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Skokloster Castle is located at the countryside 60 km northwest of Stockholm, the Swedish capital. Together with the Hallwyl Museum and the Royal Armoury the castle constitutes a national authority, headed by a Director General, and accountable to the Ministry of Culture. The three museums base their work on a national cultural policy resolution enacted by Swedish Parliament. Skokloster Castle is one of the mayor monuments from the period when Sweden was one of the most powerful countries in Europe. It's built in the baroque style between 1654 and 1676. At Skokloster the Field Marshal and Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel (1613-1676) created a stately home of European caliber during the second half of the 17th century. Just like continental princes, he tried to understand the world by collecting the most remarkable things that Man and nature were capable of making. The castle has remained amazingly untouched for more than 300 years, giving this building a unique authenticity. Wrangel and the following owners collected fine arts like armory, books, silver, glass, textiles and furniture. The collection consists of about 50 000 items in the 77 rooms in the Castle. Skokloster is considered one of the great castles of Baroque Europe.
Since the owner died in 1676, the castle was never really completed. This is a fact that you can see by your self just visit the banqueting hall which remains in the exact same conditions, tools included, as the builders left it the same day as Wrangel died. Carl Gustaf Wrangel had no son who survived him. Instead Skokloster passed to his daughter, Margareta Juliana.
She married Nils Brahe, a member of Sweden's most exalted countly family. She made Skokloster Castle to an entailed estate in 1701. From that time nothing was allowed to be taken from the Castle. Everything is left intact since late 1700th century. We have to thank her and this form of ownership for our counting possession of its original furnishings and of the objects added through the centuries by inheritance, purchase and donations. The Castle was never a permanent home before 1947 when the von Essen family moved in. They were the last private owners. Since 1967 Skokloster is stately owned. Skokloster Castle has been a national museum of cultural history since 1967. Professor Ove Hidemark's groundbreaking restoration has set the tone of present-day heritage conservation respect for old building techniques and preservation of the atmospheric patina of age.
The Skokloster Castle collections number a thousand pictures, from the 15th century to 1961. Of the 770 pictures left by Carl Gustaf Wrangel, at his death in 1676, some 150 have been identified at the Castle. The portraits, numbering 600 items, are the biggest category, followed by landscapes, history paintings, religious paintings, still-lifes, genre paintings, allegories and mythological pictures. Apart from those which belonged to Wrangel, the remaining 850 or so were collected and preserved by subsequent owners down to 1967 through inheritance, gifts and purchase. The great majority come from the Brahe family, who owned Skokloster for 253 years.


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Published at Saturday, 07 April 2018. Fishing Reels. By Evdokiya Lidiya.
After a day of fishing rinse each of your reels with fresh water and allow to dry. Don′t use a spray nozzle to do this however. High-pressure water can force sand dirt and salt into the reel. Use light pressure straight from the hose.
Use tweezers to handle springs and wire clips. "That'll keep them from flying all over the place and maybe getting lost."
There are three types of drag systems : 1. Spring and pawl or "click and pawl" systems feature a spring that pushes the prawl into a gear on the reel spool to produce a drag. Spring and pawl is best for light fishing when targeting panfish 2. Disc drag pushes a large-diameter pad against the reel spool′s braking surface. Pressure is applied directly to increase overall control and efficiency. Cork or synthetic materials like Teflon are used in disc drag systems. Cork provides a smoother more consistent pressure and can be easily adjusted. These systems are great for fighting large strong fish 3. Caliper drag systems fall between disc and spring and pawl. A caliper pad pushes against the braking surface of the spool. This friction slows the way the reel spool spins.
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Holy frijoles! Man, what an episode!! I love firefights! Here's the grade.
Oh, I was wondering who that was. I may have to rewind my DVR back to check. I know Kim is supposed to be coming back this season. If the cougar comes back from S2 to finish the job this time, I would be a very happy man. ETA - Damn, my DVR cut out that part from the previews. Shoot!
I think Jack asks for her thinking he might be dying. I know Kim is coming back and this might be the time to bring back estranged daughter. Besides, maybe Kim is married to the cougar (which was named Effrem on a 24-related board).
I remember she was used during the virus threat storyline involving Michelle at the hotel in S3 and I believe she was also at CTU Medical where every patient went to die over the first five seasons. What's funny is that they give Asian actors Western character names. Christina Chang played Dr. Macer. Agent Tom Baker was played by Daniel Dae Kim, now Jin of Lost.
Jack will fight this virus and find a way to survive. We can't have next season without Jack. Well, unless the writers decide to hand the show to Kim. Oh no!
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text: my wifes facinate was getting great battery life before the update. now its dying really fast. she is not rooted and not hacked in any way. But the battery only lasts about 6 hours. any way to fix this? or should i just take the phone to verizon and complain? she is on her 2nd replacement.


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In a few months, men will no longer have to drive to New Orleans or Baton Rouge to shop at a high-end boutique.
In a few months, men will no longer have to drive to New Orleans or Baton Rouge to shop at a high-end boutique.
Victoria Giglio, owner of Victoria's Indigo Boutique, 112 Old Towne Blvd. Ct. in Houma, is launching Indigo for Men Boutique on Aug. 1.
"We have a lot of men's stores here, but we don't have any high-end boutiques. Guys have nowhere to buy designer jeans and have to go out of town because of it," she said. "I'm really excited about it. When I posted on Facebook, I had a lot of likes and comments saying, 'about time'."
Giglio is scheduled to open the Indigo for Men Boutique in the same shopping center as her women's boutique. The men's boutique will be located in suite 102, and the women's boutique is in suite 104. She is expecting to put the sign up shortly and has already planned trips to stock up on inventory.
"I go to Dallas next week for market and to Las Vegas next month. There, I will buy clothing from different vendors for the boutique," she said.
Shoppers will be able to find a mixture of brands and prices in the boutique.
"Just like my women's store, they will be able to find things from $35 to $200. I'll have $48 button downs and $280 button downs. We'll have stuff for everybody. It'll be really good brands, and when you wash, it won't fall apart," she said.
Brands such as Citizens of Humanity, 7 For All Mankind, Hudson, Diesel, Georg Roth Los Angeles, Robert Graham and LOVE NAIL TREE will be found in the boutique.
Giglio said her motivation for opening a men's boutique derived from her customers' feedback.
"Customers have expressed their concern to me for years. Especially around Christmastime, I had customers come in and say, 'Man I have to go out of town to get my husband some jeans,' " Giglio said.
Employee Lauren Eymard, the future manager of Indigo for Men, said she has also heard customers talk about not having enough local shopping opportunities for their significant others.
"Women will take their man shopping, and I hear them constantly asking Victoria to open this place because they have to drive to New Orleans and Baton Rouge," Eymard said. "Otherwise, they just have mall-shopping. I think the men's store will be a great addition to the women's."
For couples who like shopping together, this could be a one-stop-shop opportunity, Giglio said.
"It's in a good location. It's around a neighborhood, and if a guy wants to take his girl out for dinner or something, he could quickly stop in and grab an outfit and go," she said.
Giglio is planning a huge launch for the men's boutique in her fall fashion show in August. Though she has no set date, this will be the first time men will appear on the runway.
"I'm excited. It's going to be cool to have men in that. I am also looking forward to having men on the front cover of the Indigo Magazine too," Giglio said.
Giglio recently launched inspiredbyindigo.com and said she cannot wait to add the men's section to the site. The website will also be featured in ELLE Magazine.
Staff Writer Sable LeFrere can be reached at 985-857-2204 or at email@example.com.


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Chef Art Smith
The executive chef and co-owner of Table fifty-two, Art Smith has received the culinary profession's highest awards and has cooked for some of the world's most famous celebrities as personal chef to Oprah Winfrey. A native of Jasper, Florida, where he grew up on his family's farm, Smith is the former executive chef of the Florida Governor's Mansion during the tenure of Bob Graham, now a United States Senator. A graduate of the prestigious Walt Disney Magic Kingdom College culinary program, Smith also was chosen for, and completed, two highly selective internships at The Greenbrier Resort. In addition he has studied at the Florida State University School of Business.
In 1997, Smith became the personal, day-to-day chef to Oprah Winfrey, a position that lasted ten years. Smith now coordinates and cooks for the headline-grabbing special events that Ms. Winfrey hosts all around the world. A contributing editor to O, the Oprah Magazine, Smith is also the author of three award-winning cookbooks: Back to the Table; Kitchen Life: Real Food for Real Families; and Back to the Family. Most recently he contributed recipes and cooking advice to The Spectrum, the newest book by groundbreaking cardiologist and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Dean Ornish.
Smith has made regular television appearances on programs such as Iron Chef America, The Today Show and Oprah, in addition to having served as a Williams-Sonoma culinary instructor and the special events chef for Martha Stewart Living magazine. Smith's cooking and writing talents have earned him highest praise, but perhaps his greatest gift to the community at large has been his philanthropy. In 2003 he founded Common Threads, a non-profit organization that teaches children about diversity and tolerance through the world's great cultures.
For his tireless Common Threads leadership, Smith was honored by Chicago magazine as a "Chicagoan of the Year" in 2007. That same year, the prestigious James Beard Foundation named him "Humanitarian of the Year." Chef Art Smith newest restaurant, Art and Soul, opened in the fall of 2008. The restaurant will be located in Washington DC, at The Liaison Capitol Hill, An Affinia Hotel.
Smith lives in Chicago with his life partner, renowned artist Jesus Salgueiro, and their three dogs, five cats and fifteen fish. He has graciously shared two of his favorite recipes with us, Pistachio Crusted Chicken and Hummingbird Cake.


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Tel: +44 (0)20 8560 2300
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The AXESS team has been helping develop careers within Medical Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, Drug Safety and Clinical Development since 1990. Originally a Clinical Research Organisation, our heritage and experience in clinical trials means that we have a real understanding of career opportunities and pathways within the pharmaceutical industry. Now focused purely on recruitment and resourcing, we provide a professional and consultative service to all our candidates.
We believe that our candidates are clients too and we treat you as such. Our aim is to bring all parties together for mutual benefit.
We have access to the best career opportunities within the pharmaceutical industry through our extensive network of contacts.
The majority of our consultants have actually worked within the industry – we have all used headhunters and have all been headhunted. This informs the way that we work and our focus on candidate care.
Through our process we aim to deliver a tailored service to each of our candidates. We have a specialist team of Resource Managers, each with an in depth knowledge of the trends and opportunities within a specific functional area. Their role is to establish a clear understanding of your career objectives, and discuss the current job opportunities within the market place. Regular updates will be provided as well as expected changes and trends. We will offer continued support and guidance throughout the interview process and give out guidance on the job offer negotiation.
As members of the REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation), we are committed to operating to the highest standards. The confidentiality of your information is extremely important to us. Our promise is that we will never send your CV to anyone without your approval.
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The museum's miniature ships, meanwhile, include vessels of the Great White Fleet, amphibious landing craft, and a detailed facsimile of the USS Missouri (BB-63), complete with the World War II surrender ceremony tables. Many of the models were built to teach Sailors about their ships, and two have cut-away hulls to view interiors.
Among the largest artifacts on display are an F4U Corsair fighter, a Japanese Okha suicide rocket bomb from World War II, and the bathyscaphe Trieste , which explored the depths of the Pacific Ocean. The most impressive historic items, however, are among the smallest. Housed in a glass box next to a mock-up of "Little Boy," the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan, are the bomb's two fuse plugs. But what are artifacts from an Army Air Forces operation doing in a Navy museum? The B-29 crew that dropped the bomb included Navy Captain William Sterling Parsons, the mission's weaponeer. His job was to arm the weapon before it was dropped.
The Navy Museum's Korean War section boasts a piece of the Inchon seawall, which Marines had to scale using ladders to assault the city. Also included are captured enemy weapons and uniforms.
While the Navy has an unparalleled record of victory at war, most of its history has been made during times of peace. The museum pays special tribute to two peacetime naval endeavors: exploration and mapping. A separate section is dedicated to the mapping and sounding of the Dead Sea by Lieutenant William Lynch in 1848. Another area includes Admiral Richard E. Byrd's Antarctic meteorological station, in which he almost died from a carbon monoxide buildup in 1934.
Some of the museum's artifacts predate the Navy. The oldest piece in the collection is a cannon built in 1490 and used by Hernando Cortes in his conquest of Mexico. The newest piece can be found in the submarine room: a battle flag from the USS Louisville (SSN-724), which participated in Operation Desert Storm.
To bring the Navy's story up to date, the museum is expanding into a neighboring building to create a Cold War gallery, which is projected to open in the fall of 2009.
The Navy Museum is free to all visitors, but because it is on a naval base, you must first check in at the gate (remember to bring your vehicle registration to the check-in office). The museum is open Monday through Friday from 0900 to 1700 and weekends and holidays from 1000 to 1700. Call first at (202) 433-4882 before visiting on Fridays or weekends. To arrange a free guided tour, call the director of public programs at (202) 433-4995, and for information about children's programs, visit the museum's Web site at http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org8-3.htm .


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Paris: A French journalist wounded in shelling in Syria that killed two other Western journalists is pleading with her government to evacuate her so she can have an operation.
In a video posted on YouTube, Edith Bouvier says her leg is broken in two places and that she has received some medical treatment but now needs an operation. Bouvier said she was speaking Thursday and is calm throughout the 6-and-a-half minute video, even smiling.
She was wounded Wednesday during Syrian forces` shelling of an opposition stronghold.
Explosions can be heard going in the background.
Bouvier and her colleague William Daniels appear to be with a doctor and Syrian rebels, who ask the journalists to say they are being treated well but need to leave since they can no longer be cared for.
Warnings from Syrian activists of a humanitarian catastrophe in Homs grew more desperate Thursday as government forces resumed shelling an opposition stronghold in the restive central city, where hundreds have died in a weekslong siege.
Across the country, at least 16 people were killed in attacks by security forces in rebellious areas that included the Hama countryside in central Syria and the mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya region in the north. The Local Coordination Committees activist network said the overall number of Syrians killed was 40, but there was no immediate confirmation from other groups.
About 30 people, including two Western journalists, were killed in shelling on Wednesday — most of them in the rebel-held Baba Amr neighborhood which is the center of the resistance in the city. Homs has been under a fierce government attack for nearly three weeks.
In London, diplomats from United States, Europe and Arab nations prepared to demand that Syrian President Bashar Assad call a cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid within days into areas hardest hit by his regime`s crackdown on opponents.
The ultimatum, outlined by participants to the London talks, is likely to be presented Friday in Tunisia at a major international conference on the Syrian crisis. Further defiance by Assad could bring even tougher sanctions and isolation.
Homs-based activist Omar Shaker said intense barrages hit residential districts in Baba Amr again Thursday, but there was no immediate word on casualties. He said food, water and medical supplies are running dangerously low in Baba Amr.
"Every minute counts. People will soon start to collapse from lack of sleep and shortages in food," he said.
On Wednesday, shelling of Baba Amr killed American-born veteran war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.
They were among a group of journalists who had crossed into Syria illegally and were sharing accommodations with activists, raising speculation that government forces targeted the makeshift media center where they were staying. But opposition groups had previously described the shelling as indiscriminate. At least two other Western journalists were wounded on Wednesday.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman offered condolences to the families of Colvin and Ochlik but rejected any responsibility for their deaths. The spokesman urged foreign journalists to respect Syrian laws and not to sneak into the country.
Some Syrians held protests and vigils Wednesday night in several parts of Homs in commemoration of Colvin and Ochlik.
"Remi Ochlik, Marie Colvin, we will not forget you," read one banner held by protesters in the town of Qsour in Homs province.
In the northwestern city of Aleppo, security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of students at Aleppo University staging an anti-regime protest. Aleppo, like the capital Damascus, has remained relatively quiet during the nearly year-long anti-government uprising gripping the country. But the city has become increasingly tense, particularly Aleppo University where authorities fired on protesting students on Wednesday and killed one.
In Geneva, a panel of UN human rights experts said Thursday that the United Nations has a secret list of top Syrian officials who could face investigation for crimes against humanity carried out by security forces in their crackdown against the anti-government uprising.
The UN experts indicated that the list goes as high as President Bashar Assad.
Experts say the list is initially likely to be more of a deterrent against further abuses than a direct threat to the Assad regime. Syria isn`t a member of the International Criminal Court so its jurisdiction doesn`t apply there, and Russia would likely block any moves in the UN Security Council to refer the country to the Hague-based tribunal.
Thousands of Syrians have died in the violence since March and the panel, citing what it called a reliable source, said at least 500 children are among the dead.
The meeting in Tunis is expected to bring together more than 70 nations to look at ways to assist Assad`s opponents, who now include defected military officers and soldiers. British Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC radio that military intervention was very unlikely, as "the consequences of any outside intervention are much harder to foresee."
A senior EU official said foreign ministers meeting in Brussels next week will add seven Syrian government ministers to those already sanctioned. Sanctions include asset freezes and visa bans for officials, commanders of the security forces and others considered responsible for human rights abuses.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of EU rules, said additional restrictions may be imposed on Syria`s central bank, on imports of precious metals from the country, and on cargo flights.
The EU had already sanctioned more than 70 Syrians and 19 organizations, and has banned imports of Syrian crude oil.
In Amman, Jordan, several dozen Syrians, mainly from Homs, staged a protest outside the U.S. Embassy asking for Western military intervention. "Almighty God, destroy Bashar," they chanted.
Bureau Report


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Whatever else happens next week – and the economic calendar is stocked – everything will likely pale in comparison to the Federal Reserve's announcement on whether it will begin scaling back its easy-money policies.
Continue Reading Below
Markets have been anticipating this decision for months, and they'll get it on Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee's two-day meeting. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will follow the announcement with a press conference.
A disappointing August jobs report released last week cast doubt as to whether the Fed will start winding down its $85-billion-a-month bond purchase program in September. Prior to the release of the report there was broad acceptance that so-called tapering would begin later this month.
But the Labor Department said just 169,000 jobs were created last month, fewer than had been predicted, and that a decline in the headline unemployment rate to 7.3% occurred not because more Americans found jobs but because over 300,000 Americans left the workforce altogether.
In other words, the unemployment rate, which the Fed has closely tied to its monetary policy, was falling but for the wrong reasons.
Analysts said before the release of the jobs data that a strong August report would have made the Fed's decision easy – the central bank could begin tapering in September, most likely by reducing the monthly bond purchases by $25 billion or so. A terrible report would also have made the Fed's job easy – delay a decision on tapering until the labor market improved.
Instead the numbers fell somewhere in between, leaving investors adrift as to which direction the Fed will go. (More than a few analysts are still leaning toward a September taper.)
In any case, it's doubtful any Fed announcement in recent memory has been as anxiously awaited as the Fed's statement due Wednesday. Then Bernanke will explain the Fed's decision at what promises to be a very interesting press conference.
Also on tap next week is the release Monday of the Empire State Manufacturing survey, which gauges activity in that important sector in the New York area, and a report on industrial production.
On Tuesday, in addition to the start of the FOMC meeting, the consumer price index will be released, which serves as a measure of inflation.
A report on housing starts is due Wednesday, data that should be closely watched because of its close relationship to the important construction sector. The August jobs report revealed that no new construction jobs were created last month.
A report on existing home sales, a key barometer of the housing sector, is due Thursday, and on Friday two prominent Fed members – Kansas City Fed President Esther George and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard – are scheduled to give speeches. They should have plenty to say.


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Agriculture probably will not escape unscathed from the recession that has hit the U. S. and world economies.
"Ag lenders likely will face a shortage of money," said Joe Outlaw, co-director for the Texas A&M Extension Agricultural and Food Policy Center, during the Texas Commodity Symposium in Amarillo. The symposium is held annually in conjunction with the Amarillo Farm Show. "We don't expect a replay of the 1980s."
Outlaw said farm lending policy has changed in the two plus decades since the 1980s, shifting form "collateral based to repayment capacity. And we now have volatile prices instead of depressed prices."
He said land values remain strong, but commodity prices have dipped significantly in the last few months while production costs remain high, in spite of recent drops in energy costs.
He said corn production expenses rose from $200 per acre to $350 per acre in one year. "It will come down some." But maybe not enough.
"Farmers will try to put in a cheaper crop, but I don't expect seed prices to drop. Fuel prices will come down and chemicals tied to natural gas prices will be down. Machinery and repairs are not down and labor is not down.
"Farmers will face pressure on cost and the revenue sides."
Outlaw said farmers likely will see a profitable price for commodities sometime during 2009. "But they have to stay on their toes."
He said details on the 2008 farm legislation continue to come in slowly. "We don't have solid information yet. We know conservation got a big boost."
Outlaw said farmers should be wary of signing up for the new payment program, Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) until they get more information. "You don't have to sign up this year to remain eligible," he said. "Farmers probably will not jump on this program until they have the final details and we don't have enough information yet to make decisions for the 2009 crop."
Outlaw said banks may be leery of ACRE as well. "They want to know payback opportunities," he said.
He said with cotton, for instance, farmers might have trouble penciling in a profit with the payment reductions and low commodity prices.
ACRE includes reduced payments, 20 percent less in direct payments and a 30 percent reduction in loan rates. "It's complicated," Outlaw said.
ACRE is a two-step process in which both the state and the individual farmer must have a loss to qualify.
Outlaw said Texas A&M will put details and analyses on its website as soon as final details are available. "For now, we don't have enough information for 2009 crops. Farmers will have to analyze each farm. Also, once a farmer signs up for ACRE he is committed to it through the life of the farm program."
Producers may enroll part of their overall acreage in the program. "It's based on farm number," Outlaw said.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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2008 Chevrolet Tahoe 2WD 4dr 1500 LTZ
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Do Alcoa Earnings Really Predict Where Market Goes
Historically, Alcoa has acted as a barometer for how the rest of the market has performed during past earnings seasons. Steven Russolillo breaks down the numbers on Markets Hub. Photo: Associated Press.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... take a look all still would store is called interesting Lee enough reports earnings tomorrow you all know that rank kicking off earnings season ... not expected to be a good one with Alcoa as a bellwether ... me just tell you which direction we're going to go in you can see the stock of a percent today ... that could change Steve Russolillo ... might compete only with the Knight had in the fall ... the Church of course but ... let's talk about your column the more I want to eat into earnings season the marching season low twenty Pompeii and indistinct well ... yes they are a bit in awe when to get so Alcoa First a ... blue-chip bellwether to report typically signifies the beginning of her earnings season they report on Tuesday after the bell ... now accepted that the study over the weekend tasty looking at how the market has performed in relation to what Alcoa's report so they have a report that beat expectations ... out of the market to purses how does the bitumen they don't and it's ... so much ... how they do the right it's how they did relatively well with the dishes this battle civilizations right so when that Alcoa beats ... the SNP five hundred has averaged a four percent rally over the next three months and now this is over ten years time horizon so Alcoa beats the market was up about four percent when Alcoa misses ... the market averages about a half a percent decline so ... again we're just how low can it be so with about its mixes about half and half so that in thwarting the last forty quarter's the beat nineteen times they've missed twenty one times SOEs especially pretty good ... of but dove ... is one company ... take it for what it's worth but still though ... that that's a pretty big compared the different legacy to say and of what we saw last quarter's the trend played out Alcoa ... while not a great report still the economy to analysts' expectations ... and that the SB five hundred was up eight percent over the last three months old ... now does lot of other factors that go into this rally Fed Stimulus whatnot but still though ... the trend laid out last quarter so I think ... we know ... that the materials sector has been under pressure and were not expecting a good quarter for many of them and actually materially mention that because I expect that of the worst profit growth out of any of the attendees at ... ten sectors so ... that the this is something to consider as well no wonder that you know is is a situation when a situation where ... dissertations a solo look ... include a low bar at the low bar and getting to see that in Alcoa five-year chart for a cause that they've been ... really just ... wanted money to the ears that are not moving much at all ... the point though about the will bar because this is the first time that the Isles are expecting profit growth the contract first time in eleven quarters so ... that the bar is very low grade now and I guess the big worry is that even if companies don't meet the small bar ... that's that's really that that ... was terrible does that mean you know is who we expected the native the ... contraction right you not on why the contractions I expect that ... the benefits of well below the top four ... the flavor wise and that's what happened last quarter but ... that can be enough ... flat ironing question right at flat earnings could be enough to to push the market higher you have to think long term ... it's bad but you're right though short-term it could be just enough with all the other factors going on in America right now ... it could be it's scary though because it's not a good sign long-term Asahi wanna see but steamers look think you're a much thank you ...


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A steadily growing foodie culture, paired with perpetual access to social media, has given new life to amateur food photography. Everyone is snapping and sharing photos of meals they're eating or about to eat or take out, from cheesy pasta bakes to chocolate-y extravaganzas. On Instagram, search #foodporn and you'll find more than 18 million results, and on Pinterest, millions more. And though the tasty-looking photos might seem to foster foodie culture, the photo inundation is adversely impacting consumers.
A 2013 study revealed that looking at crave-worthy photos weakens satisfaction once actually dining. In the study, as reported in September's Journal of Consumer Psychology, one group of participants was exposed to salty food images, and a second group was shown sweets. Afterward, both groups snacked on peanuts. Those who had viewed salty food photos reported significantly less enjoyment. Researchers from Brigham Young University and the University of Minnesota credit this to sensory overload. The longer a person is exposed to one flavor, the less satisfying the treat becomes.
"Looking at images of food activates similar regions in the brain that are used in perception," explains Brigham Young professor Ryan Elder, a coauthor of the study. "So when I'm seeing something salty, my mind automatically imagines that experience." Elder says that simulated consumption leads to decreased satiety, and navigating through pages of food photos has a similar end result.
As an example, says the professor, "I went to a restaurant, and I'm taking and looking at a bunch of pictures of my food prior to eating. . . . I'm likely to not enjoy it as much as I would have, had I not looked at images at all."
By feeding their interest, foodies wind up dampening their dining experience. Even so, mouthwatering images continue to saturate popular media. "People love to see really, really good food," says Branden Lewis, chef and culinary arts instructor at Johnson & Wales University, "but I don't think that's a new thing." Lewis recalls his mother's Good Housekeeping publications and the Jell-O molds that caught her eye. The difference today, he says, is "the availability of photos that can be taken and shared."
The popular mantra, "pics or it didn't happen," might be applied here. A dish is only relevant if publicized en masse. "Students are much more active in taking pictures with their phones," says Jessica Habalou, assistant director of food and wine experiential programs at Boston University. She's noticed a marked increase even in the last few years. "It does demonstrate how fixated we are on the visual of a plate."
Most users, however, are not professional, or even accomplished, photographers, which often results in less-than-appetizing photos. To keep dishes appealing, Lewis advises Johnson & Wales students to be mindful of balance, from flavor to color to shape. For the novice Instagrammer, he suggests "natural light, no flash – ever. And [secondly,] on occasion, mix up the point of view," like extreme close-ups and off-centered shots.
Elder, the Brigham Young professor, is beginning to explore why consumers feel compelled to share each bite they take. "Showing your food . . . is showing a little bit about your personality and who you are as an individual," he says.
But as Habalou points out, even if the image is beautifully composed or earns hundreds of "likes" on a social media site, photographing your food ultimately damages the dining experience. "While you wind up your camera and choose your filter," she says, "your plate's getting cold."Jessica Teich can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Thursday, October 30, 2008
CEP - A Legend in its own Mind?
I am reading an article that just appeared in Wall Street & Technology magazine titled Wall Street Firms Using CEP to Measure and Manage Risk. Directly under the title of the article is the proclamation:
New complex event processing applications promise to help firms get a better handle on their risk exposure, but can CEP erase Wall Street's risk management woes?
This is an example of the sensationalistic headlines that have been crossing the various blogs and trade magazines in the past few weeks. All of a sudden, CEP has become a three-letter word for Financial Nirvana.
People .... I have news for you ....
CEP systems are simple tools. They take streams of data and produce some output whenever something in the streams fit a certain condition. That's all it is! CEP systems do not do predictive analysis. They won't tell you when you will be losing money in the future.
They are like compilers. Saying that CEP can help with risk management is the same thing as saying a C++ compiler can help you with risk management. CEP products and C++ compiler are merely tools. You are supposed to be providing the logic and the interpretive abilities.
All banks have risk management systems, and most (if not all) have NOT been written using CEP products. Most of them are old, legacy systems written in C++. And, most of them do the same things that CEP products do. They take real-time streams of market data, positions, trades, and P&L, and they crunch them together to produce some useful output. And believe it or not, they work well despite the fact that they are not using commodity CEP technology!
And, many risk systems are run as an end-of-day processes. They are not real-time. They produce management reports which are read every morning. It is not the fault of the risk management system or the underlying technology if management chooses to ignore a risk report or chooses to put on an exotic trade whose risk can't be measured, or chooses to go all-in with subprime mortgages.
Risk management systems were here long before CEP became a buzzword and will remain long after all of the commodity CEP products have vanished.
I can imagine that, with the journalistic feeding frenzy associating CEP and risk management, smart marketeers like Terry Cunningham, Mark Palmer, and Don DeLoach are grinning from ear to ear. Not only grinning, but also doing their bit to fan the flames, as any smart entrepreneur would do.
Let's look at the article a bit.
But CEP vendors say their software can give risk managers a better view of such counterparty risk. "No software can replace [good] judgment," says Jeff Wooten, VP of Aleri. "What [CEP] software can do is give you better information with which to make those judgments and a better understanding of where you stand."
Ugh. Why could a system written with Aleri give you a better view of your risk than a custom-coded system? Will Aleri help you write more sophisticated detection rules?
Undoubtedly, Aleri will enable you to write a new risk management system much quicker than if you were to code one from scratch. But, I don't see that the CEP system will give you "better information". (To be fair, since Aleri has a real-time OLAP product, you might get better information by using the Aleri-specific visualization tool. Maybe that is what Jeff was implying.)
"Our software can't help you predict what's going to happen with your counterparty; it can't help you predict that Lehman will declare bankruptcy," Wooten adds. "But it can help you know what your exposure to Lehman is."
Knowing your exposure to Lehman is conceptually a very simple task that can be done without the help of a CEP system. However, what if your exposure is tied up in complex derivatives? How would a CEP system help you there? I am pretty sure that all of the people who lost money in Lehman bonds knew precisely what their exposure was, without the help of a CEP system.
"It's predictive; it's [based on] probability and in some cases the CEP engine will grab something it doesn't need," Greene acknowledges. "But when you look at more-complex instruments that can take weeks or months to settle because of issues on the back end, the CEP engine that can help them automatically grab information ahead of time behind the scenes speeds that up."
Hmm ..... Can anyone decipher Spence's words for me? I think that Spence is kinda hinting about what I mentioned above, with the complexities involved in figuring out your P&L based on very complex structured products. But I would like to know exactly how Tibco Business Events assists in figuring out this exposure, and why it would be harder to do if you were to use some custom code or Excel.
Despite CEP vendors' promises, though, there are those who feel the value of CEP technology to risk management is finite, pointing to limitations of the technology itself and to the fact that risk management involves more than looking at numbers.
Bingo! And, directly after this statement, Tim Bass weighs in with some of his very correct opinions.
Another dissenting voice is Miles Kumaresan, head of quantitative trading at proprietary trading firm TransMarket Group. "The problem we have right now is the credit market, and that has nothing to do with complex risk models," he told WS&T in late September. "To do risk assessment you don't need CEP. It's much more important to actually use the risk numbers that are already available."
Double Bingo!
CEP vendors sell a tool. This tool enables you to take various real-time streams of data, and allows you to correlate the various streams in various ways. They are very useful tools. But, if you have a working risk management system, you don't need to go out and start rearchitecting your systems right away. The current crisis is bigger than any risk management system. No risk management system would have stopped SAC and Greenlight Capital from losing billions of dollars on the Volkswagon short squeeze. There is a herd mentality on Wall Street, and CEP/SOA/EDA was not going to stop SAC from accumulating this particular short position.
Where would a CEP system be useful? I might use CEP if I would build a new risk system that aggregates output from other legacy risk systems in order to present an enterprise-wide view of risk. I would use CEP to build a brand new risk management system, but only if I could not find one from a vendor that fit my needs. (And, if I might allow myself to jump on a fashionable buzzword, I might eventually find risk management applications in "the cloud", maybe as a service offered in Microsoft Azure?)
CEP, SOA, EDA are concepts and there are tools that implement these concepts. Don't ever mistake them for something that will give you immediate safety from all of the wolves out there.
©2008 Marc Adler - All Rights Reserved.
All opinions here are personal, and have no relation to my employer.
7 comments:
Kudos Marc, I could not have said it better and I am glad that you have called them on this. Quite frankly, CEP is becoming very blurry; virtually to the point that I am not sure what they do any more or maybe the problem is that there are too many of them, each with a different spin.
- TeresaMary said...
all the more reason to tout what CEP is - and is Not
- Tim Bass said...
Hi Marc,
Well done!
I have elaborated a bit more, taking an even harder line approach in my reply, The Enemy of CEP is CEP Vendors.
Yours sincerely, Tim
- tom ablewhite said...
Fantastic post Marc. Once a buzz word is set, it does nothing but get watered down by misunderstood marketers.
- Mark Palmer said...
Wow. Such anger!
Let's take a deep breath. Marc, I agree with a lot of the points you raised about this article. I was interviewed for it and I remember being amused by the thesis that CEP, or any tool, could have averted the financial crisis. I not only refused to make such bold proclamations, but I re-iterated to the reporter that CEP is a tool that's only as smart as the people who use it.
Yes, CEP is a "just a tool."
And it's a damn useful one.
No, CEP would not "write better risk modules." But it does make it easier to write risk modules.
No, CEP doesn't make smart (or dumb) trading decisions. But it does help firms write them more quickly, and more efficiently, and in a more dynamic way.
No, CEP doesn't catch bad guys and put them in jail. But it does help intelligence agencies better uncover information that can help make us more safe.
And what's wrong with all of that? To read some bloggers, CEP vendors are "evil" not only to you unsuspecting lemmings that we trick into buying our products, but we're also evil to OURSELVES! We're so brilliant!
It's hard to temper the media. It's their job to write provocative things. Simple statements, quoted in the wrong context, can sound stupid. That's why Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox blogs - he can complete his thoughts without the media filter and readers can judge accordingly.
There are some out there with an ax to grind with the CEP industry. Not this blog, but others. It's too bad. For those who like to read about who is the enemy of who, read those blogs, right after you're done with the National Inquirer.
Marc, you're right: CEP is a tool. And it's a really useful one. Like all tools, it can help make jobs easier. That claim won't make many headlines, but makes good business sense.
- Mark Palmer, CEO, StreamBase.
- marc said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- marc said...
Thanks for taking the time to write, Mark. I was not really angry ... just annoyed that someone put a germ of an idea into a journalist's mind, and that a subsequent story was done without truly understanding the underlying technology and the proper usage of it.
Some of your compatriots amongst the CEP vendors have emailed me privately to express that they agreed with opinion in that CEP is being over-hyped for the wrong reasons. Since there was so much behind-the-scenes agreement with my premises, then I would have preferred to see a number of the CEP vendors weigh in with a more fair and balanced opinion in the article in question, and not to have left it to the customer to debunk part of the myth.


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Admissions · Advising · Catalog · Financial Aid · Registrar · Scholarships
High school students who want to attend Tarleton State University ROTC after graduation should go to: http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/high_school_students.jsp and submit an ROTC scholarship application prior to December 1st of their senior year. High school juniors may also begin the application process after May 1st.
General eligibility requirements are the following:
- Be a U.S. citizen
- Be between the ages of 17 and 26
- Have a high school CGPA of at least 2.50
- Have a high school diploma or equivalent
- Score minimum of 920 on the SAT (math/verbal) or 19 on the ACT (excluding the required writing test scores)
- Pass an Army Physical Fitness Test
- Pass a Department of Defense Physical Exam
- Agree to accept a commission and serve in the Army on Active Duty or in a Reserve Component (U.S. Army Reserve or Army National Guard)
The most competitive candidates for an Army ROTC Four-Year Scholarship will have at least an SAT score of 1100 or an ACT score of 24.
Students who miss the deadline for submission of their scholarship application can still apply for a 4-year scholarship by working directly with the Cadre of Tarleton State University ROTC during their admissions process to the University. Contact us at 254-968-9188 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com to see if you are eligible.


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Prologue: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5329
Deep within the Fortress of Eeevul:
'You know what to do Deadlock. Failure is not an option.'
'Yes, master.'
'Why Deadlock acts like bootlick?'
'Dunno Fink, but I guess it is part of good ol' D's plans.'
'So are we-'
'Not we. Only I. You stay.'
'I'm sending you too, Ezra. Keep on eye on him.'
'I will... I will.'
Meanwhile, Majisto's message spread like wildfire and the two nearest generals are dispatched to take action.
'So what's the situation? I haven't had the time recover from my latest clash with those foul beasts!'
'Well sir fancy-pants, let me brief you then...'
'The area near the artefact became a wasteland for unknown reason. However, it is swarmed by those greenskins.'
'Them undead are also marching, as usual. My chopping arm is already twitching.'
'and we are in-between. But 'nuff talk, let's go!'
Factions and forces:
Sir Fabio's forces- taken
Blaze Ironbreaker's forces- taken
Ork Horde (no teams)- taken
Deadlock's horde- taken
Ezra's cultists- taken
A humble request:
Enter only if you can visit the boards on a daily basis, as I want to do these swiftly.
Turn selection:
1: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5338
2: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5348
3: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5510
4: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5548
5: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5585
6: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5617
7: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5621
8: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5667


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5 reasons to switch from iTunes to DearMob iPhone Manager
Sometimes an excellent operating system can be made even better
Fujifilm's X-Pro1 is an excellent attempt at an enthusiast, mirrorless, interchangeable-lens digital camera for a company that hasn't appealed to professionals since 2006. It looks great, is very well constructed, and has an excellent imaging sensor and lens line-up. It isn't particularly refined, though -- operating the camera is sometimes clunky, getting in the way of actually taking pictures.
It's been a long time since Fujifilm had anything to do with the professional or enthusiast-level digital camera market. The S5 Pro from 2006 was based on Nikon's semi-professional D200 DX-crop camera, but added Fuji's signature excellent colour performance, tweaking aspects of the camera to suit the company's imagined target market.
Since the S5 Pro was discontinued in 2007, Fuji has kept out of the digital SLR market. It's had a solid but uninspiring range of low- and high-end compact digital cameras, as well as a continued love of the Instax in the company's Japanese domestic market.
The X100 fixed-lens rangefinder from 2011 was the camera maker's first attempt at recapturing its lost market share. With an excellent 35mm-equivalent lens, a good sensor and impeccable styling, it was an instant cult hit. There was a follow-up X10 zoom-lens compact, and then there was the X-Pro1.
The Fujifilm X-Pro1 was initially announced to much fanfare at CES 2012, and released a few months afterwards. Three lenses were released at the same time as the camera, but in the coming months a further seven more lenses will be released. Fuji's also done a great job of releasing firmware updates to improve the X-Pro1's performance in response to owner feedback.
If you've only got a passing interest in digital cameras, the X-Pro1 will probably look very out of place to you. A term that's often thrown around to describe it is 'retro' — and that's not inaccurate, especially considering the fact that it looks very similar to Leica's 100-year-old line of rangefinder cameras.
The X-Pro1 is only available in an almost-matte black finish. Sans lens, it's a nearly completely rectangular device, much closer in form to the Panasonic GF1 than the Nikon D7100. Pick it up, and you'll find straight away that it's meant to be used — there are no unnecessary design touches or fripperies, just a series of intuitively-placed buttons, dials and switches.
The top plate of the X-Pro1 has a design that's strikingly similar to the Canon PowerShot G15. There's no flash built in, but there is a centrally-mounted hot shoe for attaching an external unit. There's a dedicated, physical shutter speed dial, a dedicated, physical exposure compensation dial, a combination power switch/shutter button (with screw thread for attaching a physical, non-electronic, mechanical shutter release). All of this is excellent: we just love the process of changing a camera's settings with proper controls rather than diving through menus or spinning dials.
The back of the X-Pro1 is slightly more standard-digital-camera though. Three multifunction buttons on the lower left, a view mode button in the centre at the top, a five-way navigation pad, playback button, display button, horizontal contextual dial, AE/AF lock button, quick menu button — nothing out of the ordinary, but nothing as [xref:http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=retrolution|retrolutionary]] as the camera's top plate.
Above the 3-inch 1,230,000-dot LCD screen that takes up most of the back of the X-Pro1, you'll see the camera's most interesting feature. It's a hybrid viewfinder, which bridges the gap between the optical viewfinder of a digital SLR and the electronic viewfinder of a camera like the Panasonic G5.
Look through it and you'll see a wide field of view that shows you (roughly) what you're pointing the camera at, but flick a switch and an electronic display snaps into place over the optical viewfinder, showing you a live read-out of exactly what the camera's sensor is seeing — exactly the same as if you were using the camera's rear display, or using a compact digital camera. We'll talk more about the process of using the hybrid viewfinder soon, but it's great in theory.
The rest of the camera is, largely, what you'd expect to find. There's a lens mount release button on the front that lets you swap out the camera's lenses, the switch to move between optical and electronic viewfinders, and a three-way autofocus mode switch. On the camera's base is a slightly-offset tripod mount, and a door that hides access to the battery and SD card compartment. The X-Pro1 has a USB and mini-HDMI output on its right-hand side.
We tried the Fujifilm X-Pro1 out with three lenses: the 18mm f2, the 35mm f1.4, and the 60mm f2.4 macro. There are seven more prime and zoom lenses in the works, and we anticipate that they'll be around in only a couple of months. Fuji is definitely committed to the X-Pro1's X-Mount lens system.
The 35mm is the best lens by far. It's the fastest to focus, has the widest aperture by a full stop over the 18mm, and has a usable everyday field of view. If we had to buy a single lens with this camera, the 35mm would be it. The 60mm is sharp, but very slow to focus, and the 18mm is usefully wide but not as sharp as the other two.
Using the camera's viewfinder, as it was designed to be used, is a love-hate process. The optical viewfinder is large and bright, but it doesn't crop to suit whatever lens you're using — so it's largely only useful for getting a rough approximation of what you're aiming at and what's in your frame. The electronic viewfinder is far more appropriate for seeing what you're actually photographing, but it is slightly laggy and not great in low light.
What's most annoying in normal, everyday usage of the X-Pro1 is its relative sluggishness. It's not especially fast to start up, respond to menu commands, to focus and shoot, or to save captured photos. The camera takes around a second after you flick the power switch until it's ready to take a photo, and hangs for around half a second in between pressing the shutter and an image being displayed on-screen.
Similarly, try to take another photo straight away in the non-continuous shooting mode and you'll have to wait almost two seconds. This is performance that's inferior to any other digital SLR or mirrorless camera that we've tried, and while it's not entirely crippling, it does mean you'll need to be more careful every time you want to use the camera.
Autofocus performance is also mediocre at best. Even with the 35mm lens, the X-Pro hunts for focus, tending to ratchet back and forwards until it finds the most appropriate distance. This is a function of the camera's contrast detect autofocus, but we've seen other mirrorless cameras do a significantly better job. It's usable, but you'll have to wait for your shot longer, or re-try focusing, more than you would with another mirrorless camera or digital SLR. Similarly, trying to focus manually is an ordeal with the camera requiring a lot of turning of the lens' manual focus rings to change from infinity to close focus.
Where the X-Pro1 excels, and where we think it's the most appealing by far, is in its picture quality. The camera's 16.3-megapixel sensor captures photos that are 4896x3264pixels in size, with an average JPEG around 4MB and an average RAW file around 25MB. The camera has an ISO range of 200-6400 natively, with extension down to 100 and up to 25600, and all through its native ISO range it does an absolutely excellent job.
At every ISO step up to 6400, the X-Pro1 suppresses chroma and luminance noise, retains great levels of detail, and has almost perfectly consistent colour reproduction. Only at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 do photos start to look a little flat or lifeless.
The camera's various 'Film Simulation' modes are all great, with good differentiation between each option and descriptions of each in-camera. We generally stuck to the standard Provia simulation, although the vivid Velvia and pro negative high modes were also good. You can improve the camera's dynamic range at certain ISO settings with a 200% and 400% dynamic range boost, improving both highlight and shadow detail and clipping at the cost of a little extra image noise in those areas.
The Fujifilm X-Pro1 certainly isn't a perfect camera — its autofocus is not great, and the viewfinder around which the camera is based isn't as streamlined as we'd hoped — but it's able to take extremely high quality photos. It also looks great, and we hope Fuji continues this trend of making well-designed, retro cameras with high quality sensors.
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Celtic Symbols / Druid Symbols
Index of Celtic and pseudo-Celtic symbols, including Druid symbols, Irish and Scottish cultural images, Celtic knots, and more.
Celtic Animals:
Looking for the "celtic symbol" of motherhood, brotherhood, courage, etc?
{ 2 trackbacks }
- Religious Symbol Dictionary | symboldictionary.net
- December 10, 2009 at 11:38 am
- Celtic Symbols « The Celtic Directory
- November 19, 2010 at 1:37 am
{ 190 comments… read them below or add one }
- April 24, 2017 at 8:03 pm
Hello. I'm looking for something that symbolizes protection to put in my daughter's car. I've been appointed to the triqueta, but I would like some affirmation that it should be THE symbol I use. She's been a passenger in some very close call crashes recently and she begins driving soon, so she wants something to protect her… And I couldn't agree more!
- February 12, 2018 at 6:11 pm
Look up a helm of awe its norse but its a really good symbol
- May 11, 2018 at 10:34 am
I would agree.
- April 9, 2017 at 9:55 pm
Can anybody ID this? Been around my neck for awhile. Just curious about my old costume piece. Kind Regards, Michael
- April 9, 2017 at 9:57 pm
- May 11, 2018 at 10:36 am
I believe its Aztec, the plummed serpents children.
- December 29, 2017 at 6:11 am
I believe its modern artwork based off of children of the plumed serpent
- March 12, 2017 at 11:59 am
I'm looking for a symbol for strength or warrior can you help me.
- December 29, 2017 at 6:29 am
The Celtic shield was used by warriors to protect there souls
- March 6, 2017 at 8:07 pm
Hi there.
Just trying to discover a celtic symbol for strength or courage? Do those exist?
Thank you!
- December 29, 2017 at 6:37 am
the Celtic bull is used to represents strength and virility this is the best i can find
- March 6, 2017 at 5:43 am
Hi. I'm looking for the celtic symbol for strength/inner strength. All the websites i look into have me confused as to which one it really is. I'd appreciate the help! Thanks so much, in advance!
- January 30, 2017 at 9:51 am
I am looking for the celtic symbol for water/waves if one exists?
My searches keep on coming back to the spiral or triple spiral, but I cannot find any solid information.
Thank you!
- December 29, 2017 at 6:38 am
Celtic rune Laguz
- November 7, 2016 at 8:25 am
Elements of bibliography that can help you in your researches :
G. Dumézil, Mythe et Épopée, I, II et III, Paris, 1968-1971-1981, and Les dieux souverains des Indo-Européens, Paris, 1977 ; J. Haudry, The Indo-Europeans (Lyon, 1994), Le Feu, Paris and Milan 2016 ; A. et B. Rees, Celtic Heritage, Londres, 1961 ; P. Mac Cana, Celtic Mythology, London, 1970 ; C. Ramnoux, Le Grand roi d'Irlande, éditions L'Aphélie, Céret (F.), 1989 ; M.-L. Sjoestedt, Dieux et héros des Celtes, Paris, 1941, réédité, encore plein d'enseignements ; Mircea Eliade, « Celtes, Germains, Thraces et Gètes », ch. 21 de l'Histoire des croyances et des idées religieuses, Paris, 1978, 2, §§ 163-172, pp. 136-151 et 433-440 ; P.-M. Duval, Les dieux de la Gaule (archaeology and meaning), Paris, 1976 ; A. Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain (archéologie britannique), Londres, 1992. W. Thurneysen, Die Irische Helden- und Königsage, Halle, 1921, rééd. Pr. Venceslas Kruta : le mode des anciens Celtes (Yoran ed.), L'art des celtes (Phaidon ed.) ; Philippe Jouët, Dictionnaire de la mythologie et de la religion celtiques (1041 p., Fouesnant (F.), Yoran editor, 2012). Civilisation : B. Maier, Lexicon, Stuttgart, 1994 ; M. Green, Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, London, 1992 ; G. S. Olmsted, The Gods of the Celts, Innsbruck, 1994. periodicals : Études Celtiques (former Revue Celtique), Ériu, Celtica, BBCS, Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, Ollodagos (Bruxelles), Journal of Indo-European Studies.
- October 15, 2016 at 9:00 pm
Hi! I was wondering if you could tell me if this is an actual symbol. I found it on pinterest but i couldn't find it anywhere else. Thank you!
- October 12, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Hi, I am searching for symbols to represent my 2 sons who's names are Keefe and Finnegan. Keefe means handsome one or noble, and Finn means little fair one. Are there symbols to interpret those ideas?
With much appreciation!
- August 14, 2016 at 2:30 pm
Hey, in Spain I bought a necklace with a symbol on it, I think it was a Celtic symbol. It looks like a star, but the ends of the spikes are arrows. They turn to the right, and there are five spikes. In the middle of the star is a dot. Around the whole star is a circle, and around the circle there is a circle with short spikes. Does anyone know the meaning of this symbol? I hope I described it clear enough…
- July 5, 2016 at 1:54 am
I'm trying to find the meaning for a Celtic symbol I found in a Celtic Jewelry/Apparel magazine. The magazine had the meaning in it but when I gave it to my son to try replicate for a tattoo I wanted to do, apparently he lost it. But I remember it fit the type of situation I had just went through in having a breast cancer scare. So it just seemed like it was the one, symbolising strength. I could of sworn it also had something to do with prosperity and a goddess symbol. It was a heart pentacle with a crescent moon on each side also had knot throughout like it was holding the moon and star. I found Celtic Jewelry website that has one but can't find one for the meaning . Would someone possibly be able to help? Please
- July 4, 2016 at 12:52 am
Hello! I have a bit of an odd question, but are there any Celtic/magic symbols that mean "death"? Or something similar to that?
- July 31, 2016 at 4:24 pm
pictish, discs and z rod, death and living. z rod (Broken arrow or spear) death of person or leader. Disc represent Dead and living world joined together with Z rod or v rod
- May 9, 2016 at 10:10 am
Can you tell me if this is an actual symbol? TIA
- March 17, 2016 at 2:53 am
I've seen this floating around as the Celtic symbol for strength, however I can't locate any sources for the image aside from Pinterest. Is this another made up symbol for tattoo art? I've also seen this being shared on some pagan groups I'm in and I'm wondering if people are posting bad information. Thanks for any help/input!
- December 6, 2015 at 8:24 am
Good morning,
Few months ago, I was inspired to get myself a tattoo. At first I was led to an alpha, omega and beta symbol, which you now call it triskele. But somehow at the same time, I wasn't fully feeling it and felt something was missing. All of sudden, triqueta with the circle loop came to my sense, but also tge triangle delta symbol appeared in my mind. So I sketched it together and had tattoo done with triqueta being the main size on my forearm with triskele in the north inner space and a small delta triangle right in the very center of triqueta's interlocking space. The tattoo is a stone foundation. I'm trying to figure out why it led me to this but I can interpret this in many ways that I can convince myself to believe it's purpose. But maybe you might be able to perhaps interpret this. Any ideas?
- January 8, 2016 at 7:14 am
I find it also strange as when I want need to do my candle rituals I am have been picture the same symbol I have been led to this page and have always thought that Celtic madgik was true it must be in our blood our heritage that's why we're drawn to it by the way the symbol is the spiral not just coincidence brother love and light blessed be with you IT IS OUR PATH OUR CALLING, also can I ask are you drawn to the sea or water??
- March 3, 2016 at 4:24 pm
I've also keep finding this symbol everywhere I look it seems. I use to draw it as a child. I am very drawn to the sea or any water for that matter. Does that mean something
- November 25, 2015 at 11:13 am
Hi my names Ashlee I am looking for a Celtic tattoo for about
10 people as our family is getting bigger we all want to get the
Same but something that represents us for being such a strong
Loving family we all like the trinity symbol do you think this is
The right one for us or would you suggest something else
Would really like some feed back as it's going to be on us for
Thanks ash..
- November 24, 2015 at 6:53 am
I am searching for something the symbolizes the help. the need for help in the world, altruism or a constant reminder that people can change the world.
- October 28, 2015 at 5:38 am
I am searching for a mother/daughter or motherhood celtic symbol. Can you give me advise? I've seen some knots, but I want to be 100% sure. Thank you.
- October 27, 2015 at 2:11 am
Hi there, I'm looking for the father/daughter bond of the Celtic knots. Ivebeen researching a lot and only find a few (non scholarly) reads in Brigid who sat with her dying father and weaved this supposed Celtic knot. Does this exist? What is it called so I can look it up appropriately
- September 21, 2015 at 12:38 pm
can anyone identify the symbol on the cover of Laurence ginnell's "the Brehon laws; a legal handbook
Thank you
- September 29, 2015 at 3:13 pm
I see where you are coming from. I take it it is not a "symbol" in its own right, nor has any relationship to Irish law?
- August 7, 2015 at 2:43 pm
I would like to inquire on exactly where the information is being acquired for this site.
- July 31, 2015 at 5:12 pm
I'm searching for a symbol for daughter, is there one? I find mother/daughter and father/daughter. Is there one that solely stands for daughter?
- July 1, 2015 at 11:35 am
Hi..looking for symbol or symbols for protector..warrior.. Seeing or prediction of future, Strong, powerful. Also powerful present personality and hard to read.. Plz help me with symbols associateing the above..
- June 7, 2015 at 8:10 pm
On the Trinity knot with the ring, Does it matter which way the points face?
I have noticed that in pictures that it shows it with a point at 12 oclock position
and at the 4 and 8 o cloc poition.
I would like to draw one with the opposite at the 10 and 2 and then the 6 oclock position but do not want to offend anyone if that is not acceptable.
Please if you could give me some feedback, I would really appreciate it!
- June 4, 2015 at 1:29 pm
I want to get a tat of the celtic symbol for family but every site i check has a different symbol i just want to know what one is the real symbol
- May 1, 2015 at 12:18 pm
Definitely getting the Sheela-na-gig
Reply to Naoise:


text:
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text:
As you may remember, so far this has been the Summer of Opposite, as each boy is learning not to like anything that the other finds even slightly interesting.
Also, I have one rule for the summer routine: It must never be routine. I can get behind a little structure, but to me summers are the birthplace of childhood improvisation. Do what you want, make it up as you go. That isn't an option for a lot of kids now, but it is for mine. So each day I ask the boys, "What'll we do today?"
And each day, they shout back diametrically opposite things.
Robert, the Creator, would like nothing better than to hang out in the air conditioning and write his comic books. His latest involves his school being carpet-bombed with balloons full of poop.
TwoBert, the Destructor, wants to voyage forth to playgrounds and parks and pools and find new and fascinating things and run over them with his bike.
The saving grace to all this, believe it or not, is that July's heat is kicking New York's ass as hard as ever. An online weather report says it'll be 92 on Friday. Then you check it a day later and Did we say 92? We meant 108. This, despite protests from daffy Texans who think 92 degrees is reason to pack a fleece, is hot. And the best way to cool oneself is to wet oneself.
Let me rephrase that.
About the only activity my kids can agree on right now involves swimming, so it has become my quest this summer to explore as many wet spots as possible.
Let me re-rephrase that.
In the interest of having the boys 1) coexist peacefully and 2) not combust, we've decided to make it our summer mission to explore as many lakes, beaches, streams, water parks, pools, and busted hydrants as we can. To make my car so damp and sandy that you can raise turtles in it. To make Magellan look like a landlocked punk.
It's a stiff education in how to keep my head on a swivel, since playing zone defense with the boys takes on a much greater urgency when deep water and/or undertow is involved. But they're also much easier to look after when they're strapped apart from each other in the back seat. So really, it's not that bad a trade-off.


text:
Vicent Co., Ltd.
Vicent Co., Ltd. offers the IT technology, which can carry out "anyone use easily". The objectives of Vicent are to propose the suitable IT technology with an idea for any company and person and to contribute to the society or the corporate activity. Vicent works for the system integration services and the internet synthesis and media services, mainly. By providing the open source software implementation services, Vicent can activate the improvement in customer satisfaction. It is with high reliability, high performance, and cost reduction and also provides the customer the best system with strong and easy to reuse, by using the object oriented. In particular, Vicent has enough experiences to develop with Java, speedy. By utilizing an agile process positively, Vicent provides the improvement for the lead time, the cost, the productivity and the quality. Vicent will provide the suitable services for everyone of any kind of the industry.


text:
however you should connect the ground side of the 12v supply direct to the junction of the mosfet source terminal and 1000uF capacitor, instead of via the mcu ground pins as you appear to be doing.
I'm using an old computer supply with both 12 and 5 volts with a common ground.
you've now broken the connection between mosfet source and Arduino ground
but just curious as to what could be causing this.
This is after an hour of wondering why the contrast didn't adjust at all only to find out the pin2 and pin 3 are swapped on my particular HD44780 compatible LCD (JHD204A - made in China).
now I find that contrast does nothing at all if I wire everything up as correct.
You probably burned out the potentiometer when it was wired incorrectly.


text:
When it comes to atheist/agnostic groups, I believe a lot of them become wrapped up in a great debate with the theists. But what is accomplished in these debates? Very rarely is a theist convinced to see things from another perspective. These people are already fixed in their beliefs, to a point where they want to get into debates with the other side.
Little is accomplished with these debates, in my opinion. I am agnostic, and I feel there is no need to push my beliefs on someone or debate with people who will not see eye to eye with me in the long run.
Instead, I have a vision of a stronger freethinking community. A place where like minded people come together to discuss ways of living better. A physical place to educate their children on our way of life. The theistic community is often wrong about what it is to be atheist/agnostic. We are strong minded individuals with a deep sense of morality. Our morality does not come from what an ancient culture wrote down thousands of years ago, it comes from our ability to rationalize and empathize with a given situation.
I believe it is easy to become alienated in my area from not being a theist. There are strong cultural values implanted from generations of religious traditions. It's tough not having an outlet. Ultimately, I would like to form a group that brings together people from all areas, so no matter where we go, we will find friends.
Religion is strong because of its community. Despite what we disagree on fundamentally, the idea of helping one another, and giving back to the community is a good thing. This is what a group of atheists and agnostics should be. Not to debate and boast its superiority, but to strengthen its community by cultivating its ideas of living better with one another.
I'd like to form this group, part of the reason I joined this site; to find other people who share a vision of a stronger community.
Views: 245
Thank you for the encouragement Easton. I have started to find more people in my area. I pitched the idea to my co-worker and he if willing to help build this community. We will be reaching out to others in the area, once we have a clearer definition of what the group should be. I'm glad that I am finding more people all over the world on this site. I believe it is a good place to cultivate ideas.
Nicholas, I encourage you to research resources in your local community relating to what you are interested in. I've begun doing the same in Seattle since I've recently decided to become more active as an atheist. Wilkes-Barre looks like a sizable town, I'm sure you will be able to find a handful of people to discuss a potential organization if one doesn't already exist. Even if it's just two or three people I think you will have succeeded. I'd also like to encourage you to create a web presence as well as posting any taped discussions on Youtube if you think they'd benefit the greater community.
Off-topic, but I'm just curious, why did Wilkes-Barre/Scranton/etc develop as a city like that? Topologically, I mean. I looked up your city on Google Maps to see if you lived in a small town or large city and started scratching my head because of its shape.
The overall goal is to be a part of a solid community where people of like-mindedness get together and work towards bettering each others lives. A solid foundation for a person to help raise a family with good secular morals and ideals. Children to be presented these ideas at a young age. I admit, i was raised Roman Catholic, and I have no idea how to even begin to raise a family. Most of my family traditions stem from a religious background.
A community would be a place to discuss matters such as these. Also, host events, like philanthropy, single get togethers, cookouts, etc, etc.
Maybe I should just start blogging instead of writing comments.
(I am just beginning to learn about philosophical history so I apologize if anything I write is inaccurate or outright wrong.)
Our morals may not come from a thousand years ago but before the rise of Christianity we were exploring morals and many other intellectual pursuits that began in Philosophy. In Greece we had Thales of Miletus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle as prominent names, and their schools of philosophy in Academy, Lyceum, and Gymnasium, which also served other purposes but for the sake of discussion we'll regard the schools of thought. I'd also like to point out that these schools existed in the presence of religious institutions.
The schools survived for a very long time and influenced the lives of people throughout Greece. If it weren't for Justinian the schools would have continued in their explorations about life outside of religion. Instead they were ordered closed because they were directly and successfully competing with religion.
There were probably many other great thinkers in that long period of intellectual exploration but only a number of their works survived. You probably already can guess why. But these works in time were utilized by religion, Christianity, at least, to legitimize those religions and make them more effective. From what I've learned Aristotle and Plato were very agreeable to later Christian thinkers.
I'm pointing out these schools of thought because I think they're very important in regards to the future of atheism.
When I think of religion I think of something that argues validation from ludicrous examples of divine revelation to support mythologies as factual stories. And these stories are the arguments for moral behavior. There may be inquiry about these stories but there are no real questions. None that matter. And this is reflected in religious institutions. The conversation is ALWAYS one-way. Even when it isn't.
I read that Socrates was a very convincing man. But Socrates was a teacher and he listened to his students. He continued to seek knowledge about life and questioned what he already knew to make sure it was accurate. I suppose as effective a teacher Socrates was, he could've gotten away with just sharing his knowledge and ignoring the probing questions his students presented that confronted his arguments. But he didn't. And he grew from it. So did the schools of thought after his time.
Though I think it's important to wrench back many assets that were absorbed by religion over the millenia, or even useful discoveries made by religion that are actually secular in nature, I don't think the future of atheism lay in supplanting old institutions with newer, better ones.
I think it will grow from new schools of thought. Places, like in the past, where people could go, learn, of their own free will and leisure (people have lives), ask questions, and only take from them what they think will improve their lives. Places where life and morals are continually being explored and may change over time. Doctrines may not exist but there will be plenty of reading material. And questions! Lots and lots of questions!
It would sort of be like college, in some ways, but you'd go once a year and skip class early to throw darts at the pub.
Theists are sometimes persuaded by atheists. Done it. Seen others do it.
Silence is at odds with deconversion, acceptance and tolerance. Racists thrive in such an environment. Homophobes thrive. And the failure to oppose theism leaves the edifice of Islam intact.
Theists don't want to be convinced. No true believer ever does, and indeed, they CAN'T be convinced. They've been scared beyond any consideration of any opinion other than their own. They aren't worth my time, my words or my effort. The only ones who we MIGHT reach are those who are tentative, who aren't sure, who are still open to new data.
If I run into someone like that, I treat them like fine china. I let THEM talk and I listen ... and where they need clarity or elucidation, I offer what I know. The fact of the matter is, THEY Are The Ones Who Need To Come To Their Own Conclusion.
If I can catalyze that, then great.
I don't feel I'll ever convince a determined theist that they are wrong. However the debates do serve to give them another foundation for things if they ever start questioning things on their own. One cannot ignore the fact that atheism has sharply risen since people like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins decided to be more outspoken.
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ELON � Members of the Elon University board of trustees have decided that Chick-fil-A can remain on campus.
The decision was announced Thursday in a lengthy email sent to students, faculty and staff. The restaurant chain has been at the center of controversy since last summer when Dan Cathy, the company�s chief operating officer, made public statements supporting the traditional family and speaking against same-sex marriage.
Protests � both in opposition to and in support of the chain � followed at numerous locations. At Elon, members of the student government association voted to kick Chick-fil-A off campus. The president of the student association vetoed the vote. SGA members tried to overturn the veto, but didn�t have the votes.
At Elon, opponents of the company criticized its president, Truett Cathy, for his opposition to gay marriage and contributions through Winshape, its charitable wing, to organizations that some describe as anti-gay.
According to Thursday�s email, three factors went into making the decision to permit the restaurant to remain at Elon. They include:
� Elon�s food service contract is with Aramark (not Chick-fil-A) and staff members serving Chick-fil-A food at Elon are Aramark employees protected by a non-discrimination policy similar to Elon�s.
�There has been no evidence of discrimination or complaints about service at Chick-fil-A on our campus,� the board email reads.
� Board members said they�re reluctant to put the university in a position of monitoring or making value judgments about the lawful philanthropic giving of vendors or related organizations.
�Removing Chick-fil-A solely on the basis of the owners� stated views or their lawful philanthropic choices would stand in opposition to Elon�s mission statement, which encourages freedom of thought and liberty of conscience,� the email reads.
� Circumstances regarding Chick-fil-A have changed since last summer.
�Chick-fil-A, its owners and the Winshape Foundation have modified previous positions and stepped away from taking political stands on gay rights issues,� the email continues.
According to the board, considerable work went into making the decision outlined in Thursday�s email. The university appointed a 15-member Vendor Policy Study Committee that included students, faculty, staff, trustees and alumni.
�Given our commitment to student engagement and our respect for human differences, we saw great value in taking time to study the issues, dig deeper into the facts, understand differing points of view and weigh the evidence and opinions expressed by hundreds of stakeholders,� the email reads.
It stated the board�s conviction to uphold Elon�s non-discrimination policy and pointed out the university offers same-sex partner benefits to employees.
�We applaud efforts to confront discrimination whenever it is present on the Elon campus,� it reads.
The university has recently hired a full-time staff position to support the interest and needs of the LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Ally) community, the email states. Dan Anderson, a spokesman for the university, said that while the position has been filled, the employee doesn�t start work until summer. Attempts were unsuccessful Thursday to reach members of Elon�s LGBTQIA community.
According to the email, Chick-fil-A�s location on campus will be moved by early fall to the first floor of McEwen Dining Hall. That�s as a result of previously announced plans to remodel Moseley Center, which will no longer include food service facilities.
�The board believes Elon has benefitted from carefully considering these complicated and sometimes deeply personal issues,� the email concludes. �Our community has resisted calls to make a quick and unilateral decision, studying the issues thoroughly, listening carefully to all opinions and insisting that every member of the community be treated with respect.�
Elon University President Leo Lambert and SGA Executive President Welsford Bishopric issued a statement in response to the board�s email.
�Today�s communication from the Board of Trustees calls upon our community to further commit ourselves to building a campus climate of respectful and meaningful civic dialogue,� it begins.
Lambert and Bishopric call for Elon�s Council on Civic Engagement to work on a plan to develop civic education initiatives for the 2013-2014 school year. The goal, the pair said, will be to enhance Elon�s intellectual climate and better prepare the university for formative conversations.
�We will always have differences,� Lambert and Bishopric wrote. �When we engage those differences constructively, societal progress is advanced.�


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It has come to my attention that a critique of my article "Halakhah, Hermeneutics and Martyrdom" published by the Jewish Quarterly Review has appeared in the Tradition Seforim blog in Fall of 2008. In principle, I do not respond to blogs, as this would place my time at the mercy of anyone who can type. However, I am preparing my articles for re-publication in 3 volumes by the Littman Library. The articles will be reproduced as originally published. However, I hope to relate to new developments in the prefaces to the individual essays. I welcome any criticism or relevant notes that individuals would send me. If I find merit in their remarks, I will note it; if their criticism seems substantive, I will try to address it.
I should add, I will not respond to anonymous communications. As I view such traffic as inappropriate. Intellectual engagement entails reciprocity of exposure. To criticize others behind a shield of anonymity is to my thinking craven and unworthy of a scholar or talmid hakham.
Haym Soloveitchik (firstname.lastname@example.com)