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I love coming across a pretty stack of vintage printed hankies at a flea market, each one a perfect little bit of whimsy. I imagine the elegant "ladies who lunch" who might have tucked them into a sleeve. A set of floral handkerchiefs is so old fashioned and ladylike… in the best way! These days handkerchiefs aren't in vogue, although I'm not sure why. They are endlessly useful and so cheerful and handsome.
For this Mother's Day I'm doing my part to bring the handkerchief back. Using Page's classic Father's Day Rolled Hem Handkerchief pattern, I sewed a set of six sweet Liberty of London handkerchiefs perfect for mom. Tana Lawn is a total joy to sew and to use! It is silky soft, and the prints are so satisfyingly exquisite with charming details and beautiful colors. For our special Liberty Hankie Bundle I picked out some of my favorite prints in soft pinks and greens, imagining a perfect Mother's Day brunch, complete with pink lemonade and petits fours!
Even if your mom isn't the formal type, this lovely set will make a great Mother's Day gift. It's practical, pretty, and entirely handmade by you! If you'd like to make your own little stack, you can pick up our Liberty Hankie Bundle here and follow along with the Father's Day Rolled Hem Handkerchief pattern here!
Happy Mother's Day!– Molly
ps- For more Liberty of London inspiration check out our Father's Day Liberty Handkerchief Set too!


text: chriswirth182 0 Posted November 16, 2013 Pod Farm 2.56 with reaper (DAW) through Line 6 UX1 with my guitar Today for some random reason the effects of Pod Farm on my tracks are not working. The program itself opens and functions normally, and recognizes that a recorded is playing. The volume and input and output knobs are all on, and the amps and models all seem to load, yet when i play a track back or play an instrument with immediate playback, all i get is the clean, uneffected sound of the guitar. Tried reinstalling and restarting my computer and I get the same results. What gives? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites

subset: commoncrawl


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This was published 7 years ago
Pakenham grass fire under control
Firefighters have contained a bushfire that was threatening lives and homes on Melbourne's eastern fringe.
A State Emergency Control Centre spokesman said the fire, which was charging towards Pakenham, would continue to burn for a while and firefighters would work on it through the night.
But he said the threat was now diminished.
"We are asking people to monitor conditions and check their bushfire survival plans and if they don't have a plan decide what they are going to do [stay or leave] if conditions change," he said.
All up there about ten fires have broken out across the state as temperatures soar well above 40 degrees in many places this afternoon.
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German art hoard held unknown Chagall, Matisse
AUGSBURG, Germany (AP) -- It started with a routine check by German tax inspectors -- and resulted in the discovery of an art hoard so vast and spectacular that no one yet knows how the story truly ends.
On a high-speed train from Zurich to Munich on Sept. 22, 2010, Germany's briskly polite officialdom was on the lookout for customs and tax cheats. Thousands of German citizens had bank accounts in Switzerland, many of them undeclared, and the route from Zurich was a prime target for those carrying substantial sums of cash.
One elderly man on the train raised their suspicions and prosecutors launched a preliminary tax probe against him. Two years later, in February 2012, the trail led to the man's apartment in a wealthy district of Munich. Once inside, inspectors found a far more glittering prize than smuggled cash or evaded taxes: a huge collection of hidden artwork that sheds new light on some of the 20th-century's master painters and reawakens painful memories of Germany's Nazi past.
The paintings, drawings, engravings, woodcuts and prints numbered more than 1,400 in all and were created by an all-star roster of modern art: Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Oskar Kokoschka, and leading German artists Otto Dix, Max Liebermann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. At least one older work was in the trove: a 16th-century engraving of the Crucifixion by Albrecht Duerer.
Some pieces -- ones by Matisse, Chagall, Dix -- were previously unknown, not listed in the detailed inventories compiled by art scholars.
Investigators' excitement at the find was tempered by a disturbing question. At least some of the works had apparently been seized by the Nazis -- so who were they taken from and who now are their rightful owners?
At a news conference Tuesday in Augsburg, Germany, prosecutors wouldn't identify the elderly suspect, citing tax secrecy laws and the ongoing investigation.
They did say he hasn't asked for the artwork back and that they were not currently in contact with him. Prosecutors are probing whether he improperly acquired the works, but no charges have been filed and prosecutors say there may not be any.
Although prosecutors didn't name the suspect, heirs of the late Jewish collector Alfred Flechtheim issued a statement saying the case raised "justifiable suspicions" that some works the Nazis had taken from him might have been bought by Hildebrand Gurlitt, an art dealer who acted for the Nazis.
A Max Beckmann painting that once belonged to Flechtheim was sold two years ago through the Lempertz auction house in Cologne. A legal adviser for Lempertz, Karl-Sax Feddersen, told The Associated Press that the seller was Gurlitt's son Cornelius.
The German magazine Focus also reported that Cornelius Gurlitt was the man under investigation.
Neither Cornelius Gurlitt nor his lawyer could immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
The mystery now turns to the art.
The 121 framed and 1,285 unframed works found in one room at the apartment were "professionally stored and in a very good condition," said Siegfried Kloeble, head of the customs investigations office in Munich. He said it took a specialist company three days to remove the paintings; officials refused to say where they are being kept now.
Investigators, aided by a leading art historian, are trying to establish the artworks' legal status and history. So far, officials said they have done at least preliminary research on only about 500 of the pieces.
It's unclear how many of the works might be subject to return to pre-World War II owners.
Speaking at the news conference, prosecutor Reinhard Nemetz said investigators have turned up "concrete evidence" that the find includes both works that the Nazis classed as "degenerate art" and seized from German museums in 1937 or shortly after, and other works that may have been taken from individuals. The Nazis often forced Jewish collectors to sell their art at pitifully low prices to German dealers or simply took them.
"Degenerate art" was largely modern or abstract works that Adolf Hitler's regime believed to be a corrupt influence on the German people. Many such works were later sold to enrich the Nazis. An art expert working with prosecutors said those sales are legally valid, even if other works in the collection may eventually be found to belong to survivors of Nazi persecution or their heirs.
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany called for the works to be made public immediately so families of Holocaust victims could locate and recover art that had been taken from them. The conference also said that art for which heirs could not be found "must not remain with Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Nazi-affiliated art dealer who profited from art confiscated from Holocaust victims or sold under duress."
It said any unclaimed art should be auctioned and the money used for assistance to Holocaust survivors or Holocaust education.
Nemetz defended the delay in making the find public and rejected calls to make images immediately available on the Internet to help potential owners, citing copyright and security concerns.
Art historian Meike Hoffmann, an expert on "degenerate art" at the Free University of Berlin, offered a glimpse of some of the works during a slide show at the same news conference.
She showed works she said had not been known to scholars, or known only from documents without any photos to give an idea what the works looked like.
"Such cases are of high importance to art historians," she explained.
One Matisse painting of a woman, seized by the Nazis in France during World War II, is not in the established catalog of his works, she noted. A Chagall gouache of an allegorical scene also isn't among the artist's listed works. Experts haven't yet been able to determine where the Chagall came from, she said.
Other works, such as an unknown self-portrait by 20th-century German artist Otto Dix or a woodcut by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, added new breadth to what's known about the artists, Hoffmann added.
Some were known works that appeared to have been legally sold, although their recent whereabouts may have been unknown. For instance, a previously listed work by Courbet of a girl with a goat made its way into the collection through an auction in 1949 -- years after the end of World War II. A Franz Marc work, "Landscape with Horses," was identified as coming from an art museum in Moritzburg, Germany.
Overall, Hoffmann was elated with the quality and the depth of the find.
"When you stand in front of the works, see the ones that were long thought to have been lost or destroyed and in a relatively good state -- some of them dirty but not damaged -- you have an incredible feeling of happiness," she told reporters.


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Man's lost gnome attends Steelers game.
Allen Snyder's garden gnome is apparently out of jail and now traveling the country. The 14-inch tall red-and-white statue disappeared from Snyder's Morgantown yard in the spring, and Snyder has since received three letters claiming to have been written by "Gnomey."
The latest letter, which Snyder received this week, included photos of the gnome in the company of Steelers fans attending Pittsburgh's football home opener.
"You never took me to any games," the note said. The letter ended: "Have to go now. Boarding a plane. Now, finally, broadening my travels."
An earlier letter included a request for bail money and included what appeared to be booking photos of Gnomey and another of the gnome in the back seat of a police car.
Snyder has no idea who's pulling this prank but said his short list of suspects includes several gag-loving friends.
The plight of his gnome has gotten a lot of attention. Snyder says people are always asking if he's heard from Gnomey.
"I never thought it would go this far," he said.
The story has even caught the attention of officials at Travelocity, which uses a roaming gnome in the online travel agency's advertising.
"While we know that your dear friend, Gnomey, can never be replaced, we're sending the enclosed Roaming Gnome to keep you company in his absence," wrote Michelle Peluso, president and chief executive officer of Travelocity, based in Southlake, Texas. "Hopefully your friend will find his way out of trouble and back to your front yard soon, although we can't help but admire his sense of adventure and love of travel."
Information from: The Dominion Post, http://www.dominionpost.com


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Kendra Wilkinson and her husband Hank Baskett welcomed their second child on Friday, Us Weekly reports.
The former Girls Next Door star and Playboy Playmate gave birth to her daughter via C-section at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Her name has yet to be revealed.
Add new fall shows to your Watchlist!
"I feel great and I am so happy," Baskett told the magazine, noting that the baby is "healthy with all 10 fingers and all 10 toes."
Wilkinson, 28, and Baskett, 31, who married in June 2009 at the Playboy mansion, welcomed son Hank Randall Baskett IV several weeks before their wedding.
Since starring in her own E! reality show Kendra, Wilkinson has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Wife Swap and Splash — the latter which she famously quit three episodes in. Baskett is a former NFL wide receiver.


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Preaching: Stephen A. Smith & Skip Bayless Talk About Racial And Ethnic Sensitivity With The Emergence Of Jeremy Lin! "Black Population Is In Danger Of Becoming An Endangered Species"
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Tibu ft. Twitch – Love You Die
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23 November 2010
Vintage Loves
I'm sure it's not news to most of you (it was to me) that Free People has gotten in on the vintage game. They're offering a "rare collection of vintage pieces that captures the spirit of the 1900s through the 1980s, a travel journal bringing the past to life. " I have to admit that I'm smitten with the collection... the well worn corduroys, the perfectly broken in leather bags and belts and the clothing in earthy muted hues. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the prices. Yowza! While all the pieces are lovely, I feel like I could find comparable pieces on Etsy for a fraction of the price.
I would really like to get my hands on one of these woven market bags. I've seen them around but I don't know where to find one. Does anyone have any clue?
24 comments:
- Collette Osuna said...
GORGEOUS Items.....Id love the plaid bag:)
Stop by and say Hello:)
Enter my Spotted Moth Giveaway♥
- November 23, 2010
- Anonymous said...
That jumper in the last picture looks so snug x
- November 23, 2010
- BaronessVonVintage said...
Yes, aside from the exhorbitant pricing (I saw a 70s puffy vest for over $300 on there), there have been some remarkably notable problems with accurate dating of the items as well. Etsy's a much better bet!
- November 23, 2010
- Chaucee said...
I totally adore what they have (great finds) but their prices are a bit over the top.
- November 23, 2010
- Stéphanie said...
I adore everything !
- November 23, 2010
- Anonymous said...
I'd check natural food co-ops for the woven market bags. Also, you could do a search online for them. I got one from an African company, but I can't remember the name of it, at my local co-op. You could search for "fair trade african woven bags" or something like that. Good luck.
- November 23, 2010
- TresLunas said...
love the last cardigan!!! it's soooo chic! love it =) kisses!
- November 23, 2010
- Kristina said...
Beuatiful pieces, love it!
- November 23, 2010
- Ms.Tips said...
I love their vintage collection but I have to agree with you on the price. Some of them are insanely expensive!! I just purchase a woven bag on etsy. ( My local thrift stores have them in sprint/summer time too.)
- November 23, 2010
- AP. said...
Ooh, they are all so pretty but I agree - you can find similar clothes for a much cheaper price. FP always marks up their clothes a ridiculous amount. I mean, really? $80 for a pair of worn out Keds...
I've seen those bags around, but can't think of any specific place - sorry!
- November 23, 2010
- Suzie said...
you can find quite a few on etsy, by searching basket tote, or something like that :)
- November 23, 2010
- Rebekah said...
There are some lovely market bags on http://store.madimports.org/ and they're all fair trade made by a collaboration between designers in NY and craftspeople in Madagascar.
- November 23, 2010
- Unknown said...
Love the lace collar
- November 23, 2010
- sjwhidden said...
my buddy has one for sale:
- November 23, 2010
- Anja Verdugo said...
I found my bag like that at an antique mall, and then thrifted another later on. I think they're around all over the place! You'll stumble across one soon.
- November 23, 2010
- Gabs Brown said...
- November 23, 2010
- kelly said...
egads! those are some steep prices! i had a woven bag like that in high school, it was red and turquoise stripes, wish i would have kept it. as i recall i got it at an imports store. they were kind of a trendy bookbag back in 1989!
- November 23, 2010
- Lisa (aka sweetie) said...
Hello...love your vintage gems for sale...adorable blog and store..I will follow u...hope to follow me and happy blogging...thanks for inspiration!
Sweetie...aka Lisa
- November 23, 2010
- Lisa (aka sweetie) said...
Hello...love your vintage gems for sale...adorable blog and store..I will follow u...hope to follow me and happy blogging...thanks for inspiration!
Sweetie...aka Lisa
- November 23, 2010
- Tailoverteakettle said...
Whoa. What? Seriously, I get that the big stores have taken note of the blog and etsy worlds, but they should just leave well enough alone. I'm glad the prices are ridiculously expensive, hopefully it pushes more people to shop independently for vintage goods rather than from the big guys!
- November 23, 2010
- The Greedy Seagull said...
Jennifer I have sold about 5 of those market bags since opening my shop, all at around 35-45 dollars so it's appalling to me that the would charge so much. I come across them quite frequently and will message you when I find one next.
- November 24, 2010
- bee said...
I obsessed about the market bags for weeks and I think through sheer strength of will I made one appear in a thrift store for $5! Just send out the positive vibes.
- November 26, 2010
- Anonymous said...
This was news to me, too! It's nice to know I'm not the only one feeling behind the times. :) As far as those woven market bags go, they are turning up on Etsy these days. After I started noticing them on the blogs, I actually came across a couple of them at thrift stores (and have since sold one in my Etsy shop). It's funny when that happens, it's like they were there all along but I didn't notice before. I'm sure you'll find one sooner or later--happy hunting!
- November 29, 2010
- noirohio vintage said...
I feel like all the prices on Free People are a bit ridiculous. The pieces they are selling are appealing but I almost think it's because of how they are photographed.
- December 02, 2010


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SACRAMENTO, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Attendees at a California estate sale had an interesting item to consider in the home's backyard shed: a World War II military airplane.
The plane, owned by the late William G. Simmonds, Jr., an aviation collector and enthusiast, was purchased in 1962, Simmonds' brother-in-law Stephen Young said Saturday.
The Taylorcraft L-2, dubbed "the Grasshopper" by pilots during the war, was only used for enemy reconnaissance. Its slow top speed (93 mph) and inability to fly very high (top altitude, 10,000 feet) made its use limited.
The plane itself hasn't been flown since the 1980s, when Simmonds had to give up his pilot's license due to a medical condition, Young said.
The asking price for the plane during the estate sale was $22,000. Several individuals inquired about it but none offered up the cash immediately, the salesman for the Sacramento-area estate sale company told The Sacramento Bee.


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By MICHAEL B. OREN//October 14, 2010NEARLY 63 years after the United Nations recognized the right of the Jewish people to independence in their homeland — and more than 62 years since Israel's creation — the Palestinians are still denying the Jewish nature of the state. "Israel can name itself whatever it wants," said the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, while, according to the newspaper Haaretz, his chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said that the Palestinian Authority will never recognize Israel as the Jewish state. Back in 1948, opposition to the legitimacy of a Jewish state ignited a war. Today it threatens peace.
Mr. Abbas and Mr. Erekat were responding to the call by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, enabling his government to consider extending the moratorium on West Bank construction. "Such a step by the Palestinian Authority would be a confidence-building measure," Mr. Netanyahu explained, noting that Israel was not demanding recognition as a prerequisite for direct talks. It would "open a new horizon of hope as well as trust among broad parts of the Israeli public."
Why should it matter whether the Palestinians or any other people recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people? Indeed, Israel never sought similar acknowledgment in its peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Some analysts have suggested that Mr. Netanyahu is merely making a tactical demand that will block any chance for the peace they claim he does not really want.
Affirmation of Israel's Jewishness, however, is the very foundation of peace, its DNA. Just as Israel recognizes the existence of a Palestinian people with an inalienable right to self-determination in its homeland, so, too, must the Palestinians accede to the Jewish people's 3,000-year connection to our homeland and our right to sovereignty there. This mutual acceptance is essential if both peoples are to live side by side in two states in genuine and lasting peace.
So why won't the Palestinians reciprocate? After all, the Jewish right to statehood is a tenet of international law. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 called for the creation of "a national home for the Jewish people" in the land then known as Palestine and, in 1922, the League of Nations cited the "historical connection of the Jewish people" to that country as "the grounds for reconstituting their national home." In 1947, the United Nations authorized the establishment of "an independent Jewish state," and recently, while addressing the General Assembly, President Obama proclaimed Israel as "the historic homeland of the Jewish people." Why, then, can't the Palestinians simply say "Israel is the Jewish state"?
The reason, perhaps, is that so much of Palestinian identity as a people has coalesced around denying that same status to Jews. "I will not allow it to be written of me that I have ... confirmed the existence of the so-called Temple beneath the Mount," Yasir Arafat told President Bill Clinton in 2000.
For Palestinians, recognizing Israel as a Jewish state also means accepting that the millions of them residing in Arab countries would be resettled within a future Palestinian state and not within Israel, which their numbers would transform into a Palestinian state in all but name. Reconciling with the Jewish state means that the two-state solution is not a two-stage solution leading, as many Palestinians hope, to Israel's dissolution.
Which is precisely why Israelis seek the basic reassurance that the Palestinian Authority is ready to accept our state — to accept us. Israelis need to know that further concessions would not render us more vulnerable to terrorism and susceptible to unending demands. Though recognition of Israel as the Jewish state would not shield us from further assaults or pressure, it would prove that the Palestinians are serious about peace.The core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the refusal to recognize Jews as a people, indigenous to the region and endowed with the right to self-government. Criticism of Israeli policies often serves to obscure this fact, and peace continues to elude us. By urging the Palestinians to recognize us as their permanent and legitimate neighbors, Prime Minister Netanyahu is pointing the way out of the current impasse: he is identifying the only path to co-existence.


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RMOUG TD 2013February 26th, 2013 — ddelmoli
Last week I attended the Rocky Mountain Oracle User's Group Training Days Conference in Denver, Colorado. RMOUG TD is one of the largest independent Oracle User's Groups for Oracle database technology and draws a large number of Oracle Aces and Ace Directors, Oracle OakTable members and senior Oracle corporate technology leaders.
On Monday I attended a session by Cary Millsap from Method-R Corporation. In this full day session, Cary talked about how to use Oracle's trace files to accurately diagnose performance problems related to specific business transactions by profiling the execution of database activity at the detailed call level. Using a variety of tools, Cary sliced and diced Oracle trace files to pinpoint problems related to disk, network and cpu performance for a variety of business transactions. Cary's company, Method R, develops tools that make it easy to analyze trace files both from the command line as well as from within Oracle SQL Developer.
Monday evening I attended a VIP reception for Oracle Aces (having received by Oracle Ace designation in January), where I spent time talking to Kyle Hailey, a fellow OakTable member and Cornell alum, who has spent time as a Director at Oracle, Director of Performance Products at Embarcadero and is currently a Performance Architect and Technical Evangelist at Delphix. Delphix is a company that specializes in creating virtual copies of databases in order to provide massive storage savings and full-copy databases within organizations. It's estimated that organizations make between 5 and 8 copies of their production databases, and Delphix provides software that reduces that number to 2, while enabling many "virtual" copies of the database to be used. A single physical copy is used as the basis for many virtual databases, all of which maintain only their changes against the base copy. Delphix' technical team is top-notch, with former members of Oracle's ASM storage team, RAC team and the Sun ZFS file-system development team. Delphix also provides a nice "timeflow-like" user interface influenced by Apple.
I believe the Delphix technology has significant benefits in providing full-copies of production data into QA, Test and Dev environments without requiring huge physical storage.
One concept I've been playing with is an 8-rack Exadata solution in which all of the storage cells are allocated to production servers within the 8-rack (for example, assume 5 racks are used for production, 2 racks for QA, and 1 rack for Development). Delphix provides a virtual dNFS-like mount point that could be used by the QA and Dev database servers to have full-copy of production data, while all of the expensive storage cells are fully utilized by Production.
Kyle told me their biggest barrier to adoption is the status-quo behavior of places that don't think you can have full-copies of production in Dev and QA because it's too hard today – Delphix makes that easy.
On Tuesday, I attended Karen Morton's presentation on basic tuning for developers. I like to attend some of these introductory sessions to see what questions are asked and what information is being conveyed to new developers. As always, Karen does a nice job simplifying complex topics and making them clear in an introductory manner.
Tuesday lunch was "Lunch with an Oracle Ace" day, where conference attendees were given an opportunity to sit at tables with specific Oracle Aces. I had a table with my name on it full of database developers and had an engaging lunch answering questions.
After lunch I was invited to be a panelist on the Oracle Women in Technology panel (along with Karen Morton from Enkitec, Maria Colgan from Oracle, and Debra Lilley from Fujitsu. I was the male representative on the panel and was asked to talk about the value of diversity and my experiences in the Oracle field (where I've worked for over 23 years now).
Wednesday morning I attended 2 sessions – one by Tyler Muth from Oracle Corporation on Exadata tuning. Tyler did an excellent presentation on graphing Exadata performance results using R. After Tyler I attended a presentation on using GoldenGate with Exadata from the folks at Enkitec.
In the afternoon I gave my 2 presentations – one on Fuzzy String Matching Algorithms (based on phonetic matching) and the other on Recursive SQL Constructs – both were well received.


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Sylvester Stallone Hurls N Word at Paparazzi
Sly Stallone Hurls N Word at Paparazzi
Sylvester Stallone had some harsh words for a paparazzo in Beverly Hills Thursday ... grousing, "This f**king n***er here, this f**ker."
Sly was leaving Caffe Roma with a friend. They were followed by a group of photogs. Sly then hurls the racial epithet. It comes at 7 seconds into the clip.
The video is a little difficult to hear, but as Sly turns the corner and looks over his right shoulder -- back at the paparazzi -- you clearly hear him use the n word. A little later in the video, you hear a female photog say to Sly, "Why the racial slurs?"
There were African-American photogs shooting Sly at Caffe Roma, but it's unclear if the epithet was directed at them.
1:35 PM PT: Sly's reps now tell us the words Stallone used were "f**king idiot."
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Duma does not run when Brian Jones opens the gate. Rather, he ambles lazily, casting a bored glance at his sister, Letoatse.
Typical cat.
"Hi, Duma!" Mr. Jones coos, and Duma pads a little closer – although never making eye contact – and stretches, plopping down next to a thorn tree. Jones scratches him behind one tan ear, and Duma purrs.
"You can pet him," Jones says. "But we don't let kids go in here. He seems to take an overactive interest in young people."
Typical cheetah.
This, in fact, is one of the key lessons Duma and Letoatse can impart from this acres-wide enclosure in Botswana's Mokolodi Nature Reserve, says Jones: Cheetahs, some of the world's most endangered cats, are going to act like the predators they are. But if humans understand that, and respond accordingly, there doesn't have to be conflict.
"A lot of people consider the cheetah a pest," says Jones, a long-term volunteer with the Cheetah Conservation Botswana program, a four-year-old group formed to help the beleaguered species. "If a village loses livestock, and they see a cheetah, they'll kill it. We're trying to change the mind-set."
Many environmentalists say cheetahs, the oldest of Africa's big cats and the fastest land mammal on earth, are in danger of extinction. The cheetah population has dropped by about 90 percent over the past century, in large part because of habitat destruction and conflict with farmers, who say they shoot the cats to protect their livestock. Today, some 10,000 cheetahs live in Africa – about half in Botswana and Namibia. A handful also live in Iran.
But advocates for the species say they believe they have a real opportunity to slow – and in some places even reverse – the cheetah's decline. Over the past decade, the number of cheetah conservation organizations has expanded, and the groups have increasingly coordinated their efforts. They say more people seem to be taking note of the cheetah's precarious situation – in the United States and Europe, for sure, but more important, in the handful of countries where cheetahs still live in the wild.
"We've seen a lot of shifts in attitudes in Namibia as well as in Kenya where we've worked so extensively," says Laurie Marker, founder of Namibia's 18-year-old Cheetah Conservation Foundation. "We've seen a lot of wake-up attitudes in South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and even changes in North Africa and Iran."
Relief for the cheetah would send hopeful signs about the state of some of the world's last true wildernesses, conservationists say. But the cat is by no means out of harm's way, they say.
"If there's pressure on an ecosystem, they're the first you're going to see it with," says Charles Knowles, the executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Network, which funds conservation entrepreneurs and groups. "Cheetahs serve as a good indicator species for predators in an ecosystem. If you can make it healthy for a cheetah, you're going to make it healthy for everyone."
Fast hunters lack versatility
A close look at Duma shows what makes the cheetah so unusual for the cat world.
On the one hand, he's unmistakably feline, with the purring, the big eyes, the twitching tail. But then, he's not exactly regal. He's got long, skinny legs; a lanky, spotted body; and a head that is rather flat and small. A little awkward, if you want to be honest about it. And if you get close enough to his paws, you see that he doesn't have the retractable claws of other cats.
All of those physical characteristics have one purpose: speed. The cheetah's one and only hunting trick is that it's faster than anything it might want to eat, running up to 70 miles per hour. This means an antelope doesn't stand a chance in a race – but it also means that the cheetah is particularly vulnerable to injury.
"It could literally sprain an ankle and it would die," says Mr. Knowles. That's opposed to, say, a leopard, which will just adjust its hunting style to compensate for even a missing limb. (It will drop out of a tree on unsuspecting prey.)
This reliance on speed and not much else means that cheetahs don't have the tools to fight off other predators who want to steal their dinner. Even an unarmed human can walk up to a cheetah and take away its catch. The cats also have trouble protecting their babies – lions in particular are known to kill cheetah cubs as a way of eliminating bush rivalry. This is one of the reasons why cheetahs don't do well in wildlife reserves, where limited space increases competition among predators.
To avoid these run-ins, the cheetah hunts during the day – the only cat to do so. But daytime hunting has its own perils: humans. When livestock goes missing, farmers are more likely to see a cheetah on the prowl than any other cat. So while cheetahs are certainly responsible for taking their share of unattended goats, they also often get blamed – and killed – for other cats' hunting.
"When there is a dead whatever, the first reaction is to say 'A cheetah got it,' " Jones says. "Then retaliatory killings take place."
Duma shows this story, too. He and his sister were rescued as cubs after a farmer shot and killed their mother.
An effort to educate
One of the main goals of southern Africa's cheetah conservation groups is to persuade farmers to use nonlethal predator control – using herd guard dogs to scare off cheetahs, for instance, or building cheetahproof fences around grazing fields. This goes hand in hand with convincing locals that there is value in the cheetah, both environmental and economic.
In Namibia, for instance, where the cheetah population has stabilized and even grown, Ms. Marker's Cheetah Conservation Fund has held training courses for thousands of schoolchildren and hundreds of subsistence farmers, talking about ecosystem stability, the role of predators, and the unique aspects of the cheetah.
Across the border, Cheetah Conservation Botswana recently published a book called "Cheetah: A predator resource for the children of Botswana," which it hopes to distribute to every secondary school in the country. It has also held teacher training sessions modeled on Marker's program and launched a conservation video, "Spirit of the Kalahari," starring local actors.
"We deal with an integrated system of people learning to live with wildlife, predators," Marker says. "We study the needs of the people, and the predators."
More than three decades of biological research underlie these outreach efforts, Marker adds – work on everything from how many cheetah exist in a region to the cats' range and breeding patterns.
"We probably know more about the biology of the cheetah than most other endangered species," Marker says.
Conservation groups also research farming practices, such as corralling young calves, which can minimize human-cat conflict.
While conservationists say they are seeing attitudes shift, they also know they have a long road ahead.
This past year, two orphaned cheetah cubs that Cheetah Conservation Botswana had rehabilitated were shot and killed after they were reintroduced into the wild. The group had released them on property owned by a supportive farmer, but the cats had roamed onto other, less friendly land.
"It's going to be a generational thing," Jones says. "The predator-livestock issue won't be solved in our lifetime. It will be changed in the next three, four generations."


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"I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather...Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car." --Will Shriner
For some reason I read this and thought of Ted.
Daily Defense
10 hours ago
The main reason for this blog will be to make others aware of how our freedom's and liberties are being eroded by those in power. How they do not follow the will or the intent of the United States Constitution, and how we can slowly start to regain our lost freedoms and liberties. On a lighter note, I will also post about some hobbies and interests that I have.


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Rangers send down Sardinas as they wait on Choo
SEATTLE -- The Rangers, willing to wait on outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, have optioned infielder Luis Sardinas to Double-A Frisco to make room for pitcher Matt Harrison on the active roster.
Choo was out of the lineup for the fifth straight game with a sprained left ankle but is getting closer to the point where manager Ron Washington is considering using him as a pinch-hitter if needed.
"He took batting practice [Saturday] and looked pretty good," Washington said. "We're going to hang on a little longer and see where it goes. He's feeling better today. I don't know what that means. If we have to make a move when we get back to Texas, we'll make a move. Right now we'll give it a little longer. Batting is not an issue, it's going to be the running and the cutting."
Teams are allowed to put a player on the disabled list retroactively up to 10 days. Choo last played on Monday so the Rangers can wait at least through their three-game series with the Athletics before making a decision.
With Choo out, Michael Choice has been playing left field and leading off for five straight games. He went into Sunday 3-for-16 with four walks and four RBIs in the first five, including a key RBI single against Felix Hernandez on Saturday night.
"He has been holding his own and finding a way to get on base once or twice a game," manager Ron Washington said. "He might be out of his element but since he got on the field, we've only lost one game so I'm not complaining."


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The problems related to high seas fisheries are not new to the UN system. Participants at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea were well aware of the issue. However, attempts to deal with it during the course of the ten years of negotiations that concluded in 1982 were not successful. The negotiators decided to leave such problems to be resolved between States concerned with high seas fisheries in different regions. During the last decade, however, the pressure on high seas fisheries has grown rapidly, and the problems have become more urgent. A number of events in the early 1990s indicated that an international conference should be convened to resolve the issues related to high seas fisheries. One forum where this was discussed was the Preparatory Committee for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). After long and difficult negotiations, participants at the Earth Summit in Rio agreed to "convene an intergovernmental conference under UN auspices with a view to promoting effective implementation of the provisions of the Law of the Sea on straddling and highly migratory fish stocks."
The resolution establishing the Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (47/192) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 22 December 1992. The resolution states that the Conference, drawing on scientific and technical studies by FAO, should: identify and assess existing problems related to the conservation and management of highly migratory and straddling fish stocks; consider means of improving fisheries cooperation among States; and formulate appropriate recommendations. The resolution also stipulated that the Conference should complete its work "as early as possible" in advance of the 49th session of the UN General Assembly, later this year.
The organizational session for the Conference was held at UN Headquarters in New York from 19-23 April 1993. The participants adopted the rules of procedure and agenda, appointed a Credentials Committee, and agreed on how its substantive work will be carried out. Satya N. Nandan (Fiji) was elected Chair of the Conference. The Chair was asked to prepare a paper containing a list of substantive subjects and issues as a guide for the Conference, and delegations were requested to submit their proposals to the Secretariat.
[Return to start of article]


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Hospital granted request for no black nurses, suit claims
An African-American nurse claims a Michigan hospital agreed to a man's request that no black nurses care for his newborn.
Forty-nine-year-old Tonya Battle tells the Detroit Free Press she didn't know how to react when she learned about the request in October at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, northwest of Detroit. Battle sued last month in Genesee Circuit Court seeking punitive damages.
Battle's lawsuit claims a note was posted on an assignment clipboard reading "No African American nurse to take care of baby."
She says it was later removed, but claims black nurses weren't assigned to the baby's care for about a month.
Hurley President Melany Gavulic said in a statement Tuesday the father showed Battle's supervisor a swastika tattoo, which angered the staff. She says supervisors were concerned for the staff's safety.
Rev. Charles E. Williams II, president of The National Action Network, spoke outside Hurley Medical Center as part of a protest Tuesday.


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When Angelina Jolie arrived at Oscar rehearsals on Thursday morning, she had some wisdom to share with a group of film students clustered backstage at the Dolby Theatre. The actress and director spoke to the students not of the demands of a Hollywood career, however, but of the challenges of its footwear.
"I didn't fall in the hole," said Jolie, gesturing to an open spot on the stage and towering over the young adults in a pair of spike heels. "I used to wear flip-flops, but you do this a few times and you learn to wear the shoes you're going to present in."
Jolie was on hand to practice for her role in the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night, joining 45 other presenters who would stream through the Hollywood and Highland Centre over a three-day period before the show, including Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence, Bill Murray, Brad Pitt, Sidney Poitier, Channing Tatum and Emma Watson.
On the telecast, it may not always seem well practiced, but the rehearsals are a chance for stars to perfect the highly specific skills of awards show presenting in front of a forgiving audience of crew members and stand-ins. They run through their stage walking, teleprompter reading and pronunciation of the evening's trickier potential winners' names (Chiwetel Ejiofor, anyone?).
It wasn't just the actors working out their pre-show jitters. As the aroma of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee hung in the air, the Oscars crew practiced their lighting cues, camera moves and set changes.
With multiple musical numbers planned for the show, including performances by Idina Menzel, Bette Midler, Karen O, Pink, U2 and Pharrell Williams, an area off stage right was crowded with guitars and drum sets. When a familiar rhythmic jangle rose over the backstage din, it was a roadie for U2 tuning up the Edge's guitar.
Elsewhere, an escort led a decidedly casual Samuel L. Jackson through the labyrinthine backstage area to the Architectural Digest greenroom designed by David Rockwell, who designed the Dolby Theatre. There presenters can calm their nerves (or soak up some brand names) in a space outfitted with a bar, contemporary sofas and an art installation made of Samsung TV, phone and tablet screens.
"You know how I am in front of people," Jackson said sardonically to the young woman charged with delivering him down the hall to the office of Oscar telecast producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan.
"Yeah, you seem really shy," she said.
In an office a few feet from the stage, Meron and Zadan conferred with their head writer, Kristin Gore, daughter of Al Gore and comedy writer for such TV shows as Saturday Night Live and Futurama.
Meron and Zadan have said host Ellen DeGeneres, whose rehearsals are closed to reporters, will set a warm tone for this year's show. A nameplate for the talk-show host adorns the door of modest dressing room three, which is outfitted with a mini fridge, microwave and little else.
After Charlize Theron furrowed her brow while delivering a line on stage, a stage manager said, "If you have any questions you can sit with Craig and Neil."
"No, I'm good," Theron said. "I'm so good."
In the wings, stage manager John Esposito trained six film students on how to present the Oscar trophies Sunday night; last year Meron and Zadan replaced the models who had traditionally performed that role with the aspiring young filmmakers.
Out in the theater, the seats, marked with placards displaying the faces of the stars who will occupy them on Sunday, were filled by 31 stand-ins, also known as rehearsal actors, many of whom had researched their "roles" for the week. Most of actors have been performing the union job — for which they just won overtime pay last year — for years. They're selected for their professionalism, reliability and, sometimes, resemblance to stars' body types.
After a few turns at the teleprompter, Poitier pivoted on his heel. "Is that it?"
The rehearsal actors delivered a standing ovation for the 87-year-old star — and then promptly heckled a colleague playing 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen for the brevity of his mock speech.
"That's only the first year, Reggie, let's hear the next 11," someone shouted from Martin Scorsese's seat.
Pamela Dubin, who was playing Meryl Streep for the rehearsal, had fun with the actress' 18 career Oscar nominations when she delivered a fake acceptance speech for August: Osage County.
Over more than a decade of working as a rehearsal actor at the Oscars, Tonys and Emmys, Dubin has played Julia Roberts, Glenn Close, Sandra Bullock and Goldie Hawn.
"I consider it practice," said Dubin, who has appeared on TV shows including Scrubs and The Practice and worked in regional theatre. "You know, for when I win the award."
*The Oscar Awards will air live in the UAE on Dubai One at 2am on March 3 with a repeat telecast at 7:30pm the same day.


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VANCOUVER -- On Saturday morning around 10 a.m., Vancouver resident and amateur photographer Anthony Ellis snapped a photo of the North Shore Mountain. It wasn't until he got home and viewed the digital photo on his computer that he saw the speck hovering over the mountain.
"I was quite surprised," said Ellis, who believes the object is a UFO.
Ellis says he didn't alter the photograph in any way, and the black speck does not appear on other photos taken the same day.
According to the 2012 annual Canadian UFO survey, 1981 Canadians reported sightings, a jump of nearly 100 per cent over previous years. Of those, only 7.5 per cent were evaluated as unexplained. Ontario residents log the most UFO sightings annually, with B.C. ranking second with 20 per cent of the sightings.
Reported UFO sightings generally peak in spring and summer months, with one possible explanation: it's silly season again.
In August 2010, reports broke about an unidentified flying object hovering over Cultus Lake in Chilliwack, B.C. CLICK HERE to view the article and HERE to view photos.
Also, click HERE to view images of other alleged UFOs, as spotted by Vancouver Sun readers.
Have you seen a UFO? Email us at email@example.com


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Sigh. Half the people in your department just got pink-slipped, your 401(k) is worth shit, and now, just when you thought things couldn't get any worse…they're coming for your muffin, too.
All in the name of shareholder value!
(Leaked by Sayf in Greenwich, Connecticut.)
related: Lean cuisine
extra credit: Morgan Stanley cancels Christmas, jobs [dealbreaker]


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My queen cell-builder/finisher is in a 5-frame deep nuc box, with a screened bottom and a queen excluder covering a front entrance hole. I keep four or five medium frames in this nuc, and use 1, 2, or 3 single cell bars, with as many as twelve cells per bar. I feed continuously with pollen substitute patties and feed a quart of syrup once a week. I like to keep the two outer combs almost solid with honey and pollen; the other two or three frames I maintain as combs of emerging worker brood, and frequently check for rogue queen cells (which I destroy and harvest the royal jelly for priming).
Using this cell-builder I've produced many groups of nice looking queen cells and some very nice queens. This photo is a group of my usual sized cells.
About a week ago I was between cell batches and had a comb of hatching eggs I needed to place temporarily, so I put it into the cell-builder, exchanging it with a nearly empty comb (one that was emerging brood). A day or two later I again swapped it with a fresh frame of sealed-emerging brood and placed a bar of fresh grafts. When I returned to harvest these finished cells, I noticed that all of them were uniformly large, larger than most of the cells I've ever grown.
I use JZsBZs push-in queen cell protectors, and my usual cells will allow the protector to be pushed all the way down onto the base of the cell-cup. These larger cells will only permit the cell protectors to be pushed to where the protector just contacts the rim of the cell-cups, and the tip of the cells are already protruding from the end of the protectors. In a few days, when this next batch is ripe, I will take a photo of these larger cells.
I am anxiously waiting to see how queens from these larger cells perform, and if they are actually larger, more fecund queens.


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Hi,I'd advice putting a capacitor in series with the piezo - DC kills piezos.
PWM signals are AC A capacitor in series basically stops current from flowing when the voltage isn't changing - which stops DC currents.
... those speakers that Webbot is showing us are similar to the ones in iRobot, which I used it in Axon II and I burned it, when I connected, by mistake, to the pins Vcc/Gnd instead of PWM_pin/Gnd So then I bought a piezo and I developed a program for playing some music using PWM signals and everything worked fine!but no idea about speech synth...
@Soeren,yes you are right and I confirm that the DC kills, (probably) piezos (not tested yet) and magnetic speakers (fried like a cheese stick)
so in case you use magnetic speakers I would use as a protection a capacitor in series yes, and for piezos I don't know.
Also what it is important to know here is that both components work like a low pass filters, converting the square wave into a sine wave signal, so there is no need of pre conditioning the signal.
What size capacitor is good to go with a piezo? Around 0.1uF or more like 200uF?


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The American people have spoken, and they want President Bush, a man of moral and ethical integrity, to continue to lead them [Nov. 15]. Compassionate conservatives clearly won the day. In spite of two years of constant partisan attacks on the President, the electorate wasn't fooled. They know when they see a strong leader. The American people gave the President more Republicans in Congress and the largest popular vote any President has received, which amounts to a governing mandate that will create a stronger U.S.--at home and abroad.
Silverdale, Wash.
I have always been proud to be an American....


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By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard
I wouldn't pay to have lunch or dinner with anyone. Flat out. No way. I don't care who they are, just the thought makes me cringe.
So when I see people bidding to have lunch with Warren Buffet in an annual charity fund raiser, I can't help but roll my eyes in amazement at how much cash people will pay for the pleasure of dining with the Nebraska billionaire.
This year was a record-breaker; the highest bidder ponied-up $3,246,789! Can you imagine? Can you imagine having that much money to throw away? Oh excuse me! Not throw away; donate.
Don't get me wrong. It's great that the money is raised for a charitable purpose. But where's the thrill? You have to admit, as far as prizes go, this one is kinda weird. Unless, of course, you're a rich person who would like to see if you could get richer by rubbing elbows with Buffet.
Someone is probably standing nearby during that power lunch, snapping photos for posterity. The winner can frame them and put them on his/hers bragging wall. Autographed too, I'm sure. After all, for that much loot it's the least they can do.
I wonder. If you had a choice of who you'd like to have lunch or dinner with, who would it be? While you're mulling over my question over, allow me to make some recommendations for your consideration.
How about Steve Carell? You want to have some fun during your lunch? This guy will make you laugh so hard you'll gasp for breath. I'm sure he'd be a kick to eat with. I like him because he edited a newspaper - just like me. Of course he was in high school at the time, and when I did I was married with three kids.
How about Keith Morrison of Dateline fame? It's entertaining just listening to the guy talk with his perfect pitch and timing. He could tell mystery stories during lunch. I can see other diners stop what they're doing to hear his fluid and eerie voice describe a murder scene.
How about Derek Amato? Who is he, you ask? He's a guy who stupidly jumped into the shallow end of a pool while clowning around and cracked his skull. However, that fateful accident brought Amato an unexpected gift: it turned him into a musical savant. Now he plays the piano like a virtuoso and writes his own music.
How about Emmelyn Roettger? She's 3-year-old, with an IQ of 135, currently the youngest member ever admitted to Mensa. I can only imagine what a fresh outlook this child must have on issues in our society. I think it would really be fun to watch her eat messy food and calculate the mass of a city block.
How about Mehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir, Alfred Mehran (yes, including the comma), an Iranian refugee who has been living in the departure lounge of Charles de Gaulle Airport since August 8, 1988? Caught up in a passport snafu between two countries, Sir, Mehran could probably give you some good travel advice - like does and don'ts of living in an airport. Where else can you get that kind of first hand information?
How about David Icke? This former professional football player, BBC television sports presenter, and British Green Party national spokesperson will probably give you the creeps, but his story is entertaining.
Since 1990, he has been what he calls a "full-time investigator into who and what is really controlling the world: reptilians." He dresses only in turquoise and believes the world is ruled by a secret group called "The Elite," a race of reptilian humanoids, known in ancient times as the Babylonian Brotherhood.
He says George W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, and Kris Kristofferson are descendents of "The Elite." Who am I to argue? A lunch or dinner with this guy might even convince you he's on to something…like drugs!
By now, I imagine you've given it some thought and have come up with a better selection than I've offered here. If that's not the case, and you get the opportunity to go out to lunch with one of my suggestions, please let me know how it goes.
As It Stands, friends and family often say I'm "out-to-lunch," but at least I'm entertaining!
Here's how to say, "Do you want to have lunch/dinner with me in Thai": "Yark phai gin khao duay gun mai?"…just in case you wondered…


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Posted by Editor on 06/15/03
Nature Valley GP - Minnesota
Courtesy Saturn
The final stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix was held in the very quaint and beautiful town of Stillwater. The old brick factory buildings have been restored, and now the streets are lined with coffee shops, art galleries and a welcoming and friendly community of bike enthusiasts.
The criterium was a formidable course with a steep 24% grade climb as the challenge. It was clear that after four stages, the final stage would sap any remaining strength the riders may have had left.
The women's race saw the field shatter immediately with pressure applied from Sarah Ulmer, who wanted sprint points to finalize her title in the sprinter's competition. From there the group got smaller and smaller, but race leader Katie Mactier, Amy Moore, Lyne Bessette and Manon Jutras were all there to protect Mactier's lead.
With two laps to go, third placed Karen Bockel attacked, opening up the perfect opportunity for Bessette to counterattack when Bockel was caught. Bessette steadily opened the gap on the small group, and soloed in for a stellar win. Second was Bockel, out-sprinting Ulmer and Mactier in third and fourth respectively. Mactier's finish sealed her overall win, with Saturn's Jutras finishing in second overall.
The men's race got off to a quick start with Trent Klasna attacking the group in an effort to negate the constant attacks from 7-UP's John Lieswyn, sitting second in the overall. With an incredibly show of force, Klasna continued to power up the climb, steadily opening the gap on the field, which was unraveling behind him. As Klasna's time gap brought him closer and closer to the race lead, Ciaran Powers (Navigators) got antsy and attacked the group on the hill. Realizing Powers was not a threat to the overall, the Saturn team, led by Tim Johnson, let him go unchallenged up the road. The current race leader, Saturn's Viktor Rapinski, was in the group with Johnson, and helped to ensure no one of threat to Klasna's ride into the leader's jersey would escape.
Powers would never reach Klasna, and the Saturn rider continued to increase his lead every lap. With the thousands of fans cheering him home, Klasna danced up the climb across the finish line, to discover that he had won not only the stage but the overall as well. Powers held off Peter Knudson (Schroeder Iron) for second. Bringing the field home was Saturn's Ivan Dominguez in fourth. Yesterday's leader, Saturn's Viktor Rapinski slipped to second in the overall behind his teammate Klasna, and Saturn's Johnson won the sprinter's jersey.
1. Trent Klasna - Saturn
2. Ciaran Powers - Navigators
3. Peter Knudson - Schroeder Iron
4. Ivan Dominguez - Saturn
Final GC
1. Klasna - Saturn
2. Rapinski - Saturn
1. Lyne Bessette - Saturn
2. Karen Bockel - Rona/Eskar
3. Sarah Ulmer - TDS
4. Katie Mactier - Saturn
Final GC
1. Mactier - Saturn
2. Jutras - Saturn
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) Those big, bold playoff predictions from Rex Ryan and the New York Jets are a thing of the past.
Ryan's swagger made for plenty of headlines during his first three seasons in New York. Now, it's what the coach doesn't say that raises some eyebrows.
``I'm not going to guarantee a playoff spot,'' a toned-down Ryan said Monday. ``I think part of that is, look, the fact that we're one game under .500, I think you're probably not in the playoff conversation.''
The only thing is, the Jets suddenly very much are. New York (6-7) is a game behind Pittsburgh and Cincinnati - both 7-6 - for the final playoff spot in the AFC with three games remaining. Not that they're talking about it.
``Our next `playoff' game is Tennessee,'' defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson said. ``All we can focus on is the next game. We can't worry about any playoff pictures. We've just got to worry about our next opponent, and that's Tennessee on Monday night.''
The Jets have won two straight since being routed 49-19 by New England on Thanksgiving night, a loss that appeared to have the potential to derail the season and send New York into an offseason of uncertainty.
Instead, things are looking up for the Jets, who have put themselves right in the playoff mix despite having a sluggish offense and a struggling starting quarterback in Mark Sanchez. They must win each of their remaining games, a scenario that isn't so unrealistic, given that Tennessee (4-9), San Diego (5-8) and Buffalo (5-8) all have losing records.
``We just need to keep our head down and keep winning games,'' Ryan said. ``We know the only way we can affect it is to win our games and then we'll see what somebody tells us.''
That's a far cry from the guy who once declared that the Jets would meet President Obama after winning the Super Bowl or writing ``Soon To Be Champs!'' on the outside of an ESPN bus during training camp.
This is the new and maybe more realistic Ryan, who earlier this season acknowledged that his previous declarations put more pressure on his players than he imagined. He's also aware that his team has not looked much like a playoff team in their two most recent victories: pulling out a 7-6 win over Arizona last week after pulling Sanchez in favor of third-stringer Greg McElroy, and then making just enough plays Sunday to beat Jacksonville 17-10 despite the Jaguars being ranked second-to-last in the league in offense and defense.
``We are where we are,'' safety Yeremiah Bell said. ``We're 6-7 and we've still got some work to do. We're not looking ahead at anything. We're just taking it game by game and we'll see what happens at the end.''
That was the running theme in a low-key locker room, once considered one of the league's chattiest.
``The most important game is the one that we can control,'' nose tackle Sione Po'uha said, ``and that's coming up this week.''
``I don't do well when I start thinking ahead,'' defensive end Mike DeVito said. ``The focus is on Tennessee.''
Get the picture?
The Jets don't control their own destiny, either. Even if they win out and finish 9-7, they'll need help elsewhere to get into the postseason. The Steelers are basically two games up because of a 27-10 win in Week 2, which means New York likely needs Pittsburgh to lose two of their last three against Dallas (7-6), Cincinnati (7-6) and Cleveland (5-8). The Bengals have Philadelphia (4-9), the Steelers and Baltimore (9-4) left.
In what would appear to be an unrealistic scenario, New York could also surpass Indianapolis (9-4) for a playoff spot if the Colts lose their last three, including two games against Houston sandwiched around one against Kansas City. The Jets beat the Colts 35-9 earlier this season.
``I have no idea about all that business,'' center Nick Mangold said. ``I just know that we've got Tennessee coming up and it's going to be a tough challenge for us.''
The Jets certainly haven't made it easy on themselves the past two weeks. Despite facing a third-string quarterback in Ryan Lindley on a slumping Cardinals offense last week, the Jets needed McElroy to come in and save the season with the game's only touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
That set off a few days of debates about whether Sanchez should remain on the sideline in favor of McElroy. Ryan, however, decided to stick with Sanchez against Jacksonville.
Sanchez did little to quiet the critics Sunday, going 12 of 19 for 111 yards and losing a fumble. But the Jets went heavy with the run game, as Shonn Greene and Bilal Powell combined for 155 yards rushing. Still, there's no question who the quarterback will be this week.
``I think it's Al Woodall this week,'' Ryan joked, referring to the former Jets quarterback in the early 1970s. ``Nah, we'll go with Mark.''
The defense was also solid for the second straight week, holding the Jaguars to 2 for 16 on third-down opportunities, making opponents 2 for 31 in those situations against the Jets the last two games. After the loss to New England, New York was ranked 19th in overall defense. Two weeks later, the Jets are eighth - just three spots out of the top 5, where they have finished in each of Ryan's first three seasons.
``It's like, `Oh, one loss, it's the end of the world and one win, they're going to win everything,'' DeVito said. ``It's kind of the way the atmosphere is around here. You have to recognize that and realize that the worst thing you can do is when things like that are happening is to pack it in and really believe that either way. You just have to continue each week to be consistent and get better.''
NOTES: LB Bryan Thomas has a strained pectoral muscle and is day to day, while an MRI exam revealed that WR Stephen Hill has a sprained lateral collateral ligament in his right knee. The team will know more about his availability later in the week, but it is believed he will not need surgery. Ryan said defensive back Aaron Berry has a hamstring issue. ... Ryan told 98.7 ESPN New York that he would have played Tim Tebow in front of his hometown fans in Jacksonville if the game had been a blowout, but would have had him only hand off the ball. Tebow was active, but didn't play for the third straight game while dealing with two broken ribs. Ryan was also asked if he thought Tebow might be disappointed he came to the Jets given the circumstances. ``That's probably a true statement,'' he said. ``As a competitor, you want to have success, you want to have probably more opportunities and the fact that we're one game below .500, so we haven't had success as a team I'm sure he was anticipating. But, again, I think he's happy to be a Jet. I truly believe that.''
Online:http://pro32.ap.org/poll andhttp://twitter.com/AP-NFL


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Rep. Nadler condemns NRA proposal for armed guards in schools
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-Manhattan, has issued a statement condemning the National Rifle Association's proposal to have armed guards at every school.
"The NRA's response to the Newtown massacre is both ludicrous and insulting, and they are fundamentally out of step with the American people on the issue of gun violence,'' Nadler said. "Instead of making a sincere and good faith concession toward gun control reform – like enhanced, universal background checks, which the vast majority of its members support – the NRA has offered a fantasy suggestion for congressional action on a massive federal spending increase, backed by a disingenuous offer of NRA-funded training premised on that fantasy being actualized.
"What happened to their promise for a 'meaningful contribution?' To argue that kids are not safe because too few 'good guys' have guns is to ignore every fact on the ground. The armed personnel at Columbine and Fort Hood, tragically, could not prevent the shooters from committing mass murder.
"And, beyond the cost of providing armed guards for each school – $5.4 billion a year just for salaries, in some estimates – this remedy does nothing to provide checks on 'bad guys' gaining access to guns or to remove the most dangerous and unnecessary types of firearms from circulation. What we need is NOT more guns but sensible gun control legislation, including a ban on assault weapons and a comprehensive buyback program, a robust and centralized system of background checks, and a reassessment of our mental health services."


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DOVER — Rye's Rosa Drummond poured in a season-high 26 points to help keep the Smith College women's basketball team undefeated in league play with an 82-73 win over Wellesley in overtime.
The junior, who just missed her career high of 27 points, knocked down 8 of 13 attempts from the floor and 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Drummond also blocked two shots.
The former Portsmouth High School standout scored a game-high 18 points in a 63-47 victory over MIT.
Drummond also had 20 points and 13 rebounds in a 95-90 overtime win over Clark as the Pioneers extended their school-record win streak to 10.
Smith improved to 12-1 overall and 7-0 in the NEWMAC.
Durham's Tom Duvall won a pair of events for the U.S. Naval Academy men's swim team in a recent loss to unbeaten Princeton, which was ranked first at the time in the mid-major poll and 23rd nationally among all programs.
Duvall won the 1,000-meter freestyle by eight seconds and also took the 500 free by six seconds.
"Thomas had a great first event on the day," said Navy coach Bill Roberts, "and he was able to carry that effort throughout the rest of the meet."
Jake Rasque of South Berwick, Maine, won all three of his matches as the University of Southern Maine wrestling team posted a 2-1 record at the New York University quad meet last weekend.
Competing at 133 pounds, the sophomore pinned one opponent and decisioned two others by scores of 5-0 and 8-7.
Barrington's Lindsay Moore had 18 points, including 14 in the first half, and 11 rebounds to lead the Saint Joseph's College women's basketball team to a 71-48 win over Norwich.
Moore also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds in a 74-63 loss to Rivier.
Dover's Maggie Woodward had an assist for the Middlebury College women's hockey team in a 3-1 win over Wesleyan as the fourth-ranked Panthers improved to 3-0 on the week and 8-1-1 overall.
Ashley Grenier of South Berwick, Maine, assisted on one goal for the University of Southern Maine women's hockey team in a 2-2 tie with Sacred Heart.
To submit information about local athletes playing in college email Al Pike at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Jon Jones of Eli Young Band's Father Passes Away After Long Battle With Cancer
It's been a long and understandably difficult week for Eli Young Band bassist Jon Jones, whose father died last week. Allen Edwin Jones passed away in Ft. Worth, Texas last Monday, Oct. 8, after losing a long battle with lung cancer.
Jones' dad was only 74 years old and was his son's biggest fan, always supporting his dream to pursue music from when he was just a kid.
"He was always on my side when it came to playing music," Jon Jones says in a statement, speaking of his father's never-ending love and support. "Ever since my parents started me on violin at the age of two and a half, he even predicted -- years before the band was formed -- that I would have a big future in country music."
Jones' dad was lucky to live long enough to witness his son score not one, but two No. 1 country singles, pick up honors at the 2011 ACMs for Song of the Year, and earn multiple gold and platinum-selling singles with his Texas-based band, Eli Young Band. However, he will miss the birth of his grandchild -- Jon Jones is expecting a baby boy this December.
Allen Jones is survived by his wife of eight years, his five children and their mothers. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure or the American Cancer Society in his memory.


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Fruit Cocktail with Cherries
Introducing DOLE® Resealable Fruit Pouches. Available in great flavours packed in fruit juice or water, DOLE Resealable Fruit Pouches are a quick and easy way to enjoy great tasting fruit. Made with materials free of BPA our pouches stand tall and proud in your fridge!
382mL Pouch
Available packed in fruit juice: Fruit Cocktail with Cherries, Mandarin Oranges, Sliced Peaches, Sliced Pears, and TROPICAL GOLD® Pineapple Chunks. Fruit Cocktail with Cherries and Sliced Peaches also available packed in water.
Usage Tips
Use the same way you'd use fresh fruit! Great on top of cereals, in desserts or enjoyed out of the pouch with a fork for when you're craving delicious fruit!
Storage Tips
Store in a cool, dry place. Once opened,, keep resealable pouch in the fridge. Resealable pouch stands upright, perfect for shelves and doors!


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The Fourth Circuit today unanimously affirmed the piracy and piracy-related convictions of Mohammad Shibin, a negotiator for Somali pirates in connection with the seizure of the American sailing ship Quest and the German merchant ship Marida Marguerite. Judge Niemeyer wrote the opinion in United States v. Shibin, in which Judge Motz and Judge Floyd joined. (For news coverage of the oral argument, see here.)
This summary begins the opinion:
On May 8, 2010, Somali pirates seized the German merchant ship the Marida Marguerite on the high seas, took hostages, pillaged the ship, looted and tortured its crew, and extorted a $5-million ransom from its owners. Mohammad Saaili Shibin, while not among the pirates who attacked the ship, boarded it after it was taken into Somali waters and conducted the negotiations for the ransom and participated in the torture of the merchant ship's crew as part of the process.
On February 18, 2011, Somali pirates seized the American sailing ship the Quest on the high seas. A U.S. Navy ship communicated with the pirates on board in an effort to negotiate the rescue of the ship and its crew of four Americans, but the pirates referred the Navy personnel to Shibin as their negotiator. When the Navy ship thereafter sought to bar the pirates from taking the Quest into Somali waters, the pirates killed the four Americans.
Shibin was later located and arrested in Somalia and turned over to the FBI, which flew him to Virginia to stand trial for his participation in the two piracies. A jury convicted him on 15 counts, and he was sentenced to multiple terms of life imprisonment.
On appeal, Shibin contends that the district court erred by refusing (1) to dismiss the piracy charges on the ground that Shibin himself did not act on the high seas and therefore the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over those charges; (2) to dismiss all counts for lack of personal jurisdiction because Shibin was forcibly seized in Somalia and involuntarily removed to the United States; (3) to dismiss the non-piracy counts involving the Marida Marguerite because "universal jurisdiction" did not extend to justify the U.S. government's prosecution of those crimes; and (4) to exclude FBI Agent Kevin Coughlin's testimony about prior statements made to him by a Somali-speaking witness through an interpreter because the interpreter was not present in court.
We conclude that the district court did not err in refusing to dismiss the various counts of the indictment and did not abuse its discretion in admitting Agent Coughlin's testimony. Accordingly, we affirm.
In the course of explaining why jurisdiction was proper over the non-piracy counts regardless of the presence or absence of universal jurisdiction, the Court explains that "Shibin was involved in hostage taking on the Marida Marguerite and was later found in Virginia, where he was prosecuted." This is something of an understatement in normal parlance, but makes sense in legal parlance. As the court explains earlier in its opinion, Shibin's presence in the United States satisfies the "found in" requirement even though that presence was involuntary on his part.


text: I would describe this as Systema 101. In this DVD, Vladimir thoroughly covers the foundations of Systema - from striking to footwork to kick defense in great detail. This would be the one to purchase prior to all others. In fact, with this DVD, other "specialty" DVDs such as Stick Work or Joint Bre..read more >>


text: I come from a Java background and I work in Netbeans and Eclipse almost all the time. Both of these IDEs have excellent refactoring and code generation support for Java. However, w/Java's current rep I was thinking about getting away from it. I was looking into C++ but the IDE support seems rather weak in both these IDEs. I tried Visual Studio as well but I really don't like it, plus their support for C++ is also rather weak compared to their other languages. I was wondering are there any IDEs out there for C++ that give you much more than syntax highlighting and code completion? After dealing w/some of the ones I have I'd almost rather use Notepad++.


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The Red House (Hardcover)
Doubleday, 9780385535779, 272pp.
Publication Date: June 12, 2012
Other Editions of This Title:
Digital Audiobook (6/11/2012)
Paperback (3/12/2013)
Compact Disc (6/12/2012)
Hardcover (5/1/2012)
Compact Disc (6/12/2012)
Paperback (5/1/2012)
June 2012 Indie Next List
— Carol Schneck, Schuler Books & Music, Okemos, MI
View the List
An dazzlingly inventive novel about modern family, from the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
The set-up of Mark Haddon's brilliant new novel is simple: Richard, a wealthy doctor, invites his estranged sister Angela and her family to join his for a week at a vacation home in the English countryside. Richard has just re-married and inherited a willful stepdaughter in the process; Angela has a feckless husband and three children who sometimes seem alien to her. The stage is set for seven days of resentment and guilt, a staple of family gatherings the world over.
But because of Haddon's extraordinary narrative technique, the stories of these eight people are anything but simple. Told through the alternating viewpoints of each character, The Red House becomes a symphony of long-held grudges, fading dreams and rising hopes, tightly-guarded secrets and illicit desires, all adding up to a portrait of contemporary family life that is bittersweet, comic, and deeply felt. As we come to know each character they become profoundly real to us. We understand them, even as we come to realize they will never fully understand each other, which is the tragicomedy of every family.
The Red House is a literary tour-de-force that illuminates the puzzle of family in a profoundly empathetic manner -- a novel sure to entrance the millions of readers of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
About the Author
Praise For The Red House…
"Absorbing.... Even if you don't see your relatives in these pages, you'll learn to appreciate their ungainly efforts to reach out and maintain those old filial bonds....What holds our interest is Haddon's extraordinary sympathy, his ability to reveal what stirs these people beneath their congenial holiday faces....a brilliant portrayal of the asymmetric nature of resentment within families....But it's Hardon's peculiar structure that raises this family drama to something exceptional. He's perfected a constantly shifting perspective that keeps our sympathies from taking root in any one of these characters....the effect is symphonic....Haddon wends a careful path in this novel between the effervescent comedy of quirky families and the bitter tragedy of dysfunctional ones."
--The Washington Post
"A story of remarkable complexity, exploring the rich interior lives of his characters.....Most impressive is the ambitious structure of this novel....there's an abundance of dark humor....the story moves along swiftly and seamlessly."
--USA Today
"In this absorbing, Virginia Woolf-esque novel by the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, an extended family gathers for a week in the English countryside. Perfect (or not) for that holiday with the in-laws."
""The story unfolds from all eight characters' points of view, a tricky strategy that pays off, letting Haddon dig convincingly into all of the failures, worries and weaknesses that they can't leave behind"
--Entertainment Weekly
"Particularly fresh and true"
--O Magazine
"A beautiful and authentic portrait of a blended family and the secrets, grudges and desires that keep its members apart"
--Real Simple
"In Mark Haddon's The Red House, a nuclear family detonates delightfully....particular, vivid, attentive....a wonderful perspective"
--Cleveland Plain Dealer
"A fun, fast-paced read from one of our finest storytellers"
--Dallas Morning News
"THE RED HOUSE employs the same empathy for its varied characters and the same sharply observed, skewed view of the 'ordinary' world....creates a mosaic whose pieces add up to a picture no one character can see....satisfying and believable....Haddon writes with a gentle, compassionate sense of irony"
--Columbus Dispatch
"Haddon peers inside the messy dynamics of a group of relatives, each grappling with their own fears and trying to make sense of themselves as a family....braids together themes of sexual identity, parental insecurity and sibling rivalry, and no one gets away unscathed"
"Exciting and accessible"
--The Daily Beast
"Amusing and poignant as it explores a family's fumbling attempts at connection"
--Whole Living
"Surprising and deeply moving....the set-up ensures that there will be revelations, twists and shifts in the family dynamic....sustaining suspense....while enriching the developing relationships among people....organic rather than contrived, the characters convincing throughout, the tone compassionate and the writing wise. A novel to savor."
--Kirkus, starred review
"[Haddon] is almost unrivalled at the notoriously tricky task of giving an authentic voice to children, and his ability to pinpoint the comic aspects of the everyday scenarios."
--Sunday Times
"A masterly evocation of two dysfunctional, yet outwardly respectable families."
--Sunday Express
"Mark Haddon is terrifyingly talented."
--Times (UK)
"A serious, lyrical, complex novel....beautiful"
--The Herald
"Hugely enjoyable, sympathetic novel would make perfect reading for those setting out on holiday"
--The Observer
"[Haddon is] a master craftsman"
--The Independent
"With writing as elegant and truthful as this, readers will wish to keep their copies close at hand to savour again."
--The Daily Mail
"[Haddon] writes like a dream. Never showy, but often lyrically descriptive, he takes the reader with him to the core of this crazy family. Secondly, he has a true understanding of the human heart."
"It's every bit as charmingly idiosyncratic as his brilliant The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time."
--The Daily Mirror
"Engaging....From the first page in which the train carrying Dominic and Angela's family "unzips the fields", there is a vigor to Haddon's prose which carries you along. I read it twice, both times with enjoyment."
--The Independent
Praise for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
"A triumph of empathy."
—The New Yorker
"Gloriously eccentric and wonderfully intelligent."
—The Boston Globe
"Moving . . . wonderfully vivid . . . Mr. Haddon writes with such sympathy, such understanding."
—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"Haddon's book illuminates the way one mind works so precisely, so humanely, that it reads like both an acutely observed case study and an artful exploration of a different 'mystery': the thoughts and feelings we share even with those very different from us."
—Entertainment Weekly
"Funny, sad and totally convincing."
Praise for A Spot of Bother
"So astute, so gently funny, so touching, that you get caught up in the fate of the well-meaning, if slightly imprudent, Hall family."
—USA Today
"Snaps, crackles and pops with humor and pathos as Haddon depicts family members driving one another crazy . . . sparklingly written with short, punchy chapters . . . Haddon deftly pulls this off with what we can now hail as his trademark tenderness."
—Los Angeles Times
"A nonstop pleasure."
"Superbly entertaining . . . Haddon's particular genius, however, lies in the unobtrusive way he makes us identify with his characters . . . fine craftsmanship."
—The Washington Post Book World
"Totally brilliant . . . [Haddon is]so wondrously articulate, so rigorous in thinking through his characters' mind-sets, that A Spot of Bother serves as a fine example of why novels exit."
—The New York Times Book Review
Conversation Starters from ReadingGroupChoices.com
What role does the Welsh landscape play in The Red House? How might this story be different if it portrayed an American family? Where would you set the story and what points of American culture would you add?
To what extent, if at all, did you see your family or your own family vacations reflected in The Red House?
What roles do death and absence play in the narrative? Discuss mortality as it relates to the characters of Angela, Karen, and Melissa.
Which character did you identify with most? Which characters would you want to spend a week with in a secluded vacation setting? Who seemed the most likable? The most perplexing?
Discuss the dining room table as a microcosm of the familial vacation experience. How do shifting places at the table reflect changing relationships and characters' internal and external struggles? Talk about the role seating order plays in your own family or groups of friends.
Discuss inner monologue as a plot device. What are the recurring themes of the inner monologue of each character? Give examples of how the characters' inner monologues come to light and come to the attention of other characters. How do the involved parties deal with the divulgence of these intimacies?
Romance, lust and longing weave themselves through the novel. Discuss the romantic and sexual urges of Louisa, Dominic, and Daisy. Are there any parallels between them? How do romantic overtures affect the other inhabitants of the red house?
What role does the house itself play in this novel? How might a different physical structure bring about alternate results for the characters? On another structural note, the novel is broken into sections, each titled with a day of the week.
Ian McEwan, Shakespeare, and the Legend of the Willow (Koong-se and Chang) all make appearances in the novel. What functions do these literary references serve in plot and character development?
On page 116, Daisy is reading Dracula, which Haddon quotes: "We need have no secrets amongst us. Working together and with absolute trust, we can surely be stronger than if some of us were in the dark." What resonance does this quote have in this context? How does it relate to matters at hand between the members of Richard's and Angela's family? To your own family?
From the start of the book, photography comes into play as a method of immortalizing landscape and human experience. What visual snapshots stick with you from the novels?
Where do you think the members of Richard and Angela's families will find themselves in two months? Five years? Two decades? How might incidents from the vacation play themselves out in the future?
Benjy's inscription in the visitor's book reads, "I liked walking up the hill and the rain storm and shepherds pie at the granary." Do you think this is poignant? Explain why or why not. What is left out?


text:
Good bet
5607 Parc Ave., near St-Viateur St. W.
Phone: 438-384-1112 (reservations recommended)
Website: barcolabistro.com
Open: Wed.-Fri. 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., 6 to 11 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 6 to 11 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wheelchair access: Yes
Credit cards: Visa, MC
Licensed: Yes
Vegetarian friendly: Limited; call first to check.
Price range: Appetizers $10-$12; mains $17-$20; desserts $5-$8
MONTREAL - It's funny how sometimes you can spend just as long hemming and hawing over a short menu as you would a longer one. Barcola cooks up just three appetizers and three mains each night, but I still spent quite a while weighing the options (and looking between the paper printout the server had brought us and the blackboard on the wall, until I realized that the same items were listed).
Limited as the offerings are, they all sound appealing, have some personality and showcase top-notch imported Italian products. There's not a word more overused this decade than "curated," but that's what it feels like chef-owner Fabrizio Caprioli is doing in selecting some of his favourite ingredients to spotlight in his three-month-old eatery. (When I spoke to him on the phone, he recounted his excitement at finding Rummo and Alica pasta brands at nearby butcher shop Chez Vito.) The wine list is short and affordable, with a nice collection of prosecco and a handful of Italian reds and whites. (The Santi Nello pinot noir is $8 a glass.)
Originally from Trieste, Caprioli came to Montreal to work at Buonanotte 10 years ago. After stints in upscale kitchens, he was deliberately looking for a change of scene when he envisaged opening this intimate neighbourhood spot with his wife. "I always dreamt to open the restaurant I had in Italy, and I am trying to not too much raise the prices," he told me, with shades of Big Night.
The kitchen replays the themes of its changing menus in different arrangements at brunch, lunch and dinner (and a Thursday aperitivo that sounds like a lot of fun). Salumi features strongly: culatello, the waitress told us, "the chef considers a more noble meat than prosciutto." That worked extremely well for my dining partner, who loves all parts of the bacon continuum. The first of his orders was a stunner of a salad that assembled perfectly cooked spinach, better-than-mozza scamorza, salty crisped speck from northeast Italy and balsamic reduction. For his main course of penne rigate, the use of whole wheat pasta was dangerously homey, so it was left to the sauce with taleggio cheese, tomatoes and that mound of thin pink culatello on top to take us out to dinner.
My meal had different complementary tastes and textures. With the arrival of a starting brandade with polenta, I noticed that I wasn't the only person checking the blackboard to verify that the right order had arrived in front of them. It looked, deliberately or not, like burrata, except that this white cloud was laden with unashamed fishiness — even anticipating the salt cod, the first forkful surprised me.
Beneath it, a brown-edged rectangle of smooth polenta balanced it with the heartwarming smoothness and sweetness of the corn.
Next, simply prepared branzino (Mediterranean Sea bass) was mildly flavoured, moist, white and light with some solidity. The filet came relatively unadorned except for a slice of lemon, accompanied by cocktail tomatoes for brightness and a helping of roasted potatoes, the wedges nicely stiff and tightly starchy under the fork. Nothing to rave about, but nothing not to like.
Lunch was revealing for a few reasons. In the light of day, Barcola's shortcomings were more pronounced. First, the logistics of the brick and wood room hadn't quite come together. The door — which opens straight onto the seating area; fine for the Adriatic coast, but not so workable in a Canadian winter — didn't close properly, leaving huddling diners staring over in horror when new people entered. This would be something to fix pronto! Secondly, the service was so slow that I wondered if the waiter was stalling to allow the kitchen to get up to speed. It was as though Barcola didn't expect its midday service to be such a success; by noon the place was almost full, with a clientele that looked like a readership survey for one (or both) of the city's more prestigious francophone newspapers.
Dishes were largely reworked from my evening meal the previous week, but any way you pulled apart that scamorza and speck salad and put it back together, it would always be delicious. The brandade, set in a polenta porridge drizzled with olive oil, seemed dangerously fish-forward this time. A rich carbonara of outsized rotini, luxed up with truffle oil, delivered a cold-climate carb fix, but my plate of penne with fish and cherry tomatoes seemed rushed and inconsistent with the other plates that passed by.
Some unevenness aside, there's a nice balance of serious and not too serious at Barcola. With some real quality ingredients, committed characters on the team and a cute space to work with, I'm genuinely curious about how it will shape up. For the moment, it feels as though the chef and his customers — myself included — all agree on the kind of restaurant they want it to be; it's just not quite that restaurant yet.