mortality Review Process for the health system.
We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Setji as a faculty member and leader in Hospital Medicine.
Kathleen Waite, MD
Associate Professor in Medicine, effective March 1, 2018
Dr. Waite has a rich experience in clinical excellence and clinical education targeting multiple levels of trainees. She received her medical school and residency training at Duke and joined the Division of General Internal Medicine, at the rank of Assistant Professor, in 1993. She was instrumental in establishing one of the first academic primary care practices at Duke, and she has developed and led novel medical student educational experiences.
Dr. Waite has had two main areas of significant contributions to medical education: fourth year medical students and medical residents. She has taught fourth year medical students in the primary care setting since joining our practice. Numerous students have sought her out for their year- long continuity clinic rotation. In 2011, her efforts were recognized by the School of Medicine when she was appointed as Course Director for the Introduction to Primary Care Internal Medicine. Dr. Waite also serves as the faculty lead for the Good Samaritan Health Clinic near the Durham Rescue Mission. She precepts Duke medical students one night a month in that clinic. She was also instrumental in opening the Pickett Road Practice to our internal medicine house staff. Pickett is now one of three sites where house staff receive their primary care training. Over the years, Dr. Waite has served as primary preceptor for over 70 house staff. Her ratings by her students and residents are consistently above 95th percentile.
Dr. Waite is one of the most highly sought general internists in Duke Primary Care, and more recently Duke Signature Health. Numerous faculty and leaders at Duke seek her guidance and are lucky to count her as their primary care provider. She is an exemplary educator and clinician at Duke who embodies our highest standards for academic achievement.


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English, English Language, Language, Linguistics, Noun, Shindig, Shinty, Word, Words
Noun, Informal.
1. An elaborate, noisy or large dance, party, or other celebration
2. Another word for shindy
1. 1855–60, Americanism; shin + dig; compare slang shinscraper dance
2. 1871, probably from shindy "a spree, merrymaking" (1821), perhaps from shinty, name of a Scottish game akin to hockey (1771), now obsolete.
Noun, plural shin·dies. Informal.
1. A row; rumpus.
2. A shindig.
1810 –20; variant of obsolete shinty row, orig., game resembling fieldhockey.
Assuming shindig was a nonsensical word, a neologism created because of the sounds of its parts rather than any meaning behind them, I went to my dictionary to check.
Apparently, the definition is much closer to home: it comes from the word shinty. Shinty is not, contrary the dictionary definition, obsolete – neither the word nor the sport. If I wanted to truly embarrass myself, I could post a picture of me playing shinty as a young girl, complete with multi-coloured stripy toe socks.
Shinty and shindig, in my mind, are worlds apart.
Shinty, the game, is aggressive. Imagine hockey, but the balls allowed to fly through the air. Towards people's faces.
The urban dictionary definition for shindig suggests something much less violent:
A small party, not quite full scale. Generally a shindig consists of 5-20 people hanging out at the host's house, but they may be held at other locations such as a beach. Shindigs almost always involve alcoholic beverages, usually beer. Often, marijuana is smoked as well.
A shindig usually does not escalate into a large full scale party because it is meant to be a low key night, avoiding any complications such as cleaning up vomit, unwanted guests, picking up trash the rude guests leave lying wherever they drop it, putting everything back in its proper place, eliciting attention from neighbours and local law enforcement, etc.
My mom was out for the day, so I called some of my friends and we had a little shindig.
… Like I said, smaller-scale, less intense.
The word shindig, however, if removed from its etymology, however, does suggest a party, with a bit of dancing. The assonance of the [ɪ] sounds and the harsh consonants make it sounds like a wee jive.
What do you like about it?


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Monday, August 30, 2010
The Best Dressed: Emmy Awards 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Drew's Fab Outifit Marathon
Drew is on fire! In the space of few days she nailed the casual, chic, and glam looks! Oh, and notice how she's styling each outfit with the same pair of grey YSL pumps - genius! Seriously, Drew - you are so getting on my Celebrity Style Crush radar!
Photos: people.com
the last of the Mohicans: or the very last of Summer Sales Shoes!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Style Crush: Kate Hudson
Look of the Day: Vanessa Hudgens in maxi dress
Up-and-Coming Irish Designers
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sale Alert: YSL Downtown tote 40% off!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Economize vs Fantasize: Chanel vs Toy Watch
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Look of the day: Drew Barrymore in vintage
you'll never guess how much this vintage dress cost Miss Barrymore: $25!!! I adore the dress, the shoes, and particularly her hair do. Drew channels a bit of Brigitte Bardot with this look - very glamorous indeed!
Photo: lady.mail.ru
Sunday, August 15, 2010
hottest seasonal picks from net-a-porter.com
Inspired by hottest seasonal trends, I picked my fav pieces on net-a-porter.com. The first items on my wish list would have to be this gorgeous Michael Kors black cape and Miu Miu suede pumps. I realize that all of the above are more of a dreamlist material - so highly recommend to check out Zara for fall/winter fixes. Zara never disappoints!


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Latest News
About the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics
The 2007 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was announced Monday, October 15, 2007. This year's prize will go to three Americans - Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson - for their work in developing mechanism design theory, an application of game theory and a key component of modern economics.
The economics prize is the only Nobel not authorized by Alfred Nobel's will. It was established in 1968 in memory of Nobel by the Sveriges Riksbank, Sweden's central bank. The prize is awarded every year on December 10 in Stockholm, Sweden. Recipients are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Recent recipients:
- 2006: Edmund S. Phelps, "for his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy."
- 2005: Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling, "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis."
- 2004: Finn E. Kydland, Edward C. Prescott, "for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles."
- 2003: Robert F. Engle III, "for methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility (ARCH)," and Clive W.J. Granger, "for methods of analyzing economic time series with common trends (cointegration)."
- 2002: Daniel Kahneman, "for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty," and Vernon L. Smith, "for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms."
- 2001: George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz, "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information."
- 2000: James J. Heckman, "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples," and Daniel L. McFadden, "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice."
- 1999: Robert A. Mundell, "for his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy under different exchange rate regimes and his analysis of optimum currency areas."
- 1998: Amartya Sen, "for his contributions to welfare economics."
- 1997: Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes, "for a new method to determine the value of derivatives."
Source: The Nobel Foundation


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Velocity Micro Announces 10-inch Netbook at CES
LAS VEGASIn a surprising turn, boutique PC maker Velocity Micro known mostly for its premium customizable laptops and powerful multimedia machines announced two affordable lightweight notebooks at CES yesterday. The NoteMagix M10 is the manufacturer's entry into the netbook market, and the NoteMagix M5 is a touchscreen handheld PC.
The NoteMagix M10 is right on trend with a 10.1-inch screen and an Intel Atom processor. It only has 1GB of memory, but that's all you'll need to run Windows XP on the system. The NoteMagix M10 boasts a surprisingly spacious 160-GB hard drive and a full feature set, including 3 USB ports, a 3-in-1 media card reader, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and VGA and audio outputs. The laptop also offers Wi-Fi connectivity. The system weighs in at just 2.6 pounds, and Velocity Micro claims you should be able to get more than 5 hours out of the 4-cell lithium ion battery.
While some might argue that handheld PCs are being eclipsed by netbooks nowadays, Velocity Micro's still betting on the category with the NoteMagix M5. This slate tablet features a 4.8-inch, 800x480 resolution touchscreen and a slide-out soft-touch keyboard. Like the NoteMagix M10, the M5 runs on an Atom processor. It's the more connected of Velocity Micro's new offerings, with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G capabilities.
The NoteMagix M5 includes 512 MB of system memory and the production unit should run Windows XP (though Velocity Micro showed off prototypes running both XP and Linux at CES).
The system also has a 4-GB solid-state drive, and features include a microSD card slot and an integrated 1.3-megapixel camera. Similar to the NoteMagix M10, Velocity Micro promises five hours of battery life for this system.
The NoteMagix M10 will go for $379. The NoteMagix M5 will be less than $500, but Velocity Micro hasn't disclosed any more specific pricing information. Both units also come with one year of VelocityCare in-house tech support. The company also said that both systems should be available for purchase this spring.
|Complete CES 2009 Coverage


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Nunhead Green Day Nursery
5 Nunhead Green, London SE15 3QQ
Dru Yoga is a fun, friendly, mixed ability yoga class which doesn't take it self too seriously. You will leave feeling relaxed and rejuvenated!
Yoga is so much more than a work out…In our modern, hectic, busy and stressful lives – Yoga can simply help us to restore and re-nourish us back to the whole.
Dru Yoga classes are designed to be warm, friendly and inclusive for all levels – we start with a fun and lively warm up to protect the joints and muscles, we then work through a flowing sequence of postures which are rooted in ancient Yogic tradition, and end with a wonderful relaxation.
This style of Yoga can offer many benefits including:
*Increased energy levels
*Reduced stress
*Improved stamina and flexibility
*Increased core strength and muscle tone
*Helps to relieve back pain
Please bring a warm shawl and a bottle of water.
We look forward to seeing you then


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Happy December! I love Christmas time. I am ditching the crazy this year and simplifying things, so I can actually enjoy the holiday instead of being stressed the whole time. I'm going with simpler decorations this year and all gifts were purchased over Thanksgiving break.
This happy little set of winter clipart stole my heart as soon as I saw it! These fun graphics are from Eve Farb. You can grab the calendar here or by clicking the image below.
calendar background here and the plain one here.
While I love the graphics for this month, I realize not everyone celebrates Christmas. I updated last December's background {graphics from White Heart Design} to give you an alternative. You can download it here or by clicking on the image below.
And to keep you completely coordinated, there are iPhone backgrounds for this one, too. Grab the calendar background here and the plain one here.
I hope you have a wonderful December!


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Thursday, 17 July 2014 01:54 PM
The labor participation rate is expected to fall and the government should not expect an influx of workers, a Federal Reserve official said on Thursday, raising a point that goes against the view of Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said in prepared remarks for an appearance before a Kentucky business group that an index of aggregate hours worked showed a full recovery to pre-recession levels.
He repeated his view that the Fed may need to raise interest rates sooner than expected.
Bullard's views on the labor market's recovery, and the lack of people ready to join the work force, runs counter to Yellen's view that there is a lot of slack in the job market. Yellen believes there is an influx of workers ready to join when the economy recovers.
Bullard also said the macroeconomic goals of the Federal Open Market Committee are close to being met, and yet its policy settings remain far from normal.
"While this mismatch is not causing macroeconomic problems today ... the mismatch may cause problems in the years ahead as the economy continues to expand," Bullard said.
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About Me
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
– Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within A Dream
Please note, this website is a work in progress…
In 1957, along with the classic Chevy, I came into the world. And the world has always fascinated with its places to see and things to do. After a foundation of elementary and secondary Catholic education I went on further and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology.
At an early age photographic images caught my attention. There was an intrigue with the two photo centric news magazines, Look and Life. The strength and clarity and impact of those black and white photographs, those brief but artistic captures of moments in time stimulated a young mind. And then came cameras and trial and error, my mother's Argus rangefinder, a Pentax K-1000, a Pentax 6×7, a Hasselblad 501c, and then a myriad of digital point and shoot cameras. And always there was a desire for quality, and that desire led to Nikon DSLR's, a d300s and then a d700 and now a d800. There has long been a fascination with black and white images and this blog will pursue that fascination.
The influence of music cannot be discounted in the shaping of who I have become. From the crazy days of Zeppelin and hard rock, to the soul stirring blues of St. Louis, and now to the melodic acoustic ramblings of bluegrass and new grass, it is all a part of me. For I am but a frustrated musician with a fine Martin guitar wandering the wilds. The tunes that appear in the posts are played by me on various guitars, and are presented in a rough and little edited form and meant only to amuse.
And writing has also stimulated the imagination. A descriptive word, a phrase, a story, one man's prose, and all to portray and paint an emotion in the mind.
And all of these and perhaps more will be attempted to be interwoven in this inaugural photoblog.
If you would like to see more images of mine they can be found at flickr.com.
All photographs on this website are the property of and are copyrighted by Paul M. Garger. All writings, other than direct quotations, are the property of and are copyrighted by Paul M. Garger. Any use of the photos or writings without the consent of Paul M. Garger is forbidden. Please contact me if you are interested in using my photographs or writings.


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To print this recipe, choose a print size:
1 lb. arugula 5 tbsp. pine nuts, raw, as fresh as possible 1 large bulb of fennel, cleaned and cored 2 tbsp. lemon zest Kosher salt, to taste 2 to 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 4 to 5 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, shaved
Clean and remove stems from arugula. Place in a bowl and add pine nuts. Shave fennel very thin using a mandoline, shaving directly into the bowl. Toss well to mix. Add lemon zest and salt and toss well. Drizzle about 2 tbsp. of the olive oil down one side of bowl while tossing greens through the oil, evenly coating each leaf with a light dressing of oil. Add additional oil, if desired. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding additional salt, lemon or oil as desired. Plate dressed greens and top with cheese.


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The cream of British urban talent will be taking the Glasgow, and the world, stage by storm as they perform a string of chart-topping hits at the prestigious 14th Annual MOBO Awards at the SECC Arena on the 30th September, hosted by Reggie Yates.
This year's Awards show will pay tribute to one of the world's greatest entertainers, Michael Jackson, with performances from the legendary Jermaine Jackson, Britain's Got Talent winners, dance troupe Diversity and finalist Shaheen Jafargholi.
Sharing the MOBO stage for the first time ever, the likes of Chipmunk, Tinchy Stryder, Ironik, N-Dubz & JLS will be performing their show-stopping hits to an audience of over 6,000 people.
Further international artists and show announcements to be made shortly! Visit MOBO.com for show, ticket and travel information, as well as exclusive MOBO content.
For those wanting to attend this year's MOBO Awards, tickets are now available from TicketSoup.com and Ticketmaster.com


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Less than three weeks have passed since Brendan Rodgers said "categorically" that Liverpool would not sign Mario Balotelli. Just a few days earlier, the Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani had stated with "99.9%" certainty that the player would stay where he was. In football's transfer window it is not the boys who cry wolf that fans need to worry about, but the ones who insist nothing is happening at all.
Balotelli is not yet a Liverpool player, but all indications are that he may become one very soon. Negotiations between the Premier League club and Milan were progressing on Thursday afternoon, and the striker told Sky Italia that it had been his final day training with the Rossoneri.
Perhaps we ought to have seen this one coming. Galliani made an identical estimation regarding the futures of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva in the summer of 2012, just days before selling both players to Paris Saint-Germain. Six months later, he told reporters that there was a 99.5% chance that he would fall short in his attempts to sign Balotelli from Manchester City.
If anyone believed his claim about the same player's future this summer, it was only because the list of potential suitors appeared to be so short. Balotelli's agent, Mino Raiola, told reporters that there were eight to 10 clubs in the world who could afford his client. He singled out Arsenal as one of them, only for the Gunners to sign Alexis Sánchez instead.
Europe's richest clubs seemed to have different targets in mind. Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich all reinforced their attacks without turning Balotelli's way. Liverpool had both the funds and a vacancy up front after selling Luis Suárez, but Rodgers's denial seemed to have taken them out the running.
Milan are reported to be seeking just £16m for Balotelli – barely £4m more than Southampton paid for Shane Long. For a 24-year-old striker with 33 Italy caps and 31 Champions League appearances under his belt, that seems like an absolute steal.
Then again, Milan's supporters thought much the same thing when Balotelli joined their club from City for a similar fee back in 2013. The transfer was described at the time as one of Galliani's greatest coups, going some way toward healing the wounds caused by the sales of Ibrahimovic and Silva.
For four months Balotelli was brilliant – scoring twice on his debut and 10 more times over the next 12 games as he dragged a struggling Milan side back into the Champions League places. Playing for the club he had supported as a boy, he seemed to be in his element.
"I'm home," he said during an interview with Sports Illustrated over the summer. "I'm usually with my family. I'm relaxed. My friends, they can come. It's not like in Manchester."
The moment would not last. Milan made a miserable start to the 2013-14 season, winning just four of their first 17 games. Balotelli missed the first penalty of his career during a defeat to Napoli in September, before scoring a spectacular consolation goal and then getting himself sent off for dissent.
It was a match that set a tone for his whole season. Balotelli went on to score 14 times in 30 games for Milan – a respectable return by most players' standards – but struggled to keep a lid on his emotions. He missed another penalty two months later, this one pushed tamely down the middle at Genoa's Mattia Perin, and racked up nine yellow cards by the end of the season.
After coaching Suárez through the last two extraordinary seasons, Rodgers might feel confident in his ability to work with a gifted striker weighed down by a tempestuous personality. Both players featured in France Football's list of the sport's 50 greatest bad boys published in February this year.
But the manager would do well to recognise the differences between the two. Suárez, for all his obvious faults, is a ferocious competitor whose worst indiscretions have typically been motivated by a desire to gain an on-field advantage over an opponent – through any means necessary. Rarely could he be accused of drifting through games as Balotelli did often for Milan last season, allowing himself to be overwhelmed by frustration at decisions that went against him.
On the other hand there are good reasons to believe that a change of scenery may do the latter player some good. The weight of expectation on Balotelli in Italy has been extraordinary, and not just in footballing terms.
From the moment he burst on to the scene as a teenager he has been held up as the face of a new multicultural Italy – a figurehead in a battle against racism so endemic that the incoming head of the Italian Football Federation thought it appropriate this summer to allegedly make an off-hand remark about "banana-eaters" flooding the league.
Even that is only the tip of the iceberg. When Italy travelled to play a friendly on a pitch reclaimed from the Camorra last year, Balotelli was heralded in some papers as a figurehead against organised crime. When he objected to that label on Twitter – stating that he was only out to prove that "soccer is wonderful" – a number of commentators rounded on him, accusing him of speaking irresponsibly.
In Liverpool, Balotelli has an opportunity to get back to being a footballer and nothing more. The question is whether he will take it.


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How to hire a contractor.
Do not want to Do it yourself? Whether you are planning a one-room or whole-house redo, This Old House general contractor, "Tom Silva" shares his tips for finding the best pro for the job.
- Get recommendations – Start with friends and family, then contact the National Association of the Remodeling Industry for a list of members in your area. You can also ask a building inspector, who will know which contractors routinely meet code requirements. You can even get recommendations' from the owner or manager of a local lumberyard, who knows which contractors buy quality materials and pay their bills on time.
- Do interviews – Contact each of your prospects and ask the following questions:
- Do you take on projects of my size?
- Will you provide financial references from suppliers or banks?
- Can you provide a list of previous clients and their contact information?
- How many other projects would you have going at the same time as mine?
- How long have you worked with your subcontractors?
The answers to these questions will reveal the contractors availability, reliability, and how much attention he or she will give your project.
- Meet face-to-face – pick three or four contractors to meet for further discussion. A contractor should put you at ease. It is crucial that you communicate well because he or she will be in your home for hours at a time. On the other hand, do not let personality fool you. Check with you states consumer protection agency and the local Better Business Bureau to make sure there is not history of disputes with clients or subcontractors.
- Investigate the facts – Call former clients to learn how their project went and ask to see the finished results. Even more important, visit a current job site and see for yourself how the contractor works. Is the job site neat and safe? Are workers courteous and careful with the homeowner's property?
- Make plans, get bids – You have your short list of contractors whose track records seem clean and whose work ethic looks responsible. Now it is time to start looking forward to your project. A conscientious contractor will want not only a complete set of blueprints but also a sense of what homeowners want out of a project and what they plan to spend. To compare bids, ask everyone to break down the cost of materials, labor, profit margins, and other expenses. Generally materials account for 40 percent of the total cost; the rest covers overhead and the typical profit margin, which is 15 to 20 percent.
- Set a payment schedule – This can speak to a contractor's financial status and work ethic. If he wants half the bid up front, he may have financial problems or be worried that you will not pay the rest after you have seen the work. For large projects, a schedule usually starts with 10 percent at contract signing, three payments of 25 percent evenly spaced over the duration of the project, and a check for the final 15 percent when you feel every item on the punch list has been completed.
- Do not let price alone be your guide – Throw out the lowball bid. This contractor is probably cutting corners or, worse, desperate for work – hardly an encouraging sign. Beyond technical competence, comfort should play a role in your decision, and this gets back to how well you both communicate. All things being equal, it is better to spend more and choose someone you get along with and are confident in.
- Put it in writing – Draw up a contract that details every step of the project: payment schedule; proof of liability insurance and workers compensation payments; a start date and projected completion date; specific materials and products to be used; and a requirement that the contractor obtain lien releases (which protect you if he does not pay his bills) from all subcontractors and suppliers. Insisting on a clear contract is not about mistrust, it is about insuring a successful renovation.


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Tips for Making the Back-to-School Transition Easy and Disaster-Free/
Going back to school every fall can be a time of rocky transition. For kids, it means seeing their friends again and learning exciting new things. For parents, however, it means frequent battles with upset children over early mornings and homework. Here are some tips to help parents ease everyone back into a structured routine and keep back-to-school disasters at bay.
Get Organized
Parents have to keep track of complex schedules consisting of school meetings, functions, lessons, and appointments. Not surprisingly, forgetting something on that schedule can be a nightmare. So, Organized Home recommends keeping track of all your events on a large, centralized paper calendar in your home.
Early school mornings are often chaotic as everyone frantically searches for the items they need for the day. To avoid this, designate a place for everything so you know exactly where to look. Store school supplies on your child's homework desk, and keep important forms, umbrellas, shoes, and homework near your front door so you won't forget them. Make sure these storage spots are at appropriately accessible heights and locations for both you and your children.
Set Up an Inviting Homework Space
A well-designed homework space can help your children stay organized and maximize their productivity. According to SheKnows, parents should set up this homework space in a low-traffic area of the home that they can monitor, such as a quiet corner of the kitchen. Make sure there is plenty of light to reduce eyestrain during your child's studies. Good organization is key to efficiency, so keep your child's homework area well-stocked with essential supplies. This will prevent your kid from wandering around the house looking for the tools they need. Importantly, provide healthy snacks and build breaks into your child's homework times to prevent burnout.
Make Sure Your Kids Get Quality Sleep
If your child is having behavioral or school performance issues, it may be sleep-related. Kids who don't get enough quality sleep often have problems with concentration and mood. With the sudden leap from lazy summer mornings to early weekdays, it's difficult for kids to get the amount of sleep they need to function optimally. Fortunately, you can help your kids get better sleep by easing them into an early schedule well before the first day of school. Stick to this early sleep schedule even on weekends. Don't allow your kids to have screen time right before bed, as the blue light emitted by devices can disrupt their quality of sleep. Finally, start a bedtime routine for you and your children to help everyone wind down at night.
Avoid Tantrums in The Morning
One of the biggest back-to-school problems that parents deal with is cranky children. You can help them get up in a better mood by letting them wake up naturally. Try turning on their bedroom light or opening the blinds about 10 minutes before they need to get up. This can help them transition from sleep to wakefulness more gently and naturally. Also, give your child goals to accomplish each morning with subsequent rewards, like more TV time if they get up at the designated hour.
Getting your young ones dressed in the morning can be a major power struggle. To avoid this, try to keep an organizational system with sorted outfits for the days of the week. Let your kids assemble their favorite outfits and create an album of them. Knowing that they had control over choosing these outfits will make your kids less likely to protest.
Be Prepared to Deal with School Refusal
Does your child have a tantrum when you try to get them to go to school? This may be an indication of anxiety-fueled school refusal. Have a talk with your child and see what's bothering them. Make sure you avoid lecturing them and instead look for causes of their anxiety. Don't assume that their school, teachers, or classmates are to blame, but you should certainly address any concerns about bullying if you need.
Back-to-school time imposes a sudden change to the schedule and responsibilities of both parents and children. Although many people struggle with the transition, it doesn't have to be a chaotic mess. By being prepared and staying organized, parents can avoid early morning tantrums and homework disasters.


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Screenwriter Michael Hirst has a thing for romanticizing the European monarchy of yore, as evidenced by his screenplays for Shekhar Kapur's Best Picture-nominated Elizabeth and its sequel, The Golden Age; not to mention, Hirst is also the creator of Showtime's The Tudors (a show that transformed King Henry VIII from a lustful, bloated royalty into, well, someone who looks like Jonathan Rhys Meyers).
There's little reason to doubt that Hirst's new script, Mary Queen of Scots, takes a similar "exaggerated for dramatic effect" approach to the life of its namesake, queen regnant Mary Stuart (often confused with her cousin, Queen "Bloody" Mary I). Hirst's new project is being backed by Working Title Films, the same production house that behind his previous historical dramas.
18-year old Oscar-nominee Saorise Ronan is attached to headline Mary Queen of Scots, according to the latest report from Deadline. Working Title heads Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are currently on the prowl for a director, with the hope of getting production underway next year (possibly, with an Awards Season 2013 release in mind).
Ronan burst onto arthouse moviegoers' radars with her performance in Atonement, with the actress (13, at the time) delivering an unnerving performance as a young girl whose innocence is shattered by her own naive jealousy, leading her to commit a terrible act. She went on to portray captivating protagonists whose youthful spirit allow them to overcome the horrifying realities of the world about them, in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones and Peter Weir's The Way Back, before tackling the role of a trained (teenage) assassin in Joe Wright's Hanna. Ronan plays a young woman whose consciousness is invaded by an extraterrestrial parasite in next year's The Host (which was previewed at Comic-Con last month) and appears as a vampire in the upcoming Byzantium.
That's all to say, Ronan is an excellent choice for the complex role of Mary Queen of Scots, considering the psychologically-scarring events that shaped her outlook on life - including, being crowned Queen of Scotland when she was one, enduring multiple marriages that ended in murder (one of which her lover-turned-third husband was accused of orchestrating), and later abdication of her throne before fleeing to England to seek refuge from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Samantha Morton (John Carter) portrayed the older version of Mary in Golden Age, who spent the last 18 years of her life in confinement - before being executed for her asserted role in an assassination attempt against Elizabeth.
Hirst isn't struggling to find juicy melodramatic material for his Mary Queen of Scots screenplay, what with all the treachery, backstabbing, hidden love affairs, political intrigue, and bloodshed during the first 20 years of Mary's life (given Ronan's age, that will presumably be the focus of the film). There's definitely potential for some entertaining, royals-gone-bad shenanigans with this project.
We'll keep you updated on the status of Mary Queen of Scots as the story develops.
Source: Deadline


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these are a few shots from off stage at the spring program. as always Mrs Smith wrangles preschoolers with the best of them.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
something free!!!
free bowling for kids all summer!check it out!
Posted by Unknown at 6:08 PM 1 comment:
Monday, May 24, 2010
second chance winner is Marci who will get a different book....when i finish reading it. or she can pick Shanghai Girls. which i just got back from loan to another friend.
Posted by Unknown at 7:52 PM 3 comments:
Saturday, May 15, 2010
book giveaway!
it took me 5 days from when i started this post to actually post it, see, it says the 15th, its now the 20th. life is busy.
want to see what its about?
leave a comment and i will pick a winner on may 24, monday evening...say 7:15-ish
good luck, my the bookiest book worm win.
Posted by Unknown at 9:44 AM 5 comments:
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
fun tees
look at these fun tee shirts! i so want this! i would proudly wear my kid n play tee shirt to the farmers market, where other people my age would get the joke.
Posted by Unknown at 7:29 PM 1 comment:
Saturday, May 8, 2010
rummage sale finds.
i got these great old table cloths last weekend at a neighborhood wide rummage sale in Marci's neighborhood, i love neighborhood wide rummage sales! its like a flea market, without the funky smell. in addition to these i got a few items of clothing for The Boy, a 3 ft by 2 ft chalk board which i will feature when its makeover time, and legos and playdoh.
on a totally different note:
apparently THIS is why i never get my regular housework done. im a sucker for a stuffed cat who needs a new pillow and blanket. at least i had already made the cuddle toys (finger puppets) last christmas.
apparently THIS is why i never get my regular housework done. im a sucker for a stuffed cat who needs a new pillow and blanket. at least i had already made the cuddle toys (finger puppets) last christmas.
Posted by Unknown at 1:04 PM 3 comments:
Thursday, May 6, 2010
win it!!!
you can win your very own turquoise LeCruset batter bowl, but i hope you dont, because i really really want it. but if i cant win it, then i think you should.
Posted by Unknown at 12:45 PM 2 comments:
Monday, May 3, 2010
weekend fun
a visit to Aunt Marci's this weekend allowed plenty of time for the kids to get silly, im not sure why The Boy is wielding a wooden mallett, thankfully, it never came near enough to Miss M's head to cause any problems.
Posted by Unknown at 12:37 PM 2 comments:
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In a mid morning press release the National Hockey League announced the All Star game would have a few updates to make it more media friendly. Sidney Crosby would automatically be selected as the Captain of both teams. To ensure maximum safety of the players every other player would be replaced by high school (baseball) players, and the non-Crosby player votes would decide what jersey's the youngsters would wear while playing on one of the teams.
Further highlights of the release include:
- Pierre McGuire will be the only interviewer allowed to talk directly to Crosby.
- The teams will be designated Team Sid and Team Crosby.
- Sidney Crosby himself will wear a hybrid jersey that shows both logos and team colors.
- Announcers will not be allowed to use the name of any other player in the NHL, unless it refers to Crosby taking the puck from them, skating around them or beating them to score.
- To alleviate potential confusion by fans as to which jersey they want, only Sidney Crosby's All Star jersey would be available.
- No other players, coaches, general managers, or owners will be available for interviews during the four day festivities.
- To better align with the NHL's marketing and training the game will be retitled the NHL One Star Game Featuring Sidney Crosby. All previous literature should be discarded, recidivists will be shot and have their press passes revoked.
I spoke with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman who said he had just one short statement to make for the record. Here it is in it's entirety.
All questions regarding the disposition of the Phoenix Coyotes, the brutalization of Boston fans by Habs fans at a recent game, what it means to the NHL to have stable ownership for the Dallas Stars with the repeated incantation "Crosby". After about the seventh repetition of this rapturous prayer tears of joy could be seen streaming down the Commissioners face. Similarly, questions as to how the recent resurgence of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the dominance of the Minnesota Wild received one word answers.
Reports of other games having played on the night of Crosby's return were greeted with chilly stares by NHL operatives. Senior Public Information Minister Dan Rosen greeted the rumors of other players being worth enjoying with a sneered "Where are they all then, Area 51?". He went on to proclaim "We are the National Hockey League, our marketing is the Best! You will like who we tell you to like, read the five stories we regurgitate about the same handful of players and be grateful we provide you with the only information you need. You Will RESPECT MY Authority!"
When he was asked how the return of the Messiah would affect his job league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan (recently retitled Arch-Bishop-Captain of Protection of the Messiah's Guard) said they have instituted two new rules to better protect his holiness. 1) No opposing player shall approach within three feet of Crosby, any player who does so will be subject to an automatic 15 minute major penalty (time to only elapse while Crosby is on the ice) and may be subject to additional supplemental discipline. First time offenders would start with a minimum seventy five game suspension. 2) All opposing players, and team mates Crosby didn't like who made physical contact with Crosby would receive a five season suspension from the NHL, no possible appeal.


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Then an Associate of Arts in Philosophy from Franciscan University Online is for you.
For decades, Franciscan University has been welcoming students from around the world to its campus in Steubenville, Ohio, offering them an academically rich education and life-changing personal and intellectual formation.
Now, with the Online Associate of Arts in Philosophy degree, we're bringing that same Franciscan education and formation, with the same world-class professors, to you, wherever God has you.
Whether you're a high school student wanting to get a head start on college, a non-traditional student hoping to eventually study on campus, or a young man looking for an intensive, affordable way to complete your propaedeutic year, Franciscan Online puts an AA degree within your reach.
The AA in Philosophy Program is fully online. That means you can complete all 60 credit hours on your own schedule, at your own pace, and from your own home. You can even complete an academically intensive track in just one year—an option designed specifically for pre-seminarians. Classes are offered in the spring, summer, and fall, with the option of taking classes one at a time or taking multiple courses concurrently.
At just $500 per credit hour, tuition is affordably priced, and financial aid is available for those who qualify.
Whether you choose to take just one course through the online AA program or complete the entire degree program, all credits earned through Franciscan University Online are 100 percent transferable to our on-campus programs. This means that the work you put into an associate degree from Franciscan University Online today is guaranteed to count toward a bachelor's degree from Franciscan University tomorrow.
Philosophy studies the thought of the greatest thinkers the world has ever known. It also provides a lesson in problem solving, critical evaluation, clarity and depth of thought, and persuasive argumentation. This is one reason why philosophy majors outscore students from all other humanities majors on the GRE and LSAT. It's also one reason so many employers seek out philosophy majors, knowing their rigorous intellectual training makes them valuable in many different fields. Whether your future includes a career in business, journalism, law, education, public service, or the Church, a degree in philosophy can help you get there.
An AA in Philosophy can take you almost anywhere you want to go. Whether you continue on to earn a bachelor's degree in philosophy or choose to major in another subject such as theology, business, or political science, beginning your studies with a concentration in philosophy will give you a competitive edge in the classroom and in life.
Additionally, we've designed our online program to meet the needs of those young men who are called to the priesthood, designing our program around philosophy and liberal arts classes specifically recommended by the USCCB in their Program of Priestly Formation.
Our AA in Philosophy serves as a great foundation for the intellectual formation of future priests, but it is equally grounding for those going into fields such:
No one can say senior political science major Alexei Woltornist
doesn't come by his conservative political philosophy honestly.
The grandson of not one, but two
Russian immigrants who separately fled the Soviet Union in the 1940s, the New
Jersey native grew up hearing tales of the trials his grandparents and
great-grandparents endured under the Communist regime, and of their near
escapes from Stalin's secret police


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Chris Kluwe rips Vikings, accuses position coordinator of being a bigot
Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe, in a story for Deadspin, called former Minnesota Vikings coach Leslie Frazier and general manager Rick Spielman "cowards" and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer a "bigot."
Kluwe, an outspoken proponent of same-sex marriage rights, says he doesn't know whether he was cut by the Vikings on May 6, 2013 for his beliefs, but he says "I'm pretty confident it was [the reason]."
MORE: Blair Walsh statement | Vikings fire Frazier
In his piece for Deadspin, Kluwe offers an account of what took place during the 2012 season with the Vikings through his release in 2013. He does note this record wasn't kept as a running journal, but rather that he started it immediately after the 2013 NFL Draft, when the Vikings drafted punter Jeff Locke in the fifth round, signaling the end of his time with the team.
Kluwe noted a request by coach Leslie Fraizer to "be quiet, and stop speaking out on stuff" and also pointed out what he believed were attempts to reduce his media appearances when speaking about the Minnesota Gay Marriage Ammendment. He also noted Vikings owner Zygi Wilf told him he was proud of his public efforts to defend marriage equality.
But most notably was a run-in with Priefer:
Near the end of November, several teammates and I were walking into a specialist meeting with Coach Priefer. We were laughing over one of the recent articles I had written supporting same-sex marriage rights, and one of my teammates made a joking remark about me leading the Pride parade. As we sat down in our chairs, Mike Priefer, in one of the meanest voices I can ever recall hearing, said: "We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows." The room grew intensely quiet, and none of the players said a word for the rest of the meeting. The atmosphere was decidedly tense. I had never had an interaction that hostile with any of my teammates on this issue—some didn't agree with me, but our conversations were always civil and respectful. Afterward, several told me that what Mike Priefer had said was "messed up."
After being released by the Vikings, Kluwe got a brief look from the Raiders but did not stick with the team. Kluwe also acknowledges that his days as an NFL punter are over, likely by some combination of salary, his age and his decision to speak out on such a touchy social issue.
Kluwe says he waited until now to release this information for two reasons: One, for the sake of not distracting former teammates in season and, two, because he wanted to continue to try out for other NFL teams. But with those hopes seemingly finished, Kluwe said the one thing he hopes to achieve is Priefer never holding an NFL position again.
UPDATE: The Vikings have issued the following statement in response to Kluwe's story.
The Minnesota Vikings were made aware of Chris Kluwe's allegations for the first time today. We take them very seriously and will thoroughly review this matter.
As an organization, the Vikings consistently strive to create a supportive, respectful and accepting environment for all of our players, coaches and front office personnel. We do not tolerate discrimination at any level. The team has long respected our players' and associates' individual rights, and, as Chris specifically stated, Vikings ownership supports and promotes tolerance, including on the subject of marriage equality. Because he was identified with the Vikings, Chris was asked to be respectful while expressing his opinions. Team ownership and management also repeatedly emphasized to Chris that the Vikings would not impinge on his right to express his views.
Any notion that Chris was released from our football team due to his stance on marriage equality is entirely inaccurate and inconsistent with team policy. Chris was released strictly based on his football performance.
We will have further comment at the appropriate time.
Several current Vikings, including safety Harrison Smith and punter Jeff Locke took to Twitter to voice their support of the organization.
Since I've had the privilege of playing for Mike Preifer he has been nothing but a class act coach and a respectful human being. #Vikes— Harrison Smith (@HarriSmith22) January 2, 2014
(1/2) In my short time with the Vikings, Coach Priefer has treated me with respect and has helped me develop as a player and person.— Jeff Locke (@jefflocke18) January 2, 2014
(2/2) I have never witnessed any actions or statements by Coach Priefer similar to those described in the recent Deadspin article.— Jeff Locke (@jefflocke18) January 2, 2014
Priefer denied Kluwe's allegations in a statement released to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
I vehemently deny today's allegations made by Chris Kluwe. I want to be clear that I do not tolerate discrimination of any type and am respectful of all individuals. I personally have gay family members who I love and support just as I do any family member.
The primary reason I entered coaching was to affect people in a positive way. As a coach, I have always created an accepting environment for my players, including Chris, and have looked to support them both on and off the field.
The comments today have not only attacked my character and insulted my professionalism, but they have also impacted my family. While my career focus is to be a great professional football coach, my number one priority has always been to be a protective husband and father to my wife and children.
I will continue to work hard for the Minnesota Vikings, the Wilf family and all of our loyal fans.