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Utilizing Black Mesa's assets, The Shift aims to recreate the world of Barney Calhoun. Survive in hostile worlds turned against you in a matter of minutes.
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Few shots from the Duty Calls chapter.

subset: commoncrawl


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Sea Turtles
Singer Island
Located in Florida's Palm Beach County, Singer Island is recognized as one of the most important nesting beaches in the U.S. for loggerheads, as well as an important nesting habitat for green sea turtles and leatherbacks who return there year after year to lay their eggs. While leatherback and green sea turtle nesting have been increasing in recent years, loggerhead nesting has been experiencing general decline since 1998. Plans to construct a breakwater to help slow erosion of Singer Island beaches would harm all sea turtles using the beaches and nearshore habitats.
The Problem
Palm Beach County officials have proposed spending $30 – 50 million dollars of taxpayer money to place 11 giant limestone breakers 300 feet offshore to slow advancing erosion that is threatening beachfront condos —a move that even the project sponsors admit will only slow the erosion and not stop it. These barriers would harm or impede sea turtles returning to shore to lay their eggs, as well as create a barrier to hatchling sea turtles making their way out to sea.
How We're Helping
Since the project was introduced in 2008, several agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and a coalition of conservation organizations that includes Defenders, have provided detailed information about how the project would harm sea turtles and the nearshore ecology. County officials, faced with the challenge of trying to save condominiums in the face of severe erosion, appeared poised to override these environmental concerns to try to reassure residents of vulnerable beachfront structures.
In 2011, Defenders' Florida representative, Elizabeth Fleming, testified in front of the Palm Beach County commissioners citing the enormous impact the project would have on sea turtles. After hearing testimony from Defenders and other conservation groups, the commissioners voted 5 – 2 to suspend work on the project, citing the need for more information. This was a huge win for sea turtles and other animals that depend on the beach and nearshore habitats. .
Where We Are Today
It is unlikely that the 2011 vote will be the last as plans to stop the erosion on Singer Island have been advanced in different forms for many years. Such plans would set a terrible precedent, essentially giving the green light to four other breakwater projects in Palm Beach County alone.
Defenders continues to work with and support the efforts of other conservation organizations in the area, like Surfrider Foundation, to monitor projects and advocate for sea turtle protections. Knowing that this project, and others like it, must let sound science rather than politics hold sway, we will continue to use the Endangered Species Act to ensure that proper consideration is given to the conservation and recovery of sea turtles and other wildlife that rely on these beaches.
You may also be interested in:
Size: Kemp's Ridley is the smallest sea turtle at 30 inches long (.762m). The largest sea turtle is the leatherback - an adult can reach over six and a half feet long (over 1.8m). Adult female and male sea turtles are the same size.
Weight: Kemp's Ridley weighs between 80-100lbs (36-45 kg). Leatherback can weigh over 2,000 pounds (over 907 kg)
Lifespan: Up to 80 years.


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California Department of Transportation
Date: January 9, 2013
District: 5 - Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties
Contact: Jim Shivers or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3237 or (805) 549-3189
SAN LUIS OBISPO - Continuing the push to rebuild California's infrastructure, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) today allocated $64 million to 43 projects that will reduce traffic congestion and repair highways, local streets, and bridges.
"We are putting transportation dollars to work supporting jobs and making improvements that will benefit Californians now and for decades to come," said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty.
The allocations include $42 million from Proposition 1B, a transportation bond approved by voters in 2006. In total, approximately $14.7 billion in Proposition 1B funds have been distributed statewide.
The remaining allocations ($22 million) came from assorted transportation accounts funded by state and federal dollars.
Among the projects that received funding today were:
- $1.3 million to construct new and upgrade existing guard railing, improve crash cushions and improve drainage to reduce the number and severity of traffic collisions at 31differnt locations along Hwy. 1 in the City of Santa Cruz from Laguna Road to the Waddell Creek Bridge.
- $1.4 million to relocate ditches, culverts, utility poles and other fixed objects to beyond the 30 foot highway clear recovery zone at two locations in order to reduce the number and severity of traffic collisions on State Route 166 near Guadalupe from Simas Road to Black Road in Santa Barbara County.
Please see the attached file for information about all projects that received allocations today.
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2017 IRONMAN 70.3 Athletes' Choice Awards: Best Restaurants, Will Recommend to a Friend
*Click here for the full list of the 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 Athletes' Choice Award winners.
IRONMAN 70.3 New Zealand will be staged alongside the legendary IRONMAN New Zealand event that will take place in Taupō on 2 March 2019.
About Taupō, New Zealand
Great Lake Taupō, home to the IRONMAN 70.3 New Zealand, is a popular tourist destination, boasting the largest freshwater lake in Australasia and mountains made internationally famous after being featured in the Lord of The Rings trilogy.
Come for the race but enjoy so much more! World-class trout fishing, mountain biking, hiking, adrenaline pumping adventure activities, or just enjoy a relaxing stroll along the lake front. There are restaurants and accommodation options abound; a dynamic boutique retail area; numerous arts and craft galleries and plenty of natural hot pools for soothing your muscles after the big race.
Taupō is an idyllic host venue for the sport of IRONMAN; it is a renowned and beautiful tourism destination, large enough to host international events yet small enough for the athletes and community to come together as one.
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Qualifying Race
There are 40 qualifying slots to the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France.
Event Experience
The addition of the IRONMAN 70.3 New Zealand enhances what is already a must-do event weekend for triathletes. This exciting new event will create a full festival for triathletes of all levels.
"Race week in Taupō is an amazing experience and the town absolutely buzzes. Over the past 20 years, this event has attracted over 25,000 participants from 60 countries.
IRONMAN 70.3 New Zealand athletes will have the unique opportunity to race in the morning, then stay around to support family, friends and watch the elite athletes battle it out for the title of IRONMAN New Zealand Champion.
Taupō Mayor David Trewavas said the District was incredibly proud to be home to the newest IRONMAN 70.3 in New Zealand: "The introduction of an IRONMAN 70.3 event will allow us to showcase our beautiful district to an even wider audience, and we look forward to rolling the welcome mat out for those taking part both in March and the years to come."


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What it's like to take a song from concept to Billboard's top charts? Music producer Chuck Ainlay gives us a look behind the scenes of the recording studio, and shares his personal experiences working with artists like Mark Knopfler, Lee Ann Womack, George Strait and Taylor Swift. Read on to learn more about a day in the life of Grammy-award winning music producer.
Q: What inspired you to be a music producer?
Ainlay: I remember looking at the credits on the back of album covers as a young boy and thinking how cool it would be to help create that music. Can you imagine how incredible it would feel to be George Martin and say that you produced The Beatles?
Q: What's a typical day like for an audio engineer?
Ainlay: There really is no typical day, which is what I love about it. Tracking with a roomful of musicians and hearing a song come together is what I live for, but some days can be very mundane and technical. Mixing is another area where you can get lost in the music. Sometimes, after mixing all day long, it can take literally hours to get back to reality.
Q: What's your favorite record that you've produced?
Ainlay: My favorite is always the last one I produced — George Strait's "Cold Beer Conversation." But it's difficult to pick one favorite. Some records have had enormous commercial success and that's great, but then there are those records that maybe no one will ever hear that are amazing as well. It's awesome when you get to work with people who come into the recording studio and just completely blow you away.
Q: Any specific examples?
Ainlay: One particular moment that comes to mind was when I worked on Lee Ann Womack's album a few years back. The band was practicing the first song of the album when she showed up at the studio. As soon as she stepped into the vocal booth and started singing, I got goosebumps all over. The band fed off of her energy, and that whole week was magical. That album was "The Way I'm Living" and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Album as well as Best Engineered Non-Classical Album.
Q: What's it like seeing artists create their music?
Ainlay: I'll never forget my first time working with Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler doing guitar overdubs from the control room. I was thinking at the time that Mark is probably one of the greatest guitar players ever, and he's sitting right next to me playing this amazing solo.
Q: Do you prefer to work with big names or newcomers?
Ainlay: Both. You know you've made it when you get asked to do an album with an established artist, but the lifeblood of what we do is with new undiscovered artists. I remember working on Taylor Swift's first album when she was like 16. I came home and told my wife that this young girl was going to be huge. It's albums like that that establish you and keep your career going.
Q: What was it like winning your first Grammy?
Ainlay: I'll never forget how I felt the moment I found out that I'd won the Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album. I was in Utah on a snow skiing trip with a bunch of my buddies. It was the end of the day, and we were hanging out in the Jacuzzi when I got a call from a friend at the show telling me the good news. I was the coolest dude in the Jacuzzi that evening.
Q: What's special about High-Resolution Audio?
Ainlay: With High-Resolution Audio, consumers can now download music at home or listen to it on a portable device, and it'll sound exactly the way it's heard in the studio. Gone is the lifeless quality of data-compressed MP3s! And with the high sample rate and bit depth, it's just like being there when the recording was made.


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I wish I had higher hopes for the mandatory class Oklahoma is now requiring couples to take before the state will grant them a divorce.
On the one hand: "The program will cover resources available for families on subjects that include substance abuse, addiction, family violence, behavioral health, individual and couples counseling and financial planning," according to a Tulsa World newspaper report.
On the other hand: "(Republican representative Jason) Nelson said broken homes have an impact on social services, the prison population and the school system. As a result, divorce affects all taxpayers." (Same report.)
Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill last week, sponsored by Nelson and Republican senator Rob Standridge, requiring married couples with children under 18 who seek a divorce based on incompatibility to pay for and complete the program.
"It seems like a small thing to ask people to do — to take a course — when the challenges that come from divorce are so permanent," Nelson told Tulsa World.
Seriously, I can hear advocates saying. What's one class?
One class is one more example of the stigma we attach to kids of divorce as sad, broken future prison inmates. One class is one more example of a culture so obsessed with "traditional family" that it often forgets to talk about the children who thrive with one parent or gay parents or four parents.
One class is one misguided attempt to talk adults out of a decision they most likely arrived at after countless hours (sometimes years) of soul searching and hand-wringing and researching and counseling.
People whose marriages are dissolving don't need a stranger hired by the state to pretend to know what's best for them or their children. They need guidance and resources and some plain old empathy. I doubt a class designed on behalf of "the taxpayers" is going to offer any of the above.
My kids were 2 and 6 when my ex-husband and I divorced. They are now happy, healthy 4- and 8-year-olds who perform well in school and surround themselves with good pals and talk candidly about their feelings and feel cherished and adored by all members of their non-traditional family.
You can show me statistics about what they're more at risk for because their dad and I are no longer married, and I will remain unconvinced that we did the wrong thing by splitting. Holding my certificate of divorce hostage until I completed the marital version of traffic school would also not have changed my mind.
"If you are going through the whole divorce process and have kids, if we can do anything to keep people together, we should," Standridge told Reuters. "Marriage is a lifelong contract with the state and with your children."
If states want to help families work through the difficult challenges of divorce, they should offer classes that promise to demystify the process, guide parents to helpful programs and yes, speak candidly about the very real hardships. They should make those classes optional.
What they shouldn't do is introduce the classes as a punitive, defensive maneuver aimed at protecting our schools and prisons from broken-home delinquents, while simultaneously implying divorcing parents are breaking a promise to their children. Parenthood is a lifelong contract with your children. Marriage is not.
The whole thing strikes me as one state's attempt to kick parents while they're down, even as it pretends to lift them up. I hope it's not the beginning of a trend.
Twitter @heidistevens13


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Mark T. Carberry, litigation partner, Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP
Mark T. Carberry has joined Neal Gerber Eisenberg LLP as a partner in its securities and commodities litigation practice group, and will bring his extensive expertise to bear in representing clients in a slate of civil, regulatory and enforcement matters in actions across the country. Carberry's experience includes civil proceedings in arbitration forums and federal court, conducting internal investigations and defending regulatory and enforcement matters initiated by the SEC, CFTC, DOJ, NASD, NYSE, CME, CBOT, and other regulators, exchanges, and self-regulatory bodies. Prior to joining the firm, Carberry spent more than a decade working at UBS, serving most recently as counsel to UBS's private wealth management business group. In addition, Carberry also held senior legal positions with AG, wealth management Americas and legal & compliance US. In these roles, he served as an advisor and counsel to senior business partners, branch office management and financial advisors throughout the organization on legal, compliance, and risk management matters. Before UBS, Carberry worked in private practice - including as a partner at Neal Gerber Eisenberg from 1990 to 2000 ¿ during which time he focused on all aspects of federal and state corporate, securities and commodities law with a client base consisting of registered investment advisers, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants, investment companies and other national financial services entities. Carberry received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from Valparaiso University. Carberry served as a law clerk to the Hon. Luther M. Swygert, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Copyright © 2019, Chicago Tribune


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April 26, 2007
By JOHN FLOWERS
MIDDLEBURY — Local members of the Vermont House on Monday sharply criticized a Senate-passed legislation calling for annual caps on school budget increases.
The measure — devised by Gov. James Douglas — calls for public school budget increases to be limited to 4 percent in the first year, and at 3.5 percent during ensuring years, unless a "super majority" of at least 60 percent of the local electorate decides to override the cap.
Douglas has touted the cap as a means of limiting education-related property tax increases during an era in Vermont's history when school populations are declining.
The Vermont Senate on April 17 voted 15-15 — with Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie breaking the tie — to endorse a series of amendments (including Douglas's spending cap) to H.526, the so-called "act relating to education quality and cost control."
April 26, 2007
By HARRIETTE BRAINARD
MIDDLEBURY — The annual cost of attending Middlebury College will hit $46,910, a 5.25 percent increase over the prior year, for the 2007-08 academic year. The increase includes a 5 percent bump in the comprehensive fee and a 50 percent jump in the student activities fee set by the Student Government Association (SGA).
College officials this week said the increase reflects the commitment their institution has made to increasing faculty size and student aid as outlined in the strategic plan approved last May.
"With the federal government taking less of a role in providing scholarships to college students all of us who are involved in educating students are trying to reduce the loan component for the sake of the student," said Vice President for Communications Mike McKenna.
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Copyright 2011 Addison Independent | 58 Maple Street, Middlebury, Vt. 05753 | All Rights Reserved
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Brain Teasers
Matter transporter
You received a pair of matter transporters from your nerdy friend. It has a screen that you can put matter in and have it come out the other transporter, using science you cannot understand. Assuming no laws of physics change, can sound and light be transported through it?
HintOne can, one can't.
AnswerSound can, light can't. Sound can because it is really just all the particles in the air bumping into the next ones and creating a domino effect. Some will get pushed through the transporter, thus carrying sound. Light cannot because it is not matter and does not use matter to travel.
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Vince Gill, Keith Urban + Brad Paisley Honor Glen Campbell at 2011 CMA Awards
Today's country music wouldn't be what it is without the iconic stars that led the way, like Glen Campbell, who changed the face of the industry with a string of Top 10 hits in the 1960s and '70s. Realizing his greatness, Vince Gill, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley took the stage at the 2011 CMA Awards to honor the legend, who announced in June that he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
The modern country stars stood in a row and each performed one of Campbell's hit songs — Gill took 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix,' Urban tried his hand at 'Wichita Lineman' and Paisley did the honors on 'Galveston,' which was backed by a photo montage.
75-year-old Campbell mouthed along with each of his songs from the audience while the threesome performed the blend, each accompanying their peers on guitar as they sang their respective selection. At the end, a big group of folks welcomed Mr. Campbell to the stage to tip a collective hat to the legend and the path he paved for those that followed.
Despite his struggle with Alzheimer's, Campbell recently stated a desire to do a farewell tour before he retires.


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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Climate Change Quote of the Day
A "scientific consensus" is not science. "Consensus" is a political word. Politicians reach "Consensus." Scientists reach "factual conclusions" based on evidence.
Source: "Climate Change is All About Power"
5 comments:
There is not enough evidence gathered in the last 50 years to know squat about climate. (Ive been studying hurricanes and climate since '81 when I saw my first hurricane)ReplyDelete
Actually, if anything we are about to enter a serious cooling phase for NAmerica and Europe!!!ReplyDelete
Floods and draughts happening regularly are the best indicators of climate change apart from rise in global temperatures. Climate change effects the regions economy and well being of its citizens to a large extent. The direct impact can be seen in the agricultural-based regions of the world.ReplyDelete
The climate has been in flux since the beginning of time. During the "midieval warm period" from 900-1300 AD, how many SUVs were being used? Was it climate change legislation that caused the "little Ice age" from 1300-1850? If we are experiencing Global Warming, why has the warm AMO cycle for the Atlantic Ocean that generally lasts 30 years seemingly ended after 13? Trust me when I tell you, a warmer planet is preferable to a colder one. Man made climate change is a big fat hoax. If CO2 is building up in the air, (CO2 is heavier than oxygen and nitrogen), why have average sea level barometric pressures not risen?ReplyDelete
Oh and Nancy, has a longer growing season caused our economic problems? If global warming was happening, the climate I experience where everything stays green year-round, and there are 2 growing seasons would have spread northward. It has not done so.ReplyDelete


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Video: "Alejandro" live by Lady Gaga at ArtRAVE
HD Video and photo by G.
If Lady Gaga were to perform "Alejandro," at Madison Square Garden as part of her ArtRAVE on May 13, 2014, I imagine it would look and sound exactly like this….
Don't call my name… just click PLAY!
To see more photos, set list and review, CLICK HERE! (link will open in a new window).


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This is a general discussion forum regarding thoughts, opinions and rumors about the Jeep JL Wrangler or related subjects that don't quite fit in the Modified or Stock sub-forums.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
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Thanksgiving Gluten-Free Menu Swap and Meal Plan Monday: Sweet Potato Knish Recipe
Don't forget to sign up to adopt a gluten-free blogger. And, if you've signed up, please remember to give me the URL of the recipe you plan to make- A.S.A.P.!
By the way, I have a very special VIDEO recipe POST that should be up tomorrow… so stay tuned!
Here's my menu for the week, including Thanksgiving:
Sunday: European/Continental
GF French Bread
Cheese Fondue
Sweet Potato Salad
Roasted Green Beans
Monday: American
Mozzarella Roasted Eggplant Sandwich
Homemade Tomato Soup
Tuesday: Vegetarian
Fried tofu
Leftover Tomato Soup
Rice Pilaf
Thursday: Thanksgiving menu
Stuffed Acorn Squash with Portabella Mushroom Stuffing
dairy Spinach Pie (vegan variation)
Green Bean Side
Mashed Potatoes
Nutritional Yeast Vegan Gravy (recipe #2)
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Apple Pie
Shopping List for the week:
Firm Tofu
Sweet Potatoes
Acorn Squash
Fresh basil
Portobella Mushrooms
Poultry Seasoning
Ginger Ale (1 can)
Orange Juice
San-J WHEAT FREE low-sodium tamari
Natural cranberry sauce (without corn syrup)
Cheddar Cheese
Milk (1% ?)
*Take for Thanksgiving at in-laws:
Bullion cubes
1 pkg GFP bread mix
nutritional yeast
brown rice flour
More gluten-free vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes at the Book of Yum:
Breadless vegetarian Pumpkin Stuffing Recipe
Gluten-Free beer Glazed Brussel Sprout recipe
Adeenas Gluten-Free Hearty Rosemary-Thyme Dinner Roll Recipe
Pamela's Gluten-Free Diner Drop Biscuit Recipe
Cranberry Pecan Coffee Cake Recipe
Vic and Hallie's Surprise Cranberry Pie Recipe
Chebe Cranberry Apple Turnover
Gluten-Free Vegan Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe
Vegan Brandied Apple Cake Recipe
I always enjoy posting my menu with Org Junkie. This week I am also hosting the Gluten-Free Menu Swap, which is temporarily headquartered at Cheryl's site Gluten Free Goodness. I chose sweet potato as my theme ingredient because it is such a lovely, healthful, and seasonal ingredient. Sweet potatoes are high in anti-oxidants, and "vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, and a good source of copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron." (source: Wh Foods) The Center for Science in the Public Interest did a study to compare Sweet Potatoes to other vegetables nutritionally in 1992. "Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.(NCSPC)." (source: Wikipedia) Sounds good to me! And with all the great recipes out there for sweet potatoes, there's no need to simply go for candied yams or marshmallow topped traditional recipes- you could have your Thanksgiving sweet potato grilled, in a salad, baked in fries, or even in dessert. Sweet Potato Pie, anyone? I've never had sweet potato pie, but I hear that it is popular with a certain presidential elect. We'll be trying it this Thanksgiving as one of our pies… I'll let you know how it goes!
I've been eating a lot of sweet potatoes lately. They're great for breakfast, microwaved with butter or margarine, salt, and pepper, or in an unconventional sweet potato latke recipe. For lunch, they can be boiled, roasted, steamed, and mashed. In a recent Alton Brown special, he made delicious Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes (make sure your adobe sauce doesn't contain wheat), and also inspired with the idea of sweet potato waffles, as well as offering a variety of useful tips. For example, did you know that like tomatoes, sweet potatoes should not be refrigerated? If you do refrigerate them, they will get a hard core that resists cooking. However you cook or prepare them, I love sweet potatoes.
My Sweet Potato Recipes at the Book of Yum:
Sweet Potato and Artichoke Fresh Herb Pasta
Sweet Potato Peanut Soup
Sweet Potato Salads
Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad Recipe
Grilled Sweet Potato salad Recipe
Small Portion Sweet Potato Salad Recipe
Sweet Potato Salad with Orange Maple Dressing Recipe
Enticing Sweet Potato Recipes from some of my favorite Bloggers:
Gluten-free Sweet Potato Pita Bread
Vanilla Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Elise's Holiday Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Kalyn's Spicy Sweet Potato Fries
Karina's Sweet Potato Shoestring Fries
Cold Sweet Potato Vichyssoise Soup
Sweet Potato Souffle Recipe (Just sub a GF blend for the flour)
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Recipe
Sweet Potato Custard Pie
Menus from other gluten-free menu planners
Fresh Ginger shared her Thanksgiving Week GF Menu. Her modern Mexican/New Mexican menu for Thanksgiving sounds delightful, and it's great that everyone is pitching in so she doesn't have to do all the cooking for the planned feast! She will be making spiced roasted sweet potatoes, and I'd love to see the recipe.
Kim from Gluten Free is Life has nice relaxing meals planned until the big day- Thanksgiving! They'll be having a huge, delicious sounding meal including Sweet Potato Rounds with Curried Chicken Salad, sweet potato casserole, cornbread stuffing, chebe rolls for the GF folks, and some yummy looking desserts. I have my eye on those Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars… And, on a non-Thanksgiving note, Kim uses sweet potatoes for hash browns- what a great idea!
Amanda of Asparagus Thin has a delightful menu planned with Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pulao and
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Banana Ketchup. Man, I wish I could go eat at her house sometime! She also has a Plantain Omelete planned, and a certain something for the Daring Bakers. The ooey gooie caramel pecan pie she has planned sounds absolutely sinful and delicious.
At Angela's Kitchen Angela made Roasted Rosemary [Sweet] Potatoes that sounds absolutely lovely. Her Thanksgiving menu is full of family favorites and some new experiments like an intriguing gluten and dairy free green bean casserole that she will post tomorrow. I'm very curious about her freezer apple pie…
Esther at The Lilac Kitchen has a great menu planned with an interesting shepherd's pie with a root vegetable topping that may include the sweet potato… Sounds delicious!
This weekend we had a Celiac Bay Area Potluck, and I decided to make Bette Hagman's French Bread and By the Bay's amazing Potato Knish Recipe. However, many of us at the potluck have various food intolerances, and as it happens, one of my friends is sensitive to potatoes as well as dairy and soy (found in many margarines). I had actually tried making a sweet potato knish before with pecans and wasn't quite happy with it. This time I decided to make it more similar to my favorite potato knish recipe, but with a slightly different technique (steaming the sweet potatoes rather than boiling them) and enhanced seasonings. Penzey's heavenly smoked paprika added the perfect touch to the filling- and my potato-sensitive friend loved them! By the Bay's original Potato knishes were a smash success as well- one adorable young Celiac proclaimed them her favorite thing at the whole party!
I know it's not exactly a salad, in any sense of the word, but here's the recipe for Chebe-based Sweet Potato Knish. Hope you enjoy!
You can buy Chebe through Chebe.com or through Amazon (click links below).
Dairy-Free Soy-Free Sweet Potato Knish Recipe
1 package all purpose dairy-free Chebe mix
2 large eggs
2 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp rice milk
3 tbsp olive oil
Preheat oven to 375F.
Dough: Combine ingredients in a medium/large bowl and stir until combined. Then start to knead your ingredients together with your hands until you form a smooth ball of dough. Separate into three balls. Cut out the sides of a freezer safe gallon ziploc bag and reserve.
Meanwhile, peel your sweet potato and cut into cubes. Bring water to boil in a pot with a steamer basket and add the cubes to the steamer. Steam for 25 minutes and then remove from the steamer. While sweet potatoes are steaming, heat one tablespoon olive oil in a pan (nonstick or otherwise). Add your diced onion and sautee for a few minutes. Then add your pressed garlic clove and cover, lowering heat. When onion is translucent, add the sweet potato and mash it into the pan, folding in the spinach. Season with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper to taste. Take off heat and mix in your (optional) egg.
Then take your cut open ziploc bag and roll out each of your balls of dough for your knish. Use a circle mold (small plate, large mug, small bowl, whatever you have that seems right) cut out circles for making knish pouches. Place a ball of sweet potato filling in the center of each dough circle and fold up the dough with creases around the top as you like. Repeat with the rest of your dough and filling.
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly grease with olive oil, placing your knish pouches on the cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, turning sheet halfway through. When knishes are a light golden brown, remove from oven and serve. They taste best freshly baked or when they've cooled to room temperature. Once you refrigerate them they may become a little tough, but to re-crisp, just heat in a 375 or higher temperature oven for 10 minutes or so.
Modified from By the Bay's Potato knish recipe:
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text: Interview with Edwin Meese, III Introduction Edwin Meese shares his experiences as one of Reagan's closest political confidants both as a senior official during the Sacramento years, as a member of the White House troika, as as Attorney General of the United States. Meese describes his first contact with Ronald Reagan during the 1966 gubernatorial campaign, and his tenure as legal affairs secretary and Chief of Staff for Governor Reagan. He covers a broad range of key issues like student protests, capital punishment, the pardoning process, press relations, the Governor's staff, and Reagan's short-lived 1968 run for the presidency. Meese gives an exhaustive account of the 1980 presidential campaign, specifically the primary campaign, the national convention, the vice-presidential selection process, and the campaign against President Carter. The interview then moves to a lengthy discussion of Meese's tenure as Attorney General. Meese covers his arduous confirmation process, judicial appointments, the organization of the Justice Department, the war on drugs and pornography, and a host of other issues in great detail. Finally, Meese gives a retrospective account of the man he served for fifteen years, describing Reagan as a great leader whom people should remember for the economic and foreign policy successes of the 1980s. Copyright 2005 The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. Publicly released transcripts of the Ronald Reagan Oral History Project are freely available for non-commercial use according to the Fair Use provisions of the United States Copyright Code and International Copyright Law. Advance written permission is required for reproduction, redistribution, and extensive quotation or excerpting. Permission requests should be made to the Miller Center, P.O. Box 400406, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4406 Transcript The contents of this interview are not yet open to the public.


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Skip Hire Walditch from YourLocalSkipHire.co.uk
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Booking your skip using Yourlocalskiphire.co.uk is quick and easy. Our online booking system means you can have a no-obligation quote faster than you might think. Just put your Walditch postcode into the box above, and we'll let you know how much your skip hire will cost. Alternatively, give us a call now on 0330 1130 700.


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A Bi-Weekly News Bulletin for CBAI Members May 23, 2018
DISCLAIMER:The association is not responsible for and has no control over the subject matter, content, information, or graphics when viewing links attached to this association's site. If you do not wish to receive e-mails from Community Bankers Association of Illinois (CBAI), 901 Community Drive, Springfield, IL 62703, through CBAI in the future, please click here. - OR - If you would like to be removed from the CBAI e-mail database, please click here.


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Lately I was travelling around and had Pocomail with me on a netbook, using secure and not secured wireless connections.
I had two problems:
1. Everytime I used another wireless connection, I had to edit the account setup for the outgoing server. - Would there be a way to have that automated inside the .ini, respectively the accounts setup?
2. Even more boring: whenever I started Pocomail with another wireless connection, Pocomail started to collect not only the new mails, but all the mails, I had not yet received with that new connection, that means, also all the mails I had been downloading before with an prior used wifi. Is there a way to make Pocomail first looking on the computer what has been downloaded allready, before starting fetching what only looks to be new. Or is there something wrong with my settings?
Would that be different (=solve the problems) when using Email Voyager or myInfoToGo? What is the functional difference between Voyager and myInfoToGo?
Thanks, ente


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The inside of the bunk house at Black Island after a storm. All this snow has worked its way into the building through the tiny gaps in the window seals and frame work.
There are a couple of armchairs and a diesel pre-way heater in the corner on the right of the picture under all the snow.
nighttrain black island snow storm antarctica anthony powell south pole cold


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Smart rendering Professtional-Looking Menu With the smart rendering technology, you can quickly edit and convert MPEG-2 video files into a DVD movie with minimal video re-encoding. A great time saver and vieo quality preserver! The extensible menu template and the flexible menu editing options provide you with control over the entire look and feel of your DVD production.
Dolby Digital AC3 Creative Playback Controls This feature is capable of compressing any audio track into a two track stereo or 5.1 Surround audio stream, providing awesome surround sound in the comfort of your home. First Play lets you play an introductory video before the menu displays; End Action helps you tell different stories with the same video content.
Real-Time Video Preview DVD Burning With this function, you can see what it would be like to navigate through your menus without outputting to the hard drive or DVD. The built-in burner allows you to easily burn your exported DVD folder onto a DVD disc and share it with your family and friends.
March 2011 update release (184.108.40.206) 1. (NEW) DVD export batch manager. 2. (NEW) menu buttons for audio and subtitle selections. 3. (NEW) optional light color (blue) skin selection. 4. (BUG) cannot open HD TS files without PAT. 5. (BUG) loss of user data in GOP header for re-encoded video. 6. (BUG) sample rate conversion error for audio longer than 6 hours.
Language Multilanguage Available for users only


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From Our Inbox: A New 2010 Census iPhone AppThursday, November 19th, 2009
From Zubin Wadia of CiviGuard:
MyTwoCensus Team,
I figured you as someone who might be interested in publishing our Census taking app for the iPhone…
The Census Bureau will not allow people to respond to surveys online… I assume this is because it is very difficult to ensure no duplicity or contamination of results (from hackers etc.).
The http://2010.census.gov site debuted about 2.5 weeks ago… and it had the 2010 form available in English and Spanish for anyone to review. A few days earlier at the Government Technology Conference I had the privilege to hear Vivek Kundra speak to us.
One thing that resonated deeply with me was his vision for a world where agencies share their data and vendors organically come up with solutions. The Census Bureau did just that. They put the form online. They made their travails public. I thought it was a travesty that the USA, in 2010, cannot allow people to do electronic censuses.
So I created an iPhone app with my team for it. It can easily be ported to the Android platform in 2 weeks. And even if the public may not be able to use it – the Census Bureau perhaps can. We are still 100+ days away from Census day 2010… which leaves plenty of time to perform any back-end integration with their address database.
The paper version of the form can be downloaded in PDF here:
About the App:
- Checkboxes are hard to do on the iPhone (not a supported component out of the box) – but it works great for this use-case and we made it happen.
- Once a survey is done (takes 2 mins for normal cases), a JSON message is created, it is encrypted, compressed and sent to a REST-style web service on Google's App Engine.
- The system uses GeoTagging to add a layer of validation. You must be within US territories. You must be within 1 mile of your home billing address related to your cell number. Then you can do a census. One census per household.
- Integration with Telecom databases and the Census Address DB is of course pending. Our expectation is that the application will have enough buzz to yield next steps with the Census Bureau.
About CiviGuard:
We focus on Public Service 2.0 solutions for the US Government. Our core focus is emergency management – our CiviCast platform is the first solution in the world to offer guided evacuation or isolation guidance to civilians during a crisis. This is far more capable and detailed vs. the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) specification currently being pursued by the Fed.


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September 4, 2011
Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel
[Note: This is the syndicated L.A. Times puzzle. It does not appear in the actual newspaper, but is available for free at cruciverb.com.]
Theme: "Secret Stash" — Phrases in which ST is changed to H, yielding wacky results.
- 24A: Jack Benny in his patented pose? (HAND-UP COMIC).
- 26A: One military stint after another? (CHAIN HITCH).
- 37A: Causes serious damage at sea? (HACKS THE DECK).
- 61A: Getting flattened by a gridiron lineman? (HUMBLING BLOCK).
- 75A: Hollywood hopeful's pursuit? (PUBLICITY HUNT).
- 97A: Cad on his best behavior? (TEMPERED HEEL).
- 111A: Coven gatherings? (HAG PARTIES).
- 117A: Give a ride to roadside yokels? (PICK-UP HICKS).
- 14D: One going from theater to theater? (SHOW HOPPER).
- 73D: Pawnbroker's niche? (HOCK MARKET).
First I want to comment on the grid. Our constructors have given us ten theme entries today, including two theme pairs that intersect in the upper right and lower left. And even with all that theme coverage, they've squeezed in some interesting long entries like ALFA ROMEO, GO FIGURE, and BALTIC SEA. Impressive.
HAND-UP COMIC entry is wonderful if you're old enough to remember Jack Benny. I'm not that old, but I have seen quite a few episodes of "The Jack Benny Show" and I'm familiar with his signature hand-on-the-chin gesture. I like listening to old-time radio shows, but most of the comedy routines haven't aged well. There are a couple exceptions though. Jack Benny's still funny, and I love Burns & Allen. Gracie cracks me up every time she opens her mouth.
I also like HUMBLING BLOCK. That's a great entry for football season, which is starting soon. Or maybe it's already started. I'm not sure. I don't follow football much anymore. I've never recovered from the confusion of the Seahawks' shift to the NFC, and that was almost 10 years ago.
- 5A: Carlisle's wife in "Twilight" (ESME). For crossword purposes, there are only two names you need to remember from the "Twilight" series: ESME and BELLA. Bella's the main character and Esme is...somebody else. Carlisle's wife I guess. And I think she's the mom of sparkly vampire Edward.
- 34A: "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" Newbery Medal-winning author (AVI). I'm surprised we don't see his name more often in puzzles. AVI is usually clued as a bird-related prefix. But this AVI guy is certainly crossword-worthy.
- 48A: 2, at Putt-Putt (PAR). I figured that "Putt-Putt" and miniature golf were the same thing. Well, Putt-Putt is a trademark, and Wikipedia informs me that there "are several significant differences between Putt-Putt's brand of miniature golf and other versions." What, no windmills? I get the impression that Putt-Putt is for more "serious" miniature golfers.
- 67A: Wee start? (PEE). Did this clue/answer pair make you giggle?
- 106A: Tilde feature? (SHORT I). Tricky. The word "tilde" features a short i sound. And you thought Shorti was a new "Jersey Shore" character.
- 109A: Word after Wuzzy (WAS). From the immortal "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear..." tongue twister.
- 40D: Yankees all-time hit leader Jeter (DEREK). 3,064 and counting.
- 90D: Head turner, say (EYE CANDY). Another nice long entry.
- 113D: Ones knocked off during strikes (PINS). I don't think "knocked off" makes sense. Should be "knocked down," right?
Everything — 1A: Award named for a Muse (CLIO); 5A: Carlisle's wife in "Twilight" (ESME); 9A: "No prob!" (A SNAP); 14A: Kane's Rosebud, e.g. (SLED); 18A: Loch with sightings (NESS); 19A: Financial claim (LIEN); 20A: Hooch source (STILL); 21A: "I'd like a say" sounds (AHEMS); 22A: St. Petersburg is on it (BALTIC SEA); 24A: Jack Benny in his patented pose? (HAND-UP COMIC); 26A: One military stint after another? (CHAIN HITCH); 28A: Recently retired NBAer (YAO); 29A: Mac-PC battles, e.g. (AD WARS); 30A: Hole advantage (ACE); 31A: Expression of disdain (TUSH); 33A: Semicircular structure (ARCH); 34A: "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" Newbery Medal-winning author (AVI); 37A: Causes serious damage at sea? (HACKS THE DECK); 42A: Hautboy, more commonly (OBOE); 46A: Certain boss's group (GANG); 48A: 2, at Putt-Putt (PAR); 49A: Saintly Mother (TERESA); 50A: 29-Across units (SPOTS); 51A: Spider automaker (ALFA ROMEO); 54A: Cop's catch (PERP); 55A: Tradition-challenging genre (POP ART); 56A: Pageant topper (TIARA); 57A: "&iques;Cómo __?" (ESTÁ); 59A: Under-the-hood knock source, perhaps (ENGINE ROD); 61A: Getting flattened by a gridiron lineman? (HUMBLING BLOCK); 65A: You may read it before turning a page (OVER); 66A: Poehler of "SNL" (AMY); 67A: Wee start? (PEE); 68A: "... boy __ girl?" (OR A); 69A: UAL West Coast hub (SFO); 70A: Consequence of over-toasting?: Abbr. (DUI); 73A: Piltdown man, say (HOAX); 75A: Hollywood hopeful's pursuit? (PUBLICITY HUNT); 79A: Stuff, pad, cover, etc. (UPHOLSTER); 83A: Hopper (FROG); 84A: Indian melodies (RAGAS); 85A: Breaks bread? (SLICES); 86A: Conn of "Grease" (DIDI); 89A: "I'm not making this up!" (TRUE STORY); 91A: Dweebs (DORKS); 92A: Elegy, for example (LAMENT); 94A: What big girls don't do, in a '60s hit (CRY); 95A: Sport with Shinto rituals (SUMO); 96A: "Up and __!" (AT 'EM); 97A: Cad on his best behavior? (TEMPERED HEEL); 100A: Sch. in Nashville (TSU); 101A: Magician's opening (ABRA); 103A: Bailiff's request (RISE); 104A: Pres. after JAG (CAA); 106A: Tilde feature? (SHORT I); 109A: Word after Wuzzy (WAS); 111A: Coven gatherings? (HAG PARTIES); 117A: Give a ride to roadside yokels? (PICK UP HICKS); 120A: Ritual before a fall, hopefully? (RAIN DANCE); 121A: First pot chips (ANTES); 122A: Shower time (APRIL); 123A: Repair (MEND); 124A: Scientology's __ Hubbard (L. RON); 125A: Now, in the ER (STAT); 126A: Kid's choice word (MEENY); 127A: __ listening (EASY); 128A: Give, but expect back (LEND); 1D: "Street Signs" network (CNBC); 2D: Wife of Jacob (LEAH); 3D: Cuba, to Cubans (ISLA); 4D: Old Roman port (OSTIA); 5D: "Your Stinginess" ("EL CHEAPO"); 6D: "You bet, señor!" ("SÍ SÍ!"); 7D: Assemble (MEET); 8D: Puts into law (ENACTS); 9D: Shade of blond (ASH); 10D: "Don't move!" ("STAY HERE!"); 11D: "Project Runway" judge Garcia (NINA); 12D: Designer Gucci (ALDO); 13D: Like cats and dogs: Abbr. (PLU.); 14D: One going from theater to theater? (SHOW HOPPER); 15D: 1964 British Open champ (LEMA); 16D: Qatar bigwig (EMIR); 17D: Mil. medals (DSC'S); 21D: Current initials (AC/DC); 23D: Foot part (INCH); 25D: Use a lot? (PARK); 27D: Pizza the __: "Spaceballs" role (HUTT); 32D: Herding dog name (SHEP); 33D: Here, in Havana (ACA); 34D: First name in mystery (AGATHA); 35D: Drug for anxiety (VALIUM); 36D: Disrepute (INFAMY); 38D: Followed (CAME NEXT); 39D: Kmart founder (KRESGE); 40D: Yankees all-time hit leader Jeter (DEREK); 41D: "Home Run Derby" airer (ESPN); 43D: Hog wild? (BOAR); 44D: Juan's "other" (OTRO); 45D: Abbr. before a year (ESTD.); 47D: Duds (GARB); 50D: Loudness unit (SONE); 52D: "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-__": Irish lullaby (RAL); 53D: Handicapper's hangout, briefly (OTB); 55D: Turning point (PIVOT); 58D: Jesus of baseball (ALOU); 60D: "Beats me" ("GO FIGURE"); 62D: "No thanks" ("I PASS"); 63D: Heavenly body (ORB); 64D: Little lower? (CALF); 69D: Burn badly (SCORCH); 70D: Where many bats are seen (DUGOUT); 71D: Takes weapons from (UNARMS); 72D: Fitting room "That looks fabulous!" ("IT'S YOU!"); 73D: Pawnbroker's niche? (HOCK MARKET); 74D: Corrida cries (OLÉS); 75D: Dress fussily (PRIMP); 76D: NYC subway (IRT); 77D: Mos. and mos. (YRS.); 78D: Bowlers, e.g. (HATS); 79D: Food stamp (USDA); 80D: Novel idea (PLOT); 81D: Take on (HIRE); 82D: Dutch treat (EDAM); 87D: Fur trader's supply (DEERSKIN); 88D: Cross letters (INRI); 90D: Head turner, say (EYE CANDY); 92D: Green span (LEA); 93D: New Ager John (TESH); 97D: Stumble (TRIP); 98D: "Oh, no!" ("DEAR ME!"); 99D: Hog fat (LARD); 102D: Heat meas. (BTU'S); 105D: Even a little (AT ALL); 106D: Places with lots of white robes (SPAS); 107D: Request from one who's stumped (HINT); 108D: Numerical prefix (OCTA-); 109D: Rub dry (WIPE); 110D: Lot size (ACRE); 112D: Mother of the Titans (GAEA); 113D: Ones knocked off during strikes (PINS); 114D: Memo starter (IN RE); 115D: MBA course (ECON.); 116D: iPhone command (SEND); 118D: It may be cured (HAM); 119D: Crafty (SLY).


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Welcome to the CRG Discussion Forum!Forum registration problems: Make sure you enter your email correctly and you check your spam box first. *Then* email KurtS2@gmail for help.Classified ads are not allowed on the forum.
That pic with the strange shifter is marked, and certainly looks like a '69 interior. If I read correctly, this was the 69 car set up with the 70 changes before the new bodies turned up.
Ok, am I correct in assuming that front suspension mounting points were stock from 66-68? What was to be gained by changing them? Robert Barg


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Emmys 2014 – Final predictions for who will win
When the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences hands out awards this week, expect a few surprises.
Airing on Monday night this year (thanks to football), the Emmys should continue its tradition of rewarding people it rewarded before (say, Julia Louis-Dreyfus last year) while singling out some real underdogs along the way (say, Jeff Daniels last year).
So unlike the Oscars, which have become almost surprise-less in recent years thanks to the parade of other awards shows that solidify the choices weeks before, the Emmys are fun for those who dare to make predictions.
Here are the nominees in key categories, plus my picks for who should, and who will, take home the prize.… Read More »


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One intriguing under-the-radar training camp competition is in Green Bay, where Graham Harrell and B.J. Coleman will vie for the Packers' backup quarterback role.
In a story published Friday in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Packers quarterbacks coach Ben McAdoo indicated Harrell has made strides since coming to Green Bay in 2010.
"I think Graham can go in and win a game for us," McAdoo said, according to the Journal-Sentinel. "There is a savviness about him where to go with the football. Fundamentally, he's improved tremendously the last couple years."
However, McAdoo also indicated the Packers would "even out the reps between Graham and B.J. and let them compete" and that it would be "interesting" to see how Coleman, a second-year pro, does with increased opportunities.
As Journal-Sentinel writer Bob McGinn noted in his analysis of the Packers' quarterbacks entering 2013, the club has had an exceptional run of good health at the position for two decades, first with Brett Favre and now Rodgers.
Rodgers doesn't figure to play much in the preseason, setting the stage for Harrell and Coleman to compete to be the first option off the bench should Green Bay have to turn to someone other than one of the NFL's best players at the most important position on the field. And as we noted earlier in July, it's a big season for the 28-year-old Harrell, who's a restricted free agent at season's end.


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Rob Belushi of 'The Joe Schmo Show'
The son of Jim Belushi and nephew of John, Rob Belushi (far left in white T) grew up in Lincoln Park, Old Town and Bucktown neighborhoods before moving to Chicago with his father. After graduating from college, Rob returned to Chicago and trained at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and The Second City and iO Chicago. Rob currently plays Allen in Spike TV's "The Joe Schmo Joe."
Copyright © 2019, RedEye Chicago


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ReleasesBack to
Grachan Moncur III
Grachan Moncur III was one of the top trombonists of the jazz avant-garde in the 1960s although he had only a few chances to lead his own record sessions. This 1964 set (which has been reissued on CD) was one of his finest, a quintet outing with bassist Cecil McBee, two of the members of the Miles Davis Quintet (pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams), and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter just a brief time before he joined Miles. The group performs four of Moncur's challenging originals, including "Nomadic" (which is largely a drum solo) and "The Twins," which is built off of one chord. None of the compositions caught on but the strong and very individual improvising of the young musicians is enough of a reason to acquire the advanced music. ~ Scott Yanow


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Catalogs, Correlation, Privacy etc.
Have you ever wondered how and why do you get certain catalogs at home?
Last quarter we had a presentation from the CTO of a company (name withheld intentionally – let's call it company X) who's into data mining of consumer data.
Their business model is pretty simple. They take customer data from a bunch of retail stores (e.g. Kohl's, REI, Sears…), put it together, process it and sell it back to the stores. It's a co-op arrangement where the stores have gotten together to get a better understanding of their customers.
They take things like age, gender, origin, number of visits, average spending, size, color of clothing etc and categorize them into segments. And then they match each user to a segment(s) to predict their buying behavior. For instance, if you are 24 year old Chinese living in San Mateo, you would like to buy orange polos (since that's what 24 year old Chinese people living in San Mateo are buying).
This also allows retails stores to customize their catalogs per region as well as per customer. I won't be surprised if 5 years from now, the catalogs delivered to my home will have pictures of me (and my Facebook friends).
The company X claims that they are able to determine with up to 50% accuracy whether a customer will show up in the store if he/she receives a catalog.
Though the stores compete with each other but agree to this arrangement since they all benefit by combining the data. Stores never get to see each other's data. Stores don't get the data back if it's not their existing customer i.e. if you have never shopped at Kohl's, but are a life time REI customer, Kohl's cannot get your data from company X. However, the day you buy a $5 tee at Kohl's, Kohl's will be able to find out your spending habits as well as your waist size.
The stores can then use this to estimate 'Customer Lifetime Value' and determine if you are worth sending catalogs (with ads for orange polos).
When talking about consumer privacy, Company X claimed that the consumers can always ask the retail stores or them to stop processing their data. However, they have a transactional model and get paid by the number of customers in their database. And hence they have no reason to encourage/educate the customer on how to do that. No wonder there is no web page or even an email address where the customer can request exemption. Most of the time, the customer has to find the postal address (in fine print), write a letter and then mail it.
Of course, Company X believes they are doing a service to consumers by narrowing their choices (if you are a 24 year old Chinese living in San Mateo, why wouldn't you want to buy that orange polo).
Not sure where I stand on this and where is the line between helping consumers and manipulating them.
I do believe that it's only a matter of time when some aggressive company will skip the catalogs and simply start shipping the orange polos. I can only hope they get my size right.


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In the start-up world, the pivot is talked about like a bad dinner. You made reservations, you ordered what looked to be an appetizing meal, but after eating it you almost instantly had regrets. After a few days, you're asking yourself why on earth you went to that restaurant.
So you're an entrepreneur and you think you're pretty smart. You have a great idea and you think you have enough charisma, talent, or hustle in your bones to make it become a reality. If you went to school, you know everyone will want a business plan. They'll want a pitch. They'll even want an obvious list of customers willing to shell out for your amazing product or service. Or they'll want to feel comfortable that you can get people to spend money regardless of the quality of your service or product. Are you the next Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, or Huck Finn?
The world will only know if you pivot. Why? Because it's nearly a guarantee that your original idea will stink and no matter how charming you are, talented you are, or how much hustle you got, that first pitch ain't selling to anyone. It's a dead dog. A bad movie script. It's got no legs.
So you're one of the smart ones and you pivot. What no one tells you about pivoting is that you may or may not know when you should pivot. You may or may not know what to pivot to. If you're lucky and you pivot to the exact right thing at the exact right time, things might just work out for your nascent start-up. Odds are against you because the odds are…you won't pivot correctly or in a timely manner.
Textfyre has been around for a lot longer than most businesses that call themselves start-ups. In fact, we're well past the age where seed money is likely to come in the door. Angel investors look at anything past a year old and smell a rat. They run for the hills, ignoring any potential there may be within the targeted business model. I have always been of the mind that building anything related to Interactive Fiction would be a marathon, not a sprint. I've never had any illusions about the potential of this market. I've always been highly confident that there is a market. But also very sure it would be extremely difficult to tap. I was also sure that building the right technical profile would be the one thing that allowed us to break the mold of being an old start-up and still become successful.
Textfyre hasn't really even launched. Our pivots have all been internal. It's been five years of research and development. That's changing as of today. This year we're going to put real services in classrooms and develop relationships with real teachers and real students in real schools. We're going to partner with content developers outside of the "IF" world and develop material that coincides with curriculum being taught at the middle-school level. We still believe that fictional content is important to young readers, but the key to this new effort is putting teacher-identifiable content in classrooms. We're going to put their curriculum in our format using our tools.
As mentioned in previous posts, I have been working on a cloud-based engine for Interactive Fiction. This is completed and working. We're now working on content that weaves fiction and non-fiction together so that students can learn about social studies and history in a new format. They're still going to be playing Interactive Fiction, but the goals won't be to find treasure. The goals will be to learn.
Our first large-scale pilot program will begin in fall at the Chicago Public Schools. We're going to bring our client-server engine into the classroom where the teacher can monitor the progress of all students in real-time. They'll be able to watch every command entered, help when needed, and determine each student's capabilities from their efforts. It's our belief, which studies have proven, that narrative or story-based education methods provide a much stronger connection to the student. They retain more information, understand the information more intuitively, and are able to use the information in real life. We plan to enlighten the education world to the enormous potential of Interactive Fiction.
This is a big push by Textfyre and we're very excited about the future of adaptive learning. We're hoping to bring our T.A.L.E.S. to every student around the globe in every language, in every classroom, and in every home.


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You can ******* swear here **** **** **** ****
What a trainwreck of a thread. It's always something with those guys.Makes me wonder though - why doesn't someone start a SW website for adults, where cursing and all that stuff is ok?
It's really been awhile since I had to step in and take action on something like this. Probably there are many here that either don't know or don't remember a few basic things that are dead set in stone by me.The forum is not a democracy.There is no freedom of speech in this forum.The forum is provided here so people can hang out together and talk about Star Wars collecting in a manner that's mutually respectful.I do not care how much you are pissed off at companies like efx, no matter how much you may feel they deserve it. You may not be disrespectul of them in this forum.I'm sure there are other forums that wouldn't mind having your participation, regardless of its venom.If you cannot live with this, leave. Right now. Just be done with it and move on. And no, I don't want to see any goodbye threads. I just want you gone.If you continue, we will permanently remove your access to the forum.
Now when I go to their front page, I get a redirect to an ad for MySpace. MySpace? That must be what's hot in Canada.
I've just been made aware of the issues with Joe Y's posting that caused him to be suspended for month. I've also seen the diatribe that followed.Stop it now.I'm getting ready to lock that thread down. Do not start any further discussion on this topic.Here's what you need to know about why this happened:Yes, I let this section self-moderate. And it's been very good for years.However, self-moderation is not no moderation.Self-moderation did not happen, and the thread got out of hand by a member who good and well knows better.
Quote from: Jayson on May 19, 2012, 02:45 PMNow when I go to their front page, I get a redirect to an ad for MySpace. MySpace? That must be what's hot in Canada. Oh please, don't go channeling Justin. For your own sake
BTW...this is his cousing Greg(g) not Gregg
Every time I see that, I'm reminded of these:
Page created in 0.051 seconds with 18 queries.


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A research center at the Harvard Decision Science Laboratory, the Emotion and Decision Making Group conducts research on the mechanisms through which emotional and social factors influence judgment and decision making. We take an interdisciplinary approach to these topics, drawing primarily on psychology and economics to examine emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and biological systems.
The lab also actively pursues a teaching mission, training undergraduate and graduate students in relevant theories, methods, and statistical analyses. We invite you to explore the site.


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Harlem Episcopal School's 3rd Annual Spring Benefit with Soledad O'Brien
April 27, 2006, 6:30-9:30 PM at The Puck Building's Skylight Ballroom, 295 Lafayette Street at Houston New York City, NY--Harlem Episcopal School's 3rd Annual Spring Benefit: Special Guest and Speaker Soledad O'Brien, Co-Anchor, CNN's American Morning. Spring Benefit Co-Chairs: Reagan Healey & Alan Washington. The evening featured music, light fare, and a silent auction with dancing and cocktails contining until midnight. PHOTO CREDIT: ©Manhattan Society.com 2006 by Gregory Partanio |tel:718.614.7740 |e-mail: email@example.com More


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This is from Time's The Page.
Candy Crowley will be a partisan media attack dog.
Crowley will try to make Obama look good in this debate.
The media has a lot to lose if Obama loses this election.
The media never vetted Obama so him being exposed will be a bad thing for them.
In a rare example of political unity, both the Romney and Obama campaigns have expressed concern to the Commission on Presidential Debates about how the moderator of this Tuesday's town hall has publicly described her role, TIME has learned.
While an early October memorandum of understanding between the Obama and Romney campaigns suggests that CNN's Candy Crowley would play a limited role in the Tuesday-night session, Crowley, who is not a party to that agreement, has done a series of interviews on her network in which she has suggested that she will assume a broader set of responsibilities. As Crowley put it last week, "Once the table is kind of set by the town-hall questioner, there is then time for me to say, 'Hey, wait a second, what about X, Y, Z?'"
(MORE: What Happened at the First Presidential Debate)
In the view of the two campaigns and the commission, those and other recent comments by Crowley conflict with the language the campaigns agreed to, which delineates a more limited role for the debate moderator. The questioning of the two candidates is supposed to be driven by the audience members — likely voters selected by the Gallup Organization. Crowley's assignment differs from those of the three other debate moderators, who in the more standard format are supposed to lead the questioning and follow-up when appropriate. The town-hall debate is planned for Oct. 16 at 9 p.m. E.T. at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
According to the debate-format language in the agreement, after each audience question and two-minute responses from the candidates, Obama and Romney are expected to have an additional discussion facilitated by Crowley. Yet her participation is meant to be limited. As stated in the document, "In managing the two-minute comment periods, the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic … The moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on either the questions asked by the audience or the answers of the candidates during the debate or otherwise intervene in the debate except to acknowledge the questioners from the audience or enforce the time limits, and invite candidate comments during the two-minute response period." The memo, which has been obtained by TIME, was signed by lawyers for the two campaigns on Oct. 3, the day of the first presidential debate in Denver.
(VIDEO: Top 10 Debate Flubs)
But if the Obama and Romney campaigns agreed to such terms, there is no evidence that Crowley did — or was ever asked to do so.
Instead, the agreement between the campaigns states merely that the commission "shall provide each moderator with a copy of this agreement and shall use its best efforts to ensure that the moderators implement the terms of this agreement."
Which helps explain why the two campaigns are suddenly in league. After Crowley made her "X, Y, Z" remarks to Suzanne Malveaux on Oct. 5, the two campaign counsels, Bob Bauer for President Obama and Ben Ginsberg of the Romney campaign, jointly reached out to the commission to express concern that the moderator's comments seemed to be in direct conflict with the terms of their agreement. The commission sent back word that it would discuss the matter with Crowley and reconfirmed her function. It is not known if such a conversation has taken place.
The commission, both campaigns and CNN declined to comment for the record. Crowley referred all questions about the debate format to the commission.
(PHOTOS: Political Pictures of the Week, Oct. 5–11)
The apparent confusion over the town-hall moderator's role is the latest in a series of moments that point to the unusual and often fraught relationship among the commission, the campaigns and the moderators. Ever since the bipartisan panel took over the staging of the quadrennial debates in 1988, presidential campaigns of both parties have groused that the commission is frustrating to deal with and appears at times to represent bureaucratic and institutional concerns separate from the public interest. In 2004 President Bush's re-election campaign even gave serious consideration to sidestepping the commission's part in the process.
In an unusual departure from the normal hostility that exists between the Obama and Romney campaigns, both parties wholeheartedly agreed with the commission's wish to avoid a repeat of what occurred four years ago. In 2008 NBC News' Tom Brokaw moderated the town-hall session between Obama and Republican nominee John McCain, and the two campaigns and the organizers felt that Brokaw redirected the topics too severely from the audience queries and asked too many of his own questions, limiting the number of citizens who got a chance at the microphone. Appearing on Meet the Press on Sunday, Brokaw said, "[It's] tricky for the moderator. I said that Candy Crowley ought to get combat gear after I went through that four years ago." Brokaw told TIME, "I am satisfied citizens in the hall and online got a fair hearing." Brokaw also said that while there was some media criticism of the job he did, he heard no complaints directly from the campaigns and that a commission official even praised the debate as "good television."
(PHOTOS: On the Trail with Romney)
Throughout the long-running talks between Chicago, Boston and the commission this election season, there was unambiguous agreement on their shared goal to limit as much as possible the on-camera role of the moderator in the town-hall debate. In fact, according to one source, the key language from the memo of understanding written by the campaigns ("the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic") was taken directly from words used by a commission official during an early discussion about the debate format. In short, as far as the campaigns are concerned, there should be no new follow-up questions in the debate.
The moderators' role is always complex. Journalists and news organizations jockey to get one of the coveted slots and become, in effect, partners with the commission and the candidates. But they are, of course, also reporters who fiercely guard their independence and bristle at any actual or perceived sense that their function is controlled by the organizers or the campaigns. All parties acknowledge that Crowley's behind-the-scenes role will be influential. She will cull the questions submitted by the voters who are invited to attend the debate, and then decide which ones will be asked and in what order.
Crowley seems unfazed by the behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Even after concerns were raised in the wake of the Malveaux interview, Crowley made additional comments that make clear she does not feel bound by any agreement between the commission and the Obama and Romney camps. On Oct. 11, the day of the vice-presidential debate, she told Wolf Blitzer, "I'm always interested in the questions because you don't want to — in a debate, you don't want to go over plowed ground. Now, this is the vice-presidential candidates as opposed to the presidential candidates. So is there room there to come back to a presidential candidate and say, Well, your vice-presidential candidate said this? I'm always kind of looking for the next question … So there's opportunity for follow-up to kind of get them to drill down on the subjects that these folks want to learn about in the town hall."
Sources say both campaigns are preparing their candidates for the debate under the assumption that Crowley might play a bigger role than either they or the commission want. At the same time, some officials familiar with the deliberations of the campaigns say they hope that by publicizing the expectations for the moderator's role in the town hall and making public the language in the memo, Crowley will be less likely to overstep their interpretation of her role. One key source expressed confidence on Sunday afternoon that, despite Crowley's remarks on CNN, the moderator would perform on Tuesday night according to the rules agreed to by the two campaigns.
Read more: http://thepage.time.com/2012/10/14/moderator-role-under-scrutiny-before-the-debate/#ixzz29NswyPYk