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Categories: Permaculture Guide, Principles, Zones, Urban and Suburban Gardens, Food Forests, Commercial Farming, Home Page Highlight, Trees, Bushes, Websites
Tags: http://www.westwaleswillows.co.uk/fedgeplanting.ht
Take look at this website for detailed info re: cultivation of chestnut trees. The article includes site selection, planting instructions for direct seeding or starting seedlings in pots, maintenance of your orchard, deer control strategies, pest and pathogen info, fertilization and watering requirements. They also list some other websites for further information.
Here's a You Tube video. It covers food value, timber value, feed value for livestock, medicinal uses.
Categories: Urban and Suburban Gardens, Food Forests, Commercial Farming, Home Page Highlight, Small Family Farm Projects, Family Urban/Suburban Gardens, Food Forests, Large Farm/Ranch Projects, Spokane Food Sustainability Projects, Community Food Forest Projects, Plant and Tree Profiles, Trees, Websites
Categories: Urban and Suburban Gardens, Local Projects, Lease Your Lawn (LYL) Cooperative Farm, Education Resources, Videos (DVD/Online), Websites
Tags: Cool Stuff, Business, Farming, permaculture, urban, Bruce-Ruhl Design, Spokane, Television, PermacultureTV, Lease Your Lawn Cooperative Farm
I've discovered a Facebook Group titled Tree Hay. There's a good discussion on the Regarians Facebook page re: pollarding trees to feed animals. Take a look at this YouTube video too.
Categories: Permaculture Guide, Food Forests, Home Page Highlight, Food Forests, Large Farm/Ranch Projects, Trees, Bushes, Goats, Cattle, Sheep, Holistic Management, Websites
Categories: Home Page Highlight, Food Forests, Education Resources, Websites, Live Events
Per the website owner:
This website provides downloadable e-books about radical agriculture, natural hygiene/nature cure and self-sufficient homestead living. There are secondary collections involving social criticism and transformational psychology.
No payment is required.
The library explores the connection between agricultural methods and the health or illness of animals and humans. A study of these materials reveals how to prevent and heal disease and increase longevity, suggests how to live a more fulfilling life and reveals social forces working against that possibility.
Categories: Permaculture Guide, Home Page Highlight, Small Family Farm Projects, Family Urban/Suburban Gardens, Large Farm/Ranch Projects, Permaculture Homesteads (not local), Permaculture Heros, International, National Heros, Education Resources, Websites
Categories: Local News and Information, Local Projects, Spokane Food Sustainability Projects, Websites
Categories: Home Page Highlight, Websites
Categories: Plant and Tree Profiles, Trees, Bees, Chickens, Goats, Rabbits, Cattle, Ducks and Geese, Sheep, Websites
This article from the University of Kentucky compares feed values and limitations of various grains.
Grains are the main ingredient used in poultry diets to supply energy. A variety of different grains have been used, based primarily on the location. Corn is more commonly used most of the United States while wheat and barley are more common in Canada and parts of Europe. Sorghum is often used in the southern states as well as Africa.
Categories: Plant and Tree Profiles, Cover Crop, Chickens, Goats, Rabbits, Cattle, Ducks and Geese, Sheep, Websites
If you have any questions, comments or problems please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Our revelation last week that the US of A will attempt to win Middle Eastern hearts and minds by pumping out a weekly celebtastic show featuring the antics of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears didn't go down too well at the Voice Of America.
It appears we were too quick to condemn Splash News and Pictures' contribution to the War on Terror®, which we claimed was aimed at defusing potential al-Qaeda suicide bombers by exposing them to the considerable and deliciously befreckled delights of Lindsay Lohan.
Steve Redisch, VOA Executive Editor, wasn't best impressed. He protested:
Mr. Haines: I do wish that you would have made an attempt to contact Voice of America for some sort of comment before deciding to republish and embellish a story that did not include any comment from VOA. For the record, VOA's charter directs it to "present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions." Hollywood, its celebrities and American media are among the United States' largest institutions and exports. VOA has an obligation to report on it, explain it and give it context. In the past, VOA has acquired various celebrity, music and Hollywood news programs.
Independent research and feedback from our audiences around the world indicate an large interest in American pop culture. The Splash program was viewed and approved by representatives of VOA's language program services --- people who come from the regions VOA broadcasts are directed. VOA exercises its editorial judgment and production values on each segment and program to be ensure standards are maintained.
Fair enough. Presumably "balanced and comprehensive projection", means an entertaining mashup of howling Lesbian prison gang ordeals, a "Hollywood DUI of the Week" spot, top tips on how to (allegedly) conceal Bolivian marching powder in your furry front bottom, and highlights of the latest celebutard DIY grumble flick to splash stickily across the interwebs - suitably edited to make sure standards are maintained and local sensibilities pampered. ®

subset: commoncrawl


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(Pocket-lint) - HP launched the TouchPad at the beginning of the February alongside the HP Veer and the HP Pre3. We know we've already brought you a first hands-on of it at the time, but now the dust has settled we were able to get a second longer play with the new mini model at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and wanted to share that with you.
To many the HP TouchPad, will be the latest iPad wannabe, but it's much more than that.
It's clad in sleek, shiny piano black (that's going to smudge faster than you can say the word), it looks beautiful, and the webOS facility with emailing and web-browsing is married to true multi-tasking.
Background notifications for new emails or messages pop up in the menu bar, and a quick prod will reveal who they're from and whether you want to read them without switching apps. There's also a dock at the bottom for frequently used apps.
Slightly smaller than an iPad, with a 9.7-inch display, the TouchPad has a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor – the first Qualcomm dual-core chip on the market, but not the last, and although we weren't able to have a really good play with the device from what we saw demoed, and a quick play ourselves it felt fast and snappy.
Weight is around 700g meaning it won't be too heavy to carry around and at 13.7mm thick it's light too. The screen has a 1024 x 768 resolution. It has a front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam for video-calling, Beats by Dr. Dre audio technology, and stereo speakers.
There's 1GB of RAM on-board, comes with either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, and both Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) connections can be enabled. And, as is the way with these things, this specific tablet carries a gyroscope, accelerometer and a compass.
When it comes to running apps, although the OS has moved on from that launched on the Palm Pre range, it's functionality is the same.
That means tiles (or cards) that are displayed like a pack of cards with you swishing the ones you don't want off the top of the screen.
With a new size means enjoying new apps, but also working with old apps, and we're told (we didn't see it in action) that apps designed for the Pre or Pixi models that aren't updated will still run on the system, only in their original screen resolution – similar to the iPad when it runs iPhone apps.
Other features we like is the ability to, if you also have a HP Veer or a HP Pre3 to share web pages between the two devices simply by tapping the two together meaning you can be reading something on the phone and then carry on reading it on your tablet without having to email it to yourself – something we currently do with our iPad.
It's a really neat feature, and that's the biggest asset of the TouchPad and webOS, there are some really nice features with the core operating system that will impress once you've had a chance to use it. Thankfully HP looks to have fixed the build quality issues that plagued Palm. Now all they've got to do is convince app developers that they want to launch their apps on the webOS platform over other more successful operating systems like Android.
A Wi-Fi version of the TouchPad will be available in the summer, while 3G and 4G versions will be added to the range at a later date.


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Freebinar is releasing more new features this weekend! Check out how the new features can help you increase your webinar marketing power.
Now you can create your very own Freebinar public profile and promote your webinars on Twitter and Facebook. Promote yourself and your webinars: display a picture or logo, your Facebook Like Box, LinkedIn Profile and Twitter stream directly on your Freebinar public page. The result of this integration is a centralized and powerful space to list and promote your upcoming and recorded webinars.
Public Profile
Create your own personalized Freebinar public profile page
Provides easy access for visitors to register for upcoming webinars or to view pre-recorded webinars
Display your LinkedIn profile, Facebook Like Box and Twitter stream
Insert SEO-rich keywords to get higher rankings on Google and Yahoo search engines
Social Notifications
Provide you the option of promoting scheduled webinars on Facebook and Twitter.
Note: Full support documentation will be available on Monday, November 15, 2010.


text:
Travel Bags, Toiletry Bags, Cosmetic Bags
Toiletry Bags, Cosmetic Bags, Travel Bags, Shaving Kits, Toiletry Kits For Men and Women
biutiful and elegant. Fine change!
The dress came quickly. At 46 the size of the order is XL, large. It is necessary to take the size in size
Very beautiful like the picture. Very fast delivery only 2 weeks lasted am thrilled
I thought ke was reduced I asked for one size more and I kedo something big. I think perfect the. L
Interesting dress, the fabric stretches, on the parameters bust 94 cm, waist 69 cm, hips 94 cm, height 165 cm. Sits well, even freely.


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Disclosure : This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
Dainolite 1 Lite Satin Chrome Pendant Yellow Mosaic Glass DLSL7711-YM-SC
Features: Finish: Satin Chrome Body Material: Metal/Glass Adjustable: Yes Flush Mount Available: No Canopy Size: 4.5O Rod/Drop/Cable Length (Inches): 4′ Type of Drop: Cable No. of Shades: 1 Diffuser: No Number of Bulbs: 1 Bulb Type: MR16 Max Watt: 50W Bulbs Included: Yes Safety Rating: CSA / UL On/Off Switch Type: Direct wire
About Peazz
"Peazz.com has what you need for your home from home furnishing goods, pet supplies, toys, and even apparel. Peazz.com was introduced as commitment to our customers from pricing to services. Peace of mind shopping for all!...Peazz Best Price Policy - To make sure you receive the best pricing possible on the Internet, we allow our customers to offer their own pricing or beat pricing from another retailer (before or after sale). You can rest assure that you are getting the best pricing from us. For more detail, please visit Peazz.com Best Price Policy." --- More Details


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Fox will expand its Tuesday prime-time lineup in order to air its regularly scheduled comedies, as well as the previously unaired X Factor footage from Wednesday's rain-delayed debacle.
New episodes of Raising Hope, Ben and Kate and New Girl will kick off the night at 8/7c, followed by an one-hour episode of The X Factor starting at 9:30/8:30c. The episode will show the conclusion of the Judges' Homes round — when the judges pick their four finalists — that was cut off Wednesday on the East Coast. The episode will recap the footage that already aired, but won't show it again.
Fox had initially said Thursday that it will bump its Tuesday night comedies back a week to air the full two-hour episode of The X Factor. It's possible that the plan was scrapped to accommodate Halloween episodes for some of the shows.
The X Factor rainy-day results: Who made the Top 16 (so far)? Who left?
Here's the full Fox schedule for Tuesday, Oct. 23 — for now (all times Eastern):
8 — 8:30: Raising Hope
8:30 — 9: Ben and Kate
9 — 9:30: New Girl
9:30 — 10:30: The X Factor


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a-alanine, a-amino-propionic acid, b-alanine, b-amino-propionic acid
There may be benefits that have not yet been proven through research.
Alanine may help treat diabetes. This is because it helps the body use glucose. It helps prevent low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).
Alanine is an amino acid that is used to make proteins. It is used to break down tryptophan and vitamin B6. It is a source of energy for muscles and the central nervous system. It strengthens the immune system. And it helps the body use sugars. Amino acids (AAs) are available as single AAs or in AA combinations. They're in multivitamin formulas, proteins, and food supplements. The forms they come in include tablets, fluids, and powders.
If you eat enough protein in your diet, you should be getting all amino acids.
There are no conditions that increase the need for alanine.
Using a single amino acid supplement may lead to negative nitrogen balance. This can lessen how well your metabolism works. It can make your kidneys work harder. In children, single amino acid supplements may cause growth problems.
You should not take high doses of individual amino acids for long periods of time.
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use alanine supplements.
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text:
It seems to defy explanation.
Each day seems to bring new bad news. On Thursday, it was that General Motors is in real danger of bankruptcy -- regardless of what the government does. But, despite this, President Obama remains popular. No, strike that: He remains ridiculously popular. "Popular" in these circumstances would be, 51 or 52 percent. But even Fox News' polling has him at 63 percent!! How is this possible? Is everyone stoned?
Well, actually, that might be close to the answer.
U.S. & World
Not literally. At least not yet. But, the Obama Justice Department did announce this week that it would be much more respectful of states' rights when it comes to, yes, medical marijuana. Unlike the Bushes, this administration won't be siccing the FBI and DEA on state-approved medical marijuana locations. This is another reminder that while elections are often fought over big issues like taxes, spending, war and peace, much smaller polices can be greatly affected by their outcome.
Oddly, after the spending blowout, this move may actually garner Obama some cred with libertarians and other limited-government conservatives.
Remember when the Supreme Court ruled against California's right to permit doctors from prescribing medical marijuana -- and in favor of the federal government's power to regulate controlled substances (under the commerce clause in the Constitution)? It was a 6-3 decision: Then-Chief Justice Rehnquist, Clarence Thomas and Sandra Day O'Connor who all sided with California. The liberal bloc (plus Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy) on the not-quite-so "High" Court sided with the federal government.
Justice Stevens, writing for the majority, did say that Congress could rewrite the laws giving states more explicit power to allow medical marijuana if it so chooses. But, ultimately, the executive has great leeway in what it chooses to prosecute.
It looks like the Obama administration thus plans to show much greater leniency in this regard than its predecessor. At least that's a charitable view of the smoke signals being sent.
Robert A. George is a New York writer. He blogs at Ragged Thots.


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The return of the ring.
I was about thirteen when I first encountered The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Hard bound with big fold-out maps, the tome resided on my parent's bookshelf, though they probably never read it. Familiar with The Hobbit, I brushed the dust off The Fellowship and dug in.
By the end of Bilbo's one-hundred-and-eleventieth birthday party, I was hooked. I spent the next two days pretending to be sick so that I could skip school and obsess over the amazing plot. Gripped by the lure of the ring, I read the entire trilogy in one long marathon session with breaks only to sleep and eat. Lembas bread, naturally.
[image1]Mine is a tale shared by millions of geeks, but despite the continued popularity of the books, I think it's safe to say that more people are familiar with the trip to Mordor because of Peter Jackson's (admittedly sweet) movie version. While the original LOTR: The Battle for Middle Earth stuck very closely to the films, Battle for Middle Earth II falls somewhere in between, using many elements from the film, borrowing more from the rich literary mythos, and then taking a few liberties of its own.
Once again, the game takes place during the events portrayed in the trilogy. Sauron is mustering his forces, the good guys are mustering their wits, and Frodo has to get that damn ring into that cursed mountain. None of this should be new to anyone with a pulse.
There are, however, a slew of new features in this sequel.
The biggest change is certainly in the buildings. You can now build wherever you choose, instead of being limited to very specific locations. To support this more traditional base building structure, there is also an elaborate system of wall building and defensive structure upgrades.
However, the game still forces you to spread your encampment far and wide with its new resource gathering system. Structures such as farms, slaughterhouses, or Mallorn trees will automatically produce the game's single resource, cleverly named "resources." The effectiveness of a resource gatherer is dependant on the large area of unused land around it, so placing a farm too close to another farm does you no good.
It's an interesting idea in that it tries to balance both defense and territorial control, but ends up flawed because the structures are flimsier than the Hollywood facades from the film. It turns out that half the units can climb or fly over the walls anyway, and the other half can knock them down just as fast. Every building, including those widespread farms, can be razed in just a few seconds when confronted by even a single enemy unit. As a result, you simply have to invest all your resources into your mobile army, as trying to build defensible bases is pointless.
It's not a huge loss, though, since the units are far more satisfying than the buildings. Battle for Middle Earth II features a generous six sides: the Men of the West, the Elves, the Dwarves, Isengard, Mordor, and the Goblins all have their own axes to grind. You can also take to the sea in new naval vessels, but while they look good, they don't come into play very often since the game sticks to the known peninsula of Middle Earth and does not include any of the lands across the sea.
Even more fun are the plentiful hero units. Over 30 ultra-powerful characters hail from the original Fellowship, the stories of Tolkien, the movies, and the minds of the developers. Though you can bring Gandalf into a battle you know he had no part in, it's still uniquely satisfying to watch him destroy whole battalions of orcs. Or, if you feel a bit evil, to watch your Fellbeast hero plummet from the sky, smashing into a formation of Gondorian soldiers, scattering them like twigs, then grabbing one in a giant taloned claw, ascending back into the sky and tossing the unlucky fool to plummet to his death. I could be entertained by this endlessly.
[image2]But if you need another hero, you can try your hand at the new Create-a-Hero feature and put your own unique wind beneath your wings. The customization is a little thin, giving you only a few costume and color options and limited skill specialization, but it's still nice to be able to drop your avatar down into the thick of things to kick some elf ass.
Both your heroes and your units gain experience from their battles and become more powerful, which is great. Unfortunately, you won't get to carry your units over to the next one, and even when you do, it's only a certain few. This makes the unit advancement much less satisfying than it could be.
The Battle for Middle Earth II has split the single-player experience in two. There are both good and evil campaigns, but each one only has 8 missions, so you'll be done with them before you know it. More interesting is the remake of the original mission system, now dubbed "The War of the Ring" (no connection to that earlier Warcraft III clone.)
Here you select your own conflicts from a Risk style map of the regions of Middle Earth. Use your territories to create heroes and armies, then march them off to war. You can always build more troops on the battlefield, but only the ones from your strategy map will retain experience or even survive the battle, win or lose. Likewise, any buildings or bases you have built during a battle similarly disappear.
Each area of Middle Earth also confers a specific bonus, and more bonuses can be obtained by uniting a region, just like in Risk. However, each region also only allows you to build two buildings of four possible buildings, and there's no diplomatic model whatsoever. It's a nice addition, but plays like a moron's version of Rome: Total War more than a solid stand-alone game.
Taking your battle across the Internet will alleviate some of that shallowness, but not all of it. On top of all the regular skirmishes, you can also play out a whole game of War of the Ring online, which makes for a much more interesting opponent than the flaccid CPU. This can take (literally) days, however, and without Civilization IV's round-robin innovation, you'll have to save your online game and reschedule with your opponent to finish it. But even online, the strategy is a bit lacking since it is so difficult to protect your resources. Every battle, it seems, turns into a race to destroy each other's fragile, far-flung resource buildings rather than a contest of military tactics.
[image3]But while the strategy might not run as deep, in many ways it looks more impressive than any other RTS out there, thanks to the variety of units and the awesome engine. There's a visceral, cinematic feel to the combat here that truly needs to be experienced; bodies go flying as trolls swing massive stone clubs and goblins fall under the trampling hooves of a cavalry charge. Save up enough power points to summon a Balrog for a particularly impressive display of carnage. With great modeling, a steady framerate and all kinds of bells and whistles, this is as pretty as war can get.
The sound is equally impressive as Orcs roar with rage and the Men of Gondor shout rallying calls. Many of the actors from the movie have reprised their roles for their gaming counterparts, and Elrond (actor Hugo Weaving) provides the narration. The excellent film score has also made the migration and dramatically sets the backdrop.
However, I don't think it's exactly the right backdrop for this kind of game. The story of Frodo and the Fellowship is much more like a survival-horror game than this giant war effort. The characters in The Lord of the Rings spend far more time running and hiding than they do fighting. Perhaps it would fare better as a tactical game ala the classic Myth series, where your units are precious and irreplaceable. It just doesn't make any sense that I can endlessly create more immortal elves from the barracks or more Ents from the Ent Moot. Boromir died, dammit. I should not be able to resummon him as often as I like as long as I have the "resources."
But that being said, there's still no way to deny that The Battle for Middle Earth II is simply a lot of fun. The venerable mythology and frenetic battles come together in a very satisfying bundle. Sauron won't be the most intelligent opponent you'll ever face, but he might be one of the most entertaining.


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Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: In small town America in the 1980s, a young boy comes to believe that the local abandoned mine may be home to a gruesome monster. REVIEW: GHOUL is very much in the Stephen King tradition of horror tales centred around children, with all the secret hideouts, midnight meet-ups, rival gangs, domestic issues, bicycles, etc., that entails. …Read More »
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Old Home Day
1638 - Town of Hampton - 1961
221 High Street
The visitor to this home will find a delightful combination of contemporary architecture with furnishings from both the past and the present. In an historic sense the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Palmer built their new home on land which was originally granted to the Palmer family in 1638 is noteworthy and especially apropos to the spirit of Old Home Day. The Palmers are among the few families in Hampton today who are living on land that has been continuously in the family name for well over three hundred years.
In planning the construction of their home, which was built in 1958, the Palmers utilized the contour of the land in such a way as to complement the architectural pattern of the house. The house was designed to take full advantage of the southern exposure at the rear, and of the view of the gently rolling fields from the original Palmer land grant down to Winnacunnet Road. The most widely used living areas of the house have been so located as to take advantage of this southern exposure and view.
This house is an excellent example of what can be done with a contemporary house which combines lovely traditional features with modern conveniences. The brick fireplace in the kitchen gives a unique atmosphere and sense of the past to that room.
The house is furnished with many antiques along with modern pieces. Among the interesting furniture is a Sheraton table which was once owned by Moses Gerrish Farmer, the inventive New England genius whose successful experiments with electric lighting antedated by many years the work of Thomas Edison.


text: In almost every hive I have inspected from Marion County north to the Georgia border there are signs of swarm preparation. Don't be afraid to check when the weather is even close to good. You may be surprised how much pollen and honey they are bringing in or have brought in recently also. The drone pupa we pulled had minimal mites too.


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Come to think of it, I haven't met a manly man in quite some time. Maybe because most of them live in Montana. Or Texas. Or Sicily! They're certainly rare sightings in New York City because here the abundant local species seems to be the metrosexual.Oh! Metrosexual. I haven't seen that word for a long time. I'm thinking it fell out of fashion because... Barack Obama? But it's reviving because somebody at the NYT thinks Obama is manlier than Mitt Romney. (He just points at a name on a list and a guy half a globe away explodes — to smithereens.) But, no, maybe it's not that. Maybe it's "50 Shades of Grey" being a big bestseller and somebody at the NYT inferring that their female readers are tired of less manly men, so it's time to bring back the old epithet. Or, hell, maybe ladies are reading "50 Shades of Grey" because of Barack Obama. Whatever. Anyway, back to Natasha Scripture (love the name):
And as much as I can appreciate a man who knows his sashimi, the more carnal, female side of me wants to see him tuck into a heaping plate of meat and potatoes; and to toss aside the cologne and let pheromones take charge. Yes, gentlemen, you're allowed to sweat in my divine presence.Lots of things are weird. Like longing for masculinity, then calling yourself "divine" and dispensing precise instructions for just enough but not much manliness. But it's not so weird to sigh about how everyone you think you might want is somewhere other than on the small island where you live. But what can you do? Go to Montana?
Also, when it comes to so-called manly traits, I would be kind of a masochist if I didn't want a man with some level of emotional availability. But please, is it too much to ask that he not cry on a first date?...
I hope we don't become so much like each other that we end up essentially morphing into one androgynous being. That would just be plain weird.
There are 7 other essays in this NYT set....
Mark Simpson, author of "Metrosexy: A 21st Century Self-Love Story," says:
Continuing to fret about [manliness] means men being sold prissy lists of "manly" dos and don'ts. Or reactionary ideology, such as the mendacious "menaissance." Or a dodgy daydream of a "manly" past, such as an impossibly pretty, fastidious advertising creative, who is also a basket-case army deserter. And entirely fictional.What? Those are words, and I know what they all mean. But I don't know what they mean together. Presumably: Stop thinking about it.
Joel Stein, author of "Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity," says:
I got messed up by my feminist mom in the 1970s, who taught me that gender was a social construct. I can't believe that social experiment went on as long as it did, since it's clear by month six of having a child that William does not want a doll....His boy is masculine. Problem solved for Joel Stein.
Still 5 more essays, but that's it for me.


text:
Remembering Justine, as Abshire accused of more abuse
Two years after Justine Swartz Abshire was discovered dead or dying on a dark road near Barboursville, her parents marked the second anniversary of her death November 3 with a low-key service at Culpeper's Emerald Hill Elementary School, where Justine taught kindergarten. Yet as family and friends grieved Justine, her widower, Eric Abshire, who Justine's parents have publicly accused of causing their daughter's death, is facing new accusations of domestic abuse.
In early October, for the second time in six months, the mother of Abshire's two children requested a protective order against Abshire. Unlike an emergency protective order she swore out in June but then allowed to expire, this time the woman, who has asked not to be named, went to court and asked a judge to extend the order. Her request was granted on October 9, when Greene County Judge Susan Whitlock upheld the order, which prohibits Abshire from coming within 250 feet of the woman or their two children until October 23, 2010.
Because the protective order is filed in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court and contains information about minors, the records are sealed. But reached by phone, Abshire says the order stemmed from a verbal disagreement he had with the woman that turned physical– when she attacked him.
"She smacked me in the face with a DirecTV remote control and busted my nose," says Abshire.
He responded, he says, in self-defense. "I grabbed her by the shirt and the throat," he says, and told her not to hit him again.
Abshire says he went to the magistrate to swear out a complaint for assault against the woman, but when the magistrate told him she would be arrested, "I decided," he says, "that wasn't in the best interest of my kids."
He says he decided to let the matter drop–- only to learn a week later that the mother of his children had requested the protective order.
The woman declines to share details of the altercation that precipitated the protective order, saying only, "His account is inaccurate, and if it were correct, the judge would not have granted the protective order."
Attorney Bob Byrne, who has handled many cases involving protective orders, says Whitlock's decision reveals she believed the woman's version, and that often such protective orders affect child custody arrangements, with the subject of the protective order losing visitation.
"You'd have to allege that there would be some sort of harm to the child, and it could be from viewing or having witnessed domestic assault or domestic abuse," he says.
Abshire, who says he plans to return to court to fight for his parental rights, was interviewed extensively on an hour-long ABC Primetime Crime episode about Justine's death that aired in July. Abshire claimed on-camera that he had never physically harmed a woman, although he admitted to fighting with men. Justine's younger sister, Lauren Swartz, has publicly disputed Abshire's claim, saying she witnessed him shove Justine during the time the two were dating, prior to their May 2006 wedding and that Justine had described several other incidents.
Justine's parents, who on Monday helped plant a tree and hang a quilt made by their late daughter's elementary students, find news of the latest protective order against Abshire concerning.
"Justine was a victim of domestic violence," says her mother, Heidi Swartz. "Another woman has now asked the judicial system to intervene on her behalf. That's pretty serious."
"In addition to wanting Justine's case solved," says Justine's father, Steve Swartz, "the other thing we sincerely hope is that no one else gets hurt before that happens."
The investigation into Justine's death remains open and "active," says Virginia State Police Special Agent Mike Jones, who declined further comment. In March, police announced that Justine's injuries were "not consistent" with a hit and run and that her body did not bear "strike marks," injuries created when a vehicle's bumper strikes flesh and bone.
In July, State Police revealed Justine suffered 113 blunt force injuries, including 23 to her head alone. In addition, Justine's parents believe Abshire could stand to receive as much as $1.4 million in insurance payments if Justine's death is ruled a hit and run.
Abshire has always maintained his innocence, saying he is as mystified by his wife's death as everyone else. And, he says, he too yearns to see the case solved.
"As long as its ongoing, it's still my name being dragged through the mud," he says. "Until this does get resolved, nothing is going to change.
4 comments
When is this punk going to be stopped???
It will stop when the people who are protecting the guilty come forward and say ALL that they know. I hope that happens before another young woman loses her life. If you are keeping quiet, you may have not only Justine's death on your concience but will allow this ugly circle of violence to continue. Think about it.
Do you think this order implies that he was also going to hurt his kids????
Eric stated in his ABC interview about how any atlercations he had with women were "verbal". "His words, not mine. " Now here is another "verbal" confrontation that results in violence. What's up with that? What's the real story?


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|My family's Thanksgiving table, 1953
The house is quiet now. Our children have returned to their respective homes after a busy and enjoyable Thanksgiving week in Fredericksburg.
I now sit back with a cup of tea and think about Thanksgivings past. I think about why this holiday is so important that family travel so far in order to be with their loved ones.
|Thanksgiving 1953
Taughannock Boulevard Home of Ed and Carol Nunn
From lf: Maude & Merritt Agard, Dick & Beverly Agard, Laura Hardenbrook, Carol & Ed Nunn, Mr. Wheeler
Seated: Mary Nunn, Nancy Agard
My family always gathered the Sunday after. We operated a restaurant so Thanksgiving and Easter were our busiest days. Since Thanksgiving was the last day of the serving season, that Friday and Saturday were dedicated to closing up the large building for the winter. Consequently it was on Sunday that we finally had time to gather for the traditional Thanksgiving meal in our Taughannock Boulevard home near Ithaca, New York.
|Thanksgiving at the Maki's 1993
Raising my own family, we opened our home on Thanksgiving to as many relatives and others who could make it. Cousins, aunts, and uncles came to Newfield, NY from New Mexico, Ohio, and Buffalo. Our winding driveway brought them over the river and through the woods to our sprawling ranch house that could easily accommodate 30-35 people for Thanksgiving dinner; a new tradition was born. For many years the Maki clan gathered around our many tables to enjoy delicious food, card games, football, and conversing with each other.
|The Thanksgiving buffet line 1993
Each family brought a dish to share and our long kitchen counter groaned under the number of delicious dishes it held. When the youngsters in the family turned into teenagers, they stayed until all hours playing Axis and Allies, and then returned the next day to continue the game.
|Cousins catching up, 1993
It goes without saying that food is a main ingredient to a successful Thanksgiving. This year we had way too much food, and I realized the reason was that everyone had to prepare the dish that meant the most to them at Thanksgiving. Since this is important, next year I will suggest we make half the recipe.
The common thread through these thoughts of Thanksgivings past is sense of community, whether that is immediate family, friends, or gathering at a communal dinner somewhere. As humans we need a safe haven; we need human interaction. We need "family," however it is described. Thanksgiving provides that opportunity.
I pray our growing family will gather here every year and that we can continue to provide them with a safe haven, a Thanksgiving retreat.


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Caleb Edmonds (second from left) has been named ECAC Division I Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week for the first time in his career.
Liberty senior Caleb Edmonds has been honored as the Corvais ECAC Division I Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week, thanks to his individual victory at Saturday's VMI Invitational. Edmonds, who shared the award with Boston University sophomore Alec Olson, received the first ECAC weekly honor of his career and the first by a Liberty runner this season. Edmonds covered the hilly 8K course in 26:12.77, giving him an 18-second victory over teammate Ngetich Kipchirchir and headlining Liberty's 1-2-3-4 sweep of the top men's individual placements in the race. The first individual triumph of Edmonds' collegiate career came in a course-record time in the first-ever competition at the Vista Links Golf Course in Buena Vista, Va. A native of Cooperstown, N.Y., Edmonds helped the Liberty men's squad win the VMI Invitational team title with a score of 19 points. That put the Flames 32 points ahead of Big South and Southeast Region rival High Point's 51 tallies. Edmonds and the Flames, now ranked No. 8 in the Southeast Region, are currently preparing for Saturday's Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational in Earlysville, Va. The meet will commence with the men's 8K race at 10 a.m., followed by the women's 5K at 10:30.
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Counterfeit check ring targets Milwaukee-area businesses
Police say ringleader did recruiting at Marcia Coggs Human Services Center
WISN 12 News is investigating a counterfeit check ring targeting businesses across the Milwaukee area, costing victims and banks thousands of dollars.
Police said the ringleader did his recruiting at the Marcia Coggs Human Services Center at 12th and Vliet streets.
Newly released court records say the main suspect went to the welfare office and asked patrons if they'd like to earn a little money.
Jacqueline Garrison and her husband operate group homes in Milwaukee. She said she knew something was wrong around Christmas when he started asking questions about their business account.
"He watches his account every day, and he kept telling me, 'Honey, something's going on with the account. Are you writing out checks?' I says, No,'" Garrison said.
They soon learned someone had withdrawn more than $13,000 from their Cozy Care Corp. account by cashing bogus payroll checks with their account number on them.
"They printed up checks like it was coming from paychecks," Garrison said.
WISN 12 News obtained court records that say since December, a Milwaukee man printed faked checks from several businesses, solicited accomplices, some at the Marcia Coggs Human Services Center, and then drove them to suburban branches of banks such BMO Harris and U.S. Bank, where they cashed more than 80 forged checks and then split the loot with the ringleader.
No one answered at the alleged ringleader's address Tuesday. The home is vacant. Prosecutors executed a warrant for his phone records to try track his network of associates.
Garrison said she wants to see them all locked up.
"You would not believe the stress and stuff that this has put on us and the company here," Garrison said.
Garrison said they've learned a key lesson -- to watch their accounts closely.
"We put a lot of our time free into this business, and then you got somebody off the street that will come in to sabotage, you know? This is terrible," she said.
The Garrisons said their bank reimbursed them for the stolen money. It must now absorb the loss.
The district attorney said the investigation is ongoing. In addition to the ringleader, investigators said they've already identified nearly a dozen accomplices. All of them could face felony charges.


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I'm Iain Fraser. I work at RCAHMS as the Cataloguing Programme Manager, documenting our collections of archaeological and architectural archives so that they are available for public consultation.
My chosen site is an inconspicuous one, the need for which is perhaps not immediately obvious under Scotland's cloudy skies. The site is an area of water meadows, near Old Deer and Longside, in Aberdeenshire. From any distance at ground level these look relatively featureless, an unremarkable expanse of low-lying coarse grass blending into the surrounding country. Standing on top of them, however, the meadows are revealed as low rigs, separated by reed-choked drains. Every now and again one encounters stone pillars set into the drains – slotted for now vanished wooden sluice gates.
Seen from the air, all these features resolve themselves into a complex of skillfully shaped and engineered blocks of rigs and drains running along the low ground on both sides of the River Ugie. With the help of historical maps, field-walking, and contemporary accounts, one can piece the process together. Upstream a wear, now breached, diverted the water of the Ugie into a lade, running along the upper side of the meadows. A series of small sluices, or hatches, then allowed the farmer to release the water of selected areas of meadow, as he required. The water was distributed across the area of the meadow by narrow feeders that ran along the crest of each rig, from which the water would then gently overflow across the sloping grassy surface of the rigs. The intervening drains would then carry the water away, either directly back to the river, or else to a second, lower, section of meadow.
Although the use of irrigation had a long history in Scotland, the agricultural improvements of the period 1790-c.1840 saw a renewed interest in the subject, inspired by the highly successful water meadows of southern England. Several highly skilled English practitioners were engaged by Scottish landowners to construct meadows on their estates. The meadows at Mavisbank, Baluss and Inverquhomery, shown here, are part of a series of some 90 acres constructed by the English 'flooder' John Bolton along both the South Ugie, for James Ferguson of Pitfour.
The meadows appeal to me as an overlooked and largely forgotten aspect of Scottish agricultural history. Easily dismissed by the casual observer as simple drains in an area of wet ground, with a bit of detective work, and having 'got your eye in', meadows emerge as a distinctive and intriguing element of the Scottish landscape.
This is what I've chosen for Day of Archaeology, but why not tell us your favourite archaeological sites in Scotland on Twitter using #MyArchaeology.
For further information you can also contact the local authority archaeologist. Contact details in this case are:
Bruce Mann – Regional Archaeologist
Aberdeenshire Archaeology Service
Aberdeenshire, Moray & Angus Councils


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So when I was trying to work out what to post about, I actually dug out some pictures I took back when it was lovely and sunny in October, so it's not a very wintery product to be honest. But it is so pretty, I really wanted to show it to you.
|In direct sunlight without flash
This is BeYu nail polish in no. 397 (no name). I bought this in a shop called Beauty Base in Westfield, it was a strange shop with both high end brands and cheap brands. I did mention it in my London Make Up Haul Video if you want to hear more. The photos don't do it justice, this is a really gorgeous holographic pink glitter, it shimmers in every colour of the rainbow. Quite sheer when used alone, I think the picture shows 2 coats, but still, it's stunning. I think it cost something like £2 and you get 8 ml.
See more pictures after the jump!
|With flash


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Swine flu vaccine threatens shark species.
Deepwater sharks at risk of extinction have been fished en masse to produce a key ingredient in the swine flu vaccine known as squalene. Squalene is naturally found in plant alternatives such as olive oil.
However, the methods used to harvest the squalene oil from shark liver include not only killing the sharks but also other marine life through the destructive practice of bottom trawling. According to Ms. Mary O'Malley, co-founder of the US-based Shark Safe Network, these fish are more vulnerable to extinction due to their slow reproduction rates combined with disregard for measures implemented in places like the European Union to limit shark fishing.
Although a number of regions' swine flu waves appear to have subsided, many countries are still seeing high levels of activity, including Bulgaria, Switzerland, and parts of central Asia such as Kazakhstan.
In all, 20,810 fatalities have been reported globally so far due to the pandemic, although the vast majority of cases have gone untested and therefore uncounted. Countries seeing increased deaths include Egypt with 133 lives lost, 919 in India, 70 in Greece, and 410 in Canada.
We send our sympathies to the victims and their families affected by the swine flu. Our prayers that the inhumane treatment of all animals associated with such diseases is quickly halted through the simple switch to the protective and compassionate organic vegan diet.


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Whether it was because your friend unexpectedly pushed you in the pool, or you got a little clumsy around your toilet (don't worry, I won't judge you for browsing the Web while in the bathroom), going through the dreaded I-dropped-my-phone-in-water scenario is no fun.
Fortunately, the Kyocera Hydro doesn't require a bag full of uncooked rice and a night of praying to the phone gods if it happens to take a dip, because it's waterproof.
That's not all it has going for it; it also ships natively with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. But though I'm excited to see even a midlevel handset like the Hydro run the still-elusive OS, not all ICS devices are created equal. With its 1GHz processor and 3G data speeds, the Hydro is slow. Still, as a prepaid, waterproof, $129.99 Boost Mobile handset, this phone is worth considering. It's also available on Cricket Wireless for the initial price of $139.99. However, it's important to note that Cricket's Hydro showed a poorer call quality and clocked in much slower data times than its Boost counterpart.
Editors' note: This review was updated on March 28, 2013, 5:50 p.m. PT, with additional information on the handset's performance on Cricket Wireless' network.
As many Kyocera devices cater to industrial workers, many of its designs are unfortunate-looking, albeit durable and practical. But because the Hydro is designed for the average user and isn't a rugged handset, its build is sleeker and more suitable for daily use.
The phone measures 4.53 inches tall, 2.44 inches wide, and weighs 4.16 ounces. At half an inch thick, it's not as slim as other smartphones, but it fits comfortably in front and back jean pockets regardless. Managing the touch screen with one hand is a cinch and it's lightweight enough to hold between your cheek and shoulder while talking without feeling uncomfortable.
On the left of the Hydro is a volume rocker. Up top are a waterproof 3.5mm headset jack and a Micro-USB port. Unlike the headphone jack, which doesn't need one, the Micro-USB port can be covered by an attached door to keep water out. On the right is a sleep/power button that's completely level with the rest of the device's surface, which made it difficult at times to locate by touch.
On the back is a 3.2-megapixel camera with accompanying flash. To the left of it are eight small holes for the audio speaker. At the bottom is a lock that keeps the backplate sealed. You can use a coin to unfasten it and pry the plate off to access a 1,500 mAh battery and microSD card slot.
The Hydro's 3.5-inch HVGA touch screen has a 320x480-pixel resolution. Though text appeared clear and menu icons crisp, high-resolution images like wallpapers were grainy and color gradients appeared streaky instead of transitioning smoothly. Colors on HQ YouTube videos looked a tad muted; however, intricate objects like confetti or fireworks displayed sharply despite the small screen.
The display is also responsive. Pinch zooming, entering messages with Swype (which the handset is preloaded with), and playing the swipe-heavy game Temple Run, all were a breeze. Above the display are an LED indicator light and an in-ear speaker. Below are four hot keys that light up when in use: back, home, recent apps, and menu.
Take a dip with Boost's Kyocera Hydro (pictures)See all photos
A 1GHz Qualcomm processor powers the Kyocera Hydro. Though simple tasks like navigating through five home screen pages and scrolling through the app drawer were swift, more complicated actions like opening the camera and transitioning back to the home screen after opening a game took a few seconds. There was also noticeable lag when it came to switching between portrait and landscape mode.
The device runs the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. So in addition to the more chic-looking UI, users will also get home screen folders, the ability to reject calls with a text, camera access from the lock menu, and much more. And of course the Google staples of Gmail, Google+, Latitude, Maps with Navigation, Messenger, Search, Talk, Places, Play Books, Movies, Music, and Store, and YouTube are included.
In addition to basic apps -- a Web browser, a calculator, a calendar, a clock with alarm features, a native e-mail client, a news and weather app, and a voice dialer -- a few other goodies have been thrown in, including a social-networking portal called AirG; BoostZone, which keeps you updated with Boost Mobile news; and an app called ICE in which you can log pertinent medical information and an emergency contact list.
The handset also comes with an EcoMode feature and a battery status app. The former allows you to customize settings like sleep, Bluetooth, syncing, and display brightness in order to conserve battery at a set battery percentage. The latter tells you your remaining battery power and what percentage of power each of your apps is using.
Lastly, with Boost Mobile ID you can customize your phone with preselected apps, widgets, and other items depending on which ID profile you choose.
For example, if you select the E! package, you'll get apps and widgets pertaining to the celebrity news network. You can also choose a Professional package, which includes tools to aid with business travel plans, financial investments, and office communication. Note that deleting a Mobile ID package won't uninstall the apps that you downloaded -- you'll have to remove those apps manually. So far, there are 19 available packs.


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Best-selling novelist Scott Turow had every reason to revere Saul Bellow. Growing up in Chicago in the 1950s, Turow had spent his youth in thrall to nineteenth-century European classics—at home with infected tonsils at the age of eleven, he had devoured Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo in a three-day fever dream of reading, and later soaked up most of Dickens—but as a young man he had worked hard to transform himself into a card-carrying modernist. As an aspiring novelist at Amherst College in the late 1960s and, later, as a fellow and lecturer at Stanford University's Creative Writing Center, Turow charted the firmament of American literary fiction with Bellow as one of his lodestars.
He studied Seize the Day, The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, and Herzog with something like Talmudic rigor. His interest in Bellow was deepened, naturally, by the latter's prominence among writers associated with his hometown, including Theodore Dreiser, James T. Farrell, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee Masters, Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Nelson Algren—a pantheon that Turow may have permitted himself to dream of joining one day. Also, both he and Bellow were Jewish, and although Turow was unaware of it, there was even a connection between their families. (He grew up hearing his father referring to "the Bellows," but didn't relate those references to the novelist until many years later, when he discovered that Bellow and the elder Turow had gone to high school together in Chicago.)
But by the time Bellow won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976—the year after Turow left Stanford to enroll, fatefully, at Harvard Law School—Turow had come to regard the author as the leading exemplar of a literary tradition whose values and assumptions he'd begun to question. One issue was its elitism. Some of Turow's Stanford professors and colleagues had been fond of quoting Ezra Pound's dictum that "artists are the antennae of the race." That rankled Turow, and he shot back that art was about evoking universals, not dividing people. "I said I wanted to write novels that could be read by bus drivers as well as English professors, and enjoyed by both," Turow, sixty-one, recalls in the offices of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, the Chicago law firm where he has been a partner for the past two decades. "Both would find them involving, both would be able to take something of substance from them. That, to me, is great art."
The other element of modernism from which Turow recoiled was its disdain for plot. In Bellow's case, the result was a body of work that, while adept at excavating the deepest caves of human consciousness, was notably static. "Even though the sensibility and the spectacular language in his work were very important to me, I was beginning to say to myself, 'There's nothing happening in these books,'" he says. "The plot of every Bellow novel can be summarized in one sentence, and a short one: A guy wanders around. But I came to feel that if Henry James was right—and he is, unquestionably—that you should show, not tell, then what the novel could do for readers had to be anchored in its action. Moses Herzog, with all his communication with the great minds of the past and present—that won't do it. Lectures on Spinoza won't do it. The moral evolution of a character is not accomplished in his letters or his speeches. It's in what he does, in his confrontation with other human beings. Something has to happen.
And so it came to pass that in Turow's nine novels, from the blockbuster Presumed Innocent (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1987) to its long-awaited sequel, Innocent, published this month by Grand Central, a multitude of things happen: professional rivalries that lead to abuses of the legal system; bribery and theft associated with public corruption; and various crimes of passion, including illicit affairs, suicide, and murder. And it's primarily through these events that Turow's books reveal the interior lives of their interrelated and often recurring characters, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, detectives, law clerks, journalists, witnesses, and defendants caught up in proceedings in the courts of Kindle County, a midwestern metropolis very like Chicago.
Between his fiction-writing career's current bookends, both of which focus on the private and public travails of the prosecutor (and later judge) Rozat "Rusty" Sabich, Turow's novels include The Burden of Proof (FSG, 1990), an introspective study of defense attorney Alejandro "Sandy" Stern, a master courtroom tactician who nonetheless struggles to come to terms with his wife's decision to take her own life; Pleading Guilty (FSG, 1993), Turow's closest brush with the hardboiled tradition of Raymond Chandler, in which the half-comic, half-tragic attorney Mack Malloy investigates the disappearance of one of his law partners and more than five million dollars of a client's money; and The Laws of Our Fathers (FSG, 1996), Turow's densest and most experimental novel, partly set in a drug-infested, gang-ridden public housing project and featuring a trial whose major players are connected by their shared history amid the revolutionary tumult of the 1960s. His other major books are Personal Injuries (FSG, 1999), in which a charming scoundrel named Robbie Feaver is forced to expose a series of corrupt judges; Reversible Errors (FSG, 2002), in which defense attorney Arthur Raven works doggedly to exonerate a man he believes was wrongly convicted of murder; Ordinary Heroes (FSG, 2005), set largely away from Kindle County in Europe during World War II; and Limitations (Picador, 2006), a short novel commissioned by and originally serialized in the New York Times.
The books are best known for their crackling courtroom scenes, which grip the reader with the lawyers' complex and sometimes Machiavellian tactics, the triumphs and setbacks of their legal combat, and the subtle currents of feeling—fear, anger, grim satisfaction, relief, and flashes of ambivalence—that ebb and flow among the various stakeholders. What's surprising, and far less commented upon, is the way the books just as often subvert and sometimes flatly confound the expectations of readers looking for another nail-biting legal thriller in the mold of works by, say, John Grisham or Richard North Patterson. The stories in about half the books, for example, unfold mostly outside courtrooms. And, unlike most in their genre, Turow's novels almost never proceed in linear fashion, each page and chapter propelling the reader forward to the next. Instead, they're often as discursive as Bellow's, consistently (and sometimes perversely) interrupting their own momentum through the use of multiple narrators, subplots, time frames, and ruminations that bear obliquely or not at all, at least initially, on the main plot. "Scott is a master at getting the reader very involved in the primary story and then pulling away from it," says Deb Futter, editor in chief at Grand Central and Turow's editor on Innocent. "At first you think, 'He's got to get back to the main story,' but then you get wrapped up in the secondary story. It's a juggling act that really works."
In some cases, these seeming interludes, which typically focus on character relationships, gradually reveal themselves as the novel's true through-line. In Personal Injuries, for example, the chapters about the developing bond between Robbie and Evon, the undercover agent assigned to monitor him, eventually overshadow the bribery sting that is the novel's ostensible subject. Something similar happens in Reversible Errors, in which the emotional entanglements between two couples on either side of a legal case come to engage the reader far more than their increasingly frantic attempts to prove a condemned man's guilt or innocence.
Where other writers in his putative peer group are addicted to cliff-hanger chapter endings in the manner of the movie serials of the 1930s, Turow generally eschews such devices. Instead, he's a master of the dying fall, passing up the chance to manipulate the reader into turning the page in favor of finishing off a chapter with quiet finality and poignancy. And while what his characters do is important, so is why it's done—what past events led to it, and how personal histories keep rippling concentrically into the present. The ripples often manifest themselves as a series of ethical quandaries that pose complex, morally ambiguous, ultimately existential questions.
"If someone asked me what kind of fiction Scott writes, I would never say 'commercial fiction' and I would never say 'literary fiction,' because either way, it just seems too simplistic," says Gail Hochman, who has been Turow's agent throughout his fiction-writing career. "He wants an exciting plot that has all the thrills of a roller coaster, but he also wants characters with a lot more layers, more levels, more meaning than in the typical commercial novel. He doesn't do heroes and villains; he doesn't do stock characters from central casting."
In short, if reading the average legal potboiler from the airport bookstall is a task easily accomplished on the redeye to the opposite coast, reading Turow requires significant commitments of time, concentration, imaginative engagement, and human sympathy. But this often goes unacknowledged. Turow is widely hailed as the greatest practitioner of the legal thriller—a genre he was instrumental in popularizing and whose popularity has helped him sell more than thirty million books—but he's less often credited as a serious writer who, far from jettisoning his literary ambitions in a rush to the bank, combines the modernist pursuit of the revelation of human character with the intricate, sometimes contrapuntal and always immersive narrative structures associated with novels of the latter half of the nineteenth century.
It's notable that when Presumed Innocent was first published and Turow was asked about its influences, he answered with a single name: Charles Dickens. "At Stanford I don't think there was much discussion about literary versus popular fiction, because the assumption was that popular fiction was largely trash," he says now. "At the time, Dickens was one of those writers who had just begun to cross over the divide into the academy. Thirty years earlier, his books were regarded as trash."
Turow's brow, normally knitted as he concentrates on his answers, relaxes for a moment, and he allows himself a barely perceptible smile that says, Maybe there's hope for me yet.


text:
It seemed madly ambitious: to make all of the UK's publicly owned oil paintings available online via one website. But now the Public Catalogue Foundation and the BBC have completed their epic project, and as of yesterday 211,861 paintings are accessible via the Your Paintings site.
The National Trust is the largest single collection on the site, with 12,567 paintings. But the National Trust hasn't just contributed to this project, we have also greatly benefited by having had all of our paintings photographed in colour for the first time.
The Your Paintings site provides unprecedented opportunities for locating works by particular artists and discovering links between collections on a national scale.
I just spotted these wonderful images of hyper-elegant Chinese figures by Robert Jones. They were made to decorate the Banqueting Room at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, and they seem to depict the Prince Regent's daydreams about the Chinese imperial court as a place of unquestioned power, vast wealth and refined luxury.
The work of William Alexander was among the sources for Jones's fantasy vision. Alexander accompanied Earl Macartney on a diplomatic mission to Beijing from 1792 to 1794. On his return he provided the illustrations for a number of books about China, including Sir George Staunton's official account of the Macartney embassy (1797) and his own book The Costume of China (1805).
Although his work is generally realistic, it has a picturesque sense of composition and detail – as in the pictures shown here, also accessible through Your Paintings – that appealed to other artists and consumers of chinoiserie.


text:
SemperEadem's Journal
Profile Information
Member since: Wed Jul 23, 2003, 07:36 PM
Number of posts: 8,053
Number of posts: 8,053
Journal Archives
it's begining to look
like young males in this country all need to be psychiatrically evaluated by the age of 15 because there have been waaay too many late teens-20something males picking up assault rifles and mowing down crowds of innocent people. Then it is discovered that they've had mental health issues which have gone unaddressed/undiagnosed for years. That, more than likely, is due to the abysmal state of mental health services in this country, the stigma that is still attached to mental health, that insurance companies only throw crumbs of coverage at it and the prevailing religious notion that all they needed to do was pray to god and their problems would magically go away, and the church of scientology working hard to circumvent effective intervention for people with mental illness (google that).
Too many parents have tried reaching out for help and have had their hands slapped away by the insurance companies, the state (we can't do anything unless they harm someone) and by those who have absolutely no training in either medicine or psychiatry (CofS) and are told to have their child "go walk it off", basically, or religion telling them "you're not praying to god hard enough--donate to my church and god will hear your prayers". Meanwhile, that child won't take the medication--or their parents can't afford the out of pocket cost--and they act out under the torment of their condition and the parents are exasperated because they just don't know what to do or where to turn.
When this country finally faces the fact that mental health is just as important a health issue has physical health, then we as a nation might start seeing a decline in these horrible shootings. But it's clear that the death of children isn't enough to turn that tide--we're becoming desensitized slowly but surely to children being gunned down in cold blood. Dead children are not nearly as important as some mentally ill person not having any obstacles placed in his path to obtaining and using a gun.
Posted by SemperEadem | Sat Dec 15, 2012, 10:22 AM (0 replies)
that rape thing? IT'S STILL NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
WHAT THAT WOMAN ****CHOOSES**** TO DO WITH HER BODY!!! Jesus jumped up Christ on a stick!! Why can't you all understand that?
To condone forcing a woman to bear her rapist's child is the same as condoning the rape. You cannot separate the two. If God intended on the pregnancy to happen, then he intended upon the rape happening because that is the means by which the conception occurred. So you can't parse your way out of that (like that idiot from Politico was allowed to get away with saying on c-span's washington journal this morning without being challenged on it).
At the end of the day, this moron and others like him are condoning the rape of women. Period. End of story.
Posted by SemperEadem | Wed Oct 31, 2012, 09:47 PM (0 replies)
When the Derisho blew through DC back in late June
I was without power for about 5 days. Other areas were down for far longer; some had their power back within hours.
And it got hellishly hot and humid right after that storm--mid 90's kind of hot. It was miserable, to say the least. I had to reach back to channel my great grandmothers and square myself with the truth that if they could stand not having AC and electricity for the whole of their lives, then being of that strong stock meant that I could withstand that inconvenience.
I wasn't expecting the lights to go on the 5th day, but when they did, I could hear a lot of my neighbors scream with delight, along with the whoosh of their AC units starting up. It literally was like stepping from the 19th century back into the 21st century. There is nothing more soul crushing than to spend the day in an air conditioned office, hoping, praying that your electricity would come back on so that the treasury of food in your fridge wouldn't have to be thrown out and that you could at least have some semblance of normalcy, only to put the key in the door and all was still dead quiet.
It lifted my heart on Sunday when I saw a number of utility trucks driving down the street before the Hurricane hit because that meant that they were preparing for this. The Derisho was a totally different kind of event that no one a. had ever seen and b. could plan for, so there's that difference. But knowing how this country performed after Katrina with a republican led government, it was marvelous to see this administration's ability to take a path to see it forthcoming. That is what people need to remember when going to the polls.
And speaking of which, I did my early voting today and I voted for the President and a full Democratic ticket.
Posted by SemperEadem | Wed Oct 31, 2012, 09:36 PM (0 replies)
Had the camera not been there, would he be apologizing for saying that?
No. What if someone there made it public that he said that, but didn't have a videotape of him? Would he be calling that person a liar and playing the victim role for all it's worth? You damb straight he would be.
Because he thought he was safe when he said it. Had it ever crossed his mind that his kind of thinking would be offensive would mean that he was already capable of understanding what life is like for people who do not live in the same socio-economic class as himself; or people who leave their loved ones to go fight overseas for our country; or seniors who have paid into social security by working their whole damb lives. The fact of the matter is: it has never crossed his mind until his tit was in the wringer.
Those people in that video hold the same viewpoint as he does. None of them flinched or conveyed one iota of rejecting what mittiot was saying. They gave mittiot a safe place to express exactly what mittiot thinks and mittiot took advantage of that environment; he was finally was caught in a moment of candor, revealing who he really is.
"A doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways" and mittiot is a walking, breathing example of that one line in the new testament to be true.
Posted by SemperEadem | Sat Oct 6, 2012, 01:40 AM (0 replies)
Mittiot fashioned his own noose last night
that's what Obama was letting him do.
Mittiot tacked so far to the middle that he basically said "I'm keeping Obamacare". His surrogates are now going to be tied up unravelling that and dragging mittiot's message back to the right.
Don't fool yourself or be all caught up on the shiny, bright, sparkly stuff here: Obama allowed mittiot to dig the hole he's going to fall into in the next debate. The guy is on the record now with his centrist policies--do you honestly think that once all the sparkle of this night is gone and in the cold, sober morning light he's not going to have to do a huge amount of damage control to keep his lunatic fringe base and their votes in line?
Also, we got a glimpse of the demeanor of the scissor wielding fiend who held down that gay student and cut off his hair in the way in which he disrespected Jim Lehrer--and Lehrer's allowing him to get away with it is a totally other rant. We got to see how he will negotiate with foreign leaders--and he came across as an overly boorish, entitled, selfish, wealthy asshole.
With regard to Obama's demeanor: he flew into Denver at 2p yesterday. Denver has very thin air--it takes some time for the body to acclimate to it. Mittiot had been there the day before, so he had well over 24 hours to acclimate to it. Football teams don't fly in the day of the game and play there. Also, if Obama had come out swinging like everyone wanted him to, all of the talk today would have been about the scary black man beating up on the poor old white guy and no amount of substance in what Obama said would have gotten through that veil of stupidity.
I believe that Obama let mittiot fashion the noose he will put around his own neck with the next two presidential debates.
Posted by SemperEadem | Thu Oct 4, 2012, 08:25 AM (4 replies)
The CNN videographer who has peanuts thrown at her
I'm sure you've heard the story at the convention where a black videographer from CNN had peanuts thrown at her feet and told "that's how we feed animals". What that story points out to me is the degrading estimation all of us blacks have had to put up with since our ancestors were kidnapped and forced onto this shore only because of the bodies in which our souls are encased. Nothing more. It really makes me lose a lot of hope for this country that this far into its history, the psychotic quest by some of its citizens to return this country to a backwards, socially stunted point in its infancy is attempting to be re-animated.
No living being should have to be subjected to any form of indignity, despite the color of their skin.
My question is: Who, exactly, is going to ride to this woman's rescue here? Did anyone become her champion in the moment when it happened? CNN did a 1:30 piece on it the next day, but that's it? They let it drop in order to fawn over paul ryan? Had that been Dana Bash, would she have received just a 1:30 out of a 24 hour news cycle?
The two convention attendees who did this were removed from the convention hall, but not arrested. On one of the threads on which I was participating here, I've managed to work a number of posters up into a lather because I'm viewing it with the cold, sober eye of realism which, unfortunately, an African American woman must develop in order to be able to get through her life. I know that it will be a cold day in hell before anyone raises their hand and say that they saw what these two did and are willing to testify against them and support a charge being filed for assault. Yes, throwing a projectile at another human being is assault: but for an assault charge to stick, the prosecution has to, beyond a shadow of a doubt, prove that these two people did this and as it stands right now, there is no proof other than this woman's word. No witnesses and no evidence that she had her camera turned on and was recording at least the audio of this.
Peanut kernels trampled under foot ain't enough--a couple thousand people were eating peanuts that day and it's probably all over the floor. The defense attorneys will chew that accusation-without-proof up and spit it back in the face of the prosecution and they know it.
I know it. I know it'll be her word against theirs. I know she will have to find a way to process this inhumane affront to her esteem for no good reason other than the body in which her soul is encased made these people think that devilish behavior against a black woman is fair game. It's another salvo launched across the bow in this War Against Black Women. The thing is: those who are all exercised over my viewpoint WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE PLACE BLACK PEOPLE HAVE TO GO TO COME TO THIS VIEWPOINT.
Some hysterical idiot said to me: "prosecutors have gone to court on less evidence than this". I say "and some prosecutors refuse to go forward with a whole lot of evidence in their possession: bush, cheney, et al..." The polyanna-ish rantings don't change the fact that a professional black woman doing her job, getting peanuts thrown at her feet and hate filled talk accompanying it is not something that is important enough for the State of Florida to get over-exercised about. Had they taken her camera and beaten her with it, perhaps, because it would have been destruction of CNN's property; and perhaps they'd have asked her what she did to provoke it.
Posted by SemperEadem | Fri Aug 31, 2012, 02:59 PM (3 replies)
young man, I think your true question is
"Why is this happening to someone like me in the United States of America?"...
Because this shit and worse happens to poor and brown skinned people all of the time. And as usual, it's not a problem until it happens to people who look like this you. Let me ask you, young man: how did you vote in the last election? Did you vote for and support sheriff arpaio? What about gov. brewer? How about the parishioners you lead? Do you stand in your pulpit every sunday and vilify anyone who doesn't think like you do?
I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say you voted for a "law and order" ticket, to strip those who do not look like you of their rights within your state. The fact that you're aghast that upon not obeying the police, you got a beat down, says a lot about the "america" you live in. You need some more minority friends, s0n--they'd have told you to put your hands on your steering wheel and comply with a "yes, sir, no, sir". Catching them in a lie is besides the point; the dog is beside the point: the fact is, they asked you to follow an instruction and you refused--had you just done what they asked, like they said, you'd have been on your way. OF course they're going to go into "ramp this up and wreck his day" mode when you choose to challenge their authority.
The place to fight against that kind of thing happening to ALL Americans is in the voting booth--by voting for people who do not believe that giving up their rights and liberty is a fair or necessary exchange for being safe, not at a police checkpoint in the middle of the night.
Yes, this shit happens every. single. day. in the US of A to someone to who does not look like you because of the fear that those who willingly give up their liberties and rights base their voting choices upon--and incredible as it seems, for far, far less than what you did. Yes, it IS a huge problem.
When it comes to public employees, the only ones I have no problem cutting back on is cops. I fully support everyone else because they are serving a public good. But not armed thugs hiding behind shields. Their motto is supposed to be "to serve and protect", not "to abuse and demean..".
Posted by SemperEadem | Wed Jul 25, 2012, 07:53 PM (0 replies)
I don't
because the plain truth of the matter is: repealing it will explode the deficit and that's the one thing they do not want hung around their party's neck. ACA gives tax breaks to those who already have health care coverage, so their returns will be larger. Those who don't get it will have the tax return they're already getting. They will be basically increasing their own taxes by being obstinate.
Their grandparents who now have the doughnut hole closing up, those whose up to age 26 yr old kids on their policies, those who have pre-existing conditions (and who of them doesn't, really?), those who have seriously ill children-- they're going to go back to and be happy and content with what was in place before? They're really going to go without? They're really going to welcome financial ruin at the hands of a medical condition? They're really going to toss their adult kids off their insurance? They're going to be ok with the insurance company telling them while they're seriously ill that they no longer have insurance? I highly doubt that.
So, for them to even speak of it is them saying "we're going to blow the deficit up even more than what's there now when we get control of congress and the white house" is them reading their own death sentences.
Fact is: the pressure needs to be kept on the thugs over their blatantly and obscene waste of time and taxpayer money pursuing their wet dream of making Obama a one term president. Every scheme they've put in place failed. They have the lowest approval rating in history for a sitting body in congress.
Anything grounded in fear has no hope of a good outcome.
Posted by SemperEadem | Fri Jun 29, 2012, 09:48 AM (0 replies)
How Chris? How did you all in the media blow this one? I'll tell you how....
You all and your owners are in collusion with the thugs to make sure Obama is a one term president. That's how.
When Issa can go on Meet the Press and lie his ass off and cherry pick the facts and David Gregory lets him get away with it, that's how. It's because you all have shut down your investigative units because you are so freakin' afraid of losing access that you don't want to ruffle any feathers when it's your job to ruffle the feathers of politicians and those in power.
The fact that the only viewpoint you all care about is the conservatard viewpoint.
It cannot be dismissed that this got legs from the shoddy reporting work of CBS and their news management, who, by the way, should be tendering their resignations Now. Today. This minute., who did not do anything close to due diligence when it came to reporting the whole truth about what is going on.
The fact that it is legal in Arizona for someone over the age of 18 to buy as many weapons as their budget can manage and then go sell those guns to anyone they choose without having to file paperwork with the state at. all and then that person can go sell those guns to whomever, and so on and so on til they wind up killing American agents in this drug/turf war is the problem. The prosecutors won't try anything because the laws are swiss cheese. It's pointless because of how weak the laws are. And all of that is Obama's fault?
Walter Cronkite must be spinning in his grave. IT's complete bullshit--and it's especially bullshit, Chris, for you to have the temerity to sit up there and ask how it could be done when you know got damb well how you all freakin' missed this.
this is about the committee wanting Holder and the Obama administration to turn over documents which relate to an ongoing investigation, knowing that that shit doesn't happen.
dag! It takes some kind of nerve to lead off a show with that question.
Posted by SemperEadem | Wed Jun 27, 2012, 11:06 PM (0 replies)
aside from marriage vows
why would any american pledge allegiance to anything other than the flag and the republic for which it stands? One nation; indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
That's what I have a problem with when it comes to office holders throwing in with 'pledges' to Norquist. Their first, lawfully sworn duty
is to all of the people for whom they are elected to represent THEIR interests in this government, not to one of its citizens who doesn't want to pay his fair share of taxes.
How would norquist know what was going on in meetings and negotiations Obama is having with whatever party? It's not like
he's in the room--anything he hears, he hears second hand, a.k.a. hearsay, inadmissible. Clearly, he doesn't take seriously
the various polling numbers which have come out recently showing the nation's total disgust with republicans of every level of
government. Wisconsin must have gotten past him.
It is insane and proof of living in an alternative universe to say that Obama has made no effort to work with congress. That has
been the main problem! He goes too far for consensus, when norquist and all those of his stripe know that their mission was
to frustrate the president implementing his policies. It has been admitted to as much by far too many.
Posted by SemperEadem | Sat Jan 28, 2012, 09:37 PM (0 replies)


text:
Even though the business in this high-concept Adidas ad — a break-up service — doesn't actually exist, maybe it should. The commercial features a character named Akira, who races around Tokyo on a scooter informing people that they've been dumped, and why. "I finish relationships that have died," Akira explains. He looks those who have been ditched right in the eye and gives them clear reasons for the split ("Tipsy fiance, your love was too vague, and I didn't like it."). Seriously: Where was this guy the last time I got dumped?
Breakups are so stunningly painful your body, mind, soul and heart go into shock. But even worse is when the dumper has trouble expressing why he or she is breaking up with you. Even if what is said is ultimately true ("It's not you, it's me"), it sounds so fucking vague and meaningless, you're left pulling your hair and crying, why, why? Somehow having a calm person, an impartial third party who can filter the information seems like a good idea. Except for the part where you end up throwing stuff at him.
Plus! There would be benefits for the dumpers, too: Being forced to write down your reasons for ending a relationship insures that you actually find the words and articulate your desires, disappointments and issues. Being the one who does the dumping is incredibly hard: You actually have to take action and make a terrible impact on someone's life. Maybe some would find using a third party cowardly or selfish, but when something as delicate as the heart is involved, shouldn't a professional be called in?
'Heavy-Handed Wife... I'm Dumping You!' [AdRants]